Since the report of the four member, fact finding team released its report yesterday ( Kashmir: Caged) remarks by persons with allegiances to the ruling dispensation have been making sarcastic observations of the findings. Here is what one of the team members has said in response:
So the Sanghis (persons affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-RSS) are asking, if the curfew is so bad how could Jean Drèze, Kavita Krishnan, Maimoona Abbas Mollah and Vimal Bhai move around. Here is a short answer:
We moved about on foot in Srinagar, or by auto part of the way. Skirting wire, and fibbing to police/CRPF as needed. We walked till my collapsed arches burned with pain – walked, walked, walked more.
Outside Srinagar was another story. Many cab drivers refused to take us outside Srinagar, out of sheer fear, or ditched us after saying yes. But then we persevered and found one who took us via highways to the towns of Sopore and Bandipora one day, and South Kashmir the next, avoiding what he knew to be the Army camps and checkpoints. At some unavoidable checkpoints we fibbed a bit. We went to villages, where again we walked about a lot on foot.
As mainland Indians, we face less harassment than ordinary Kashmiris. We have far less to lose – no one can keep us under control by kidnapping our kids. So yes, it’s possible to move about and speak to people. Some journalists have done this also. More need to.
From Kavita Krishnan’s FB wall