Briefing (January 26-February 01, 2020)

BUDGAM

Six IAF personnel were killed when the Mi-17 helicopter was hit by a friendly missile and crashed in Budgam. An enquiry is going on to find the people responsible for the fire. However, a 17-year old Budgam boy, Mudasir Ashraf emerged as the hero of February 26 Balakot airstrikes because he risked his life to get closer to the crashed chopper and attempted saving a fellow civilian Kifayat Hussain, who was burning alive.

Last week, Mudasir was one of the 22 recipients of the National Bravery Award. “When I rushed in, I thought I was helping the pilot because I could see a man trapped under the helicopter debris,” Mudasir was quoted saying. “We started running as we heard two loud sounds of the blast.” He pulled him out but Hussain succumbed to his injuries. He later joined the rescue and helped retrieve the roasted corpses of the IAF personnel. Mudasir is a student of Amar Singh College in Srinagar.

Mudasir is not the only acknowledged brave young man. The other Kashmiri is Sartaj Mohidin Mughal, 16, who exhibited bravery on the evening of October 24, 2019, when Pakistani gunners pounded Chowkibal and Tumina. One shell landed at his Tumina home. He jumped out and then rescued his family – his parents and two sisters, Saniya, 8, and Sadiya, 2, from the house that was burning. He got a serious leg injury in the rescue and once he moved out his family, their home collapsed.

“I was on the first floor of my home in Tumina in October last year, when a shell fired by adversaries hit my house on the first floor and as a result my room was filled with smoke. I immediately jumped from the first floor, and then rushed to the ground floor where my parents and two sisters were,” Mugal said.“I picked my sister Sadia, 8, in my hands and Sania, 13, held my hands, while my parents ran out of the room, before the damaged house collapsed.”

In the crowd of the child hero’s, one is wheelchair bound. Identified as Soumyadip Jana, he is a West Bengal resident but has strong Jammu and Kashmir connection. The 15 year old boy took three bullets on February 10, 2018, when Sunjuwan Military Station in Jammu was attacked. While his father was on duty, he sensed the threat, bolted the door to save his mother, Madhumita, and sister, according to his father Haripad Jana. The attackers could not get in but three bullets were fired from the closed door and all the three hit the young boy, a student of VIII class rendering him paraplegic for his life. He has already undergone three surgeries and is one of the four heroes to be honoured on January 26.

DODA

In October 2018, Bhalessa teenage singer Shaista Sabder sung a song in praise of a government scheme and posted it on YouTube. Now it is a sensation: Allah Ki Rehmat Ko Seenay Se Lagana Hai, Kul Hind Ka Naara Hai Beti Ko Bachana Hai. The poetic tribute to the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme was written by Riaz Mufeed Khan, also a resident of Bhalessa and Shaista lent her voice to it. Shaista has been singing when she was 10. Now she is pursuing her graduation (Semester III) from Government Degree College, Khilotran, Bhalessa. She wants the song to be adopted by the government.

Since 2015, Jammu and Kashmir has only spent 37% of Rs 80,068 crore economic package announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi

JAMMU

After taking over as the new Army Chief on the yearend, Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane flew on his maiden visit to Jammu and Kashmir. From the Northern Command Headquarters, the General made a speech, which was broadcasted to the two corps stationed at Nagrota and Srinagar. Besides, he visited the forward areas in the Rajouri belt and had a meeting with the Lt Gov GC Murmu before taking off for Delhi. He already had visited the Siachen Glacier on January 9.

SAMBA

A BSF jawan, who is an expert explosives handler, was arrested for allegedly delivering a parcel to his officer. Identified as Samarpal, a resident of Kolkata, he was detained from his Hubli residence on January 10. Samba police said he was arrested for questioning. On January 5, a parcel carrying an improvised explosive device (IED) was delivered to the 173rd battalion headquarters of the Border Security Force (BSF) in Samba.

It was addressed to the second-in-command Gurvinder Singh, who got suspicious about it and informed the bomb disposal squad. Immediately a case was registered under the Explosive Substances Act and an investigation led to Samarpal’s arrest. Reports said he wanted to take revenge from his assistant commandant over some issue and had left the bomb at the garrison gate before leaving for home.

UDHAMPUR

It is a mysterious disease. The kids get minor fever, then vomiting starts and they die. Doctors in Ramnagar belt are baffled about which disease it is. So far eight deaths have taken place. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Udhampur, Dr K C Dogra said six ailing children are undergoing treatment at SMGS Hospital Jammu, PGI Chandigarh and Ludhiana. All the dead children and those fighting for life are below the age of four years.

CHENNAI

A former ALOHA student in Srinagar has got a golden medal for topping the ranks in ANNA University. Tamil Nadu Governor did the honours at the university convocation, last week. Mustafa Ali Rather, a resident of Hardusorish in Budgam is pursuing his masters in aerospace after topping GATE 2019. He has studied in a state run local school and has been the ALOHA student as well.

SOGAM

Usually one member of the family gets astray. In a recent case, police found an entire family on the wrong side of the law and arrested them. During routine searches on the highway, the Manwal and Jhajjar Kotli Police arrested four individuals with 29 kgs of cannabis. These included three members of a family. They were in a car. They were identified as Firdous Ahmed, the car driver from Sopore; Rafiq Ahmed, his father Ali Mohammad Khan, and his mother Sahiba Noori – all residents of Dever Inderbug Kakad village in Sogam. They were taking the “crop” for sale to Punjab.

MUMBAI

Ahead of his seventh anniversary, veteran actor Soni Razdan stepped into a controversy with a tweet seeking a probe into Afzal Guru’s hanging. She said he was used as a scapegoat. The Raazi actor shared a link to a news story detailing Guru’s letter to his lawyer in early 2000 indicating that Devinder Singh, now in custody for ferrying most wanted militants to Jammu, was involved in the conspiracy to attack the Parliament. Terming the hanging as “travesty of justice”, the actor wrote: “Who is going to bring back a man from the dead if he is innocent. This is why the death penalty is not to be used lightly. And this is why there also needs to be a solid inquiry into why Afzal Guru was made the scapegoat”.

KOLKOTA

India has dropped 10 places in global democracy rankings, in a year that saw the world’s biggest elections in the country, The Telegraph reported. The index drawn by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis division of The Economist shows India’s score has fallen by seven since 2006, when the index was launched. “The difference now is that India has slipped to the below-seven category from above seven,” the newspaper reported. “India now figures among the 11 countries which saw regressions in 2019.” These are Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Cameroon, Comoros, Egypt, Guyana, Singapore, Mali and Zambia.

“The biggest democracy in the world, India, dropped ten places in the Democracy Index’s global ranking to 51st place. India’s overall score fell from 7.23 in 2018 to 6.90 in 2019. The primary cause of the democratic regression was an erosion of civil liberties in the country,” the report noted. “India’s previous score — 7.23 in 2017 and 2018 — was, as it is, the lowest since 2006. The highest was 7.92, in 2014.” The factors considered while working out the score include the electoral process and pluralism, functioning of the government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.

