Security forces break backbone of stone pelters in Kashmir, more than 8000 arrested

[Asgard]

Kashmir witnesses biggest crackdown in two decades, more than 446 arrested in a week

WRITTEN BY BASHAARAT MASOOD | SRINAGAR |
Updated: October 8, 2016 9:27 PM

According to official figures of the state government, a total of 446 people have been arrested across Jammu and Kashmir in a week. Even as the state government struggles to contain the protests in the Valley even after 90 days of lock down, the longest in Kashmir’s history, it has launched the biggest crackdown in more than two decades, conducting nocturnal raids across Kashmir.
Since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, J-K police have officially arrested close to 7000 people in the valley while more than 450 people have been booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA), the highest number-ever in the Valley.
J-K police sources say that in addition to these figures, 1500 others are under detention in different police stations across Kashmir without any charges and their detention doesn’t reflect in the official records.
The official figures show that in the four districts of south Kashmir – Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama – the epicenter of current protests, more than 1821 civilians have been arrested and more than 500 detained under preventive detention. In central Kashmir – Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts – police have arrested close to 1700 persons and put more than 350 people under preventive detention. The number of arrests and preventive detentions in north Kashmir’s three districts – Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipore – is 1130 and 178 respectively.
The highest number of arrests have been made in Srinagar where more than a thousand people have been arrested and 129 put under preventive detention. This is followed by south Kashmir’s Pulwama district where more than 700 civilians have been arrested and close to 150 put under preventive detention. In Baramulla, the number of arrests and detentions is 671 and 63 respectively. The lowest number of arrests have been made in Kupwara district, the most volatile district in north Kashmir during the past three months. The official records show that more than 250 civilians were arrested and close to 100 detained in the district.
While in opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2010 raked up “unwarranted use” of Public Safety Act by the Omar Abdullah government as a major issue both in and outside the assembly, the party – now in power – has booked more than 450 people under the Public Safety Act in less than three months.
The figures reveal that police have submitted PSA dossiers against 560 people and have received approval for 483 cases. The Public Safety Act allows government to detain a person without trial for a period up to six months.
“Mehbooba Mufti has arrested more than 8000 youngesters including more than 700 under dreaded PSA & wants to sell Kashmir as a peaceful place,” Omar Abdullah tweeted. “It’s ridiculous that kids haven’t seen the inside of school for 3 months & the CM wants tourists to forget the turmoil & come visiting.”
The National Conference has accused Mehbooba Mufti-led government of breaking all the records of “oppression”. “Seven thousands youth have been arrested, PSA has been slapped on more than 500 and 2300 youth have been booked in fake cases. There is no space in the jails in Kashmir,” National Conference spokesman Junaid Azim said. “Mehbooba Mufti has broken the records of oppression that his father had made as Home Minister) of India”.
In north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, which was relatively calm this time, police have booked 107 people under the Act, the highest number in any district. This is followed by Pulwama where PSA has been slapped on more than 100 civilians. The lowest number of PSAs have been slapped in Ganderbal district where 18 people have been booked under it.
While the Deputy Commissioners of Baramulla, Kupwara, Anantnag, Budgam and Ganderbal have issued PSA warrants in all the cases, the deputy commissioner Pulwama has returned 18 dossiers to police.
J-K government spokesman and Education Minister Nayeem Akhtar justified the arrests saying it has been done “because we found ourselves in an unprecedented situation”.
“There is a difference, lot of difference between 2010 and 2016. Like the local leadership apparently is not in control, the leadership has gone to 10 and 12 year old boys. Those who lead are driven by the street. In 2010, they could assert and bring it back,” he said. “What we did (in 2010) is the role of opposition. I wish National Conference does the same but they have disappeared”.
First Published on: October 8, 2016 4:31 pm

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...two-decades-more-than-446-arrested-in-a-week/

@ranjeet @sarthak ganguly @Stephen Cohen

 

[Stephen Cohen]

Very good ; keep them in jail

They will realise what it means to mess with India

 

[Laozi]

I am sure that Pakistani would show gratitude to all these stone pelters.

BUT if Indian offers Pakistan to take these fellows to their part of Kashmir !!!!!

 

[Tipu7]

 

[Imran Khan]

how we know all 8000 are stone pelters

 

[Stephen Cohen]

View attachment 341878

You are fully entitled to your opinions ; but Kashmir is NOT going anywhere

I am apalled by the hate some Kashmiris have for us simply because of religion. It reflects a very sick and radicalised mindset. We have to keep such hateful ideologies in check, even if it means using military force

What is happening in Kashmir is just pure Political Islam

It is not about discrimination or lack of economic opportunities or unemployment or poverty

It has to be crushed with force

 

[Khan_21]

I am apalled by the hate some Kashmiris have for us simply because of religion. It reflects a very sick and radicalised mindset. We have to keep such hateful ideologies in check, even if it means using military force

Yeah sure neglect all the pain you have caused them . Killed someone's father , mother , husband or son . Thousands of unmarked graves are testament to brutality of Indian forces . There is a disconnect between delhi and Kashmir . Its not long before I see the kashmir of 90's come back with ak- 47's . Burhan wani was the cult hero they wanted . He is more popular in death than we was alive . Kind of a che Guevara figure for Kashmir .

