Issue :   
February 2020 Edition of Power Politics is updated.
Issue:Feb' 2020

VOICES FROM THE VALLEY

Longing for the spirit of India !

Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao

Peace in Kashmir valley Till I landed in Srinagar in the afternoon of November 20th the narrative I heard or read about the situation in the Kashmir valley was frightening. Shut down in the valley, Kashmir is ready to burst, people in the valley are angry and are being held at the gun point by the security agencies schools and offices not working are some of the headlines in the media.
The statements of some of the leaders are that they are not allowed to move freely in the valley and are not permitted the people of their choice. There is no interaction with the outside world for Kashmiris as the communication channels are all closed. It is these reports which prompted me to join a group of nine others for a nine day visit to the Kashmir valley to find out the prevailing situation. Many of my well wishers asked me not to venture in to valley but I am now happy that I could come out with a factual position from the valley.

Our team, comprising members from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka covered all the ten districts of Kashmir including the media described terrorists-infested districts of Pulwama, Sophien, Anantnag, Sopore, Baramulla. We made it a point to visit all the places which were recently in news for terror related issues. Those include the area where CRPF personal were attacked by a vehicle laden bombs in Pulwama, the military cantonment of Uri where the sleeping soldiers were killed in grenade attack by suicidal terrorists from Pakistan, the Kokrenag area where the dreaded terrorist Burhan Vani was killed in an encounter. Nearly 70 villages and towns were visited and hundreds of Kashmiris were interview and talked to solicit the facts.

One issue which I fist wish to clarify is that there is no palpable tension in the valley at least now and in the areas we visited barring two isolated violence related incidents. In one incident the masked terrorist allegedly made a sudden appearance in the streets of Pulwama warning business people not to open the shops. The second one is where a village panchayat head and a government official were gunned down during J&K government sponsored back to village programme. Otherwise, the ground report from the valley is totally different from what media is projecting. It is totally normal and peaceful Kashmir valley through which our team happily rode.

The traders in both Uri and Baramulla and hoteliers in Srinagar said “tension prevailed in the first week of August when abrogation of Art 370 happened. It is a fact the valley was shut down till almost September end” but they clarified that “it was certainly not a voluntary closure but a shutdown out of fear.

The traders in both Uri and Baramulla and hoteliers in Srinagar said “tension prevailed in the first week of August when abrogation of Art 370 happened. It is a fact the valley was shut down till almost September end” but they clarified that “it was certainly not a voluntary closure but a shutdown out of fear. As the situation improved and security forces took over the law and order situation improved and no further fear psychosis hence this free activity”.

The business as usual was seen everywhere including the famous Lal Chowk area of Srinagar. People are busy buying the winter clothing and making arrangements in insulating the doors and windows of their homes from the biting cold. The ‘seconds’ market is so crowded that any Indian will be surprised to hear that they are visiting disturbed area of India.

We were in Srinagar when the Concern Citizen Group headed by former Union Minister Yashwanth Sinha made their visit to the valley. They said that their movements are restricted to the capital city by the security forces but we find that no such restrictions are imposed on any one. In the nine days we were in the valley no one stopped us at least once at any place. None was asked for the production of ID cards. No warnings were issued on our mobility. No questions were asked and this is a proof for current tension free conditions in the valley.

We crossed Uri cantonment check post and proceeded towards LOC and that was for the first time we were advised not to proceed beyond Salamabad village as they are expecting firing across LOC. Our team could visit the underground National Hydro Electric Project unit, a certain engineering marvel, a dam constructed to generate electricity after diverting the Jhelum waters through a tunnelled path. Our trip ended just 10-15 Kms before the LOC.

Nadeem Ahmed, a newspaper vendor and a owner of stationery shop for the last two decades in the main street of Baramulla, is happy that normalcy has come back much before expected and business is booming again. His only complaint is the non restoration of internet even after 100 days as most of the business these days happen through card payments.

The Kashmir people talked freely and were expressing their opinions without any fear. The Durga Nag Mandir Street in Srinagar, the only place, where exclusive vegetarian hotels are located and south Indian dosas are served, welcomed us to our surprise. The Gulab restaurant there is serving vegetarian food there since 1912. Krishna Dhaba which is visited by all most all sections of the society including local Muslims is run by Pandits at least for the last three generations. The owner of that Dhaba said that they closed their establishment till October as the workers failed to report out of fear after that it is business as usual and all are happy including the migrant workers there. One worker from Bihar claimed that he was working there for the last ten years. Similar is the experience of Rajinder Singh who runs a steel shop in the Main Bazar of Baramulla.

Nadeem Ahmed, a newspaper vendor and a owner of stationery shop for the last two decades in the main street of Baramulla, is happy that normalcy has come back much before expected and business is booming again. His only complaint is the non restoration of internet even after 100 days as most of the business these days happen through card payments.

