“It is shocking to know that anti-national and anti-social elements are preferred over the martyrs by the (state) government”, BJP State Spokesperson Virender Gupta said today.

“It is indeed very unfortunate that the stone pelters and the terrorists are being rewarded,” he alleged.

“Soft and friendly approach towards those staging proxy war against the nation at the behest of enemy or those who indulge in anti-social or anti-national activities on their instigation is really hurting,” he said.

He said that it was distressing that no announcement has been made for the compensation to any of the families of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in defending the sovereignty of the country.

Gupta said that it was “shocking to know that anti-national and anti-social elements are preferred over the martyrs by the government.”

He claimed that the BJP has always been at the forefront in providing financial assistance recently it gave Rs 5 lakh each to the two families of soldiers killed in Uri attack.
 

The post Crack in PDP-BJP alliance in J&K? Saffron party says terrorists preferred over martyrs by state govt appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: NDTV
 
Last week (third week of October) saw a record number of arrests, as 446 people were arrested by J-K police.

In addition to the arrest spree, some news reports have claimed that around 1,500 others are under detention in a number of police stations across the state, without any charges.
 
The valley has been facing lockdown since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8.
 
The PDP-BJP government in the state has incurred wrath of several human rights organisation and activists for reckless slapping of PSA on the civilians. A team of experts from United Nations earlier demanded release of Khurram Parvez who also has been booked under PSA.
 
According to the figures accessed by The Indian Express, police have submitted PSA dossiers against 560 people and have received approval for 483 cases. The Act empowers government to detain a person without trial for a period up to six months.
 
While in opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2010 had criticised Omar Abdullah government over “unwarranted use” of PSA both in and outside the assembly. The party – now ruling the state along with the BJP – ended up booking more than 450 people under the same act in less than three months.
 
As reported by Express, J-K government spokesman and Education Minister Nayeem Akhtar justified the arrests saying it has been done “because we found ourselves in an unprecedented situation”.
 
“There is a difference, lot of difference between 2010 and 2016. Like the local leadership apparently is not in control, the leadership has gone to 10 and 12 year old boys. Those who lead are driven by the street. In 2010, they could assert and bring it back,” he told Express. “What we did (in 2010) is the role of opposition. I wish National Conference does the same but they have disappeared”.

However, a Kashmir Age report claimed that 5,500 of the arrested persons were released after assurance of conduct from their relatives or parents. It claimed that in addition to the nocturnal raids, security forces have been arresting people during mob-control exercises as well, but such youths are mostly released after their innocence has been established.
 
“A good number of those arrested during the unrest are those who instigate youths in mobs to indulge in violence. These also include those responsible for issuing threats to people for not joining the protests or defying the diktats of the separatists,” the report quoted a police source.

Also read: In Dire Need of Rehab Package, Appeal Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley
 

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Breaking his 32-day long silence on Kashmir, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a statement which is full of empty political rhetoric, lacking substance to address the real issue concerning political aspiration of Kashmiris.

“It is said that boys who should be holding laptops, cricket bats have been handed stones in their hands,” Modi said while addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Alirajpur district. This irresponsible and juvenile statement stereotyped Kashmiris as gullible and naïve who are ready to pick up a stone at someone’s behest.

“Every Indian loves Kashmir. The freedom that every Indian has also belongs to every Kashmiri. We want the same bright future for every youth in Kashmir,” he said. Bright future after blinding them forever with pellets! In which place other than Kashmir have the government forces killed 60 civilians, injured 6,000 and made over 300 blind in a span of 30 days, he wouldn’t bother to explain.

“Whatever Kashmiris want for betterment of their livelihood, the Centre will help. We want development for Jammu and Kashmir. Be it the J&K government under Mehbooba Mufti or the central government, we are finding solution to all problems through development,” he added. The development of pellet guns and bullets, perhaps!

For rhetorical purpose alone, Modi again invoked Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s famous words to end up saying nothing concrete how to address the Kashmir dispute politically: “There are ways, including dialogue, to resolve issues in a democracy. My government believes in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's mantra of "insaniyat, jamhuriyat and Kashmiriyat (humanity, democracy and Kashmiriyat)."

Modi’s silence over killings of 60 unarmed Kashmiris, grave pellet-and-bullet injuries to over 6,000 civilians and blinding of over 300 youths in the Kashmir Valley since July 9 is least surprising to most Kashmiris.

