Srinagar, Mon, 22 October 2012: In Kashmir’s Southern city Shopian most of the are seething with anger these days over the continuous harassment from Indian police and its security agencies, which forces them to take extreme steps and many believe it is the reason that forces youth to join militancy.
Ashiq Hussain (22) who after facing continuous harassment from infamous Special Operations Group (SOG) and Indian Army, this boy picked up the gun and became part of the militants two months ago. His joining left his mother ‘half dead’ and she always looks for his way back home safely.
Ashiq’s mother said that the harassment by Indian armed forces the main reason that pushed her son to join militancy, which is presently at an all time low.
“I want to see him back home. My son had no passion for it and was more focused on household works and studies. I am sure he is there by force not by passion. After every four or five days the Indian army men and SOG personnel would thrash him on several pretexts. They (forces) used to thrash him. Their continuous harassment snatched my son from me and he picked up the gun,” she uttered.
The friends of Ashiq said that he (Ashiq) never talked about any militancy related event and was focused on his studies now, but circumstances forced him to do so.
One of his close friends narrates the story what compelled Ashiq to join the militancy. Two and a half years ago, Ashiq, who was then in late teens, had joined militants and returned back only after 15 days. He surrendered and was in custody for couple of months after which he was released. He had declared before the authorities that he did all it by mistake and now wanted to live a common man’s life like others. Soon after getting released he opened a local business and started a Kiryana shop in his village and also continued his further studies and joined Govt. Degree College Pulwama in Arts stream.
But Ashiq never knew that fate had something different stored for him. His friend who wished not to be named said the harassment from forces continued and he would become the primary target for government forces and they would thrash him soon after any untoward incident happened in the area.
“Sometimes they interfered in his personal life and would force him to show the phone calls, contact list and even memory card and all that. It created a situation of frustration for him. Even for little things forces used to called him to visit the army or police station, and thrash him for several reasons. He was all innocent and knew nothing as he was now focusing on his Kiryana shop and studies,” said his close friend, adding, this routine didn’t stop and many times Ashiq was detained in the lock ups of Police, Special Operation Group and Indian Army for several nights since January this year 2012 and reasons were nothing and allegation leveled against him never proved.
After facing all this Ashiq picked up the gun only to get relief from all this thinking it is better to die once than every day. For his family it came like a shock and they blame forces for all this and said due to the continuous harassment at the hands of forces pushed Ashiq to become a militant, as he couldn’t bear the tortures anymore. “Even we have our own apple orchard but Ashiq would still work to support the family needs,” said his family members.
Since January this year, after the things were returning to normalcy and people of this area were also heaving a sigh relief from various sides but the young boys of the area were being harassed by the Indian forces and its agencies, which the elders believe disrupted their peace of mind.
“This continuous harassment from forces has disturbed the minds of youth and they feel insecure as they never know when the next time forces will call them to visit the Indian army or Special Operation Group camp where they have to face the same tough interrogations that Ashiq faced before he joined militancy to get rid from all tortures”, says Ali Mohammad a village elder.
It is being widely believed in the area if the unnecessary harassment didn’t stop things can take an ugly turn and the locals appeal the government to meddle in the matter as continuous harassment has become a norm in the area. “This is same what we witnessed in early 90’s. We fear to go for evening prayers in mosque,” said the locals. Indian doing right is might policy in Kashmir and the Kashmiris are forced to defend itself what Indian government and policy makers are doing in Kashmir guns against people in the disputed territory.