Kashmir鈥檚 five-month blackout: Life in a swirl of rumors
| Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir
For Indian-controlled Kashmir, the past five months have been a roller coaster, the rockiest, most consequential in decades: an influx of troops; its autonomy stripped; a security clampdown; thousands of arrests; a near-brush with war, between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan; and a communications blackout, the longest ever in a democracy.
But as confusion and chaos grew, the rumors had one thing in common: dapaan.
Loosely translated as 鈥渢hey say,鈥� or 鈥渋t is said,鈥澛�诲补辫补补苍听is a word without a face,聽attached to聽any tidbit of information without a聽sure聽source. It鈥檚 a catchall for anything from fact to fiction, news to rumors. And this fall, as Kashmiris lived under an unprecedented blockade, it鈥檚 the rumors that tended to multiply.
Why We Wrote This
Amid an internet shutdown, many Kashmiris have felt cut off from not just the outside world, but truth and a sense of trust. As the blackout starts to lift, one writer looks back at months in the dark.
Sometimes, they proved true.
On July 25, about 10,000 troops were suddenly deployed to Jammu and Kashmir, already the largest militarized zone in the world: a semi-autonomous, Muslim-majority state, in a region India and Pakistan has fought over several times. The Hindu nationalist party in New Delhi had already made clear its intention of taking major steps in Kashmir, after a resounding electoral victory. Then, in early August, pilgrims and tourists were told to leave the state, as the military was put on high alert.
The developments proved to be a perfect recipe for something the residents of the Himalayan region, no stranger to conflict, had never witnessed at聽quite聽this scale: panic.
Residents stocked up on essentials, petrol pumps were overcrowded, and roads witnessed massive traffic jams. Some assumed the government was simply creating space for fear to breed. 鈥淧eople bought whatever they could. All of them seemed to be in a hurry,鈥� says department store owner Mohammed Zubair, who worried he did not have enough staff for the 鈥渋ncessant gush鈥� of customers.
顿补辫补补苍听India will strike Pakistan.
顿补辫补补苍听curfew passes have been distributed.
顿补辫补补苍听Ganesh picket has been captured by Pakistan.
Meanwhile, speculations grew around Articles 370 and 35A in the Indian Constitution, which granted the state special status.
In early August, teenager Adil Ahanger walked anxiously toward his father, sitting in their kitchen in Srinagar, the region鈥檚 largest city. Moments before, he had overheard someone saying that India and Pakistan were getting ready for another full-scale war.
鈥淎bu, dapaan Jung wathi,鈥� he said. (Father, they say it鈥檚 wartime.)
No,聽his dad聽replied; India and Pakistan could hardly afford it. But 鈥渨e have been at war since 1990, people die here every day,鈥澛燼dded the car mechanic, whose business has been hit hard by the clampdown. 鈥淚t would be better if they end the suffering once and for all.鈥�
Adil鈥檚 mother, Haleema, turned from the gas stove to break the latest 鈥渘ews鈥� she鈥檇 heard at the bakery: 鈥淒apaan Yasin Malik has been killed in jail.鈥澛�(The separatist leader had not.)
That was the general state of mind when, on Aug. 5, the Indian government revoked Kashmir鈥檚 autonomy granted under Article 370, and then split the state into two territories聽directly controlled by New Delhi聽鈥� the most significant shift in years. Within days, internet and phone service had been switched off.聽
Misinformation spread like wildfire, along with fear. People munched through information, significant or insignificant, and soon Kashmir was flooded with rumors of little credibility 鈥� and little way of confirming or disproving them.
顿补辫补补苍听lots of people were killed in South Kashmir.
顿补辫补补苍听they spotted men in Afghan attire.
顿补辫补补苍听Anantnag will no longer be a district.
鈥淜ashmir and its relationship with rumor are not something new,鈥� says Amir Amin, a political scientist at Kashmir University. 鈥淲e point almost everything to聽dapaan, and it became more potent before and after the abrogation of Article 370. From war with Pakistan to huge numbers of freedom fighters from Afghanistan crossing the Line of Control, I heard everything.鈥澛�
The monthslong shutdown 鈥渓eft a trail of rumors each passing day,鈥� says Ashraf Peer, a retired government employee. 鈥淚 heard so many things, and surprisingly every sentence started with the word聽dapaan.鈥�
The Indian government sought to quell rumors. Yet one local journalist,聽who spoke on condition of anonymity,聽believes some of the information聽has been聽鈥渓eaked deliberately,鈥� in phrases, to avoid a sudden surge of emotions getting 鈥渙ut of hand鈥� for the administration.
News and rumors 鈥渨ere so intertwined,鈥� he remembers. 鈥淩eports, information, and pictures of government orders and advisories reached my desk from our sources and minutes later were refuted by the administration.鈥� Even rumors of the communications blackout were refuted, he says 鈥� until 鈥渢he bubble broke鈥� at midnight, and 鈥渟ervices were snapped.鈥�
鈥淜ashmir is a place where if someone sneezes in Lak Chowk, the same incident is projected as a bomb聽by the time it reaches聽Raj Bhavan,鈥澛爐he then-governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik, told reporters in July, dismissing rumors that the state鈥檚 status would change.聽Within a week, it had.
Now, six months later, news is slowly seeping back. Phone service was gradually restored last year.聽This week, after the Supreme Court ordered a review of the internet cutoff, 2G mobile web was made available 鈥� though only 301 government-approved websites have been made accessible, and no social media.
Yet dapaan still pervades.
鈥�Dapaan听颈苍迟别谤苍别迟听traawan yalle.鈥� They say fast internet will be restored.
