Kashmiri alienation happened because the middle class was lured by the separatists, says the writer who served in Kashmir during 1988-90
By Ahmad Cameron
TORONTO: Getting second-hand information about any place or events is one thing. But being at the spot and knowing things first hand is an entirely different thing.
I have had the first-hand experience of Kashmir for close to over two years as a non-Kashmiri Muslim. So I know many things which many of us may not have known for two reasons. One, I was an eyewitness and second I come from a family of journalists and observed things very closely.
Let me narrate my experiences of Kashmir. I was sent there repeatedly during 1988-90 from the National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the Ministry of Information Technology & Communications to establish the satellite-based computer network in that state. The insurgency had just started and Jagmohan was the Governor.
After my stay there, I reported back to my seniors about my reading of the situation prevailing in the Valley. My observations ran on these lines:
1) The Taliban, with the active support of the US, the ISI of Pakistan, MI5 of Britain, and Mossad of Israel, had been successful in giving a crushing defeat to Russian forces in Afghanistan and were then in a commanding position. Russians left shortly thereafter.
2) The ISI, which had been funded left, right and centre by the entire Western world, was equipped with all kinds of insurgency-related arms and ammunition along with training equipment.
3) Becoming arrogant after defeating Russian forces in collaboration with the Taliban, the ISI turned its focus on Kashmir. Because of the ISI’s success in Afghanistan, the leadership of separatist and extremist sections of Kashmiri Muslims got lured into believing that it too will be heading an independent nation soon. So they started thinking that in an independent Kashmir someone among them will become an ambassador, someone a minister, etc, etc. So much so that even an ordinary constable started thinking that when Kashmir becomes independent he will at least become a DSP before he retires! Because in the current set-up, that constable would probably rise only up to the rank of a sub-inspector by the time he retired. That’s how the separatists started getting support from the middle and lower middle classes, in the same manner as the RSS, the VHP, the BJP, the Shiv Sena, the Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini, etc., get from the day-dreamers in the Hindutva-oriented middle and lower middle classes. The common thread between the two is the middle class.
4) The ISI exploited this opportunity by supplying arms and imparting training to separatist groups. They even sent trainers from the Taliban and Mullah Umar’s group into Kashmir. They also brought the insurgents to their side of the border and trained them.
5) At that time, Kashmir in general and Srinagar in particular had billboards at various locations mentioning the start and end of various development projects – `Street Lighting Project’, `Sewer Project’, `Road Widening Project’, `Drinking Water Project’, `Dal Lake Cleaning Project’, ‘Upgrading Power Transformer Project’ etc. The Electric supply to houses and Hospitals would not be there for over 10 hrs every day even in peak winter was the state of affairs when I used to visit Srinagar. The road which connects Jammu to Srinagar would remain blocked for days and supplies even to the Armed & Paramilitary forces would get affected. The common man would face a price rise of vegetables; cooking oil etc in proportion to the time road to Jammu would remain blocked! So under Jagmohan as the Governor development projects had got initiated. But the separatists and insurgents countered this by arguing that the government had failed to provide basic amenities to Kashmiris even 30 years after Independence despite the fact that two biggest foreign exchange earners for India are the Taj Mahal and Kashmir! They have not even provided a rail link to Srinagar though India’s Ministry of Railways have been doing huge development projects in developing countries of Middle East and Africa: A fact which no one could refute. From all this I saw in Srinagar, you could imagine what might be the state of affairs in smaller towns where most Kashmiris lived and faced daily hardships in that severe snow-clad region!
6) One extremely important aspect which Jagmohan faced was complete failure of Intelligence. On analyzing the ground realities I found a very fundamental lacuna in Intelligence gathering in Srinagar of that time. Please remember there are almost a dozen organizations of government which are responsible for their respective departments to collect intelligence starting from RAW at the top to Army, Air Force, BSF, CRPF, CBI, etc. Now each organization had its paid informers amongst the common Kashmiris. Unfortunately, with confidence being low on common Kashmiri, the same set of households would be sending intelligence reports where each adult family member would be a paid informer of one of the intelligence gathering organization. The consequences were catastrophic as now we all can see and the ground realities were far from what these paid informers were feeding the security system! One report prepared would get modified with words getting interchanged, not the actual intelligence content (!) which was required to handle the situation there. On top of this the informers’ households would be relatively richer compared to surroundings families as a single house was getting payments for the same report from multiple sources! This created another jealousy in the neighbourhood of informers.
