Indian democracy in Action: Secret Grave-yards in Kashmir
Abdul Ruff - 4/28/2008
A few lines on what has been happening to Kashmiris would, perhaps, throw some light on the impact of Indian policy in Kashmir life since India occupied the valley in 1947. Not only India converted Kashmir valley into a well-knit cantonment of New Delhi, it has also unleashed terror on the defenseless Kashmiris and killed thousands and thousands of Kashmiris, including the freedom fighting ones. Now freedom fighters are called the “terrorists”.
1. TERRORIST INDIA PREACHES MANNERS TO KASHMIRIS
It is a known fact that rogues are safe every where, even protected by governments and shielded by their forces and loyal media the world over. India, the so-called largest democracy in this part of the globe and the aspiring global super power, fits in too well here. Kashmir was annexed by India in 1947, strangely, soon after the later got freedom from Great Britain and the enslaved Kashmiris have been made as "terrorists" after militarizing their land. But, in order to discredit the freedom fighting Kashmiris seeking their nation back from hegemon India, propaganda machinery of this"democracy" has spread false info the world round that Kashmir has been an integral part of India and it should not cede from Indian Union. India sems to have imposed serfdom(slavery) on the defenseless Kashmiris on a permanent basis.
Like USA does for its military personnel abroad, "democratic" India also values lives, welfare and prestige of Hindus in the country and their well-being abroad. But when it comes to Muslims, " secular" India feels threatened and shy of its “secular credentials". Countless Muslims have been massacred in Kashmir by India with tacit knowledge and even support of pro-India Kashmiri leaders and else where, but it sheds “tears” when a supposedly Hindu is subjected to atrocities by others. Even school children in Kashmir are being harassed, let alone Muslims women there. Indian government and media always make it a point to let Hindus know that they are well-protected and their interests are supreme for India. That could even be a game plan in order to maintain the Hindu support for government anti-Muslim actions. The ghastly misbehavior of Indian rulers in conducting a nude parade of Muslim women in Muslim cultural town of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh , therefore was not found a fundamental duty of the Indian fourth estate to take on the UP government and Indian attitude to Muslims in general. In stead, they pretend as if nothing bad has happened in India and everything is fine in the country. This hypocrisy or callous attitude of Indian media is atrocious and repulsing. One hopes for a different kind of "cultural" relationship in the country.
Indian forces that have colonized Kashmir , have abused HR as much as they can in that secluded part of the world called Kashmir . They molested, raped- one does not know how many-- women in Kashmir which is under their occupation and custody. Indian patriotic media and writers, even those born in today's Pakistan, never bothered to mention about that in their articles published by core Indian media and else where for payments, but make a big hue and cry if a Hindu woman 's "modesty" is hurt. One can call it Indian hypocrisy or an aspect of Indian democracy and secularism, but that is indeed nasty behavior on part of any nation in modern times. India is proud of its double-speak and double-standards indoors and abroad.
India strategy is to kill Kashmiris even as terrorizing them en-masse and spread the rumors around the world by using its missions, media and other net workings abroad. Then cripple them by denying basic human rights. As reaction from Kashmiri patriots to state-terrorism is receding, India uses spiritual and diplomatic channels to pacify the affected Kashmiris. While doing so, the fingers would point to patriotic Kashmiris as culprits and paint them as terrorists. That is what exactly is happening now in Kashmir with intermittent exodus of spiritual personalities thronging to Srinagar to preach peace to them.
In the context of anti-Islamism and anti-Kahmirism, it should be well remembered that these self-styled Indian spiritual leaders, lecturing on peace and good conduct to hapless Kashmiris, have not touched upon the basic truth: the Kashmiri sovereignty and the need for granting independence back to Kashmiris before getting every single Kashmiri killed brutally by India . These “statesmen-spirits” maintain a governmental, criminal silence on Indian genocide and Kashmiri sovereignty. These Indian patriots should have asked the Indian government to withdraw its terrorist forces from Kashmir leaving the valley for Kashmiris to decide their own future freely. If they are real believers, they will still make India see reason to vacate Kashmir . If India leaves Kashmir now they could be seen as peace lovers and India ’s voluntary resolution of the illegal conflict as magnanimous gesture from New Delhi.
