The 2016 Turmoil
A new J&K law makes damage to property during protests punishable. Many find it draconian.
The 2016 Turmoil
(Sources: Health Department, Police and the 2017-18 Economic Survey)
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The ordinance has trigged a multi-polar debate in Jammu and Kashmir because each party has its distinct take on the ephemeral law. The government led by the Peoples Democratic Party sees it as a 바카라compulsion바카라, its ruling partner바카라the BJP바카라finds it is 바카라too harsh바카라, the police deem it 바카라necessary바카라 and the separatists term it as 바카라intimidation바카라.
Recently, the Jammu and Kashmir Public Property (Prevention of Damage) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, made any destruction of property due to 바카라direct action바카라 punishable. The October 25 rule also invites penalty on anyone calling for abetment of such offence. The 바카라direct action바카라 means strikes or demonstrations instead of taking the route of negotiation. The ordinance makes anyone who announces such public forms of protests that result in damage to public and private property liable to punishment with imprisonment for one to three years. It can also result in a fine equivalent to the market value of the property destroyed.
All this in the wake of large-scale protests that broke out last year in the Valley after security forces killed 22-year-old Burhan Wani. The 바카라commander바카라 of Hizbul Mujahideen was shot dead on July 8. It led to no less than 3,000 stone-throwing protests, as reported from different areas of Kashmir over the next five months. Damage to public and private property during such demonstrations is punishable, according to the new ordinance passed two days after the union government announced the appointment of former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as the Kashmir interlocutor.
A police report reveals that post-Wani stone-throwing incidents across Kashmir in July 2016 alone totalled between180 to 200 every day, with the involvement of no less than 40,000 people. The Economic Survey of 2017-18 points out that the 2016 civil strife caused 바카라tremendous miseries, loss of life, the complete halt of economic activities in the Valley coupled with the loss of property worth crores of rupees바카라. Communication in the state became 바카라very difficult바카라 during the turmoil, the dossier says, owing to the scrapping of internet, mobile and phone services for long spells. 바카라Hartals, bandhs, stone-throwing, curfews, and restrictions immobilised the whole life in all the ten districts of the Valley,바카라 finance minister Haseeb Drabu points out, quoting the survey. The general estimate of the losses caused between July 8 and November 30 in last year바카라s unrest is 바카라more than Rs 16,000 crore바카라, besides the security-related expenditure during the 2016 unrest.
The Mehbooba Mufti government argues that the conflict has reduced the state바카라s per-capita GDP growth. FDI has gone down, so have the exports and trade flows. There is a slide in domestic investment and savings, even as the conflict has redirected public expenditure to security-related expenditure. Tourism has suffered, crippling the transportation sector too. The finance ministry describes the regular unrest in the Valley as the 바카라new normal바카라, adversely impacting the economic growth and infrastructural development. (This year the Valley remained shut for 39 days on the call of separatists.) The government says it has to calibrate the socio-economic policies towards the 바카라new normal바카라, where the biggest challenge is to prevent recurrence of such events.
Minister of state for law and parliamentary affairs Ajay Nanda says the new law will stabilise the state바카라s economy and save both public and private property from damage during strikes. 바카라It can even reduce calls for strikes,바카라 he adds. A senior official in the law department says the draft copy of the ordinance came from the home department. 바카라We just vetted it,바카라 he says, adding the rule had been drafted in accordance with the situation in the Valley and the state바카라s requirements.
The separatists are seething with anger. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a moderate leader among them, describes the ordinance as another form of intimidation by the NDA regime at the Centre. 바카라The state government is a quisling; it is merely following what it is being told,바카라 he tells Outlook. 바카라The administration has launched an all-out operation against the militants. It is slapping old cases against the leadership, and using the Enforcement Directorate and the National Investigation Agency against us. The ordinance aims to muzzle dissent. We won바카라t let it happen.바카라
Mirwaiz argues that the separatists바카라 call for strike in the Valley is, unlike in other places of the country, on the insistence of people. 바카라Last year we urged the people to end the strike, but they continued for five months. No one burns buses here in any case,바카라 he points out.
The ordinance makes videography or photo admissible evidence in court, and bail conditional. That, the BJP says, is 바카라too harsh바카라. Virender Gupta, a spokesperson of the party바카라s state unit, says the ordinance shouldn바카라t have been passed. 바카라If some people damage property, the police have powers to act under various laws.바카라
The government counters the view. Minister Naeem Akhtar, who is the PDP-BJP coalition spokesman, argues 바카라someone has to take the responsibility바카라 in view of last year바카라s large-scale destruction of public property, especially schools and other institutions during protests. Last year in October and November, arson destroyed 32 schools in the Valley. The government puts the blame on separatists. 바카라Social pressure will ultimately settle this problem,바카라 adds Akhtar, 바카라but legal action will be needed in extreme cases.바카라
The police find the ordinance a 바카라deterrence바카라 that is a law applicable all over the country. 바카라Last year, when thousands of stone-throwing incidents took place in the Valley, we found no mechanism to book people involved in the damage of property바카라except under the Public Safety Act,바카라 director general of police S.P. Vaid tells Outlook. A senior police official of Intelligence department says the law doesn바카라t bar anyone from giving a peaceful strike call. 바카라Yet, on the ground, violence sometimes erupts,바카라 he points out. 바카라A certain section here is used to glamorising some forms of violence. From now on, anyone who takes a stone in the hand will have to pay for it. The new law also makes it difficult to get a bail.바카라
Lawyers see the new law as a violation of fundamental rights. The J&K High Court Bar Association describes the ordinance as worse than the Public Safety Act (PSA). Association secretary G.N. Shaheen notes hundreds are each year detained without charge or trial in order to keep them out of circulation under the PSA바카라a 바카라lawless law바카라, according to Amnesty International. 바카라The ordinance may be misused like the PSA. Some 8,000 to 30,000 people are estimated to have been detained under the Act in the past two decades,바카라 he says. 바카라The new law will not only deprive the person of fundamental rights like that to speak and dissent; it can even take away his/her property. The police and security agencies can misuse its clauses.바카라
The CPI(M) feels the law ministry has read the 바카라whole issue differently바카라. According to party state secretary Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, the government, instead of trying to understand the issue holistically, has come up with a draconian legislation that will make life miserable for thousands of people. 바카라The law will not reduce the economic cost of the conflict, but will inflict more pain on the people,바카라 he tells Outlook. 바카라The economic argument is a big lie. Kashmir is no economic issue. The government must first understand why parties give strike calls. Why didn바카라t the government wait for the Assembly session to pass the ordinance?바카라
Another separatist leader Mohammad Yasin Malik, who chairs the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, notes the ordinance has been enacted at a time when the government also announced a Kashmir interlocutor (who the separatists refused to meet when he visited the Valley). 바카라These are tactics to harass the separatists. We will be the first victim of it,바카라 he adds.
Political commentator Gowhar Geelani feels the ordinance defeats the very purpose of interlocution. 바카라The new law is draconian. For, it criminalises legitimate ways of dissent,바카라 he says. 바카라The government argues that the amendment to the existing law has been made to implement certain Supreme Court directions in a 2009 case. When was it not implemented for long, what was the urge to have this ordinance now?바카라
By Naseer Ganai in Srinagar