Life by Curfew
Daanish Bin Nabi, a journalist living in Kashmir, recounts the last 51
days of horror in the valley as the curfew is finally lifted, only to be
re-imposed again after fresh agitations break out.
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Commander, Burhan Wani, was killed on
July 08, on the third day of Eid-ul-Fitr. The news broke at around 8:30 in the
evening. I was stuck in Sopore, my home town at the time and tried to reach
Tral, but to no avail as no taxi driver wanted to travel with me.
Our team at Rising Kashmir was on tenterhooks–assigning
stories and keeping track of all that was happening. By July 09, news started
pouring in that more boys were dying, literally taking the streets in a show of
solidarity to Wani. As the madness started to breakout, I was given the task of
taking charge of the online section of the newspaper as the online Editor Shah
Abbas, was stuck in south Kashmir. I could foresee what was coming. Living and
reporting from the valley has given me a fair perspective on how events usually
play out in such a scenario, but even my imagination failed to grasp the
magnanimity of what was about to break out. By the end of the day on July 09,
12 youth were killed and countless others were severely injured with pellet
wounds.
From that day onwards, the standard heading for any update
that we published on our website read, “Youth killed in …, death toll …”!
On July 10, I experienced horror first hand when I, along
with cameraman of Press TV, Aijaz Khan, photojournalist of Getty Images, Nazir,
and an editor of Greater Kashmir, Majid Maqbool, were beaten to pulp at the
SMHS hospital by enraged people, who first labelled us as CID agents and then
accused us of working for Indian media outlets. Working for either organization
(CID or Indian media organization) is a crime in Kashmir.
As soon as the news of our beating spread, thanks to the
social media, my family members started to panic. In a span of 15 minutes, my
mother called me twelve times asking about my condition. I was in severe pain,
but I pretended as if everything was fine with me. Since then, my worried
mother doesn’t call me to inquire about where I am. She doesn’t want to know
whether I am hit by pellet or a bullet. The only thing she now does, is to wait
for my evening call. And when I call her late in the night, she pauses to hear
the background noises and doesn’t ask anything till I say, “Mama be wotus
ghare, (Mom I reached home)”. It’s only then she relaxes and it’s only for few
hours, as I leave again very early next morning.
What about those mothers who can never again call their
sons?
I started to receive updates from Shah Abbas (Online Editor)
July 11 onwards. His updates would be mostly about the killed or injured persons.
Now, whenever my cellphone rings and the screen displays “Abbas Sahab calling”,
before answering the phone, I fervently hope that it is not about the number of
people dead. But most of the time that is exactly what it is. My heading for
the online update of the newspaper remains the same, only the toll and name of
the place changes.
The tough night-curfew was imposed from August 17. The first
casualty of the night-curfew was our colleague; the defence and security
reporter, Sumaiya Yousuf. She was beaten, harassed and abused by IPS officer,
Amod Ashok Nagpuri. Suddenly doing our jobs was hazardous. Senior fellow
editors, Faisul Yaseen, Sajad Kralyari, Adil Wani, Suhail Ahmed, Akmal Hanan
and Fayaz Wani all were nearly killed by the government forces while travelling
home during dead of the night.
The backbone of our organisation is our driver-cum-pastor,
Irshad Ahmed Khan, who has the heart of an Afghan. In the last 50 days, he has
not slept for more than 4-5 hours each day because everything has been on a
lockdown and the rest of the drivers are still unable to reach work. While
travelling home with Irshad on August 17, at 01:15 am, our office vehicle was
circle by at least 10 armed men in uniform, near old-secretariat, Srinagar. One
of our employees from the layout section, Feroz Ahmed, was sitting on the back
seat. The forces barked, “Who are you”? And “Where are you going”? Feroz
responded “Jinab thodi hi door mera ghar hai” (My house is very closer). The
armed men forcefully said, “get down and go by foot.” Irshad retorted back,
sending shivers down my spine, “Isko kutton se darr lagta hai” (He is afraid of
dogs). For a moment, I thought this is the last place that I will see in my
life, thinking the forces will either shower bullets or pellets on us, but
instead they let us go. Even our Editor-in-Chief, Shujaat Bukhari, was saved
twice from angered stone-pelting youth.
The grave situation of 2016 in Kashmir can be gauged by
another simple example. The veteran ever-young photojournalist Farooq Javed
Khan, who has been covering the conflict for past 30 years doesn’t go back home
or if he does, he is so afraid of going back, that he keeps calling all his
contacts before leaving so that he reaches safely. Even storytellers are not
safe in Kashmir at the moment. It is beyond any condemnation or comprehension.
But Life Goes On
One of the worst damages to come of this conflict is the
halt in education of the young. South Kashmir, that has seen the most violent
protests in the valley was the first to come up with the ingenious idea of
keeping the young ones safe and occupied by setting up voluntary curfew schools
for children. Adil Mir, a civil engineer from the Kulgam district was the first
one to set up one such place and says, “on August 01, after continuous one
month of curfew, I decided to teach my neighboring kids. Soon other educated
people from my neighbourhood joined me and we started to teach almost all the
students of the area and of different age groups.”
