Qazi Shibli
“They raided the locality, vandalized the houses, smashed the window panes, and stole three chicken from the chicken coop inside our house,” a protesting resident of Redwani Payeen area in South Kashmir’s Kulgam District told The Kashmiriyat.
An Army camp has been set up in the Redwani Bala area last Sunday which has a population of more than five thousand people making it the fourth Army camp located in a distance of less than seven square kilometers, the other ones established in the locality area Singam Camp and Khudwani Camp.
The Kashmiriyat rounding the area found that the Singam camp is not more than 1 Kilometer away from this newly established camp, Frisal camp is three kilometers away, Khudwani camp is less than one kilometer away from this camp established here on Sunday. Many new camps surfaced in south Kashmir post the killing of top militant commander, Burhan Wani on 08 July 2016.
“Our children are negatively impacted due to the ongoing violence and the area is worst hit by the violence in the aftermath of the killing of Burhan Wani in 2016,” Local residents say. The belt witnessed a massive surge in pro-resistance activities post-2016.
A research study conducted by the Working Group on Peace, Conflict and Education at Colombia University in 2013, found that 79% of the military camps were at a distance of less than 1 km of the schools examined.
Living in Constant Fear
The area is becoming highly militarized, with military camps often found close to school buildings and campuses can lead to a negative psychological impact on children which can cause higher dropout rates and has certainly been the case in Kashmir valley where many children feel scared of the school’s proximity to military camps.
Here in Redwani, suspicion, and fear continue to permeate the residents. A knock on the door late at night sends spasms of anxiety through households, afraid that a family member will be asked by the Government forces to step outside for “a minute” and then never return. Psychological trauma related to the violence has been enormous, as life itself is constantly under threat.
“My area has seen a lot of bloodshed in the past year and a half,” said a Local. “In the dark of the night, We were shocked to see soldiers erecting pickets, tents and marking the boundary with concertina wires,” said a local resident of Redwani Bala adding that the next day locals woke up to a shock seeing a new Army camp had been established near the only panchayat ghar of the area.
The 1 Rashtriya Rifles of the Indian Army has set up a new camp beside the Martyrs graveyard in the Redwani Bala locality of Quimoh in South Kashmir’s Kulgam District. “Why do they need to establish another camp in such a volatile area,” Waseem a youth from the area asked.
Education Hit in the Area
A School located just beside the camp, ‘Mustafa Memorial Public School’ has been locked down since last Monday, the day when the Army camp took a permanent shape. “Two of my daughters who study in the same school have refused to go out of their house at the fear of sexual harassment, they ask me every morning, ‘Papa, When will they remove the camp?’,” Bilal Ahmed, a Redwani resident told The Kashmiriyat.
The area is becoming highly militarized, with military camps often found close to school buildings and campuses can lead to a negative psychological impact on children which can cause higher dropout rates and has certainly been the case in Kashmir valley where many children feel scared of the school’s proximity to military camps.
Official Stats reveal that In 2013-2014 there were 296,535 girls enrolled in education within urban areas. This figure fell to 96,896 girls in 2015-16, amounting to a 67% decrease in girls in education.
The closeness of military camps also puts girls in increased danger, with the presence of army personnel meaning girls are more at risk of sexual violence, abuse, and other forms of harassment. This leads to a further rise in the dropout rates in these schools for girls as they seek to avoid this.
The Mustafa Memorial School shares common borders with the camp. The children in these schools feel threatened and scared whilst in the presence of the military personnel and due to the closeness of the camps that were likely to be targets of explosive weapons. The children know that this proximity puts them at greater risk.
Massive Outcry
The state of Jammu Kashmir has a population of more than 12 million, as according to the 2011 evaluation, the number of inhabitants in the state was 12,548,925. There are an estimated 700,000 security forces, giving it an extremely high 70:1,200 force to population ratio. It is not a small number. So in reality India has deployed one soldier to 12-Kashmiri civilians.
A member of the People’s Democratic party who wished to maintain anonymity said, “In the past, if they (security forces) were harsh on people somewhere, the people would come to us. We would go to the Chief Minister and request for her help. Things would change on the ground,” he said. “But where will we go now? Who will listen to us?”
Indian Government forces claim they are fighting to protect Kashmiris from militants and Islamist extremists, but Over the years, widespread and numerous human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war) have been reported against the common people, creating among the civilian population a pervasive climate of fear, distrust, and sadness.
