2010 The so called paradise on earth had already witnessed two sequentialyears of blood bath and mayhem and the people were thinking of a peaceful summer ahead. After harsh winters a peaceful spring had brought charm on the faces of Kashmiri’s who were unaware of what was to follow. Nobody knew the silence they were witnessing will be asilence before a storm. A storm which took 122 innocent lives with it, leaving behind a tragic tale which will always remain somewhere in the mind of every Kashmiri. 11thJune was the day when it all started. Seventeen-year-old Tufail Mattoo was killed by security forces in the Valley, allegedly after security forces fired a teargas canister at him killing him at the very moment. Killing of Tufail Mattoo had become a reference point for last year’s civilian unrest in Kashmir and some justice in this case was the least government could have done to start a process of healing. And then started what could be called the most turbulent year in thehistory of Kashmir irrespective of the starting days of insurgency in the valley during the early 90’s. Tufail’s killing had already evoked widespread condemnations in just few days and then acting as a catalyst tension gripped the whole valley. It again started to burn as it did in past two years. The heart of Kashmir, Srinagar was already on boil after witnessing killing of other two youths Rafiq Ahmad Bangroo and Javed Ahmad Malla. As if this was less after only 9 days of Tufail’s killing the news of killing of three youths in a fake encounter broke out. Three youth from Kupwara had been killed in a fake encounter and labeled as foreign militants by security forces. All of them were killed in Machil sector of Kupwara’s border on 29thApril and then on 20thof June their dead bodies were later identified afterbeing buried in a nearby graveyard. Now the stagewas all set for a making of another unrest in the valley. Both the incidents brought the whole valley on boil. Protests and demonstration started to move again from narrow lanes to big alleys. The whole was under the grip of tension and now the cycle of killing had paved its way from central Kashmir to the northern town of Kashmir, Sopore. Being a stronghold of freedom struggle Sopore had got the spark killing four youth in just three days. The cycle of death was on full flow and was taking the whole North Kashmir under its grip killing a teen in Baramullaafter he was forcibly drowned in the Jhelum bySOG men. Now it had to cross calm and subtle Islamabad (Anantag) which had witnessed normalcy during past twoyears of Unrest in valley. Three youth were killed in the same area at a same time that too without any provocation. The cycle of deaths continued and continued till it reached to its epicenter again. City’s buzz center Batamaloo witnessed three killing in which the first woman of the 2010 unrest was killed. Fancy Jan of Batamaloo was hit in her chest when was trying to cover her room by the curtains as the tear gas smoke was entering her room. It was really acting as a cycle of deaths as the turmoil again passed through north Kashmir to the other areas. Baramullaand Sopore had already witnessed above ten killing. On august 1stAngel death thought of a long trip to South Kashmir. Almost 11 youth were killed on that day from which 9 of the killing happened in “Saffaron Town” Pampore. Next day I read a news headline of an Urdu newspaper “Mahe August Ka Khoon rez agaaz. Zameeni Safraan lal rang se lahoo luhaan” (Gory start to the month of August. Land of Saffaron turned red). The killings were on its peak and now the calm and peaceful areas like Kulgam, Kupwara, Pulwam and Budgam were also witnessing causalities on a large scale. As the month of Ramadan started a new name came into limelight.Pattan (Palhalan), had now become the main center of violence and killings. People were killed without any provocation and there houses were even looted. Pattan witnessed the highest number of human loss during 2010 Kashmir with 14 killing. The area was also under curfew foralmost 40 consecutive days after which it was called “The Gaza strip of Kashmir”. The far flung areas like Sumbal, Bandipora, Chrar and Tangmarg were also now taking full part in movement. The month of August also witnessed an important incident in which a shoe was thrownat Omar Abdullah. The shoe thrower was Ahad Jan. As Eid-ul-Fitr approached near situation became tenser. On 11thof September Lal Chowk Chalo march was taken out on Eid-ul-Fitr under the leadership of Mirwaiz Omar Farooq. People in lakhs participated on in the rally and green flags were hoisted on the Ganta Ghar (Clock Tower). This was the first time an Eid ul-Fitr congregation became a protest rally in which many government building the Lal Chowk were burnt down. Omar Abdullah blamed moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Omar Farooq for provoking the arson. Onlyafter two days on 13thof September after hearing the news about desecration of Holy Quran in U.S many protest rally’serupted in Kashmir. On that very day almost 17 people were killed in the valley of which 8 people were killed from Tangmarg only. The killings were on its peak with the toll nearing hundred. Fayaz Ahmad Dar, 22, of Surpura Beeru in Budgam became the 100thvictim of 2010 unrest in valley. The valley was still on boil and the killing did continue. Scores of men, women and children werekilled so far. At the end of September after the hard efforts from state and center government the situation in Kashmir was returning to normalcy but till then the unrest had taken around 113 lives and leaving thousands injured. Many youth including a woman died after being bed ridden due to bullet injured for a prolonged time died in the coming months takingthe tol up to 122. It was after the hard efforts of the government that the valley came to normalcy. Government used every possible way to stop the turmoil and used every technique too.May it be the introductionof Pellet guns, Stun Guns or even the Rapid action force? After being closed for almost 5 months valley returned to normalcy but the fear was there. Agonyand anguish among the people was seen. Why wouldn’t it be? Someone had lost his friend and someone his classmate. Someone gave shoulder to his son funeral and someone lost his only hope. Districts like Baramulla were badly hit during 2010 unrest in Valley. Around 43 people were killed in Baramulla out of which 14 were killed in Pattan and 12 in Sopore. Almost 60% of thekilled in 2010 summer unrest in Kashmir were students. After summing up the reports of unrest it also came into light that avery less number of people were killed while they were pelting the stones. After surveys it was also observed that 44out of 12 killed were between the age of 11-20years and 48 were between the age of 21-30years. A smaller number, 18, were above the age of31 and there were between 8-10were the people of older age. In the summer unrest of 2010, the appellation of the stone thrower became very controversial. A heated debate emerged around the question of stone pelting, its legitimacy as aform of protest or resistance, and was the state right in responding to stone throwing with live ammunition. Out of 122 killings only 20-25 cases were such where either family or eye witness attested to fact that individual in question used to indulge in stone pelting. Social networking sites like Facebook played an active role during 2010 unrest. Study reveals that that a majority of posts used ‘azadi’ (freedom), stone pelting and voice in their wall posts. In the month of September 2010wall posts, people used “freedom” 97% of the time followed by “go India go back” at 88 %. The mobilization routes such as “share the news about protests,” “spread the news about Indian oppression,” “links to photos,” “links to local stories,” “ links to videos” appeared 94%, 90%, 87%,86% and 84% respectively, in the 36 wall posts and comments.For the information exchange route, features like “share updates about what’s going on in your areas” was mentioned 75% of the time and “curfew tomorrow” was mentioned 68% of the time in September posts. The protests subsided after the Indian government announced a package of measures aimed at neutralizing the tensions in September 2010. A three member team of interlocutors was also sent to Kashmir to make a report on 2010 unrest. (Numbers taken from: Behind the numbers: Profiling those killed in Kashmir’s 2010 unrest and surveys done by local NGO’s and Journalists.)
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 15:24:12 +0000
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