Telephones are all working including our own south based phones albeit only post paid ones. News papers are coming out regularly. I purchased 16 English news dailies coming from Srinagar and I wonder how so many papers could sell if this state is really disturbed one. I don’t think that many English dailies are published in any other State Capital in India. There are no restrictions on the news publication in Kashmir valley and censorship was never intended by the authorities.

There are some who are very vocal like Izaz Ahmed, a shikara in Dal Lake who while oaring his boat was continuously talking about his feeling of pain over the current situation in the valley. Izaz represents a group of Kashmiris who wants neither to stay in India nor want to be part of Pakistan but to go back to the days of Maharaja. But he doesn’t have any clue on how they can get back POJK which was part of Maharaja Kingdom and how they can defend themselves from Pakistan invasion.

Those who want Maharaja Days have no clue of how they are getting back the POJK. They are also aware that J&K under India is better developed compared to the POJK. Some of them are unhappy as not only the special status was knocked out but they are reduced to UT state in one go. Though they are not having any knowledge regarding the special status and what they got through that status they feel that it is an emotional issue for them.

Surprisingly this pro Maharaja group are the worst critics of the political families of J&K. They all believe that “Abdhullas and Mufthis are the real culprits for the sad state of Kashmir and its people. They perpetuated their family power and also amassed wealth using the special status protection”.

The condition of Pandits who stayed back and religious structures of Hindus in the valley are bad. Pandits are living in fear and almost all major Hindu shrines are under Central force protection. The choultries of temples are now being used to accommodate CRPF and BSF units.

Those Kashmiris who are educated and have some sort of connection with other states of India are having totally positive view of the abrogation of Art.370. Ishar Bhat, a hotelier in Srinagar, who lived in Chennai and also in South Africa for some time is all in favour of abrogation of special status. He traces the terrorism to the special status and politics built on that.

“Because of secluded nature of Kashmir it is not growing fast as it is not attracting any investments from outside and locals are not skilled enough to start modern business. The absence of good infrastructure in the schools and lack of sport facilities is kids are becoming soft targets for the terror groups as they can easily lure the bored students through inducements such as 100 for a stone pelted on security forces”

On the other hand, terrorism hit the tourism in the valley and thus 40% of state income. The stone throwing is the only business that thrived in the last two years. No proper sport facilities in the schools. No cinema theatres. No music, no dance and even TV is prohibited. In the absence of any recreation post school hours the students are taking to stone pelting and the money are paid by terror groups became additional source of income to families. Now that the J&K police role is minimised and the rumour mongers, trouble makers, stone pelters are shifted to jails outside J&K, the families learnt the lesson and are now dissuading their kids.

The condition of Pandits who stayed back and religious structures of Hindus in the valley are bad. Pandits are living in fear and almost all major Hindu shrines are under Central force protection. The choultries of temples are now being used to accommodate CRPF and BSF units.

Every Kashmiri talks about ‘pride of Kashmir’ but unfortunately that pride excludes the Hindus of the valley and no group or political party is ready to take the blame for the massacre of the Pandits and their living as refugees in their own country. In every village one can see the burnt houses of Pandits and their religious places.

It is reported that almost 1000 places are devoid of a pandit home in valley. Pandits properties are occupied, or forced to make distress selling at a throw away prices and few businessmen in Srinagar valley developed a no investment innovative business of dismantling the windows, doors and other furniture left back by helpless pundit families and selling it a used furniture.

No attempt is made by successive governments in J&K either to protect abandoned properties of Hindus nor documenting the temples and protecting those structures. In a single word the Hindu community is left to fend themselves in Muslim dominated J&K and unfortunately no NGO, no human rights groups, no intellectuals ever took up the issue of Hindus of valley and even a feeble attempt by some Hindus to organise on behalf of Hindus are blamed as communal mongers out to disturb ‘the peace’ in the valley.

Few Hindu families who are living in places like Pattan, Baramulla are safe because of the strong presence of Sikh population there and associated Gurudwaras within the temple complex. A staffer of Gurudwara in Baramulla said that “whole Punjab will march to Srinagar if Sikhs are attacked in the valley and Muslims know that.”

Hindu families, who are living in places like Pattan, Baramulla, are safe because of the strong presence of Sikh population there and associated Gurudwaras within the temple complex. A staffer of Gurudwara in Baramulla said that “whole Punjab will march to Srinagar if Sikhs are attacked in the valley and Muslims know that.”

Unless an interaction with Kashmiris is established by the people from other states and start countering the terror narrative the political initiative of the current government may not succeed. Let people from other states in groups visit Kashmir valley as frequently as they can and visit Hindu shrines there. There are innumerable numbers of holy places for Hindus in valley besides the world famous Amarnath yatra.

So let us learn more about Kashmir valley. Feel about the greatness of Kashmir which was the main centre for Hinduism since times immemorial. It is now the duty of Indians to reclaim their connection with Kashmir and realise that Kashmir to Kanyakumari should not remain mere slogan but make it a reality.