Reports From Kashmir

 

 

    

1. Lying about Kashmir with old videos

2. The Kashmir the media does not report

3.  Kashmir: Management Is No Solution 

4.     ਦੇਸ਼ ਭਰ 'ਚ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਨਾਲ ਹੋ ਰਿਹਾ ਵਿਵਹਾਰ  -----   ਹਮਰਾ ਕੁਰੇਸ਼ੀ

5. The Pelletised Face of Kashmir 

 

5. The Palletted Face of Kashmir

 PEOPLES UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

Press Release
16th August 2016

Peoples Union for Democratic Rights is horrified that the Rajya Sabha which debated the situation in Jammu and Kashmir on August 10, could not muster resolve to call for an immediate halt to use of pellet guns, which is not used anywhere in either India or the world for policing. Since the killing of Burhan Muzzafar Wani on July 8, the onslaught on unarmed innocent civilian continues by the armed forces and state police in the Kashmir Valley. The Central Government has decided to add more troops in one of world’s most heavily militarised region empowered by legal immunity for any crime/atrocity committed by them against civilians. Protests are being met with tear gas shells, pellet guns and bullets.   


In Qazigund in South Kashmir, three people- two women and a man were killed by members of the 9 Rashtriya Rifles contingent of the Indian army on 18th of July. In another incident, a 26 year old Riyaz Ahmed Shah, who worked as an ATM Guard was killed in Karan Nagar while he was on his way back home on his scooter. His body was lying in a pool of blood on the deserted road. This case exposes the false narrative created by the Central Government around the usage of ‘force’ against the ‘unruly’ mob as Riyaz was not part of any protest. In fact, he worked in the morning as a salesman and in the evening as a guard. The doctors at the Shri Maharja Hari Singh hospital (SMSH) found over 300 pellets in his body and exposed the official account which alleged his death was due to a road accident. Amir Bashir Lone, a resident of Shopian District met with a similar fate when he was shot with pellets on his head.


The statistics from the ground zero is alarming, with over 6000 people injured, 300 of them  blinded by pellets, 40 odd maimed, and 60 people killed in past one month itself. In an unique protest, medicos who have been treating injured civilians’ under most onerous condition, sat on a protest on August 10, covering their one eye with a bandage expressing their angst against the un-abating use of pellets and demanding their immediate ban. Another disturbing feature is the systematic arrest of thousands of youth and night raids being conducted across Kashmir. The scale of this operation can be gauged from    a poster issued by the Police in Narwara, Eidgah in Old City of Srinagar which carried a list of 117 youths being sought by Police with a warning that they will be booked under the dreadful Public Safety Act. Given the record of yesteryears, when youths were subjected to torture in custody, the fact that most are being sent across to Jammu, away from their family and friends, fills us with fear at their plight. 


Instead of addressing the root causes behind Kashmiri people’s disenchantment with Indian State, the Government is moving towards an all out offensive by replacing or complementing existing forces with Army. Government of India has refused to allow a visit by an All Party delegation, because the Government has much to hide. The likelihood of kill count and other crimes rising is beyond doubt.


If ever India’s democratic conscience is being tested, it is now. PUDR appeals that if we remain mute today while we witness the disgraceful behaviour of the Government of India which persists with the criminal use of strong arm methods including of lethal pellet guns and bullets, as well as at the absolute lack of compassion exhibited by them, then we betray our own people who are coming under such relentless attack for demanding their right of self-determination.  How many more people must die and how many more years must pass before we stand in solidarity with the Kashmiri people for their just and democratic demand.


Deepika Tandon & Moushumi Basu

(Secretaries PUDR)                                                                                    

