June 2008 Uprising

Fuelling Gen-X fire in Kashmir 

Zubair A. Dar

If the nine days of uprising in June 2008 by Kashmir's Generation X represented anything, it is the unpredictability of peace in the valley. And now it is crystal clear that it takes little provocation, or just one small mistake, to push Kashmir back to the familiar revolt of 1990. The reasons too are not unfamiliar: first the separatist sentiment is well and alive; and then, New Delhi has literally wasted the window of opportunity provided to it by the changed international circumstances after 9/11, the successful Assembly elections of 2002 and Pakistan's u-turn on its traditional Kashmir policy. In fact, New Delhi even failed to understand that the decline in violence and a boom in tourism have made it compulsory to address the larger issues of justice to heal the festering wounds of the last 18 years. Instead, it essentially followed a policy of forget and move ahead, and thus, failure was destined. 
When a several thousand-strong protesting mob of young men marched towards the clock tower in Srinagar's central Lal Chowk area on Friday, June 27, it was not only the climax of this nine-day uprising: it was the moment that defined Kashmir's return to revolt. The only difference this time, however, is that this post-1990 generation is pelting stones and not firing bullets. Kalashnikovs though are not far away – Kashmir has enough of weapons in 2008. 
Unlike other protests, generally limited to a particular area, the uprising that began on June 23 ended only when the state government revoked the land transfer order to the Amarnath Shrine Board on July 1. For the first time since 1947, such a major government decision had been rolled back under public pressure. Understandably so, because the protests spanned the length and breadth of Kashmir valley and witnessed participation by a cross section of youth – from students to labourers, private sector employees to public servants and daily wagers to successful young entrepreneurs. 
While the coalition government bowed – and even fell following the withdrawal of support by the main ally Peoples Democratic Party – the protests also made it amply clear that return of secessionist sentiments in Kashmir just needs a provocation, an alibi to vent. The idea that development was an antidote to the separatist sentiment has once again been proven incorrect. The return of peace and normalcy to Kashmir recently has been a truth, but without serious efforts for a resolution to the actual problem and a government strategy to turn the status quo into a permanent solution to Kashmir makes this calm dangerously reversible.
To understand this nine-day uprising, its complexion and shocking intensity, it is essential to look at the frontlines of these stone pelting mobs that marched the streets. Here are few examples. 
Imtiyaz, a medical sciences graduate, was one among those thousands that chanted slogans while jostling with other protesters to hoist a green flag on the Clock Tower that Friday, despite heavy police and CRPF paramilitary presence, who looked on helplessly. 
The medic gives two main reasons for the spontaneous protests that drove him to the city centre. "There is perpetual anger against India that had remained inside our hearts over the past 18 years. This was a chance to vent it. We always felt subjugated by the occupation but our protests were divided. This time, we united to protest for a cause," says the wold be doctor. 
Drilling a hole in New Delhi's policies towards Kashmir, Imtiyaz says, "We trusted India when the peace process started. But what did it give us? Only disappointment! Those of us who argued in favour of India's peace initiative were proved wrong." He says that New Delhi had neglected the fact that 80,000 people had died in Kashmir. "They laid their lives while trying to secure a right. We can not forget their sacrifices," Imtiyaz asserts. 
To this central Kashmir youth, the Amarnath land transfer issue was just a trigger that prompted the youth to demonstrate their pent up anger. "The yatra has been there for many decades. No one ever objected. But the (union) home ministry, through the governor, tried to strengthen the occupation, and Amarnath was used as a tool. The plan was to create places inaccessible for a common Kashmiri and thus dilute our identity." Among those protesting was Feroze Ahmad Rah, a bus conductor from downtown Srinagar, shot dead by CRPF personnel at Nowhatta, near Srinagar's Jamia Masjid. A day later, Sameer Ahmad Batloo, a 23-year-old driver from Srinagar too was shot. But their families do not regret their deaths. 
"It (Amarnath land transfer) was a major issue," says Sameer's father, Ghulam Mohammad Batloo. "Today, they had occupied a piece of land in Pahalgam. Tomorrow they could reach our neighbourhoods and the next day drive us out of our houses." Adds his uncle, "Whoever died was destined to die. In the end, we won." 
Shakeel Ahmad Dar, a Bandipora youth, was among the 50,000 protesters who marched past army camps, chanting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans, besides voicing the demand for revocation of land transfer order. "I could not bear the sale of my country's land to a body that does not represent us. Who are the members of the Shrine Board? How many members are Kashmiri?" the 24-year-old questions. "I earn enough to feed my family and have employed three people. But the protest was not about employment. It was the question of our Kashmiri identity. When I heard that people across the state were protesting, I also decided to join them," he adds. 
