Bullet for Bullet

Photo circulated by the Indian Ministry of Defense, Indian President Pratibha Patil lifts a weapon , near Tangdhar sector at Shararat Post in U.N recognised disputed state of Jammu & Kashmir occupied by India.

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BY M. ASHRAF

A front page photograph in Greater Kashmir released by Ministry of Defence showing President of India holding a gun is a subtle message to Kashmiris that the road to peace is only through the “Bullet for Bullet” approach. Earlier the State Chief Minister has also been advocating this policy through his speeches. In line with this policy for sometime past the security forces have been mounting specifically targeted operations with a view to eliminate the “Last Gun” in Kashmir. Such operations have been conducted by occupying forces all over the world but have always failed to deliver. Vietnam is a living example. Americans tried everything possible in conventional arsenal and otherwise but had to ultimately call it a day and leave in total disgrace. They tried Carpet bombing, Agent Orange, massacres like “My Lai” but all of these did not help. It is an established fact that eliminating a single gun results in creating a thousand new guns. “Bullet for Bullet” policy is adopted by those who do not want to solve the underlying problems which in the first instance make the gun to appear.

They think that with unlimited and unrestrained force they can keep people under as long as they want. It is true that with a colossal and a mighty war machine unarmed people can be put down but only for a while. As long as the minds do not change, it does not matter whether one is carrying a gun or not. Revolution is in the mind and not in the body. Again no body takes up a gun for the fun of it. There is something which forces one to go to the extremes. Unless the underlying cause is addressed eliminating guns does not matter. More and more are ready to take it up once the earlier ones are liquidated. It is a vicious circle which cannot be broken by bullet for bullet. It is said that in the beginning of the present turmoil in Kashmir in 1990, one of the Generals posted in Srinagar had suggested that 20 to 30 thousand Kashmiri youth should be killed so that the uprising is exterminated for a couple of generations. He had been advocating use of bullets against stones to put down popular demonstrations. Accordingly, the mass uprising by innocent civilians was brutally suppressed by a series of massacres. Gun really came into full picture once the peaceful uprising in the form of massive processions by various sections of the society asking for “Azadi” was mercilessly crushed. It was the avowed policy of the government to liquidate every Kashmiri with a gun. In the process there was extensive collateral damage which caused total alienation of the people.

Instead of killing 20 to 30 thousand youth which they had estimated to be the number to silence the rebellion for a couple of generations, more than a 100 thousand people are said to have been killed so far and the movement is yet to be controlled or suppressed. Almost every nook and corner of Kashmir is reeling with security forces both uniformed and in civilian dresses. The whole valley and some districts in Jammu province have virtually become giant sized cantonments. Security forces armed to the teeth physically as well as psychologically because of the draconian legislative powers have gone berserk many times. No soldier dares to go to any civilian area unarmed especially during night. Bunkers, pill-boxes, and rolls upon rolls of razor sharp barbed wire are a familiar site everywhere. Apparently the situation seems normal. Business is going on as usual. Schools and offices are functioning. Shops are open. A large number of tourists are visiting different tourist resorts.

In spite of this, there is tension in the air. Every VIP visit results in a total siege of common people. A slight commotion somewhere sends everything into a tizzy. At the same time one hears every day about some odd encounter in one or the other corner of the valley where militants as well as soldiers get killed. The number of militants even after these daily killings somehow remains constant. Earlier it used to be 3,000. Then it came down to 1,500 and these days it is supposed to be around 600. However, there has been no decrease in the numbers of security forces trying to eliminate the last gun. It has rather further swelled up! One fails to understand why there is need of over six hundred thousand soldiers to contain six hundred militants? There is only one conclusion. The Indian Government may have won the battle against the gun but they have lost the war of winning the hearts of the people. The massive security apparatus is to be kept in place not to contain the militants but to keep a lid on the angry emotional out burst of the common masses. It is probably feared by authorities in Delhi that as soon as they withdraw the security grid from the civilian areas, there would be a massive popular upsurge and they will have to face millions on the roads asking for “Azadi”.

