BBC has come up with a footage
claiming the Indian forces fired tear gas and firearms at a 'rally' in
Srinagar. The government is denying it and has asked for evidence from BBC and
Al Jazeera.
It is difficult for
people to believe the government's version of 'truth', unless they want to
blindly support the government. At the same time it is very difficult for
people to believe the BBC or Al Jazeera, because both have peddled fake news in
the past, on multiple occasions. Al Jazeera is particularly notorious for being
under the thumb of the Qatari government and toeing its line on geopolitics.
From fake news on Syrian Civil War to conspiracy theory on Jewish advance
warning on 9/11, AJ has done it all.
Now coming to the video.
Let us assume that the video posted is indeed genuine. Let us assume that there
was firing as it can be heard in the video. Let us assume tear gas was fired as
claimed in the video and report. The question one should ask oneself is what
were the people protesting for? How were the protests carried out? Why was
there a need to fire? Was this protest unexpected? Was this protest different
from the earlier protests in Kashmir?
What were the people protesting for?
Obviously the people
were protesting the abrogation of Article 370. We have seen many videos and reports
in multiple news channels, where Kashmiris have shown supporting the move by
the government. But like any government decision there would be people who
would not support that. It is not really a surprise that Kashmiris have come
out in protest over the move. In fact what happened is exactly on predicted
lines. There is no element of shock or surprise here.
How were the protests carried out?
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| We want the terrorists to succeed |
In the video we see a
large group of people, all most entirely made up of men, marching down streets.
They are carrying flags, banners, sticks and stones. The banners they are
carrying call for freedom and reinstating Article 370. Such grievance protests
are okay and probably the Kashmiris have a right to carry them out. The flags
at the ‘rally’ are what makes this protest anything but peaceful. The flags of
Jaish E Mohammad (Lit. Army of Mohammad), flags of Pakistan, flags of Azad Kashmir
(Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) can be seen. One should ask oneself, if abrogation
of Article 370 was the core issue, why were people waving flags of JeM, an
organisation that has carried out multiple terror attacks in Kashmir? Was this
a protest against abrogation of Article 370 or a support march for a globally
designated terror organisation?
As if flags of a terror
outfit was not enough, we also see posters of Islamic State’s ‘Wilayah Hind’(province/region
of India). The poster shows Sayar Ahmed, alias Abu Jareer, who was killed
by the security forces in June this year. People in the video can be heard
shouting the name of Zakir Musa multiple times. Zakir
Musa (also killed in 2019) was the chief of Ansar Gazwatul Hind, an Al
Qaeda affiliate. The Arabic name, Ansar Gazwatul Hind literally
means, ‘supporters of invasion of India’. This refers to the saying of the
Prophet (the Hadiths) where he promised paradise to the people who would invade
Hind (India).
Towards the very end of
the video we see a man standing atop a building, shouting slogans. His first cry
is, ‘Hum kya chaahte..?’(what do we want?) and the crowd responds with ‘aazadi’
(freedom). His second cry is, ‘aazadi ka matlab kya?’ (what does freedom means?)
and the crowd responds, ‘La Ilaha Il allah’ (there is no other god but Allah).
These are two standards slogans/war cries used by Kashmiris during their
protests. The call for freedom from India and the religious slogan denying the
existence of other gods/faiths over Islam.
The call for an Islamic
Kashmir is not new. It has been there since the beginning of militancy in the
Valley in the early 90s. Slogans like, ‘Kashmir me rehna hoga, Allahu Akbar
kehna hoga’ (If you want to live in Kashmir, you have to say, Allahu Akbar, a
call for conversion of Hindus to Islam) were raised. More sinister slogans were
used in the 90s to drive away the Hindus from the Valley. These included,
Kashir banawon Pakistan, Bataw Varaie, Batneiw Saan’ (Kashmir will become
Pakistan, with Pandit women, but without their men), ‘Yaha kya chalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa’
(What will work here, the law of Sharia). The same sentiments prevail today.
Just there there are hardly any Hindus left in the Valley to drive out. The
narrative has now shifted to Azadi. But the religious elements remain intact.
The liberals who get a
chill down their spines at the thought of the imaginary ‘Hindu Rashtra’ are
blissfully unaware of demands of a Sharia State in Kashmir. These people watch fictions
like Ghoul and Leila and go around discussing how dreadful the current scenario
is. At the same time they are either deliberately silent or ignorant of what is
happening in Kashmir.
Why was there a need to fire?
As during many protests
in Kashmir, the security forces use fire arms as the last resort, when either
their own lives are in danger or the crowd is jeopardising an ongoing terrorist
encounter. Since the BBC video is an edited version of their raw footage, we
have no means to ascertain whether the protestors got violent and the use of
fire arms by the forces were a response to the provocation by the protestors.
We can either believe the BBC blindly or wait for more information.
Was this protest different from the earlier protests in Kashmir?
Not really. The protests
in the video follow the standard template of any other protest in Kashmir. Go to
Friday prayers, finish the prayers, come out, shout slogans, wear a mask, raise
ISIS flags, pelt the security forces with stones, get injured in retaliatory
measures, play victim.
Among other things
Many people are angry
that the government is hiding information from the people. It is a genuine ask.
We as citizens of the country have the right to know what is happening in our
country. The lack of information from the government is forcing people to seek
information elsewhere. An information gap is what leads to people believing fake
news.
Recently Siddharth
Vardharajan of The Wire, filed a report on how security
forces have fired pellet guns on people and they have lost their eye sight. No
one can say with full authority that the situation in Kashmir valley is ideal.
But to go and file a report which is nothing a but a bunch of lies, is a totally
different thing. The video shows interviews with people who claim to have been
the victims of pellet gun wounds. However none of them have so much as a scar
on their faces. Yet they claim that their eyes have been injured. Such malicious
reports will make people believe anything as long as there is no credible information
from the government.
People are also upset because
they think abrogation of Article 370 is against the wish of the people of
Kashmir valley. They think that such a move will not integrate Kashmir into India.
They think this move will further alienate the Kashmiris. All of the above
concerns might be true. But let us not forget that these are concerns only for
the people of the Valley. Let us not forget that the abrogation of Article 370
also impacted the regions of Jammu and Ladakh. People in these regions are
overwhelmingly happy with the step. Ladakh has been demanding a Union Territory
status for a very long time. What about the aspirations and demands of people
outside the Valley?
People are also saying
that since the Valley clearly is against the abrogation of Article 370, it
should not have been done. The move would only lead to further violence and an
increase in militancy. This is a stupid argument. Since when did fear of
violence has stopped governments from taking steps in larger public interest? The
recent episode of entry of women of menstruating age in Sabarimala temple is a
case in point. There were large scale protests by women across the state of
Kerala against the Supreme Court ruling. An overwhelming majority of women in
Kerala and many southern states were against letting women of menstrual age into
the temple. Yet, the State government tried to implement the order of the Supreme
Court. The people who are now angry as to why the voices of people are not heard,
were angry then because people were voicing their concerns against a Court
order.
We are entitled to
information on the situation in Kashmir. The government is not doing a great job
by allegedly denying or supressing the information of unrest in Kashmir. We
have all the rights to know what is happening. But at the same time, we should
take a moment and ask ourselves, ‘are we really upset about the absence of the
news or are we inadvertently supporting a rabid religious movement which was
responsible for genocide? Do we support the terror organisations and their sympathisers?
The choice is ours.
