Cross of being Kashmiri

Humra Quraishi

NEWS reports of  Kashmiri students   being   attacked    and   humiliated in our towns and  cities are on the rise. In fact,  for the  last   several   years  Kashmiris  have been  recounting  the  treatment  meted  out to   them whenever they  venture  out of the Valley. Communally  slanted  comments  are thrown at them and some are even called “terrorists”. They do not get rooms at hotels and   hostels because people are wary of them. They have to first  report  to the  nearest  police  station  before  approaching  guesthouses  for  accommodation. Are Kashmiri students foreigners  or have they  come from  an  enemy country that they are made to report to  police stations? Why  do we look at Kashmiris with suspicion? Why are the cops trained and asked to keep  a close watch on  Kashmiris?

This is not a sudden development. Way back in  2002, Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) brought  out a   booklet  with  details  of   the  ill- treatment  meted  out to   the  Kashmiris outside the  Valley. This trend has worsened. In mid-July this year, two  students (one of them a  Kashmiri and one who “looked”a Kashmiri) were beaten by political goons in   Bhopal and Hyderabad. Earlier this  summer,  it  was painful to see the plight of four young Kashmiri students   studying  in Rajasthan’s Mewar/Chittorgarh region. They were made to stand as though  they  had  committed  a  heinous  crime. All they had done was to buy 300 gm mutton  from the local market. This was enough to trigger “beef” rumours, leading  to their  arrest and public humiliation. Kashmiri students  and  professionals recount  how  the local  police  keeps  a  watch on  them to see where they eat, live or travel.  

Professor Nasir  Mirza of the Media  Education Research Centre (MERC) of the Kashmir University had said, way back in 2004, “Our local newspapers    carry stories of Kashmiris travelling by train, getting harassed in Punjab and being forced to  part  with   money to  get safe  passage. Recently, a group of  media  students  at the Mass  Communication  Research  Centre  of the   Jamia  Millia Islamia, New  Delhi, were  asked to  make a   documentary  on any theme  of their choice. They made a documentary titled Kaash, focusing  on  a  young   Kashmiri   who  decides to   go to  New  Delhi after hearing a former Prime  Minister’s announcement that there were immense opportunities for the  Kashmiri  youth   and they should  come   forward and avail them. This  documentary  focuses  on   the   sheer  harassment and  humiliation  this young man goes through after he leaves  the Valley. He does not even get a room on rent.” It’s not that politicians have not  been aware of the hardships that the Kashmiris face outside. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Omar  Abdullah, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Mehbooba  Mufti —  had all held   meetings  with their political counterparts. Quite obviously, there was little impact. In  the   summer of  2006,  it was reported  in almost  all  dailies  that   Ghulam   Nabi  Azad  had  asked  “the chief  ministers of  11  states not to  harass  or  take  any  action against  traders and students  of  Jammu and  Kashmir, without  consulting the Director General of  Police and the Additional Director General Police (CID), to ensure that innocent  persons are not harassed on the  pretext of questioning in event of any  terrorist act in their  respective states.”   In spite of Azad’s above-mentioned  appeals, there were disturbing news  reports from Gujarat. One such news report: “Ahmedabad: The  crime  branches  of the  Ahmedabad and  Mumbai police are exchanging   detainees, who are later used as  targets for encounters... Following the  encounter with four men,  believed to be  Kashmiri militants in Vatva in Ahmedabad, highly placed sources say they were detainees who had been  with the city  police for the last four  months.”

 Whilst interviewing the late Mufti  Mohammad  Sayed on two separate  occasions (when he was the Union   Home  Minister  and  then when he was the  Chief  Minister of   Jammu and Kashmir), I had asked him to comment on  the  treatment  meted out to Kashmiris once they  ventured   out   of the   Valley. He had given a detailed reply: “I'm  aware  of the   kind  of   harassment  and humiliation some Kashmiris are  facing  outside the  state… I  have  openly talked  at  meetings  about the   dangers of  looking at all Indian Muslims with  suspicion …  don't  link all  Indian  Muslims with  the   likes  of  Dawood   Ibrahims. I have cited instance after  instance of the loyalty of the Indian  Muslim and yet I fear  some polarisation  is indeed taking place.”

There is no platform or forums through which harassed  Kashmiris  can even  lodge a  complaint. There are no  helpline  numbers. It is not just lack of transparency and accountability but an abundance of communal slants that compound the situation.

The writer, a freelance journalist, is the author of “Kashmir: The Untold Story”.