In Photos: Five Years After a State Diminished, a People Silenced

On August 5, 2019, Amit Shah, India’s home minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government, announced in parliament that the special status for Jammu and Kashmir had ceased to exist. It was exactly five years ago, standing in the old parliament building built by the British, that Shah, from the treasury benches, reiterated the age-old stance of Jana Sangh leader Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, against former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his government providing special status to J&K way back in 1950.

The special status for J&K, provided by India’s Constitution in Articles 370 and 35A, gave the state autonomy and reserved land and jobs for the people of J&K, including Ladakh. The reading down of Article 370 took away these rights, making Jammu & Kashmir ‘equal’ to all other states in India, except Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya, which have some acts for indigenous people.

Along with the reading down of Article 370, the Indian government bifurcated the state, downgrading it into two Union territories. Now J&K and Ladakh are two separate entities.

The state was infused with more Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel just before the move, anticipating unrest. 

The arrests of all political leaders rendered parties immobile. From phones to the internet, all modes of communication were suspended and curfews were imposed around the city, buried under concertina wires, to avoid uprisings. Gun-toting security personnel, wrapped in balaclavas, sternly watched every passerby and home in suspicion, like moving bunkers ready to spring into action.

Five years later, Kashmir has become a hub for tourists from all over the country. The roar of ‘Naya Kashmir’ is heard as tourists stroll along Boulevard Road by Dal Lake and haggle with shopkeepers in the newly built courtyard of Lal Chowk, inspired by the Red Square of the former USSR, now part of the ‘smart-city’ design. 

What I see around is security personnel in full vigil, keeping an eye on every corner of the place. These two confined areas in Srinagar have become places to rejoice in what was once Sheikh Abdullah’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ and is now BJP’s ‘Naya Kashmir’. The tricolour flutters over the clock tower and is guarded to ensure it is not vandalised.

Near the clock tower, hawkers now sell dishes, some of which the Kashmiris themselves aren’t familiar with. One of them, when asked where he was from, said that he came from Bihar and was selling litti chokha, a popular Bihari dish.

Tourists were thrilled to see heavy security presence, as if the personnel were there to protect them. When asked how they felt about being in Kashmir, a lady from Gujarat said that Kashmir was a different experience for them, though they were mostly living on fruits and dal-chawal. The idea was clear: tourists from many parts of India who came to see Kashmir were merely checking off their presence in what they perceived as a present to them by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without trying to embrace the Kashmiris – their food, culture and literature.

Once the position of chief minister was established in 1965, with the governor serving as the President of India’s representative, the post of Sadr-e-Riyasat was diluted. This marked the first step towards the dilution of Article 370. More than Article 370, what bothered people was the revocation of Article 35(A), which provided special rights to the citizens, especially concerning land settlements and jobs.

With the Lok Sabha elections this year came a fresh wave of decorations in Lal Chowk, adorned with placards proclaiming ‘democracy’. A local resident, Yasin, who works as a teacher, told me, “Such a showcase is meant to impress the world, although we are still living in an open prison. The press has no freedom, and protests cannot take place… We are living like herds.” 

The pent-up anger among many, especially the youth, became evident when the long-established National Conference and People’s Democratic Party were sidelined, and Engineer Rashid won the election in Baramulla, a sensitive constituency in the valley. People turned out to vote in numbers not seen in years, hoping that their representative would speak in New Delhi for their lost rights. However, Rashid remains lodged in Tihar, facing allegations of money laundering and terror funding, and is still being investigated by India’s elite investigative agency, the NIA.

Just after the reading down of Article 370, several people, along with the political class, were arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA). Some of them were released after signing bonds saying that they would not participate in protests or any “anti-establishment” activities, be it protests or writing editorials in newspapers.

In the last five years, while stone-pelting has decreased, the presence of security forces in the valley raises other questions. If the situation is indeed so calm, why the need for AFSPA, strict regulations and such high security? These questions haunt the government as coercive methods have proven largely ineffective. The solution likely lies in restoring statehood, but with the recent clause granting the governor all-encompassing powers, future chief ministers and MLAs are left with diminished authority. Until these issues are resolved and Kashmir is discussed on international forums, the region will remain in a state of tension, as evidenced by the ongoing terrorist activities and infiltration in the Jammu region.

To embrace Kashmir one needs to embrace Kashmiris, set aside jingoism and give them the space they need to be heard. With the surge in tourism, the next challenge Kashmir faces is environmental issues, which, combined with ongoing security concerns, could create a worsening situation.