As Indian forces have tried to quell a Pakistan-supported insurgency in the Kashmir region, stories have circulated for decades about Indian officers’ rough treatment of young men accused of backing the militants.
However, it is difficult to point to any single image more disturbing over that time than a video clip that started spreading on social media on Thursday.
It showed a young man tied to the front bumper of an Indian military jeep as it patrolled villages, apparently serving as a human shield against stone-throwing crowds.
Photo: EPA
The man looks dazed and miserable, his knees splayed and his pants legs pulled up. Tied to his chest is a piece of paper, on which his name is scrawled.
“Look at the fate of the stone-pelter,” an Indian soldier announced over a loudspeaker, a video of the episode shows.
By the weekend, the bound man, a shawl weaver named Farooq Ahmad Dar, was described by some analysts as a defining image in the 27-year insurgency.
Regional authorities on Sunday took the unusual step of filing a criminal complaint against the army for tying Dar to the jeep, said Ghulam Hassan Bhat, deputy inspector general of police for central Kashmir.
Dar, who on Friday spoke to Indian reporters, said in an interview that he was detained by an Indian army unit on April 9, on his way to a relative’s funeral, and then beaten with sticks and guns.
He said he was then tied to the jeep’s bumper and driven around at least nine villages, where local people were astonished at the sight of him.
“When they saw me, they were afraid and angry,” he said. “I saw people breaking into tears on seeing my state.”
Dar said he had never supported the separatists and had steadfastly voted in elections even when separatists called for a boycott.
He said the experience had left him traumatized.
“My family wants me to see a doctor, but I am afraid of stepping out of our house,” he said. “When it’s evening, I see them in my thoughts, coming again to take me away. Again, they strap me to the jeep and make the rounds of the villages.”
Dar, who comes from an area of Kashmir that historically has not been especially supportive of the militancy, said he would no longer express his support for India’s government by voting in elections.
“I voted and this is what I got in return,” he said. “Do you think it will help India in Kashmir? No. It will give Kashmiris another reason to hate India.”
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday met with Indian army chief General Bipin Rawat, saying that the video would deepen hostility toward Indian forces among Kashmiris.
Rawat assured Mufti that military officials would take action against those who tied Dar to the jeep, the Press Trust of India said.
“No one is condoning the incident,” Indian army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said.
The video emerged amid signs of deepening alienation among Kashmiris, and before the hot months of summer, which typically bring escalating clashes between Indian forces and young Kashmiris.
Separatist leaders called for a boycott of a vote on April 9 for a parliamentary seat representing Srinagar, and only 7 percent of qualified voters went to the polls.
Eight people were killed in violence that day in Budgam District, where Dar lives, and violent unrest was reported throughout the region.
When a second round of polling was scheduled for Friday, to make up for voting canceled because of violence, only 2 percent of eligible voters showed up.
Local youths have lashed out at Indian forces, who are vastly outnumbered in rural Kashmir.
In a video recorded on Sunday in Dar’s home region, young men are seen heckling and kicking security forces, and badgering them to chant a separatist slogan.
The Internet, which authorities blocked in Kashmir in the aftermath of the polling, citing security reasons, was restored late on Thursday, and the video of Dar’s ordeal began to circulate widely, prompting passionate commentary.
“Image of a ‘stone pelter’ tied in front of a jeep as a ‘human shield,’ will 4 ever haunt the Indian Army & the nation,” H.S. Panag, a retired Indian lieutenant general, wrote on Twitter.
However, others praised the troops for showing toughness.
Many residents in surrounding villages said they had watched as the army convoy patrolled with Dar strapped to the front of the lead car.
Shopkeeper Abdul Qayoom Shah, 37, said Dar had been riding on a motorbike and approached an army unit that appeared poised to repel an attack.
He said Dar was “beaten ruthlessly and tied to the jeep.”
Ghulam Qadir Dar, a relative of Dar’s, said Dar was attending a funeral when he was detained by the army.
Only through social media did they learn that Farooq Ahmad Dar had been tied to the jeep.
“We were shocked when we came to know he was beaten, but never knew he was humiliated in such a way,” Ghulam Qadir Dar said.
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