SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, PUNE

JULY 17, 2016 TIMES NATION 11

Kashmir IAS officer threatens to quit Valley simmers, 1 killed as

2009 Topper Shah Faesal Slams Media, Blames Govt For Killing Own Citizens
AartiTikooSingh
@timesgroup.com
Srinagar: The mob and the
militant, whether visible on
the streets or not, have come to
intimidate almost every Kash-
miri Muslim perceived to be
an Indian in the post-Burhan
valley.
The fear of facing violence
and rage at the hands of rio-
ters and Kalashnikov-wiel-
ding guerrillas has penetrated
so deep in the last one week
that both progressive mainst-
ream icons and ordinary emp-
loyees of the state are either
hiding their Indian stamp or
distancing themselves from
New Delhi.
Popular IAS officer Shah
Faesal, unsettled by the Indian
electronic and social media
campaign that pitted him aga-
inst Hizb commander Burhan
Wani, the new icon among se-
paratist youth in Kashmir,
went on Facebook threatening
to resign, late Friday evening.
He accused a section of the
national media of being a “sa-
distic propaganda machine”
indulging in “conventional sa-
vagery that cashes on falseho-
ods, divides people and creates
more hatred” at a time when
A vegetable vendor sits in his boat as he waits for customers during
curfew in Srinagar
Kashmir was “mourning its
dead.” In his long anxious post
that went viral, he said, the
media was “breeding more ali-
enation and anger in Kashmir
than what Indian state can ma-
nage.”
In an attempt to retain his
individual credibility, he bla-
med the government, of which
he is a part, for killing and mai-
ming its “own citizens”. Fae-
sal called it “self-injury and
self-decimation of the worst
sort” that was justifiably go-
ing to make “the body-politic
bleed as well.”
Faesal, a doctor by trai-
ning, became the first Kashmi-
ri to top the IAS exams in 2009.
First Kashmiri woman IPS of-
ficer Ruveda Salam also pos-
Reuters
ted on Facebook urging her
“non-Kashmiri friends” to re-
frain from making “lewd”
comments about “Kashmiri
blood” which she said was
“not cheap”.
Like most other officers,
both Faesal and Salam swit-
ched off their BSNL mobiles
(the only functional public ser-
vice provider) and remained
inaccessible for their com-
ments.
Faesal’s father, a teacher,
was killed by militants in 2002.
One of Faesal’s friends told the
TOI that the media was en-
dangering his life by projec-
ting him as a competitor to
Burhan Wani, the undisputed
icon among the angry youth
right now. “It is not safe for him
to become a pawn in the debate
on ‘good Kashmiri vs bad
Kashmiri’. If this does not
stop, he will be forced to quit
and run a private medical
practice,” he said.
Such public explanations
coming from two popular pub-
lic icons in mainstream Kash-
mir are a reminder of 1990, a lo-
cal senior journalist in Srina-
gar said. “At the time, anyone
who looked pro-India was a su-
spect and eligible for elimina-
tion. There may not be as ma-
ny militants or arms in Kash-
mir today but the sense of inse-
curity is the same. A Kashmiri
Muslim cannot afford to appe-
ar an Indian in Kashmir any-
more. He will be killed if he do-
es,” said the reporter.
Rioting mobs burnt almost
a dozen houses, including the
one where Burhan Wani was
killed, and a high-density yiel-
ding model orchard only be-
cause they suspected the ow-
ners to be either informers or
close to the Indian state.
The Jammu & Kashmir po-
lice, which is at the forefront of
fighting militancy and stone-
pelters, has come to symbolize
the Indian state by default.
The police are hated so
much that ordinary employe-
es of the force, operate always
in civvies. Several orderlies
have been harassed, frisked
and scrutinized by rioting
mobs across the valley. One
cop was killed by drowning
and two others nearly killed by
stoning in the last few days. “I
was stopped half a dozen ti-
mes by stone-pelters last week.
They always ask for identity
cards and I always lie about my
occupation. I sometimes pre-
tend to be a farmer and someti-
mes a distressed shopkeeper
visiting hospital to meet his ai-
ling wife,” a constable told the
TOI.
The government is so sha-
ken by the anti-India senti-
ment and outrage against In-
dian media that it shut down
private communication servi-
ces, mobile internet, and as-
ked the private cable operators
to even block some of the cont-
roversial Indian news chan-
nels.
“It is like a psychological
warfare in which the Kashmi-
ri separatist seems to be win-
ning and the Indian state and
its honest, competent officers
are conceding space,” a young
student preparing for civil ser-
vices who looked up to Shah
Faesal said.
mob tries to burn police post
Saleem.Pandit
@timesgroup.com
Srinagar: One person was
killed when police retaliated
after a mob tried to set fire to a
police post at Hatmulla in
J&K’s Kupwara district on Sa-
turday. A police spokesman
said two people were wounded
“while dealing with the situa-
tion”. One of them, Showkat
Malik, later succumbed to his
injuries taking the toll from
the ongoing violence to 41.
Reports said a mob set fire
to a police guard room at Wul-
lar Vintage Park in Bandipora
even as curfew remained in
force for the seventh day
across the valley. In Pulwama,
unidentified militants shot at
Shabir Ahmad Pandit and
Manzoor Ahmad, cousins of
The escalation of tension
in Kashmir on Saturday
forced local newspapers
to stop publication for
three days
police officer Tariq Pandit,
who had joined Hizbul Muja-
hideen last year before sur-
rendering.
Minister of state for health
Asiae Naqash rebutted rumo-
urs regarding paucity of me-
dicines in hospitals, saying
she was monitoring availabi-
lity of drugs, diagnostic equ-
ipments and blood round the
clock.
Meanwhile, the escalation
of tension in Kashmir on Sa-
turday forced local newspa-
pers to stop publication for
three days. The move came af-
ter police raided printing
presses of many newspapers
to prevent their circulation on
Saturday. Owners of local
newspapers accused the go-
vernment for gagging the me-
dia. An official accused local
newspapers of carrying in-
flammatory statements of mi-
litants and separatists. He sa-
id papers have been inciting
violence by publishing re-
ports about violent incidents
in an “exaggerated manner”.
The Kashmir Images edi-
tor Bashir Manzar said the go-
vernment asked them to stop
publication. “They must have
decided on their own. Circula-
tion is affected due to prevai-
ling tension in the valley,” an
official said.

