Kashmiris at receiving end in Delhi ahead of CWG

SYED ALI SAFVI

SRINAGAR, Sep 22: As 19th Commonwealth Games 2010 approach and more skeletons tumble out of the closet, Kashmiri youth working in Delhi are finding themselves on a sticky wicket (though cricket is not part of the games!).

Over 150 Kashmiris working in different companies in Gurgaon had to bid farewell to the national capital for “security reasons”.

“As Kashmiris, we are being treated as potential threats,” Mudassir (name changed), who is working for a BPO company at Gurgaon, told Kasmir Times over phone.

Security has been beefed up ahead of commonwealth games in Delhi and adjoining cities.

“They (police) don’t entertain our company ID cards. They ask for election card or passport,” he said. “When our company recruited us we submitted the documents detailing identification requirements and we were given employees card which we have been carrying with us ever since.”

Mudassir said that most of the employees were afraid to move out because policemen would often ask for their identification proofs.

“Those who don’t have ID proofs are sent back to their native places,” he said. “So far 20000 employees working in different private companies have been sent back to their respective states. The best part of it is that their traveling expenses are borne by the state.”

Another Kashmiri, Rafeeq (name changed), who is working as a software engineer in the city, said that the landlords have been directed by the police authorities to get a proper identification proof from their tenets.

“The landlord is supposed to make three copies of the identification proof and deposited one copy at local police station, keep one for his personal information and give one copy to the tenant,” he said, adding that police only entertains election card or passport as “authentic identification proofs”.

There have also been reports that in the wake of commonwealth games, Kashmiris were finding it difficult to get accommodation in hotels across Delhi.

“When we tell them we are Kashmiris, the only reply they give us is that ‘sorry, hotel is full booked’,” said Mujtaba, who often visits Delhi on business trips.

Pertinently, there have been numerous instances when Kashmiris, living, working or studying outside their state, were harassed in other states of India by police, more often than not without any justification.

Last year, under-22 cricketer, Parvez Rasool, was arrested by Bangalore police for carrying “suspicious material”. Rasool was given a clean chit by the Forensic Science Laboratory, which said his luggage did not contain any residual of explosive substances.

In 2008, two Valleyites, Irshad Ali and Mohammad Moarif Qamar were branded as members of a banned militant outfit, Al-Badr, before CBI came to their rescue and unearthed the truth.
A valley-based cartoonist, Malik Sajad, who is working with local English daily, was detained by the Delhi police two years back for being a “Kashmiri”.