A Page from Valley's History When Terrorism Humbled a Haughty Minister

P N Ganjoo

When decades old memories of I dredge two-and-a-half- my life in the scintillating valleys of daffodils, roses, tulips and lotuses some episodes sprout to surface. These may be hazy at this stage, yet these are real and true to the best of my memory It was the worst year of the twentieth century in that charming land of vales, meadows, engraved with gushing springs, scintillating brooks and rushing rivulets encircled by verdant high hills and snow-covered mountains Fundamentalists had spread their tentacles for horror and terror through sabotage and subversion in the Valley as death and destruction was stalking calm and cold streets and alleys. Enemies of state had planted their moles in civil and police administration. Sympathies and conspiracies of a handful of separatists had already been bought. Connivance of Muslim civil society of the Valley had either been won to the cause of mirage of azadi or bamboozled to acquiescence to all dehumanised and barbaric acts of horror and terror, of wanton killing and denial of civil rights of innocent people.

Raping of innocent girls and women was designed to be resorted to as a means of intimidation leading to submission and silence. Arson, ransacking and bomb blasts had to become order of the day. Hijacking of eminent persons had been made a tool of intimidation and submission and conversion to rabid fundamentalism Though civil administration was still sparsely in place it had started to go into hiding by and large And thus government offices, civil establishments, trade, transport, schools and banks and even hospitals had started working just sporadic. There was still a democratic civil government in place which was headed by Farooq Abdullah who was known for his flamboyant ways and spent more time on the beaches of Europe rather than governing the strife-torn state which had slipped down the edge. There was a total governance deficit in the state, as a consequence. The rut had sunk deep both in administration and politics offering sufficient opportunities to separatists and terrorists to plague and plunder the Valley. Armed ingress of militants was at its apex which had also created a broad and wide network of sympathisers for sabotage and subversion in the Valley. Terrorists had planted their moles and sympathisers in police besides civil administration of the Valley to make their task of subversion easy.

It was the ugly August of 1989 when sky in the Valley was unusually overcast with brooding gloom and glum at this time of the year. Farooq Abdullah, as usual, was out of the Valley and had detailed his lieutenants to look after the state and its growing agonies. During some years past polarisation of separatists and anti-national elements had been allowed to reach its peak by foolish acts of omission and commission by the governments; the latest being release of more than 100 anti-national elements which were hauled up by the state police for heinous crimes just to placate and appease separatists. Public despair and political frustration had been allowed to breed which also confronted and thwarted the legitimate activities of the State Government. In such a surcharged atmosphere of sabotage and subversion it had become a herculean task in the Valley to organise and celebrate National Days as was being done during the past years.

15th August, 1989, was one such National Festival that was purported to be organised and performed as Independence Day of India at a scale befitting the occasion at all levels within the state to showcase achievements of Independence and rededicate people to the nation building of India. Days like 15 August of national significance were celebrated with pomp, show and fanfare in the past to demonstrate unity, integrity and solidarity of the country Flag-hoisting ceremonies were the hallmark at state HQS, provincial HQs, district HQs, Tehsil HQs and Block HQs in which all citizens and civil administration participated. Deployment of security forces posted in the area was also done to establish proper rapport between security forces and the civil administration which always worked in unison for the welfare and development of people of the state. For all such functions it was a custom in vogue for a local minister or seniormost officer to take salute and rededicate faith in the Independence of India for consolidating a secular democratic republic for development and welfare of all sections of society. They would highlight the achievements and the bottlenecks being faced in the implementation of different peoples' welfare and area development programmes under execution in the area for which the Centre was flowing funds liberally. As per standing orders of the General Department all ministers were assigned different districts as per their seniority and proximity to participate in such functions. All surrounding educational and cultural institutions and NGOs participated in such functions with zest and zeal along with local people. Much colour, vibrancy and romance was lent to such functions by integrating physical parades with rainbows of cultural programmes of various hues. All people of the Valley waited for such occasional but regular functions which offered them chances to participate and indulge in.

District Pulwama, where I was working at that point of time, had also to celebrate the 15th August function of 1989 at the District HQS. One of the senior most ministers of the Farooq cabinet was detailed to take salute in the function. The minister was staying at Sonwar, Srinagar, in a government bungalow. He had expressed his desire that some officers from the district guide and accompany him to Pulwama from his residence on the day. It fell on me and one more senior officer of the District to escort the minister from his residence to Pulwama as we were detailed to do the needful on 15 August, 1989.

The venue of the function was fixed in an open ground that hedged Pulwama town on the Pulwama-Murran road. On the fateful day of 15 August, 1989, it was a cold cloudy morning. There was a mischievous chill in the air. 1, along with my colleague officer, reported at the residence of the minister at 7-30 a.m. The official residence of the minister was unusually calm and silent that day which otherwise people would throng to present their petitions and problems. The atmospherics were grim and glum on this day. Not that it was a holiday but that the terrorists and separatists had ordained the day to be observed as a Black Day to affront and humiliate the Indian state as was usually done on such occasions of National Celebrations during that period of turmoil. So no transport and trade activities were permitted, forcing people to stay out of work, indoors. When we reached the minister's residence there was no visible activity except the presence of some security personnel. As we were ushered into a capacious drawing room of the ministerial bungalow the minister was staying glum on the sofa. Immediately on our entry in the room he enquired as to what was the latest news and condition outside, all-around. When I informed him that there was no movement of men and transport and it was a total shut down he shrank scared. He offered a cup of kahwa to us which was unlike him being known for his stiff neck and sulking upper lip which spoke more of his political arrogance than worth. After having the tea we started to lug out of the bungalow. On the parking bay the minister's PSO hastily occupied the front seat with the driver in the ministerial Ambassador car in which the minister had to travel to the Pulwama district.