7) It is not that development funds were never sent to Kashmir all those 30 years. But these were usurped by senior bureaucrats, ministers, army and paramilitary officers, contractors, etc. Why did they do it so wantonly? I am giving you the reason as I simulated this very situation with IAS probationers while leading a syndicate study on Kashmir later in 1992-93 by virtue of teaching them at Mussoorie. The reason was this: the bureaucrats felt that if in a worst-case scenario Kashmir goes away from India tomorrow, then all the development work funded by taxpayers’ money would go on a platter to Pakistan! Hence it is better to swindle all the funds! This is exactly what they had been doing for 30 years!
8) On the other hand one more thing was happening simultaneously related to the state machinery, including the BSF and paramilitary forces posted in Kashmir. For the state machinery, an insurgent or suspected insurgent, was/is a source of black money income. In this, there is no discrimination. A Muslim functionary is as corrupt as a non-Muslim, with some exceptions. So the more is the insurgency, the faster is the cash bell ringing for all? Hence the insurgency in the Valley became an “industry” in exactly the same manner as transfers and postings are in UP, Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, etc. Do not forget there was/is another source of making black money for Kashmir’s state machinery – the purchase of supplies, arms, ammunition, food, etc., for those who were additionally posted to handle insurgency. At times, those security personnel who had never been exposed to the severe winter would go crazy while handling law and order situation and fire on the protestors, killing people.
9) That the Kashmiri separatist leadership has been hand-in-glove is so clear to everyone. But there is also one section of the Kashmiri leadership which comes from professional middle classes. It is highly educated. It has seen people’s exploitation by the three generations of the Sheikh Abdullah family which has managed to keep power in its hands by licking to the Congress or VP Singh’s Third Front or the BJP. This section of activists Kashmiri leadership is of committed nationalist Indians but is minuscule and is hated by the separatists, the BJP, the Army as well as the Sheikh Abdullah faction. These are the people who form the PUCL in Kashmir and file court cases against atrocities by paramilitary and armed forces. Hence they are perceived as enemies by all four – the separatists, fundamentalist Muslims who give fatwas, the state government and paramilitary forces. But this section is also highly respected and looked upon with awe and revered by common Kashmiri.
Let me mention here that the brother-in-law of a close friend of mine from nursery days (who was also my colleague at the IAS Academy) was killed by these very insurgents in Kashmir. He was an officer in the Indian Army. Then there was another friend’s brother – again an army officer – who was gunned down by Assam insurgents’ right outside the Kamakhya temple in Guwahati in early 1990s (I also have the experience of North-East insurgency by virtue of being posted there for a year in 1996-97). Not to forget that my uncle’s son was killed just a year ago in Karachi by these very mullahs having the backing of Mullah Azhar, Aurangzeb Farooqi etc. He was an activist lawyer and younger to me by more than 15 years!
10) Finally, in Jan 1990 I was staying at married residents’ apartments of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences. I was carrying my NIC identity card with my photo. There was curfew outside and I had to return to Jammu by catching the early morning bus at 6 am from the Tourist Centre in downtown Srinagar. There is a police station very near to the main gate of the Institute. As a 24-hour curfew was in force, I decided to walk up to the police station and seek help based on my ID. But I was stopped by the neighbours who said that local policemen cannot differentiate between an “Information” and “Informatics” Centre. They said that with the Government of India written on my ID card, I might be misconstrued as an Indian Government’s informer (as I was also a Central Government Non Kashmiri Muslim officer). They said paramilitary personnel will not come forward to help me as they have no prior information about my being in their vicinity. I was caught in the crossfire, literally!
How I returned is another story. But I wonder how many people know these and so many other facts about Kashmir and its insurgency.
(Toronto-based Dr Ahmad Cameron is a former Technical Director, Government of India)
Dear Mr. Ahmad,
I am Indian Muslim living in Dubai. I really liked your article. It was a fantastic piece of information and with a balanced view. I want to convince Kashmiri Muslims that their future is with India. Pakistan is a failed state and they cannot grow there. There are problems in India for Muslims but here we can fight for our rights and with all the odds can go up to the top if having calibre.
