FLAMING FOREST, WOUNDED VALLEY STORIES FROM BASTAR AND KASHMIR by Freny Manecksha

Author:Freny Manecksha [Manecksha, Freny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-11T18:30:00+00:00

Pellet Guns and Other Horrors in Habak

Shanpora in Habak, a locality close to the Hazratbal shrine and straddling the Tailbal Nullah, a canal running off the Dal Lake, is home to labourers and a strong working-class population. It became the target of relentless night raids and pellet firings and its inhabitants say they came under intense scrutiny because of the proximity to the Foreshore Road, through which there is a lot of VIP movement, since it skirts the picturesque Dal Lake. The people of this neighbourhood are also known for their spirited defiance against the actions of the security forces, a fact which probably also invited such brutal reprisals.

Initially, the people whom we met on a visit during a sunny autumnal afternoon, were guarded and reticent. One college boy, who eventually admitted to being a victim of pellet gun firing, said defiantly, ‘Maine kaun sa border cross kiya hai (What border did I cross?)’, implying that he was an unarmed civilian, not a militant with a gun.

His remark opens up the ethical issues of how the Indian State and judiciary persists with allowing the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to deploy the pellet gun or, more accurately, the twelve-gauge pumping action shotgun that dispels hundreds of pellets in all directions. Sometimes there is irretrievable damage to the eyes and pellet gun blindings have rocked the international media.

The Shanpora youth claimed he was hit in the eye with pellets on 7 August, trying to cross the road whilst returning from Zakura. Protests had broken out and there was a strong deployment of the CRPF and Seema Sashastra Bal (SSB), who opened fire without warning, saying the people had no business to be outdoors.

Another youth opened his mouth and showed us how a pellet had struck the upper palate. He got injured as he was gasping and running towards his mohalla, even as troops pursued them on the parallel track across the canal, raining down pellets.

The tactic of using the pellet gun as a weapon of intimidation was exemplified when a schoolmaster claimed that during a night raid, he heard the CRPF conferring among themselves to flush out the inhabitants of a particular house by using pellet guns.

Many of Habak’s residents named a woman DSP of the CRPF as being especially ruthless during the night raids and claimed she had even destroyed a transformer to keep the locality in darkness.

We also heard accounts of sexual harassment and violence. One woman alleged that there had been a forced entry into the house around 1.30 a.m., her refrigerator was broken, jewellery taken from her locker and a gun was pointed at her throat. There were also reports of a copy of the Koran being desecrated.

The youths also narrated accounts of mass arrests with the police routinely picking up boys, who would be released a week later, if they agreed to provide a list of names of other youths.

These accounts, like those from Shopian and Kulgam, revealed the way Kashmir had turned into one massive carceral system.

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