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Srinagar: For the last
two weeks, street protests against an anti-Islam video have
erupted at many places in Kashmir. Though by far and large
peaceful, the clashes between the protesters and the police at
some places have come as a grim reminder of the summer of unrest
that besieged the Valley in 2010.
Kashmir has a history of sporadic protests snowballing into major
law and order problems.
The fragile peace in the Valley has often been shattered in the
past not only by locally sensitive issues but also because of
developments outside.
In the predominantly Muslim majority Valley, discovery of some
blasphemous pictures in a general knowledge book triggered massive
protests in 1974, culminating in bloody clashes between protesters
and the police in which four people died.
When former Pakistani prime minister Zulfiqar Bhutto was hanged in
April 1979, five people died in Valley-wide clashes and property
worth millions of rupees was rampaged by unruly mobs across the
Valley.
The 1979 public anger had remained focused on the cadres of the
local Jamaat-e-Islami party, whose counterparts in Pakistan were
perceived to have supported then Pakistani president Zia-ul-Haq's
personal vendetta against the Bhuttos.
In 1983, protests against an increase in electricity tariff turned
bloody, resulting in the deaths of two people and forcing
authorities to impose a long spell of curfew in summer capital
Srinagar.
Protests against Operation Bluestar in Punjab turned violent in
Srinagar in June 1984, resulting in the deaths of five protesters.
Ironically, when Zia-ul-Haq, the man widely believed in Kashmir to
have masterminded Bhutto's hanging, was killed in an air crash in
1987 violent protests again rocked Kashmir in which four people
died in police firing.
In the summer unrest of 2010, unruly mobs torched public property,
including government offices and railway stations.
The over four-month-long unrest resulted in the deaths of 110
people and brought life to a grinding halt. Businesses, education
and the public distribution system virtually halted during the
unrest.
The death of a student, Wamiq Farooq, 14, after he was returning
home from school in old Srinagar city triggered the 2010 unrest.
The administration blamed the death on a stray tear smoke shell.
Against this, the intensity of the protests against the anti-Islam
video has been far subdued than what was witnessed in the past.
Even though the generally peaceful protests are believed to be an
indication of the maturity and farsightedness of the people, the
authorities are keeping their fingers crossed.
"Hopefully better sense has prevailed on the people. While
everyone of us condemns the blasphemous act, one has to understand
that the state has stood in one voice with the people condemning
the act," said a senior intelligence officer here.
The Jammu and Kashmir cabinet, in its meeting Wednesday condemned
the anti-Islam video. The cabinet also said steps would be
explored to take legal action against those attempting to hurt the
religious feelings of millions of Muslims across the World.
The continuing peace for the last two years has seen businessmen,
transporters and small traders flourish and any reversal would
dampen their spirits as they look forward to another booming
tourist season next year.
(Sheikh Abdul can be contacted at sheikh.abdul@ians.in)
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