Kashmir – after the orgy of stones, pellets & tit-for-tat killings

 ‘Every man’s death diminishes me.’ I quoted these words of 17^th century poet John Donne in 2010 when Kashmir Valley  was witnessing an equally blood spilling summer as this year’s, which hopefully  is coming to an end only if the politicking rabble rousers would allow. A hundred days of unrest with over 80 deaths is more than enough. The toll is awesome. Even one death is too many.

The killing of pro-Pakistan firebrand youth Burhan Wani in July was ostensibly the trigger for  this blood shot season but the cause and consequence are evidently much deeper. Equally clear is the fact that both cause and effect need cooler heads shunning  provocative appeals or resort to stones and gun pellets. While the longer term solution will take time, political heads across the valley and the sub-continent need to re-start the dialogue, interrupted the nth time, a shorter term reduction.

For a start, the use of pellet guns or 12-bore guns which eject splinter shots as a crowd control  weapon should be outlawed, not just in Kashmir but anywhere in the country or world. Civil protests need civil remedies, not an impatient jump to lethal weapons. The administration’s response should be calibrated and gradual. Peaceful marches should be allowed and protesters allowed to use their lung power and shout slogans.

Water cannons should be employed in the first instance if the protesters turn unruly  and refuse to disperse in defiance of official appeals on loud hailers and other modes of persuasion. Water cannons will definitely cool down good numbers of  protesters who will start melting away after one, two or more  charges.

The die-hards can be tackled with  normal policing -- baton or lathi charges assisted by mounted police (on horse) if necessary. In case of  protesters indulging in stone throwing or other violent acts, tear gas and laughing gas, yes laughing gas  -- ask the chemical gas experts, should be tried to turn the tables on the demonstrators.

A small number of hard core protesters could always be there to the bitter end for whom rubber bullets, not rifle shots or pellet guns, may  be necessary. And the police, paramilitary or other personnel must be trained to shoot below the waist and not shoot wildly.  A recent report has suggested that the CRPF men operating in Kashmir and elsewhere are too fat and bad shots for the demanding job that they have to deliver.

Pellet guns and other deadlier weapons like hand grenades and the rest should  be used only against armed militants and infiltrators prowling along the Line of Control or sneaking into the interior.

Such a calibrated approach for crowd control under the command of capable officers with well trained men on the ground could go a long way in avoiding the death toll and injury casualties that are national loss and shame. The events of this summer, undoubtedly the work of agents provocateur from across the LoC, are nevertheless a blot on our democracy.  We shouldn’t let them succeed, certainly we shouldn’t  let them bleed us. Kashmiri lives are our lives and the eyes of  the Valley youths are our eyes. Let nobody blind them. And torching  of  our valley schools is equally unacceptable. Let nobody deprive our children of their right to education. We can’t let down this generation of our children to go without schooling.

Step Number Two  for us is to have a relook at Afspa  (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) which has been in force since 1990.  It has been a standing irritant to all sides for too long. A comprehensive rethink of this measure which has lasted more than a quarter century is long overdue. It calls for a gradual overhaul.

To begin with Afspa’s extensive visibility needs to be reduced. The posting of gun-carrying paramilitary personnel at Lal Chowk in Srinagar or along the Dal Lake Boulevard and other popular spots across the Valley  in full glare of the civilian population does no good to anybody. Billet the armed men  inside offices or buildings from where they can be called out at moment’s notice, if needed in emergency. This constant display of adversarial imagery must be avoided at all costs. Make no mistake, such display of CRPF and other paramilitary presence is highly adversarial in character. It is equally damaging to the psyche of the poor men in military style uniforms. 

The visible presence of uniformed men should be strictly left to the J & K state police personnel.

Gradually when the tempers cool down, as they had cooled down during the previous five years before this year’s eruption, step by step  removal of Afspa forces and regulations from parts of the Valley and interior areas should be undertaken as a demonstration of mutual confidence. The presence of armed forces should primarily be along the Line of Control and border areas. Such steps could have been taken during the previous five years when the so-called militancy was negligible. The opportunity was missed. But soon when it comes up again, it should be taken up with both hands as a show of mutual confidence between the civilian population and the paramilitary forces. The centre and state governments need to accept this challenge with courage and confidence. The nation has erred on the side of caution for too long.

And finally an all-out Indo-Pak dialogue, currently at its nadir since the mid-September Uri strikes, counter-strikes and tit-for-tat killings across the LoC, must be revived. The two neighbours did move a lot closer to each other during the leadership of Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh, and General Pervez Musharraf but internal circumstances conspired against peace. That wider search for peace and dialogue must resume. Peace is not only possible, it is inevitable. India and Pakistan cannot go on bleeding each other forever. If Europe can establish peace after hundred year wars, so can we.