Modi’s silence over killings of 60 unarmed Kashmiris, grave pellet-and-bullet injuries to over 6,000 civilians and blinding of over 300 youths in the Kashmir Valley since July 9 is least surprising to most Kashmiris.

After all, it has been India’s ‘standard operating procedure’ (SOP) to speak to Kashmiris in a language of power since 1947 with a sole aim of criminalising their political struggle. In this endeavour of delegitimising Kashmiris’ struggle for the right to self-determination, understanding the language of India’s corporate-owned media and the armed forces operating in Kashmir becomes very critical.

For instance if 50,000 common Kashmiris, including women and children, will gather at a place to demonstrate peacefully for their political rights, the Indian media will use the word “miscreants” for such a huge assembly of people. Mind you, this is being done deliberately to mislead the common Indians that people in such colossal numbers have assembled at the behest of Pakistan, and, therefore, any amount of force used by government forces against them stands ‘justified’.

If everything in Kashmir is happening at Pakistan’s behest it is a telling remark on India’s own standing in Kashmir.

For the sake of an argument, if everything in Kashmir is happening at Pakistan’s behest it is a telling remark on India’s own standing in Kashmir. That is, however, another story.

Not only this, when the trigger-happy Indian paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and accountable-to-none armed forces open direct fire on peaceful and unarmed protesters, the injured are described as “stone pelters”, “miscreants”, “agitational terrorists” and “terrorist sympathisers”. This colonial language is employed by vast sections of the Indian media, especially television channels, and government forces to justify India’s colonial practices in Kashmir.

Here is an example. A statement issued by the J&K police media centre on August 8 reads: “….It is clarified that a mob of more than 2,000 miscreants assembled at main chowk Langate (north Kashmir) and started heavy stone pelting on deployment and police post Langate, due to which 38 police/security personnel were injured. While dispersing the mob, 11 miscreants were injured, most of them due to stampede out of which three of them were referred to Srinagar. The condition of all of them is stable…”

Now look at this statement carefully and focus on the choice of words. First, the police use the term “mob” for common people. Secondly, they are described as “miscreants”. Thirdly, they are then accused of “stone pelting” on deployment and police post, Langate in north Kashmir.

These are all blatant lies. The number of people participating in a demonstration is reduced by design. The people are shown as “perpetrators” and police as “victim”. Then derogatory terms are used to describe people and their actions or lack thereof. Police never comes up with solid evidence to prove that their men are indeed injured. If they are injured, they should be in the hospitals undergoing treatment. But that is not the case.

The question that arises is this: from where do the government forces gather such courage to peddle lies after lies in public domain? State’s shameless backing to violence against common people and a draconian law, which acts as a shield against persecution, are the two major factors behind this audaciousness.

When Omar Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and working president of the pro-autonomy National Conference (NC), was running a coalition government with the Congress from 2009 to 2014, more than 117 persons, mostly boys in their teens, were mercilessly killed by government forces during the summer mass agitation. Not a single guilty armed forces person was punished till date.

This became possible because the armed forces enjoy impunity and a license to kill in Kashmir under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, AFSPA, which is in force in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990. The fact that hardly any perpetrator is punished only emboldens the armed forces to go berserk and enjoy a free run.

Even in 2008, when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress were running a coalition government, more than 60 Kashmiri civilians, most of them in their teens, were killed when they were protesting against sanctioning of 99 acres of land to Amarnath Shrine Board.

Having said that, it may well be very convenient and politically very smart for the junior Abdullah to ask New Delhi whether “it has declared a war on the people in Kashmir*” at a juncture when the PDP is heading a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, but the fact remains that he too could not prevent civilians killings when he was at the helm of affairs in 2010.

"To blame Pakistan for the unrest or to delude ourselves into thinking this is a law and order situation is criminal. There is an extreme sense of resentment and disenchantment among the youth of the Valley and that is the basis of this unrest.” (Omar Abdullah)

On August 6, Omar Abdullah told this to India Today: “Has New Delhi declared a war on the people in Kashmir? Hundreds of young boys and girls have potentially life-changing injuries, most of them caused by pellet guns. Thousands of youngsters have sustained injuries in this unrest. To blame Pakistan for the unrest or to delude ourselves into thinking this is a law and order situation is criminal. There is an extreme sense of resentment and disenchantment among the youth of the Valley and that is the basis of this unrest.”