New Delhi

4.  ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਹੋਣ ਦਾ ਨਿਸਾਨ
ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰ ਵਾਦੀ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਹਰ ਦੇਸ਼ ਭਰ ’ਚ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਨਾਲ ਕੀਤੇ ਜਾ ਰਹੇ ਆਮ ਮਾੜੇ ਵਰਤਾਅ ਲਈ ਰਾਜ ਮਸ਼ੀਨਰੀ ਅਤੇ ਪੁਲੀਸ ਬਲਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਜਵਾਬ ਦੇਹ ਠਹਿਰਾਉਣਾ ਹੋਵੇਗਾ।      
                                                                                                        ਹਮਰਾ ਕੁਰੇਸ਼ੀ
ਸਾਡੇ ਸ਼ਹਿਰਾਂ ਅਤੇ ਕਸਬਿਆਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਉੱਪਰ ਹੋ ਰਹੇ ਹਮਲਿਆਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਖਬਰਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਵਾਧਾ ਹੋਇਆ ਹੈ। ਅਸਲ ਵਿੱਚ ਪਿਛਲੇ ਕਈ ਸਾਲਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਜਦੋਂ ਵੀ ਉਹ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਵਾਦੀ ਚੋਂ ਬਾਹਰ ਨਿਕਲਦੇ ਹਨ ਤਾਂ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨਾਲ  ਕੀਤੇ ਜਾ ਰਹੇ ਵਰਤਾਉ ਦੇ ਬਿਊਰੇ ਆਉਂਦੇ ਹਨ। ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਫਿਰਕੂ ਰੰਗਤ ਨਾਲ ਲਬਰੇਜ਼ ਤਾਹਨੇ ਮਾਰੇ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਨ ਅਤੇ ਕਈਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਦਹਿਸ਼ਤਗਰਦ ਤੱਕ ਕਿਹਾ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ। ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਲੋਕ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਸ਼ੱਕੀ ਨਜਰਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਦੇਖਦੇ  ਹਨ, ਇਸ ਕਰਕੇ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਹੋਸਟਲਾਂ ਅਤੇ ਹੋਟਲਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਵੀ ਰਹਿਣ ਲਈ ਕਮਰੇ ਵੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਮਿਲਦੇ। ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਕਿਰਾਏ ’ਤੇ ਮਕਾਨ ਲੈਣ ਲਈ ਨੇੜੇ ਦੇ ਪੁਲੀਸ ਥਾਣੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਇਤਲਾਹ ਕਰਨੀ ਪੈਂਦੀ ਹੈ। ਕੀ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ੀ ਹਨ? ਜਾਂ ਉਹ ਦੁਸ਼ਮਣ ਦੇਸ਼ ਤੋਂ ਆਏ ਹਨ? ਕਿ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਥਾਣੇ ਰਿਪੋਰਟ ਕਰਨੀ ਜਰੂਰੀ ਹੈ। ਅਸੀ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਸ਼ੱਕ ਦੀ ਨਿਗਾਹ ਨਾਲ ਕਿਉਂ ਵੇਖਦੇ ਹਾਂ? ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀਆਂ ਉੱਪਰ ਕਰੜੀ ਨਜ਼ਰ ਰੱਖਣ ਲਈ ਪੁਲੀਸ ਨੂੰ ਸਿਖਲਾਈ ਅਤੇ ਹੁਕਮ ਕਿਉਂ ਦਿੱਤੇ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਨ।?
