SPECIAL REPORT
Five days after the Monday ‘crackdown’, on Friday, February 26, another impromptu frisking operation was held in the same Amira Kadal area of Lal Chowk. Particularly, the crackdown here was on the Kashmiri cloak
Zishan Amiri | Clarion India
SRINAGAR — Any military activity in Srinagar’s city centre Lal Chowk tends to make it to the front page of local newspapers the following morning. It was after a long period, on Monday, February 22, this part of the city was in the news, for it marked the “return” of military crackdown; crackdown is a household named in Kashmir coined during the peak of insurgency for search operations by the government forces.
At around 3:30 PM, the buzzing Amira Kadal area of this commercial hub was brought to a still when Kashmiri men were lined up and frisked from head to toe.
Crackdown in lal chowk srinagar.
Photo by: @AhsaanAli08 @pzfahad @GreaterKashmir @AP @FreedomofPress @AJEnglish @tkwmag @TheKashmiriyat pic.twitter.com/FUrCmGyHtJ
— Ahsaan Ali (@AhsaanAli08) February 22, 2021
One among them was a 40-year-old vegetable vendor, Altaf, who later shared his experience with Clarion India from the ground.
“Now this was not the first time I was in line, waiting to be body-searched by men with guns, but this particular crackdown,” he said, “seemed very futile to me.”
He chuckled and added: “I mean, back in the days, crackdowns used to bring shivers down our spine. They were fuelled with intensity and tensions…”
He then opened his Facebook profile to search for an image that he had recently shared of a crackdown in Lal Chowk, back in the early 90s: a black-and-white file photo of Kashmiri men seated under the shadow of guns that were guarding the deserted streets. This dates back to April 10, 1993; one media report by Hindustan Times says, “10,000 gun shots were fired in this area in less than four hours”, whereas a New York Times reporter Edward A Gargan writes, “sixteen people were machine-gunned to death as they floated down the Jhelum River, and other were hauled from their homes and shot in the streets.”
“In all,” a detailed report, ‘The Human Rights Crisis in Kashmir: A patter of Impunity’, published in June that year, notes, “59 houses, 190 shops, 53 stores where inventory was kept, two office buildings, five commercial buildings, two schools and a shrine inside the building were gutted by the fire. Four people were killed…who were burned to death. One hundred and twenty-seven families lost their homes.” It was a day of carnage in Srinagar’s heartland.
Back then, crackdowns would leave behind the trail of violence and destruction, and the one that took place on Monday brought with it the trauma of old times. Pertinent to mention that even in the present day, search operations in search of militants is still a norm, especially in the militancy hotbed of the rural south Kashmir.
A latest media report dated December 30, 2020, quotes the Inspector General of police in Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, placing the number of active militants in the valley at about 220, including 70 to 80 foreign militants. “In the year 2020,” the IG said, “625 Over Ground Workers [militant associates] were detained. A total of 206 terrorists were killed this year and 57 terrorists were arrested. Around 46 of the arrested terrorists had joined this year.”
Only last week, Kashmir witnessed six deaths — three local militants, three Kashmiri policemen — in three separate insurgency attacks. Srinagar city, in particular, on one hand had been hosting the foreign delegates on their tour to “review developments” in J&K post-August 5 decision, on the other, it watched in silence an assassination attempt on the owner of a famous hotel chain, Krishna Dhaba. The victim was fired from close range and has been battling for his life in a hospital room.
The present-day crisis in Kashmir valley has also been psychologically consuming. A CCTV footage of the killing of two policemen in Srinagar’s Barzulla area on Friday, February 19, can be found in the phones of every Kashmiri. It was for anyone to access when the pro-government news agency, ANI, put up the “exclusive footage” on its Twitter handle, to be further picked up by several other Kashmir and New Delhi-based media houses. The 8-second visual shows an armed militant opening fire from under pheran at the two unarmed policemen outside a general store.
Soon after, the right-wing outfit Bajrang Dal protested in the Jammu region calling for a ban on Kashmir’s traditional winter attire; the same was also endorsed by Bhartiya Janta Party’s J-K unit. Now, several photos have emerged on Twitter of Kashmiris being asked to “take off the pheran, pack it and carry it to home”.
Paramilitary forces in srinagar make people remove their traditional dress, the pheran and pack it.This comes after a militant concealed under his pheran the gun that he fired to kill two policemen a few days ago pic.twitter.com/2XRPuwObDL
— Basit Zargar (باسط) (@basiitzargar) February 23, 2021
Five days after the Monday ‘crackdown’, on Friday, February 26, another impromptu frisking operation was held in the same Amira Kadal area of Lal Chowk. Particularly, the crackdown here was on the Kashmiri cloak.
A student from Kashmir University, pursuing B.tech, was one among many civilians that were donning the traditional pheran when in the crackdown queue on Monday. “I was walking towards the other end of the bridge,” he recalled, wishing not to be named, “when I saw security forces gesturing everyone to take the line. Naturally, I had to join the crowd, and stand with an identity proof in my hand. I condemn the Barzulla firing, but criminalising a traditional attire is fair in which world? Isn’t this pheran itself a proof of my identity and homeland?”
“Moreover,” he added, “I really couldn’t help but wonder what could be the necessity to carry out such an identification practice amid a pandemic; to add to it, how easy is my information available on the internet? As if this city is under any less surveillance.”
Security in Srinagar has beefed up in the backdrop of the recent attacks. The IG Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, has reportedly ordered for “increased security deployment at all vital locations, snipers on high-rise buildings, relocation of permanent bunkers, and anti-terrorists operations are to be enhanced.”
As per a police statement, Kumar also chaired a security review meeting at PCR, Srinagar, where he highlighted “the importance of round the clock checkpoints/nakas at strategic locations, surprise (flash) naka, surprise limited CASO [Cordon and Search Operation] in crowded places, placing cut-off points on exit routes immediately after such incident and dominating from high reaches, use of drones to check the movement of elements inimical to peace.”
There has yet not been any clarification on Monday’s search operation at Lal Chowk, for the J&K police has not released any official statement to the public or the press.
#Kashmir: Police frisk public in Srinagar’s commercial hub, Lal Chowk.
— Aakash Hassan (@AakashHassan) February 22, 2021
From an “arson attack” in 1993 to now a “surprise crackdown” in 2021, Lal Chowk has been a long-standing witness to varied patterns of Kashmir’s three-decade-old conflict.
Identity crisis remains a deep-rooted issue in the valley. It has only intensified since the region was stripped from its semi-autonomous status and sliced into a Union Territory.
A businessman from Srinagar’s Bemina area, who has a store at just a stone-throwing distance from the spot of frisking, was hesitant while recalling the memories of 90s crackdown, for his 9-year-old son, sitting next to him, is not introduced to the horror tales.
He spoke with this reporter for 20 minutes, although not permitting anything to be put on record. Such is the fear associated with one’s identity in Kashmir, that at the end of the conversation, when the reporter even casually asked for his first name, the man, in his early 50s, cheekily responded: “Let my identity remain privy only to my God, not the government or the press.”
