By Kuldip Nayar

A STUDY on the impact of militancy in the Kashmir valley is devastating. The study says that “every sector and every section” of the Kashmir society has suffered in terms of death of persons or missing of persons.” The study also tells about “the torture and harassment of the youth’ and ‘the dishonouring of elders’. This should not come as a surprise because the earlier reports by civil rights organisations and human-rights activists have said all this in detail. I have been a member of at least two teams headed by the late V.M.Tarkunde. We found umpteen examples of security forces’ relentless repression. These reports were widely quoted by the Pakistan government to show the “repression” in India. We had no access to the Azad Kashmir. Otherwise, we would have gone to the other side to report on the shape of things. As an Indian, it pricks your conscience because most of what has happened in the Valley is due to our own doing. What the Kashmiris have gone through _ this has not ended yet _ is an indelible mark on the face of Indian which is democratic polity and which follows a constitution that assures justice, fairness and rule of law. Governments of all political parties at New Delhi are to blame. They are the ones which have assigned security forces the ‘task’ of eliminating “all protests or resistance” in Kashmir. If they realize that the methods adopted by the security forces are faulty or ruthless, they should know that the forces are trained that way. When there is a target, they hit at it without caring about how they do and whom they injure or kill in the process. One can see how the police behave in different states. They are brutal and devoid of human considerations. When they and the paramilitary cadres join hands, they generally go berserk. Years of untoward happenings in the northeast show that Kashmir is a victim of the same kind of process. It has continued in the valley for the last 15 years in the name of curbing violence.

My disappointment is from the governments at Srinagar. They have seldom joined issue with the Centre on the excesses by the security forces. Because of the Pakistan connection, the governments have connived at the worst of atrocities. I expected the Mufti government to do better. Its compulsion to stay in power was understandable, but its silence was not, particularly when Mehbooba, known for her bold stand,was on the side of the government. Certain names get associated with principles and values and her name is one of them. If nothing else, she should have seen to the appointment of a commission to look into the atrocities committed in Kashmir. She could have at least stopped the humiliation part. When her party was leading the government, the same old spectacle was going on outside Srinagar. Passengers were forced to come out of buses with the arms raised and hands open.

I concede that the militants have brought down what was a movement of defiance to the level of terrorism, killing the innocent. The militants also communalized the movement. But the action against them should not have meant the humiliation and persecution of Kashmiris to the last person. New state chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that the peace process will go on. It is a welcome announcement. But what about the treatment meted out by the security forces to ordinary Kashmiris? My information is that the same old practice of questioning, searching and torturing is continuing under some other nomenclature. Azad owes it to the country to stop them because such methods
have alienated not only the Kashmiris but all the liberals wherever they are. Even the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has practically no say in what the security forces are doing. Its chairperson Justice A.M. Mir said some time ago that the commission was “a toothless tiger” and when the government withdrew the inspector general of police rank officer (attached to the SHRC) the commission “lost the tail as well.” The executing agencies are “behind all this,” Justice Mir charged. During his regime, Mufti talked about the “healing touch” but did little to bring it about. Empowering the SHRC should have been one of the first steps in this direction. The Azad government which is that of the Congress, leading the coalition at the centre, should take steps whereby the Kashmiris feel that they will not be subjected to suppression. The common minimum programme of the Congress and People’s Democratic Party government of Mufti, in fact lists the strengthening of the SHRC as one of the key objectives. The SHRC has, in fact, declined rapidly in its credibility as Justice Mir has himself affirmed it publicly. The United Nations principles governing the establishment and functioning of national human rightsinstitutions (Paris Principles) require that the institution be provided with “an infrastructure which is suited to the smooth conduct of its activities, in particular, adequate funding. The purpose of this funding should be to enable it to have its own staff and premises, in order to be independent of the government and not be subject to financial control which might affect its independence. The infrastructure and resources provided to the J and K SHRC, however, are in no way “suited” to its smooth conduct. The study has drawn attention to the emerging problems, daunting and dangerous. They are (1) brutalisation of local police forces; (2) increase of violent attitudes and behaviour among the local youth ;(3) sexual permissiveness and prostitution; (4) a large-scale environmental degradation; (5) deepening of the practices of corruption; and (6) safeguarding of minorities. The governments both at Srinagar and New Delhi have to face the challenge and take steps to get back at least part of its credentials. The army has retrieved part of its reputation by the assistance it has rendered during the earthquake. Unlike its counterpart in Pakistan which took some days to organise its act, the Indian army was with the victims within minutes of the tragedy. The Kashmiris look towards it with respect; at least in the areas where it has worked for rehabilitating the quake victims.