MUMBAI

Two filmmakers involved in films about migrant Kashmir Pandits have picked up a battle. It is Vinod Chopra versus Vivek Agnihotri. Chopra’s film Shikara is ready for the release early February and Agnihotri is still shooting for his Kashmir Files.

Chopra was quoted saying: “Its like 2 friends meeting together after 30 yrs, who want to forget & move on!” It indicated that Kashmiri Pandits should forgive the local Muslim population of Jammu & Kashmir for “driving them out of their homes in 1990”, as one news report put it.

Taking a dig on Chopra, Vivek was quoted saying: “Vinod Chopra has made a love story. When you make a love story about genocide you are bound to be talking the language of the pacifist. That’s his expertise…”. He added: “The genocide and ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus can never be forgotten by them. It’s one of the biggest human tragedies in the world. This tragedy cannot be compared to a fight between two friends. This shows the immaturity of a filmmaker while addressing such an important issue. We are hurt and the pain of being rootless still continues. I can understand the pressures of pseudo-liberals around him. The truth cannot be hidden.”

DAVOS

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s maiden India visit later next month, Kashmir is again in news. After his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister on the sidelines of the 2020 World Economic Forum, Trump said the US is watching the developments between India and Pakistan over Kashmir “very closely” and repeated his offer to “help” resolve the longstanding dispute between the nuclear armed neighbours. He said he told Khan he will talk to Narendra Modi on Kashmir.

“What is going on between Pakistan and India … if we can help, we certainly will be willing to,” Trump told media after his meeting with Khan. “We have been watching it very closely and it is an honour to be here with my friend.”

“The Pakistan-India conflict is a very big issue for us in Pakistan and we expect the US to always play its part in de-escalating the tensions, because no other country can,” Khan said. “There are issues we want to talk about. The main issue is Afghanistan because it concerns the US and Pakistan. Fortunately, we are on the same page. Both of us are interested in peace there and an orderly transition in Afghanistan with talks with Taliban and the government.”

On India, Khan said that “it was a big issue for us in Pakistan. “We always hope that the US will play its part, because no other country can,” Khan said, to which Trump responded, “Right”. Trump added that United States has “never been closer with Pakistan than we are right now”.

The interaction, third in a row since Khan took over in Islamabad, came weeks ahead of a Howdy Modi style function being planned for visiting Trump in Ahmadabad. Americans of Gujarati origin are planning the Howdy Trump show. Trump and Modi are expected to sign a short-term trade deal that could grant the US companies more access to Indian markets and restore India trade benefits withdrawn last summer. They will also discuss a longer-term trade pact that could include a Free Trade Agreement, The Hindustan Times reported.

“There is no role for any third party in the Kashmir issue,” MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said when asked about Trump’s offer.“Our position has been clear and consistent on Kashmir… It is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.”

Delhi, meanwhile, is happy that its punitive trade relations are supplementing the foreign policy. Last week, when Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was asked about a halt in palm oil exports to India, he admitted: “We are too small to take retaliatory action. We have to find ways and means to overcome that.” India is world’s largest edible oil buyer.

Now, international trade will supplement the foreign policy on Kashmir. The Tribune reported that India is “dangling the trade carrot” to the European Union in order “to mute its criticism on human rights over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the Kashmir lockdown”. The EU is India’s largest trading partner with combined trade of $115 billion, about $20 billion more than India’s trade with China. But India enjoys a trade surplus on the strength of $60-70 billion worth of trade in services.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has acknowledged that India’s relationship with Europe has “under-performed” mainly because “we aren’t having the kind of strategic conversation with Europe on a sub-group basis”.

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Benchmarking Phase

As the hearing of a number of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 resumed, the Supreme Court reserved the order about transferring the case to a larger constitution bench, reports Tahir Bhat

Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court has started hearing the gamut of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. Initially heard in December, the case came up for hearings last week.

It was Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, the only Kashmiri judge on the Article 370 bench, who had sought to know if any constitutional provision or even a Constitution could ever be a permanent structure. “Can a Constitution be permanent, frozen in time,” the judge asked Dinesh Dwivedi arguing for Prem Shankar Jha, on December 13, according to The Economic Times. He went on to add that Article 370 could not have been envisaged as a permanent feature. Once its purpose was sub-served where is the question of permanency? “Can anything be permanent in a polity of a country… that could not have been the purpose?”

The focus of resumed hearings, however, was whether the case should be heard by the existing 5-judge bench or by a larger 7-judge constitutional bench. This was inevitable in wake of the court observation that before going into the matter it would first hear the submissions on reference.

On the fourth day of hearing, the bench comprising of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, BR Gavai and Surya Kantand headed by Justice N V Ramana observed that it will refer all the petitions to a larger Constitution bench only if  it is satisfied that there is a direct conflict in two earlier verdicts of the apex court Prem Nath Kaul versus Jammu and Kashmir (1959) and Sampat Prakash versus Jammu and Kashmir (1970). The two verdicts were given by separate 5-judge benches.

So far, four advocates have argued in favour of bench upgradation.

Earlier, the court had raised a query as to who could be the competent authority to reconstitute the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly to take a call on altering the special status of the erstwhile state under Article 370 of the Constitution. Petitioners asserted that only the Constituent Assembly is empowered to make any recommendation to the President.

The petitioners have asserted that only the Constituent Assembly, which represents the will of the people, is empowered to make recommendation to the President on any changes in the special status of J&K.

Dinesh Dwivedi told the court that since the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir was not created under the Constitution of India or Article 370, it cannot be repealed in exercise of powers under Article 370. He said the Presidential orders of August 5, 2019 “virtually abolishes” the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. “It’s a case of implied repeal where a Constitution has been repealed by an executive exercise of powers,” he argued. “Article 370 was the only tunnel of light connecting the Centre to erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Article 370 required that action of government of India should have concurrence with Jammu and Kashmir constituent assembly, which was dissolved in 1957 after framing the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir”.

Dwivedi continued: “The power to issue such Presidential Order under Article 370(1) (d) could not be exercised by the President with the concurrence advice of the Governor only.” He said the substitution of “Legislative Assembly of the State” for “Constituent Assembly” with the concurrence of the State Government or Governor is void. Besides, he said, the Jammu and Kashmir’s Legislative Assembly is a creature of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and not the Constitution of India where Governor cannot be a substitute.

“Article 370 was temporary and was to cease after the enactment of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Thereafter, the governing relationship between Union and the State was to be regulated by the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.

Kashmir’s prominent lawyer, Zafar Ahmed Shah, appearing for the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association argued that the Constitution of India and that of Jammu and Kashmir are parallel to each other and Article 370 was continuing. In Sampat Prakash judgment, he said, the court had specifically stated that in light of the continuance of the circumstances, Article 370 has to stay.

Shah arguments asserted that in case of Jammu and Kashmir, there was only Instrument of Accession (IoA) and not a standstill agreement or a merger agreement. The Clause 8 of the IoA directed that “only legislative powers” were given to India. “This, however, gave birth to a peculiar trap of Article 370,” Shah was quoted as saying by Bar and Bench, asserting that it made mandatory for the state government to agree to every decision of the Centre.

