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Strikes multiply woes of already suffering Kashmiris

Last Updated 20 December 2016, 17:42 IST

The last five months of shutdown imposed by separatist leaders in the aftermath of the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani hasn’t only affected the economic and education sectors of Kashmir Valley, but has multiplied the woes of the already suffering Kashmiris. According to unofficial estimates, Kashmir suffered a loss of about Rs 135 crore daily due to the strike. This works out to nearly Rs 20,000 crore in losses to the Kashmir’s economy so far in the past more than five months.

The education sector in strife-torn Kashmir has been held hostage by the ongoing strikes and nearly two million students have been kept out of schools and colleges. A large number of parents have been forced to take their children outside the state in search of safety and good  education; it also pushes these young boys and girls to trying and uncertain situations.

If one just multiplies the number of students in the Valley with the number of days lost, the figures will be astonishing. Going by the literacy rate, Jammu and Kashmir ranks 32 out of the 35 states and Union Territories. This must be a cause of concern for every right-thinking Kashmiri. There is no denying the fact that education remains an indispensable social institution and is the single most potent tool of development around the globe.

Whatever little industry Kashmir has, stands closed and harmed as life has been paralysed due to the strike. Worst of all, the strike has pushed the economically weakest, including daily wagers, labourers, street vendors and marginal level transporters to greatest disadvantage. These illogical strike calls scuttle any move by Kashmiris to achieve economic self-reliance. They have deprived people of the right to life, which has correctly been interpreted by the Sup-reme Court as the right to a dignified life.

Kashmir lost nearly 90 precious lives of young boys and hundreds of bright youths have lost their eyesight shattering their dreams in life while thousands have been maimed and grievously injured since July 9. This has created a humanitarian crisis in the Valley whose nearly seven million population has been deprived of even basic amenities during the strike period.

The unending era of strikes started right from 1990 when armed insurgency broke out in Kashmir. From an arrest of a militant commander to the killing of civilians, everything was followed by days or at times weeks, of strike. This crippled the economy of Kashmir. Separatist groups never did rethink or debate the hartal strategy. In fact, at times, different separatists groups, to show their presence, call unnecessary strikes.

While the separatists claim they call strikes to highlight the reported human rights violations by security forces in Kashmir, the fact remains it has never been able to attract international attention. How many times due to strikes international human rights organisations have taken cognizance of any rights violation and pressurised New Delhi to be cautious? Most of the times strikes remain localised, restricted to a few localities of Srinagar and other towns. They miserably fail to achieve the objective of separatists which is to internationalise Kashmir issue.

Though separatists, notably the Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Geelani, time and again tries to incite people in the name of religion, incidentally there is no evidence of strike in Muslim history. Neither is there any significant correlation between strikes and successful liberation movements across the world. Striking work emerged mainly as a communist concept where the daily wage worker wants to inflict economic costs on the capitalist owners.

This again exposes the mismatch between the words and the deeds of Geelani and his coterie who have been punishing poor people of Kashmir by calling unending strikes without caring for their future. People in Kashmir are fatigued due to these strikes and they have already started their normal activities despite separatists still issuing weekly protest programmes. Kashmiris have become politically mature enough now and they can’t be fed with hollow slogans by separatists.

Making ‘sacrifices’
Geelani’s theory that a nation which aspires for independence has to make sacrifices like strikes is a flawed theory. History is witness to the fact that no nation has achieved freedom by abstaining from work. Geelani must answer as to what a person, who earns his livelihood on a daily basis and has to feed his family, will do when he calls strike for months on end.

The families of street vendors and daily wagers might have starved during strike days. Is Geelani bothered about those poor souls? How hapless patients feel when they aren’t able to visit a doctor.

Last year, a second rung leader of moderate Hurriyat group during a seminar had acknowledged that strikes deprive people of their basic needs while the leadership has an affluent lifestyle.  He had also said that religion and Kashmir issue should not be mixed up because Kashmir is a politico-human issue.  While it is true that a majority of the people in Kashmir want peaceful resolution of the political problems in the state, it is also a fact that they neither support violence nor strikes.

However, it is a fact that separatists have been enforcing the strikes by the dent of force, especially in the last two months. The stone throwers, who are being paid by the separatists, have been imposing strikes by damaging the vehicles plying on roads and in some cases even by burning the shops whose owners refuse to abide by their diktats.

While Geelani leaves no stone unturned to compound the problems of people, it is the responsibility of the state to understand the genuine concerns of the masses and try to redress the same. The state must respect the sentiment and anger of youth and hold a dialogue with the genuine representatives of Kashmiris.

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(Published 20 December 2016, 17:42 IST)

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