Please let me know where I can find your other articles.
Best regards,
Arshad
I m a Kashmiri Muslim girl and have been doing research on the root cause which turned paradise into hell and innocent angels into demons…u r very right and your article has helpd me a lot…thanx a lot fr your concern.
Hi Maria,
You are indeed a courageous Kashmiri girl and I wish you all the success in your research.
Every research after formulating a hypothesis must carry first the facts from all possible sides, then an analysis and finally conclusions which the researcher may draw based on analyzing the facts to uphold or negate the hypothesis formulated in the first instance. I hope my account as well as of many more you may have collected would help you in placing before the current generation a more balanced and logical picture about Kashmiri militancy and KPs migration.
Dear Mr Richard Dundas,
I am extremely thankful to read your racist views and why not. After all every one has the right to express his/her feelings in our country where Freedom of Speech is one of the corner stone of the Charter of Rights.
I come from the land of Indus Valley Civilization which is amongst the first three civilizations on this earth – the other two being Egyptian and Mesopotamian. Till then homo sapiens had not even learnt how to clean themselves after call of nature!
Further, I also belong to the land of Sufis, Saints, Buddha and Gandhi – the last showed the world how non-violence means can get impoverished & slaves freedom from oppressors. Having studied in a Catholic School and later at IIT, Delhi along with the fact that I come from a family of highly educated journalists, I cannot stoop so low by becoming myself a racist. Majority of Canadians are opposite of what you think. But most likely this is the way you must have been acting all your life as one’s actions are governed by one’s thinking. Hence your comments require to make you overcome your weaknesses in a 1-on-1 basis rather washing the dirty linen in public on such open forums. By making you understand the ground realities we can make our Canadian society more homogenous and spread harmony. Please await my personal reply by an email to you on this score.
What does any of this have to do with Canada? Tell me where does any of this news benefit Canada?
With that in mind, you must remember this is Canada, the best Country in the world to live and work. It is not a place for old world politics, hatreds and feuds. Leave your imperfect ideals, politics and problems where they belong and keep them out of Canada. They are not wanted nor welcome here. If you find your position or views to be opposite to what I have expressed then you have two choices: be quiet and keep your views to yourself or leave. It is not a complicated view. Please, do not bring your politics here and expect support and action. It is not going to happen. It would be much better if you would make an attempt to integrate or blend in with the rest of our society.
A very well written article on the “subject” and thought provoking. I was lucky enough to have had my schooling in Kashmir and was branded a pundit. I would like to know the reasons why Jagmohan orchestrated the migration of Kashmiri pundits from Kashmir, was it justified, as they have been living like this for centuries. An old student of Indian History told me that it was done in exactly the same way things happened during the partition.
Dear Asaf,
I could immediately see the reasons why you were considered a KP (Kashmiri Pandit) when studying in Kashmir. See your late father was the founder Principal/Director of the Srinagar Engineering College in the mid-1960s. He was a Muslim but not a Kashmiri. Hence KPs on one hand considered you to be close to them as your family commanded 100% confidence of the mainland party in power at the Centre. Else how could in their opinion your father got that position. The adversaries never knew your father’s academic attainments & record. While the Kashmiri Musiims never identified with specially a mainland Muslim whom they always looked with suspicion and it continues till today!
Rawal TV channel here had a panel discussion on the reasons for KPs moving out of the valley. I will try to see if it can be available to you on youtube. It gives both the sides of the ground reality and must be watched to understand what all went wrong.
Dear Asaf,
I have given the video link of Rawal TV today in my reply to Maria below. You may also watch it as it is on Youtube.
Very insightful and informative. Thanks Dr.Cameron for bringing out your first hand observation.
Hi Bhupesh,
Kashmir is the crown of India but overwhelming majority of its non-Kashmiri population has viewed Kashmir’s problems with jaundiced eyes. In writing this piece, I tried to give an account of what many had no idea about these facts. Thanks for your feedback.
An eye opener. Excellent.
Hi Danish.