“The abrogation of Article 370 was illegal and it has to be read down. All of a sudden, shockingly, the President of India states that all Constitution Orders are superseded and all provisions of the Constitution will apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Then why not Article 368?” Shah argued. He termed the abrogation as “atrocious” and accused Delhi of committing a “constitutional fraud”. “The whole Constitution of India can never be made applicable to us”, he asserted. “The power of a Constituent Assembly is unlimited, its roots are in the will of the people. It is beyond challenge”.

Asserting that Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional autonomy is “a guaranteed thing” by the Constitution of India and the framework and working of both the constitutions. “Article 370 subsumes the sovereignty of the State. Within the framework of the constitutions, you have yours and we have ours. This was the method which has been followed in the last 70 years,” Shah said.

“If any law had to be made in Jammu and Kashmir, it would only be done in consultation or concurrence with the state. Article 370 provided for concurrence and consultation. Doing away with Article 370, you have snapped ties with the state,” he asserted.

Sanjay Parikh, who appeared for the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), extensively quoted sections of the debates of the Constituent Assembly to submit that the writers of the Indian Constitution – including SardarVallabhbhai Patel and N Gopalaswami Ayyangar, intended that the “will of the people be of paramount importance in Jammu and Kashmir”, and that any topic of governance in the region could be enforced only after consulting the state government.

Parikh also stated that the Instrument of Accession (IOA) “made it clear” that no other provisions would be included in the erstwhile state’s constitution and that they wouldn’t accept a “future constitution”.

“The Constituent Assembly is ultimately the repository of the will of the people,” Parikh argued. “One sovereignty is the Instrument of Accession and the second is the will of the people. You can’t make a change without the recommendation (of the Constituent Assembly); it is not permissible.”

Earlier, Raju Ramachandaran, appearing for Dr Shah Faesal, and Shehla Rashid, had argued that in the scheme of Article 370 while the democratic power is with the State, the executive power is with the Union government.

On the last day of hearing, the bench heard KK Venugopal who said the abrogation of Article 370 allowed the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Indian union, asserting the move is “irreversible”. He said the sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir was “indeed temporary”. He read from VP Menon’s Integration of the Indian States, to showcase the relationship between the Maharaja and Pakistan and the basis of Maharaja’s subsequent decision approving the Instrument of Accession with India.“When Kashmir was being forced to merge into Pak and it didn’t want to, Maharaja went to UN, but UN declined by saying that it cannot send an army to an independent nation. Then he went to Pt. Nehru, who agreed to send the army,” argued the Attorney General.

Veugopal argued that Article 370 only  brought out the legislative powers of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Asserting that there was no conflict in both the judgments, he said the matter should not be referred to a larger bench. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the Union Territory of J&K, also opposed the plea for referring the matter to a larger bench.

Earlier, there was a little exchange between Justice Kaul and ZafarShah. “Was the Instrument of Accession signed by Kashmir different from the one signed by other princely states?” Justice Kaul asked.

“Substantially no,” Shah replied, adding there was a principle difference as Jammu and Kashmir had neither a Standstill Agreement nor Merger agreement with India.

There was a heated exchange between Rajev Dhavan and Tushar Mehta. Dhavan was reported to have objected when Mehta contended that “no argument favouring secession or giving wrong picture about Kashmir should be permitted. I would show who the real separatists are”.

“Political statements should not be made,” Dhavan reacted. “The issue before this court is not whether Jammu and Kashmir is a part of India. The issue is on what terms is Jammu and Kashmir a part of India”.

Finally the bench ruled that it has reserved its orders on the demand for a larger bench and the date for its announcement would be notified soon.

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Hyped Initiatives?

Between an over-hyped political outreach and a curtain raiser for investment in Jammu and Kashmir, there was a ‘dirty picture’ and a radical revelation in between, reports Masood Hussain

Ravi Shankar Prasad with officials in Baramulla.

Dressed in woollens and wearing a Karakul cap, Mukhtar Abas Naqvi made a fiery speech to an estimated 350 audience comprising some civilians, Sarpanchs, and daily-wagers in the Block Development Office, adjacent to the Harwan police station. He virtually laid the foundation stone for a school for Dara, one of the improvised localities of Gujjars, overlooking the Srinagar city, even though it is located barely 6 kms from the venue.

Naqvi talked about employment, education and empowerment but skipped explaining either of the three. He said Kashmir will become part of India’s development story, an initiative Kashmir missed because of corrupt politicians and Article 370.Apart from virtual inauguration of various other projects, the minister talked about Haj pilgrimage and accountability. Later, he got on a boat and sailed in the Dal Lake where, an official spokesman said he talked to boatmen community.

Next morning, he drove to Makka Market, a small flea market in Lal Chowk, where he met a few traders, some were angry and some talked in Roti, Kapda, Makan parlance. Suggesting traders to get their wards fill the mandatory forms, Naqvi said Modi government is giving one million scholarships to the Jammu and Kashmir students in next five years. The five-minute visit witnessed news cameramen outnumbering all others forcing the police escort to cut the visit short. In Jammu he said he saw positivity around in Kashmir.

Project Outreach

Naqvi was the first senior BJP minister who piloted the Modi government’s grand outreach plan for Kashmir. Seven other ministers followed him. They all had small good gatherings comprising semi-permanent and auxiliary employees, party activists and some of the beneficiaries of particular schemes.

In Baramulla, Communication Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated a Sports Stadium, met various delegations and had tea on a roadside stall. Earlier in Srinagar, he inaugurated an All Women Post office. A day later, he was in Sopore, the erstwhile capital of militancy where he had a receptive audience.

In Ganderbal, junior Home Minister G Kishan Reddy tried to address the fears of the people. “People need not to worry as only the government land will be allotted to the investors for setting up their (industrial) units,” Reddy said.“No private land shall be acquired for setting up industry by any outside investor.”

In Srinagar, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Nayak said all districts would get 50-bedded AYUSH hospitals worth Rs 12 crore each.  It was a hall full of audience from diverse fields at the SKICC. Almost everywhere the visiting ministers said  that binning of Article 370 will make a big difference to Kashmir.

Modi government’s outreach plans, however, triggered serious criticism from Congress. The grand old party was angry over why most of the ministers preferred Jammu over Kashmir. Of 36 ministers flying to attend 59 official functions across the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, only eight will visit Kashmir. No minister will visit Kashmir’s seven of the 10 districts.

Union Minister for Textiles and Women & Child Development, Smriti Irani with BDC members, sarpanches, panchs and students in Reasi.

“Since one of the listed agenda of the purpose of the visit of the brigade of visiting ministers, on the eve of Delhi and West Bengal elections, is to apprise and educate the people about removal of special status for the erstwhile State, they should have organized more such programmes in Kashmir region to aware the people of the benefits of the abrogation of Article 370,” Congress spokesman Ravinder Sharma said in Jammu. “They should also explain the benefits of the disbanding and downgrading of the erstwhile State with a unique history and culture into UTs.”

