Book Excerpt| Blood Censored: When Kashmiris Become the 바카라�Enemy'

On 9 April 2017, a 26-year-old shawl weaver, Dar, was one of the few who challenged the militant call for election boycott and left the safety of his home to vote in the by-electionfor the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary constituency. Later that morning, Dar was riding his bike to attend a condolence meeting when he was picked up by the army. He told The Wire that he was stopped by the forces a few kilometres before Gampora village, where some women were protesting against the elections. 바카라�They damaged my bike, thrashed me severely with gun butts and wooden sticks and in an almost unconscious state tied me to the front of the jeep and paraded me through 10 to 20 villages.'A video shows him tied to the bonnet of the moving army jeep followed by an anti-mine vehicle and a bus with soldiers. 바카라�There was no stone-pelting going on in the area when the army men picked me up and neither did any stonepelting take place on the [army] vehicles when I was being paraded,바카라� Dar told The Wire, adding 바카라�I have never ever in my life hurled stones on forces. But I am not able to understand why I was beaten ruthlessly and then tied to the vehicle. What was my crime? I thought all my bones have been broken as my entire body was in pain due to the ruthless beating. I was in shock, not able to understand what do to as the forces kept threatening me in case I spoke to anybody moving on the road. I was pleading with them to let me go, but they wouldn바카라�t listen.바카라� He was first taken to a CRPF camp and then to a local army unit.

In deploying an unarmed citizen, the Indian Army crossed a red line,resorting to a strategy that even the Israeli army avoids. The Indian Express reports that even the Supreme Court in Israel has banned the use of human shields. 바카라�In February 2007, AP TV released footage of a 24-year-old Palestinian, Sameh Amira, being used as a human shield by Israeli soldiers in Nablus, also in the West Bank. The Israeli Army, after an investigation, suspended the commander whose unit was involved in the act. Then, in 2010, the Israeli Defence Forces prosecuted and convicted two staff sergeants for using civilians as human shields, and handed them 18-month sentences--- which HRW criticised for being 바카라�excessively lenient바카라�바카라�.

As Siddharth Varadarajan observes, the use of a civilian as a hostage, or 바카라�human shield바카라�, was a violation of the right to life and liberty enshrined in the Indian constitution. It was also a violation of international law, since India is a party to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which prohibits the targeting of civilians in conflicts that are 바카라�not of an international character.바카라�

Despite widespread criticism, the Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat onspicuously awarded Major Leetul Gogoi, the officer who tied Dar to the bonnet, with a Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card for 바카라�sustained efforts in Counter-insurgency operations바카라�. Sources in the army told NDTV that these operations include the use of a local as a 바카라�human shield바카라�. The BJP spokesperson Rao averred, 바카라�Everyone talks about the human rights of terrorists, separatists and disruptive elements. It is high time everyone realize that the security forces, fighting in tough conditions braving all odds, are also humans and have human rights. They have been highly professional and restrained even in some highly provocative situations.' Paresh Rawal, BJP MP, tweeted that he wished to see writer and outspoken critic of the government바카라�s human Arundhati Roy, used as a human shield in Kashmir.He later complained that the Twitter management had bullied him into withdrawing his tweet. Shivam Vij observed, 바카라�So Rawal thinks it바카라�s patriotic to invite such violence against people. This is the new normal in an India where lynching is as common as outrage on Twitter.바카라� 바카라�The question nobody will ask바카라�, he goes on, 바카라�is why India needs the army, and the army needs to use human shields, against what it calls its own people? What can we do to change the situation? It must be a lot of people pelting stones, and doing so with great ferocity, that one of the world바카라�s largest armies needs to take the extreme and unlawful measure of using human shield

In an interview, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat defended and praised Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi바카라�s action as a warning to stone-pelters. As the Indian Express observed editorially, 바카라�By doing this, and by his implied support or the short-circuiting of the army바카라�s internal due process vis a vis Major Gogoi바카라�s actions바카라�the army commended the major even as a court of inquiry was finalising its probe into the incident바카라�General Rawat risks hurting reiteration that Major Gogoi바카라�s conduct was a violation of the constitutional promise of due process, and of the fundamental rights enshrined in the

Constitution for every citizen, and that it is the army바카라�s duty to uphold both.바카라�The editorial further comments that, 바카라�the army chief treads even further on dangerous ground바카라� with his statements. He declares, 바카라�This is a proxy war and proxy war is a dirty war바카라�You fight a dirty war with innovations.바카라�He even suggests that it would have been easier for the armed forces if the protestors were firing weapons instead of throwing stones: 바카라�Then I could do what I [want to do].바카라� In effect, General Rawat said that he wished the protestors used bullets instead of stones so he could kill them, because that is what he wished to do! 바카라�But can he afford to lose sight of a fundamental distinction바카라�between armed militants and civilian protestors?바카라�He even further completely steps out of line by expressing his opposition to engaging the protestors through dialogue. 바카라�Has political initiative not been taken in the past? What was the result, you had Kargil바카라�.바카라� As the Indian Express editorial puts it, 바카라�As General Rawat바카라�s responsibility is to guard the nation바카라�s physical frontiers from enemies; it is not to draw red lines for political actors in the system.바카라�

It is intensely troubling that not only are we seeing for the first time in independent India an army chief who while in service is openly expressing his political opinions about how he feels governments should treat Indian citizens, but that his politics are so far to the extreme right. It has to be said, however that his views reflect the current hard line. No talks if protests continue. Prime Minister Modi, with his inexhaustible fondness for alliteration, asks Kashmiris to choose between tourism and terrorism. The penalty for not choosing 바카라�tourism바카라�, he does not add, is the bullet and pellet.All these activities of stone-pelting have to stop. Then will the government consider talking,바카라� said K.S. Dhatwalia, a home ministry spokesman, according to a report by Reuters.

(Excerpted from Blood Censored: When Kashmiris Become the 바카라�Enemy' with permission from Yoda Press)