How do you justify 80 day curfew by the way ?

 

[Stephen Cohen]

Then keep picking bodies....

Same to you ; our population is much larger AS is our economy

We can fight this war for ever

 

[Counterpunch]

You are fully entitled to your opinions ; but Kashmir is NOT going anywhere



What is happening in Kashmir is just pure Political Islam

It is not about discrimination or lack of economic opportunities or unemployment or poverty

It has to be crushed with force

I wouldn't say it is any wiser to resolve it the way it is being done. Use of force will only justify the echoing call of Azadi more and in no time the mindset of people can start seeing it as 'oppression' rather than the attempted 'policing'

Moreover, if the issue is only of 'Political Islam' then they should be even more cautious since it can quickly turn to its militarized version

So I will say Indian Govt should go softer and let the political setup handle it.

Same to you ; our population is much larger AS is our economy

We can fight this war for ever

Oh it is never about size of the population. Indians have historically been higher in numbers in the region yet they were ruled over for 1000 years by Muslims. Likewise, Afghans were a smaller nation as well as had poorest of economies yet they humiliated Brits, Russians and now the Americans.

So, that doesn't seem to hold true for the world where we live in

 

[Tipu7]

Same to you ; our population is much larger AS is our economy

We can fight this war for ever

Shame on you.
You have killed 120 people in Kashmir and every time talk about Uri Uri Uri?
If you are convicted to absorb every type of damage for keeping your already broken ''atoot aung'' then price will be big.
Pakistan have bled a lot. We no longer feel pain or weakness when we bleed. India does, a lot! We have seen in case of 18 casualties which India found too hard to digest. Imagine what will happen when 18 will change to 180 then 1800 and so on? Ultimately bringing war in region casting lives of 18000000?

That is why, India MUST compromise on Kashmir and stop being evil. Other wise, its India turn to pay the price.

 

[Stephen Cohen]

I wouldn't say it is any wiser to resolve it the way it is being done. Use of force will only justify the echoing call of Azadi more and in no time the mindset of people can start seeing it as 'oppression' rather than the attempted 'policing'

Moreover, if the issue is only of 'Political Islam' then they should be even more cautious since it can quickly turn to its militarized version

So I will say Indian Govt should go softer and let the political setup handle it.

We have tried our Best to mollify them and pacify them

Actually ONLY Five percent people are troublemakers

When more than Sixteen Crore Muslims can live in India
Why cant these Just 80 Lakh Kashmiri Muslims

The problem is the Geographical Contiguity with Pakistan
Since Pakistan is just next door ; they are obsessed with Pakistan

That has messed up their minds and ruined their lives

We too are determined not to give up Kashmir to Pakistan

No matter what happens

Oh it is never about size of the population. Indians have historically been higher in numbers in the region yet they were ruled over for 1000 years by Muslims. Likewise, Afghans were a smaller nation as well as had poorest of economies yet they humiliated Brits, Russians and now the Americans.

So, that doesn't seem to hold true for the world where we live in

It is SO easy to JUXTAPOSE facts and draw conclusions

In those times Hindus were divided Into HUNDREDS of Kingdoms

Today we are One United and very strong country

Which Pakistan just cannot defeat

Pakistan CANNOT take on the INDIAN ARMY

 

[Asgard]

Same to you ; our population is much larger AS is our economy

We can fight this war for ever

Even New York Times agreed with you in this 1999 article when the insurgency was at it's peak:

Pakistan lacks the power to wrest Kashmir from Indian control, but its active support enables the insurgency to continue indefinitely. India lacks the healing touch to solve the Kashmir conflict, but can withstand a low-intensity insurgency almost indefinitely.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/1999/02/2...ntractable-conflicts-in-a-nuclear-shadow.html

 

[Hindustani78]

I am apalled by the hate some Kashmiris have for us simply because of religion. It reflects a very sick and radicalised mindset. We have to keep such hateful ideologies in check, even if it means using military force

Actually this has nothing to do with religion from anywhere , Because Lakhs of Hindustani Muslims and Hindus gone to fight in Afghanistan during Anglo- Afghan wars via Kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir.

What we are witnessing in Jammu and Kashmir is nothing but low level proxy war in which the crowd is being used to create chaos and disturb the State religious Harmony which results in hampering the development of the masses and even the destruction of the state property.

Its makes me wonder , why would PM of Pakistan would talk about Burhan Wani who aged just 22 years old and was carrying an automatic gun which was nothing but to disturb the Amarnath yatra and then in the crowd of stone pelters , throws grenades on the security forces and even one grenade was thrown at the Pulwana air force base security guards which resulted in the deaths of 2 security personnels.