Indian media is at liberty to dub Omar Abdullah as “Pakistan sympathiser” for making a statement that he has made as an Opposition leader.

Look at another statement made the same day by yet another pro-India legislator Hakim Yasin, Peoples Democratic Forum (PDF) chief and MLA Khansahib Budgam, who said that the Indian forces were repeating Jallianwala Bagh massacre* in Kashmir on a daily basis.

“The way British used brute force on unarmed protesters at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919, forces in Kashmir are repeating the same in Kashmir every day. Why are unarmed protesters targeted by the forces in every nook and corner of Kashmir,” Hakim Yasin told the local media.

The Kashmir story that the corporate-owned Indian media won’t tell the ordinary Indian audiences is precisely this: Since July 9, 2016, at least 60 unarmed Kashmiris have been killed in cold blood by Indian armed forces; inflicting pellet and bullet injuries on 6,000 unarmed Kashmiris. Besides, more than 1,500 Kashmiri youth have been arrested, some in nocturnal raids for participating in demonstrations. At least 1,030 FIRs have been registered by the police for further persecution and harassment of the youth. And, the fact that Kashmiris are suffering under strict curfew and unprecedented restrictions enforced by the PDP-BJP government since July 9 along with a ban on mobile and data internet on all cellular services except the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), and with no outgoing call facility available to pre-paid mobile phone customers!

Last Friday, August 5, was Kashmir’s Bloody Friday. More than 400 Kashmiris received serious pellet-and-bullet injuries after government forces acted violently to stop people from demonstrating against the state violence across the length and breadth of Kashmir. Doctors at Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital told me that at least 324 youth, hit with the pellet guns, are on the verge of losing their eyesight permanently. Doctors said that most boys have been hit in the eye which has damaged their retina beyond repair. “We have performed as many as 65 surgeries until Monday morning,” Dr Raashid Maqbool said.

Dr Ruveda Salam, a lady IAS officer from north Kashmir working as assistant commissioner at ministry of finance, government of India, could not stop herself from speaking against the state violence.

On August 3, Dr Salam took a dig at chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and her PDP by writing this on her Facebook timeline: “From wooing voters while wearing colour #green to painting #red the same valley streets, and then they question the credentials of the same religion whose symbols they used to mask their evil deeds” #hypocrisy couldn't get worse than this !”

In response to her post, she was harassed by a senior police officer who also made a misogynist remark by dubbing Dr Salam as “ignorant lady”. Police officer Harmeet Singh Mehta threatened Dr Salam of government action as if he was the PDP’s spokesperson. “Government (PDP-BJP coalition government) must take action against you (Dr Ruveda Salam) as a civil servant spreading so much venum (venom) against state. Better resign and join some separatist group.”

Following the assassination of popular tech-savvy Hizb commander Burhan Wani on July 8 under mysterious circumstances in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, the massive Azadi rallies are being organised on a daily basis across the Kashmir Valley since. According to moderate estimates, at least 3,00,000 people had gathered in south Kashmir’s Tral, hometown of Burhan, to participate in his funeral. Such a huge assembly had already made a statement that India was losing a battle for narratives in Kashmir.

There are many in Kashmir feeling scared of India as a Hindutva project, this time led by a right-wing prime minister. Kashmiris feel under severe attack as they are victims of politics of invasion aimed at crushing their identity as Kashmiris and Kashmiri Muslims under a PDP-BJP coalition government.

There are many in Kashmir feeling scared of India as a Hindutva project, this time led by a right-wing prime minister. Kashmiris feel under severe attack as they are victims of politics of invasion aimed at crushing their identity as Kashmiris and Kashmiri Muslims under a PDP-BJP coalition government.

Even after 60 civilian killings and injuries to 6,000 Kashmiris in last 30 days, the state unit of the Hindu nationalist BJP has asked the government to deal with the current situation in the Kashmir Valley decisively and with an “iron hand”. State BJP spokesperson Virender Gupta said that there was no option for the government other than meeting the challenge posed by the “separatists and terrorists supported by Pakistan decisively and with an iron hand otherwise the situation will deteriorate further and it may not be possible to bring back normalcy in the Valley.”