My attempt in writing this was indeed to open the eyes of many who have not been privy to a lot of what I knew and which will help them in getting a better understanding of the ground realities of Kashmir’s insurgency.
Thanks to Dr. Ahmad Cameron for sharing his own experience about how Kashmiri middle class got lured by separatists.
It is very unfortunate that knowing all these facts to Indian government, still no firm steps are being taken even after 65 year of independence.
I also got opportunity of trekking inner part of Jammu & Kashmir in 1986. Our trekking group travelled through villages Kishtwar – palmar – Ekhlala – Sonder – Sirshi – Hanzal – Yourdu – Sarkandu & Inshan Margan Pass for about 2 weeks. The reactions of the people of these villages were “we have come from Hindustan”. Even though this region is well within India, they were taught that they are living in Pakistan.
Hi Chandrakant,
Thanks for your comments and also an eyewitness account of what you experienced in 1986 while terkking in Kashmir. Though Abdullah’s family has consistently been speaking from both sides of its mouth since 1947, despite that the political selfsihness of the Congress and BJP (both have relied on Shiekh Abdullah’s family despite calling all sorts of names to their governance)to retain power, being hand-in-glove in the corruption going on in that province for over 6 decades, relying heavily on selected families to be the intelligence gatherers, not carrying out development work unlike it was done in other states after independence and last but not the least not anticipating that ISI with backing from the West was now ready to inflate the fundamentalism after defeating Russian forces in collaboration with Taliban resulted in all this. The common Kashmiri as a result always felt as if it is not a part of India. Hence when mainland members visited Kashmir, like yourself, they were called coming from India!
Dear Ahmad,
It is a good eye witness story and thanks for coping it to me.
It would have been nice if your article on Kashmir was more balanced by adding the grave sufferings faced by the Kashmiri Hindus. What wrong have they done that the ladies were raped and driven away from the valley. It was not a safe place for young girls to go out in the evenings. Did you do any study on this during your stay in Kashmir?
Do we have a solution how we can settle Kashmiri Pandits back in Kashmir? Are we aware that the percentage of Hindu population in the Valley has dropped due to the fear created by militants?
I think members of the Kashmir Overseas Indian Association in Toronto should be able to give you details of some of the camps that were organized to help them. When I was chair of Panorama India in 2001 we took up their cause here and created some awareness in the Indo-Canadian community. Let us see how we can help them.
I hope the editor of newseastwest.com is aware of these sufferings and the Canadians must know the full background on the history and culture of Kashmir.
Let us do an outreach with more positive articles that Kashmir and Srinagar are an integral part of India and belongs to every Indian like other parts of India like Mumbai, Chennai and Chandigarh belongs to every Indian.
We all would like the corporate world to go to Kashmir and set up industry and every India should be free to buy land there as any Kashmiri can do in any part of India. If we are strong and united within India and no enemy across the border can disturb the integrity of India.
Let us not dig the past and look positively for the future.
Regards,
Surinder Sharma
Dear Surinder,
Majority of what happened in Kashmir has been the active handiwork of the ISI, the Jamat-i-Islami, Hizb etc. They could do it in such an effective manner due to the failure of the Indian state in more ways than one in integrating Kashmir in India through arms of development.
Just to give you one example of the Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute. This CSIR R&D laboratory was established in Pilani, Rajasthan (also the headquarters of Birla’s house of business), which not only has very high average temperatures but is prone to huge presence of dust particles all year round – the biggest enemy for carrying out precision, micro electronics development work. But this was done as a result of MGK Menon’s advice and Birla’s lobbying which eventually gave on a platter to the Birlas the credit for production of the first Indian made B&W TV viz., JK TV in mid 1960s! Menon did not see that the hill areas of Kashmir, Himachal, UP, Bihar, Bengal and even North East India or the Nilgiris in Southern India were more apt locations to establish CEERI!
There has not been an honest and sincere attempt to integrate North-Eastern states either! I have that experience too.
Regards,
Ahmad Cameron
Read your piece with interest. I found the observations pretty interesting and thought provoking.
Dear Faraz,
Being yourself a senior journalist, I am confident you know far too many details. However, what always pricked me was the fact that the media never pointed out the utter failure of the Intelligence during Jagmohan’s rule which in a way has also been a factor in the rise of militancy under him. It certainly played a crucial part in the migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley besides other factors.