Some of Sharma’s leaders in Delhi dubbed the visiting ministers as “propagandists” and even “cowards”.

Crowded Jammu

Jammu witnessed literally a crowd of ministers. On one day, there were nine central ministers – Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Dr Jitendra Singh, RK Singh, Anurag Thakur, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Ashwani Choubey, V Muraleedharan and Mahendra Nath Pandey – in the region, visiting distant locations closer to the LoC and the plains. On January 23, there were 10 ministers roaming around in the Jammu region. The programme, insiders said, is political in nature and is aimed at arresting the anti-BJP trend in Jammu, party’s main support base. In Sangh history, Jammu has remained a predecessor to Nagpur.

Post August 5, when the special status was binned and the state was converted into two UTs, Jammu  started feeling the heat. For most of the history, Jammu was used as a counter-narrative to Kashmir by accusing the valley of usurping power, discriminating against Jammu and disempowering the Dogras.

Now when special status, already hollowed since 1953, was binned, it is Jammu facing the heat. The issue of jobs, the demographic composition, and the most crucial land ownership are some of the key factors that have sent Jammu in sort of a shock. An alarming feedback from Jammu led to the devising of outreach plans and it was quickly acted upon. The ministers are explaining the benefits to the people in Jammu about how the Article 370 was an obstacle in developmental activities, accountability and anti-corruption.

Hardeep Singh Puri, the Civil Aviation Minister announced eight additional airports including four at Akhnoor, Chhamb, Udhampur and Rajouri to improve connectivity. Some ministers inaugurated some small projects that had already been completed.

Domicile Law

The government, however, is aware that the outreach is unlikely to help unless the core concerns are addressed. The central government has already drafted a draft domicile bill for Jammu and Kashmir. This is expected to protect the jobs and the demographic composition with a rider that anybody who lives in the state for 15 years can have the same right. The bill, according to well placed sources, will be introduced in the parliament at the earliest.

Lt Gov GC Murmu who accompanied some of the ministers told people in Jammu that keeping in view the interests of the Union Territory, the Government will ensure protection of land and jobs for the locals of Jammu and Kashmir subject to certain exceptions.

VK Saraswat

NC leader and former minister, Ajay Kumar Sadhotra, however, said the visit was hyped to raise the expectations. “It is not a small thing that 36 cabinet ministers are visiting Jammu and Kashmir but the people want to see the outcome,” Sadhotra said. He believes the programme was sort of a political initiative on the pattern of Back to Village (B2V) that already witnessed two editions. “It was B2V-3 and it witnessed the same fate as B2v-2.” The ambitious B2V involved the thousands of officers going into the village and listing the priorities and the deficits at ground zero. “These ministers came to cut the ribbons of the projects we had completed earlier. There was nothing much beyond photo-ops.”

Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter, Iltija Mufti, termed the week-long visit as “normalcy acrobatics”, asserting the “outreach” was BJP’s “concern for vote bank politics”.

Attracting Investment

At the same time, however, the central government is pushing for an investment summit for early April. Last week witnessed the curtain raiser event in Delhi, where the Lt Gov, GC Murmu said his administration is working on an Industrial Promotion Policy 2020. The new policy will envisage UTGST reimbursement in full, an attractive land policy, exemption from stamp duty, a capital investment subsidy and other benefits. These benefits will be in addition to the incentives being extended under the central policy in vogue.Murmu told the audience that the abrogation of special status has removed all “artificial barriers” and will make Jammu and Kashmir an “economic paradise” for investors. Inviting investors to see for themselves, Murmu said the Kashmir is abnormal for militants only.

The event showcased policy and regulatory environment, investment opportunities in 14 focus sectors to boost manufacturing and employment generation in the region, according to an official spokesman. It said more than 350 delegates from various sectors and leading organisations participated in the event which held over 45 B2G meetings.

“The good thing was that the UT had identified sectors for investment, for which they must work on separate policy frameworks” one senior entrepreneur, who was invited to the event, said. “All secretaries were there so were various cabinet ministers. But I did not see any major investor or maybe I could not recognise.”

Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi at Lal Chowk.

Piyush Goyal, the industries minister told in Jammu that by March 2021, Jammu and Kashmir will have 25 projects worth Rs 25000 crores. Earlier media from Delhi reported the government was working to have an investment of at least one lakh crore rupees.

A Kashmiri participant said the government, especially the Chief Secretary, BVR Subramaniam forcefully put across its point using the emotion and politics. He refused that Jammu and Kashmir was backward and asserted people in the UT die of old age rather than any disease. “Let us see how it pans out,” he said. “I could feel that around six to seven major companies had sent their representatives.”

Interestingly, on the sidelines, off the cameras a top officer met a Kashmir trade leader for a follow up to the promise that two trade leaders – Syed Shakeel Qalander and Mohammad Yasin Khan, still in jail will be freed.

A Dirty Picture

Interestingly, during the interactive session one non local participant asked the UT officers about how they will transact business at a place that lacks internet. A senior officer admitted the fact justifying that it was aimed at countering “disruptive activities”. He assured him that in future such blockades may not happen even though the business is using the internet.

The internet blockade in Kashmir, now in the sixth month, however, created a major news when Niti Aayog(the erstwhile Planning Commission) member VK Saraswat, who is also the Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said Kashmiri people only watch dirty films on the internet.

“What difference does it make if there’s no internet in Kashmir?” Saraswat was quoted saying.“What do you watch on the Internet there? What e-tailing is happening there? Besides watching dirty films, you do nothing there.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual convocation at Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT) in Gandhinagar (Gujarat), he added a few words of wisdom: “Why do politicians want to go to Kashmir? They want to recreate the protests happening on the roads of Delhi in Kashmir. They use social media to fuel protests.”

The statement made Sarswat a butt of jokes in the virtual comedy circus and in the din the condemnations to his utterances were lost. Kashmir Chamber termed Sarswat a “filthy mind”. A day later, Sarswat took the “out of context” route to withdraw his utterances and extended his apologies to Kashmir!

Deradicalisation Camps

Internet blockade that has created a record of sorts is a global reference now. In between the outreach and the investment curtain raiser, however, there was another major development – the creation of de-radicalisation camps in Kashmir. The idea came from General Bipin Rawat, India’s first 4-star General, now the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

“Girls and boys as young as 10 and 12 are now being radicalized. These people can still be isolated from radicalization in a gradual way, but there are people who have completely been radicalized,” General Rawat told the Raisina Dialogue 2020on January 16, while talking about the terrorism and Kashmir. The conference had foreign diplomats and government officials in audience. “These people need to be taken out separately, possibly taken into some deradicalization camps. We’ve got deradicalization camps going on in our country.”

Rawat said containing radicalisation is key to effectively combat terrorism. “You got to start looking at where the radicalisation is taking place,” he suggested. “Who are the people involved in radicalising the people. It is happening in schools, universities, from religious places and sites, and then there are group of people who are spreading this.”

