This appeared on September 5th
It has been one month since article 370 was abrogated, the state of Jammu and Kashmir bifurcated, and a virtual communication clampdown imposed on the people of Kashmir. On the reportage out of Kashmir there are mixed signals, with most of the Indian press suggesting all is mostly well, and the western press suggesting violence, bubbling civilian anger, and cases of brutality. Each side has strongly defended their reportage, saying that the other side is conducting a propaganda war. And, there is no way for ordinary citizens to confirm who is lying, and to what extent – because the people of Kashmir have been cut off from communicating with the outside world.
Since August 5th there has been a complete clamp down on communication from the valley – with landlines, mobile phones, and the internet shut off for most of the time. The Indian government believes that the presence of communication would help terrorists, and supporters of aazadi congregate and create more violence. The external affairs minister, S Jaishnkar had commented, “I would be delighted to know how do we cut off communications between the terrorists and their masters on the one hand, but keep the internet open for other people?”. However, it is unlikely that ordinary people impacted by this clampdown will see the logic in this statement.
We don’t lock up all men, just because 99% of all rapes are committed by men. We don’t ban cars on the road, because we haven’t figured out a way of ensuring unsafe drivers are kept off the streets – India incidentally tops the world in the number of deaths in the road. We can come up with a list of such absurd solutions to life threatening problems, all of which involve locking up large chunks of the population to keep them safe. In the end, the fact remains, you cannot say a people are free and safe because you have them under lockdown.
There are others who defend this clampdown by claiming that people in Jammu, and Ladakh have full access to communication, and question why some of us are focusing on the clampdown in the valley. And, the answer is simple, if this can happen to some citizens in India, this can happen with other citizens in India. You need to be bothered about the rights of Kashmiris, because it has a bearing on your own rights.
What is even more dismaying is the glee with which some people very influential people on social media discuss Kashmir. The “they deserve this” “but what about the Kashmiri pandits – who heard their voices?” responses are fast and furious. Also the sense of denial that there is something fundamentally wrong in gagging a whole population because some people may cause violence. The lack of empathy for the people of Kashmir is only matched by the sense of ownership of the land of Kashmir. And, that is deeply scary. Is this how a certain vocal section of India see the remaining states – lands bereft of people on which they can impose their view?
The core role of the state is to provide security for its citizens to go about their everyday lives. If you clampdown on every day life and say “look how secure people are” it doesn’t really work. Being imprisoned in your own homes, without access to the outside world does not count as being secure. The longer the clampdown continues, the more the anger and resentment will simmer. And, the more likely it is for more clampdowns to happen.
One month down, there is no sign of the clampdown being lifted, although reports suggest that the home minister has said that it would be eased in the next 15-20 days. That would be 50 days with little or no contact with the outside world – being stuck with your own thoughts, fears, and insecurities. How do you think people would respond when these restrictions are lifted? How would you react if you were placed in relative isolation for 50 days – no net. No phone. Little freedom of movement?
For people in Kashmir, their life is on pause, with little information on when it will resume playing normally. For the people in rest of India, a little bit of empathy to your fellow citizens will help. 7 million people isolated from their loved ones, and the rest of India is not the best way of proving that the abrogation of article 370 will bring equal rights to the people of the land, and make them equal partners in progress and development.