          ਇਹ ਕੋਈ ਅਚਾਨਕ ਵਾਪਰ ਰਿਹਾ ਵਰਤਾਰਾ ਨਹੀਂ, ਬਹੁਤ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ 2003 ਵਿੱਚ ‘ਪੀਪਲਜ਼ ਯੂਨੀਅਨ ਫਾਰ ਡੈਮੋਕਰੈਟਿਕ ਰਾਈਟਸ’ ਨੇ ਵਾਦੀ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਹਰ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਨਾਲ ਕੀਤੇ ਜਾ ਰਹੇ ਮਾੜੇ ਵਰਤਾਅ ਦੇ ਵਿਸਥਾਰ ਵਰਨਣ ਕਰਦਾ ਇੱਕ ਕਿਤਾਬਚਾ ਜਾਰੀ ਕੀਤਾ ਸੀ। ਇਹ ਰੁਝਾਣ ਹੋਰ ਵੀ ਭੈੜਾ ਹੋ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ। ਇਸ ਸਾਲ ਅੱਧ ਜੁਲਾਈ ਵਿੱਚ ਭੁਪਾਲ ਅਤੇ ਹੈਦਰਾਬਾਦ ਵਿੱਚ ਦੋ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ, ਇੱਕ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਅਤੇ ਇੱਕ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਦਿੱਖ ਵਾਲੇ ਦੀ ਰਾਜਸੀ ਗੁੰਡਿਆਂ ਨੇ ਕੁੱਟ ਮਾਰ ਕੀਤੀ। ਗਰਮੀਆਂ ’ਚ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਰਾਜਸਥਾਨ ਦੇ ਮੇਵਾੜ/ਚਿਤੌੜਗੜ ਖਿੱਤੇ ’ਚ ਪੜ੍ਹਦੇ ਚਾਰ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਦੀ ਹਾਲਾਤ ਤੱਕਣੀ ਦੁਖਦਾਈ ਸੀ। ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਇਸ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਖੜ੍ਹੇ  ਹੋਣ ਲਈ ਮਜ਼ਬੂਰ ਕੀਤਾ ਗਿਆ ਜਿਵੇਂ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੇ ਇੱਕ ਬਹੁਤ ਹੀ ਘਿਨਾਉਣਾ ਅਪਰਾਧ ਕੀਤਾ ਹੋਵੇ। ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੇ ਕੇਵਲ ਸਥਾਨਕ ਬਾਜ਼ਾਰ ਚੋਂ 300ਗ੍ਰਾਮ ਬੱਕਰੇ  ਦਾ ਮੀਟ ਖਰੀਦਿਆ ਸੀ। ਇਹ ਗਊ ਦੇ ਮਾਸ ਦੀ ਅਫਵਾਹ ਉਡਾਉਣ ਨਾਲ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਦੀ ਗ੍ਰਿਫਤਾਰੀ ਅਤੇ ਜਨਤਕ ਅਪਮਾਨ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਕਾਫੀ ਸੀ। ਇਹ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਅਤੇ ਪੇਸ਼ਾਵਰਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਕੀਤੇ ਜਾ ਰਹੇ ਵਰਤਾੳ ਦੇ ਵੇਰਵੇ ਹਨ ਕਿ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਸਥਾਨਕ ਪੁਲੀਸ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਕਿੰਨੀ ਕਰੜੀ ਨਿਗਾਰਾਨੀ ਹੇਠ ਰੱਖਦੀ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਉਹ ਕਿੱਥੇ ਖਾਂਦੇ, ਰਹਿੰਦੇ ਅਤੇ ਸਫਰ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਨ।
ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰ ਯੂਨੀਵਰਸਿਟੀ ਦੇ ਮੀਡੀਆ ਐਜੂਕੇਸ਼ਨ ਰਿਸਰਚ ਸੈਂਟਰ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰੋਫੈਸਰ ਨਸੀਰ ਮਿਰਜਾ ਨੇ 2004 ’ਚ ਕਿਹਾ ਸੀ ਕਿ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਲੰਘ ਗੱਡੀਆਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਫ਼ਰ ਕਰਦੇ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਤੰਗ ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ਾਨ ਕਰਨ ਅਤੇ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਆਪਣੀ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਅਤਾ ਵੱਸ ਪੈਸੇ ਦੇਣ ਲਈ ਮਜ਼ਬੂਰ ਹੋਣ ਦੀਆਂ ਕਹਾਣੀਆਂ ਸਥਾਨਕ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਅਖਬਾਰ ਛਾਪ ਰਹੇ ਹਨ। ਹੁਣੇ ਹੀ ਜਾਮੀਆ ਮਾਲੀਆ ਇਸਲਾਮੀਆ ਦਿੱਲੀ ਯੂਨੀਵਰਸਿਟੀ ਦੇ ‘ਮਾਸ ਕਮਿਊਨੀਕੇਸ਼ਨ ਰੀਸਰਚ ਸੈਂਟਰ ਦੇ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਗਰੁੱਪ ਨੂੰ ਆਪਣੀ ਮਨਪਸੰਦ ਦੇ ਵਿਚਾਰ ’ਤੇ ਇੱਕ ਡਾਕੂਮੈਂਟਰੀ ਫਿਲਮ ਤਿਆਰ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਕਿਹਾ ਗਿਆ। ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੇ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਨੇ ਜਾਣਕਾਰੀ ਦਿੱਤੀ  ਕਿ ਦਿੱਲੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਅੱਗੇ ਵਧਣ ਦੇ ਅਨੇਕਾ ਮੌਕਿਆਂ ਹਨ ਅਤੇ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਨੌਜਵਾਨਾਂ ਆਉਣ ਅਤੇ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਦਾ ਫਾਇਦਾ ਉਠਾਉਣ। ਇਸ ਪਿੱਛੋਂ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਨੌਜਵਾਨ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਉੱਥੇ ਆਉਣ ਦੇ ਲਏ ਗਏ ਫੈਸਲੇ ’ਤੇ ਕੇਂਦਰਤ ਕਰਦੀ ‘ਕਾਸ਼’ ਨਾਮ ਦੀ ਡਾਕੂਮੈਂਟਰੀ ਤਿਆਰ ਕੀਤੀ । ਇਹ ਡਾਕੂਮੈਂਟਰੀ ਉਸ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਨੌਜਵਾਨ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਵਾਦੀ ਚੋਂ ਨਿਕਲਣ ਬਾਅਦ ਉਸਨੂੰ  ਪ੍ਰੇਸ਼ਾਨ ਅਤੇ ਅਪਮਾਨ ਕੀਤੇ ਜਾਣ ਦਾ ਸਪੱਸ਼ਟ ਵਰਨਣ ਹੈ। ਉਸਨੂੰ ਕਿਰਾਏ ’ਤੇ ਕਮਰਾ ਵੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਮਿਲਦਾ। ਇਹ ਗੱਲ ਨਹੀ. ਕਿ ਸਿਆਸਤਦਾਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਇਸ ਬਾਰੇ ਕੋਈ ਇਲਮ ਨਹੀਂ। ਗੁਲਾਮ ਨਬੀ ਆਜ਼ਾਦ, ਉਮਰ ਅਬਦੁੱਲਾ, ਮੁਫਤੀ ਮਹੁੰਮਦ ਸਾਇਦ ਅਤੇ ਮਹਿਬੂਬਾ ਮੁਫਤੀ ਨੇ ਆਪਣੇ ਹਮਰੁਤਬਿਆਂ ਨਾਲ ਮੀਟਿੰਗਾਂ ਵੀ ਕੀਤੀਆਂ ਹਨ। ਸਪੱਸ਼ਟ ਹੈ ਇਹਨਾਂ ਦਾ ਕੋਈ ਅਸਰ ਨਹੀਂ ਪਿਆ।  2006 ਦੀਆਂ ਗਰਮੀਆਂ ਵਿੰਚ ਲੱਗਭੱਗ ਸਾਰੇ ਰੋਜਾਨਾ ਅਖਬਾਰਾਂ ’ਚ ਰਿਪੋਰਟ ਕੀਤਾ ਗਿਆ ਕਿ ਗੁਲਾਮ ਨਬੀ ਆਜ਼ਾਦ ਨੇ  11 ਰਾਜਾਂ ਦੇ ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਡੀ.ਜੀ.ਪੀ. ਪੁਲੀਸ ਜਾਂ ਵਧੀਕ ਡੀ.ਜੀ.ਪੀ. ਪੁਲੀਸ ਨਾਲ ਸਲਾਹ ਮਸ਼ਬਰੇ ਬਗੈਰ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਅਤੇ ਵਪਾਰੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ  ਪ੍ਰੇਸ਼ਾਨ ਕਰਨ ਜਾਂ ਕੋਈ ਹੋਰ ਕਾਰਵਾਈ ਕਰਨ ਨਾ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਕਿਹਾ ਸੀ ਤਾਂ ਕਿ ਕਿਸੇ ਇਲਾਕੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਹੋਈ ਕਿਸੇ ਦਹਿਸ਼ਤਰਗਦੀ ਘਟਨਾਂ ਕਰਕੇ ਪੁੱਛਗਿੱਛ ਦੇ ਬਹਾਨੇ ਮਾਸੂਮ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਤੰਗ ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ਾਨ ਕਰਨ ਨਾ ਕੀਤਾ ਜਾ ਸਕੇ। ਆਜ਼ਾਦ ਦੀ ਉਪਰੋਕਤ ਬਿਆਨ ਕੀਤੀ ਅਪੀਲ ਦੇ ਬਾਵਜੂਦ ਗੁਜਰਾਤ ਤੋਂ ਚਿੰਤਾਜਨਕ ਰਿਪੋਰਟਾ ਆਈਆਂ। ਅਹਿਮਦਾਬਾਦ ਦੇ  ਵੇਤਵਾ ਇਲਾਕੇ ’ਚ  ਹੋਏ ਪੁਲੀਸ ਮੁਕਾਬਲੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਚਾਰ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਦਹਿਸ਼ਤਗਰਦਾਂ ਹੋਣ ਦੀ ਖਬਰ ਤੋਂ  ਬਾਅਦ ਅਹਿਮਦਾਬਾਦ ਤੋਂ ਅਜਿਹੀ ਇੱਕ ਰਿਪੋਰਟ ਛਪੀ ਕਿ ਅਹਿਮਦਾਬਾਦ ਅਤੇ ਮੁੰਬਈ ਦੇ ਜੁਰਮ ਰੋਕੂ ਵਿਭਾਗ ਪੁਲੀਸ ਮੁਕਾਬਲਿਆਂ ’ਚ ਨਿਸਾਨੇ ਵਜੋਂ ਵਰਤਣ ਲਈ ਆਪਸ ਵਿੱਚ ਨਜ਼ਬਬੰਦਾਂ ਦਾ ਅਦਾਨ ਪ੍ਰਦਾਨ ਕਰਦੇ ਰਹਿੰਦੇ ਹਨ...ਭਰੋਸੇਯੋਗ ਸੂਤਰਾਂ ਅਨੁਸਾਰ ਇਹ ਚਾਰੇ ਵੀ ਨਜਬਬੰਦ ਸਨ ਜਿਹੜੇ ਪਿਛਲੇ ਚਾਰ ਮਹੀਨਿਆਂ ਤੋਂ ਸਿਟੀ ਪੁਲਸ ਦੀ ਹਿਰਾਸਤ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਨ।
