Kashmir’s summer uprising: the untold stories

Kashmir is witnessing a home-grown rebellion – and the Indian government is struggling to control it.

The Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir has been rocked by a burgeoning pro-independence movement. The Indian government says the state, which has a Muslim majority, is an integral part of India.

However, a series of large demonstrations and the deaths of 110 people in violent clashes with the police has inflamed the situation.

Young men have taken to the streets to demonstrate for a referendum on independence.

The territory has long been fought over by India and Pakistan. Both countries now control different parts of the territory. Yet the population in both sectors may be losing faith in the ability of the politicians to solve the problem of ownership here.

For the last four months many young men have taken to the streets in open defiance of the authorities, demonstrating for India to withdraw from the valley and the government to hold a referendum on independence.

On 3 August Sameer Ahmed’s father (see top image) allowed his son, aged eight, to go to his uncle’s house nearby. Mr Ahmed told us: “He thought it was safe. But when he crossed the road, the paramilitary police grabbed him.

“Can you imagine what that would be like for an eight-year-old boy? It would terrify an adult. What did this poor boy go through?”

Eyewitnesses say Sameer was beaten to death by three paramilitary policemen. Sameer’s father alleged: “A stick was thrust into his mouth and his teeth were broken.

“They lifted up his body with the stuck and carried him like that. He was thrown into the nettles.”

Local residents say there had been no trouble in the area and that the police just went for him. But a spokesman for the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) told Channel 4 News Sameer was killed by a stampeding group of protesters.

Over 100 deaths since mid june have fuelled pro-independence demonstrations. The police’s allegedly brutal response has radicalised a wide cross-section of the community.

Until her brother Iqbal’s death two months ago, Misrat Khan (above) had never been to a protest.

Iqbal Khan was 19 and had a sales job in southern India. This summer he came back to see his family.

One morning he went out to buy biscuits. It was breakfast time. Shots were heard. The shopkeeper recounts how Iqbal moved his head to see what was going on when a bullet struck his head.

Until her brother Iqbal’s death two months ago, Misrat Khan had never been to a protest.

The shopkeeper dismisses as absurd the police report of the incident, which says the police fired in self-defence after a mob of 1,400 stone-pelters had surrounded them.

She says it was 8.45am. “Who would have been about?. There was a police curfew in effect.”

The Indian government has told Channel 4 News that the eye-witnesses who claim to have seen the deaths of Sameer Ahmed and Iqbal Khan cannot be trusted. It added that it had now appointed three peace envoys in an attempt to calm the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

But there is little optimism. Few think the violence and the protests have gone away.