Guest Post by Gowhar Fazili
The floods in Kashmir can provide an outsider a momentary glimpse into the reality of Kashmir behind the corporate media propaganda smokescreen that is fumbling at the moment and like Truman Show (1998) exposing bits of the backstage. At the moment there are three key actors in Kashmir. There are the floods, the state and the people. Each one is on its own. One limb of the state—the state government was the first to crumble before the approaching waters. The other limb—the mammoth military apparatus that has already inundated Kashmir since several decades, took two days to wake up to the crisis and when it finally did, its priority was to fish out the rich Indian tourists and the people close to the establishment out of the state. In the initial days, local people had to risk their own lives to get their marooned relatives to safety. Some hired local boats, some swam or waded through water, some made makeshift rafts out of anything that floats, including water tanks, car tubes, foam sheets, inflated baby bathtubs, so on and so forth to save their dear ones. The rest either drowned or kept moving up the floors of their houses as the waters kept rising until they reached their attics.
Flashback to how it all began
It kept pouring off and on for at least ten days. During phone conversations with my mother in Srinagar, she kept complaining about the gloomy weather and the lack of sun. We would also casually talk about the possibilities of sehlaab (floods) ‘Sehlaab gots ne khasun!’ she would exclaim, not sounding even half alarmed or convincing even to herself. When I finally started getting agitated about its likelihood and asked her about the supplies of medicine and food at home, she sounded too reassured. “We have everything. A quintal of rice has just been purchased some days back and then of course there is the kitchen garden. We will survive months without any access to the outside world” she said jestingly. As the waters started rising and flooding low lying areas in South Kashmir, serious alarm bells started ringing in my head. I called her up to warn about our relatives and friends who reside in low lying areas of Srinagar and that she must offer them accommodation at our home till the weather improves. She did so, but perhaps not sounding worried enough, not a soul moved in.
Eventually, even while Shivpora, Raj Bagh, Jawahar Nagar, Gogji Bagh started getting inundated with waters people were not moving or being persuaded hard enough by their relatives and friends to move. Not imagining the floods to be so harsh, regardless of where they live, people felt their houses would be the safest places to stay in. The state did not issue a warning let alone persuade people from vulnerable areas to leave neighbourhoods using public address systems (like they are wont to while announcing curfews and crackdowns). In fact on the contrary, the state made people complacent by repeatedly suggesting over the media that the weathers were likely to improve. Waters rose quickly and most people had no time to escape.
If at all Srinagar and its surroundings were to have a chance, its low lying areas had to be evacuated on war footing within the margin of three to four hours while the South Kashmir was still submerging. There was no effort to do so. No announcements in the neighbourhoods. No emergencies declared over corporate Indian News channels or local Doordarshan channels. On the contrary the government kept bragging about its flood preparedness and the supplies it had stocked – the one lakh something sand bags that have been kept ready in case of emergency. One wonders if those bags are still lying around in some warehouse and if at all there is any sand in them.
The last time I spoke to my mother was while the waters were filling Raj Bagh and Jawahar Nagar. She said she will be fine given that our locality is on relatively elevated land. She said both my sisters will be fine “…though just in case, they have kept their cars pointed in the direction of our house with bags full of emergency supplies in them.” she giggled. “They will start moving homewards if and only if things get worrying.” Soon the lights went off. She said, “If the communications too get snapped for a few days, rest assured that we would all be safe.” As my last attempt, I called my father-in-law trying to persuade him to shift from his place which is at a lower altitude than our home. He was too convinced that he will be safe where he is and that we should not to worry too much. We said our last goodbyes.
Sooner than one could think, all phones went dead.
A friend whose new born baby, wife and her parents were stuck in Rajbagh moved his lazy arse in the nick of time but only after some hard persuasion by another friend based in Delhi. He pulled them out of their house moments before it submerged all the way to the rooftop. Lucky bugger! By the time he got back to his home in Rainawari, water had started filling his own house too. Last I heard from him on facebook, he had made himself and his family comfortable in a stranger’s house in a relatively safer neighbourhood.
As the batteries started running out, the last outposts of internet communication went down. Soon there was absolutely no information coming out of Kashmir. Next the locally run online news networks went off. The local radio and television (that have previously managed to remain functional even during wars) were down. There was no state authority that one could call in Delhi or Kashmir for authentic information. This condition prevails even today. The shutting down of the last means of communication coincided with the arrival of Modi in Kashmir. We assumed that the state had, as is usual in Kashmir, jammed communication for ‘security’ reasons. But then they have not been restored till date even in the unaffected areas of Srinagar. Some networks have started picking signal in certain pockets. Much of the city and most villages still remain completely out reach by phone or road. During his ritual aerial survey, Modi announced 200 boats and 1000 Crores. Someone online said, if he cared enough for the enormity of the crisis he saw unfolding, he would have announced 1000 boats and kept the money. At that moment, people needed rescue boats across the valley and not the money.
