A group of five women visited 17 villages all across Kashmir to bring out the ground realities from Kashmir after the Centre’s decision of abrogating Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution.
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The team consisted of Annie Raja, Kawaljit Kaur, Pankhuri
Zaheer from National Federation Indian Women, Poonam Kaushik from Pragatisheel
Mahila Sangathan and Syeda Hameed from Muslim Women’s Forum.
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A team of 5 women visited Kashmir from September 17th-21st 2019. We wanted to see with our own eyes how this 43 day lockdown had affected the people, particularly women and children.
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Women’s Voice: Fact Finding Report on Kashmir September 17th - 21st 2019
[Kindly note: To protect the identity of the people we met, all names in the Report have been changed. We have not named the villages we visited for the very same reason]
These are lines by Comrade Abdul Sattar Ranjoor. We held these as a beacon during our
four-day sojourn in a locked and shuttered land called Kashmir.
Spring buds will flower
Nightingales’ pain will abate
Lovers wounds will start healing
Sickness will leave the ailing
Heart’s longing of Ranjoor will be fulfilled
When the poorest will rule
Wearing the crown of glory
(Ranjoor was killed in 1990)
Besides spending time in Srinagar, we visited several villages in the districts of Shopian,
Pulwama and Bandipora. We went to hospitals, schools, homes, market places, spoke to
people in the rural as well as urban areas, to men, women, youth and children. This Report
is our chashmdeed gawahi (eye witness account) of ordinary people who have lived for 43
days under an iron siege.
Shops closed, hotels closed, schools, colleges, institutes and universities closed, streets
deserted was the first visual impact as we drove out from the airport. To us it seemed a punitive mahaul that blocked breathing freely.
The picture of Kashmir that rises before our eyes is not the populist image; shikara, a
houseboat, lotus and the Dal Lake. It is that of women, a Zubeida, a Shamima, a
Khurshida standing at the door of their homes, waiting. Waiting and waiting for their 14,
15, 17, 19 year old sons. Their last glimpse is embedded in each heart, they dare not give
up hope but they know it will be a long wait before they see their tortured bodies or their
corpses… if they do. ‘We have been caged’ these words we heard everywhere. Doctors,
teachers, students, workers asked us, “What would you do in Delhi if internet services
were cut off for 5 minutes?” We had no answer.
Across all villages of the four districts, peoples’ experiences were the same. They all
spoke of lights, which had to be turned off around 8PM after Maghreb prayers. In
Bandipora, we saw a young girl who made the mistake of keeping a lamp lit to read for her
exam on the chance that her school may open soon. Army men angered by this breach of
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‘curfew’, jumped the wall to barge in. Father and son, the only males in the house were
taken away for questioning. ‘What questions?’,no one dared ask. The two have been
detained since then. ‘We insist that men should go indoors after 6 PM. Man or boy seen
after dusk is a huge risk. If absolutely necessary, we women go outside’. These words
were spoken by Zarina from a village near Bandipora district headquarters. ‘In a reflex
action, my four year old places a finger on her lips when she hears a dog bark after dusk.
Barking dogs mean an imminent visit by army. I can't switch on the phone for light so I can
take my little girl to the toilet. Light shows from far and if that happens our men pay with
their lives’.
The living are inadvertently tortured by the dead. ‘People die without warning or mourning.
How will I inform my sisters about their mother’s death?’ Ghulam Ahmed’s voice was
choked. ‘They are in Traal, in Pattan. I had to perform her soyem without her children’. The
story was the same wherever we went. People had no means of reaching out to loved
ones. 43 days were like the silence of death.
Public transportation was zero. People who had private cars took them out only for
essential chores. Women stood on roadsides, flagging cars and bikes for rides. People
stopped and helped out; helplessness of both sides was their unspoken bond. ‘I was on
my bike going towards Awantipora. A woman flagged me. My bike lurched on a speed
breaker. She was thrown off. I took her to the nearby hospital. She went in a coma. I am a
poor man how could I pay for her treatment? How and who could I inform?’ These daily
events were recounted wherever we went. At a Lalla Ded Women’s Hospital in Srinagar
several young women doctors expressed their absolute frustration at the hurdles that had
been placed in their way since the abrogation of Article 370. ‘There are cases where
women cannot come in time for deliveries. There are very few ambulances, the few that
are running are stopped at pickets on the way. The result? There are several cases of
overdue deliveries that produce babies with birth deformities. It is a life long affliction, living
death for parents”. Conversely, we were told that several women are delivering babies
prematurely due to the stress and khauf (fear) in the present condition. “It feels like the
government is strangling us and then sadistically asking us to speak at the same time,’ a
young woman doctor said as she clutched her throat to show how she felt.
A senior doctor from Bandipora Hospital told us that people come from Kulgam, Kupwara,
and other districts. Mental disorders, heart attacks, today there are more cases than he
could ever recall. For emergencies junior doctors desperately look for seniors; there is no
way of reaching them on phone. If they are out of the premises, they run on the streets
shouting, asking, searching in sheer desperation. One orthopaedic doctor from SKIMS
was stopped at the army imposed blockade while he was going for duty. He was held for 7
days. Safia in Shopian had cancer surgery. ‘I desperately need a check up in case it has
recurred. Baji, I can't reach my doctor. The only way is to go to the city, but how do I get
there? And if I do, will he be there?’ Ayushman Bharat, an internet based scheme, cannot
be availed by doctors and patients.
Women in villages stood before us with vacant eyes. ‘How do we know where they are?