Pak to move int’l Ex-Pak official

defends holiday
court on hydro over Burhan
project dispute
TIMES NEWS NETWORK India believes Pakistan
SaibalDasgupta
@timesgroup.com

Beijing: Former foreign se-

New Delhi: Pakistan seemed
determined to take India to the
Permanent Court of Arbitra-
tion (PCA) on the Kisheng-
anga and Ratle hydroelectric
projects after a two-day mee-
ting between the two sides fai-
led to produce any breakthro-
ugh.
India pointed out to Pakis-
tan that the latter was viola-
ting provisions of the Indus
Waters Treaty in rushing to a
third forum without attemp-
ting to avail the treaty provi-
sions for amicable resolution.
With the meeting behind them,
Pakistan is set to approach
PCA in The Hague. “We hope
the Pakistani side will see rea-
son in our suggestions on the
way forward,” an MEA spoke-
sperson said.
should allow the Indus Water
Commission to resolve the dif-
ferences or take the opinion of
a neutarl expert. Pakistan had
taken the dispute to The Hague
in 2013, but the court allowed
India to continue construc-
tion, but on temporary diver-
sion of water, agreed with Pa-
kistan on the method of flus-
hing out silt from the reservoir.
According to Pakistani me-
dia reports, the government
debated for months on the dif-
ferent merits of appointing a
neutral expert or going to the
PCA. Ultimately, the govern-
ment, it said, has option for the
full court of arbitration.
Pakistan has reportedly hi-
red a consortium of two US-ba-
sed law firms that include
Three Crowns and Walliams &
Connelly.
cretary of Pakistan Riaz Hus-
sain Khokhar said here on Sa-
turday that Pakistan declared
Martys’ Day for the killing of
Hizbul Mujahideen comman-
der Burhan Muzaffar Wani be-
cause it “came under terrible
emotional pressure from the
public”.
“In the beginning our reac-
tions were low key. But the go-
vernment came under pressu-
re from people and the media,”
said Khokhar during a panel
session of a conference held by
Xinghua News agency.
“But we have an obligation
to bring it to the notice of the
international community,” he
said. He also justified the go-
vernment’s decision to declare
a national holiday saying, “So
it was more in the nature of go-
ing along with the Kashmiris”.