All the rescuing of my relatives and friends whom I managed to speak to were carried out through the efforts of extended family, by someone personally going into the troubled waters and pulling people out or by anonymous voluntary efforts of the local youth. One sees some Disaster Management people and Army efforts operating in certain pockets but it is not an organized effort and at a scale that aims to pull out all the people who are at the present precariously holding on to their lives. A good indicator of this failure is that even in places in the immediate vicinity of the army cantonment like Shivpora and Indra Nagar have not been fully evacuated till this moment. If this is the condition of the posh areas of the city, one can only guess the status of the poor neighbourhoods and those living in the submerged countryside.
The most authentic and reassuring information trickling out of Kashmir is through raw footage shot by volunteers while moving through various accessible neighbourhoods. Some of them were smart and sensitive enough to wade their way into BSNL headquarters and upload videos on critical days so as to provide some reassurance to those away from home in wake of the prevailing information blackout.
The national media vultures wasting time on helicopters while valorising the army that provides them free lifts, are getting even the names of rivers and key land marks in Kashmir wrong. The panellists in the newsrooms are busy rubbing salt into the wounds of Kashmiris by upping the nationalist rhetoric and magnifying the “generous” help that the state is providing to the ungrateful and seditious populations in Kashmir. No one tells them that under the Geneva Convention the state is duty bound to protect the lives of people that happen to be under its thumb. The added nuisance are the hoards of Indian nationalists and communalist urchins who have infiltrated social network campaigns meant for rescue effort. They are flooding the web with their venomous condescension, hate and contempt for Kashmiris. It is particularly tasteless to do this in a moment of humanitarian crisis. We are simultaneously dealing with the deluge of water and hate. It is not encouraging us to fall in love with India.
On the plus side, for the moment, the bunkers, the barricades, the concertina fortifications, the army and police check points and various symbols of military control and repression have been washed away with the floods, giving people some unanticipated reprieve. The guns and armoured vehicles have gone missing. At the moment people are free to go wherever they want. They have moved in everywhere and reclaimed their homeland. They move about freely, day and night, on foot, in boats and in vehicles that still have some fuel left. In a strange way, in this tragic moment people are experiencing a certain sense of freedom and liberation. Stranded and rescued people are being fed by Mohalla Committees and villagers who have moved in with their precious but meagre resources, setting up community kitchens on the roadsides. I saw at least one fruit supplier with his truck and a few volunteers wading through water in various inundated neighbourhoods and handing out fruits to marooned people. Looking at some of the videos reminded me of the exhilarating sense of solidarity, sacrifice and freedom we last experienced only in 1989-90 while the state had lost control. I am glad two decades of rigorous brutalization has not dampened that sense.
Aerial rescues have been few and far between and mostly focused on the wealthy tourists and VIPs who have been flown out from places that were already safe. The migrant workers from Bihar and UP are the worst hit. They are stranded all over the place with not shelter or food. I am told more than half of military helicopters supposedly deployed for rescue operations are not functional and in bad repair. The relief supplies that Kashmiri diaspora and well wishers from outside Kashmir are trying to send is facing lot of bottlenecks both in despatch as well as on arrival in Srinagar airport, the airport happens to be the only access to Kashmir at the moment. Most airliners are charging money for carrying relief supplies. The insensitivity that prevails is unlike how it usually is during disasters elsewhere.
The center cannot hold. The state has abandoned the people of Kashmir. Due to its fear of Kashmiris, it won’t allow professional international rescue and rehabilitation operations that are desperately needed at the moment. We are on our own.
I am yet to speak to my mother, my sisters, my nieces and nephew. There is no way to find out how they have fared. Like me, most Kashmiris outside Kashmir are on the edge and profoundly angry.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 
Corporate News Channels! i like that
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Absolutely state of despair. Hope the author’s family is alright.
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I deeply sympathize with your anxiety and stress about the safety of your loved ones.On a human level I can only pray with you and for you that your relatives are rescued and restored to you and to their homes as quickly as possible. Don’t agree with most of the political angle here (except about the detestable trolls) but I understand that anxiety makes people lash out. Hang on and keep hoping.
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I think it all really depends on which side you are on. The writer says, “Looking at some of the videos reminded me of the exhilarating sense of solidarity, sacrifice and freedom we last experienced only in 1989-90 while the state had lost control.”
For us Hindus, it was the very time we lost our lives, our homes, our temples, and our Kashmir forever..
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Our Kashmir..? Us Hindus..?
I don’t subscribe to this narrow opinion.
