New Delhi’s attitude is like that of a repeat offender. It proved this again with its violation of Pakistani airspace on February 26, 2019. Since this is a developing story, let us highlight the issue of terrorism on Indian soil and Kashmir movement which India terms as insurgency.
Despite seizing global attention, the high voltage tension between Pakistan and India after India’s indigenously carried out Pulwama attack is not as dangerous as it sounds. This I have learnt from the big bharti mindset. India is prone to accusing Pakistan of sheltering terrorists. This is not the first time that India has accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorist activities on their land. After its failure to contest Pulwana attack, Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has decided to give a “free hand” to the Indian army so it could take retaliatory action for Pulwama and withdrew Pakistan’s status of Most Favoured Nation. One must ask the Indian Premier to, first of all, mind India’s own attitude, tackle its internal issues, and guard its sensitive points carefully without blaming others.
Before blaming Pakistan for backing terrorism on its land, India should review its own dark history. India, in an attempt to neutralise secessionist movements on its soil, has drastically failed in complying with democratic norms and has been flagrantly disregarding human rights in it its different states, including occupied Kashmir. The country has also supplemented its violent approach by introducing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which allows security forces an almost free hand in arresting or shooting anyone during insurgency.
An recap shows that AFSPA was first introduced in 1966 by then PM Indira Gandhi to suppress the Mizo’s movement for right to determination. Decades have gone by, but the act remains in force, and is enforced in Jammu and Kashmir (JK) and some other parts of northeastern India.
A comprehensive study of India’s political units is bursting with a culture of insurgencies. As per the study, India’s history is stained by its suppressive policies exercised on its own soil. The worst was the two-decade long Mizo rebellion from 1966 to 1986, Mizo’s identity conflict, in which the Mizo National Front (MNF) fought to establish an independent country while the Indian government used violent tactics including airstrikes against its own citizens to suppress their right to determination.
Talking about the atrocities he had experienced at the hands of the Indian state, a former Mizo militant named C. Zama wrote in his book Untold Atrocity how the Indian government used its “grouping” policy, under which villages in what is now Mizoram state, were burned and civilians relocated to guarded centers called Protected and Progressive Villages. Zama in his book endorsed that the Indian government has kept the trend of that massacre alive in Kashmir. All that has changed is that male members are being picked up, tortured, arrested, and killed while women are grouped outside and abused. An additional assault included in the law is the Public Safety Act, which denies people the right to protest and allows the government to put a person behind bars for six months without a trial.
Obviously, such moves will leave deep psychological scars in the minds of Kashmiris. This trauma will not be forgotten even if someday they are given their right to self-determination.
Supposing there is some truth to India’s allegation, shouldn’t the accusers reflect on their own actions as well? What is going on in the states of Assam, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Mizoram and Nagaland? Those rebellions are certainly not being instigated by Pakistan
The Mizos lost their struggle as their movement was crushed by Indian state machinery, however they still mourn the loss of their identity by singing “Khawkhawm Hla” or “Grouping Song”. The tune emerged during the period between 1966-1986. The song was composed by the Mizo rebels, who rose in revolt against the Indian government. Even today, Indian historians, journalists, and human rights activists will admit that in 1968, when the grieving song of revolution Khaw Sawihawm Hla was aired for the first time on radio, it made the listeners openly weep as the song transmits the agony of villagers, who were typically given a day’s notice to prepare for such groupings. Resultantly, in the space of twenty four hours, they had to leave their homes, their fields, their domestic animals, and everything that had given them a sense of security and identity.
Today Kashmiris are being subject to the same treatment, while India accuses Pakistan of exporting terrorism to India. Supposing there is some truth to this allegation, shouldn’t the accusers reflect on their own actions as well? What is going on in the states of Assam, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Mizoram and Nagaland? Those rebellions are certainly not being instigated by Pakistan.
In the same way, the Jharkhand Liberation Tigers (JLT) was formed idealising the legendry comrade Birsa Munda as its spiritual commander while two Naxalite outfits, Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and The People’s War Group (PWG) and the Peoples’ Liberation Front of India (PLFI) was not being operated in Jharkhand by any Pakistani but was established to fight for the rights of the common people. Similarly, Paresh Barua of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was not trained by any Pakistani, but was leading the movement for an independent state.
Finally, the founder of Naxalist movement, Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal were also products of the Indian caste system. Sikhs too, can never ever bury the Golden temple carnage, an act of cold-blooded genocide carried out by the so-called secular and democratic Indian government.
It will not be surprising if someday Dalits or the scheduled castes and Adivasis or Aborigines, who make up 8.6 percent of India’s population, rise to the occasion as well. If this happens, then the movement will tear apart the so-called brand of modern, secular, and democratic India into fractions beyond a single political state.
As per India’s geographical terror and unrest statistics, there were thousands of communal riots during the past 70 years, right from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari. It is India’s policies that have repeatedly compelled the Indian masses to revolt against or seek a separate state within the state. In fact, insurgencies are affecting 220 districts, constituting about 40 percent of physical India, which is about 92,000 square kilometres. It will be unwise if I don’t mention the anti-Muslim hostilities fashioned by the far-right nationalists as well.
India continues to tag the Kashmiris liberation movement as separatist rebellion, which actually is an active freedom movement for their right to determination. The current situation in Kashmir underscores a need for Pakistan to generate global opinion in favour of the Kashmiri movement.
Lenin once said, “movements cannot be like sweet fruits that can be gobbled up easily. It should be based on an ideology, for that we need dedicated activist to create people’s opinion. And above all it should be endorsed by an effortless majority.”
Today’s Kashmiris have all the factors to press forth with their freedom movement. Once achieved, the result will be a worst case surge scenario and will leave an irrevocable impact on India unlike any other movements in Indian history.
The writer is a Karachi based multimedia journalist
Published in Daily Times, March 1st 2019.