In Kashmir’s polarised polity, it’s all down
to who you believe in the battle of narratives
[An abridged copy of this article has been
published on Editorial page of The Times Of India in its all editions today,
April 21, 2016]
April 20, 2016
Ahmed
Ali Fayyaz
_______
When, in 1994, a sizeable crowd dragged a youthful tailor
out of his home in the congested Nawab Bazar neighbourhood in downtown Srinagar
and stoned him to death for the ‘rape’ of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl, an
investigation by Kashmir Times established
that the accused had not even touched the tiny tot. The investigation happened,
and published, inspite of the fact that one group of the Kalashnikov-wielding
guerrillas wanted the slain tailor to be proved as guilty and an equally
dreaded group insisted he was innocent.
Around the times of total breakdown of the government machinery
and the Police, the newspaper accessed the report of the gynaecologist who had
examined the ‘victim’. Everybody in town believed it was positive. The fact was
that it was negative. Dr Farhat Hameed’s report said the baby’s hymen was
intact and that there was not a minute evidence of physical violation.
Just a clamour by the child’s aunt had attracted a multitude
of people that did not listen to the accused or other hysterical cries from his
family. It was probably the first Taliban-type execution in Kashmir. The body
was thrown into The Jhelum.
That essentially does not suggest that every rumour or
outcry in the Valley has been unfounded. It does, however, underscore the need
of a credible investigation into the street allegation of a 16-year-old girl
student’s molestation by a soldier in Handwara. Unfortunately, neither the
media today nor any magisterial enquiry---Police itself has become a party
after releasing the girl’s video---retains credibility. If it finds the soldier
guilty, it will vindicate the pro-separatist civil society. Army will dismiss
it as ‘a conspiracy to deprecate the security forces’. And there will be no end
to the politics against and in favour of AFSPA. The accusation, though debunked
by the girl in disputed conditions, has already claimed five civilian lives in
Kupwara district.
Contrarily, if an enquiry gives a clean to the anonymous
soldier, the civil society, including the mainstream politicians thriving on
pseudo-separatist tirade, would call it ‘a fudged one to protect the forces and
to denigrate the Kashmiris’. The world has witnessed how an outcry of ‘rape and
murder’ of two young women in Shopian set the Valley on fire in 2009. Even the
CBI, whose investigations in the infamous Pathribal fake encounter and Srinagar
sex scam had been widely appreciated, failed to find takers to its conclusion.
It established that neither rape nor murder had happened. Exhumation of the
unmarried girl’s body, followed by a thorough examination by a team of doctors
and forensic experts from AIIMS and FSL, found her hymen and septum intact. By
then, Shopian had taken its toll.
While the media has---particularly after the total regional
and communal divide in 2008---ceased to burn its fingers with such critical
investigations, Police have not been able to investigate even 2% of the over
60,000 militancy-related FIRs filed in the last 25 years. Even CBI’s
investigations, like in the firing on IAF personnel, have been lingering since
1990. Those awarded punishment and having served a jail term can be counted on
finger tips. Forces’ men in particular have gone scot free. Around 150
magisterial enquiries and judicial probes have been ordered but hardly anybody
penalised. That states the shrinkage of the Valley’s grey area and scope of an
enquiry’s political exploitation.
Notwithstanding a crowd’s protest against some militants of
JKLF in Basant Bagh, when a resident Pandit woman and her daughter were found
‘raped and killed’ in 1990, allegations of sexual abuse against the non-State
actors have often gone unnoticed, unreported and unquestioned. When father of
the 2009 IAS topper Shah Faesal counselled a non-Kashmiri guerrilla against
shaking his hand forcibly with a neighbour’s daughter, it proved to be the last
day of the poor teacher’s life.
Men of security forces too enjoyed a sort of impunity as few
of them were punished over a delinquency. A military court ordered a Major’s
service termination for “violation of SOP” in ‘Badrapayaeen rape case’. Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee felt embarrassed over a question on at the news
conference in Srinagar but Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed came to his rescue,
quickly. “Nothing has occurred with the daughter. We will see about her mother”,
Mufti said without ordering an investigation.
From Kunan-Poshpora (1991) to Handwara (2016), Army has
faced allegations of rape and molestation scores of times. Enjoying immunity
under AFSPA, it has not been held accountable. Even the first---and till date
the last---investigation by Press Council of India (in ‘Kunan-Poshpora gang
rape case’) was not acceptable to civil society in the Valley as it exonerated
the Army and was conducted by a journalist known for his linkage to then Army
chief’s father. Even after 25 years, nobody knows the quantum of the offence
and the real number of the women allegedly assaulted by the soldiers.
As Army provided institutional support to the accused even
in the cases like Pathribal investigated by CBI, Valley’s intelligentsia and
civil society which was already tilted towards the separatists and the
militants, found it convenient to compromise neutrality and professionalism.
Many of them justified it with Newton’s Third Law of Motion and complained how even
the most credible of the national dailies and TV channels were running
campaigns to ‘salute the soldier’, calling the militants as terrorists and
riding on the hypernationalist parabola while reporting Kashmir. Even in the
midst of a tragedy, anchors were heard demanding credit for the security forces
rescuing the civilian population in the floods of September 2014.
