“Go back to India and cover every statue of Gandhi so that he doesn’t have to face this shame”, marking the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, a Kashmiri told the two-member-team of eminent sociologist Nandini Sundar and Supreme Court advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan those very words.

As we enter the 85th day of the Kashmir clampdown, two weeks ago, between the 5th of October and 9th of October the team travelled to many villages to find out the happenings there and the truth about reports of ‘normalcy’, post the abrogation of Article 370.

After speaking with a wide range of people from different professions and lifestyles, their report brings out the unsettling reality of the Kashmiri sentiment, contradicting the media and government’s narrative of ‘all is well’.

They visited the districts of Srinagar, Shopian, Pulwama, and Kupwara and interviewed approximately 78 people and as per their report, none of them was celebrating the abrogation of Article 370 and the abolition of Article 35A, as well as the conversion of the state into a Union Territory.

They found that almost every person wanted azaadi, which either meant complete independence from India and Pakistan, or a full merger with Pakistan.

Converse to what the Government of India intended with the revocation of Article 370, the constituency for Pakistan has increased drastically, along with those who regard Hurriyat leader Geelani as their main. There are no takers for the ‘so-called full integration’ that has been promised to citizens of the former state.

“Article 370 Is Our Identity” Barricade made by the locals in Aanchar to prevent the military from entering their locality.

“Even our animals want azaadi” A Gujjar sarpanch, who is recognized as a Scheduled Tribe minority in Kashmir said.

A shopkeeper in Srinagar told the team that although 370 had been hollowed out by previous regimes, it still remained as their identity.”

Regardless of specific views, everyone felt they had been robbed of their identity and humiliated by not being consulted on their own future.

Resisting the facade of ‘normalcy’ people are protesting in the only way possible – through satyagraha or nonviolent civil disobedience, the team found. There is a complete hartal across the state, despite severe economic and educational losses. Since the entire leadership is in jail – from mainstream parties to the separatist parties, this satyagraha is being carried out by the people themselves. There is some societal coercion, but by and large, it is entirely voluntary.

The team’s findings, completely opposite to what national television media is portraying has made them term their reportage ‘a disgrace’. The Kashmiri correspondents for national media report abuses and torture faithfully but the news is not always carried. The journalists remarked that in over two months, there hasn’t been a single editorial in Kashmir on Article 370.

Everyone feels that they have been forcefully pushed back to the stone ages without phones and internet. This communications blackout and mass arrest of mainstream leaders are new and unprecedented in the history of Kashmir that has already survived countless shutdowns.

One apple grower they met said he was “willing to lose 9-10 lakhs every year by not harvesting and selling his apples” if it got his people azaadi.”

An Apple Mandi (market in Sopore remains deserted. Huge losses have been reported. Cases Of Torture

The locals of Parigam village in Pulwama say that after August 5th, their sons have been randomly picked up and tortured to instil fear. As per the team’s reported testimonies, on the night of August 6th, the army picked up 9-11 young men between the ages of 20-30 from eight houses.

“They met two brothers, Shabir Sofi and Muzafffar Sofi, who were taken to a spot outside the local mosque that night and beaten with cables and sticks on the road from 12.30 am to 3 am. They were also given electric shocks after they fell unconscious,” said the family members.

The boys crawled back home later that night and have been unable to move for the last two months, let alone work. When the families of the tortured youngsters tried to intervene, they were threatened and sent back. The families wanted to file an FIR in Pulwama but the police station has been closed and encircled with barbed wires.

Arrests And Detentions

The report says, “People with old FIRs were being picked up and kept in police stations. Sometimes they were released but most of them are charged under PSA and kept in Srinagar’s Central Jail or taken to Agra. Families are scared that if they protest or speak to the press, the detainees will be charged with PSA. In one incident in Pulwama, the army had hit two girls for protesting while their relatives were being taken to prison, they found.”

Known as a ‘militant’ village, Karimabad in Shopian saw the army wipe its region clean of youngsters as part of their ‘preventive detention meas…