Harsha Kakar
Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a biased article on its website recently, titled, ‘India: repression persists in Jammu and Kashmir.’ The article mentions, ‘The Indian security forces continue to carry out repressive policies including arbitrary detention, extra judicial killings, and other serious abuses.’ The paper has no statistics nor data to substantiate its claims, just comments from few of its members.Almost none of its staff would have visited Kashmir in recent days and experiencedthe changes.
The article quotes Meenakshi Ganguly, supposed deputy director of the organization for Asia, ‘Kashmiris are unable to exercise their right to free expression, association, and peaceful assembly because they fear they will be arrested, thrown in prison without trial for months, even years.’ She considers arrests of terrorist, overground workers as also those attempting to instigate violence as restricting freedom of speech.
Kashmir had been plagued with stone pelting, funded by separatists, to project a disputed status of the region to the world.Hartals and Bandhs were called on flimsy grounds, bringing life to a standstill. With crackdown on hawala, all that has ceased, indicating that the violence was not due to anger or frustration against the state but a means of income. With better avenues for employment, violence is no longer a preferred source of earning. Hence, the region witnesses relative calm.
It is this calm which has impacted global egos. Possibly members of HRW need to visit Baluchistan to understand what extra judicial killings and violation of human rights are. None of this exists in Kashmir. The hue and cry from local political leaders would have dominated national and global headlines even if there was a single such incident.
Further, the nation’s largest voter turnout, without an incident of violence,would never have been witnessed from Kashmir, had suppression been ongoing. The recently concluded elections were a vast change from previous ones, where stone pelting and boycotts were the order of the day.Those who voted risked their lives.
Incidents like that of Major Gogoi tying a protestor to his jeep to safeguard lives of dozens of polling booth personnel in 2017are now history. Kashmir elections this time were far more peaceful and orderly than most other states. Yet, as per HRW, Kashmiris are suppressed and rights deprived.
The nomination of Engineer Rashid to the Lok Sabha, currently under detention for money laundering, is another sign of the government honouring the will of the people, which would never have happened had suppression existed. India is not Pakistan which manipulates elections. Rashid was given bail to enable him to be sworn in, an event attended by all members of his family. Such inputs were deliberately avoided by the author of the article as it did not confirm to the anti- India trend of the publication.
Kashmir political parties, many of whom backed secessionists during the period of violence, now refer to Pak sponsored terrorism as the main cause of casualties in the valley. A few leaders demand talks with Pakistan. None have ever mentioned the bland and illogical accusations made without data of HRW, only adding credence to the fact that the article is biased and based on half-truths.
There would have been organized protests had there been even a single extra judicial encounter or arrest as mentioned in the article. This implies that the paper was fabricated to meet requirements of foreign vested interests, solely intending to lower the global prestige of India. While deployment of security forces continues in the valley it is more to counter Pak sponsored terrorism rather than homegrown.
Locals joining militancy and picking the gun in large numbers is a sign of anger against the state. Until 2022, numbers of local militants being eliminated were high, almost 83% of all those killed in encounters. This is no longer the case.
A news report of Dec 2023 quoted the DG police of J and K who mentioned that there are only 31 local militants, which is the lowest since militancy began in the state. Human intelligence inputs on presence of terrorists are flowing because the population is against those picking up the gun. This was never the case a few years ago, when terrorists were idolized. The move from stone pelting to economic development occurred because of change in environment and mindset.
The article illogically mentions that surge in tourism is not an indicator of peace. Tourists from across India as also the world would never risk their lives if Kashmir was not peaceful. They have multiple other options. Hence, tourism was at an ebb during years of unrest due to uncertainty, severely impacting the local economy.
Presently, areas which were no-go for tourists in Srinagar and Kashmir are most popular destinations. Even the Amarnath Yatra is presently setting records in terms of participation. This flows from a positive environment which exists in the valley.
The article mentions internet shutdowns during the abrogation of article 370, ignoring the fact that this was done to prevent instigation of the public, resulting in violence leading to loss of lives. This subject was even defended by the PM in his statements. Post normalcy there is rarely a shutdown.
It does appear that HRW is singing the tune of Pakistan and other known anti-India organizations, which are loathe to see a peaceful Kashmir which rejects their designs. Many of these anti-India institutions would be funding HRW, compelling it to dance to their music. Normalcy has reached such levels that the Election Commission is visiting Kashmir this week to assess progress made for conduct of local elections, which would take place before the end of next month.
HRW’s anti-India bias as also possible funding sources can be understood from a report it released in Jan 2023, warning the western world against shifting supply chains from China to India on the ground that India has adopted similar human rights abuses as the Chinese, enabling ‘state repression.’
Israel, another nation regularly accused by HRW commented as recent as last month, ‘HRWs publications reflect the absence of professional standards, research methodologies, and military and legal expertise, as well as a deep-seated ideological bias.’ HRW will remain a nuisance due to its biased agendas.
The author is Major General (Retd)
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