Regards,
Ahmad Cameron
I am touched by your aap beeti.
Similar was the story of militancy in Punjab.
This is the model being practiced by Pak but our olitical scene is helpless. We need KPS Gill and Beant Singh for J&K also to settle the situation.
Once the militancy is tackled in Pb and then after the raw treatment given to Punjab heroes, it is difficult to find any more heroes.
Poor state of affairs in political circles.
My heart sinks !
Dear Dr Bansal,
Thanks for recalling the Punjab militancy in reference to Kashmir insurgency. Yes, there too not only Pakistan played a role but the funds were coming from those countries where pro-Khalistani elements have been residing for a number of years with full knowledge of the countries’ establishments in which they were now living. Look at what the Air India 1985 crash report points out as per wikipedia: “The Governor General-in-Council in 2006 appointed former Supreme Court Justice John Major to conduct a commission of inquiry. His report was completed and released on 17 June 2010. It concluded that a “cascading series of errors” by the government of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had allowed the terrorist attack to take place.[6]”
Having said that, the primary difference between the two provinces’ insurgency lies on the development front. Punjab’s path to development was not marred by the kind of swindling of funds, unlike Kashmir Valley’s. Consequently, Punjab has been the leader of the Green Revolution in India.
This is a great story and as you mentioned “the first-hand experience” of a non-Kashmiri Muslim. My father-in-law, who was the chief secretary of Bakshi Ghulam Mohd., the Prime Minister of Kashmir in the 1950s and 1960s, used to talk about about the life in Kashmir at that time. And does my wife, who being born in Srinagar, similarly had very fond memories of that time. Your experience, of course, is in the present context and the most recent one.
What strikes me in both the versions is the simplicity of the common person and their exploitation and manipulation by those who pretend to be their sympathizers. The common person, as is prevalent everywhere in the world, has been taken for a ride and has been caught in the cross-fire between those pretending to be with them and those who are openly opposing the natural progression of the community.
With best wishes.
Ammar Husain
Dear Ammar,
Very well said by you that the common Kashmiri has been the victim in the games which politicians, bureaucrats and defense services have been playing with their lives for past 60years on one side and the fundamentalists, Mullas, separatists etc on the other side. If one see the faces of the mother & wife of Afzal Guru; one can estimate the pain they have been undergoing. Not to forget that Afzal Guru had surrendered to the Indian intelligence forces after remaining a separatists much before he being implicated in the false charges for which he was hanged. The car in which the attackers came to Parliament had been recommended through Afzal Guru by the Police to the attackers to be purchased! All this is on the Supreme Court’s records!!!!!!!
Very informative article.. always enjoy your analytical and clarity in the way you share the information and stories. Thank you.
Dear Ones,
I only brought out in a systematic manner what I saw and experienced in special reference to the misery of the common Kashmiri (both Hindus and Muslims) as a result of the apathy on the part of the State and exploitation of sentiments and emotions by the separatists – both doing it for vested interests. You coming from Kenya could identify the commonalities. It speaks of your vision and compassion for humanity at large.
Regards,
Ahmad Cameron
Well written. I don’t know whether you will agree or not, I think some of the Indian leaders created a liability for us during 1945, by perhaps manipulating Kashmir to become a part of India (I may be entirely wrong, would like to hear about that). I think as result we created a
Palestinian problem, by behaving like Israel. Now we pay for it. When you sent soldiers to deal with common people, friction will result in more bitterness and lack of trust. Why do we had to create a situation like that in the first place ?
Hi Amit,
I just stated the hard facts. And in a way what you are
saying about retention of Kashmir and it becoming a Palestine like problem for India is 100% true. I do not know if it is in your knowledge that it is Nehru who took Kashmir to the UN Assembly! Billions of dollars worth of funds could have gone in the development, health, education, railways, infrastructure building etc of India, had we not retained Kashmir if we just try to make a rough estimate of the money that has been spent in retaining the armed & paramilitary forces there. Not to forget the innocent lives of our soldiers lost in 4 armed engagements with Pakistan! Pakistan has already become a failed state and the same Kashmir would have come back to India given today’s Wahabi/Saudi/Talibani dominance in that country as Kashmiris’ Islam is primarily Sufi-oriented which for Wahabis is “shirk” (as good as being a kafir!)!