A few days later, his idea found an echo in Srinagar.“If any such facility comes up in Kashmir that will be a good sign, it should happen. It’ll definitely help people, especially those who have gone astray,” Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh told a crowded news conference. “If some sensible kind of arrangement is made where good people from the civil society and experts who deal with the subject and relevant aspects of religion and other things… I think that will be a good development. That kind of things should be welcomed.”

This has already triggered a debate. Condemnations apart, it has shocked experts over the presence of such camps. The Telegraph commented: “This is a frightening revelation, if true.”

Union Minister for Human Resources Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishankh at SKICC.

“I could affirm with my experience of studying, writing and lecturing on the ‘counter-narratives’ programme for over 15 years, especially to the Maharashtra police and Karnataka government, that no such ‘camps’ exist for the police-operated counselling efforts,” Vappala Balachandran, former Special Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, wrote in The Tribune. “I do not know how the CDS could talk about such ‘camps’ existing in India unless they are secret. If secret, it is alarming.”

A Kashmiri participant to the investment summit curtain raiser said there were a few real estate people. “Will they be building these camps,” he asked, almost in bewilderment.

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Davinder Details

Less than a fortnight after his arrest with top militants, new revelations suggest more than what Kashmir knows, reports Saima Bhat

Davinder Singh, DSP, who was arrested with top Hizb millitants on Jan 11.

As the federal investigator NIA has taken the custody of DySP Davinder Singh and his friends on a fortnight long remand, the questioned are being asked from diverse quarters. Not many details are available in Jammu and Kashmir. Even the officials are seen hissing about the embarrassing development.

“Singh’s case is all the more embarrassing because he was deputed at a very sensitive anti-hijacking unit at Srinagar airport. Although his own record may have been doubtful, Afzal Guru, who was hanged in the case of the attack on the Parliament, had made serious allegations against him,” Shashi Shekhar, the editor in chief of The Hindustan Times wrote, insisting “Singh is just a small cog in the wheel.” He asked: “What was the intelligence machinery doing? Are there other people too who are corrupting our systems? This question will be forgotten until the next such incident takes place.”

Srinagar lives in an uneasy calm. People hardly talked about Singh. Perhaps, they are unaware of things. The revelations, however, are coming from Delhi.

To the utter shock, Ahmad Ali Fayaz wrote in The Quint that the deserted cop Naveed Babu, who had emerged the No 2 in Hizbul Mujahideen had comfortably stayed in Jammu from December to February in 2018-19 with the help of same DSP.

“Police have learned from preliminary questioning of the detained terrorists, as also from other sources, that Naveed had reached Jammu and arranged an accommodation for himself with the help of Dy SP anti-hijacking at Srinagar Airport, Davinder Singh,” he reported. The news portal reported that due to snowfall, quite a number of  militants have been shifting to Jammu every winter. “Sometimes they simply hide but sometimes they plan and execute terror acts,” it said.

Now, the police are investigating the March 7, 2019, grenade attack that killed two young civilians, one each from Uttarakhand and Mattan (Anantnag), and left 30 more injured.

After the blast, Fayaz reported police had intercepted a Srinagar-bound vehicle and arrested a 15-year-old class 9th student Yasir Javed Bhat of Khanpora Dassen (Kulgam).

“According to Police, Yasir alias Chhotu alias Arhan had revealed that Farooq Ahmad Bhat, had indoctrinated him into terrorism and given him the task of lobbing a grenade in Jammu. Later in March, Police had lodged the detained teenager at Juvenile Observation Home at RS Pura,” reads the report. But same day the family of Bhat protested denying all allegations against their son asserting he had left home just one day ago.

The other revelation was made by senior journalist Praveen Swami, who is an expert on defence issues and has extensively covered Kashmir. He has reported that RAW, India’s external intelligence gatherer had sustained contacts with Singh. “The operation also involved contact with Irfan Shafi Mir, a Shopian-based lawyer arrested along with Singh, the sources said,” Swamy reported on the TV News18 website. “Singh did not either inform or seek authorization from his RAW contacts before allegedly accepting Rs12,00,000 from Naveed to transport him to a safe house in Jammu, and then on to Chandigarh.”

Swamy alleged: “The government is seeking to suppress key facts in the investigation into Singh’s conduct. The Congress has also claimed that Singh may have had a role in engineering last year’s terrorist attack in Pulwama, which led India and Pakistan to the edge of war.” He also quotes his source from the meeting headed by national security advisor Ajit Doval where “he was briefed on the operation by RAW chief Samant Goel last week. In the meeting, the NSA expressed concern over mis-steps made in the course of the operation.”

“From what we know so far”, his report quoted an official saying, “there’s more than a little suggestion of incompetence in RAW’s handling of Davinder Singh, but nothing to suggest malign intent, or a crime”. Initiated late in October, RAW’s effort to infiltrate the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, formed part of a wider effort in the intelligence community to cultivate new sources following the communications shutdown imposed in Jammu and Kashmir in August, it reads.

“RAW’s Srinagar station reached out to Singh who had served with the police’s counter-terrorist Special Operations Group from the mid-1990s to 2003 for assistance with the operation. The son of an orchard-owning family from Ovarigund in Tral, Singh was known to be familiar with jihadist networks in southern Kashmir,” the report said.

RAW failed to exercise adequate oversight over Singh allowing him to use the opportunity for personal benefit, the report said, adding RAW was also unaware about Singh’s plans of journey that led to his arrest.

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Hospital Christmas

When Samreena Nazir joined the Christmas function of the small Christian community serving the Josh Bishop Memorial Hospital, it was a history tour to the past and present of one of the oldest health facilities in south Kashmir 

A small Church located inside the hospital. (KL Image)

It all restarted with a theft. Back in 1960’s, a 19 year old medical school student stole a book from her college. Years later, she confessed her guilt in the Church and sought repentance. There and then, she heard a consoling voice suggesting her to use her knowledge in the service of people in Kashmir.

Two months later, Sarah was on her way to Kashmir in utter disregard to the suggestions of her family, friends and colleagues in Andhra Pradesh. They all suggested her against getting into a place which is passing through a seriously violent phase. It was January 1996. Almost on daily basis there were killings as Jammu and Kashmir was heading towards an election for the first time after 1987.

The 2019 Christmas completed her 24 years service in Kashmir. Days ahead of the festival, Dr K Sarah was busy distributing gifts among children in the church after finishing her Sunday prayers in the John Bishop Memorial Hospital premises in Anantnag.

“Everyone opposed my decision because of the situation prevailing then,” Sarah said. “Destiny is unavoidable.”

When Sarah arrived in Srinagar, it was snowing. The snow-flakes symbolized the beginning of her new journey. She eventually ended up restarting one of Kashmir’s oldest missionary hospitals that was literally on a ventilator since 1990.

The John Bishop Memorial Hospital (JBMH) was established somewhere late nineteenth century by Isabella Bird, a Scottish lady who has travelled most of the East. She married a doctor, John Bishop. A few years after their marriage, the doctor died.