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Talk about entitlement. Talk about ingratitude. The author of this sickening diatribe should know that floods happen all the time and when they are of this intensity no government can come to the rescue of every individual instantly . Has he heard about floods In Assam, Bihar, Bengal that take place almost every year and that wash away homes and people? Has he heard about the Tsunamis? What is so special about this flood. The refrain ” O how shameful, how tragic, I could not speak with my mama, my cousins for three days. The Indian government has failed the Kashmiris again” is sickening. The author should get real. Locals helping each other in this moment of tragedy are not doing anyone a favor. All sane people who care do that. There is nothing special about Kashmiris doing that. The author would rather see them standing still and wait for somebody from the local government or some soldier to come and carry them away from danger. What is so special about Kashmiris that they need special coddling.The only thing special about this flood is that Kashmirs hopefully have come to realize that the mad rush to build homes on land meant for flood control may have to stop.
“The center cannot hold. The state has abandoned the people of Kashmir. Due to its fear of Kashmiris, it won’t allow professional international rescue and rehabilitation operations that are desperately needed at the moment. We are on our own.” What hogwash. How dishonest.
The author states “Looking at some of the videos reminded me of the exhilarating sense of solidarity, sacrifice and freedom we last experienced only in 1989-90 while the state had lost control.” How ironic indeed. That is the time, that was the solidarity, when religious zealots and fundamentalists drove away three hundred thousand Kashmiri Pandits from their homes.
Kashmiris will recover from this tragedy, all be it chastened, but they will continue to resist Kashmiri Pandits coming back and reclaiming their land.
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Really Gowhar, how dare you expect the government to do anything for you? Listen to SKC’s excellent advice- like all well-behaved Indian citizens s/he knows how terribly self-indulgent it is to expect our governments to do their job. You don’t hear the good people of Assam, Bihar and Bengal complain as they die by the thousands every year, do you? Of course, they don’t have to bend backwards and be grateful for being left to their own meager resources, but hey, Kashmir is special!
I really hope your family is safe, and that you will hear from them soon.
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I understand the fear, despair and anxiety of the author. Statistically speaking he should know that the “rich Indian tourists” are not faring that great either. I personally know of people who have been supposedly rescued but are in real bad shape with no food and water. Natural disasters can happen anywhere, and the Govt. is trying to deal with it. Pointing fingers and blaming India wont change the fact that if India withdraws claim Kashmir can get as worse as Jammu or worse. I am amazed that even at the time of such natural disaster with loved ones in danger, the author has so much hate and venom to make political propaganda. Lastly i would only like to say that i have many Kashmiri friends with beautiful spirit, please don’t attach “Kashmiri” label to your own individualistic distorted perceptions and lower their respect in front of the world.
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In the himalayas, the turn-around time and the process of evacuation could be little more than that of the plains; remember the cloud-burst in leh and earthquake in sikkim!!! however understandable that one would be annoyed and angry in the situation. empathize with you.
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is the author in the article accusing the centre of step motherly treatment because of its demand for autonomy/independence?? or is the author complaining about instiutional apathy and unpreparedness of the state and central government wrt disaster management?? Perhaps the former is being termed as the reason for latter (that seems to be the undercurrent of the article). Maybe it would be worthwhile to recall that the poor state of preparedness wrt uttarakhand disaster last year was a similar version of the current tragedy, wasn’t the meterolgy department then also rightly criticised for its dysfunctional/absent weather monitoring system?? the death list for the uttarakhand disaster easily runs into thousand..and the emphasis on rescuing the elites has always been there in most of the rescue missions…To summarise, the apathy and calousness of governance institutions is sadly not new..So when you do write about J&K disaster, do put it in perspective by comparing to the performance of other states wrt disaster management..Politics over disaster is not new, and rightly as the author points out- the bjp govt & the corporate media is using it as a tool to bloster their credentials…but the million dollar question is- is the other side any better??? lastly the article fails to reflect on jammu i guess… “Looking at some of the videos reminded me of the exhilarating sense of solidarity, sacrifice and freedom we last experienced only in 1989-90 while the state had lost control”-the writer maybe sadly fails to mention about the species called kashmiri pandits and their plight then..also if the figure about individuals rescued from J&K is even roughly true (more than 1 lakh as reported by media.) then i guess their are not as many elites in kashmir as the writer would want us to believe. The bjp true to their form is playing their share of politics i guess and the response from the other side also intends to use the opportunity for more purposes than one..
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My questions to the writer:
1> How many times in a year flood occurs in say Assam or Bihar? And how many times in Kashmir?
2> Does the government announce through public address system or evacuate people to safe places in these states? (It never happens)
2> Does the Indian media ever declare emergency for Assam floods?
3> Does the government jam networks for weeks? Have you seen this in Assam? At my home the network is always jammed even without flood. When there is flood you have hardly any electricity or operating stations. So forget about jamming.
