Masarat Alam Bhat has been in the news quite frequently in the recent past. He has been known for his jail term and even more so for his subsequent release. Ever since his release he has been staging protests against the government. Amongst all that's been said by the media about him there have been silent mentions of AFSPA(Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 ) and no mention of the Jammu and Kashmir Public safety Act 1978.
Just to give you an idea here are two of the most regressive laws in the Indian democracy
1. AFSPA : By this act the Armed forces have the power to -:
- To use deadly force to tackle disturbances in an area without considering the safety of civilian(non violent) people in the area.
- To arrest(without warrants) people who are reasonably suspected of causing disturbances.
- To enter and search a private property, vehicle, without warrants again.
- And here is the best part army officers have legal immunity against whatever they deem necessary to stop these disturbances.
- The government for the purposes of preventing or combating any activity prejudicial to the maintenance of communal or sectarian, or regional harmony effecting or likely to affect public order can stop(read ban) that activity. ( It essentially implies that any newspaper article can be banned citing the above reason. It is to be noted that newspapers and print media has always been a tool to speak out against the ruling power peacefully. Freedom of speech has no relevance if this point is taken into consideration)
- any person attempting to commit, or committing, or instigating, inciting, provoking or otherwise abetting the commission of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term extending to seven years or more where the commission of such an offence disturbs, or is likely to disturb public order. (any peaceful meeting or protest against the government is likely to to disturb public order)
- This act also provides for the arresting and jailing of a person without trail for up to two years on mere suspicion that he/she may disrupt law and order in the state.
This act has been used time and again by the government of Kashmir to stop any opposition to their rule. Even minors have not been spared. The people of Kashmir have lived in oppression for more than 50 years now there is a whole generation of people who have seen nothing but violence. They've been treated like scum their whole life. How do you think children who have seen so much violence and pain will grow up to be? With there being no way to legally vent their anger. They have never felt freedom, they long for it. And when India doesn't give it to them they look for the next best alternative. (Kashmir has also ensured that these people are never educated enough to realize Pakistan as a failing economy will never be able to take the burden of Kashmir but that is a different issue all together. )
Masarat Alam Bhat had been protesting against the Machil fake encounter when he was imprisoned under the PSA without trail of course. He says he has been a stone thrower since childhood. If you think about it there is nothing more or less he could have done to demand the freedom which is his right. Its was only a matter of time people made sense of what he stood for.
In my opinion the release of Alam did open grounds to get into a dialogue with the Kashmiris but the media has always been presenting one side of the picture. The side which the government wants to show us. It was an interesting move to show that the government of India was ready to realize where it had been wrong and try to make them understand why it thought it was so necessary. But with how the country reacted to the whole situation(quite possibly due to the media propaganda) I think the move backfired.
Now that he has been taken into custody again there have been violent protest in kashmir admonishing the government for taking such a stand.(there had been no protests in kashmir when he was released) We should understand the reason why they waved the Pakistani flag. India has failed to provide freedom to it citizens in Kashmir. The freedom which they were promised after 1950.
Further reading
Public Safety Act :
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/jammu-publicsafetyact1978.html
http://indiaopines.com/public-safety-act-is-a-draconian-law-in-jammu-and-kashmir/
Machil Encounter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Kashmir_unrest
