"Thank you Democracy!"

By: Gowhar Geelani
Bonn, Germany

During past one month many videos about ongoing protests in Kashmir and attrocities at the hands of Indian paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force [CRPF] and Jammu and Kashmir Police [JKP] have been uploaded on the social networking site Facebook and popular Youtube. Many of these caught my attention, but a video titled 'Indian soldiers beating Kashmiri children' shook me to the hilt.

CRPF troops were training their rifle butts on Kashmiri children, apparently aged between 10 to 14; thus inflicting serious wounds on these little angels. According to this video, these hapless children were playing cricket in an area in the summer capital Srinagar where some protesters had attacked paramilitary troops with stones an hour before.

Angry CRPF and JKP men used their sticks, boots and rifle butts to teach these children a lesson of their lives, but unconscious of the fact that while doing so; they were actually ensuring that the anger and alienation was transferred to the next generation.

While chatting with a friend about this horrific video, he had this to say:" To me this video vividly explains the relationship New Delhi has with Kashmir since 1989, a relationship that is totally dependent on the might of guns, music of bullets, ruthless and arrogant power and aggression."

I could not watch this video again.

The facebook friend continued his remarks: "It is quite unfortunate that the world's 'biggest democracy', India; behaves 'undemocratically' when it comes to Kashmir. It views Kashmir issue only through security prism. Through its powerful and 'nationalistic media', it keeps conveying to the people of Kashmir in clear terms- time and again, to understand and be realistic that India won't give up even on an inch in Kashmir."

Another friend joined the chat room and said: "Indian media also tells people of Kashmir that India's military might is capable of crushing all the powerful voices rising against New Delhi and resistance against human rights abuses in all its forms and manifestations."

The chat ended with no hope and no easy answers, only disappointment, pain and agony.
But, I continued to reflect upon the video.

A clear message from a big country, an emerging economic power and a South Asian giant. Fair enough. A big country and its big media have the right to be aggressive all the time and make their intended aggression and might percieved and realised as such.

Kashmir is a small place. And Kashmiris very small and hapless people, who apart from many other problems are facing a serious leadership crises and wrath from many quarters simultaneously. They have nothing to seek refuge in except for few emotional slogans and inspiring resistance poetry of legendary poets like Habib Jalib and Ahmad Faraz.

Despite all odds, what a common Kashmiri is trying to convey to mighty India is perhaps this: "By firing bullets you can kill protesters, by cane-charge you can disperse and dispel crowds, by imposing curfew you can maintain a temporary calm, by perrenial propaganda you can twist facts; but remember, you're yet to produce weapons that can kill our genuine aspirations....!!!"

Another problem that Kashmir faces is lack of international attention to the gross human rights violations. In politics, they say, rats marry snakes. But I'm of the view that in modern day international relations, economy marries human rights abuses. India is a huge country with more than 1.1 billion people, big nations like America, United Kingdom, France and Germany do not want to annoy India by lecturing it on human rights, because they see India as a potential market for international trade and commerce.

And that is perhaps why even if 60 innocent Kashmiris lost their lives to paramilitary bullets in year 2008, no country raised a serious voice. And 29 more innocents, mostly teenagers, fell to "democratic" bullets in the last six months in Kashmir Valley, the international community is still maintaining "criminal silence" over it. And quite expectedly, the same international community raises hue and cry when a single Iranian opposition protester receives minor wounds in police action in Tehran. That sums-up how international politics works and functions.

Let's come to the set of advices, lectures on democracy, non-violence and peace and reconciliation from mighty India and its mighty media. They project M K Gandhi as 'Father of Nation', an epitome of love and sacrifice and a great symbol of non-violent "Quit India" movement, but when people in Kashmir follow Mahatma's principles; what do they do? They boycott reporting the peaceful protests! Here we learn another lesson, "Media Gate-keeping."

Disappointed, common Kashmiri is now asking this: "First you said we're with guns, all guns fell silent; then you said we're pelting stones, stones too fell silent; then you said we're raising provocative slogans, slogans too fell silent; but now we're protesting peacefully, do you still have to say anything?"

When teenagers were falling to the music of bullets in Kashmir, one by one, the Indian media were busy focussing upon some 'ghost' and 'imaginary' elements who were presumably fomenting vicious cycle of violence and 'luring' Kashmiri youth to stone-pelting. Perhaps not satisfied with the reporting of local journalists in Kashmir, the New Delhi-based big media houses then sent an additional strong contingent of "patriotic journalists" like Indian government keeps on sending additional troops to bring 'normalcy' in the troubled region, and as some 'experts' in Delhi put it 'cool down tempers' in volatile Valley.

Tempers will cool down, as they have been in the past; then Kashmir will be on the boil again, as it has been in the past; then Indian media will repeat the same prescribed dose again, as it has been doing in the past; then more Kashmiris will die on streets and will be lying in the pool of blood, as they have been in the past; then 'experts' sitting in Delhi studios will come up with new conspiracy theories and suggest remedies to cool tempers again, as they have been doing in the past; then Kashmiris will say: "Thank you Democracy, Long live Hypocrisy!"

Gowhar Geelani is a Kashmiri journalist based in Bonn, Germany since 2006; where he works for Deutsche Welle [Voice of Germany] as an Editor.