“The area is a graveyard, Silence prevails, we turn off the lights of our houses by 6 pm, My family is now extremely frightened. They keep their doors locked at all times. The little boy who witnessed the Nocturnal raids and Army men vandalizing the property amid shouting and abusing on Tuesday even stopped speaking for a while from the shock,” Mohammed Shafi, a resident told The Kashmiriyat.
He claimed that the Army barged into the locality at least 5 times since they set-up the camp here in the middle of the village. “Every day their vehicles pass at least five times in the day, They are trying to create fear psychosis among youth,” he added.
“My handicapped father was alone in the house, the Army broke into the house and hurled abuses before breaking the window panes of our house, they did not search for any Militants here, My father almost faced a heart attack,” says Zareefa whose house was among the many houses that were damaged by Forces late night on Sunday.
“Our Demand is simple, you cannot have a Military camp in the middle of a residential area, it has restricted our movement.”
The majority of civilian casualties (88%) have been caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA), such as villages, schools, hospitals, and residential areas.
Constant Shutdown
On Wednesday, the area shut down for the sixth consecutive day demanding the removal of the Army camp from the area, but the people allege that they have only seen more forces including paramilitary troops and the Special Operations Group of Jammu Kashmir Police move into the camp.
Locals of the area staged demonstrations in Srinagar on Monday to demand the removal of the Army camp, women and men in large numbers flooded the streets sloganeering to demand the removal of the Army camp. “They have arrested four youth from the area and the family has had no clue since about their whereabouts,” Taja Begum, a resident told The Kashmiriyat.
“Our houses are raided in the night, there hardly is any young boy who sleeps at home, we fear torture,” Aaqib Ahmed, a young boy from Redwani said.
This is the reality of south Kashmir. The numbers of Government forces deployed in Kashmir are going up each year, according to data available. Besides the permanent Army and SOG Camps, South Kashmir is flooding with temporary and Mobile bunkers. The Government forces have stationed in civilian areas over the past three years likely to carry out frequent Anti Militancy operations.
In a region where encounters and Cordon and Search Operations (CASO) are now so have entered the everyday nomenclature, The forces say that bunkers help them to keep militants in check, in the past year more the number of youth joining Militancy has shown a drastic rise, in the month of Ramzan, militancy-related incidents increased by more than 100 percent from the previous month, grenade attacks rose by 80 percent.
Preventing Spread of Militancy
An Army official while speaking to The Kashmiriyat said that the camp has been stationed here for the protection of local youth from Militancy, not to intimidate them. He said that the security forces and their camps ensure stability in the Valley and that without their large-scale presence, it would be impossible to think of peace, however, locals, on the other hand, have a different story, alleging human rights abuses and frequent detention of youths.
“Late night on Wednesday, the Army harassed and physically assaulted people. They also arrested four youth from the locality,” a resident of Redwani told The Kashmriyat. They said the army clicks videos themselves—and they later emerge on social networking sites. “Last year a video showing local youths being beaten mercilessly and forced to chant ‘Hindustan zindabad’ slogans was also shot here,” Waseem Ahmed, a Redwani resident said.
The presence of Government forces in Kashmir has considerably increased post the killing of Militant leader, Burhan Wani in 2016, which led to a civilian uprising, especially in south Kashmir—and pushed many young people towards militancy, At least 350 Local youth have joined Militancy since then, 87 in 2016, 123 in 2017 and 150 in 2018 So Far.
“More than promoting fear in the Militants, the pickets of Government Forces have created panic among the civilian population in South Kashmir, it is far better to have no camps in residential areas than taking the fight to villages in the Valley,” Abdul Rashid Dar, an ex-Congress member told The Kashmiriyat.
He recalls that when bunkers were removed from residential areas in Kashmir, the Forces thought it would generate problems that did not happen, rather it promoted a feeling of peace and security in Kashmir.
Since then, many camps have been set up and re-established in many residential areas of South Kashmir, which include one in Pahnoo, followed by another at Nagisharan, Breenti, Khudwani, Mahmoodpora, Redwani, Singam, Chillipora, and Zainpora areas of South Kashmir.
“We simply cannot take any risk, We just want to ensure that peace prevails in Jammu Kashmir, which is impossible with such a heavy presence of Militants in the South Kashmir region,” a Police official said.