Shakeel, who led the protests from his north Kashmir village to the nearby Bandipora town, had come to know about the developments in different parts of the valley from his friends. "Friends from different places contacted me on mobile phone and we exchanged SMSes about the situation. I would inform other people about what I knew from friends," says Shakeel. "The cable television and newspapers discussed the protests in great detail." 
Analysts say that this horizontal communication at individual levels about developments in particular areas played a major role in turning the protests that started from Kashmir University, into a mass uprising. 
While those who protested and survived consider it a moral victory, for the rest, who could not pelt stones, role playing happened a different way. Farooq Ahmad Rather, a history student at the post graduate department of Kashmir University could not protest. Due to the violence and police action, he and his friends had got stuck inside the campus. But the ferocity of stone pelting and the pitched battles fought with the police and security forces across the valley inspired Farooq to contribute 'in whatever way' he could. The youth, along with his colleagues at the university, donated blood for the treatment of injured. "There were many who were physically weaker than me. They were protesting out on the streets. I could not, because I was trapped here and any protest could have put the hostel's security at stake," he says, while sitting in the boys' hostel in Kashmir University. "I donated blood for the treatment of the injured." 
This south Kashmir boy has his own reasons for justifying the protest. "The Amarnath land transfer just became the immediate cause. There are other important factors like the occupation by Indian army and the sentiment of people for achieving freedom," says the history student. 
Adds Farooq's friend, Syed Adil Andrabi, a student at the department of Law at Kashmir University, "We had been receiving messages on cell phones that hospitals were short of blood as the number of injured was increasing. So we sat with the president of the student's union and decided to organise a blood donation camp." Adil says that the response to their initiative was higher than they had ever expected. "Whosoever we met or called on phone, consented to donate blood. Even girl boarders and the physically challenged students came forward." 
Adil believes that protesting against the land transfer was his 'right and duty as a Kashmiri.' "I would have pelted stones the way others did. But I was caught in this hostel and there was no way I could do that. So we came forward to donate blood." 
Separatists see the development as the beginning of a new era that would mark the end of the one that began in 1989, and saw hundreds of thousands alienated youth take to the streets to express their anguish. Sajad Gani Lone of People's Conference looks at the uprising as a takeover by the new generation from the previous one. "It is much more intense than 1989, and totally indigenous. It is a mass movement. The sentiments of secession seems to have percolated right down to the ground level," says Sajad, while adding that nine-day uprising had shifted the clout back to Kashmir. "The clout earlier was either in India or Pakistan. Keys to the resolution of the dispute have now come to Kashmir. What we saw in the nine days, I believe is not the end, and we will see this again, with higher frequency. May be the issues will be different." 
Sajad says that the biggest lesson is for the Indian State to learn. "Kashmiris came forward in the peace process, which failed to bear any fruit. But India apparently was unaware of the intensity of this sentiment. The Indian State has now learnt that the peace process has to be focused on the people of Kashmir." 
Separatist hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has lately been very critical of Pakistan's changed policy over Kashmir, views the developments as a message to the world that 'Kashmir's struggle is both indigenous and peaceful'. "The way people protested on the streets of Kashmir has proved two things. First is that our struggle is not dependent on Pakistan. The mass protests were completely blacked out by the Pakistan's media, but we still succeeded in achieving our goal. Second is that our struggle is not dependent on gun," says Geelani.
JKLF's Yaseen Malik has a different take on the situation. "I had been saying in Delhi as well as Islamabad that both the countries are under an illusion. They thought that Kashmiris are worn out, while the fact was that the two countries were pushing the Kashmiri nation to a new revolution. People have serious doubts regarding the institution of the peace process and it's necessary to speed up the peace process and resolve the Kashmir issue on a priority basis." 
While the ground situation is reflective of a strong resentment against New Delhi as well as Islamabad, whether the two countries listen to the streets in Kashmir will determine which way Kashmir will go in the coming days.