Isabella sold some property left by her husband and travelled to Srinagar in 1888, where she met Dr Fanny Butler who was one of England’s pioneer women doctors. She found Dr Butler working for the Kashmiri women without a hospital. Isabella felt a dire need of a hospital, which led her to invest her savings into a small hospital in Srinagar in memory of Dr John Bishop. With great efforts, Isabella established a base to serve Kashmir. A few years later, a disastrous flood washed it away.

Renewed efforts by many philanthropists led to the setting up of the Diamond Jubilee Hospital for women in Srinagar. However, there was no such facility in the periphery.

Then came an opening. Field Marshal Lord Roberts was returning to India after visiting Gilgit. During his Srinagar stay, Maharaja organized a feast in his honor and asked if he could grant something to him. Lord Roberts had heard of the difficulties Isabella was facing in obtaining a piece of land for a womens’ hospital in Islamabad. The Maharaja promised the space, a piece of land.

A view of John Bishop Memorial Hospital. (KL Image)

It was on this land that the JBMH was established at Sarnal Bala. In the foothills, it is almost 30 kanals of land. It was literally founded by Dr Minnie Gomery, and her Nursing Sister Ms Kate Nowaham.

According to the details available with the hospital, Dr Gomery had left behind a note of that era. It suggested that no European lived in the south Kashmir town excepting the two.

The two pioneers Dr Gomery and Ms Newnham retired in April 1935. The baton passed to Dr Berly Burt and sister Pearce. They managed the hospital for a short period. In 1938, Dr Fletcher became medical superintendent and served during the Second World War era.

After Fletcher’s retirement in 1964, Dr Marie Mitchell came to serve in the hospital for few years. Later, Dr Millicent Xavier took over. Along with her husband, Dr Xavier served till 1989.

Being the oldest hospitals, JBMH has been serving the people for more than a century now.

“Earlier it served as general hospital, not maternity particularly as it is now,” Dr Sarah said. “It used to take couple of days for the patients from Baramulla, Ramban and Srinagar to reach the hospital when there were no roads in Kashmir and people would travel in boats. Those days sterile water was held in some pots and used instead of saline water as Intra Venous fluid.”

As one enters the premises of JBM Hospital fenced with the evergreen pine rich mountain, the hospital buildings are guarded by the decorated cypress and Chinar trees. The well manicured gardens are fascinating. It looks beautiful when the small Christmas community decorates these trees with balloons, stars and bells during the Christmas.

This Christmas witnessed the children making a snowman outside the OPD. Achsah Sybil, daughter of G Sumalini, the Principal of John Bishop Memorial Nursing School and Roules Prabakar, whose mother Veena is a hospital nurse, had invited their school friends to celebrate with them. Holding gifts in their hands which they have received in the church, Nida and Ayesha, two local girls were enjoying in this totally different environment.

“Happiness is to be celebrated with your close ones. It is children’s Christmas today and we have invited our best friends from School,” Roules said in broken Kashmiri. She said she is picking up the local language in her school and through the TV.

“We are not Kashmiris but we were born in Kashmir,” Achsah said. “I have visited Andra only thrice in my life. I don’t have any memory from there. I can’t speak Kashmiri but I am Kashmiri by heart.”

Facing the OPD is the green stone church, a rare sample of English architecture that Dr M Gomery built in 1942. “Our parents used to pray here but as this church is not so spacious from inside so they built another one where we all gather every morning,” John Daniel, another child, who understands and speaks Kashmiri, said.

On the right side of the entrance are attendant quarters, which were gifted by Khawaja Saif-ud-Din to the hospital. Earlier, these were used as private wards. Khawaja had donated these wards in memory of his family, who were swept away by a disastrous flood in Pahalgam.

The JBMH also runs a nursing school since 1965. It offers GNM and FMPHW courses and produces almost 40 female professionals a year. “In the late 1950’s a memorable event occurred, a student who had just completed her studies at Anantnag Girls’ High School asked that she might be enrolled as a trainee nurse. This meant that her cherished dream became a reality,” Dr Fletcher wrote in her book, The history of John Bishop Memorial Hospital. “Since,1964 and the coming of sister Butt, a number of girls have asked for training and the hospital is now a training school for auxiliary nurse-midwives, recognized by the state.”

Patients waiting in the hospital. (KL Image)

One of the students currently being trained as GNM is Asmat. “I believe this is the best nursing school of the town,” Asmat, who was part of the Christmas crowd, said. “The tutors here prepare us for the competition outside. They train us in well equipped demonstration labs. Almost every student from this school gets a government job.”

Jawahara is one of JBMH’s nursing orderlies. She takes home Rs 10,000, a month. “I have been here for the last 30 years, when I was studying in eighth class,” Jawahara said. “I learned nursing from here and then started working here at Rs 60, a month. At that time, the hospital was managed by local staffers including Tajaji, Zainaji and Hanifa ji along with other. Taja was also tutor at John Bishop Memorial Nursing School.”

Not far away from the church, a group of men were busy in preparing special Sunday lunch.“We are around 60 people from 14 families,” Samuel, one of the managers of the event said. “During Carol singing days, we usually dine together.”

Samuel is from Vishakapatnam and lives within the hospital premises, like all others, for the last eight years, after he married Smalini who teaches in the JBMH nursing school. Samuel has masters in English and also an MBA in Human Resources. He teaches at First Step International Academy in Awantipora and earns Rs 13000, a month.

“Most of us belong to a place where the temperature is at minimum of 20 degrees Celsius when Kashmir freezes,” Samuel said. “I believe God has chosen us to serve Kashmir who require our talents and skills.”

Despite being non locals, they say they were received with love, respect and support in Kashmir, by the staff and the people. The hospital faced bad patches. Between 1989 and 1996, when visiting doctors stopped coming to the JBMH, the 30 local staffers did not permit the facility to shut down.

In August 1994, somehow, Joseph Daniel, an orthopedic surgeon with Saint Stephens Hospital, Delhi visited the JBMH. The local staff requested him to treat the patients and try to restart it. Being an orthopedic, Joseph was unable to handle the obstetrics patients.

“The third case we witnessed was a lady, who was brought dead in a taxi,” Dr Joseph said. “A 90 year old hospital unable to serve people, this feeling made me helpless and I went back to Delhi.”

Back in Delhi, he told the plight of the heritage hospital in Kashmir and approached the Church of North India to which the hospital belongs. They wrote to all mission agencies and several groups of mission hospitals, but no one from Church of North India was willing to serve, owing to the challenging security situation.

Joseph finally informed Joshua Daniel, president of a small Church called Laymans Evangelical Fellowship. Daniel thought that this is the time of greatest need and should help Kashmiris when nobody is willing to come. Joshua ordered Joseph to go to Kashmir and try to find some local gynecologists and start the hospital.

After a year, Joseph got a three months leave from Saint Stephens Hospital and returned to JBMH. He found the situation worse than before. Even the staff was unpaid for half a year.

“The next day after my arrival, the entire staff came and told their agonies. Some had to remove their children from schools while others had nothing to eat on festivals, it was miserable to hear them,” Dr Joseph said. “I had no answer.”