4> In places like Assam whether it is posh/poor area, nobody is evacuated till the last time. Our government/ governments has not come to that level. Is Kashmir really that special that they want so special treatment and when they assume they do not get it they cry it foul??
5> Did the military deploy half the helicopters that are not working selectively? The source of this accusation is I am told.
6> Professional international rescuers??? Never heard of. I ask the writer if he has ever seen flood or worked for rescuing flood victims?? If not than keep quiet rather than just spreading hate. (For that matter I have seen and done it)
IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT IT IS OKAY. BUT DONOT JUST PROTEST ANYTHING JUST IN THE NAME OF PROTESTING. NOW DONOT COMMENT ASSUMING ME TO BE SUPPORTER OF ANY POLTICAL PARTY OR GOVERNMENT.
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Also 15 helicopters with a capacity of 20 each including journalists,rescuers and pilots leads to<300 people being evacuated at a time.Even if the pilots take 5 return trips ,which is stretching it as the average number is around 3, that's less than 1500 people by air per day. Not only did the operations start later, compared to the Uttarakhand floods less resources and air support were given,I think an article comparing the reaction of the government to the two events would be helpful.
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As it turns out, the magnitude of the rescue effort mounted by the Army and the Air Force is at least as large as during the Uttarakhand floods. Numerically, in the first eleven days of the rescue operation beginning, the number of sorties flown is about 2200 (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=91945) which is actually larger than the number flown during the whole operation during the Uttarakhand floods. The number of people rescued is stated as 180000, again, an order of magnitude larger than that in the Uttarakhand floods. So, articles claiming step-motherly treatment would probably have to be innocent of facts.
I sympathize with the author on his great personal tragedy. But at the same time, he should perhaps not belittle the work of some of his own bretheren who are involved in rescue work, and should perhaps also think if it is fair to label all those people rescued so far as “rich tourists”.
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Sorry for 2 comments but it isn’t just Kafila but CNN,BBC and most international news outlets have picked up on the differences in treatment including how the Cyclone in Orissa(preventive evacuation), landslides in the hills(response after the event) and the annual Mumbai Flooding were handled.
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@Srishti: It isn’t as if the J&K government is completely blameless but it isn’t completely to blame either. Yes, the rescue operations were initially wobblier than the other instances. But, you have to also note that in no other natural disaster did the seat of government get taken out by the calamity. Even in the Gujarat earthquake, it was Bhuj not Gandhinagar that was devastated. Central assistance can only be effective if there is a local authority on the ground to coordinate with and in J&K this was missing for about 6-7 days. Perhaps a lesson here for future plans: what to do when the government itself is devastated by a natural disaster.
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It is disheartening to know what is happening in whole of J & K state. And after hearing about personal accounts from friends and relatives about lacunaes in rescue operations, political and administration, one wonders at this hour of desperate need why cant we keep our prejudices and differences apart? Specially so, after reading this post I have been thinking why the author has completely failed to even vaguely mention about ‘non- Kashmiri’s’ belonging to the same state. Parts of Jammu division such as Rajouri, poonch, reasi and pancheri and few others have been equally effected. Even worse, landslide in pancheri hit 400 homes, where hundreds or people were buried alive !!! So far very less corporate media houses has covered this area. Arent these areas and other far flung villages part of the state? I dont hold any repugnance against one region or the other but it makes me think why the other regions are always/ have always been overshadowed by the dominant narrative of Kashmir?
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Dear sengupta
I don’t know whether u had seen any other area in India which had flood. I am from Bihar where every year there in some part of koshi there is a flood and despite that every year same old story that state was not prepared and not helping its people and its make so routine that even now media didn’t show anything. And one of the last major koahi flood when in midnight water flooded the hundred of village and there also no warning was given although nepal had warned state gov,and u can’t believe there was a area in patna where in tents whole family lived for two months in such a pathetic conditions and they begged on patana railway station for 2 months. There also the same story corruption in relief work and no helps from Government.
But Nobody feels for freedom or they are not Indian.
My dear its not that if this thing happen in j&k means Indian gov treating u a stepmotherly and in other parts of India they laid red carpet for its people. Only difference is we see its as a government failure and corruption and u see as conspiracy against J&k.
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Kashmir is a beautiful paradise fit only for visiting but not for living. The environment has been deliberately vandalized over the years under the very nose of the corrupt administrative officials who have allowed flood spill channels to be choked by constructions of hospitals, malls and institutions. On top of it the reports by the experts were relegated to a back seat and no action was taken despite warnings by the experts way back in 2010. GOI has to shoulder part of the blame for not acting swiftly enough on the report and the state administration can only be blamed for not pushing the matter forcefully enough. One wonders as to why does every time a disaster have to occur to transiently wake us up and immediately afterwards send us back to slumber. We never learn our lessons and we never will. Bhujj, Uttrakhand, Kashmir…how many more?
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