Abstract
The Kashmir conflict is one of the most longstanding and intractable − between India and Pakistan (over Kashmir) and between India and the people of Jammu and Kashmir (in Kashmir). The dynamic nature of the conflict affects the lives of millions of people, across political, social, economic and cultural spheres. Taking off from the analyses provided in ‘Memory and hope: new perspectives on the Kashmir conflict’ Race & Class 56, no. 2 (2014), the author looks at the massive scale of human rights violations. As he details the toll for 2018, he argues how one should not view the conflict as simply that between India and Pakistan over territory, but as continued and continual violations of the people of Kashmir.
Keywords
Conflict background
The Kashmir conflict has existed for over seventy years, since the British colonial rulers left and the Indian subcontinent was apportioned between India and Pakistan, yet the Kashmir conflict continues to be unsolved.
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And it is the major source of tension between the two countries. The impact of the conflict on the Indo-Pakistani relationship cannot be overestimated, with both countries viewing each other through a negative lens, as described by Shaheen Showkat Dar, an expert on conflict resolution: The Indians are viewing Pakistanis as ‘Muslims’, ‘raiders’, ‘terrorists’, ‘anti-Indian’, ‘lifelong enemies’, and Kashmir as an ‘integral part’ of India. The situation in Pakistan is a mirror-image response. They see Indians as, ‘non-Muslims (Kafirs)’, ‘occupiers’, ‘imperialists’, ‘anti-Muslim’, ‘eternal enemies’, and Kashmir as a ‘jugular vein’ of Pakistan. The unresolved Kashmir conflict has created hostile attitude. 65% of Indians have an adverse opinion about Pakistan and consider it the greatest threat to their country. Likewise, 75% of Pakistanis consider India more serious threat than Al-Qaeda and Taliban.
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Both India and Pakistan control a portion of Jammu and Kashmir, which is divided along the Line of Control (LoC). They have fought four wars and developed nuclear weapons as a result of the Kashmir conflict. The conflict has both endogenous as well as exogenous sources. The exogenous sources include the enmity between Pakistan and India, the ineffective role of the United Nations Security Council, and Pakistan-based militant organisations like Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba. The endogenous sources, on the other hand, include the politics of Kashmir, economic backwardness, administrative failure, corruption and unemployment. 3
In addition, the government of India has consistently officially stated that Kashmir is an integral part of India. However, Pakistan blames India for acquiring Kashmir through ‘fraud and violence’. There have rarely been any compromises from these opposing views over the last seventy years, resulting in greater violence and grave human rights violations in the region. 4
Further, the United Nations’ promised plebiscite for the Kashmiri people to decide their political future was never held. 5 In the same vein, Victoria Schofield points to the fact that: ‘the Kashmiri conflict remains both a struggle for land as well as about the rights of people to determine their future’. 6 As the people of Kashmir have struggled for the right to self-determination to decide their political future, their human rights have been continually violated.
Human rights in Kashmir
The Kashmir Valley, once known for its amazing beauty, now hosts the bloodiest and most densely militarised control zone on the globe. With more than 80,000 people killed in Indian counter-insurgency operations, the killing fields of Kashmir resemble those of Palestine and Tibet.
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Schofield points out: Statistics are difficult to verify and are frequently contested, but it is believed that over the past 30 years an estimated 80,000–100,000 have died, mostly young men. At least 10,000 have disappeared which potentially leaves an equivalent number of half-widows – women who cannot remarry, as well as mothers who are bereaved. There are thousands of orphans. Thousands have been tortured, women raped. The psychological impact of the trauma which people have faced has barely been measured, let alone treated.
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In addition, there are an estimated 7,000 mass and unmarked graves in different parts of the Kashmir Valley. 9 And the Kashmiri Hindus (also known as Kashmiri Pandits) have suffered enormously due to the onset of conflict in the Kashmir Valley, which has ultimately forced them to leave their homes. 10
Shubh Mathur, who works closely with victims and survivors of human rights violations in Kashmir, believes that: Since 1989, when the movement for Kashmiri independence took the form of an armed insurgency, more than half a million Indian troops have been deployed there, making it one of the most highly militarized regions of the world. Some estimates place the number of troops deployed as high as 800,000. With a ratio of one soldier to every ten civilians, Indian counterinsurgency has progressed as a classic dirty war, where the army treats the civilian population as the enemy. The troops are deployed not only on the contested borders but across the civilian areas. In this situation, human rights abuses occur on a massive scale: torture in the vast military camps and interrogation centers that sprawl across the Valley, rape, disappearances, extrajudicial killings, the use of civilians for forced labor and as human shields, destruction of crops and homes, arson, arming pro-Indian militias to terrorize the population.