Our boys who were taken away, snatched away from our homes. Our men go to the police
station, they are asked to go to the headquarters. They beg rides from travellers and some
manage to get there. On the board are names of ‘stone pelters’ who have been lodged in
different jails, Agra, Jodhpur, Ambedkar, Jhajjar.’ A man standing by adds, ‘Baji we are
crushed. Only a few of us who can beg and borrow, go hundreds of miles only to be
pushed around by hostile jail guards in completely unfamiliar cities.’
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At Gurdwaras we met women who said they have always felt secure in Kashmir.
‘Molestation of women in rest of India about which we read is unheard of in Kashmir’.
Young women complained they were harassed by army, including removal of their niqab
‘Army pounces on young boys; it seems they hate their very sight. When fathers go to
rescue their children they are made to deposit money, anywhere between 20000 to
60000’. So palpable is their hatred for Kashmiri youth that when there is the dreaded
knock on the door of a home, an old man is sent to open it. ‘We hope and pray they will
spare a buzurg. But their slaps land on all faces, regardless whether they are old or young,
or even the very young. In any case, Baji, we keep our doors lightly latched so they open
easily with one kick’. The irony of these simply spoken words!
Boys as young as 14 or 15 are taken away, tortured, some for as long as 45 days. Their
papers are taken away, families not informed. Old FIR’s are not closed. Phones are
snatched; collect it from the army camp they are told. No one in his senses ever went
back, even for a slightly expensive phone. A woman recounted how they came for her 22
year old son. But since his hand was in plaster they took away her 14 year old instead. In
another village we heard that two men were brutally beaten. No reason. One returned,
after 20 days, broken in body and spirit. The other is still in custody. One estimate given to
us was 13000 boys lifted during this lockdown. They don't even spare our rations. During
random checking of houses which occurs at all odd hours of the night, the army persons
come in and throw out the family. A young man working as SPO told us. ‘We keep a
sizeable amount of rice, pulses, edible oil in reserve. Kerosene is mixed in the ration bins,
sometimes that, sometimes koyla’.
Tehmina from Anantnag recently urged her husband, ‘Let us have another child. If our
Faiz gets killed at least we will have one more to call our own. Abdul Haleem was silent.
He could see the dead body of his little boy lying on his hands even as she spoke these
words. ‘Yeh sun kar, meri ruh kaanp gayi,” he tells us.
A thirty year old lawyer from Karna was found dead in his rented accommodation. He was
intensely depressed. Condolence notice was issued by Secy Bar Association. Immediately
after that he was taken into custody. Why? We spoke to a JK policeman. All of them have
been divested of their guns and handed dandas. ‘How do you feel, losing your guns?’
‘Both good and bad’ came the reply. ‘Why?’ Good because we were always afraid of them
being snatched away. Bad because we have no means now to defend ourselves in a
shootout. One woman security guard said ‘Indian govt wants to make this a Palestine. This
will be fought by the us, Kashmiris’. One young professional told us, ‘We want freedom.
We don't want India, we don't want Pakistan. We will pay any price for this. Ye Kashmiri
khoon hai. Koi bhi qurbani denge’.
Everywhere we went there were two inexorable sentiments. First, desire for Azadi; they
want nothing of either India or Pakistan. The humiliation and torture they have suffered for
70 years has reached a point of no return. Abrogation of 370 some say has snapped the
last tie they had with India. Even those people who always stood with the Indian State
have been rejected by the Govt. ‘So, what is the worth in their eyes, of us, ordinary
Kashmiris?’ Since all their leaders have been placed under PSA or under house arrest, the
common people have become their own leaders. Their suffering is untold, so is their
patience. The second, was the mothers anguished cries (who had seen many children’s
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corpses with wounds from torture) asking for immediate stop to this brutalisation of
innocents. Their children’s lives should not be snuffed out by gun and jackboots.
As we report our experiences and observations of our stay in Kashmir, we end with two
conclusions. That the Kashmiri people have in the last 50 days shown an amazing amount
of resilience in the face of brutality and blackout by the Indian government and the army.
The incidents that were recounted to us sent shivers down our spines and this report only
summarises some of them. We salute the courage and resoluteness of the Kashmiri
people. Secondly, we reiterate that nothing about the situation is normal. All those
claiming that the situation is slowly returning to normalcy are making false claims based on
distorted facts.
Poets speak for humankind. We began our report with lines from the Kashmiri poet
Ranjoor, we end with lines from Hindi poet Dushyant. Both indicate the way forward for
Kashmir:
Ho gayi hai peerh parbat si pighalni chahiye
Iss Himalaya se koi Ganga nikalni chahiye
We Demand:
1. FOR NORMALCY
Withdraw the Army and Paramilitary forces with immediate effect
2.FOR CONFIDENCE BUILDING
Immediately Cancel all cases/ FIRs and Release all those, especially the youth who are under custody and in jail since the Abrogation of Article 370
3.FOR ENSURING JUSTICE
Conduct inquiry on the widespread violence and tortures unleashed by the Army and other security personnel.
4.COMPENSATION
To all those families whose loved ones lost lives because of non availability of transportation and absence of communication.
In Addition:
• Immediately restore all communication lines in Kashmir including internet and mobile networks.
• Restore Article 370 and 35 A.
• All future decisions about the political future of Jammu and Kashmir must be taken through a process of dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
• All army personnel must be removed from the civilian areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
• An time bound inquiry committee must be constituted to look into the excesses committed by the army.
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Women’s Voice: Fact Finding Report on Kashmir September 17th - 21st 2019
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