Who is the hero of resilience in Kashmir? A message to the apologists backing terrorist Burhan Wani

In the summer of 2017, exactly a year after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani, I found myself in a small village out-house on the Kupwara highway in Kashmir along with my crew. It was drizzling that afternoon as our car parked at a vantage point overlooking green mountains and an empty wide road. The weather would have been perfect for a long hillside drive had we been on a vacation. In our minds, however, we thought of the unknown: the visit to the valley that brought us to a family which suffered like us all in Kashmir in last three decades of violence and terror. Yet, the tragedy was unknown and had no patient listeners. Neither was there any empathy visible. It was not to be spoken about in public. And they had been socially boycotted for going against the tide. Over years, blood and mayhem had overshadowed pain and suffering. Fears grew, as tears rolled down every now and then for this family in loneliness. 

For the last few hours we had been driving from Srinagar towards Kupwara to meet Ishfaq (name changed): a short man in his late forties who is as down to earth and humble as it gets. In his grey Pathani dress, he walks calmly, watching every step he takes. There were no crafted emotions on his face, only despair. A failed son, a distraught husband and an anxious father, hearing him speak, one would have expected him to burst out in screams and tears if offered a shoulder. Yet there were no shoulders available all these years. He was a lonely man in the hills with his wife and three young daughters who had seen it all day after day.

None of us would have ever imagined that this soft-spoken frail man would have ever been capable of picking a Kalashnikov and firing on the orders of his commanders across the border. Almost three decades ago, Ishfaq was part of one of the first batches of terrorists in 1990-91 which went across the border for arms training sponsored by Pakistan ISI. 

After a few years as a Hizbul terrorist in Kashmir, Ishfaq had surrendered and spent considerable time in prison after which he reformed and returned to normal life. Yet the pain and suffering continued. He was given the role of a helper in the irrigation department by the government but was arrested years later on false charges and locked up. Yet again he spent a few years in prison, this time for no crime of his own, until the Supreme Court of India rubbished all charges and tossed the case into the bin. Sadly, the government pay of few years which was withheld was never paid to Ishfaq. Neither was he compensated for the humiliation of having being thrown out of the job, even though the Supreme Court did ask the government to reinstate him.

Our chance meeting with Ishfaq happened through a local activist who requested us to help his needy family. Thanks to a young bureaucrat we approached in the J&K government, the pending money of Ishfaq was released immediately. This brought tears of joy and Ishfaq invited us to a tea party at his humble abode.

A trembling Ishfaq shook our hands as he welcomed us into his kitchen garden next to a wooden outhouse. As he opened the latch of the small and noisy wooden door which was attached to an asbestos sheet that formed a wall around the house and the garden, we saw a very beautifully maintained, yet very small garden attached to a broken wooden cottage. 

The garden of their humble house had an interesting character to it. A small wooden plank along the fence read ‘Do Not Pluck Flowers’, written by the youngest of Ishfaq's daughters. The moving irony in that message from a former terrorist’s daughter was striking. We had goosebumps. We fell silent for few moments upon noticing the graffiti. There were no flowers left in the garden. 

It was all sinking in slowly. As a variety of famous Kashmiri breads arrived one after the other along with noon chai (salty tea) in their best ceramic and glass crockery, we were welcomed with such immense hospitality by the family, especially the three daughters, that it made us teary-eyed. Ishfaq introduced us to all the girls with pride and a twinkle in his eyes before beginning to narrate his painful untold story of a reformed terrorist longing to live life again as a proud Indian

‘I joined the Hizbul Mujahideen in 1990 and was arrested first in 1994’, Ishfaq finally began sharing his story without any interruptions. He was nervous and his hands continued to tremble. Yet his voice was steady. 

‘My uncle was in the government service. He was the Headmaster at a local school in the village. At that time, in 1990, three mujahideen (terrorists) from Pakistan had come to our village. They fought with my uncle saying that the water scheme (pipeline) that will come to the village should not first come to the local Masjid (mosque) but to them at their temporary shelter’, he continued narrating the beginning of his journey into death and destruction. 

‘Terrorists did not listen to my uncle and he was abducted and killed. We became violent towards those terrorists since our uncle was abducted. We snatched their weapons. Yet the terrorists returned later, raided our house and took us all away. We were kept inside a forest for four days and later taken to PoK for training’, says Ishfaq turning his hands to convey hopelessness. 

Ishfaq, along with others, was trained to use pistols and AK-47s at an undisclosed location in PoK for a few weeks by a Pakistan Army or ISI man called Mohammad Sabir. There was extensive physical training as well. They were trained to target forces and ‘Mukhbirs’ (spies). ‘He used to tell us that this is for Jihad. We were young and had no understanding of it, so we followed his directions blindly. I was hardly 15 or 16 years old’, he said. 

‘We had no idea what Aazadi means. We were unaware. We were instigated. From Pakistan there was a man called Rehman Bhai. He used to ask us to target the Indian Army. We were shown audio-visuals from training camps elsewhere in Pakistan of how hundreds of people were ready to intrude into Kashmir. The audios were of training and of how we want Kashmir to be a Muslim country. We were brainwashed to create Nizam-e-Mustafa in Kashmir. Honestly speaking, we had no idea what Nizam-e-Mustafa meant’, continues Ishfaq lamenting the fact that all of the brainwashing happened during the innocence of childhood.

‘Hizbul used to promise us money for our families. Yet they never gave us any money. They were complete frauds. Whatever money came, they used to take it all themselves. They destroyed our lives’, he said. 

Even as Ishfaq continued to tremble helplessly, his answers remained pointed and without any breaks as if he wanted to pour his heart out. I asked him about other terror organisations and Kashmiri youth who may have joined terror ranks along with him. Initially, he was apprehensive but slowly he opened up yet again.