Recently there was uproar in Indian media about a Hindu woman being molested by armed forces in India . But so far several Muslim women have faced even worse treatment of forces occupying their land and Indian media shut their eyes comfortably. How can a country specializing in subjects like secularism and democracy should make a distinction between its Hindus and Muslims, Indian terrorist forces and Kashmiri patriots who are still under Indian control? The way licenses are being issued for the sale of liquor disregarding the sentiments of Kashmiris is a matter concern and amounts to crime against Kashmiri nation. And a sex scandal was hatched in Srinagar and those involved in sex scandal have been let off and the case itself has been transferred to Chandigarh shows how government itself is involved in this murky business of patronizing and promoting the moral degradation in the society. India still wants to ruin Kashmir by insulting and injuring and killing its people.
Aside the regular genocide and political discourses on peace conducted by India in Kashmir, Indian spiritual leaders are also being deputed by Indian strategists and government agencies to preach manners and democratic values to Kashmir who have already lost thousands and thousands of kith and kin over several decades of Indian atrocities in Kashmir. These Indian agents keep visiting Kashmir on an agenda of pro-Indianizing the freedom seeking Kashmiris. They talk shamelessly about peace not for the sake of Kashmiris but for India keen to pacifying Kashmiris. India is eager to project to the world of peace loving India trying to make a friendly gesture to Kashmiris to woo them to co-exist with Indian terrorist forces.
Eventually the New Delhi ’s move is to deny freedom to Kashmiris, by being diplomatic. The way India is using its leaders and pro-India Kashmiris to lecture about virtues of coexistence makes mockery of genocide being unleashed on defenseless Kashmiris. The nameless dead bodies in various parts of Kashmir testify to the cruelty and brutality of Indian democracy and secularism.
2. NAMELESS MASS GRAVE-YARDS!
Kashmiri freedom fighters have encountered numerous incidents of brutality and destruction from occupying India. India has cleverly used the divisions among Kashmiris, split the Kashmiris into pro-India and anti-India Kashmiris and keep fueling the wedge between them. The freedom seekers are not a splintered lot with several groupings fighting each other endangering the freedom move. Syed Ali Shah Geelani of Hurriyat Conference, one of the leading Kashmiri fighters, has tirelessly pursuing the cause of Kashmir freedom. Geelani was house-arrested for over 72 times and disallowed to address mosque gatherings. He has asked India to withdraw forces form Kashmir.
Recent detection of anonymous dead bodies and grave-yards in Kashmir has sent shiver across Jammu Kashmir, though Indian media, as usual, pretend having any information about that at all. After killing these anonymous people who were buried in places like Kishama, Chahal and Uri, their bodies were defaced, burnt and some were cut into pieces, what worst can happen now. Indian nasty attitude to protests by Kashmiris on Uri secret grave-yards is not surprising at all. It has to projects its democratic and secular credentials to the world so that this rogue state somehow befools the world powers to permit to be in UNSC. On April 15, therefore, Indian police in Lal Chowk batten charged and arrested over a dozen of Peoples Freedom League workers and sympathizers including party General Secretary Rafiq Ahmad Ganai who were holding a big demonstration and marching towards the UN Military Observers office to present a memorandum to demand UN inquiry into the discovery of about one thousand nameless graves of Kashmiri martyrs, to punish the culprits behind gross human rights violations in J&K. Demonstrators peacefully raised pro freedom slogans holding placards and black flags on this occasion in Lal Chowk. Police Task Force rudely behaved with the workers of JKPFL. Of course, arrests and torture are a routine affair in Kashmir.