ਸਵਰਗੀ ਮੁਫਤੀ ਮਹੁੰਮਦ ਸਈਦ ਨਾਲ ਦੋ ਵਾਰ (ਇੱਕ ਵਾਰ ਜਦੋਂ ਉਹ ਕੇਂਦਰੀ ਗ੍ਰਹਿ ਵਜ਼ੀਰ ਸਨ ਅਤੇ ਇੱਕ ਵਾਰ ਜਦੋਂ ਉਹ ਜੰਮੂ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰ ਦੇ ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਸਨ) ਨਾਲ ਮੁਲਾਕਾਤ ਦੌਰਾਨ ਮੈਂ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਵਾਦੀ ਚੋਂ ਬਾਹਰ ਨਿਕਲਦਿਆਂ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ ਕੀਤੇ ਜਾ ਰਹੇ ਵਰਤਾੳ ਬਾਰੇ ਟਿੱਪਣੀ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਕਿਹਾ। ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੇ ਵਿਸਥਾਰ ਪੂਰਬਕ ਉਤਰ ਦਿੱਤਾ: ਮੈ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਹਰ ਕੁੱਝ ਪੀੜਤ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀਆਂ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਸਾਹਮਣਾ ਕੀਤੇ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਮਾੜੇ ਵਰਤਾਅ  ਅਤੇ ਅਪਮਾਨ ਬਾਰੇ ਜਾਣੂ ਹਾਂ। ਮੈਂ ਮੀਟਿੰਗਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਾਰੇ ਭਾਰਤੀ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਸ਼ੱਕ ਦੀ ਨਿਗਾਹ ਨਾਲ ਦੇਖਣ ਦੇ ਖਤਰਿਆਂ ਬਾਰੇ ਖੁੱਲ੍ਹੇ ਤੌਰ ’ਤੇ ਬੋਲਿਆ ਹਾਂ। ਸਾਰੇ ਭਾਰਤੀ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਦਾਊਦ ਇਬਰਾਹਮ ਵਰਗਿਆਂ ਨਾਲ ਨਾਂ ਨੱਥੀ ਕਰੋ। ਮੈਂ ਭਾਰਤੀ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਕਿੰਨੀਆਂ ਹੀ ਘਟਨਾਵਾਂ ਦਾ ਵਰਨਣ ਕੀਤਾ ਹੈ ਪਰ ਫ਼ਿਰ ਮੈਨੂੰ ਡਰ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਕਿਸੇ ਪੱਧਰ ’ਤੇ ਪਾਲਾਬੰਦੀ ਹੋ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ।
ਅਜਿਹਾ ਕੋਈ ਪਲੇਟਫਾਰਮ ਜਾਂ ਫੋਰਮ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ ਜਿੱਥੇ ਕੋਈ ਪੀੜਤ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰ ਆਪਣੀ ਸ਼ਿਕਾਇਤ ਵੀ ਦਰਜ ਕਰਵਾ ਸਕੇ। ਕੋਈ ਹੈਲਪਲਾਈਨ ਨੰਬਰ ਵੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ। ਇਹ ਕੇਵਲ ਪਾਰਦਰਸ਼ਤਾ ਜਾਂ ਜਵਾਬਦੇਹੀ ਦੀ ਘਾਟ ਨਹੀਂ  ਸਗੋਂ ਅਥਾਹ ਫਿਰਕੂ ਵਿਹਾਰ ਹੈ ਜਿਸਨੇ ਹਾਲਾਤਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਗੰਭੀਰ ਅਤੇ ਚਿੰਤਾਜਨਕ ਬਣਾ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਹੈ।
                               ਲੇਖਕ ਇੱਕ ਆਜ਼ਾਦ ਪੱਤਰਕਾਰ ਅਤੇ ‘ਅਣਕਹੀ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰੀ ਦਾਸਤਾਨ’ ਦਾ ਲੇਖਕ ਹੈ
                                              ਪੇਸ਼ਕਾਰੀ ਪ੍ਰਿਤਪਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ (ਦਾ ਟ੍ਰਿਬਿਊਨ ਚੋਂ ਧੰਨਬਾਦ ਸਹਿਤ)

