Burhan Wani's father urges process for resolution, denies making speech about sacrificing daughter

Misguided media coverage is one of the many factors pushing the mass rebellion currently underway in Kashmir. As in 2010, the last time there was such a mass eruption, attempts to belittle or play down the extent of the upsurge only pushes the angry youth on the ground to go the extra mile to show the depth and extent of their anger. False reporting could fuel more anger and violence even further.

School principal Muzaffar Wani, for example, has unparalleled influence in the Valley today; it was his militant son Burhan’s death that sparked the current upsurge of agitations.

Muzaffar Wani backs negotiations for an early settlement, saying, “Koi aisi baat-cheet honi chahiye jisse maar-dhaar band ho sake (there should be such talks that would lead to an end to street violence).” But not only has he been largely ignored, but he has also been dangerously misquoted by a prominent media house.

Muzaffar Wani says he has not gone farther than half a kilometre from his house since Burhan’s death — he has only been to the mosque on the other side of the road. Nor has he accepted any of the slew of invitations he gets to address public meetings. Yet, he says, “look at our media,” adding that The Economic Times wrote that he went to Pampore for a public meeting, at which he allegedly offered to give his daughter to the struggle after sacrificing two sons.

He has been further amazed by hyper television channels. “Yeh channel wale kya kya bolte hain! (What are these TV channels saying!),”

Specifically, he complains that a “muchhad” (moustachioed) former army officer said on television that he (Burhan’s father) had taken money from Pakistan to send his sons as militants. “If I took a crore,” he says, “what will I spend it on without my sons? If I set up a five-star hotel, who will benefit (when I have lost my sons)?”

Sober analysts ought to consider what havoc a figure such as Muzaffar Wani might cause in an already volatile situation if he stated this allegation is an attack on his and his family’s self-respect. He could easily whip up far more anger. Instead, he remarks that Tral’s self-respect is intact.

Young people have already pilloried media persons over the past month over skewed coverage, even preventing reporters from going into hospitals and other such centres of coverage. Employees of some channels do not dare take their OB vans out onto the roads. Many media persons have removed media stickers from their vehicles.

Given this sort of existing public anger, a few incendiary words from Muzaffar Wani could be devastating. Although he insists that he is no leader, he is clearly a hero to local youth. A truck filled with young men on the way to a public demonstration stops at his gate while I chat with him. Many of the men get off the truck and raise slogans praising Burhan. After a while, he goes out to talk to them.

Their passionate enthusiasm could easily affect the school principal. He has had daily doses of it for five weeks now. Instead, he speaks to me about the need for an environment in which negotiations between India, Pakistan and “Kashmiri leaders” could take place. He stands for freedom, but also for negotiations.

Raw rage

The family is clearly aware of the raw rage of today’s youth. Ghulam Ahmad Wani, Burhan’s grandfather, contrasts today’s fearlessness with the time when people were “cowards” in the face of oppression by the forces (“We called them all military,” he says in response to a question, “We only learnt later that these are RR and these are CRPF and so on”). “Just as the forces don’t fear to kill, today’s boys don’t fear to die,” he adds.

Muzaffar Wani adds that the fear of death has vanished to the extent that people pick up sticks and tools and whatever else they can to resist these forces now. Older people still fear, he adds, but the young do not.

Indeed, the teenagers on the streets now are more fierce, organised and resourceful than the ones who had taken to the streets in 2010 - when most of today’s teenagers were in their pre-teens.

Given these trends, media analysts — including uninformed television discussion panelists — who deny agency to the protesting youth only increase their rage.

Blaming Pakistan for all that is happening in the Valley is a convenient, easy explanation. It is probably true to some extent, possibly a large extent. But to throw this around glibly is to taunt the boys, and make the task of agents provocateurs easier. Calling them “misguided,” “paid agents,” “drug addicts” and other such terms calculated to deny their strong sentiments also angers them and thus adds to the momentum of their agitations. Such analyses tend to be counter-productive.

As he sees me off outside his gate, Burhan’s father introduces me to a little boy, probably younger than 10. The boy is a leader of the current agitations, he says. Embarrassed, the boy covers his face with his hands and half turns, bashfully. But I have no doubt he could be lethal with a pile of stones.

This is indeed the generation that confronts the Indian state today. It is a fearless generation, one that poses a challenge beyond description.