Support to stop the dictatorship: If it’s Jammu & Kashmir (my homeland) this time, I am sure not far is the day when it would be YOU!!
This is the first time ever in my life I have witnessed supreme peril to the democracy – which is supposed to be “BY the people, FOR the people and OF the people” and none of it really mattered or taken into consideration as basic human rights were at stake for mere political gains.
I landed in Kashmir on 3rd August 2019 and did hear the news where the government created fear by issuing a security advisory for the Amarnath yatra pilgrims and tourist, citing terror threat in Kashmir valley and that tourists and yatri’s should leave the valley as soon as possible. The government also announced that people should stock up the basic necessities that include food, medicine, cash, gas, petrol and whatnot, all this created chaos and uncertainty. There were long queues at the ATM machines, petrol pumps, grocery stores. Some of the ATM machines went out of cash and most of the petrol pumps were closed during the day of August 4th. In the mosque at Isha namaz, my dad came to know that some of the petrol pumps are open, we quickly finished our dinner and around 11:00 PM we went to fill our car with petrol. I was surprised to see crazy queues, some trying to fill their cars and some are standing with big cans to store up some more petrol in case of an emergency. We waited almost for an hour at the petrol pump for our turn.
At midnight on August 4th, all cellular networks, landlines, internet, tv cable, and broadband went dead. This has never happened in the history of Kashmir that all the modes of communication went down at the same time. Kashmiri’s have to face the loss of internet or mobile connectivity sometimes for a day or two but landlines, and tv cable never used to go down. We initially thought that it would be a day or two and hoping things to be back up soon but it did not happen this time.
August 5th: When we woke up we had no clue about the abrogation of article 370, we thought that all the communication went down as there was supposed to be a terrorist attack that the government claimed and the same was true for most of the people. So to figure out what was going on, the only source of information we thought would be radio, just hoping that it did not go down as well. Even though radio has become obsolete means of communication but that’s what came to rescue at this juncture. We looked for our old antique radio set (around 37 years old) somewhere hidden in the cupboard and tuned in to local news channel and that’s when the reality revealed and my mom, dad and I were in complete dismay.
We continued to have no connectivity and in addition to this, there was curfew imposed which includes travel restrictions for both public and private transport, no movement of public, all educational institutions closed, all offices closed, all shops closed, examinations for various institutions were canceled, in fact everything closed. Barbed wires were laid on the roads as barricades to thwart public movement and protests. Nearly 700,000 soldiers deployed in the valley that brings the ratio of public to soldier as 1:10. Armored vehicles of Indian police block the road and Indian soldiers all over the deserted roads. Most of the political leaders were arrested and kept in various jails in and outside Kashmir that includes three former Chief Ministers of Jammu & Kashmir, some of the leaders including Farooq Abdullah were house arrested.
It felt I was in the stone age but in fact, it was worse than that because earlier people used to plan accordingly but this time everything was unforeseen with no planning at all.
August 6th: Still no connectivity to tv cable, internet, broadband, landline, and cellular networks, in fact, no newspaper as well. Everyone was in dilemma about the situation as there was no means of communication even with the local community, everyone was just hoping things to get better or at least the phone lines to be restored so that people can talk to each other and ask about the wellbeing.
I had something important to discuss with my brother who is staying in Delhi but could not due to communication lockdown, so my dad and I took a chance to visit different police stations around our area hoping to just make one single call but all in vain. We had a tough time reaching police station as we were stopped by the army after every few minutes, asked questions where we were going and had to divert our ways, the distance of 10 to 15 minutes took like 1 hour. I felt like a prisoner on my own land.
August 7th till August 14th: Still no connectivity but were able to get few news channels and could at least figure out whats going on. Indian political leaders lying everywhere on the news channels that everything is normal and people are rejoicing. One of the fake news was that Amit Shah openly mentioned in Lok Sabha that Farooq Abdullah is in his home on his free will while as he was house arrested. Indian Political leaders and most of the Indians across the world are rejoicing (watched this on news) about this decision, this made me wonder do they even have an iota that all this is happening at the cost of human atrocities done on people of Kashmir. People have simply become fanatic with no real grounds, what will they do? buy a property in Kashmir or marry a Kashmiri girl because that’s what was discussed on tv. Most of them who are rejoicing doesn’t even know what good it will bring to them, they just want to be one of the sheep in the herd so that they don’t feel left out.
