Kashmiris: Homeless in Homeland

Aug 5, 2020

New Delhi: Generations have grown up hearing death rattle fade away in the mountains and valleys after the guns stop blazing. This is what Kashmir was and continues to remain as the most militarized region in the nation.

The abrogation of Article 370 and Art 35 A of the Indian Constitution last year on August 5 that was supposed to herald and usher in peace in the region has instead disemboweled the natives by disparaging and humiliating them further.

Probably mainland India in recent months may have for the first time experienced as to how it is to live in a prison like scenario where death stalks at every corner during the epidemic triggered lockdown, but for those living on the peripheries of this nation it has been a way of life for generations.

The alienation of the indigenous people of Kashmir region is complete and probably this is what the ruling dispensation at the centre- BJP wanted.

It is no brainer to understand that the present regime has no understanding of the socio-political complexity of any region in the Indian sub-continent.

Not just Kashmir which in itself requires a multidimensional handling, the present regime does not even understand or makes an attempt to study the socio-economic issues plaguing the nation.

Except for handling and managing headlines in the press, the BJP led government at the Centre till date has come up with a series of cropper in almost all of its moves made independently be it- demonetization or GST or Kashmir.

While the New Education Policy (NEP) flaws are slowly emerging out of the 500-page draft, the pains of demonetization and hasty implementation of an ill-conceived GST still send shivers amongst masses.

Most authoritarian leaders and bullies have an obsession with their images and that their very presence- even if it is through television or radio-should evoke a fear of a power among common people.

And this is what the ruling party BJP has tried to do in Kashmir by brazenly violating every laid down norm and political etiquettes. There was no discussion on the issue, and the aspirations of indigenous and the natives aspirations were bulldozed even as local political leaders were put under house arrest.

Trapped like any roadside bully in their moribund islands of street level ideas of using power to bludgeon people into submission, BJP which tom tommed as to how the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A would lead to prosperity in the region, has now nothing to show except quietly record the howls and cries and wails of people seeking self respect, self determination and justice.

It is not even an intangible panopticon in which the indigenous people of Kashmir are trapped in, for the past one year, voices from the region are stifled not just on the streets and roads and institutions but even in houses and cyberspaces.

In a total contradiction to the claims made by the Union Home Ministry, soon after the announcement of on the Kashmir issue, the internet was clamped down fearing a backlash and criticism by natives of the region.

Businesses have gone spiraling down, people have been rendered jobless, health and medical care is down in the dumps, educational institutions are just barely limping, affecting the studies of the young.

But the government except for churning out staged photo shoots of prosperity, after a year has no clue as to how to move forward.

It is now in a Zugzwang situation wherein it fears not just a backlash but a loss of face and in order to cover up its disastrous majoritarian and headline grabbing antics, it is now forced to clampdown and probably put out more armed forces personnel who may one day outnumber the local populace.

–India News Stream