One would have thought that the people propagating bullet for bullet would have learnt a lesson from history but it seems they are condemned to repeat it. Kashmir has seen similar clamp downs earlier also. From 1947 to 1953 during the regime of Sheikh Abdullah when the opponents were not only suppressed inhumanly but even permanently exiled. Then from 1953 to 1963 when Bakshi used both carrot and stick. The period from 1990 onwards seems unending. Neither the carrot is working nor the stick. The added confusion is that the Indian authorities have lost total trust in Kashmiris and they do not believe any one. They do not seem to be sure themselves as to what the real situation on the ground is? This is the typical characteristic of a Kashmiri that no foreigner is able to know what is in the heart of his hearts. Outwardly Kashmiris appear to be unconcerned and totally busy in day to day chores. There is a strange insensitivity and apathy to both human life and the surrounding environment. These are bad portents as no one is able to assess the state within. There is a feeling of growing hatred and resentment inside especially among the people in rural areas where the security forces call all the shots and have unbridled hold on everything. Mao once said that a Guerrilla is like a fish moving in water and the people are its water. As long as it has abundant supply of fresh and clean water, it moves freely and the best way to ensure that is the bullet for bullet policy ensuring maximum collateral damage. Some people even try to draw a parallel of Kashmir to a neighbouring country where sovereignty is not in question. In Kashmir that is the basic problem.

No doubt good governance is desirable but that is not the lasting solution of the problem. The first requisite is to win over the common people and not physically eliminate the last gun. It must be pointed out that the urge to take up the gun rises in the minds of the people fuelled by hatred and resentment. No doubt India is a super power and can sustain the physical as also the psychological strangle-hold over Kashmir for a long time but in the end like all other super powers it will realise that such a policy is bound to damage its own polity from within. Then it is too late and the forces of nature take their own course. The living example of that is the erstwhile Soviet Union which completely disintegrated in less than 24 hours. The “Policy Makers” and the “Think Tanks” need to seriously ponder over this maxim. Needless to mention that the time is running out fast!

(Feed back at www.kashmirfirst.com or ashrafmjk@gmail.com)

A fight for democracy

Though a world apart from each other, there are quite a few resemblances between Korea and Kashmir other than a militarized line dividing the region. Iftikhar Gilani reports from Seoul, Gwangju and Korean border.
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Those desiring to become instant millionaire, visit South Korea, where a dollar fetches atleast 1300 won (local currency). But, if you are not adept in sign language, forget the venture. Your all mastery in so called lingua franca English will dissolve fast once you start conversing with a salesman or asking for directions on the road.

Despite a partner of United States, English is still an alien language in the land of global corporate giants Daweoo, LG, Samsung, Hyundai etc. The plumy purse also loses vanity fast as a normal meal in this Far Eastern country costs not less than 15000-18000 won. Taxi driver is not cocking a snook when demanding 5000-10,000 won for a short distance. An umbrella costs somewhat 80,000 to 100,000 won, enough zeros to cause a heart failure.

The lush green mountainous country is a facsimile of Kashmir, not only in geography, but politically as well. Korea is divided into communist north and capitalist south. The Demilitrized Zone (DMZ) running through 38 parallel, the border between the two countries is a unique area, where tensions and peace have coexisted for over past 60-years. It serves as a buffer zone between the confronting ideologies.

Far away from Afghanistan and Kashmir, nearly 40-kms from capital Seoul, an eerie tension is building up at Panmunjeom, Korean border. South Korea is amassing troops and launching punitive actions against Communist North Korea. The tensions are also threatening the future of Kaeseong joint industrial zone, which has been often touted as a model for India and Pakistan to build cooperative relationship along the LoC. The tensions have erupted after a North Korean submarine torpedoed the 1,200 ton South Korean ship, killing over 50 sailors.

Almost a replica of Operation Parakaram that India launched immediately in the aftermath of Decembe 13, 2001 parliament attacks against Pakistan, South Korean military divisions are marching with tanks, artillery and an assortment of American weaponry towards borders coinciding the Seoul announcing retaliatory measures against its Northern peer. At the Itaewon US military base near Seoul, marines and commandos seem gearing up for an assault.

Tell tale signs of war clouds hovering over the far-east are glaring. Railway stations and bus stations in South Korea are full with young soldiers in their battle dresses, kissing and hugging their girl friends and bidding adieu to their families, a replica from a Wrold War-II movie. Leaves have been cancelled. Rumours are thick in Seoul that government was even drafting young men into the Army in an emergency.

At the Dorasan military station overlooking North Korea, a senior military officer with maps and sketches is briefing visiting Japanese delegation about South Korean plans. As visitors mostly western tourists were allowed inside the hall, I asked the officer, if his operations would be different from the Operation Parakaram, which failed to achieve any objective for India eight years ago, he looks stoic in my eyes with curt reply; he has not studied Indian operation.