Those were the days when six tourists were kidnapped from Pahalgam. Scared by the situation and lacking any answers, Dr Joseph thought of a way-out – escaping to Delhi.

After night long thinking, he finally called four local staffers and tried to convince them on certain conditions. While he was talking, a group of gunmen barged in. It led to an argument between the gunmen and the staff. Frightened, Dr Joseph thought he is going to be kidnapped.

Almost after half an hour, when the gunmen left, Dr Joseph came to know that they had come to take the hospital ambulance so that they could ferry their people from one place to another. The staff told them that since they have not been paid, they have kept the ambulance hostage.

“I went to the bank and emptied all the accounts to pay three month salaries to all the thirty people,” Joseph remembers. He had flown specially from Delhi to join the staff in the Christmas celebrations 2019. 

That was a major milestone in its revival. As it restarted, there was no looking back. Nobody obstructed in its operations. “During 2016, dozens of processions passed from here but no one pelted a stone towards us,” said Joseph, whose wife, Gita Dibora, works as staff nurse. “Even this year, when the non-locals left Kashmir, no one amongst us even thought of leaving Kashmir.” Joseph said, a former private school staffer, now on hospital rolls.

The 20 bedded hospital is associated with the Diocese of Amritsar and belongs to the Church of North India. “The hospital is affordable to the poor sections and every year 350-400 births take place here,” Joshua, a protestant, who serves as the JBMH administrator, said. “We charge not more than Rs 15,000 for a cesarean. Till 2014, the consultation fee was Rs 20, which has now been increased to Rs 100.”

The hospital is part of the local society. Parveena, an expecting mother, waiting to see Dr Sarah, said her mother was born in this hospital. “In this hospital, it is hard to find any male around that makes us to prefer this hospital,” Parveen said. “They respect patient’s privacy.”

Dr K Sarah (KL Image)

Dr Sarah said the staff is devoted and works on low salaries. This helps the management to save funds for expanding infrastructure. In her tenure, Sarah said six buildings were added to the hospital.

When she took over as Medical Superintendent in 1997, the hospital was struggling with no doctors and was having trouble in providing basic medical facilities. “There was resistance. Apart from militant attacks, I was once served broken glass with the sugar during my initial years,” Dr Sarah alleged. “After people’s acceptance, we became friends.” She said she wishes to die in Kashmir.

 

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Left In The Lurch

In the Jammu and Kashmir’s downgrade to a Union Territory, most of the autonomous Commissions were closed down. These included the Commission for Women. Saima Bhat met some of the women who are desperately keen to know what happens to their cases that the closed Commission was hearing

Art Work by Malik Yasir

Living with domestic violence was ‘the way of life’ for Shahzada, a mother of two kids. The humiliation and pain crossed the threshold when she was allegedly set afire by her husband and in-laws. Somehow, she survived. After nursing her wounds for a few weeks at Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital, she finally gathered her courage to file a case with Jammu and Kashmir State Commission for Women and Child Rights.

Two days after filing the case, when Shahzada visited the Commission office at Bemina to know the status of her complaint, she found its gate locked and the commission closed, literally.

“It took me a decade to speak up for my rights because I always wanted to save my marriage so that my kids don’t have to live without their mother or father,” Shahzada regretted. “But unfortunately when I got the courage to face my fate, my only hope, the women’s commission, was closed down.”

Shahzada is one of around 220 women who had  their lives linked with the commission. They expected justice as their cases were under different stages of persuasion but the Commission locked its doors in wake of the abrogation of the Article 370 and the change in status of Jammu and Kashmir to a Union Territory (UT).

When Shahzada was allegedly set afire, she said, she was taken to the district hospital in Kupwara where doctors referred her to the SMHS hospital in Srinagar because her condition was not good. “For two days my family was not informed,” she alleged. “Then nobody from the local police station visited me to record my statement.”

Her parents allege that their son-in-law and his family used to harass her from the initial days of her marriage. “She is living with this harassment for the last 10 years,” one of her brothers alleged. “Every time Shahzada was sent back to us, we used to make some reconciliation between the couple to save the future of their kids. But now we cannot think of even sending her back. There is no guarantee if they will not attempt to kill her again.” It was her brother who accompanied her to the Commission. Quickly, after receiving the complaint, the Commission issued a notice to her husband and his parents. Well before they could respond, the Commission  ceased to exist.

Vasundhara Pathak Masoodi, Commission’s last chairperson, said the order for the closure of the Commission reduced their powers and none of the accused found it necessary to respond to the Commission’s directions.

Art Work by Malik Yasir

After August 5, Vasundhara converted her official residence into her office so that the women don’t have to suffer because of the situation. “I didn’t want the Commission to die before its death,” she said. “Our office was in Bemina but it was inaccessible to the women coming from far flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir. So I started to work from my residence in Tulsi Bagh, which was accessible.” After the Commission’s authority ceased on November 1, 2019, Vasundhara, took the first available flight to Delhi and resumed her work as a lawyer. A Supreme Court lawyer, she had taken over the leadership of the Commission in July 2019. 

In Delhi, though, Vasundhara is still not disconnected from Kashmir. She said she is still getting calls, mails and text messages from the complainants who seek her advice and suggestions about what they should do in absence of the Commission. The Commission was one of the seven other Commissions that ceased to exist after the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, was implemented in Jammu and Kashmir. The law promulgated by the Parliament retained 166 state laws, repealed 153 and implemented 106 Central laws with certain changes. The Commissions’, which became history, included the State Human Rights Commission, Commission for Persons with Disability, Information Commission, Consumer Commission, Women and Child Rights Commission, Accountability Commission and Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Interestingly, these Commissions were closed down immediately after the General Administration Department (GAD) issued an order on October 24. The order asked the staff of these Commissions to rejoin their services at their parent departments. But going through a Presidential order, which came after GAD order, these Commissions should have continued their working, many believe.

“All the Commissions should have continued but the irony was that the closure order came before that Presidential order,” a lawyer, wishing anonymity, said. “Section 17 of that order, passed by the President of India, reads the salutatory bodies deemed to have continued till the new UT administration should have taken over. It is kind of legal infirmity.”

Sections 91, 93 and 95 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act reads that “every person who, immediately before the appointed day, is holding or discharging the duties of any post or office in connection with the affairs of the existing State of Jammu and Kashmir in any area which on that day falls within one of the successor UT shall continue to hold the same post or office in that successor UT, and shall be deemed, on and from that day, to have been duly appointed to the post or office by the Government of, or other appropriate authority in, that successor UT. And, provided that nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent a competent authority, on and from the appointed day, from passing in relation to such person any order affecting the continuance in such post or office.”

After going through the Act, Vasundhara also believes that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was perhaps kept in dark. Otherwise the Centre would not have come up with the Presidential order, she said.

The Commission was busy when the closure order came. Early October when most of Jammu and Kashmir was still in sort of a communication blockade, the Womens’ Commission got some information about the murder of a woman in Udhampur’s Mantalai belt. “There were apparent marks of torture on the body of the slain lady but the police did not register the case as per the prevalent provisions,” Vasundhara said. “It registered a case of a normal death.”

