Mazahmat is a monthly newsletter.

1. Resistance Unto Freedom
kashmircivitas.com
Volume 1, Issue 3
S e p t e m b e r
2 0 2 0
A monthly collection of significant
developments related to Kashmir
Fake Encounters in Kashmir &
Corrupt Indian Justice System
A Year of Misery and
Darkness in Kashmir
Kashmir’s Artistic
Resistance

2. Resistance Unto Freedom
k a s h m i r c i v i t a s . c o m
Mazahmat is a monthly newsletter launched by Kashmir
Civitas to summarize important developments, issues and
concerns related to the Disputed territory of Jammu & Kash-
mir (Kashmir). It provides reliable reference of important
analytical and interpretative reports on Kashmir collected
from across different media and sources, local as well as
global. The newsletter is prepared by Kashmir Civitas' staff
researcher Gazi Ibn-i-Khaldun.
Kashmir Civitas is an international civil society and strategic advocacy organiza-
tion committed to the socio-political, educational, economic and moral uplift of
Kashmiris. The organization campaigns for the fundamental right of self-deter-
mination for the people of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This
foundational decree is not only premised on their inalienable rights, but
includes a total of 18 United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Kashmir.
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Kashmir Civitas

3. CONTENT
“Gupkar Declaration”: Politics of Silence and Speech
Indian Independence Day a “Black Day” in Kashmir
A Year of Misery and Darkness in Kashmir
Education and the Endless Lockdowns in Kashmir
Kashmir and Palestine: Oppressed but not Identical
Kashmir’s Artistic Resistance
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Fake Encounters in Kashmir and Corrupt Indian Justice System

4. Fake Encounters in Kashmir and
Corrupt Indian Justice System
Mazahmat03
Haris Zargar
https://www.newframe.com/fake-encounters-of-the-murderous-kind-in-india/
Umer Maqbool
https://thewire.in/rights/three-militants-killed-in-shopian-encounter-were-ordinary-labourers-families-allege
Mirza Waheed
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/02/fake-encounters-expendable-kashm-20142281139146859.html
References:
Fake encounters of civilian people in
Kashmir carried out by Indian military forces
intermittently are an instrument of war. For the
armed forcers working on the ground, the
lawless environment gives them impunity to
carry out actions against Kashmiri people to
infuse fear in their minds; therefore, a psycholog-
ical means of control. On the other hand, the
officers receive incentives for that. Recent fake
encounter once again took the lid off the Indian
State crimes in the disputed territory of Kashmir.
On July 18, the Indian army carried out an
encounter of three poor Kashmiri labourers who
had travelled a long distance from Rajouri to Sho-
pian area in search of work amid COVID-19. The
army claimed to have killed three militants
during a gunfight. Following the encounter,
Indian army Brigadier Ajay Kotach said the mili-
tary operation was launched after receiving
information about the presence of Pakistani mili-
tants. The incident evokes the painful memories
of the Pathribal incident of March 2000 in which
five civilians from Anantnag were killed by the
security forces and passed off as ‘terrorists’, and,
more recently the Machil encounter of 2010 in
which three civilians were killed.
The circumstance in which Pathribal
encounter was carried out by the Indian army,
and its treatment by Indian courts tell it all about
how expendable a Kashmiri is. On March 25,
2000, five Kashmiri men were picked up by
Indian Armed forces called Rashtriya Rifles in a
conspiracy to display a quick breakthrough in
the Chittisinghpora massacre of March 20, in
which 36 Sikhs were gunned down by mysteri-
ous gunmen sponsored by the Indian deep state.
The massacre took place at the time of US Presi-
dent Bill Clinton's India visit. All accounts from
the time and thereafter, including a
blow-by-blow charge sheet submitted by the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and DNA
analyses, suggest the five men — two farmers,
both named Jumma Khan, goatherds Bashir
Ahmed Butt and Mohammad Yusuf Malik, and
Zahoor Dalal, a cloth merchant — were innocent
and were executed. Their bodies were mauled
and in one case decapitated, and then burned to
eliminate all vestiges of their identity.

