Kashmir – Reduced to a burning furnace?

I was watching a special report on a news channel. It was about Kashmir- but this time instead of singing praises of our armed forces and police it had a different take. ‘Nameless graves’ it read! The police/armed forces claimed them to be militants gunned down by them while locals claimed them to be innocent relatives who left home for some trivial reason- never to return.

What makes this situation worse is there are no records of the dead (as claimed by the police) hence tracking these people is next to impossible. These graves started sprouting around 6 years back. Though the claims like these have reduced significantly now, however what about the scars left by these haunting memories that continue to harass even now.

There were families on air for whom the wait never seemed to end. Their loved ones went missing into thin air! They had been returning from wedding parties, gone out for shopping or just out with a bunch of friends. They however never returned. Was such atrocity the real reason for rise of militancy in Kashmir? Did these things add fuel to the fire? Or was the rising militancy the cause of such incidents?

I still remember the face of the old graveyard keeper. He was heartbroken. He was tired of burying people, now that he knows many might not have been militants. His helpless look was more like a plea to God asking why was he part of this. Some villagers also told him that one of the graves might belong to his nephew as when he was not around there were a few bodies buried and one of them looked like his nephew.

The yard is now full and he has informed the authorities that no more bodies can be buried there. Yet this man continues to be there. Answer the questions of many anxious families that continue to come to him in hunt of their loved ones. Some come to pray for the departed souls – they are not sure it is their loved one buried there. They are not even sure if that is the grave they might be looking for, yet it gives them solace and he helps them in every way possible.

Are we really the tolerant, fair, democratic India? The partition was a big enough scar that refuses to heal; adding to it was the Kashmir issue that might have been blundered for the benefit of some vested interests. But is there no end to his inferno? To show that they are effective in countering the insurgents was it the political parties that urged the army/police to take such steps? I don’t know the answers to these, but I know that innocent have suffered and have suffered for a long time. The human rights activists and many other small organizations have now joined hands and are helping the families in every possible way. They are lending hope to many- who now just wish to lead a peaceful life and put the ghosts of the past to rest.