South Korea has barred many nationalities visiting the Demilitrized Zone (DMZ) that includes West Asians, almost whole of North Africa, Afghans and the latest entry is Pakistanis as well. Almost all those having credentials of being anti-US. Indians are still friends as my guides agreed to take me to DMZ tour after they saw my Indian passport.

The Korean tension is also threatening the future of Kaesong Industrial complex, the last remaining inter-Korean reconciliatory business. But despite tensions, our beautiful guide Do Konya says, people will not allow this experiment to fail. “This is our only connection with our northern brothers,” she believes. With mist in her eyes, she points out beyond the barbed wires and alert soldiers blocking the view, to a village in North Korea, where from her parents had migrated by paying hefty bribe to security guards.

Analysts have often cited Kaesong as an apt model for India and Pakistan to begin a cooperative relationship across LoC in Kashmir. Set up in 2002 as a collaborative economic development, the industrial part is located ten kilometres inside North Korea housing 116 South Korean companies employing 42,000 North Korean low-wage employees.

Despite introducing sanctions following sinking of its ship by a North Korean torpedo, which killed all the sailors on board, Seoul has refrained closing or scaling down cooperation at the Kaesong.

But still the tensions have cast shadow on the corss-border cooperation model as well. The Unification Ministry, which overlooks the park has sent safety guidelines to South Koreans at the industrial park advising them to refrain from making contact with North Korean officials, stop moving around unnecessarily, particularly at night, and not to carry South Korean newspapers, DVDs or printed North Korean materials. A government official said, "It is likely that the North will threaten South Korean staff in the industrial park when we introduce sanctions against them. We’re worried because we don't have any good ideas to deal with this." A local analyst Kim So-Iyhen believes that without a political content in the relations, economic cooperation don’t last long, citing the case of Northern Ireland, where economic cooperation began after an political accord between Britain and Republic of Ireland.

Five hours from Soeul, deep in South, in the historic Gwangju city, an international meet is demanding revocation of draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Jammu and Kashmir and North-Eastern city of Manipur at a function commemorating May 18, 1980 Korean uprising against military dictatorship. Gwangju replicates Sopore in Korea, in terms of revolutionary zeal and political enlightenment. It is the biggest annual event of social moment activists, outside World Social Forum.

As participants from, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan and other countries drew attention to the state and non-state repression against human rights defenders and media, the conference rejected all forms of state violence, not in accordance with democracy and human rights. “The demand to protect democracies under threat is strongly increasing among people in Asian societies. Aspirations for Asian solidarity action are fully matured now amongst civil society actors in Korea specifically and in Asian in general,” said the concluding statement.

Over past 11 years, South Korean government as well as the May 18 Foundation has been hosting democratic movements to attend the carnival that enlivens the memories of the brutally crushed uprising. But paved the way for the democratisation of South Korea seven years later and also showed path of democracy to East European countries and Philippines as well. Local journalists believe that the city of Gwangju is a testimony to preserve democracy and freedom. “We are indebted to the inhabitants of this city. We inherited the fruits of democracy because of their sacrifices,” says a journalist Yi Jung.

The forum has so far awarded the prestigious $50,000 Gwangju Prize or Human Rights to two Indians-- Irom Sharmila of Manipur, for her seven-year-long fast against the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Lenin Raghuvanshi of Utter Pradesh (UP), for fighting child and bonded labour and untouchability.

Every year Koreans remember the May 18 uprising to uphold democracy and human rights. Three decades ago, civilians and students in Gwangju, a city of 1.4 million souls marched through the streets, fuelled by anger at military abuses of power. They were mowed down by the military regime using tanks and helicopter gunships. The movement, however, led first democratic presidential elections in 1987 and also provided a way to major revolutions in Eastern Europe and Philippines.

“The 1980 civilian protests were crucial example of how people power could end authoritarian rule in Asia, helping to inspire a major revolutions,” says Kim Dong-kym, executive editor of local JoongAng Daily. Atleast the movement demonstrated that after all stones are heavier than bullets to secure rights from despots. A lesson for those using violence against violence.

