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Indian Authorities Struggle to Control Widening Kashmir Protests | Asia | English

In Indian Kashmir, authorities are struggling to control spiraling street protests, which have led to the death of more than 45 people in the past six weeks. It is the worst violence in two years.

Undeterred by strict curfews, thousands of residents have been pouring into the streets across the Kashmir valley in recent weeks, chanting anti-India slogans.

The marches erupted to protest the death of a young man who was hit by a tear gas shell in June. Efforts to quell the demonstrations have only fed the violence, as clashes between heavily armed security personnel and young people hurling stones have led to more deaths, and more protests.

The protesters target police stations and security bunkers. They have burned police vehicles, attacked rail stations and other government buildings.

The violence has jolted Indian authorities, who were optimistic that the relative calm in Kashmir in recent years signaled the end of a separatist insurgency that wracked the region in the 1990s.


Political analysts say there is a difference between then and now. While the violence in the 1990s was stoked by Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups, this time the protests are largely spontaneous local gatherings.

Youthful rage

Amitabh Mattoo is professor of disarmament studies at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. He says what is visible on the streets of Kashmir is the rage of young people who grew up during the conflict, and who do not see enough opportunity.

"You have a generation of young people who have already witnessed 20 years of conflict, violence, often been sequestered in their homes, faced harassment, not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel…. All this is buried in a sense of Kashmiri victimhood, a sense of Kashmiri deprivation, a sense that justice has not been done to them either politically or economically," says Mattoo.

The escalating protests have prompted the government to pour thousands more troops into a region that is already heavily militarized.

Shoot at sight orders have been issued to control the volatile situation.

But the presence of more security forces only stokes the anger.

Jammu and Kashmir's chief minister, Omar Abdullah, took power 18 months ago pledging to reduce the size of the military in the state. He says more security forces had to be deployed to restore law and order.

"Unfortunately, as much as one wishes not to have to resort to the use of force, when people take it upon themselves to take the law into their own hands, there are consequences to such decisions, and often times those consequences are serious and tragic," says Abdullah.

Those tragic consequences have led to the deaths of more than a score of young people, many of them the result of gun fire by the security forces. Hundreds of security personnel have been wounded.

Lack of training

Amitabh Mattoo says the situation has deteriorated because the security forces are not trained to handle civilian protests.

"Unfortunately the police in Jammu and Kashmir, including paramilitary forces, have really for last 20 years been forces which have countered an insurgency, countered a militancy," Mattoo adds. "And they do not know quite how to deal with protests that are by almost unarmed civilians or armed with just rocks and stones…. Certainly in the 21st century you have to ensure that people who are not armed with guns are not killed because of their protests."

Both the state and federal government have appealed to the demonstrators to end the protests and break the cycle of violence. A prominent separatist leader in the state, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, has also called on people to hold only peaceful protests.

Indian leaders promise to address the grievances of the demonstrators once the violence ends. In parliament this week, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said the government will initiate a political process in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

"We recognize that the issues concerning Jammu and Kashmir are issues concerning our own people, and have to be addressed through the political process and through a dialogue with all sections of people in Jammu and Kashmir," said Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

Skepticism remains

But in Kashmir, there is skepticism about those promises. Kashmir has long demanded more autonomy, more development and the withdrawal of security forces from the region – but has seen little progress on those requests for decades.

The Himalayan region is divided between India and Pakistan, and lies at the heart of a bitter dispute between them.

Another media outlet joins in! India has lost control, it will lose in any forceful effort to put down this protest. India will have to give in to some demands of Kashmiris, sooner or later.
 
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:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:,i think pakistan has suffered a lot frm terror or u can say pak is burnt a lot due to terror.where was ur technique dude.

we are getting off the track
btw who is terrorized ... nobody get terrorized of these attacks now ....have u seen the bomb blast in data darbar have u seen how many ppl were standing there after attack and the very next day thousands of ppl performed their prayers there.
pakistan's public is not like lil afraid mice ....when there is no terror there is no burning ... u got one attack in mumbai and u started crying ... huh... now tell me whose terrorized :lol:...........
 
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All you have been dreaming of Kashmir leaving India for the past 6 decades.I f yu had showed the same enthusiasm for developing your nation you would have probably been par with any of the asian giants.Why do you worry so much for a territory which yu people even never had in the first place.Its not not as if you were there first and then someone stole it.You never had it
 
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All you have been dreaming of Kashmir leaving India for the past 6 decades.I f yu had showed the same enthusiasm for developing your nation you would have probably been par with any of the asian giants.Why do you worry so much for a territory which yu people even never had in the first place.Its not not as if you were there first and then someone stole it.You never had it

sir 62 years are nothing in the history of a nation .... we can fight for it for next 10 centuries ..... himmate mardan maddad e khuda .... till the victory
 
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sir 62 years are nothing in the history of a nation .... we can fight for it for next 10 centuries ..... himmate mardan maddad e khuda .... till the victory

Thats really great but ask the same thing to your fellow citizens who are already facing enough problems already .I am pretty sure 10 centuries of fight with a nation who has far more resources at hand than yours isnt something you or your fellow citizens will wish for.Why not forget all and become a partner in the rise of asia.Just take the recent example of flood in your nation ,if you had good relationship with India,Indian helis would have been able to prvide relief easily and would have saved a lot of lives
 
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we are getting off the track
btw who is terrorized ... nobody get terrorized of these attacks now ....have u seen the bomb blast in data darbar have u seen how many ppl were standing there after attack and the very next day thousands of ppl performed their prayers there.
pakistan's public is not like lil afraid mice ....when there is no terror there is no burning ... u got one attack in mumbai and u started crying ... huh... now tell me whose terrorized :lol:...........

we stood united after mumbai attacks.
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here in mubai thousands walked together.

