Breaking will of Kashmiris to fight

Jagtar Singh

Unlike militancy in Punjab, the struggle in Kashmir has two dimensions.

The  political struggle was triggered to maintain status quo under Article 370 that accorded special status to what earlier was the state of Jammu and Kashmir that acceded to India under treaty of accession. The Assembly elections rigged by Delhi over time to install stooges and in 1989 in particular was one of the reasons that sparked the armed struggle as the second dimension.

In Punjab, the armed struggle initially was for the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution of 1973 on which the agitation had been launched on August 4, 1982 by the Shiromani Akali Dal and taken over by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The two struggles were going on in different political spaces.

In Kashmir, despite the fact that Article 370 has not been the agenda of militants, the struggles have been complementary.

Despite other avenues available and the last minute talks, the army attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex code-named Operation Bluestar in the first week of June 1984 was ordered to break the will of the Sikhs by insulting and humiliating them.

It was planned in such a way that the generals at the top who executed this design of the Indian State were the Sikhs.

A strip was pasted on the historic gat of Darshani Deodi of Darbar Sahib with three words written in caps- UNDER ARMY OCCUPATION- after the operation was over on June 6. (Jagtar Singh: Khalistan Struggle A Non-movement, p 7)

The ruling Congress strategized the humiliation of the Sikhs first in November 1982 during Asiad in Delhi. The Sikhs, men and women, passing though Haryana from every side were subjected to insults and humiliation. This is a matter of record.

The Sikhs in the border areas faced humiliation in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar during Operation Woodrose under which search operations were launched in the countryside by the armed forces. Entire village would be made to stand out in the open under hot June sun as part of the search operations. Most of the young Sikhs crossed over to Pakistan during that period.

The Sikhs, however, had never taken the position that they were not Indians.

It is different in case of Kashmir. It was the so called mainstream leadership propped up by Delhi that was of Kashmiri Indians. It is that very leadership that has now been detained, pushing them to the camp of the Azadi demanding Kashmiris.

There might be several statements of these leaders including Farooq Abdullah supporting the cause of Hurriyat. But then so was the case with Parkash Singh Badal in Punjab whose statements are on record in favour of the militants. He also signed the memorandum demanding Khalistan submitted to the United Nations.

The mainstream political leaders sailing in two boats as part of the tactics to survive in the states where such struggles are going on is normal.

Armed struggle in Kashmir is backed by mass support and it is in this context that the strategy to break the will of the people comes in.

Kashmiris have been subjected total domination by the security forces since August 5. Although denied by the official spokespersons, reports have appeared of the way people have been subjected to humiliation. Offering lollypops after humiliating them is unlikely to achieve the desired results.

India witnessed massive development by way of railways and highways under British rule. One section of Indians sided with the rulers and that has happened in the history of this region all along. Development is not the anti-dote to political ambitions of the people.

Kashmir continues to be far from normal despite the claims of traffic jams by a section of the pro-government media.

The unfortunate part of this narrative is that majority of people in rest of India (except Punjab) are virtually celebrating what can be described as the subjugation of Kashmiris.

It is only when ‘normalcy’ is restored that it would be known whether the will of the Kashmiris to fight has been broken or not.

At the level of the human rights, however, Kashmir is getting globalised with total support from the radical Sikh organisations.