The Commission on October 14, when mobile services were resumed sent a notice/a summon to the concerned SP through SMS. “The officer couldn’t send me the required ATR of the case as next day the SMS were banned in the region again,” Vasundhara said. This landed the lady’s parents in a serious mental agony. “Her father calls me every day and says he and his wife are left with no option other than to commit suicide.” She said that she could request the concerned police official in her personal capacity to visit the family but the police are under no obligation to oblige her.

From its inception in 2005, the Commission had expanded its jurisdiction from domestic violence to many other areas including the cases under sexual harassment, labour laws, harassment at work places, social enactments against women and children. It, however, was always crying to seek some attention as it was at the back burner of erstwhile state’s priority.

The Commission was set up under the leadership of Dr Girja Dhar, a renowned gynaecologist, who earlier headed the Government Medical College in Srinagar. National Conference lawmaker from Haba Kadal, Shameema Firdous, succeeded her. After the lady was removed, the Commission remained headless for seven long years.

The regime change brought in a new political appointee, Nayeema Ahmad Mehjoor, an erstwhile BBC broadcaster. Being a political appointee, she was one of the many political workers holding office, who resigned after the BJPDP coalition crumbled under its own weight in 2018 summer.

In July 2019, when the state was being ruled by Satya Pal Malik, the Commission got a professional, Vasundhara Pathak Masoodi, as its leader. Her takeover had sent positive vibes around at a time when the issues linked to children were drawing a good attention.

During all these years, the Commission registered around 3500 cases of which only 220 were still under process. Of these 220 cases, an official said that at least in six cases the Commission was going to reach conclusion in the same week when it ceased to exist. As the specific cases were moving to the Commission, this had started easing the load on regular courts.

The complainants believe that the Commission was a key facility for them as they could represent themselves, plead their own cases and did not require any cash. “Neither lawyer was needed nor money for filing the cases,” one complainant, a resident of Lasjan, in city outskirts, whose case was solved through counselling in just two hearings. “I can say that the preamble of this Commission was that they wanted to reconcile the two parties through counselling. They were against divorce.” After some conjugal tensions, she gives credit to the Commission for living happily with her husband. She is proud mother to a kid after the Commission helped her settle her conjugal issues.

The early snowfall in November engulfed the apple orchards in gloom. So was Mehmooda, who lives in one of the villages of Anantnag.

Mehmooda was married last year with Arshid, who was employed in the Middle East. Her parents were happy that they chose a better match for their daughter in comparison to her cousins. Soon after, Mehmooda shifted her base with her husband and started weaving dreams of her new life, the happiness proved short lived. 

As Mehmooda was going to start her new life at a new place, she came to know that she was her husband’s third wife. Initially, it was difficult for her to accept the reality but soon she decided to accept her fate.

After a year, Mehmooda and Arshid came Kashmir for holidays. Here, Arshid “dumped” her to his parents with a promise that he will return. Instead Arshid went to Bangalore to reconcile with his second wife.

Mehmooda continued living with her in-laws thinking that Arshid will return. The situation was quite tense. Soon, she alleged that her in-laws started harassing her. One day, she finally left with no option than to reveal the secret to her parents.

The family filed a case with the Commission and a notice was served to her in-laws through police. “Initially, her father in-law responded well to the notices and was willing to get his son back but when the news of the closure of the Commission spread he stopped appearing before the Commission,” said Vasundhara.

Soon after that the Commission received the news that Arshid was going to fly back to Gulf. The Commission sent a letter to the Regional Passport Office (RPO) so that he cannot leave the country. They could not stop him, however. As per Vasundhara, Mehmooda keeps calling her that she is left with only option: suicide.

Mehmooda has been advised to go to a regular court.

Vasundhara asserted that the Commission was the only hope for the women of the Jammu and Kashmir, which was a better platform than the regular courts where cases take even decades to get solved. “Most of the women were financially unsound,” she said. “The Commission also gave them the leverage to speak for themselves unlike the regular courts where they had to hire their lawyers.”

The society in Jammu and Kashmir can ill-afford absence of such an institution for long. This is despite the fact that the crime rate against women, as per the Jammu and Kashmir Police, showed a decrease in 2019 in comparison to 2018.

Under Construction building of JK State Women’s Development Corporation Bemina Srinagar

In 2018, a total of 3625 cases under different sections of crime against women were reported from across Jammu and Kashmir. These included 1302 cases from Jammu zone and 2323 cases from Kashmir Valley.

In 2019, in comparison, only 3158 cases were reported from Jammu and Kashmir, including 1206 cases from Jammu and 1952 cases from Kashmir. But the officials working with various departments and taking care of the crimes against women believe the figures could be higher as reporting these crimes was very difficult between August, and October, owing to restrictions.

Though lacking any comparison with the Commission, the government has another complaint redressal mechanism on the women’s front: Sakhi-One Stop Centers (OSC) for the women of Jammu and Kashmir. But since August 5, the officials at their Srinagar centre claim they are not satisfied with their work which has been hugely affected by the clampdown, communication blockade and then by the ban on the internet.

“We resumed our work in September only but when there was a clampdown on communication channels including phones and internet how could we have continued our work which is based on a helpline number,” said Syed Ruksana Alam, the OSC Coordinator in Srinagar. “We used to come office so that if victims visit us, we might be able to do something.”

Ruksana claims that the redressal mechanism for women was set up to empower women and to extend help if they are in distress.

“OSC’s chairperson is the district commissioner but he remains busy with the law and order situation these days and we have never met one to one,” said Ruksana.

Since October, Ruksana alleges that she has requested the administration to restore the internet to their office so that they could help women but they were never given any attention.

As Ruksana was speaking to this reporter, she was visited by a lady, a mother of a two years old daughter. “Soon after telephones were restored we got a case of this lady whose husband was threatening to rape his own minor daughter,” Rukhsana detailed the visiting lady’s crisis. “We were following this case for more than a month now but due to the ban on internet we couldn’t record her case on our data base so we had to call her to our office so that we could record her statements.” In this particular case she says the father has been booked under POSCO because he had already tried it once.

The lady claims her husband was having an extra marital affair. “He wants to leave me but I did not permit it,” she alleged. “He was threatening to rape our minor daughter so that I leave from his house. Initially, I thought he is just threatening but then he attempted it.”

Vasundhara Pathak Masoodi

As on date 1370 cases remained registered with the OSC’s Srinagar office.

Now, as the State Commissions have winded up and the cases are not referred to any national commissions, the secretaries of these commissions were directed, through government orders, to send the case files and records to the concerned administrative departments. All the record files of the Women’s Commission have been sent to the UT’s Social Welfare Department.

“Yes, we have received piles of records from the Women’s Commission but we are not in a position to tell you what has to be done,” one officer, who agreed to talk on the condition of anonymity said. “We are caretakers of these files, rest we have nothing to do with the cases.”

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