On 8th July, 2016, when Kashmir was celebrating 3rd day of Eid-ul-Fitr, Burhan Wani, the dapper and iconic Commander of HM outfit was killed along with his two associates in an encounter in Bumdoora hamlet of Kokernag area of Anantnag District. His death triggered the current uprising against the Indian rule in Kashmir. Every day protests, rallies, sit-ins, congregations and other forms of demonstrations are held in every nook and corner of Kashmir where people vehemently give expression to their anger which is deep rooted among the masses. Kashmir has earlier seen uprisings in 2008 and 2010 where too people of Kashmir gave vent to their pent up anger. Indian authorities as always used all kinds of repression and brute force to subjugate people in order to maintain the status quo. They succeeded in bringing the semblance of peace after 2010 uprising but as always, the aspirations and sentiments of Kashmiris could not be wiped off.
New Delhi forgot 2010 uprising but they never realized that it had sown seeds for the massive uprising which would be much stronger than 2010. They inflicted all kinds of atrocities to break the resolve of people but they remained unaware that with more oppression and suppression, it gave more strength to the oppressed people of Kashmir. 2010 uprising laid the lava for the volcanic eruption of 2016 uprising.
It is said that Burhan’s brother was physically assaulted in 2010 by Govt. forces which prompted Burhan to take arms against Indian occupation. Whether the allegation of physical assault of his brother is true or not, I don’t want to argue on it but I candidly believe the already simmering resentment against the Indian establishment was a reason for him joining militant ranks as one of his relative was already associated with armed struggle. Burhan stayed active for six years and used smartphones more than assault rifles to propagate his message and recruited a number of youth in his organization using his tech savvy skills. He became quite famous among the masses preferably because of his good looks and innovative ways. His images and video messages were hugely circulated on social networking sites like Facebook and WhatsApp which made him a popular figure in Kashmir. His popularity could be gauged from the fact that more than 5 lac people participated in his last rites despite being a strict curfew all over the Kashmir valley. People came on streets to mourn his death which has so far claimed lives of 90 people and injured thousands of people. Whole Kashmir is shut from last 2 months and every sphere of life is at a complete standstill. Business avenues, trade and manufacturing units, educational institutes, banks and other areas of work are paralyzed in Kashmir.
Central Govt as expected is pumping more companies/battalions of forces to contain the situation giving it the colour of law & order problem and internal matter. They have again come with the old rhetoric of addressing the grievances of people taking it as developmental issue. They portray the protestors on roads as unemployed youth who need jobs more than anything else. They always point fingers on Pakistan for turbulence in Kashmir. It’s like Pakistan have a magic wand to orchestrate anything in Kashmir. Just ponder over it, Pakistan is not even able to prevent the Kashmiri voters from voting on the call of their election boycott, how could they manage to stage an uprising of such enormous magnitude.
Kashmir is an international dispute and needs a sustained dialogue process with all the stake holders including Indian administered Kashmir, Pakistan administered Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan to find a long lasting solution to a vexed Kashmir imbroglio. Sending All Party Delegation (APD) with the instruction to talk to only selective parties under the ambit of Indian constitution has not yielded any results. This is a futile and time buying exercise as was evident in 2010. The message on the streets of Kashmir is loud and clear. The atmosphere of Kashmir is echoing with the slogans of ‘AZADI’ (Freedom). The protestors on the thoroughfares are not aspiring for jobs, development or financial packages but the right to self- determination where they can choose their destiny as promised by none other than the first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and guaranteed by UN resolutions.
Using cosmetic measures to calm down the tempers in Kashmir is not going to help New Delhi in the long run. It may bring the momentary calm but as known to everyone it doesn’t last long. If the Burhan of 2010 rebellion on the grounds of physical assault to his brother can bring the uprising of 2016, what can the thousands of bruised, maimed, blinded, orphans, widows of 2016 turmoil bring in future. One thing is for sure, it will be more intense and stronger than the present uprising that may threaten the whole region. So good sense should prevail on the think tank of New Delhi and they should not repeat the past mistakes of handling the Kashmir crises in a negligent way instead they should start a pragmatic approach to solve the Kashmir issue as everyone believes and says “Kashmir is a political issue and needs a political solution”.
The views presented in this article are the Author’s own, and does not in anyway depict the views of the Kashmir Digest. This is an Op Ed.
-Javeed Ali