Most of the classes are being taught at homes of the
teachers. Taking a lesson from south Kashmir, Aarifa, aged 30, started a school
in Khanyar area of Srinagar district as well, she says, “I started the school
because Hurriyat has told us to teach our kids locally so that the education of
the kids does not suffer because of the turmoil.” Aarifa teaches class 7 and 8
students. Likewise, Khalid and Shuja have started a school in Rainwari area of
Srinagar district to teach kids.
Stressed Forces
While covering the 42nd straight day of curfew in heart of
Srinagar city, I got an opportunity to talk with a BSF personnel, who was
tasked to stop everyone who crosses the Budshah bridge in Lal Chowk. He
introduced himself as Ashok from Madhya Pradesh. A visibly irritated Ashok
said, “Why Burhan Wani had to die only in the month of July. He could have died
two month before or after the culmination of Amarnath Yatra.” I felt a bit
uneasy when he connected the killing of Burhan Wani with Amarnath Yatra. I
asked him why he thought so, “hamari duty sirf Amarnath Yatra ke liye thi.
Wahan pe hamein pata chala Burhan mar gaya, aur hamein is narak main duty laga
di. Main pareshaan hoon, Kashmiri kaisey itney time tak aandar band rehegein.
Main saara Hindustan gooma hoon par aaisa mainey kahin nahi dekha hai,” he
said, visibly tired and irritated.
A CRPF personnel whom I met in Rainwari was absolutely
clueless about why he was in Kashmir. When I tried to talk to him, his only
first and last question was, “Kashmir main kab election hai?”. Understanding
his naïvete, I simply said, “Yahan halaat kharab hai, election nahi hai.”He
only stared at me.
Present Situation
The overall situation presents a very gloomy picture. The
continuous curfew makes it difficult for the people to move from one place to
another or from home to hospitals. Important things such as food and living
resources are running out, but the curfew remains. The curfew, coupled with
communication blockade in Kashmir has already claimed the life of an
80-year-old kidney patient. As per reports, Abdul Waheed was on dialysis from
the last two years. On 15th August, his condition deteriorated and all that
could have saved him was an immediate dialysis. As it turned out, curfew and
mobile service suspension ensured that he didn’t get it done in time.
Tourist and marriage season in Kashmir has also crumbled.
Almost 300 to 500 weddings have been cancelled. Kashmir is known for its lavish
wedding affairs. The people who went ahead with their marriage programs have
curtailed the lavish Kashmiri wedding to a quick, no frills ceremony. The
families find it hard to shop so most brides/grooms have fled to Delhi and
other parts of India for their wedding shopping.
Kashmir’s economy lays shattered. Transport companies are at
a standstill and the fruit-markets remain closed. As per reports, in its almost
two months of curfew, Kashmir has suffered a whopping loss of over Rs 6,600
crores. This has been the valley’s longest spell of curfew and shutdown.
Political engagement
As far as political engagement is concerned, nothing has
been done on that front as well. However, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, flew
to New Delhi, to reach out to Modi government for a dialogue on, August 27, but
there are few takers for the “dialogue” on the ground. Peoples Democratic Party
itself is in confusion. While their party president in New Delhi, blamed the 05
per cent people and Pakistan, back home, the party issued a press release,
asking octogenarian Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Geelani, to give Mehbooba Mufti a
chance. What happens next on the political landscape in Kashmir remains to be seen.
Curfew Lifted and
Re-imposed
The 51-day long curfew was lifted on 29 August in Kashmir.
This spell of curfew was the longest in long turmoil history of Kashmir. Even
though, the ex-chief minister of the state, GM Shah, was known for imposing
curfews in Kashmir at the smallest of pretexts between 1984-1986, but the
longest curfew under his regime, according to historians, only exceeded from 15
days to a month. By imposing the 51-day long curfew Mehbooba Mufti has only
added another feather to her growing hawkish-image as an administrator among
the people.
However, the ground situation has changed drastically in
Kashmir. As soon as the curfew was officially lifted, sporadic protests were
witnessed all around the valley. As per reports, protests in erupted in Ajas,
Bandipora; police and forces re-imposed restrictions in major parts of old
city, Srinagar, after clashes erupted between protesters and forces. There were
clashes in Kaloosa, Mazhama, Budgam. Also scores of people were injured as government
forces fired pellets and tear smoke shells on protesters at Kremshera area of
central Kashmir’s Budgam district. How Mehbooba Mufti deals with the
deteriorating situation on ground remains to be seen.
Kashmir has seen everything in the last 52-days and almost
every journalist has his or her own tale to share. We leave our homes in the
wee hours of the morning to avoid stone pelting youth and the wrath of the
curfew-imposing government forces, not knowing whether we will see our family
members again or they will see us on a hospital bed.
While filing this story, my phone has been ringing again, it
is not Abbas Sahab, but another journalist, saying that an 18-year-old boy has
been shot dead in Pulwama. My heading for the update begins again, “Youth
killed in …, death toll …” only place and toll changed.
Published on 30
August 2016 in Sbcltr