On the 7th of August, my dad and I again decided to make a phone call, tried our luck with different police stations around the area but of no use, as they had got the instructions from the government to not allow people to call. I felt helpless and was filled with so much anger that in the 21st century of technology we have to literally beg police and army to let us move freely and talk to our loved ones. At one of the police stations, someone mentioned that there is a phone in Deputy commissioner’s office called as DC office which is like 10 – 12 km from my place. We were stopped by the police and army after every few minutes as they had put the barricades all over the roads. Finally by taking diversions somehow managed to reach DC office but it was overcrowded and there was just one phone where you can make a single 1 -2-minute call. I stood in one queue to get a token and they told me to come tomorrow in the afternoon (which is after 24 hours) as that’s when my token number is going to come, now you can imagine how overcrowded it was and how people were dying to make calls. I was so frustrated and filled with anger (One more lie the government claimed on news channels that there are 300-400 telephone booths set-up for people of Kashmir whereas the reality was there were none) left the room in anguish and came downstairs where I came to know that one KAS officer is allowing to use his cell phone to make calls so I went to his room and again it was crowded, I waited for an hour to make a single call, and his assistant would first dial the number for us and talk himself and then hand it over to us, it felt as I (We) was a criminal.
Everyone who was waiting to make a single call was so emotional that the moment you start talking over the phone, tears roll down the eyes and the entire room was full of misery, whimpering, and cries. Someone is trying to reach their kids who are studying outside and need money but feel sorry/guilty that they are not able to transfer money to their kids, someone is getting married and don’t know what to tell the relatives/guests who have their tickets booked to come to Kashmir as first of all they don’t know if marriage will happen or not and second they won’t be able to receive them at airport, someone wants to inform the death of the loved one, someone wants to inform about health of loved ones, someone just simply wants to let loved ones know they are doing ok even if they are not, someone wants to communicate to the professor/teacher/manager. You can imagine there are thousands of things that we want to share on an everyday basis with loved ones. The phone is a need and its not a luxury anymore in this century.
Considering the sceptical situation of Kashmir we decided to stock up the gas cylinder that is used for cooking purpose, me and my dad searched everywhere around our area but none was available as everything was closed, so finally reached one of the office where gas cylinders are distributed (otherwise my dad used to get this done via a phone call or internet and cylinder was delivered at home), people are standing in long queues since morning waiting for gas to be available and we were there at 2:00 PM, left the place in dismay as we knew won’t be able to get the cylinder even if the office gets the new truckload of cylinders considering the long queues.
August 12 – The day of Eid-Al-Adha (The major Islamic festival): Most of the people living outside Kashmir come home to spend time with family, friends, and relatives and I was also very excited to spend this Eid with my loved ones after many years but instead spent eid in lockdown like all others in Kashmir. The authorities sealed the major big mosques like Jamiah masjid, Dargah and Eidgah, and no eid nimaz was allowed at these places, but people did pray at local mosques. People were not allowed and were scared to visit relatives as otherwise is a norm on every eid but instead stayed home, not able to wish loved ones who are living outside Kashmir. I spent the whole day at home and did not visit/wish any of my relatives and friends. Eid is an occasion of joy and celebration which was spent in sadness, anger, and dismay for the first time.
My plan was to spend time with family and friends in Kashmir for a month and was supposed to work from there but had to cut short my Kashmir trip to 15 days as there was no internet to communicate to my office. I left Kashmir with sadness, grief and guilt leaving behind my parents in that situation. I was confined to my home all 15 days just watching the news, did not meet my relatives/friends, did not go out, did not talk to anyone. My story does not end here but will follow in my next stories and want to conclude my Part I by saying that anything that starts with betrayal has no room for harmony and betrayal was the way abrogation of article 370 was implemented by Indian government, I have no reason to support and lost all the faith in this government.
DISCLAIMER: THE COVER PHOTO OF THIS STORY, I TOOK FROM GOOGLE AND HAVE NEITHER CLICKED NOR EDITED IT, JUST ALIGNED WITH MY FEELING HOW I PICTURE MY HOMELAND “KASHMIR”, AND ALL OTHER PHOTOS ARE SCREENSHOTS FROM ONE OF THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER “RISING KASHMIR” WITH NO EDITS.
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