“Although it happened 15 years ago, my Mausi still hasn’t recovered“, said Abdul (name changed), whose family has had to endure the duress of AFSPA. In 2006, a top army official killed three militants in a 5-hour long fierce encounter in Bandipora.
This headline was commonly circulated and published in media outlets in and out of Kashmir, yet the real story differs greatly from the heroic headline seen. In fact, it was through my interview with Abdul* and by learning about his family’s experience of state-mandated brutality & AFSPA, did I realize the wide disparity between what we see vs reality. The reported story of Abid Hussain Shah and the reality – as told by his close family member- is an example of the aforementioned disparity.
Abid Hussain Shah was 21 years old and had just completed his graduation, with the aspiration to pursue higher studies. He was the son of the house owner, Saifuddin Shah, and he owned a shop in the same building. As Mr Shah’s son, Abid worked closely with his sales associate, Mr Manzoor, who operated the shop in the Newpora market, Bandipora region of Kashmir.
It is also important to note that Bandipora is a highly militarized zone and is also the subject of a lot of inspections and checking. The year 2006 also marked an increase in army and CRPF activities in Kashmir due to the rising threat of militancy perceived by the central government.
Consequentially, Mr Abid and Mr Manzoor also became the subject of such inspections. In June of 2006, the security forces cordoned Abid’s shop as the army was informed that some militants were hiding on the first floor of the three-storey building.
Media outlets reported that security forces stormed the residential-cum-shopping centre, with the militants opening fire, resulting in the on-spot death of 15 RR Lt Colonel VR Chauhan. Yet, what the media didn’t expound upon, was the story of Mr Abid and Mr Manzoor’s innocent deaths.
The majority of reportage on AFSPA invoked acts are provided by the Indian armed forces itself. Through the course of the interview, Abdul* stated that independent Kashmiri journalists’ reportage on AFSPA is often met by direct and indirect threats by either the army or the police.
Therefore, the ground reality of AFSPA is often misconstrued and hidden from the general public. The inability of the army or the police to communicate their viewpoints effectively with regard to AFSPA invoked acts makes the act even more obscure from public perception.
The story purported by the media culminates with the death of Colonel Chauhan and concludes by highlighting the death of three militants in the encounter. Yet, Abid’s and Manzoor’s story is radically different. Firstly, both Abid and Manzoor were civilians who came from ordinary families and worked to provide a livelihood for them.
The sole fact that military personnel classified them as militants is worthy of admonishment. Covert acts such as branding innocent civilians as militants or threats to public peace support a system of lies which provides immunity to armed forces in Kashmir through AFSPA.
Yet more strikingly, the lack of reportage concerning the overt human rights violation in Abid and Manzoor’s case is the real crux of the matter. Following the encounter, both Mr Abid and Mr Manzoor were taken from their shop in Newpora market and were taken by the 14 Rashtriya Rifles personnel to the top floor of the building.
According to an anonymous source, the two were locked inside the room, and the whole building was later set ablaze by the soldiers, taking the innocent lives of Mr Abid and Mr Manzoor. They were declared militants shortly after their deaths. Their deaths were so gruesome that they were virtually unrecognizable, stating (in Hindi) “anth main, sirf hadiyon ka dhancha reh gaya”.
The source further delved into the custodial deaths of the two men by elaborating on how Mr Abid Shah was recognized. Abid Shah had a crooked tooth, and after the inferno that emblazoned Shah, his crooked tooth was the only characteristic through which he could be recognized.
Instances such as these have created a cloud of fear in Kashmir. Kashmiri residents live under perpetual fear and cannot let their guard down. Through my interview with Abdul*, he delved into the aforementioned notion by exclaiming the general fear Kashmiris have moving out at night, stating, “Shaam ke baad, ek darr ke mahaul rehta hai”.
Instances such as Abid and Manzoor’s are replete, creating a level of fear which normalizes a general disregard for civil liberties. Before asking Abdul* about his family’s experience with AFSPA, he delved into his personal experience with AFSPA.
He vividly recounts the day in his village Bacche, Bandipora, as the police came in routinely to check for suspicious activities. Abdul exclaimed the sudden fear he felt when his father walked in to inform him that police officers wanted to search his room. The police then took away Abdul’s phone without his consent.
The police then harassed Abdul by asking for his personal contacts, which are required for “security reasons”. This general lack of privacy has caused Kashmiris to self-censor, never knowing at what moment their privacy might be invaded. The aggregation of such varying degrees of aggression have sculpted the draconian nature of AFSPA.
The tripartite of media, armed military and central government have worked in conjunction to conceal the true reality of AFSPA since its inception in Kashmir in 1990. The concealment of egregious stories involving paramilitary/ armed forces in Kashmir has pushed the subject of AFSPA to the peripheries of the Indian political consciousness.
International human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, have harshly condemned AFSPA for its non-democratic and violent action methods. Yet, AFSPA escapes the socio-political limelight, thanks to the coordinated effort to conceal and revise encounters in Kashmir. The difference between the reality of Mr Abid Shah’s story and the one purported by the media accentuates and highlights the role and impact of the aforementioned tripartite.
*Name changed