 

 

1. Lying about Kashmir with old videos

BY GOWHAR GEELANI| IN Opinion | 22/07/2016

When channels air old footage to tarnish demonstrators, they act as partners of the army, spreading propaganda instead of the facts.
GOWHAR GEELANI is angry
.thehoot.org/media-watch/opinion/lying-about-kashmir-with-old-videos-9513

In their coverage of the Kashmir protests, some channels recently used old 2010 footage to spread canards about the demonstrators. Hindi news channels Zee News and Aaj Tak and English channel India Today recently aired two videos to argue that Kashmir’s present crisis is sponsored by Pakistan and that Kashmiri mobs have been attacking Indian security forces.
In the first video they show a young Kashmiri boy in his undershirt, surrounded by a group of hostile CRPF personnel, crying and saying that “Geelani is paying their gang Rs 500 for throwing stones at Indian soldiers”. Rahul Kanwal, India Today’s anchor known for his pro-establishment views, took to Twitter to write this: “Newsroom on confession of a stone pelter who says he was paid money by separatists to spread mayhem in Kashmir.”
The video was of the 2010 demonstrations. It was run as an “exclusive” report in July 2016. Mufti Islah, a well-respected television journalist based in Srinagar, responded with this tweet: “One channel was running total crap today and called it exclusive. Grow up folks.”
Similarly, in another attempt to distort the Kashmir reality, on Zee News a pheran-clad Kashmiri man was shown throwing a petrol bomb at CRPF personnel. A pheran? The long woollen coat Kashmiris wear in winter? In the heat of July? This was total distortion and false reportage.
By airing such old videos and other doctored ones, these channels are not only insulting the intelligence of their audiences but also lending credence to the Kashmiri argument that India’s hyper-nationalist media cashes on falsehoods, propaganda and provocation, and feeds on a daily diet of anti-Pakistan rhetoric.
Hardly any journalism ethics are followed by vast sections of the Indian electronic media when it comes to reporting Kashmir dispassionately and with an open mind. They take every word of their army and police as gospel and willingly become partners in propaganda. They try to blame Pakistan for everything that happens or does not happen in Kashmir.
Appallingly, as the death toll reached 32, Times Now ran a ticker saying “32 die in Kashmir in Pakistan-sponsored violence”. There can be no better example of the Indian media’s Pakistan paranoia. Afterwards, they ran another campaign saying that Pakistan has sent Rs 100 crore to encourage stone-pelting in Kashmir through Syed Ali Geelani who has been under house arrest for the last six years. Sometimes you don’t know whether to laugh or weep.
Robert Fisk, noted British author and journalist, in one his articles published in the Independent, writes how journalists covering any conflict zone often become “partners in crime”. “Most of all, it's about the terror of power and the power of terror. Power and terror have become interchangeable. We journalists have let this happen. Our language has become not just a debased ally, but a full verbal partner in the language of governments and armies and generals and weapons.”
The author further asks a relevant question, “How do we break with the language of power? It is certainly killing us. That, I suspect, is one reason why readers have turned away from the "mainstream" press to the internet.”
It doesn’t help that, in Kashmir, a crisis invariably means that journalists from outside the state are air-dropped in. Many television journalists, who can hardly tell whether the All Parties Hurriyat Conference is a conglomerate or a party or what exactly is the difference between the Hurriyat led by Syed Ali Geelani and the one headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, or how many districts there are in the Kashmir Valley and how their names are pronounced, can hardly do justice to the Kashmir story.
But I am also aware that these selected journalists are parachuted in to parrot the Indian government’s propaganda on Kashmir. They do not come to Kashmir to report facts. They come to distort them, and act as extensions of the Indian state. They often do the job of firefighting and think of themselves as conflict managers rather than journalists reporting and analyzing the facts on the ground.
Whenever Kashmir is on the edge, this ‘army in civvies’ on ‘Mission Kashmir’ with an aim to ‘douse flames’ will tell you that Kashmir is angry, that Kashmiris are feeling more alienated than before. But they won’t tell you the truth: that Kashmiris are raising azadi slogans and are demanding a just political solution to the Kashmir dispute.
The second appalling thing they do in Kashmir is to try and equate the state-sponsored violence with some protesters hurling a stone at government forces. They show pictures of 14 members of paramilitary and police being treated for minor scratches here and there at an army hospital in Srinagar to draw unfair parallels with the violence perpetrated by the government forces.
The brazen killing of 48 civilians (45 confirmed officially) which include women, and injuries to over 3,000 persons, mostly teenagers, is inconsequential. They try to stoke nationalistic passions in mainland India by erroneously showing that their brave soldiers are exercising maximum restraint while dealing with Kashmir’s “agitational terrorism” and “terrorist sympathizers”. Yes, this is the language they often employ to criminalise and de-legitimise the genuine political aspirations of the people of Kashmir.
Large sections of the Indian media often ‘sermonise’ to Kashmiris that “your future is safe with India” and offer unsolicited suggestions to Kashmiri audiences without making any genuine and unbiased attempt to listen to what Kashmiris have to say. Many Indian journalists wear their patriotism on their sleeve and think that they’re defending their borders in their air-conditioned studios and OB vans.
India and its corporate-owned media and propagandists must wake up to the reality that there is no anger or alienation in Kashmir. People on the street are unambiguous in their demand: azadi.
Gowhar Geelani is a journalist, political analyst & commentator based in Srinagar. He has worked for Deutsche  Welle and writes for Dawn, Catch News, and contributes political essays for the London-based Race & Class. @gowhargeelani/Twitter 

2.  The Kashmir the media does not report

BY Sumegha Gulati| IN Archive | 30/07/2016
And then, I ran. Not because I wanted to shirk off my journalistic duties but because no story is worth a life.
SUMEGHA GULATI describes what she learned while interning at Greater Kashmir.




