Crimson soil: Resistance

[Part 4 in a series by guest author San’aa Sultan]

Any place where occupation and tyranny are the norm, living becomes an act of resistance. For many, resistance amounts to the act of throwing a stone. Indian security forces in KashmirIn Kashmir, resistance takes many forms besides pelting stones.

In early March 2013, young Kashmiris took to the streets early in the morning to paint the roads red and to raise their red ribbons and flags in protest to demand the return of the mortal remains of Afzal Guru.

Later in the day Indian forces washed away the red from the streets of Srinagar and other parts of the valley, but the Kashmiris had made their point.

We will not forget, nor will we give up.

Actions like these are not only innovative but also capture the attention of onlookers globally. Young, active Kashmiris recognize the need for the world to be aware of their plight. Bloggers, poets, musicians, and rappers are rising from Kashmir to tell the story of their torn youth and to advocate the cause of their people.

In Kashmir, resistance has become a way of life for generation after generation of people who have learned to rise from beneath the jackboots of foreign troops in new and creative ways. In the words of one young Kashmiri blogger, Abdul Wajid: “Writing; it was not my cup of tea; never.

“But then a blood-splattered summer arrived and my darling vale started bleeding with my people trampled under the anonymous jackboots.

“As a part of reprisal, some brethren picked up guns while other took stones but the blood bullets left no one breathing. So I picked up a pen.”

San’aa Sultan

Crimson soil: AFSPA

[Part 3 in a series by guest author, San’aa Sultan]

India is viewed as the world’s largest democracy, a progressive nation, and a rising and powerful country. This success story, however, hides its human rights record.

Kashmir protest
Kashmir protest. Photo used with permission.

In the occupied territory of Kashmir, human rights are almost out of reach for the general population. Safety within one’s own home is not guaranteed, nor is the right to a dignified life.

In contrast, the perpetrators of the abuse are allowed to roam free under a draconian law known as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

The AFSPA allows the occupying forces the right to:

  • Shoot to kill
  • Arrest without warrant
  • Detain without time limitations.

The law also forbids the prosecution of soldiers without an approval from central government, which is rarely granted. This has allowed the army to develop systematic methods of violating the Kashmiri population which include torture and rape.

This widespread use of violence against a population of 12 million without any hope of justice not only abuses Kashmiris physically and mentally, but also acts as a source of psychological trauma.

The never ending cycle of perpetration and what subsequently amounts to justification of injustice is harming Kashmir. Women, men, and children who have suffered loss over many decades have not had their cries heard nor their pain eased. Instead, it has deepened.

Today I ask, why is it that their pain is veiled by silence? Why is it that the world does not call for an end to the use of such draconian laws that subdue our people? Are we not ultimately one and the same?

The AFPSA and similar laws around the world must be brought to an end if we wish for justice to prevail. Freedom from occupation will never truly come without the implementation of justice.

San’aa Sultan

Crimson soil: A land under curfew

[Part 2 in a series by guest author, San’aa Sultan]

Map of Kashmir
Image used under CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Recently, Kashmir was home to a siege, a communication blackout, and a media gag. Indian forces patrolled the streets. The world’s largest open air prison, Kashmir had more foreign troops on her soil than her own population.

The curfew was implemented the morning of the execution of Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri charged with involvement in the 2001 Delhi attacks.

Although Guru was not allowed a fair trial or legal representation and all evidence was circumstantial, the world’s largest democracy chose to hang him in order to satisfy the collective conscience of its people.

Perhaps the illegal execution of Guru amounted to satisfaction in India, but in Kashmir it was a day of mourning.

Guru’s family was not notified of his execution date and a letter did not reach them until some days later. However, the news of his execution had already gripped a Kashmir that was shackled by the chains of curfew.

Medicines were not allowed into the valley and the ill were to face humiliating checkpoints every inch of the route to hospital. Doctors in Kashmir were told not to declare the dead as “dead.”

Babies were expected to go hungry as milk was not delivered. Families trapped within their homes planned to extend their supplies through the duration of a curfew whose end was not yet in sight.

Kashmir mourned the death of another son and those who broke the curfew in defiance of Indian forces were brutally attacked. Hundreds were injured and at least three martyred.

As this took place, the communication blockade allowed the rest of the world to be very much uninformed about the events taking place in Kashmir.

A mother’s cry could not be heard by her son across the valley, and the world carried on as normal.

San’aa Sultan

Crimson soil: A forgotten struggle (Part 1)

By guest author, San’aa Sultan

Between the folds of two nuclear states lies a valley of forsaken people whose struggle is yet to be told beyond its borders. Kashmir. A place where the crimson soil is still screaming to be heard.

Barbed wire in Kashmir
Hazratbal Srinagar Kashmir. Photo by Abdul Basit, used by permission.

Although the land is shared amongst India, Pakistan, and China, regions of peace and war are easy to identify. The Indian occupied Kashmir comprising the Kashmir Valley, Ladakh, and Jammu, is home to the world’s highest concentration of troops. There are more Indian troops positioned here than NATO troops in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

At the hands of this brutal presence, the people of Kashmir have suffered oppression for many decades, spreading far beyond the separation of India. In the name of national security and what may be described as India’s self-prescribed “War of Terror,” the worlds’ largest democracy has continued to perpetrate unimaginable human rights abuses in Kashmir.

The names of Aasiya and Neelofar, two ill-fated young Kashmiri women who were gang raped and murdered are known across the valley. The families of eight year old Sameer Ahmed Rah who was beaten to death by Indian forces and 17 year-old Tufail Matoo who was killed after being hit by a tear gas canister have not yet tasted justice. Mass graves are still being uncovered, but the glimmer of hope in the homes of the disappeared lives on despite its painful embrace.

Torturous memories are left lingering in the mind of every Kashmiri and there is no household which has not been subject to abuse. As tensions rise along the Line of Control and the world anticipates a nuclear war, I wish to narrate to you the story of Kashmir.