The death of Saleem Wani, an orphan, sparked massive protests throughout the town. “For us, Saleem bhaiya was like a father and a mother as well. But cruel policemen snatched him from us,” cried his younger brother Aslam Rashid, who stopped his education due to poverty. Orphaned at a young age, Saleem was looking after his two siblings, Aslam and Masaarat. “Five years ago, when we were very young, the Almighty took away our mother from us. Two years later, our father too died a natural death. It was our elder brother who sacrificed his youth to give us the comforts of life. Now, who will take care of us?” he kept asking.
Saleem was enrolled at a local Higher Secondary School, but his priority was to earn for his family. He worked as a revenue collector with a local cable network and used to earn Rs 2,000 to 3,000 per month.
Two kilometres away from Salem’s house, Amir Rashid’s family is also grieving as Amir succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. “Being the only son, he was darling to his aged parents. Now who is going take care of his parents,” said Hamid Jabbar, his cousin. “He was enrolled in College and an avid cricket buff,” he said.
In nearby Drangal, another family lost their son on Monday when police and CRPF opened fire on a mob at the main market.
After the killing of two youth on Monday, Deputy Commissioner Baramulla Lateef-ul- Zaman Deva ordered a magisterial inquiry into the firing incident and the allegations levelled by the woman. Rural Development Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar and Education Minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayed visited town on Tuesday and held a meeting with the members of civil society; religious organizations and local leaders. The ministers assured the people that incidents of unprovoked firing will never be tolerated and such incidents will not be repeated in future.
Only few hours later the CRPF again opened fire on a small protest demonstration at Khanpora on the Srinagar-Muzuffarabad highway. Fayaz Ahmad Gujri, 26, died on the spot. “When Gujri was shot, CRPF men did not allow us to take him to the hospital, resulting in his death,” alleged Mushtaq Ahmad, Gujri’s neighbor. Gujri, too, was the only breadwinner for his aging parents and young wife. “This has shattered his parents, his old mother was hospitalized after she heard about his death,” he said.
After the incident, CRPF battalions were withdrawn from the town and a murder case registered against the personnel involved. However, it failed to cool tempers. Though, J-K Armed Police was deployed at all places, still frenzied youth continued to attack police with stones.
“How can the police and CRPF justify the killing of four youth in Baramulla?” said Abdul Rehman Shallah, president of the Auqaf Committee. “There are many ways to control mobs. Unfortunately in Baramulla town, trigger-happy police and CRPF men only know how to fire bullets on small mobs,” he said. “This is the only place in the world where they are not accountable to anybody,” he said.
More protests followed, with people defying curfews. A magisterial probe was ordered and CRPF said to be removed from one place, but that was not enough to cool tempers.
The administration is trying hard to explain that trouble began on a flimsy ground, an accusation of sexual harassment against police by a woman who went to police station requesting release of her husband. What the administration falters to explain is why four people ended up dead in police firing.
While the police high handedness has been a norm in violence ridden Kashmir, a new found assertion among people has become a problem for government.
“In Kashmir we are seeing the tectonic shift of political movement from militancy to mass movement,” says Prof Rekha Choudhary of Jammu University. “People have become more assertive to fight for their rights and struggle against the rights violations.”
The administration is unable to deal with the situation as they are yet to change in accordance with the changing people.
“This situation started emerging after the infamous fake encounter case of 2007. During that incident people came on roads unarmed with mere slogans on their lips, found themselves on the streets and thus started the demonstrations and protests,” says Chaudhary. “From that time we are continuously seeing people protesting against injustice.”
Amarnath agitation in 2008 saw hundreds of thousands of people pouring onto streets calling for freedom. The protests were peaceful, but the government unable to tackle growing influence of separatists used brute force to quell protests. Under governor rule later, strikes were met by undeclared curfews, protests were met by bullets and batons.