In the Hoot’s 15th anniversary year  we will run selected articles from its archives, linked to what is making news today.This was published on 17/08/2009
Sumegha Gulati passed away on July 29, 2016. fighting the cancer. She was Indian Express journalist .
Run Sumegha, run!!" These are the only three words that still ring in my ears, though I can recall the whole incident as it happened before my eyes.
As an irony to mark the end of my peaceful first week in Kashmir, the protests at Lasjan presented a facet of Kashmir to me, which I had only heard of. A CRPF vehicle had crushed a 10-year-old girl, and the driver had run away after the accident. As my colleague led me through the mob  to the dead body, things seemed under control. Yes, the anger and frustration was pretty evident. True, the young men of the area hurled abuses at the Indian Government and the military forces.  But still, things seemed manageable.
It was only after the mob tried to burn the vehicle that the forces swung into action. And before I could comprehend what was happening, I saw people running, everywhere. My colleague told me to run, too. But I could not. I was blank and pale. I looked around and saw the men in the uniform throwing tear-gas shells at the young and old alike. It was at that moment that I realized for the first time, the difference between reading about ‘Conflict Reporting’ and reporting from a conflict zone in real life. I looked at my colleague, who was still urging me to run. And then, I ran. Not because I wanted to shirk off my journalistic duties but because no story is worth a life. And nineteen is too young an age to die. So, I ran for my life.
On my way back to office, while overcoming the initial shock that often grips naïve reporters, I wondered how far from reality was the image that the world has of Kashmir today. Barely a week here in Srinagar, and I already feel as if I am living in constant "captivity". At every next crossing, a bunker awaits you. In the midst of the lush green lawns at the Kashmir University, the CRPF personnel seem completely out of place. They can stop you, beat you, rape you, pass lewd comments, run their vehicles over the kids, and guess what, nobody can stop them; courtesy, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Which democracy in the world throws tear-gas shell at its unarmed, protesting civilians? Which republic imposes a curfew on the day of the Parliamentary elections in the whole state? Which "efficient governance" justifies patrolling of heavy army vehicles, even though the city roads are not meant for such load?
Before coming here, Kashmir was an image, a mirage that had men with long beards, women wearing hijab, a restricted and closed society. That reflection was the result of "facts" that I was "made aware of" by the Indian media for the past 19 years of my life. That image today stands broken, shattered. There are no men with long beards and Kalashnikovs roaming on the streets.
A lot of women wear hijab, some wear burqa, and almost all cover their heads; yet it is perfectly fine if one doesn’t wish to adhere to any of the above. One finds ATMs at every corner. Brands of every essential commodity are available. Big hotels and small dhabas coexist to give the true flavour of Kashmir. Lal Chowk is as lively—during days, not nights– as Connaught place of Delhi in the evenings. Wherever one goes, people are good in the true sense of the word. They are good-natured and they don’t fake for personal interests, the way people in Delhi and Mumbai do. Kashmiri hospitality is famous round the globe, and now I know why. Even if arriving uninformed, the Kashmiris are ready to serve their guests. Be it the traditional samovar for the qahwa or the tashnari to wash one’s hands; be it the rista or the keema – they know how to take care of their guests.
I remember walking down the street once, in the evening, when I asked a middle-aged woman for directions to the local market. She told me to go back home since it might be unsafe with the military being around. Sensing the urgency, she accompanied me to the market and back home. I thanked her, remarking how good Kashmiris are. She kissed my forehead and blessed me. We never met again. But God alone knows, I will never be able to forget her affectionate eyes.
Is this the Kashmir that India has, for so long, tried to term as the ‘breeding ground of terrorists’? Are these the people we refuse houses and rooms-on-rent in Delhi and Mumbai, fearing they might have links with the Hizbul or the Lashkar?
After seeing all this, I am at a loss for words. I am dumbfounded. A sense of betrayal has crept in. I trusted my government for so long when it equated Kashmiris to whom they call `terrorists’. Today, I know it was all a big lie that was fabricated beautifully by the Indian Government. Worse, the mainstream media, a profession I had felt proud I would soon be a part of, lied, too. Sometimes outright, sometimes by hiding the facts – but nevertheless being a permanent party to all that the Indian state did, and is doing, in Kashmir.
 A writer recently wrote, "When you are in Jammu, you are in India. When you are in Srinagar, you are in Kashmir". Perhaps the statement was made in an entirely different context but it holds true for me too. It’s true that Kashmir and its people are different from the rest of the countrymen. Which other state would try to lead normal lives despite being under a military control?
Having been brought up in a totally different environment, in the liberal environs of the capital, I often used to wonder why so many youth in Kashmir demand Azadi. Now I know why? When you are asked for identity cards each day as you step out of the house; and that too by forces who are themselves foreigners to your land, what would one think of such a state? When the CRPF has the right to enter a home, kill, rape, murder and torture people, what are these youngsters supposed to do?
My family and friends in Delhi feel India will never "give away" Kashmir. The truth is that one can only "give" which belongs to one. And Kashmir has never belonged to India. These enthusiastic youngsters will are demanding a Kashmir that is rightfully theirs.
So much blood can not go waste; and sacrificing one lakh Kashmiri youth is not a joke. The Kashmir struggle, so far, has been written by the martyr’s blood. A bullet that I picked up from the protest site in Lasjan would keep the memories of the day etched in my memory forever. And I sincerely hope I live to see a free Kashmir.
Sumegha Gulati worked on The Hoot's Kashmir related research projects in 2009.
This article was published in the Greater Kashmir newspaper on May 17, 2009 and has been published here with the prior consent of the editor, GK. It has been further edited for the Hoot in the interest of factual accuracy.
During the time that she lived and reported, Sumegha Gulati’s name may not have mattered to you but it should. A former reporter for the Indian Express, contributor to Scroll.in and Caravan magazine, Sumegha and her impish smile passed away on Friday, July 29 after a four-year struggle with cancer at the age of 26. She is survived by her parents, a brother she loved dearly and several mourning journalists across the country. 