‘The equal and opposite reaction’ in the Valley is no more indiscernible.
When Police in Jammu lately swooped down on a colony of the Muslim Gujjars,
setting houses on fire and killing a man in the firing, Jammu-based media
ignored it completely. When over 20 non-Kashmiri students were injured in the lathi charge by Police at NIT Srinagar,
neither the agencies nor the newspapers in Srinagar carried a line of reporting
till it exploded in New Delhi. People have little hesitation to admit that many
of the journalists, human rights activists, judges and lawyers, even Police
officers, are obsessively inclined to one side and they often pick up the
matters that have a potential to malign the Indian State, its systems,
institutions and icons.
Now the battle lines are drawn. The rumour and the
perception have taken precedence over the news and the reality and a credible
investigation is extinct. In the battle of the narratives, which gets
intensified by New Delhi’s license to competitive separatism and an unbridled
social media, the Valley would support the ‘victim’ only when she will complain
against the soldier. And the rest of India will be on her side only if she
omits the soldier and proceeds against the two Kashmiri youths who created the
scene.
The unscrupulous players have turned the teenager into a
football tossing her conveniently from one post to another to strengthen their
political narratives. Nobody seems to care for her safety, dignity and future.
God save her from becoming India’s own Malala!
(Ahmed
Ali Fayyaz is a senior journalist based in Jammu and Kashmir)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
TIMES OF INDIA
EDIT
PAGE
In Kashmir’s polarised polity, it’s all down
to who you believe in the battle of narratives
April 21, 2016, 2:00 am IST
When,
in 1994, a sizeable crowd dragged a youthful tailor out of his home in the
congested Nawab Bazar neighbourhood in downtown Srinagar and stoned him to
death for the ‘rape’ of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl, an investigation by
Kashmir Times established that the accused had not even touched the tiny tot.
It was probably the first Taliban-type execution in Kashmir. The tailor’s body
was thrown into the Jhelum.
This
does not suggest that every rumour or outcry in the Valley is unfounded. It
does, however, underscore the need of a credible investigation into the street
allegation of a 16-year-old girl student’s molestation by a soldier in
Handwara. Unfortunately, neither the media today nor any magistrate – police
itself has become a party after releasing the girl’s video – retains
credibility.
If
an enquiry finds the soldier guilty, it will vindicate the pro-separatist civil
society. Army will dismiss it as ‘a conspiracy to deprecate the security
forces’. Contrarily, if an enquiry gives a clean chit to the anonymous soldier
civil society, including mainstream politicians thriving on pseudo-separatist
tirades, would call it ‘a fudged one to protect the forces and denigrate the
Kashmiris’. The accusation, though debunked by the girl in disputed conditions,
has already claimed five civilian lives in Kupwara district.
The
world witnessed how an outcry of ‘rape and murder’ of two young women in
Shopian set the Valley on fire in 2009. Even CBI – whose investigations in the
infamous Pathribal fake encounter and Srinagar sex scam had been widely
appreciated – failed to find takers for its conclusion in this case. It
established that neither rape nor murder had happened. Exhumation of the
unmarried girl’s body, followed by a thorough examination by a team of doctors
and forensic experts from AIIMS and FSL, found her hymen and septum intact. But
by then, Shopian had taken its toll.
Police
have not been able to investigate even 2% of the over 60,000 militancy-related
FIRs filed in the last 25 years. Allegations of sexual abuse and rape against
non-state actors have often gone unnoticed, unreported and unquestioned. When
the father of 2009 IAS topper Shah Faesal counselled a non-Kashmiri guerrilla
against shaking his hand forcibly with a neighbour’s daughter, it proved to be
the last day of the poor teacher’s life.
Security
forces too enjoyed considerable impunity as few of them were punished over a
delinquency or crime. From Kunan-Poshpora (1991) to Handwara (2016), the army
has faced allegations of rape and molestation scores of times. Enjoying
immunity under AFSPA, it has not been held accountable. Even the first – and
till date the last – investigation by the Press Council of India (in the
Kunan-Poshpora case) was not acceptable to civil society in the Valley as it
exonerated the army and was conducted by a journalist known for his linkage to
the then army chief’s father.
As
the army provided institutional support to the accused even in cases like
Pathribal, the Valley’s intelligentsia and civil society which was already
tilted towards the separatists and militants, found it convenient to compromise
neutrality and professionalism. When over 20 non-Kashmiri students were injured
in the police lathi charge at NIT
Srinagar, neither the agencies nor newspapers in Srinagar carried a line of
reporting till it exploded in New Delhi.
People
have little hesitation to admit that many of the journalists, human rights
activists, judges and lawyers, even police officers, are obsessively inclined
to one side and selectively pick up on matters that have potential to malign
the Indian state, its systems, institutions and icons.
Now
the battle lines are drawn. Rumour and perception have taken precedence over
news. In the battle of narratives, which gets intensified by New Delhi’s
licence to competitive separatism and an unbridled social media, the Valley
would support the Handwara ‘victim’ only if she complains against the soldier.
And the rest of India will be on her side only if she omits the soldier and
proceeds against the two Kashmiri youths who created the scene.
Unscrupulous
players have turned the teenager into a political football to strengthen their
narrative. Nobody seems to care for her safety, dignity and future.
END