‘Apart from Hizbul Mujahideen, other active terror groups were JKLF and Al-Baraq. From JKLF, Yasin Malik was there who I knew. Even Bitta Karate (Farooq Ahmed Dar) and Javed Mir. These guys today have made their big offices. Their kids study abroad. And they ask youth in Kashmir to throw stones. They instigate school-going children.’ Ishfaq said with immense anger. 

‘Yasin Malik, Bitta Karate and Javed Mir at that time were commanders of JKLF. They were fighting for so-called aazadi and their main target was Kashmiri Pandits’. As Ishfaq narrated the story with brutal honesty, it shocked me. Even though it was something that I knew all along, it was the first time an insider had spilled the beans exposing the facade of ‘aazadi’. 

The conversation didn’t end here. Ishfaq’s anger was also with the Hurriyat which he thought had betrayed and cheated Kashmiris. For lack of space and time to put this in question-and-answer format, I am sharing the entire verbatim text of what Ishfaq had to say about the Hurriyat: 

“Children of Hurriyat are studying in Delhi and abroad but our kids have been kept to throw stones. Some are in Saudi Arabia, some in Pakistan, and in other countries. I have three daughters and I continue to suffer. Our children don't get jobs.”

“From here Yasin Malik goes to Pakistan and talks to Hafiz Saeed. Govt grants him permission, but why stop us from travelling? India has one law and it should be equal for all. I wonder why Yasin Malik and others have not been arrested. Maybe they are agents of the government. They should be slapped with Indian laws.”

“100% these guys get money. People don't understand aazadi. If they understood, they would never do it. It is all because of the pressure of the gun. We don't want aazadi. We just want employment and we are happy with it. My children tell me if I had not gone on this wrong path, we all would not have suffered.”

“Hurriyat is singlehandedly responsible for all of this. They are like our thekedaar. They should be punished as per Indian laws. My 12-year-old daughter asks me after every Hurriyat call for a strike in Kashmir, 'what more do we have to do for them?' I have tears. She says, 'they don't let us study'. Schools remain shut. Families are angry but there is fear of Hurriyat and terrorists. Where should we go? What should I tell her?”

“If Geelani wants to go to Pakistan, we won't stop him. Let him go if he wants to. We are happy here. Let us stay here. His own children study outside. It is all because of money he gets from Pakistan and other places.”

“Our Aazadi is if we get rehabilitation. Our children get verification. If we are forgiven by the government. We have trust in the central government led by Modi. He is a solid person. If I ever meet him, we will tell him our reality. I am a true Indian. We will ask him to take us away from this dirt. We have been betrayed by all politicians”

“Common people in Kashmir are not with Hurriyat. If they give a strike call, there is nothing visible on the ground. Maybe a little in Srinagar, not across the Valley. We are asked to shut shops on gun-point. People fear for their lives because of the fear of the gun”.

The story of Ishfaq in many ways is the story of the silent majority in Kashmir which is unable to speak out against the guns from across the border. It’s a story of resilience, suffering, pain, longing and hopelessness. It’s a story of courage as well and determination.

Thousands like Ishfaq are longing in Kashmir to carve their own life without any more violence, bloodshed and terror. They want to prosper as any other human being, want better opportunities, equal education and amenities and beyond all a hope to survive to see another dawn. 

Burhan Wani is not their hero. Gun is not their solution. They are God-fearing Muslims caged by their tormentors who use radicalisation and propaganda to unleash a bloodbath and fear-psychosis to reign with their might. They feel cheated by their politicians over years.

My dear fellow Kashmiris: how many innocents will we lose to terror and for the satisfaction and bloodlust of someone sitting inside GHQ and ISI Headquarters in Pakistan? How many innocent and educated youth will be brainwashed and sacrificed in their mindless violence? 

Don’t you have the right to demand answers from the cowards within Hurriyat and their masters who have led you to this devastation? What stops you from enjoying cinema in Srinagar or a performance of a dance show in the Mughal Gardens? Have you ever pondered? 

Every death of a civilian or forces in Kashmir is painful. It is devastating. It boils our blood and makes us uncontrollably angry. But, is the solution in picking the gun against our own brothers and sisters? Is the solution in beheading youth in Hajin who have seen the reality of their tormentors from Lashkar in Pakistan? Do we get any solace in cravenly kidnapping Aurangzeb and Javaid Dar and torturing them in the most brutal manner until their death?

For a minute, leave aside anger, and think about the vicious cycle of death trap we are encircled in today. Do you think Pakistan bothers about your ‘Aazadi’? Elements in Pakistan want to, in fact, convert Kashmir into another Syria. 

Let’s not make the wishes of these cowards in Pakistan a reality. Let’s fight for our right to education, fundamental rights, love, brotherhood, hope and a violence-free Kashmir. Let’s make it a heaven again. 

For that to happen Kashmiris have to stop sending their youth wilfully into the path of terror. Kashmiris need to choose education over the gun. Kashmiris need to stop this mass suicide. 

Today, the entire Kashmiri society needs to understand the message on that wooden plank that a daughter of a former Hizbul terrorist wrote in longing to see her father safe every evening: ‘Do Not Pluck Flowers’. Or else our garden, our home, Kashmir, will be left with no flowers at all. Ishfaq’s youngest daughter is the hero of resilience in Kashmir. Not Burhan Wani. Let her inspire us all. Let flowers blossom in the valley of hope, and a few not uproot their very foundation. 

Note: Since there could be a threat to his life, I have changed names of people and locations. I also have entire video footage of the conversation which again I am not sharing on account of the same concerns.