Kashmir Still Reverberates with 9/11
Aftershocks
By Sonia Jabbar
SRINAGAR,
India: A year after the Sep. 11 terrorist strikes in the United
States, their aftershocks continue to reverberate through India's
only Muslim majority state of Kashmir.
Indeed,
no single event in over a decade of violent separatism has had an
impact on the politics and culture of this state -- and especially
the comparatively densely populated Srinagar valley so coveted by
Pakistan -- with greater force than Sep. 11.
Until
September last year, the long-drawn 'proxy war' that Pakistan-backed
militants fought with Indian security forces was reaching an exhausting
stalemate. It was achieving little for either side, but exacting
heavy casualties among the civilian population of Kashmir, over
which Pakistan and India have fought two wars.
''Do
we side with Osama (bin Laden) or the Americans? It's going to be
difficult. Earlier both were on the same side, both were our friends.
But now, if we side with America then we'll be in trouble with the
'mujahideen', and if we side with the 'mujahideen' then who will
take care
of us?'' asked Abdur Rashid, a taxi driver a few days after Sep.
11. As
U.S. bombers first swooped down on Afghanistan in October last year,
barely 200 km to the west of Srinagar, the bets were on the 'invincible'
Taliban whose brethren were already active in Kashmir, ordering
women behind veils and frowning on shaven men.
A
cartoon showing two graves marked 'Britain' and 'Russia' with a
third, newly dug and empty grave marked 'USA.' and a smiling 'mujahideen',
saying 'Welcome to Afghanistan', became very popular, replicating
itself endlessly in the local papers. Glossy posters of Osama proliferated.
On
Oct. 13, four heavily armed 'jihadists' managed to bomb their way
through the security cordon around the Legislative Assembly building
on the banks of the Jhelum River -- and in seconds, the streets
were strewn with bits of the flesh and blood from some 50 human
beings.
Yet
the following morning, cries of ''Long Live the Taliban Mujahideen''
accompanied the funeral procession. Then the attacks on unveiled
young women, often with acid bulbs, began once again. This happens
whenever Islamic fundamentalists feel powerless against the tide
of modernity sweeping the hearts and minds of young, educated Kashmiris.
There
was a sudden revival of cries for ''Nizam-e-Mustafa,'' (the Prophet
will rule) and the time when extremists took it upon themselves
to cleanse the Kashmiri version of Islam with its centuries-old
tradition of pluralism and tolerance.
If
there were no more vicious attacks on cafes and beauty parlours,
cinema houses and liquor stores it was because most had vanished.
But the memories were still strong of people getting killed for
being Hindu, or Communist, drinking too much, or not supporting
the 'jihadists' enough.
But
the thoroughness of the U.S. bombings in relentless pursuit of its
'war against terror' and tales of the rough treatment meted out
to Pakistani 'jihadists' who volunteered to fight on the side of
the Taliban in Afghanistan have had a telling effect on the morale
of 'jihadist' groups in Kashmir.
Shaukat Shameem, who lives in Bandipora, north Kashmir, is quite
successful as an electrician and it is difficult to imagine that
this personable young man was once a 'mujahideen' at age 14, taking
early retirement after catching a bullet in his stomach.
While
recuperating, and not quite battle-ready, his outfit, the Allah
Tigers, decided to commit him to the holy mission of harassing the
unveiled women of Srinagar. He tried it for three months and then
gave up in disgust. ''It is this and not the fear of death that
compelled me to give up the gun forever,'' he said.
Kalila
Jaleel, an engineering student, covers her head modestly with a
scarf. ''The veil'' she declares with a laugh, ''is for those who
are not as pretty as me!''
The
real blow to those who expected a Taliban victory and Islamic rule
in Kashmir came in mid-January when the Pakistani president, Gen
Pervez Musharraf, declared in a televised address that Pakistan
would no longer tolerate terrorism in the name of freedom movements,
even in the case of Kashmir.
Pressure
on Musharraf increased following the attacks on the Indian Parliament
in New Delhi on Dec. 13 and the growing realisation in Washington
that it could not pursue a 'war on terrorism' on Pakistan's western
border, while ignoring what was happening on its eastern border.
In the following days, the Pakistani police cracked down on Islamic
organisations, sealing their offices and arresting some 2,500 of
their workers, although many were released by a military administration
still wary of fundamentalists who retaliated with strikes in Pakistan
itself.
But
in Kashmir, the unshakeable belief in an uninterrupted flow of money
from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states and of unceasing training,
arms and logistical support from Pakistan, and an indulgent if not
blind eye on the part of the western nations, was completely shattered.
''The
gun cannot work anymore. The world has changed. Armed struggles
are completely unacceptable today,'' says Nazir Masoodi, a Srinagar-based
journalist who is convinced that the Kashmiris are fast realising
the change in mood internationally.
With
Pakistani and 'jihadist' guns no longer trained on their heads,
many realise they actually have political choices they can exercise
through staggered, four-stage state assembly elections starting
on Sep. 16 and which Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
has promised would be free and fair. If the assassination of influential
Kashmiri leader Abdul Ghani Lone on
May 21 by 'jihadists' was a setback to those who supported the idea
of elections, there are signs that his People's Conference, which
has considerable influence in northern Kashmir, is determined to
participate.
The
separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), which claims
to represent 23 separatist groups including the People's Conference,
is boycotting the polls. But
it is having a tough time keeping its constituents together especially
since Vajpayee has announced that only elected representatives would
be involved in talks on a political settlement of the Kashmir issue.
Lone
was one of the first politicians in the Hurriyat who openly acknowledged
that Sep. 11 had changed the climate against 'jihadism' and welcomed
the elections -- but he paid for saying so with his life. According
to Masoodi, Musharraf's January speech has had a dampening effect
on young Kashmiris volunteering to cross over into the Pakistan-controlled
half of the state for training. He says there have been no fresh
recruitments this year.
With
the People's Conference ready to throw its hat into the ring, the
elections are no longer going to be a moribund affair, with the
ruling National Conference of Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah winning
the elections unopposed.
With
the U.S. and the European Union actively backing the electoral process,
the APHC cannot continue to ignore the polls and say that they are
being held by India only to 'perpetuate its occupation of Kashmir'.
India responded to the December attack on its Parliament by deploying
700,000 troops on the border and says they will remain until after
the elections are over in early October to stop infiltration from
the Pakistan-controlled half of Kashmir.
This
troop deployment has seriously hampered APHC constituents, many
of which have just a handful of supporters, while the People's Conference
can command crowds willing to defy 'jihadist' threats as it recently
demonstrated through rallies.
''Things
do not remain static,'' said People's Conference leader Abdul Majid
Banday. ''A good politician is one who can read the pulse of the
people and change with the times.''