At present the morale of the state police, CRPF and other security forces have gone down because of the recent happenings where lot of restrictions have been imposed on them,” Gupta told a news agency.

This is Kashmir’s story. And this Karbala is Kashmir’s ‘normalcy’ for which the Indian media obviously has no time. It will relentlessly debate cows, cow protection and cow vigilantism and how Modi beats the drums in Kenya, but will not gather moral courage to narrate Kashmir’s story with a human heart and an unbiased journalistic approach, shedding jingoistic spectacles and hyper-nationalistic binoculars. After all, India is a democracy and its image can’t be tarnished for the sake of 7.5 million Kashmiris!
 

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इस साल की शुरुआत में उस चाय-हाउस का उद्घाटन मुख्यमंत्री महबूबा मुफ्ती ने किया था। हालांकि रूही नाज़की एक व्यवसाय करती हैं, लेकिन जनता से जुड़े मुद्दों पर अपनी राय जाहिर करने के लिए अपनी निजी क्षमता के दायरे में सोशल मीडिया का इस्तेमाल कर रही हैं। उनके फेसबुक पोस्ट ने इस बात का एक सशक्त चित्र खींचा कि कश्मीर में सरकार की प्रतिक्रिया के खिलाफ असंतोष की तीव्रता और निराशा कितने गहरे पैमाने पर फैली हुई है। भारतीय सेना की ओर से किए गए पैलेट गोलीबारी के शिकार होकर सौ से ज्यादा कश्मीरी युवकों और युवतियों की आंखें जिंदगी भर के लिए पूरी तरह से या करीब-करीब चली गईं। रूही नाज़की पीडीपी के वरिष्ठ विचारक और शिक्षा मंत्री नईम अख्तर, राजस्व मंत्री बशारत बुखारी और कश्मीर घाटी में मौजूदा पुलिस का नेतृत्व करने वाले पुलिस महानिदेशक सैयद जावेद मुजतबा गिलानी की रिश्ते में बहन भी हैं।

नाजकी लिखती हैं- “उन्हें हर हाल में रुकने की जरूरत है, ताकि हम यह मान सकें कि यह जरूरी नहीं है कि हरेक चुनी हुई सरकार सत्ता में आते ही गैरजिम्मेदार और केवल एक पत्थर के खंभे की तरह हो जाए! कश्मीर में हर सफल सरकार ने अपने पहले की सत्ता से अलग तरह से नहीं सोचा-समझा। हमारे नेताओं को सभी चीजों को भयानक, अदृश्य और बेआवाज शक्ल में तब्दील करने की जरूरत नहीं है।”

“मुमकिन है कि है कि उनका पीछे हटने से नाइंसाफी फिलहाल नहीं रुके। लेकिन यही सब कुछ नहीं है। उनके लिए अपने विरोध को दर्ज करना ज्यादा मायने रखता है। हमेशा की तरह अपराध में साझीदार नहीं होने के लिए… खामोशी के साथ इंतजार और चुपचाप देखने के रिवायत को तोड़ने के लिए… अपनी अंतरात्मा की आवाज को बनाए रखने के लिए… अगर इंसाफ नहीं तो सच के साथ के लिए…!” नाज़की ने सरकार पर यह कहते हुए सवाल उठाया कि “हमलोग हर वक्त के बहानों से तंग आ चुके हैं। यह अनैतिक है, त्रासद और गलत है। पिछले दिनों कश्मीर में जो हुआ वह भयानक तौर पर गलत है। बच्चों तक का बर्बर कत्ल, विरोध प्रदर्शन करने वालों की आंखों की रोशनी आपराधिक तौर पर हमेशा के लिए छीन लेना और एक समूची आबादी को बेशर्म तरीके से घुटने के लिए छोड़ देना..! अगर यह पिछले दो दशक या इससे ज्यादा से हो रहा है, तब भी यह गलत ही है। कश्मीर को जलने से बचाने के लिए कई एजेंसियां काम कर रही हैं, तब भी यह गलत है। यह गलत है कि कोई हमारे सामने तमाम बहाने परोस रहा है।”