Foundation Chairman Honggil Rhee believes there was need of an Asian solidarity and a new mantra for human rights. He witnessed 1980. At 39 and a history professor at a local university, he saw tanks mowing down young people gathered at the city centre. Helicopters firing at unarmed civilians. Dead bodies being stashed in garbage trucks and taken for mass burial. “They thought they could crush the movement for democracy and set an example. It back-fired because of the people's resilience. We learnt many things from the rising. We have to constantly fight to get and retain democracy. These were the highest form of sacrifices and we just can't afford to forget that,” he said.

The official death count of the Gwangju massacre is 207. The unofficial runs in the 2,000 plus figure. There are many who have still not been identified. Many students died fighting. There is no trace of missing. At the cemetery which was build after the return of democratic government after exhuming dead bodies from a mass burial ground has 481 graves. There are many space left out for those yet to be discovered. “We are still looking for dead bodies.” Next to every grave, there are vases of flowers, neatly arranged, a message and name on the little monument, and a framed photograph of the rebel: girls, boys, elders, and workers. The May 18 is definitely a lesson, not to forget those, who gave up their present for your tomorrow.

(Kashmir Watch)

Autopsy confirms fake encounter killings by Indian troops

In occupied Kashmir, the post-mortem report of two Kashmiris, who as per the claim of Indian army were killed in Pakistani troops’ firing, has revealed that they were shot from a close range. The family members of the killed persons say that they have been killed in a fake encounter by Indian troops.

On Sunday Indian army had claimed that Pakistani soldiers violated the ceasefire along the LoC in Machil sector and fired on their posts, killing two porters and injuring two army men. The killed porters were identified as Aziz Malik and Mazloom Malik from village Chuntwari in Machil.

The doctors, who conducted the post-mortem of the deceased porters, told mediamen that they were killed after being shot from close range. “Both the porters were shot from a close range,” said Block Medical Officer Kalaroos, Dr Firdous, who had brought bodies of the deceased to Kupwara hospital for autopsy. “Both the porters had received bullets on the front side of body. They had received multiple injuries and one of them was hit by a bullet in head,” he said.

The doctors said that army did not allow autopsy of the deceased. “One of our colleagues, Dr Javaid, is posted in the area. His clinic is eight kilometers from main Machil area. After the incident, he went to conduct autopsy. But the Commanding Officer of army directed him not to carry out the post-mortem. The officer also told police to bury the bodies without proper medical examination,” they added.

The autopsy report that the two were shot from a close range had strengthened the apprehension of the family members of the deceased that it was a case of fake encounter killing. It was only due to their insistence that autopsy of the two deceased was conducted.

A relative of one of the deceased, who was present at hospital, said that both the persons were killed in a fake encounter. “They had gone to fetch water for army. It is far off from the LoC. How is it possible that they would go so close to the LoC to fetch water? How is it possible that the two porters faced all the bullets while army men accompanying them sustained only light injuries?” he questioned.

Kashmir - The Land Of Passions

ALI SUKHANVER

“India can chain my limbs but she cannot shackle my heart; India can break my bones but she cannot crush my will and determination,” Jalil Andrabi, the Ex-Chairman, Kashmir Commission of Jurists uttered these words in Geneva, addressing the UN Sub Commission on Kashmir, on August 17, 1995. He is no more in this world but his words are still resounding in the blood-dripping valley of Kashmir providing an everlasting, never ending warmth and courage to the freedom-fighters in the Indian Held Kashmir. A few months after his address, he was picked up by notorious Indian Rashtria Rifles, tortured and finally killed in custody. But his brutal murder could not suppress the blazing passion of the helpless Kashmiris and today after so many years, we can see the freedom movement still going on in a more zestful manner. In the Occupied Kashmir the Indian security forces are doing their best to curb and crush the freedom movement but the freedom fighters are more determined. Fake encounters, rapes, kidnapping and so many other ruthless weapons seem ineffective in front of their determination. The Kashmiris are determined to prove that they are not slaves; they are the masters of their own destiny.

Killing of innocent Kashmiris under the shield of ‘fake encounters’ has become a routine matter, says The Hindu on 15th of May ,2010.According to the details, a few Army men killed five civilians in a fake encounter in Jammu and Kashmir. They entered into a conspiracy to pick up a few innocent civilians and stage-managed an encounter to create the impression that militants responsible for the killing of 36 Sikhs on March 20, 2000 were neutralized. Their purpose behind this fake encounter was to get out of turn promotion and win cash awards. In another incident of the same nature earlier in Siachen, a few Indian army officers had constructed bunkers, and had them demolished by firing a rocket. They ordered soldiers to act to be video-graphed as dead soldiers. They made them swear before God that they would not reveal the fake killing.

