It is said that the History has a peculiar habit of repeating itself. Sometimes, the repetition is very ironic. In Kashmir, it has come full circle. There is a general belief among the common people of Kashmir that it was Sheikh Abdullah who brought Indian Army here against their wishes. Even though the reality is more complex yet the people generally associate the coming of army with him! Now after 63 years his grand son is using the same Army to cow down the people and suppress their popular upsurge for emancipation. What an irony of fate! Army is once again out on the streets of Srinagar conducting flag marches to restore peace in the strife torn city. One is reminded of the early days of militancy when armoured cars were moving in the city not for crowd control but to counter the militant attacks. Most common operation undertaken by the army almost every day in different parts of the city as well as in rural areas in those days was the cordon and search popularly known as “Crackdown”. At that time the main sources of Indian intelligence had completely dried up. In order to trap the militants, the army had to throw something like a fishing net and sift the fish caught in it one by one to locate the wanted or suspected elements. Due to continuous armed clashes, the army was always around and the people had got used to its presence. However, for last decade or so, the army had slowly disappeared from the scene in the urban areas as these were handed over to paramilitary forces for keeping track of any militant elements and their activities.

Members of the Armed Forces whether belonging to regular Army or to Paramilitary units mostly deployed at the border are invariably trained to shoot to kill. Their aim is to target the enemy and eliminate him. They do not have any training for mob control in cities and towns for which the ideal force is the local riot police. Using regular troops for prolonged law and order not only downgrades the wartime training of the troops but results in serious injuries, which are often fatal to the civilian population. Use of the security forces for enforcing law and order is only in grave emergencies such as communal riots. It is often difficult for these troops to fire on their own people to kill them. However, this is so only when the troops consider the civilian population as their own people. In Kashmir, they are brainwashed to consider every Kashmiri a potential terrorist and the area as enemy territory. Before 1990, when the troops were mostly involved in protecting the border, they behaved in a more civilised way with the local civilians. There were very rare incidents of civilian and security forces clashes. Most of the public demonstrations whenever held were handled by local police assisted by their own armed wing. Also those days even some of the paramilitary forces like CRP were basically a lathi force. They were used for crowd control through the use of their lathis.

In 1990, due to armed uprising the army and paramilitary troops were brought in to counter the insurgents who had infiltrated into civilian areas. There were thousands of armed militants roaming all over Kashmir. Local police was totally incapable of handling the situation. As it was a civilian armed uprising every Kashmiri was suspected to be an armed militant which usually happens in urban guerrilla warfare. There were armed clashes within the city itself. In fact, more people were killed every day than are killed now. However, the justification for such killing was the armed uprising throughout Kashmir. People did not mind these deaths and persons getting killed were given the status of martyrs as they were supposed to be fighting an occupation army. Almost every locality had a martyr’s graveyard. The troops too were brainwashed before being deputed to the valley. They were told that every Kashmiri was a potential militant and an anti-national element. Troops used to call the insurgents ANEs. Extensive use of the army from 1990 onwards, introduced a perceptible change in the behaviour of troops towards the civilian population. They considered every Kashmiri a potential militant and felt being in the enemy territory. Those days Ed Desmond of the Time magazine wrote a number of cover stories on Kashmir situation and in fact, one of the stories was also titled the “Enemy Territory”!

After 1996 elections and installation of Farooq Abdullah as the Chief Minister, the role of the army was gradually reduced and the work was assigned to paramilitary forces. Meantime, the Kashmir Police also set up the notorious Special Operations Group or the Task Force to deal with militancy. Some of the surrendered militants known as Ikhwanis or friendlies were also used both by the police and the army to assist in arresting and liquidating the militants. This atmosphere of violence coupled with corruption created vested interests for prolonging the situation of turmoil and uncertainty. Two decades of violence without any substantial result made people abhor it. Additionally, people were disappointed by the attitude of Pakistanis who used Kashmiris as mere pawns in their ideological conflict with India. Gradually, people felt that violence was no solution to their problems and there was a paradigm shift in their behaviour. This became quite evident during the Amarnath land agitation. Government instead of welcoming this shift in the attitude of the people continued to suppress their genuine aspirations by use of excessive force. No doubt, stone pelting can also be termed as violence but one has to concede that the people have been resorting to it after being denied a right to express their view peacefully. The government does not tolerate any kind of a peace march. These are broken with the use of excessive force even before these fully gather in strength. It has become stones versus bullets! One can easily judge the double standards in dealing with similar marches in other parts of India. Recently there was an all India shut down called by all opposition parties to protest against the price rise. There was quite a bit of mob violence in many places. Trains were stopped. Buses were damaged. Stone pelting was indulged in many places. However, there was not a single fatal casualty by the police action in controlling these crowds anywhere. In contrast, for last few weeks due to the security forces action to control similar mobs in Kashmir there are every day fatal casualties! This clearly shows that the security forces continue to harbour the same “Enemy Territory” syndrome. No attempt has been made to change their mindset by their superiors.
The army now being used to suppress the peaceful uprising of the masses is the last resort to deal with such situations. In spite of a grave situation in various Naxal areas, the government is still hesitant in using army against naxalites. However, in Kashmir they do not mind using army against unarmed civilians demonstrating against the excesses of security forces. It is being primarily used to over awe the people. The show of force is supposed to humble people and is expected to quieten them. However, the people who have had a long stint and sometimes a bloodier one with the same army cannot be totally overawed by the flag marches. Moreover, the authorities have not considered the traditional unpredictability of a Kashmiri. In any case, what happens if the peaceful demonstrations are continued in spite of the army? Use of excessive force never makes people give up their aspirations. It only increases alienation and drives the resentment underground. Outwardly they may appear to behave but in the heart of their hearts they will hate India much more. Force can never win the hearts of the people. The only sensible way is to give relief to the people by lessening their harassment and not by frightening them more and more. If there are some sensible people somewhere, they should initiate the process of removing security forces from all civilian areas and revoke their draconian powers. Many other confidence building measures can be implemented in right ernest to create an atmosphere for an all inclusive dialogue to sort out the basic political problems. The alternative is unthinkable and may land Kashmir in a worst scenario than even 1990!