Geelani organized a sit-in on April 16 in order to register its protest against the issue of unidentified graves, miserable plight of detainees and growing moral degradation in the society. The unofficial death toll put it at lakhs cannot be a mere imaginary given the nature of secret killings “performed” by Indian terror forces in Kashmir . Geelani expressed concern over thousands of anonymous mass graves in Uri and termed it as the part of “war crimes” committed by the troops in Kashmir . “The report, “Facts Underground” based on the account of villagers states that the graves might be of those Kashmiris who were subjected to enforced disappearance by the troopers,” Geelani said in a statement here.
Geelani rightly urged the War Crime department of United Nations tribunal to immediately send a team to Kashmir to ascertain the facts. “The silence of international community is proving fatal for innocent Kashmiris after every passing day. These war crimes have been committed in every nook and corner of the Valley. I urge international community irrespective of their religious background to play their role to abolish the state terrorism unleashed by India ,” Geelani said. Favoring the exuberant working of Independent Judicial Commission, he said that international human rights organizations should be granted an access so that these organizations would be in a position to take a factual human rights account.
Geelani was joined by other freedom fighting groups. Accusing India of violating Geneva conventions, chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that issue of mass graves and Kashmiri detainees languishing in various jails would be taken up at United Nations. Lashing out at Indian civil society and the human rights organizations for what he termed maintaining “criminal silence” over the sufferings of Kashmiris, Mirwaiz said, “It seems that the people who talk big about the democracy and human rights are still waiting for something worst to happen. The crimes committed by the troops in past 18 years are getting unveiled with each passing day. The recent issue of mass graves is enough evidence of naked aggression of India . It’s unfortunate that so called human rights champions haven’t even uttered a word till date,” Mirwaiz said. “The issue of mass graves coming to fore and issue of Kashmiri detainees would be taken up with the United Nations,” Mirwaiz said while addressing a Friday congregation at historic Jamia Masjid, “ India is explicitly violating the norms of Geneva Convention. Despite ongoing human rights violations it is ironical that India is propagating that normalcy has returned to Valley.”
3. INDO-US STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
As Russia is distancing from India on several issues, including Kashmir, New Delhi is seen frantically trying to court Washington, the most important world power of the day to pursue its global interests, including retention of Kashmir under its custody. Indian longing for “close strategic” relationship with the USA has been the natural urge by a terrorist Indian psyche to be closer to the global terrorist state killing thousands and thousands of Muslims on a priority basis. It has nothing to do with cleverness, but to showcase the common interests in anti-Islamic agenda being pursed by “secular” India and “democratic” USA . American should know full details about Indian genocide in Kashmir and its torture record in India and Kashmir . However, USA has slammed Indian on HR evasions in Kashmir . The fact of recently unrevealed and unmarked graves of martyrs is a serious question and it should be investigated by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. International Human Rights organizations should be asked to visit the area of the discovered graves in Kashmir . India seeks USA support to escape punishment for genocide unleashed in Kashmir for decades.
An Interim Observation
UN, EU , UK and USA must consider instituting a special tribunal to try the Indian leaders who have been responsible for the ghastly genocide and destruction in Kashmir since the day when Indian annexed Kashmir quite tactfully. In fact these bodies should have stooped India when it occupied Kashmir in the first place and restrained the brutality and genocide all these years. But at least now they should seriously think of handing down punishment to criminal India leaders and agencies dealing with militarization of Kashmir .
The discovery of mass-graves in Kashmir opens up a Pandora of questions about Indian policy in Kashmir since 1947 when it tactfully annexed the valley and also the possible existence of Guantanamo type secret torture camps in Kashmir run by Indian forces, and ably hidden by Indian "patriotic" media. It should be clear to India that its brutality and genocides on hapless Kashmiris, who have been converted into a category of slaves by India, won't go unpunished.
One does not know the details about all secret grave-yards in Kashmir and else-where in India. But, neo-Imperialist India cannot go on killing the freedom fighting Kashmiris and also keep calling them, in fancy, the terrorists. No real democratic power on earth can and should support Indian and, in stead, every freedom-loving leader must come forward to isolate and penalize India for criminal atrocities in Kashmir.
Abdul Ruff is an Indian analyst, researcher & commentator.
Global Politician - Indian democracy in Action: Secret Grave-yards in Kashmir