B_Id_122693_Mumbai_attack.jpg


and whole nation salutes them
 
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sir 62 years are nothing in the history of a nation .... we can fight for it for next 10 centuries ..... himmate mardan maddad e khuda .... till the victory

and we will continue to protect it till the last day of the earth.:azn::azn:
 
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For last 62 years many live in zaid hamid type dreams and illusions that India will break or kashmir will break away from India but they always fall flat.

We have survived when we don't have money and resources and world don't listen to us. We will rock with our secularism, democracy, US $2 trillion economy.
 
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For last 62 years many live in zaid hamid type dreams and illusions that India will break or kashmir will break away from India but they always fall flat.

We have survived when we don't have money and resources and world don't listen to us. We will rock with our secularism, democracy, US $2 trillion economy.

zion hamid was saying "india is at the verge of breaking into parts.":rofl::rofl:.i m afraid of this guy.
 
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@asim : your ability to consistently get a kick out of this issue amazes me :)
Your spineless attempts to deflect away from the topic at hand does not amuse me. You can discuss me in your own free time, don't derail the thread.
 
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49 deaths later, Omar reaches out

After 55 days of street protests and police action which left 49 dead and more than a thousand injured, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah finally reached out to the people, visiting the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar today to check on the injured and face, for the first time, public anger.

Abdullah didn’t, however, risk driving to the hospital and flew there in a helicopter instead. The government kept the visit under wraps to avoid trouble.

Srinagar city was relatively quiet today, a day after separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani urged people not to indulge in stone-throwing or acts of arson.

Geelani’s call had ensured that even the funeral of a protester in the volatile Chanapora-Natipora neighbourhood Thursday passed off peacefully despite the presence of a massive crowd. The Geelani appeal opened a little window for the government but it seemed slow in seizing this opportunity.

In Pulwama, where protesters were addressed today by Geelani via telephone, police and CRPF personnel opened fire, killing 23-year-old Shabir Ahmad Malik and leaving six others injured. The firing took place after people refused to stop marching towards Zadoora village where Mohammad Yaqoob Bhat had been killed in firing last Sunday.

In Srinagar, scrap dealer Ghulam Nabi Badyari (48), critically injured in police firing late last night in the Ganpatyar locality, succumbed to injuries this morning.

This afternoon, Omar Abdullah flew to SKIMS to visit the ICU where several critically injured are being treated. “Since no one is allowed inside the ICU, we sit in the corridor outside. In the afternoon, we were told to move away from the ICU ward. They told us that the

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49 deaths later, Omar finally reaches out

Director (of SKIMS) was going to visit the ward,” said Firdous Ahmad, an attendant. “But suddenly somebody said Omar Abdullah was here. People immediately assembled outside the ward and started shouting slogans.”

Abdullah, who was accompanied by Minister of State for Health Javed Ahmad Dar, Director SKIMS Dr Abdul Hameed Zargar and senior officials, also took stock of the availability of medicines and life-saving drugs. SKIMS Medical Superintendent Dr Amin Tabish told The Indian Express that one hundred injured had been admitted to the hospital. Of these, 65 had been operated upon.

When Abdullah stepped out of the ward, he was heckled by women who blamed him for their plight. Eyewitnesses said that when the attendants confronted him in the corridor, police officers pushed them aside but Abdullah asked them to let the families talk to him. Despite being shouted at, he didn’t utter a word in response.

“I told him you are responsible for all this. You have given orders to kill our children. I told him there is blood on your hands. I asked him why was he here to rub salt on our wounds,” said Zahida Nabi whose son Fida Nabi, injured in police firing in the HMT neighbourhood, is battling for life. “I told him you have permitted them (police) to open fire on our children... I said if you are CM, why don’t you take the side of the people? Why are you silent?” she said.
 
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naah, no intention of derailing the thread and no idea how my remark could've even done that. neway.
 
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The admissions by an Indian writer on Desi Critics is huge. Indians will have to let go of Kashmir. Sooner or later the Kashmiris will beat out their freedom from them.
 
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I think this situation is going to blow over jus like the amarnath land row but i wish gud luck to all those member who time & again raise this issue in the hope of conquring kashmir even tho they are not able to control there lawless pashtunland but its none of my biznes to talk abt. that issue
I hope these incidents can only keep the moral of these members high as there is nothing gud happening in there own country....................................
 
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