Reporting from an Occupation

In July Tariq Mir wrote a dispatch for the NYR Online about the Indian government’s attacks on Kashmir’s sovereignty alongside its construction of dozens of major infrastructure projects in the disputed region. Mir drew a connection between the two developments: 

In 2021 New Delhi formulated a policy to “transform” Jammu and Kashmir into an “industrialized territory.” It has received more than $10 billion of “investment proposals.” The enormity of the planned so-called development is staggering: a vast network of luxury hotels, IT campuses, medical centers, movie theaters, cement factories, malls, a film city, and much else…. Who is all this infrastructure meant for? Surely not the local population, which hovers around thirteen million people. Kashmiris widely believe that the Indian government is creating jobs for Indian workers who will disrupt the region’s Muslim demography.

In 2019 the Indian government unilaterally revoked Article 370 of the constitution, revoking the region’s semiautonomous status and clearing the way for Indian citizens to vote, own land, or hold state jobs in Kashmir. “It marks the onset of a settler-colonial project,” Mir writes. “After decades of suffering under army occupation and violent counterinsurgency, the region is now exposed to Indian settlers and industrialists. Kashmiris justifiably fear being turned into a minority in their own homeland and eventually driven out.” 

A veteran Kashmiri journalist based in the regional capital Srinagar, Mir has worked across Indian print and television outlets, as well as for international publications, including The Washington Post, the Financial Times, and the Boston Review. In November 2021 he wrote an essay for the NYR Online that described the violence—and futility—of the Indian government’s attempts to stamp out militant resistance in Kashmir.

I e-mailed Mir this week to ask him about his personal experience of government crackdowns, the challenges that Kashmiri journalists face, and what stories in the region are being overlooked. 

Ratik Asokan: For Kashmiris, what is the difference between the Indian National Congress and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)? 

Tariq Mir: Not much. The Congress—the so-called liberal party—employs a softer version of Hindu nationalism in its messaging and policy proposals than the BJP does, but it is still, ultimately, in favor of the occupation of Kashmir, and the consequent assault on Kashmiris’ rights. The parties are thus viewed by most Kashmiris as two sides of the same coin.

As I narrate in my article, for six decades, between 1950 and when the BJP first came to power in 2014, the Congress made a mockery of “democracy” in Kashmir, imprisoning political leaders, rigging elections, killing nonviolent protesters, and, when the uprising broke out in the 1990s, launching a brutal insurgency that violated international law. Much of the killing in Kashmir happened before the BJP came to power. We might say that the Congress oversaw a bloody occupation whereas the BJP has begun a proper project of settler colonialism. The continuities between the two regimes are far greater than their differences. Indeed, one paved the way for the other.

How has the situation in Kashmir changed over the course of your career? What is it like working in Indian media houses, as compared to writing for the international press? 

I have avoided publishing work in Indian media for many years now. Working there, one always felt the piercing gaze of government censors and oversensitive Indian editors admonishing you for putting “secessionist language” into stories. On a few occasions, I paid for my outspokenness too. Once I was hauled to a police station and interrogated for two hours because a story I had reported on had offended some higher official; on another occasion a trooper injured my shoulder with the butt of his gun as a colleague and I walked home from the office. In the international press, I have found broad acceptance of my work, but back home the feeling of danger is heavy on my shoulders.

What was your personal experience during the monthslong military occupation and “communications blackout” that followed the revocation of Article 370 in 2019?

It was hard not to give in to feelings of pity and rage. Confined to home, I felt as if time had been paused and the routines of life had been smothered. My first impulse was to write an account of what was happening. But Internet and phone service had been cut off. There was no way I could reach my editors. I couldn’t publish anything for nine months.

The Indian government maintains that Kashmir is a “domestic matter” that international agencies like the UN should not get involved in. What do you make of this argument?

India has worked out a formula to address the matter. In foreign capitals, its diplomats call Kashmir a “bilateral issue” that must be resolved by India and Pakistan peacefully. To Pakistan it says Kashmir is an internal issue, and therefore not up for debate. And to Kashmiris, the government maintains that there is no issue at all, and that Kashmir is an “integral” part of India.

What are some of the most pressing topics in Kashmir today that journalists should be focused on?  

First and foremost, Kashmiri journalists must shake off the terrors that have immobilized us since 2019 and the ensuing crackdown-heavy years. The threat of intimidation has not gone away, but it is time for us to close ranks in order to address our own problems, like the need for a press club or similar gathering place, as well as an emergency fund for journalists brought to court on bogus charges. With that kind of organization and unity, we would be better equipped to determine what issues should be highlighted in our reporting: the adverse impact of militarization on the fragile ecology of Kashmir, climate change, poor public transportation, and drug trafficking. Kashmir has also seen a huge spike in the number of tourists coming from India, and there is much to be written about how this might adversely impact the local culture and way of life. In the last few years, with the press running scared or deprived of access to communications platforms, many issues haven’t gotten enough coverage.