Further, Kashmiri Pandits (KP), which Nehru too was, had phenomenal advantages in Kashmir such as: they were the ones who had almost 90% of Class-I government jobs; they were the ones who had university education; Shiekh Abdullah is the first Muslim post-graduate (PG) from Kashmir who came all the way to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to get higher education!
Imagine that rural Kashmiris (including Hindus) had to pay a tax even on rearing poultry to Raja Hari Singh’s officials who were overwhelmingly KPs. There was no PG education facility in the Kashmir valley till almost 10 years after independence (http://www.kashmiruniversity.net/aboutuok.aspx)!
In another region ruled by a Raja viz., the Garhwal and Pauri [in what earlier was Northern UP and is now Uttrakhand], the common man/woman could not attain education higher than grade 10. Anyone who wanted to seek post 10th grade education could only get it at Dehradun or at Moradabad/Rampur etc. Interestingly it is the house of Raja of Garhwal who ensured this should be the practice. Its current lineage’s Raja Manabendra Shah represented the BJP party in Parliament till recently! So it can be seen the so called Royal families, whether ruling Muslims in Kashmir or Hindus in Garhwal/Pauri, never wanted their masses to attain education. And till this date it is the BJP which is the biggest supporter of these Rajas and their families!
So KPs had a vested interest in keeping Kashmir in India in addition to the fact that they were born there and so have an affection for that place. Despite the fact that at the time of the Partition, Kashmir did not face any Hindu-Muslim riots unlike the northern provinces of India and all of Pakistan today.
These are some of the additional facts about Kashmir but were not at all worth mentioning in my article else it would have been construed that being a Muslim I am pro-Kashmiris. I wanted to let people see facts, feel the situation and realize what they might have had done, had they faced similar situations.
Ahmad Cameron
An excellent article which is based on first-hand experience Ahmad has had in Kashmir. He has with examples given his views regarding what was going on in Kashmir in the late 80s.
As he has a great experience of working in the Government of India and has also an analytical brain, I hope he continues to write more articles.
Regards,
Kamal Sharma
Dear Kamal,
Thanks for your kind words.
Only if those responsible for affairs of the state could see things from a nationalist point of view rather through the colored glasses of selfishness, parochial and biases, I am sure things would not have reached this level. After the creation of Bangladesh, the Indian State and its people at the helm of affairs should have been more cautious vis-a-vis Pakistan as it has consistently been having a grudge against India after 1971. It (Pakistan) would never leave an opportunity to avenge that (the defeat in 1971). This even a child of India understands. So why those who have been manning the affairs for over 60 years now, cannot visualize and make ammendments to their policies towards J and K is the moot question.
The BJP and the Congress have called all sorts of names to Shiekh Abdullah family’s style of governance. Yet both wasted no opportunity to have the same Shiekh Abdullah’s family by its side when it came to the question of grabbing power. The BJP in specific has only one principle viz., how to attain power using Hindutva or tying up with Shielkh Abdullah’s faction or any other which may catapult it to retain the PM position at the Centre. And it will again do it, if – God forbid- it returns to power.
Regards,
Ahmad Cameron
Hi Ahmad,
What a clarity in your report. You have done a wonderful job in analyzing the matter. I will talk to you in detail some day. Once again, thank you for an eye-opening report.
Regards
Sam
Dear Satish,
Had there been an honest attempt in integrating Kashmir into India in a holistic manner, then probably things may have emerged differently. Whether it is J&K or the entire group of North Eastern states of India, the mainland political parties, leaders, bureaucrats, armed forces, paramilitary, intelligence organizations have only treated these states of India in the most shabby manner. Only they have exploited them for their vested interests rather doing sincere developmental work. The leadership from these states are puppets of the mainland parties and highly corrupt. Whatever one sees in these states any shade of development, then it is due to those exceptional set of bureaucrats who have been true nationalist Indians. And such committed nationalist Indian bureaucrats in every batch I taught could never reach a double figure in entire batch.
Great article, v incisive.
Thanks a lot Rasheed for your feedback.