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Consequently, the Indian army’s response to the Kashmiri movement for the right to self-determination has been characterised by its brutality and fierceness. The report prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 14 June 2018 stated that: In responding to demonstrations that started in July 2016, Indian security forces used excessive force that led to unlawful killings and a very high number of injuries. Civil society estimates are that 130 to 145 civilians were killed by security forces between mid-July 2016 and end of March 2018, and 16 to 20 civilians were killed by armed groups in the same period. One of most dangerous weapons used against protesters during the unrest in 2016 was the pellet-firing shotgun, which is a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun that fires metal pellets.
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The report continues: Impunity for human rights violations and lack of access to justice are key human rights challenges in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Special laws in force in the state, such as the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 (AFSPA) and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA), have created structures that obstruct the normal course of law, impede accountability and jeopardize the right to remedy for victims of human rights violations.
The year 2018 has not been that different from previous years – coverage in local, national and international news outlets depicts stories of pain, suffering, death and mourning. 13 According to a report by Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), 2018 was the ‘deadliest year of the last decade’ in Kashmir, as violence peaked, resulting in the killing of at least 586 people in different incidents (see Table 1). Among the 586 people killed, 160 were civilians, 267 were militants and 156 were members of the Indian armed forces and Jammu and Kashmir Police Forces. The killings of 267 militants during encounters with the armed forces and Jammu and Kashmir Police were also the highest in the last decade.
2008–2018 killings in Kashmir due to conflict.
Source: JKCCS and APDP Annual Human Rights Review (2018) 14
Among the militants were fifteen top commanders of various militant outfits, including Sameer Tiger, Sadaam Paddar, Altaf Kachroo, Tawseef Sheikh, Umar Ganai, Manan Wani and Adnan Ahmad Lone. 15 One hundred and sixty civilians were killed during 2018, sixty of whom were shot dead by government forces, while they tried to save the militants engaged in encounters. Two major incidents of civilian killings shook the whole of Kashmir: seven civilians were killed by explosive ordnance that had been left behind in Larnoo Village in the Kulgam district; and, in December, seven civilians were killed when government forces opened fire in Sirnoo Village in the Pulwama district. 16 After the latter incident, the former Supreme Court Justice of India Markandey Katju tweeted, ‘Congratulations to Gen. Rawat whose soldiers killed 7 civilians in a Jallianwalabagh or My Lai type massacre in Pulwama, Kashmir. How brave of the Indian army General!’
May 2018 recorded the highest number of these 160 extrajudicial executions, with thirty-eight civilians killed. The month of November recorded the highest total number (sixty-one) of killings followed by October with fifty-seven (see Table 2). Of the 160 civilians killed in 2018, eighteen were women, and, at least, thirty-one children.
Monthly totals of killings, 2018.
Source: JKCCS and APDP Annual Rights Review (2018).
It should be noted that since the killing of Burhan Wani, the popular separatist militant leader of Hizbul Mujahideen on 8 July 2018, south Kashmir witnessed increased violence. The four districts of south Kashmir − Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwana − jointly recorded the highest number of civilian killings, eighty-five, while the north Kashmir districts of Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora recorded twenty-four civilian killings and the central Kashmir districts of Ganderbal Budgam and Srinagar recorded thirteen civilian killings (see Table 3).
Civilian killings by district, 2018.
Source: JKCCS and APDP Annual Human Rights Review (2018).
Reports of killings, violence and skirmishes featured in the headlines every other day. One killed, two killed, three killed, five killed, seven killed and so on. The news that got the widest coverage was when twenty people, including thirteen militants, four civilians and three troopers, were killed in a single day by security forces on 1 April 2018. From newspaper reports, it is suggested that more than 200 people were injured. 17 The government of India hailed the death of the thirteen militants in south Kashmir, calling it the ‘biggest strike of the decade’. 18
Moreover, the JKCCS and APDP report also noted that: In 2018, the government continued to use arbitrary and administrative detention like Public Safety Act (PSA) to detain dissenting individuals and Hurriyat leaders. Hundreds of fresh detentions under PSA were reported this year. Apart from administrative and preventive detentions, putting pro-independence leaders under house arrest was common in 2018. People were also detained in illegal detention at police stations and sometimes even army camps on the pretext of questioning them.
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And the state government in Kashmir continues to exercise constraints on religious freedom and belief, frequently resorting to bans: ‘In 2018, for 12 Fridays out of 42, prayers were disallowed in the Jamia Masjid and Muharram processions were also disallowed.’ The Annual Human Rights Review documented 108 incidents of internet blocking in Kashmir.
