Post-truce, killings draw villagers' ire

Post-truce, killings draw villagers' ire
February 2001

Times of India

In September 1999, Abdul Ahmed Ganai, the halka’ president of the National Conference from Sonpa village, was telling me of his uphill battle - convincing people of the need to vote for his party. A year and a half later I am talking to his son about his father who has become a household name - one of the four persons killed by militants a fortnight ago in this area in an unprecedented spurt in carnage after the ceasefire.

Ganai was killed after he refused to heed militants’ threats and dissociate himself from the National Conference. Instead, the past one year he was trying to get developmental works sanctioned for his village which now boasts of a bund, a shop, a panchayat hall, a passenger bus stand and a wall for the park.

Though it was a village resident who led Ganai to the militants on some pretext, no one has dared to protest. His son, 20-year-old Fayyaz Ahmed Ganai, will now have to leave his studies to support his mother and three younger siblings. He has no idea what to do, but hopes the local NC MLA (who villagers say never shows his face in the area) will help.

At least 40-50 militantas are active in this belt, says a security official. Many of them are recycled” militants - former militants who have found surrender doesn’t pay. Either they are harassed by the security forces for their past links, or they are targetted by militants for having surrendered. When they are not, they are still unfit to hold a job. Even if they manage to get one, they are required to report frequently at the security camps, making it impossible for them to keep a job.”

If fear of militants has grown, so has anger at the harassment and atrocities by the security forces. Though human rights violations have fallen, each aberration is amplified in the context of ceasefire. When the ceasefire was announced, people expected all violence against them to cease. That has not happenned. Therefore, they are more angry than ever before.”

An incident in a neighbouring village or one three miles away raises tempers, shaping public opinion. The farther from the main road, the less the effect of the ceasefire,” says an official. The special operations group of the JK police - or the STF as it is known - is the most hated of the security agencies and continues to be the most active even during the ceasefire. Near Utli village, Lal Mohammad Gujri, a surrendered militant, was brutally beaten by the STF a few days ago. In Beerwah town, Wani has just ecaped from a cat’ (a civilian working with the security forces as a spotter) after he was kidnapped over a property dispute.

In Paramohalla in Pattan, the family of Javed (name changed) has just returned home. Three hours earlier a BSF patrol on the road was fired on, injuring one jawan. In retaliation, the BSF, suspecting the fire was from Javed’s house, opened fire on it. His bedroom floor is littered with bullets and his car severely damaged. One villager was beaten up. Though the villagers have got off lightly, they are still furious, questioning the efficacy of the ceasefire.

”Yes, the situation has eased somewhat but people continue getting killed,” says a senior official of South Kashmir, exlaining why there is no change in the hostility towards the government. Even when people are not with the militants, they continue to be against the GOI.”