The Centre’s policy of denying government jobs to relatives of militants and stone throwers casts a shadow over 50,000 families in Kashmir

Security agencies’ expansion of the ‘deep vetting’ process for government job applicants in Jammu and Kashmir is likely to affect over 50,000 families.

In an interview with a press agency PTI on Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced a new policy “to ensure that no relative of a militant or stone dealer gets a government job in the Union Territory (UT)”. Regional parties in Kashmir have strongly criticized the move, saying it would further alienate the Kashmiri youth.

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Security agencies are working on a ‘vertical and horizontal model’ of police verification in Kashmir. This means that background checks for job applicants are expanding to include immediate family members and other close relatives, both on the mother’s and father’s side. This is to find any possible connection to a family member of the militant or stone thrower. Previously, when recruiting for government bodies, security agencies only checked the references of the job candidate herself.

Rehabilitation policies to date

The latest policy of the Union Home Minister invalidates three previous government ex-militants rehabilitation programs that were implemented in J&K in 1995, 2004 and 2010. The policy included cash incentives for surrendered combatants which included a cash deposit of ₹ 1.5 lakh and stipends in amounting to £1,800 per month.

According to conservative official estimates, between 1995 and 2013 at least 4,081 militants surrendered, mainly as part of rehabilitation policies.

A policy was also formulated to deal with 4,000 Kashmiris suspected of exfiltrating in the 1990s to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) for arms training. Thanks to this rehabilitation policy, 219 cases of militants living in PoK were cleared in 2010, where they were given a chance to return to Kashmir through multiple entry points, mainly through Nepal.

The Omar Abdullah-led state government received 1,082 applications between 2010 and 2012 from young people “stranded in PoK who intended to return”. Official figures suggest that at least 210 surrendered fighters have benefited from cash benefits from the government.

Thousands affected

Official figures suggest that there are at least 30,000 families in Kashmir whose relatives are or were militants, given that 22,000 militants have been killed in encounters with security forces since 1990, while PoK is home to over 4,000 militants and another 4,000 fighters surrendered.

The Union minister’s new policy is also likely to impact the families of thousands of street protesters or stone pelters, against whom several cases have been registered since 2008, when violence broke out over the Amarnath row. In 2009, there were violent street protests over the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian; in 2010 in connection with the killings of civilians; in 2013 in connection with the hanging of convict Afzal Guru for the parliament attack; and in 2016 in connection with the murder of Hizbul Mujahideen “commander” Burhan Wani.

Official data suggests that between January 2009 and 2014, 1,733 cases of stone pelting and “waging war against the state” were filed against 9,166 youths in Kashmir. The street violence that followed Wani’s murder in 2016 resulted in the government filing 3,773 cases in 2016 and arresting at least 11,290 youths. It was gathered that at least 4,949 people resorted to stone pelting.

The total number of young Kashmiris against whom such cases were filed between 2009 and 2017 is over 20,000. However, the J&K government led by Abdullah in 2010 and Mehbooba Mufti in 2017 announced two amnesties for such youth, mainly those who committed committed crimes for the first time, and decided to drop the cases against hundreds of them.

“Punishing Youth”

“Collective punishment of innocent family members will only lead to further discrimination, dehumanization and alienation of young people. Is this draconian action plan being implemented solely to punish the youth? Is this being done to keep Kashmiris away from opportunities?” asked Mr. Abdullah’s son, Zahir Abdullah, a lawyer.

Ghulam Hassan Mir, former minister and leader of the J&K Apni Party, also questioned the move. “There are thousands of cases (there are such cases) who were earlier militants or stone-pelters, and after realizing it, they did tremendous work in nation-building. A general statement requires a fresh look at the realities,” Mir said.

Political implications

Mr. Shah’s latest statement on the government’s employment policy comes at a time when detention of youths and dismissal of locals from government jobs due to links with separatists have become major poll issues of the National Conference, J&K People’s Conference, People’s Democratic Party and J&K Apni Party while campaigning for three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir. Most regional parties promised to end what they termed as ‘FIR-Raj and Raid-Raj’ in Kashmir if they come to power.

“I think the government should take the recent turnout as a call for reconciliation and reintegration and open the gates for people to heal, as well as put an end to the harsh policies that drive people to constant violence against the state. Punishing families of militants will serve Pakistan more than India,” said PDP leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra.