Kashmir | News & Discussions.

[Spring Onion]

'Instructor in the art of killing'

A young soldier recently stationed in Indian-administered Kashmir describes the feelings of soldiers braving the cold at high altitudes as they wait to intercept militants.



We have to go out, again. It is not easy going out night after night but I cannot really help feeling the debilitating effects of the cold.





First impressions of Kashmir
Extra-judicial killings

Our group comprises two different sets of people.


One has the newcomers in it, the load carriers, who are being introduced to this kind of terrain and this way of operation.

They are young boys from 18 to 22 years old.

Then there are the old timers, men who have served their time here and are familiar with the surroundings and must be good since they have survived this long.

Tedious

I am a newcomer, not to this kind of operation but to this kind of terrain.

I slowly become accustomed to the cold, devise methods to ward off sleep, and have also begun to decipher shadows in the night, separating the real from the imaginary.



When we do kill somebody, we rejoice and dance and hug each other



Your views on this article


It is quite tedious going out in the cold waiting, hoping for him to come out of nowhere... So that we can kill him.

Every experienced soldier has a young one with him as his buddy. I also have a young boy with me. He is just a few months older than 19, comes from a family of farmers somewhere in central India, and joined the army to provide them with a livelihood.

I teach him the tricks of the trade: what to carry, what not to carry, how to wear his shoes so that they do not cut him, how many layers of clothing to wear so that we can remain warm and still not hindered when we want to move fast, what position to wait in so that we do not tire very fast, how to aim and fire so that the enemy may not escape... And many other seemingly trivial details.

But when you are in a life and death situation, attention to detail can save lives - it could be the difference between this young man retuning home to see his family again or him returning home dead.

I had always thought that I would enjoy teaching - but that was when I was thinking about teaching English literature.

Here I am, teaching a young boy barely out of his teens how to kill - without fear, without pity, without remorse - just the way I was taught.

'Art of killing'

After sometime the higher cause becomes obscure. After sometime you just start accepting the fact that every night we go out like primitive hunters hoping for a kill - it becomes a very natural thing to do, part of the routine.

When we do kill somebody, we rejoice and dance and hug each other and pose with the dead body as if it was some trophy to be shown off. But we stop being human.


Soldiers have to be ever-watchful for militant attacks

As I sit there in the night, waiting... I think to myself 'how did it all come to this?'

From a young boy who wanted to teach English literature, how did I end up becoming an instructor in the art of killing?
Since when did death stop affecting me, when did I become so numb? I do not know... No answer comes.

What I do know is that somewhere along the line I made decisions in life which have resulted me being here... In the dark, in the jungle, in the cold... Waiting...


The soldier wished to remain anonymous.


BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'Instructor in the art of killing'

 

[fhassan]

The Indian army has sure been busy.

May Allah save us from such evil.

Ameen.

 

[Spring Onion]

Brother I-DUNE can u tel me one thing? Does this lady knows wat is written on those posters. They r in english.. where i can see, this lady seems to be uneducated and does't understand english. You can give anything to her and she will display. I have doubt on credibilty of this news....

The poster is for the world to know the brutalities of your Indian Army not for this woman as she already know your killer Indian army has killed her husband.

 

[adrenalin]

I am new here, though not very new in this world. I would like to share a personal experience. I was in London for a project work, and I shared a 4BHK with a Pakistani. Let's call him XXX. The house was shared by a bloke from Portugal, one Chinese, Pakistani bhai and me an Indian.

We got along better than guys here in India, I am acquainted with.

There was no propaganda, no hate filled talk, no talks about how we were proud of our countries. We lived as one, shared meals, boozed, smoked, talked of white chicks, and even visited Gentleman's Club.

Now @idune, you gotta read "Lojja" (SHAME) by Taslima Nasreen, before commenting on atrocities by Indian Army. At the end of the day, we all are Wolves. We all are Humans.

 

[lamayuru]

I came across this website and some associated content (videos/podcasts) showing to a large extent, how India has been high handed in its approach to solving the Kashmir problem, which she has thought fit over engaging the locals with a little more finesse. It basically has to do with how people in Kashmir Valley are using video mobiles and internet to report the so far under (un?) reported. My question to this audience would be whether such graphic detail helps anyone's cause in the end, or is it more fuel to the fire.

BBC World Service - Documentaries - New media in Kashmir

 

[lamayuru]

New media in Kashmir

The conflict in Kashmir has been reported over the years through traditional media channels like newspapers, radio and television, but over the two years there has been an explosion of citizen journalism.

Young men armed with their mobile phones are capturing every disturbance in the disputed state of Kashmir in an effort to combat what they see as restrictive policing.

In doing so, they have sent their images from phone to phone and loaded them on to the internet to reach an audience way beyond their borders.

The most famous of these is footage taken by a 15-year-old of mobile phone salesman Shaheed Tanveer after he was shot during a protest in 2008.

This footage of the incident, posted on YouTube, has subsequently become an important video for the disputed state's "cyber activists."

This documentary tells the story of new media communication in Indian administered Kashmir

Producer Suvojit Bagchi, a correspondent with BBC World Service based in Delhi, India meets the people behind the mobile phones and assesses the impact of their work.

New Media in Kashmir is part of the World Stories series. These are five individual documentaries made by BBC language service producers about the region they come from.

First broadcast on Friday 28 August 2009.

 

[Nemesis]

Please look into the East Pakistan atrocity and genocide threads - plenty of rebuttals have been provided to the claims made about East Pakistan, and stay on topic please.

I was merely pointing out that the Indian army has never been accused of Genocide. It is on topic because i'm trying to suggest how futile it is to discuss such a topic when counter claims can be made about our neighbouring armies.

PS - You talk of rebuttals, are you suggesting that the "stories" posted here by propaganda sites have not been refuted?

 

[gogbot]

Omar Abdullah is again like his father an Indian puppet.

But still he spoke against Indian attrocities in Held Kashmir on some occasions.

Omar Abdullah is one of the few good Cm's , he is no puppet. If he says this stuff you have been posting, then why should i not believe him.

No one is perfect including Indian Army. I can quote examples in history where even when many army's had the best of intentions they ended up doing more harm then good. I admit there have been incidents but not to the level you describe.

It is historically known that using an army as a police force is not a good idea. The army is a blunt instrument when it comes to policing.
The only way this violence stops is when infiltrators into India, from Pakistan. stops and the army no longer need to police each city and district and can do what ever army's do between war's. And a local police fore is put in full command. That need to be the first step before Kashmir can share in India's economic growth more effectively. And the live of all Indians can improve.

Or Pakistani can keep pointing here whilst being the indirect cause.
You are morally in the same Grey as India. If you really care about what is happening to the Kashmir people, then convince your army to help India rid terrorism operating from their side.

Or you can just continue listing all the violence for what ever purpose

If Kashmir people, Indian citizens have been wronged than i expect, no demand action.
Omar Abdullah is out for the best interests of Kashmir people. He was elected by them to lead them.

India as the only stable Democracy in the region needs to set the morale standards by which countries are governed.

So I ask you stop this thread now, and move on to something that is actually relevant to India Defence

 

[EjazR]

It may be true... But I'm saying that freedom struggle or no freedom struggle, what do Kashmiris have to fear from fasting due to the separatists? That is unless they were hiding from the Indian Army!

Well in the valley, they have a tradition of this drummer who wakes people up for sehri. Because militancy was quite high and it was more likely to get shot at in the night, this tradition was not followed for 2 decades. Now that this has come down and most people have given up militancy, these drummers can continue that tradition.

I think this is a positive article for both India and Pakistan. Without Pakistan's commitment in closing down militant training camps and organizations, particularly during the Musharraf years, the situation would not have been like it is today.

So I believe both countries should be commended on this development.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Listened to this segment on BBC service on NPR in the US.

The segment mentioned this particular video as being massively popular and having a strong impact on Kashmiris.

Very emotional -

Let the Kashmiris decide their destiny as promised them!

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

There is no 'stereotype' to reinforce here - the Kashmiris were promised self determination to choose which nation they wished to be a part of, and they need to be allowed to exercise that right.

 

[arihant]

There is no 'stereotype' to reinforce here - the Kashmiris were promised self determination to choose which nation they wished to be a part of, and they need to be allowed to exercise that right.

By seperating Gilgit-Baluchistan. By attacking in the independent Kashmir. Sending Terrorist to kill Kashmiris...

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

By seperating Gilgit-Baluchistan. By attacking in the independent Kashmir. Sending Terrorist to kill Kashmiris...

1. Gilgit-Baluchistan has not been integrated into Pakistan - merely given autonomy, and since the UNSC resolutions cover it, a plebiscite would be held there as well.

I fail to see what your point about G-B has to do with the Indian denial of the right to self determination for Kashmir mandated by the UN and agreed to by India and Pakistan.

2. No terrorists have been sent into Kashmir - the insurgents are fighting an Indian occupation, since it is India that has reneged on its commitment to the right of self determination and unilaterally integrated J&K into India.

True that some insurgents have crossed the line and killed innocents, but many more innocents have been raped, tortured and killed by Indian occupation forces.

 

[jarnee]

Obsession of kashmir has brought Pakistan to what it is today..

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Obsession of kashmir has brought Pakistan to what it is today..

The US invasion of Afghanistan has brought Pakistan to where it is today.

But keep sidetracking the issue instead of introspecting and ending the occupation and allowing the Kashmiris self determination to resolve the dispute.