5. “Gupkar Declaration”:
Politics of Silence and Speech
First time since the abrogation of Article
370 and 35A on August 5, 2019, the six major
pro-India parties — the National Conference,
Peoples Democratic Party, Congress, People’s
Conference, CPM and Awami National Confer-
ence — have come together. After the year of
self-imposed silence and political paralysis, the
party leaders now find themselves completely
out of relevance in Kashmir, and alienated by
their patrons in New Delhi. As expected, the
political plank on which they are reasserting
themselves is the restoration of the special status
of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir
that is facing severe threat of demographic
change.
The coming together of the pro-Indian
parties and their resolve to fight for the resto-
ration of the special status of J&K is apparently
the first major political challenge to New Delhi,
after a year of crackdown and large-scale deten-
tion of political workers to ensure compliance
with the new order in J&K, now a Union Territory
following its bifurcation. While these pro-Indian
political parties were hand-in-hand with the
Indian established in Kashmir, gradually paving
the way for the complete demographic change
that will alter the nature of the whole Kashmir
dispute and render Kashmiris homeless. This is
how the leaders conveyed their message: “We
unanimously reiterate that there can be nothing
about us without us,’’ stated the joint declaration
signed by National Conference president Farooq
Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, People’s
Conference chief Sajad Lone, JK Congress presi-
dent GA Mir, MY Tarigami of CPM and Muzaffar
Shah of Awami National Conference.
However, Indian establishment has
been planning a complete break from the
past, setting up a new mainstream camp
which consists of the Apni Party – a group
formed by former legislators and ministers
who were part of the PDP, and individual
politicians – and a group of panchs and
sarpanchs. In fact, BJP has been the only
party conducting any activity in J&K in the
last one year. Therefor, it is this absence of
space that has forced these pro-Indian
politicians in Kashmir to come out of their
cocoons and speak up. However, Kashmiri
commoners are not new to these manoeu-
vres of pro-Indian political parties, and for
them this is just another cycle of the history
of betrayals.
Mazahmat04
References:
Muzamil Jaleel
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/jammu-and-kash-
mir-mainstream-parties-gupkar-declaration-article-370-abrogation-6566049/
Basit Amin Makhdoomi
https://thewire.in/politics/jammu-kashmir-article-370-gupkar-declaration-sheikh-abdullah

6. Indian Independence Day a
“Black Day” in Kashmir
Kashmir’s history and sentiment for right
toself-determination is trapped in the historical
establishment of the two nation-states, Pakistan
and India, on 14th and 15th August 1947 respec-
tively. That is why Kashmir is considered as the
unfinished agenda of the Partition of the
sub-continent. Ever since its establishment, the
nation of Pakistan has been representing the
idea of independence from the brutal occupa-
tion of Indian State as well as the realization of
the dream of unity with Muslim brethren. Know-
ing all this, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan
conveyed his message in the Independence Day
speech: "All of Pakistan is standing by you".
Therefore, Kashmiris continue to celebrate the
Independence Day of Pakistan with jubilations
amid military siege. And, at the same time, they
observe the Black Day on the eve of Indian Inde-
pendence Day.
Perhaps this August was the most event-
ful and significant over the past century of Kash-
mir history. Kashmiris were not only reminded of
the brutal occupation of their land of over more
than seven decades, but also an imminent threat
of extermination from their homes due to abro-
gation of autonomy laws and domicile acts. This
August also completed a year-long lockdown of
Kashmiri people in their homes and jails. This is
how a Kashmiri describes the life in Kashmir
these days to the author of an article cited here
Kashmir is an open cage, the people here never think of
the future. When I go out of my home, my mother knows there is
a chance I may not come back. I may be picked up by the police
or, like so many other youngsters, shot dead. After 8 pm in the
evening, if you hear the sound of a car, you immediately fear it’s
the police coming to question you…you cannot protest on the
streets, you cannot protest on social media.
Mazahmat05
References:
Priyam Marik
https://thewire.in/rights/independence-day-kashmir-article-370
Dawn.com
https://www.dawn.com/news/1513231
Anadolu Agency
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2259672/deserted-look-in-occupied-kashmir-on-indias-independence-day
Mazahmat

7. A Year of Misery and
Darkness in Kashmir
Mazahmat06
References:
Rifat Fareed
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/kashmir-year-misery-200803034110995.html
Hilal Mir
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/digital-siege-indias-tool-of-repression-in-kashmir/1954198
Kashmir Observer
https://kashmirobserver.net/2020/08/27/quantifying-kashmirs-economic-winter/
Sadaf Masoodi
https://mountain-ink.com/valleys-silent-sufferers-when-love-died-in-lockdown/
Mazahmat
Past year in Kashmir has been reminis-
cent of the Dogra era whose collective memories
often send shudders down the spine of genera-
tions of Kashmiris. Through the 70 years of Indian
State and military control of the region, last year
was the most brutal of all. After abrogating
Article 370 and Article 35A, which gave special
status and semi-autonomy to the disputed terri-
tory of Kashmir, the region has seen incessant
lockdown and people suffering under that lock-
down.
Schools, shops, business, transport
systems, vehicular and pedestrian movement,
entire communications systems, including Inter-
net, mobile and telephone service were blocked,
causing a complete blackout in Kashmir. All the
media outlets were shut down in Kashmir. Jour-
nalists and activists were either barred from writ-
ing and activities or jailed. That not only affected
the economy, education and mental health of
the people, but also had a severe influence on
the social relation.
Relatives could not communi-
cate with one another for months.
People living outside of Kashmir had no
idea about their family members. The
atmosphere of darkness is being cap-
tured by some writers, poets, journal-
ists, cartoonists and photographs. Here
a list is provided that can give a better
idea of what the Valley went through
this year.