The real questions here are these from where these youths get automatic guns, grenades and who plan to take out rallies against the security forces.

I think Centre and Jammu and Kashmir Government should consider using heavy water cannons but in sensitive military areas it would not work .

 

[duhastmish]

Then keep picking bodies...........

View attachment 341881

Yes and you keep hiding yours. It's not one side story.you are facing more dead per day.

You have attacks on police station, hospital schools army camp every where. Your own supported monsters are hunting your own people.

 

[Spring Onion]

India is blinding young Kashmiri protesters – and no one will face justice

Two sets of images have haunted me these last few days. One is a series of photos of people splashing bucketloads of water to wash away blood from the streets of Kashmir, where Indian forces have shot dead at least 45 people since 9 July. Thousands came out to protest and mourn the death of a rebel leader who was killed in an encounter with the Indian army and police.

The other set of images is that of scores of young men with bandages on their eyes, before or after undergoing surgery to remove tiny steel pellets from their retinas. Indian forces deployed in Kashmir now routinely use pellet guns to stymie roadside demonstrations.

The first image is of something I have witnessed nearly all my life. The Indian troops and state police who enforce India’s rule over Kashmir have been shooting at Kashmiri protesters for as long as there have been protests. And that is a long, long time: 27 years if you count from the start of the armed and popular uprising against India in 1989; 70 if you chart the history of the subcontinent from 1947 when Kashmir was left unresolved as the British departed; and more than eight decades if you go back to July 1931, when the then king’s troops killed 22 protesters.

The second set of images is relatively new, as it’s the fruit of “non-lethal” weapons introduced in Kashmir in 2010. But the pictures haunt you nonetheless, as you peer into the bloodied, plum-sized eyes of those who suspect they may never see again.

Such is the ferocity of the response of the Indian military occupation to the latest uprising that nearly 2,000 people suffered grievous or moderate injuries in just two days. In some kind of revanchist frenzy, paramilitaries attacked ambulances, shattered windows and cut off intravenous drips. The government of India and its loyalist representatives have clamped down on communications, social media and civil liberties; there is a near-total curfew everywhere. Phones don’t ring in south Kashmir, where most of the killings took place, and the internet is mostly blocked.

A friend who’s visiting Kashmir reported that the “gravely ill can’t get to hospitals and can’t find medicines”. In short, yet another crushing siege in the decades-long relay of sieges. The world doesn’t need to know. India is a democracy.

In its intransigence over Kashmir, the Indian state has, among other things, waged a narrative war, in which it tells itself and its citizens via servile media, that there is no dispute, that it’s an internal matter – and whatever troubles there are in the idyllic valley are the work of jihadis from Pakistan. This gives the state easy demons to portray and then slay.

The Indian state now appears to believe its own fantasies, which it acts out by shooting its way out of a crisis every time Kashmiris voice their anger or political demands. It’s as though India must perform rituals of brutal violence on the Kashmiri body to keep it tamed.

In 2008, 60 people were shot when Kashmiris protested at the grant of hundreds of acres of land to a temple trust, because they believed this was an Indian attempt to change the demographic of their Muslim-majority region. In 2009, protests raged for weeks after the rape and murder of two female family members from Shopian in northern Kashmir was dismissed by the authorities as a drowning.

In 2010, 120 people, including teenagers, were butchered on the streets. Hundreds of families were devastated, gifted eternal grief by a draconian state. Not one member of the armed forces was charged, let alone convicted, for those killings. And that’s precisely why the soldiers kill again and again. That summer, when scores of adolescents were slain in the alleys, people gasped at the sheer scale of mayhem, but some also believed it might not happen again. It’s too much, I heard said.

Policymakers in Kashmir and Delhi then deliberated upon what kind of weapon to deploy on a people the majority of whom quite simply don’t want to be with India. They never have. The state came up with something that might thwart and injure protesters, but not kill them. A buckshot gun, a pellet grenade, a “non-lethal weapon”, we were told. The lexicon of conflict in a place such as Kashmir engenders normalisation of even the most ghastly thing. It felt to me then that many were relieved that Kashmir’s young would no longer face full-size deathly bullets, but tinier steel pellets instead. At least they won’t die, it was said.

Over the last week, doctors in Kashmir have performed about 150 eye surgeries to try to remove pellets from retinas. Most of the patients will lose their eyesight, one doctor said. “It’s a fate worse than death,” said another. No other country has wilfully blinded scores of youths.

Meanwhile the dead have been interred in martyrs’ graveyards. Most localities, in city and country, have one so as to remember their slain. Those wounded will live in partial or total darkness all their lives.

Kashmiris say Azadi – or independence – is an infinitely better option.
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...ing-kashmiri-protesters-justice-steel-pellets