Recalling serious violations
Violence affects Kashmiris of all ages. Eighteen-month-old baby Hiba Nasir was hit by pellets in her right eye by security forces as her mother tried to protect her during clashes. 20 A story that caught the world’s attention in 2018 was that of 8-year-old Asifa from the Bakerwal-Gujjar community who was gang-raped and murdered in Kathua. As Asifa’s father told the Indian Express, ‘If they had to take revenge, they could have picked someone else. She was an innocent child. Usey apney haath aur paun mein pata nahin tha, ki mera daayan haath kaun sa hai aur baayan haath kaun sa hai. Kabhi usney yeh nahin samjha ki Hindu kya hota hai aur Musalmaan kya hota hai [She couldn’t tell her arms from her legs, couldn’t tell which hand was right and which left. She never thought who was a Hindu, who a Muslim].’ 21 In this case, the UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres stated that ‘the guilty must be held responsible’ and also described the incident as ‘horrific’. 22 For the New York Times, the incident ‘seemed another isolated, horrific episode of sexual violence in India, perpetrated against a powerless girl by brutal men. But in the months since Asifa’s murder, the case has become another battleground in India’s religious wars’. 23
In the middle of 2018, one of the leading defenders of human rights in Kashmir was murdered. On 14 June 2018, veteran journalist and founding editor of Rising Kashmir Shujaat Bukhari was killed by an unidentified gunman. This was an attack on the freedom of press and expression, silencing a journalist who had always wanted to resolve the conflict through a dialogue between India, Pakistan and the leadership of Jammu and Kashmir.
Conclusion
The unresolved status of the Kashmir conflict has had tremendous consequences for its people, militants and military personnel, and it deserves international attention. More than 100,000 people have been killed because of the nature of the conflict and at least 10,000 people, mostly youth, have disappeared in custody since 1989. There are an estimated 7,000 mass and unmarked graves across Kashmir.
People cannot travel freely; curfews are frequently imposed in the Valley and they cannot be sure of returning home at night. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act gives the Indian Armed Forces the right to arrest and hold anyone alleged to be involved in terrorist activities, which means that people cannot be certain of getting justice from a court of law.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights states that: There remains an urgent need to address past and ongoing human rights violations and to deliver justice for all people in Kashmir who have been suffering seven decades of conflict. Any resolution to the political situation in Kashmir should entail a commitment to ending the cycles of violence and accountability for past and current human rights violations and abuses committed by all parties and redress for victims. Such a resolution can only be brought about by meaningful dialogue that includes the people of Kashmir.
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In the words of A. G. Noorani, an expert on the Kashmir conflict, ‘the Kashmir dispute has three parties – India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. All three must concur in the terms of its settlement.’ 25
January 2019
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Postscript
Since writing this article, human rights violations in the region have escalated further in 2019. The recent suicide bombing attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama District in South Kashmir on 14 February 2019 resulted in the death of at least fifty CRPF men and the injuring of many more – the heaviest loss encountered by the Indian Paramilitary forces since 1989. 26 The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack, which has been widely condemned. The incident has created a dangerous mood of war hysteria in India, leading at the time of writing to a military confrontation with Pakistan.
Equally alarming are the continued attacks on Kashmiri students, traders and employees living in Indian cities. Kashmiri travellers have been attacked, shops and property burned, and vehicles destroyed in Jammu, Dehradun and other Indian cities. 27 The Kashmiri-born dean of Dehradun college has been suspended after a rightwing mob demanded it. Furthermore, Dehradun Alpine college and Baba Farid Institute of Technology have said that they will not admit Kashmiri students in the next academic session. A series of reports have revealed that several Kashmiri students have been harassed and beaten up in the city, forcing them to flee. On 16 February 2019, over twenty Kashmiri students locked themselves in their rooms in Dehradun after a group of locals and fringe activists surrounded their hostel, demanding the management ‘throw them out of their rooms’. Kashmiri traders have been beaten up in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and public address systems were used in Haryana and parts of Punjab to threaten Kashmiris to leave within twenty-four hours. In this context, Mirza Waheed, a London-based Kashmiri novelist and journalist wrote in a Facebook post on 18 February 2019, ‘I’ve been thinking, writing, about Kashmir, India, and Pakistan for twenty years, and I don’t remember a time when there existed such unbridled hostility towards ordinary Kashmiris.’
Moreover, it can be stated that New Delhi is restricting spaces for non-violent dissent and free speech in Kashmir. The Indian government has carried out mass arrests, detained political leaders, censored media, limited internet access and imposed a ban on leading socio-religious organisations, namely the Jammat-i-Islami of Jammu and Kashmir, on 28 February. The state administration has picked up hundreds of Jammat-i- Islami members and booked them under preventive detention laws. Consequently, the ban on Jammat-i-Islami has resulted in the closing of thousands of school and social service institutions that are essential for the welfare of the poor people in the valley of Kashmir – a vindictive move aimed at creating trouble in Kashmir.
On 19 March 2019, Rizwan Ahmad, a young school teacher from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, was killed inside the Air Cargo Camp, controlled by the notorious Special Operation Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police in an extrajudicial and custodial killing. The family of the deceased said he was ‘innocent and killed in a cold blood’. 28 This is not the first case of extrajudicial killing, and perhaps will not be the last, as the Indian government continues to provide complete impunity to armed forces in Kashmir.
20 March 2019
Footnotes
Sabzar Ahmad Bhat is a research scholar at the Centre for Studies and Research in Gandhian Thought and Peace, School of Social Science, Central University of Gujarat, India.