The helpless people of Machil area of Kupwara District would never be able to forget the intervening night of April 29 and 30, when three residents of Nadihal Rafiabad, Muhammad Shafi Lone, Shehzad Ahmed and Riyaz Ahmed were killed in a staged encounter. Their bodies were exhumed from a graveyard in Kalaroos, Kupwara and identified by their families According to the details, on the directions of Major Opinder of 4 Rajput Rifles, a trooper of Territorial Army, a former SPO and an army agent had motivated the youth to work as laborers for the army in lieu of handsome money. It is stated that later the youth were handed over to the army and subsequently killed in a fake encounter on the orders of the Major. During the investigation the army officials had claimed to have foiled an infiltration bid and recovered 5 AK rifles, over 200 rounds of ammunition and even Pakistani currency from the killed youth. The 4 Rajput Rifles unit of the army involved in the killing is yet to handover to the police the arms and ammunition, which it claimed to have recovered from the youth. The rage and fury over this fake encounter has created a lot of law and order disturbance in the area. People are demanding an open judicial inquiry of this fake encounter.

All time increasing atrocities against the innocent people have made the social religious, economic and political life of Kashmiris very agonizing and painful. The Kashmiris are of the opinion that there could be no peace in the region unless the valley is in the cruel clutches of the Indian security Agencies. The government of India has provided a legal shelter to these atrocities through the inhuman law called Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). In fact this act was designed for the North Eastern Indian States in 1958 for a year but it is still very successfully being used in the Indian Held Kashmir. The Indian army has been given a free hand to use AFSPA in the name of insurgency and militancy. International Commission on Human Rights has recently issued a report which points out the missing of more than ten thousand people in the last twenty years in the Indian Occupied territory of Kashmir. It is feared that most of these missing people have been killed in fake encounters. The commission has pointed out towards another very pathetic situation; the people killed in fake encounters and in police custody are usually buried in mass graves near Army and Police camps which are usually out of the access of media or the common public.

The Kashmiris are so helpless that they are unable even to protest against Indian atrocities. Those who raise their voices against the Indian cruelties have to face inexpressible torture and turmoil. They are pushed into dark and narrow prison cells without any reference or record. Their families are most of the time unaware of their being in the custody of the Indian army. It has also been reported that such protestors are so inhumanly tortured that they very often lose their lives. The atrocities chalked out by the Indian government in the Occupied Kashmir sometimes become unbearable even for the military officers. Inwardly so many of them don’t want to be a part of this viciousness and cruelty; the only door left open to them is to quit the army services. An increasing trend of army officers leaving the force mid-way has been very much alarming for the Indian government in the last five years. More than 1,000 officers quitted the army between 2005 and 2007. The number of officers who sought premature retirement in 2008 is reportedly more than a 1,000 -- almost equal to the number who left in the past three years.

The Kashmir issue is a continuous bone of contention between the two nuclear countries Pakistan and India. The two countries are always in a state of war heading towards the brink of nuclear catastrophe just because of the Kashmir dispute. The confrontation on this issue is destroying peace of the whole of South-Asian region. The government of Pakistan has always been eager to settle the issue through negotiations and table talk. So many confidence building measures have been suggested to the Indian authorities but India never showed any positive gesture in this regard. Whenever there is a peace process going on between the two countries, India tries to disrupt it. The basic purpose behind this disruption is to keep Pakistan away from the demand of peace and prosperity of the Kashmiri people.

Unluckily the international community has been ignoring the human rights violation in the Occupied Kashmir for the last 63 years. During all this period the people of Kashmir have suffered senseless oppression at the hands of the occupying power. Thousands have been incarcerated; an untold number tortured or maimed. The families of over 10,000 people disappeared within the past twenty years, are still waiting for the return of their loved ones without knowing whether they are dead or alive. This entire tragic situation is simply because of the denial of the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir. The people of Kashmir need justice. They are silently looking towards all those forces which claim to be the care-takers of universal peace and harmony. Such forces must keep in their mind a time-tested principle, ‘Justice delayed, justice denied’.

Author is a Pakistan based analyst on defense and strategic affairs. Email: alisukhanver@hotmail.com