My colleague and I approached our car to take seats in. But as we were to ride our car the minister signalled us to share his car instead. It was unlike himself as he was known to be highly acerbic and individualistic in his bearing and public posture. How could he share his car with his subordinates? It was a puzzle at that time. Though we hesitated he persuaded both of us to share his car. As per courtesy and protocol I entered the car from the other side of the minister and squeezed myself to make room for my colleague to enter. But the minister lugged towards me and indicated to my colleague to enter from his side of car. It was embarrassing for both of us to sandwich the mighty minister between us. But he would not mind the discomfort. After we seated in the car the driver steered forth on the highway. The minister directed the driver in his soft but firm voice to drive fast. As the driver took the cue he dashed fast as the road was totally clear excepting some stray dogs at Batwara, a herd of cows at Pampore and a ramshackle cart at Kakapora The entire landscape from Srinagar to Pulwama looked desolate and forlorn as if no humans lived near around. The atmosphere. was frightening. It must have taken our car 30 minutes to traverse the distance from the ministerial bungalow to reach the spot where the Independence Day Parade was to be held. As we reached the stage the minister wanted to speed up and so entries in the programme were curtailed. After a part of the Parade of security forces and schools passed the stage, the minister rushed to deliver his speech. He was brief and precise in just one or two minutes. While he was speaking on the stage there was a whiz of firing from one nook of the ground. Since the ground was a large one and the gathering was sparse no damage was caused through a silent wave of panic rushed through all present. The minister too lost his colour, whatever was left in him. He concluded his speech and ran back to his car which had by now approached the stage. He signalled both of us to accompany him back to his residence. And so did we. Again on going back we seated ourselves one on each side of him as desired by him. It took us again 30 minutes to travel back. The road and the surroundings were again desolate excepting that there were some small parties of people at village corner shops at Ganjoo, Ratnipora, Nawbal and Pantchok. We had a gut feeling that we and our car were being noticed for venturing to challenge the diktat of the terrorists. It was the greatest sacrilege of the times to behave unlike common men those days. The minister looked jittery and exhausted. On reaching his residence the minister dashed to his room as he left us to go back.

A simple episode, but with lots and lots of significance The sulking high profile minister did not bestow any special favours to both of us to share his car with us. In fact he was scared out of his wits to risk a jaunt to the Pulwama district in face of open challenge of the terrorists to stay away even from work on this day of great National Importance. His decision to share his seat with us was simply prompted by his instinct of self- defence for self-survival which he exhibited but at its ultimate crude In fact he wanted a human shield to protect him against any untoward happening due to ambush and surprise attacks of the militants which were not uncommon those days. That could have been exactly the reason why the minister kept each one of us on each side of him so that, if attacked, it would be us who would withstand the brunt.

The great irony of the occasion was that even this crass tactical move of the minister failed to convince me that the situation was really critical because something bumed in me to believe that all these calls of shut down and boycott and sabotage even on days of National Significance were simple aberrations which would dissolve in due course of time as used to happen in the past. I thought they deserved to be ignored and at the most faced But unfortunately that was not to be. These were articulated moves under Operation Topaz unleashed by Pakistan and its agencies to provoke insurrection in the Valley which would automatically lead to cession of the Valley from the rest of India, of which Indian agencies were blissfully ignorant at that point of time. The situation drifted and drifted with each passing day and a time came when civil society of Sunni Muslims of the Valley went into its own cocoon and the administration vanished from the scene. Even politicians went into hibernation. This left the field wide open for separatists and terrorists to score shots to intimidate and browbeat people of the Valley to silence and surrender by use of intimidation and violence. This was against the culture and breeding of the local milieu of Kashmir. A culture of hate and violence was propagated and provoked to wreck civil society and divide it on grounds of creed and religion. The rainbow kaleidoscope of the composite culture for which Kashmir was known got a drubbing which will take decades to repair and

restore All those responsible who conspired and contributed to help, engineer and usher in such a chaotic situation in the Valley owe it to Kashmiris to restore and re-stitch the threads that were shredded by:

1. Administration's connivance,

2. Politician's callousness,

3. Separatist's machinations,

4. Terrorist's rabidity.

5. Security forceps's dereliction

6. Civil society's silence

All those responsible for creating this holocaust of the century need to admit their covert and overt contribution to the mess and make amends by responding through their efforts to stem the rot so that Kashmiri society is put back on civilised and cultured advancement for the welfare of all sections of society through peaceful democratic and secular means. That is the minimum price that everyone has to pay for the restoration of normalcy leading to honour and respect for Kashmiri civil society which has been traumatised for more than two decades by Pakistan and its agents prowling in the Valley.

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Courtesy:- P.N. Ganjoo and April 2012, Koshur Samachar