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21 June 26 to July 2 : Weekly News Magazine messenger

WAR & CONFLICT

Palhalan households in these areas
have been killed in the past
two decades. Out of them,
180 were directly or indirectly
the ‘Kandahar of Kashmir’ related to militancy.
With militancy on the wane,
the HM has become invisible,
but the Jamaat still has a
strong grip here. “Almost
every family is associated
with the Jamaat,” says a boy.
The Jamaat has many local
leaders who, over the years,
have opened madrassas and
strengthened their hold over
Palhalan.
Every strike call given by
rebel Hurriyat leader Syed Ali
Shah Geelani is followed
religiously. When Srinagar
and other places limped back
to normalcy, stone pelting
PALHALAN IS called the ‘Kandahar of Kashmir’. It epitomises the riddles of continued in Palhalan.
Kashmir: the pro-freedom sentiment, the history of militancy, influence of the After Ramzan’s death, Ansarullah Tantray and Ali Mohammad Waza were killed on
Jamaat-e-Islami, State repression and also how new generations inherit these 18 September inside the compound of a local mosque. Then Feroze Ahmad Malik
animosities. If Kashmir’s young pick up the gun again, it is possible that Palhalan died while being shifted to a hospital. Mohammad Ramzan Mir and Noor-ud-Din
will yield a big chunk of recruits. And it is the siege that might draw them towards the Tantray succumbed to injuries. Muhammad Ramzan Mir and Muhammad Ashraf
gun. Mir were also killed in the summer firing.
When Kashmir was burning in the summer, Palhalan, a village in Baramulla district, Cut off from the rest of the Valley, Palhalan was subjected to two-and-a-half months
30 km north of Srinagar, embodied that anger. As life returns to a fatigued normalcy of curfews, including 39 days at a stretch. Its phone lines were snapped, mobile
in most parts of the Valley, Palhalan still reels under military control, earning it the phone services disabled and outsiders barred. As the death count rose, there were
epithet of Kashmir’s ‘curfew village’. reports of molestations, looting, mosques being ransacked and boys being picked
Since July, eight people have succumbed to armed forces’ firing in Palhalan. More up from paddy fields during work. More than 14 people have become disabled this
than 60 have been wounded and hundreds have been arrested. summer, and eight have been booked under PSA.
Between empty orchards, damaged houses, shops with half-rolled shutters and Palhalan has a population of more than 30,000. The police say that it is because of
numerous mosques, the road twists and turns to reach the houses of the dead. the large population that villagers refuse to sit quietly. Another reason they suggest
There is a poster on one of the walls with the picture of Adil Ramzan, is Palhlan’s self-reliance. With 5,856 kanals of apple orchards, 2,096 kanals of
commemorating his death and promising faithfulness to the 12-year-old’s blood. paddy fields and 15,000 kanals of cultivable land, Palhalan produces enough food
Ramzan, a Class VII student, became Palhalan’s first casualty this summer when for the village to survive hard times.
he and his friends went to Pattan to join a pro-azadi protest and was shot in his back Apart from the curfew, Palhalan has been facing a silent siege over the past couple
on 30 July. He had been playing cricket earlier and his bat lay on the street near his of years. For a village of its size and education, Palhalan has less than 500
bleeding body. He died in Pattan a few hours later and no one in his family could government employees, say police sources. Most of them are in their 40s or
reach the hospital as soldiers had blocked the roads. His body was brought home nearing retirement. “My father was a government employee but after his retirement
through wet paddy fields. there is nobody working for the government in our family,” says Nayeem Tantray, a
A few metres away, Ramzan’s mother Syeda lives with her husband and three kids BA graduate. “We all do our little business and don’t harbour hopes of getting jobs,”
in a one-storey house. As his siblings got promoted to the next grade, Ramzan’s says Tantray, whose brother Ansarullah was one of this summer’s firing victims.
schoolbag lies in a shelf along with his uniform. “Sometimes, I sneak into the room “Forget jobs, getting verifications for SIM cards is impossible. Hardly anyone in the
and kiss his shirt, tie, notebooks and sob silently,” says Syeda. “When I serve village has a passport,” adds Tantray.
dinner, I put down the fourth plate only to take it back. The dining table looks so SECURITY SOURCES admit that one of the former Senior Superintendents of
empty without him.” Police had given informal orders to slow down verifications. “They are extremely
Ramzan is not the first casualty in his family. His grandfather Ghulam Mohideen violent people who damaged every vehicle that passed through the village during
Sheikh, a Jamaat member, was shot dead in 1999 by “unidentified gunmen” while the summer protests,” a police officer says. “They even attacked the ‘Caravan-e-
he was going to offer prayers. Then, Sheikh’s two brothers, who were Hizbul Aman’ bus that was going to Muzaffarabad. We had to transport the passengers to
Mujahideen (HM) militants, were killed in encounters. In 2005, two of Ramzan’s safety in our vehicles. The villagers fight all the time. They fight among themselves
uncles — Ali Mohammad, a pharmacy owner, and Samiullah, a Class XII student — when the protests are not happening.”
were arrested and charged for ferrying RDX. They are imprisoned in Tihar jail. Most of the boys on the streets are college students and graduates who no longer
Ramzan’s aunt had tied the knot nine days before his death, and her husband, want jobs but crave azadi. Two of them were holed up in the Joint Interrogation
Nasir Ganai, a Hurriyat activist, was arrested and booked under Public Safety Act Centre for two months before they were released last month. One of them had gone
(PSA). He is now lodged in Udhampur. for police enrolment a few months ago but could not get in. “Even before the
Ramzan’s family is not the only one with a bloody history in Palhalan. In the past 20 physical test started, they asked boys from Palhalan to raise their hands. We were
years, hundreds have been killed by the army, STF, militants and Ikhwan, though asked to go back home,” he says.
most of the deaths and disabilities have come from the guns of armed forces. On 4 May, the police arrested six boys from Palhalan when they were trying to cross
Palhalan is a village where the Jamaat has had strong roots since 1975 when its the Line of Control in Kupwara. The police said that the boys were part of a cricket
leader Zahoor ul Haq started madrassas. Palhalan soon became a stronghold of team that had raised money by winning matches and tried to cross the border.
the Hizb, the militant arm of the Jamaat. Here, the boys are angrier than ever and the old people share their passion. As
According to records, Congress worker Ghulam Ahmad Sheikh, 54, was the first Kashmiri boys start rejoining the militant ranks, Palhalan won’t be far behind. “We
person to die by a bullet when he was killed by militants in 1991. Tantray Mohalla, will pick up the gun again if this is the way the authorities react to stone-pelting. We
Sofi Mohalla and Rai Pora have seen bulk of the deaths: 325 people from 150 will kill and die too,” says an old shopkeeper as boys nod in assent.