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Kashmir - In the name of Democracy

License to unleash hell on people

BY FIRDOUS SAYED


Is it Democracy? No sham democracy. And shame in the name of democracy. Democracies do not rule through the barrel of gun. And freedom of expression is not trampled under jackboots in true democracies. It is total control, possession by any means necessary. How else can one describe the military clamp down on universally well recognized ‘right to freedom of assembly and expression?’
Democracy without freedom of expression is like a piano without strings—unable to produce melody. Unhindered free expression of thought and ideas makes democracy what democracy is suppose to be. If India professes to be a functional democracy, then why in Kashmir peaceful protests are crushed with force by the Indian military machine. Mass uprising in Kashmir is absolutely peaceful; it is not threatening the public order in any way. Even if people in Kashmir challenge India’s hegemony on Kashmir through peaceful means, does this warrant massive and extremely brutal response from New Delhi?
A true democracy believes in dialogue; exchange of ideas and respect for divergent ideologies. Dialogue is not monologue; it means engagement of two conflicting ideas. Furthermore, pervasive state cannot claim all the rights in the name of maintaining order, people too have rights. Democratic State derives legitimacy from popular mandate. An act of state, lacking people’s sanction will always be termed as an illegitimate action. In an arbitrary fashion, where state having the big stick brings to submission, people peacefully resisting the hegemony, will always be termed as subversion of people’s will through coercion and suppression.
In any democratic and civilized society, plebiscite, referendum and free elections are the legitimate means for expression of one’s free will. People of Jammu and Kashmir have been demanding Right of self determination for more than sixty years now, but so far India has shown a remarkable capacity to suppress the will of the people here. Tens of thousands have been killed so-far, for demanding Right of self determination in Kashmir. Wherein plebiscite has been denied time and again and history of rigged elections a well established fact, peaceful street protests remains the only way out for the expression of free will in Kashmir.
The present mass mobilization right from Muzzaferabad Challo, Pampore, TRC and Eidgah had grown in number with each occasion going by. A mammoth gathering at Eidgah, asking for Azadi can be easily construed as referendum against India. Whether India accepts the verdict of the people or not is of little consequence, people of Kashmir have expressed their will and that matters the most. The mass sitting at Lal Chowk would have for sure out numbered the gathering at Eidgah. But India was not prepared for another mammoth show of public mobilization at a historic place. This could have effectively (further) shaken India’s hold on Kashmir.
Entire Kashmir was brought under curfew and handed over to Para-military forces. In rural Kashmir Army was also brought in to prevent people’s participation in the peaceful protest. All the roads leading to Lal Chowk, the venue of the sit-in were closed with barricades put on the roads at number of places. Lal Chowk was fortified and made out of bounds, by erecting tin sheets and barbed wire laid around the clock-tower. As if, the Azadi March was not a sit-in but Kashmiri people were planning to scale-down the ‘Berlin Wall.’
People are caged; thoughts chained and whole Kashmir has been turned into a big prison. Can this collective punishment meted out to the people for defying the iron fist rule be justified in the name of democracy? Is it ‘democracy’ or ‘occupation’? Where in a civilized society a man is fired point blank, trying to fetch milk for his wailing child. And old and frail father of the man gets killed, when he comes out of the house after hearing the gun-shots, to inquire the well- being of his son.
Where in democracy; dead rot in morgues for want of decent burial; ambulances carrying casualties fired at; critical patients denied access to medical care and made to die in the ambulances itself; women killed in police firing; innocent protestors fired at to kill and not to disperse; people not allowed to assemble at mosques for prayers; places of worship and homes vandalized by the forces gone berserk; children for days denied milk and baby food?
This can happens only in a authoritarian rule to crush the will of the people. Democracy does not rule by iron fist, only ‘occupation’ forces do. Writing on a placard (held by a boy at Eidgah) says it all and needs no further explanation – “we are Kashmiri’s so we are all criminals”. Dogs here have rights but Kashmiri’s have none. Free people enjoy the rights; slaves are at the mercy of their masters
To cover-up the crime against humanity virtually an iron curtain was rolled out. News paper offices were closed, cable TV banned and journalists trying to cover the clamp-down beaten to pulp. Some of them were even hospitalized with fractured bones. True democracies do not gag freedom of expression. Suppression of press is the privilege of dictator’s and colonial masters only.
Eugene O’Neill’s (Nobel Prize for literature 1936) observation about Ireland, “There is no present or future, only the past happening over and over again,” may also help to describe the predicament of people of Jammu and Kashmir. India unable to see reason, has again unleashed a wave of suppression. This seems to be beginning of another viscous circle. History repeating itself!
What will India get out of this naked aggression? And will it be able to subjugate people of Kashmir? No is the big answer. There is a strong history of Kashmiri aversion for India’s hegemony on Kashmir. In the struggle, three generations have already sacrificed a lot. And now fourth is ready to jump into the fray. In continued search of destiny each generation has passed the baton dutifully to the next. While as 1931 to 1947 is regarded the initial period; 1953 to 1975 is the second phase; 1989 was the beginning of a blood soaked resistance movement. And in 2008 the generation which grew-up amidst booming of guns and explosions is raring to take over the charge. India might draw satisfaction from the fact that every phase of struggle was crushed and hence failed to produce desired results. Nonetheless it cannot draw solace ultimately. Despite failures, each and every generation has risen from the ashes to wage a struggle again. Freedom struggle against mighty is always long-drawn-out affair. But history of people’s resistance only leads to only one conclusion; people’s movements have always triumphed in their just struggles. Even if India is preoccupied with a colonial mind-set and unable to see writing on the wall, the present uprising is indicative of the fact; the struggle will continue till the time it reaches its logical conclusion.
A noted Indian columnist in a TV debate was at loss why people in Kashmir want to break away—when it is exciting time in India as it is going to be an economic superpower. “Why somebody has not been able to convince Kashmir about the idea of India.” No doubt India is taking-off to become an economic super-power and this must be exciting for any Indian. But there is a disconnect; in Kashmir particularly the youth understand India through crackdowns, curfews, searches, knock at the doors in the middle of the night, fake encounters, disappearances, large scale deaths and destruction. This idea of India is not only uninspiring but creates strong repulsions here. For us and true for every body else, honor and dignity comes first then any idea of economic well being. Man cannot live with bread alone.

(Feedback at firdoussyed@yahoo.com)

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