The epic struggle

The people of Kashmir are adding yet another chapter to an epic they have written with their blood during the last 63 years. At the forefront of the resistance is a new generation of youth, who do not have affiliations with any political party. They have also been joined by other sections of the population.
There are pictures of mothers collecting stones for the boys or hurling them on police as it enters the residential areas. There are also pictures of young boys of school going age lending a helping hand.
The present wave of popular resistance started three months back. So far about 80 Kashmiris, mostly young men but also including women and children, have laid down their lives adding to a grand tally that was computed by local NGOs in 2005 to be 84,000 and which must have risen considerably by now. More Kashmiris have died fighting for their cause than in any other freedom struggle.
Anyone who sees the pictures of the stone-pelting youth can see rage writ large on their faces. They are too young to have been indoctrinated by any extremist group. They do not carry the flags of any political party, nor do they raise slogans peculiar to Jihadis or nationalists. Their only slogan, which now resounds in the entire valley is "Azadi", ie freedom from the Indian rule. The green flag with a crescent, carried by some in the protest marches, symbolises their burning desire for liberation from the Indian yoke.
It is not difficult to identify the factors that have led to the building up of rage. While lack of economic opportunities for the youth is a definite cause of alienation, there are other potent factors that transcend narrow economic considerations. The young Kashmiris opt for resistance instead of looking into papers or surfing the Internet for job vacancies. There is a widespread and humiliating feeling of being treated as a subject nation in a colony acquired by an invading army through force.
During curfews that have become all too common during the last three months, people going out to fetch food or medicines have been beaten up most mercilessly irrespective of their age or gender. For most of the time during the period access to Internet has been barred, people not allowed to receive or send text messages and local news channels banned. This sends the message that India controls everything.
An estimated 350,000 Indian troops are stationed in the Indian-occupied Kashmir along with 200,000 paramilitary personnel. The presence of such a big force all over Kashmir is a major cause of resentment. Those in the khaki act like an occupation force that follows the policy of breaking the will of the people through acts of humiliation, torture and killing. During the recent upsurge a seven-year-old child was beaten to death for brick batting. A recent video of young Kashmiris forced to parade naked amid taunts and abusive remarks by army jawans is available on the net and is an example of the humiliation to which the Kashmiris are being subjected. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) provides a carte blanche to the security forces to practice atrocities. Kashmiris are picked up as separatists and terrorists, taken to interrogation centres, tortured and killed. Others get shot during protests and in staged encounters. The army enjoys protection under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA).
Rape is used by the Indian security forces as an instrument in psychological warfare aimed at breaking the morale of the Kashmiris. Last year, a judicial probe into the rape and murder of two women, which had triggered massive protests across Kashmir pointed to the involvement of police. But so far no police official has been identified or punished for the crime.
Kashmiris have protested after every killing or report of a rape without succeeding to bring those responsible to justice. They see no end to atrocities while promises by the state government to rein in the security agencies remain unfulfilled.
The Indian government has used all types of tricks to keep the Kashmiris under their thumb. In 2008, New Delhi held elections in the valley hoping to control the population through elected representatives co-opted by it. With overall turnout figures soaring above 60 percent, policy-maker in the Indian capital felt elated. But it soon became clear that the Kashmiris, who had turned out to vote, had not embraced the Indian rule.
With the scale of militancy coming down last year, Indian government developed an unrealistic confidence in the policy it was pursuing in Kashmir. In December last year, New Delhi announced pulling out 30,000 soldiers on internal security duties in Rajouri and Poonch. This failed to have any impact as hundreds of thousands troops remained deployed in rest of the districts in Indian-controlled Kashmir. What is more, there was no end to atrocities by the security forces. In early February, a boy was killed by a teargas shell fired by police. During protests that followed five days later, the Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead 16-year-old Zahid Farooq Sheikh. An army enquiry subsequently proved the boy was innocent.
The killing of 17-year-old Tufail Ahmad Mattoo, attacked and killed by J&K police in Srinagar on June 11 turned out to be the spark that puts the prairie on fire. With every passing week and month, the wave of resentment has intensified and spread to new towns and even villages. With 16 Kashmiris killed on Sunday, the number of mortal casualties has reached 84 within three months. The unarmed protestors are causing more problems to India, than the earlier wave of militancy. Manmohan Singh can no more claim that the incidents are being orchestrated by Pakistan. Attempts to put down the upsurge of a popular anti-India sentiment by sheer force exposes India's claim as the biggest democracy in the world.
There is a need on the part of India to settle the issue of Kashmir through an out of box solution. Any formula has, however, to be in line with the aspirations of the Kashmiris to succeed. Claiming that Kashmir is an integral part of India and rejecting solutions that do not fit into the Indian constitution won't do. Since Pakistan is also a party in the dispute New Delhi has to initiate serious talks with Islamabad which it has continued to avoid for more than a year.