CC_India

“People have long been victims of the hostility
between the two countries as a result of frequent
shelling along the Line of Control (LOC) and the
international border, which has inflicted miseries
on the poor, down trodden inhabitants. (In addition)
lack of employment opportunities other than
in the government sector and improper functioning
of some of the sectors of the state governments
have also contributed to an increase in the problems
of the border areas. Consequently, literacy
rates still remains quite low, there is little improvement
in infrastructure — schools, hospitals, paved
roads, electric powers and piped drinking water are
almost non-existent, especially in remote border
villages. Here, it may be safely guessed that most
of the developmental activities have taken place in
urban areas, where the index of Social Development
(which includes indicators like literacy, health care,
access to other social services, etc) may rank moderately
high.” 17
These ‘unequal citizens’ of the borderlands of the LoC
have been made to feel “security is your own responsibility”.
Bright and ‘aspirational’ university students,
women and men, from the border areas said, “there is
nothing like ‘security’ in the region — it is only ‘insecurity’
for the common people.”
“Militants are not our relatives that we have to defend
them. They are doing what we expect of them.
However, the army is supposed to provide security
to us and at the border. But they are doing just the
opposite. Coming into our villages, into our homes
— abusing and violating us. Innocent unarmed
civilians are picked up on mere suspicion.”
— University Students, Jammu, 2012
Their words mocked at the pride and arrogance with
which a senior army officer posted in the region
asserted, the army had a responsibility to uphold the
power and the strength of the state and that meant balancing
“when to use terror and when understanding”.
Emphasising national security at the cost of human
security, he scoffed at bringing human rights into a
counterinsurgency theatre. On the suffering of civilians,
he said, “Militants should have thought of their wives,
mothers and sisters before taking up the gun”. But recollecting
his own family’s vulnerable position in Maoist
affected Bihar, he added, “What can I say to a woman
whose husband has been killed. I can philosophise, but
the minute she asks — where is my husband —there is
nothing I can say. I can only ensure her children get
opportunities for schooling.”
NORMALISATION OF MILITARISATION
The strategic significance of the border districts was
brought home in the India-Pakistan wars. The additional
challenge of cross border infiltration and militancy since
the 1990s doubled the permanent deployment of the
Indian security forces. Rajouri and Poonch served largely
as all weather access routes for infiltrators on their way
to the valley. Targeted militancy related incidents date
from 1996 when pro-independence elements and local
militant leadership had been displaced by the Hizb-ul-
Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Ansar and Lashkar-e-Toiba. 18
The armed forces are ubiquitous in the border belt
and control huge swathes of public and agricultural
land. 19 Endless stretches of permanent camps of the
armed forces dominate the 157 km road from Jammu
to the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch. “Ajeet
hain, abheet hain!” (“we are victorious, we are invincible”)
— the slogan dominated the walls of the endless
stretches of camps of the armed forces along the 157
km road from Jammu to the border districts of Rajouri
and Poonch. Whereas in Kashmir the Chief Minister can
rebuke the inappropriateness of a slogan that suggests
the conquest of the country’s own citizens 20 in the border
districts it is not even noticed. Army authority here
is unchallengeable, displacing civilian authority even in
development activities.
Overall force deployment for J&K as stated in the state
assembly in 2007 was 6,34,000. The army’s dedicated
units for J&K, the Rashtriya Rifles, has a deployment of
65,000. According to former Union Law Minister Ashwani
Kumar, 86,260 central paramilitary forces (CRPF & BSF)
were deployed in 2011. Independent assessments put
one armed soldier for every 20 persons in J&K. 21 AFSPA
is in force with the state of J&K declared a ‘disturbed
area’. Rajouri and Poonch hold up a mirror to the valley’s
future face as active militancy abates. Some bunkers are
being dismantled and thickets of troops withdrawn to
less obtrusive permanent camps, but militarisation has
become normalisation as a way of life. For instance, in
Buddhal, once a militancy affected hub with heavy troop
deployment, the Assam Rifles battalion is in the process
of being withdrawn from there. However, entire hillsides
on both sides of the road from Rajouri to Buddhal have
become permanent camps of the Rashtriya Rifles. One
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