‘Our Id will be on the day Kashmir becomes free’

“Our Id would be on the day Kashmir becomes free,” said Adnan, one of the dozens of young Kashmiris lying in beds at the ophthalmology ward of Srinagar’s Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS).

Adnan is threatened with partial or total loss of vision after pellets were lodged in his eyes during a recent clash between irate crowds and security forces. The Kashmir Valley is on the boil since July 8 in the aftermath of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander Burhan Wani.

There evidently will be no let up in the ongoing shutdowns and protests even during the coming Id-ul Zuha as an alliance of key separatist leaders has extended its “protest calendar” by another week starting on Saturday.

The fresh protest calendar issued by the alliance has also asked people to continue to hold “aazadi” rallies, marches, and sit-ins ahead, during, and after the Id festival. One of the planned marches during the festival would be on the summer headquarters of the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan in Srinagar’s posh Sonawar area. The authorities are preparing to meet the planned protests head on and one of the measures on the cards is imposing curfew-like restrictions.

J&K’s DGP K. Rajendra Kumar, who is likely to get a 3-month extension in service after the stipulated superannuation later this month, said: “All measures required to ensure peace during the festival will be taken... Festival is a time for the people to rejoice and have fun according to their religious and regional customs and rituals.” Mr Kumar made a fervent appeal to the people of the Valley not to lend ear to the separatists’ “divisive talk” and instead cooperate with the police and the other authorities towards restoring peace and normalcy.

But almost all patients and their attendants interviewed by this correspondent at the SMHS on Sunday said that the Kashmir mayhem has left very little for them and others to celebrate this Id. “What Id is it going to be No, we won’t be celebrating Id this time. They (security forces) did not spare even our kids, our women and the old,” said Shakir Ahmed, who is tending to his younger brother among the injured at the hospital.

Saleema, a middle-aged woman, whose son was operated upon by doctors for visual rehabilitation, while endorsing him, said, “There is no Id (happiness) for us. We are burying our young every day.”

She then made a political statement: “They barge into our homes even in the dead of night, ransack them, and beat up inmates. They don’t spare even small children walking down the streets,” she said and asked, “If not this, what is state-terrorism then ”

Sheeraz Ahmed, yet another pellet-gun victim, said: “Id is for those who are free. There is no Id for slaves. We have been enslaved by India.”

Muhammad Ismail, a volunteer with one of the local aid agencies which are providing free medicines and food to patients and their attendants, said: “We’ve decided not to go home to be with our families on this Id but stay back here. We would celebrate Id with these people only. It would be a subdued affair though.”

The separatists and various other Kashmiri political, social and religious organisations, and the clergy have asked people to celebrate Id with simplicity and help families of the slain and injured and other needy on the occasion.

None of the usual Eid-eve bustle is visible anywhere in the Valley. Marketplaces remain shut during the daytime and when opened for night hours at 6 pm in response to the separatists’ ‘protest calendar,’ people turn up at these but mainly to buy food items and other essential commodities. The only noticeable sign of Eid being just two days away is that the people who can afford it are buying sacrificial animals from isolated places.