Women on the warpath in Kashmir

Women on the warpath in Kashmir
Neerja Chowdhury

When thousands of women confront police on the streets it is a worrying sign for any government. Ten years ago, the conservative women's organisation, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, was a common sight on the streets of Srinagar, stoning public vehicles and shouting abuses against the Central government. Women have once more turned out on the streets in large numbers, this time protesting custodial deaths in Haigam.

In a traditional society, women normally act as a reserve force. They rein in their men routinely in order to protect them from danger. They turn out for protests only as a last instance, usually when communities are falling apart. Consider women's participation in public protests in the Punjab and Kashmir: Mothers and wives were virtually on the warpath in the Punjab mainly after Operation Bluestar. But it was the same mothers and wives who turned against the militants when rapes and extortions became widespread. That broke the backbone of the movement as much as the former Punjab DGP K.P.S. Gill's boys did.

In Kashmir, for instance, thousands of women -- wives and mothers again -- came out shouting slogans on the Srinagar-Baramullah highway right after the Haigam deaths. Temporarily pushed back by the teargas shells, they returned back in waves, to face the police again. It is a danger signal that the Government cannot afford to ignore.

The Kashmir ceasefire, extended despite extreme provocation by Pakistani sponsored militants, has definitely yielded positive gains. Yet those gains are being threatened today by custodial deaths and unprofessional behaviour on the part of a minority of the security forces.

Just over three months ago a positive trend began in Kashmir with the announcement of the ceasefire. The international community sees it as India's genuine desire for a solution to the Kashmiri imbroglio. The ceasefire in fact put Pakistan on the defensive. It has had a positive impact on the Muslims all over the country and even in the Islamic world.

Unfortunately during the last two weeks, the situation has taken a turn for the worse with the Haigam killings. Lt Gen J.R. Mukherji promised an inquiry and punishment of the guilty. Some heads should have rolled immediately notwithstanding the Government's concern with the morale of the security forces, particularly when they are being attacked day after day.

The reported destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha by the Taliban in Afghanistan is also a calculated move by those behind the militants in Kashmir to vitiate the atmosphere. With custodial deaths and firing on demonstrators, the government ends up playing into the hands of its foes.

Observers of social movements claim that most movements have a ten year cycle. For instance, the freedom movement in India, the scholars contend, achieved its crest with the non-cooperation phase in the early twenties, but ended up soon in a trough. It recharged again in the early thirties to take the form of the civil disobedience movement. It peaked again in 1942 with the Quit India call.

If the analogy were to apply in the case of Kashmir, the participation of women in street protests after ten years is a reminder that the second ascendance of the movement could have begun. This is all the more reason that the Central government must go beyond the ceasefire. Opportunities for talk in Kashmir are much better today than they were ten years ago: first, the fatigue among the people in the Valley has forced them to look for a way out; and second, an increasing Western tilt towards India given the threat from Islamic fundamentalists such as Osama Bin Laden has created a positive environment.

A month ago, when six Sikhs were killed in Mehjoornagar, Union ministers rushed to the spot to commiserate with the families. The killings were, indeed, gruesome and clearly with an intention to drive out the Sikhs from the Valley like the Kashmiri Pandits in the past.

But there were no ministers to grieve for the deaths of half a dozen people just two weeks later in Haigam. Neither defence minister George Fernandes, nor the Union minister from J&K Chamanlal Gupta. Not even a woman minister went. Visits by leaders such as Sushma Swaraj and Sonia Gandhi, preferably together, would have done wonders to pacify the protesting women in Haigam.Even a visit by some NGOs would have demonstrated that the rest of India cares. It is high time that civil society plays a bigger role in creating an emotional bonding between Kashmir and the rest of the country.

The Government must maintain restraint to give the message of a genuine ceasefire to the people. A ceasefire merely to placate world opinion is meaningless. It should mobilise people in the Valley, particularly women, to pressurise the Hurriyat to condemn Jehad by the foreign mercenaries. Only such a strategy will determine the success of the ceasefire in Kashmir.

Visits by Sushma Swaraj and Sonia Gandhi together to Haigam would have done wonders.