  3.  Kashmir: Management Is No Solution

in Kashmir — by Raouf Rasool — July 31, 2016
http://www.countercurrents.org/


As expected, authorities on Wednesday imposed strict curfew in South Kashmir districts and in parts of Srinagar city to thwart a march to Kulgam called by the separatist leadership. Earlier on Monday also, this is what was done to thwart a march to Anantnag, and this is what they did on Friday to stop people from converging at the Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid. They will do it again if and whenever the separatists call for more such marches. The separatist leaders have been/will be arrested or detained inside their residences or nearby police stations, people confined to their homes, and the government will wait for the fatigue and weariness to set in, hoping that this will finally lead it out of the current crisis.
So as these sequences testify, everything here seems overly resistant to change. Notwithstanding that times have changed and there has been a change of guard at the state’s helm, there is not much change in state’s technocratic response to the public unrest – one that has, if any, only some short-term advantages but sure and great many long-term disadvantages. This is a practical conclusion one could draw after looking at recurrent spells of public anger each time it has poured out on the Valley’s roads and streets, lanes and bylanes, its hill and dale.
Irrespective of what government says and how the state’s top executive puts forth intellectually fashionable responses and demands – like the need for confidence building measures from the Centre and revocation of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) – it goes without saying that the state has not learnt its lessons – of fixing wrongs within before turning towards New Delhi on what it should do. Indeed all of the state’s contradictions alone are enough to boggle the mind in search of rationality. Perhaps therein lays its genius – that it seems, like ever, emerging from the same bureaucratic approach which has traditionally been, and still is the cause and reason for much of the state’s problems with its “subjects”.
Now take the demand for “experimental” rollback of AFSPA from a few districts to begin with. No right-thinking person, and certainly not a single Kashmiri worth her salt, or anyone even from North-East, who have seen what a dreadful law means would support its continuation, in full or part. AFSPA must go, sooner the better. However, for this the government at New Delhi has to be on J&K’s side, which will, in turn have to convince its military, the far right-Hindu ‘nationalist’ groups, right-wing intelligentsia and openly pro-right media for it. Let’s hope that the J&K government prevails and roll-back of AFSPA is conceded – although right now it seems only a wishful thinking at the best, as seems the case with other CBMs state government has in mind as panacea to help itself out of the current crisis.
Take this: What is it that triggered the crises in the first place? Anger and outrage was already palpable everywhere, and was even escalating to the brink with each passing day as people were at the receiving end of an ever-growing and loud tirade on things they have always valued the most – their land and religious identity. Right then, Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed, an encounter whose timing and worth has been questioned by the government’s own Member Parliament and senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beigh forcefully even on the floor of the Parliament. The incident set off a trail of dangerous police-public confrontations, in which, as the number of killed and injured civilians suggests, as also do the kind of their injuries at the hands of police and paramilitary forces, the latter faltered in its crowd-control tactics, and faltered very badly. Not only was more force than was needed (“disproportionate force”) used, but police also violated the laid down standard operating procedures (SOPs), as confessed by the government itself (of course at the beginning; now conveniently forgotten).
So what is it the state government is, and will do, to account for the “police excesses”? Police are not covered under AFSPA, and fall under the state government – no central nod is needed for much-needed corrections in it — so that the summer 2016 is not yet another 2010 or 2008 for that matter even 2009, when civilians killings at the hands of the men in Khaki were taken as a “necessary collateral” and nobody bothered to account for them.
Indeed biggest grudge people have against then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is that he did nothing to look into, and fix responsibility for the civilians killings in 2009 and 2010, and then went on to pledge revocation of AFSPA “within days”, which he couldn’t do even in his entire tenure. Calling for AFSPA rollback is intellectually fashionable, but creating proper template for better human rights record by also reining in the police by fixing responsibility for its wrongs is a fundamental requirement. Unfortunately this appreciation seems missing. When leadership reduces itself to management, problems are not solved; they are only managed. Kashmir’s problems have been managed for long; now they need solutions.
The writer is Editor of Kashmir Images, an English daily published simultaneously from Jammu and Kashmir’s twin captals – Srinagar and Jammu. Raouf_rasool@yahoo.com 





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