8. A parent reported to a news site:
"It's far better that our kids
attend such schools than grow weary
in homes where they often end up
frustrating themselves."
Education and the Endless
Lockdowns in Kashmir
IIn the disputed region of Kashmir schools have been single most gathering site for the
youth even amid the severe war and Indian military presence in the Valley. It has been a
year since the Indian State imposed lock-down over the millions of Kashmiris after the
abrogation of autonomy. Then the Covid-19 pandemic provided another excuse for the
Indian State to prolong the shutdown. Slow internet speed means that online classes are
not viable as either a teaching tool or a learning one. Not only has been education affected,
but also the youth have been deprived of an outing to the relatively safer places of the
region. Students in Kashmir have missed most of their school year due to the fact that the
troubled region has been almost in endless lock-down.
So some people are trying to change that by conducting schools for students in the
open.Every morning, students walk past streams and bridges, and up the hill to their new
classroom: a picturesque spot with the snow-capped Himalayas as a backdrop.The
outdoor school is a breather for both parents and children after months of a grinding lock-
down to slow down Covid-19 infections.
Mazahmat07
References:
BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53590847
BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-india-53653356
Mazahmat

9. Mazahmat08
References:
Arif Ayaz Parrey
http://www.wandemag.com/kashmir-banega-palestine/
MudasirAmin, Samreen Mushtaq
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/kashmir-palestine-tourism-glosses-over-occupation
Mazahmat
Kashmir and Palestine:
Oppressed but not Identical
Kashmir and Palestine, the two geographically
distant territories under occupation of foreign
rulers, have often been treated as similar. The
stories of occupation of the two begin almost
around the same time — post World War II, in
late 1940s. There is a number of similarities
between the approaches adopted by the two
powerful forces, Indian and Israel, in managing,
legitimizing and advancing their control over the
people and their lands. Both in Palestine and
Kashmir, the occupied people are Muslims who
continue to suffer and resist. Public, politicians
and scholars across the world tend to speak of
the two territories in one breath. However, these
comparisons cannot be always beneficial for any
of the causes, and can at times be reductive and
simplistic approach. When examined closely, the
divergences between the two begin to appear
clearly.
Arif Ayaz Parrey builds an account
explaining the nature of the two conflicts, and
how idea of settler colonialism, which has
become a dominant discourse recently in Kash-
mir, differs between the two.
Parrey aptly writes:
“After all, settler colonialism has come to
gather a lot of meanings over the course of histo-
ry and geography. There are the American and
Australian examples, of genocide of natives
followed by museumification and deculturiza-
tion of surviving native settlements. On the other
end of the spectrum is the example of Tibet,
where an entire civilization has been assimilated
with almost no bloodshed. What kind of settler
colonialism will be unleashed in a certain place
depends on an uncountable number of factors,
chief among them being the prevailing political
thought among the settlers and the natives, the
perception the dominant outsiders and the weak
natives have of each other, the larger geopolitical
situation and discourses, even the climate and
geography of the occupied land and the land
from which the settlers are moving in.”

10. Kashmir’s Artistic
Resistance
One of the biggest ideological forms at
the disposal of Indian State has been its vast film
industry. The industry has been instrumental in
ideologically coopting Kashmir and Kashmiri
people, and in legitimizing the State’s brutalities
in the region. The films made recently on Kash-
mir have especially deployed new tropes to
obfuscate the realities of war, and glorify Indian
army’s role in Kashmir. One such film has been
named Kashmiriyat, a short film that was recent-
ly released. An examination exposing how this
movie distorts the image of Kashmir’s real situa-
tion has been carried out in an article that is cited
here.
The authors write about the film:
“Kashmiriyat is a sort of short film which has
painted everything in black and white. The film
claims that there is no real dissent in Kashmir
and blames Pakistan for all the anarchy present
in the valley. The film is an extreme artistic piece
and brutal exploitation of artistic license.This
short film is driven by a dictator mentality and
rides on jingoism. There is hardly any scope for an
alternate narrative which could have added to
the beauty of this film. The director instead of
keeping a single dish on the plate could have
accommodated some more for sure as Kashmiris
do in Wazwaan. But he has chosen to go with the
current wave. The director is still young and will
definitely learn with time to accept the beauty of
plurality.”
In the meantime, however, Kashmiri
artists have been fighting their own struggle and
inscribing their own stories. Recently a Kashmiri
student author brought forth a heart-wrenching
love story of two Kashmiris who lost contact with
one another amid lock down. When the phone
lines were finally resumed, the lover comes to
know that his beloved has been long dead. In the
small corners of the Valley under siege, Kashmiri
poets, writers, cartoonists have been inscribing
the people’s struggles for survival. This form of
artistic resistance represents Kashmiri artists’
resolve to fight on.
Mazahmat09
References:
Aljazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/kashmiri-artists-resisting-india-months-long-lockdown-191207062705088.html
Sadaf Masoodi
https://mountain-ink.com/valleys-silent-sufferers-when-love-died-in-lockdown/
Asif Khan, Arbeena Shah
https://kashmirobserver.net/2020/08/27/review-kashmiriyat-a-brutal-exploitation-of-artistic-license/
Usaid Siddiqui
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/meet-kashmiri-cartoonist-dig-indian-rule-200808002207760.html
Mazahmat

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