“और सबसे बुनियादी रूप में, सबसे शर्मनाक और घातक तरीके से गलत है। यह कश्मीर के बच्चों के साथ हुआ, जो हमारे देश के उन सुरक्षा बलों के हाथों गलियों में मारे गए, जिसने उनके युवा शरीर में पैलेट डाले। यह एक लोकतांत्रिक देश में हुआ कि एक समूची आबादी को बिना किसी बुनियादी जरूरतों, बिना फोन, अखबारों के कई दिनों तक के लिए बंधक बना लिया गया। और यह एक बार फिर एक चुनी हुई लोकप्रिय सरकार की आंखों के सामने हो रहा है।”

सरकार की प्रतिक्रिया को अस्वीकार्य बताते हुए नाज़की इसे फिर से दुरुस्त करने की जरूरत पर जोर देती हैं- “सत्ता को गलत कामों को दुरुस्त करने में लगाने या फिर पूरी तरह छोड़ देने की जरूरत है। हमें भावी पीढ़ियों के लिए विश्वास पर ध्यान देना चाहिए था, ताकि वे अब सच के चेहरे के तौर पर जाने जाएं। उनका सच, हमारा सच। वे यह कर सकते हैं। और उन्हें यह करना भी चाहिए..!”

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FB photo, Home Page Image from Cover FB Image

Haseeb Drabu’s wife Roohi Nazki, a former Tata executive, who recently returned to Srinagar to start a high end tea-house, Chai Jai on Jhelum banks, termed the government’s response to the mass uprising across Kashmir triggered by the killing of Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani as “immoral, unethical, tragic and wrong”. Her husband, Haseeb Drabu is finance minister in the PDP-BJP government, in Mehbooba Mufti's cabinet making her strong and outraged words on a facebook post even more significant.

The tea house was inaugurated by CM Mehbooba Mufti earlier this year. Though Roohi Nazki is a  professional who is outspoken on issues of public import in her individual capacity on social media, this facebook post, is fair illustration of how deep and widespread the intensity of resentment and frustration against the government’s response to the mass upsurge in Kashmir is. Young persons, girls and men have fallen victim to the pellet fire by the Indian army that has left over 100 blinded or near blined, for life. Roohi Nazki is also first cousin of top PDP ideologue and minister of education, Nayeem Akhtar, revenue Minister Basharat Bukhari and and the Inspector General of Police Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani, who is presently heading the J&K Police in Kashmir valley.

“They need to step down so that we can be convinced that every popularly elected government doesn’t necessarily turn into an unresponsive monolith as soon as it is sworn into power. That each successive regime in Kashmir does not have to become indistinguishable from the previous one. That our leaders do not all have to transform into horrific, faceless, and voiceless entities,” Nazki wrote.

“Their stepping down may not stop the injustice. But that is not all that matters. What matters more is for them to register a protest. To not become complicit by default. To break the silence and the cycle of waiting and watching. To have a conscience and keep it. To uphold truth if not justice”.

Nazki questioned the government, saying “..it is wrong, no matter what excuse we are fed, day in and day out”.

“It is immoral, unethical, tragic and wrong. Whatever has been happening in Kashmir over the last 14 days is terribly wrong. The brutal killings of children, the criminal blinding and maiming of protesters, and the shameless suffocating of an entire population is wrong. It is wrong even if it has been happening over the last two decades or so. It is wrong even if there are ‘far too many agencies at work trying to keep Kashmir burning’. It is wrong no matter what excuse we are fed, day in and day out. It is wrong irrespective of who feeds us the excuses, she wrote.

“And it is wrong in the most fundamental, most shameful and the most damning way. For it is the children of Kashmir that are being killed on street corners, by the security forces of our country. Who pump pellets into their young bodies. It is in a democratic nation that a whole population is taken hostage for days on end, without basic amenities, without phones, without newspapers. And it is happening under the watch of a popularly elected government. Yet again!”

“The government must step down” because “the brutal killings of children, the criminal blinding and maiming of protesters, and the shameless suffocating of an entire population is wrong”.

Nazki termed the government’s reaction “unacceptable” which “needs rectification”.

“It is wrong, it is unacceptable and it needs rectification. The powers that be need to either step up and stop the wrongdoings. Or they need to step down. I guess they just need to step down,’’ she wrote. “…what matters most is to keep the faith for our future generations. So that they can know the face of truth. Their truth. Our truth. They can do this. And they should”.

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