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INDIA: Calls for Troop Reduction Follow Rape, Murder in Kashmir
By Athar Parvaiz
SRINAGAR, Jun 30 (IPS) - The alleged rape and murder of two women by Indian troops in the remote
Shopian district of Kashmir state has triggered renewed calls for demilitarisation
of the Indian part of Kashmir, with street protests running for close to a month
now.
The bodies of Neelofar and her sister-in-law Aasiya were discovered in a
stream on May 30 - a day after they went missing, sparking off massive
protests across the state.
The agitations come at a time when relations between India and Pakistan -
which have divided Kashmir but lay claim on the entire territory - seem on
the mend.
Kashmir has remained a bone of contention between India and Pakistan ever
since the two countries achieved freedom from British rule and were divided
along religious lines in 1947. Presently one-third of Kashmir’s territory is
with Pakistan while the rest is under Indian control.
Ever since the partition Kashmiris have urged India and Pakistan to resolve
the issue in consultation with them. An armed rebellion against Indian rule in
Kashmir has also been going on since 1989. More than 60,000 people are
reported to have died in the conflict as per official estimates.
India and Pakistan had started a peace process in January 2004 to resolve all
outstanding issues including the contentious, Kashmir issue. Barring a few
minor hitches, the composite dialogue continued till the Mumbai terror
strikes on Nov. 26, 2008.
India has accused "some elements in Pakistan" of masterminding the attack
which had the effect of bringing the composite dialogue between the two
countries to a halt. However, Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari and Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met on the sidelines of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Yekaterinburg-Russia on Jun. 16.
Interestingly, Singh raised the issue of terrorism and asked Pakistan to deliver
on the promises to combat terror as demanded by India. Both leaders agreed
to resume the stalled dialogue.
"Of course, terrorism has become the core issue between India and Pakistan,
but delivering on Kashmir on the part of India is as important as delivering on
terrorism is important for Pakistan," says Prof. Gul Wani, a political scientist at
Kashmir University.
"Having more troops in Kashmir at a time when a peaceful political movement
is going on here, is going to have a negative impact on India’s image as one
of the major powers in the world," Wani told IPS. "It is very difficult for a
democracy to fight a peaceful protest movement by military means."
Hamida Nayeem of the Kashmir Centre for Social-peace and Development
Studies (KCSDS) contends that "the recent spurt in human rights violations,
which has seen people getting humiliated and killed should serve as an eye-
opener for the government of India" that the situation is grave.
"All these incidents should be convincing enough for them to start troop
withdrawal at least in the civilian areas," says Hameeda adding that the
culprits behind the Shopian incidents should be handed down exemplary
punishment.
"Since the officials of the Indian military claim that there are only about 800
militants left in Kashmir, then where is the need to maintain more than
500,000 troops in Kashmir?" Hameeda argues.
Wani extended the conduct of two peaceful elections - one for the state
assembly and also the general elections - as additional reasons why the time
was right for troop withdrawals.
Intriguingly, the government employees’ Joint Action Committee (EJAC) has
also thrown its weight around the troop-withdrawal demand saying the
government should initiate measures for withdrawing security forces from
civilian areas.
In fact, government employees have joined the peaceful protests wearing
black armbands as a mark of protest against heavy troop deployment in rural
areas which they said was responsible for Shopian- like incidents.
"More than the government servants, we are human beings and the natives of
this land. We feel that the presence of security forces in civilian areas creates
a situation wherein unfortunate incidents occur," the president of EJAC, Abdul
Qayoom, told IPS.
Troop withdrawal, release of political prisoners and revocation of the
draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) are among demands
being consistently made by separatist leaders.
The head of a faction of Kashmiri’s main political alliance, All Parties Hurriyat
(Freedom) Conference (APHC), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said: "New Delhi should
start immediate measures for withdrawing troops from Kashmir in a phased
manner and revoke AFSPA. Apart from this political leaders should be allowed
to hold public contact programmes."
Mirwaiz and other separatist leaders including the chairman of another
faction of the APHC, Syed Ali Geelani, Liberation Front Chairman Yasin Malik
and several other leaders from the pro-freedom camp have either been put
under house arrest or sent to jail after the Shopian incident triggered
widespread agitation all across Kashmir.
The government has ordered a judicial probe into the incident and its interim
report filed a week ago suggested that action should be taken against police
officials for "destroying evidence" and possible involvement in the crime.
Accordingly the state government ordered the suspension of five police
officials on Jun. 22.
(END/2009)
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