Kashmiris sandwiched in curfew v/s hartal

Harvesting, Babri judgment, CWG may get thaw in standoff

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Sep 22: Much-hyped visit of all-party Parliamentary delegation has failed to bring any respite in three-month-long standoff between the government authorities and separatist leadership that has sandwiched over six million Kashmiris. Seeking to neutralize separatist hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s calendar of shutdown with a roaster of curfew, authorities in the Valley have introduced a fresh scheme of the enforcement of curfew on the days Geelani is declaring as free for human movement and ‘shopping’.

On the 11th day of continued curfew, life remained as usual paralysed as the authorities decided to contest Geelani’s writ. Hurriyat (G) Chairman had declared September 22 as free for human and traffic movement and ‘shopping’. Geelani had last week issued his umpteenth calendar of shutdown, granting the Kashmiris movement for two days---Sep 19th and 22nd---in a schedule of 12 days. Sep 19th being a holiday on account of Sunday, there was relaxation for just one working day of Sep 22. Geelani had also asked the Kashmiris to operate business from evening to morning everyday.

However, immediately after largescale mayhem and arson on Sep 11th and 13th, authorities here decided to strictly enforce curfew, particularly for the period Geelani had exempted from shutdown. Strict enforcement of nightlong curfew is a consequence of the fresh proactive policy of the government. People were particularly surprised when the authorities announced curfew for Sep 22, though there was no perceptible apprehension of trouble today. It was late in the afternoon that the authorities granted relaxation in curfew in Srinagar and several rural townships.

Even as Geelani made an impromptu modification in his 12-day-long calendar of shutdown and announced relaxation for Sep 23 and 24, officials yet again decided to enforce curfew on both days. Informed sources said that relaxation of three to four hours was likely after 1400 hours tomorrow. Several separatist groups, including Geelani’s Hurriyat and Jamaat-e-Islami, have issued statements in condemnation of the government policy to enter in a tug-of-war with the Hurriyat patriarch.

With more than 70 days of shutdown and curfew in the last 100 days, over six million Kashmiris have fallen in a fresh crisis that is refusing to die down. One hundred and five civilians have died in firing of Police, CRPF and Army on different demonstrations as well as arsonists during the same period. At least three more civilians and a Police constable have died in the mob violence. All kinds of business, most of the government offices, banks and educational institutions have remained shut. Of late, youngsters in large numbers have been fleeing to outside the Valley in search of jobs, business and studies.

Some of the private schools, with huge elite enrolment, have shifted certain classes completely to their branches in Himachal Pradesh, Utaranchal and Haryana. Even as more than 2,000 Kashmir-based lawyers have been rendered jobless due to bar on appearing in any courts until the release of High Court Bar Association President, Mian Abdul Qayoom, over a dozen of senior lawyers have started appearing in different cases in Jammu wing of J&K High Court.

During the period of continued shutdown and curfew, less than 10% customers have deposited monthly installments of their home and car loans. Business accounts have been equally affected. Thousands of weddings have been either canceled or performed with just a simple function of Nikahkhwani. Consequently, the business of the people associated with marriage event management, particularly the cooks, has also affected badly.

With the season of paddy and apple harvesting beginning this week, most of the people in rural areas would not remain available for responding to the Hurriyat programmes for about a month. This is expected to bring about some sort of thaw in the standoff for the first time since June last. As quite a large number of residents here insist that the turbulence was sustaining over media coverage, shifting of nearly entire media attention to the Babri Masjid judgment from Sep 24th, followed by Common Wealth Games, being held in New Delhi, is also likely to reduce intensity of strife in the Valley.

According to official statistics, Kashmir valley has seen 1730 days (about 5 years) of separatist-sponsored shutdown and government-enforced curfew in the last twenty-and-a-half years of armed insurgency and a secessionist movement. Economic experts believe that the strife-torn state is losing business worth Rs 50 Cr to Rs 100 Cr on each day of hartal or curfew.

END