As floodwaters ripped through Indian-held Kashmir, Abdul Majeed spent five days holed up with his family in their attic, watching helplessly as army helicopters plucked tourists from hotel rooftops and government boats ferried officials to safety. “We shouted and signaled, but they ignored us,” the businessman said.
The water has mostly receded, but Majeed’s anger has not. He vows to participate in anti-India protests, dozens of which erupt daily, blocking the few roads that remain usable. “It’s clear to me that India treats Kashmiris as second-class citizens,” Majeed said.
Flooding in this conflict-wracked Himalayan region in early September killed 281 people, destroyed at least 100,000 homes and caused an estimated $17 billion in damage. Hundreds of thousands of people may still be homeless by December, when temperatures typically dip below freezing.
Kashmiris’ fury over what they view as a woefully inadequate government response is reviving calls for independence, tapping decades of animosity that fuelled a 25-year separatist battle and an Indian military crackdown that left tens of thousands dead in the mostly Muslim region.
Four weeks after the worst of the flooding, many of Kashmir’s villages and neighbourhoods in Srinagar remain under several feet of water. Mountains of mud, garbage and abandoned cars line the roadsides. The stench of rotting animals hangs heavy in the air.
Kashmiris have provided much of the flood relief on their own. Community kitchens have fed tens of thousands, Kashmiri doctors working abroad have come home to help, and some 80 civic organisations, including many anti-India groups, have banded together under the umbrella Kashmir Relief Coordination.
The Indian government has helped, but Kashmiris say it has tried to take too much credit. The army and government rescued some 250,000 people who were marooned, but Kashmiris note that local volunteers and aid groups rescued another million.
“The state and army are even trying to appropriate our relief camps by filming them. That’s why we had to put up green flags,” local volunteer Mohammed Sadiq said at one volunteer relief camp emblazoned with a banner that read “Self-help is our duty. Self-determination is our right. “
Political science professor Noor Mohammed Baba of Kashmir University said India promoted the army as the people’s saviour in time of disaster, missing the greater picture of devastation and losing a “massive opportunity to bridge old gaps”.
“India’s response to this unprecedented tragedy has reinforced Kashmiri nationalism and people’s mistrust in Indian rule,” he said.
Anger flared within days after the floods. Even as Indian relief workers were passing out food rations, they faced a barrage of rocks and insults hurled by Kashmiri flood victims.
Officials admit they were unprepared for the disaster. “The scale was so enormous that it was not possible to reach out to all areas. Whatever could be done, we tried to do,” Indian army’s commander of northern regions, Lt Gen DS Hooda, said on Monday.
He added that 100 military bases, including army headquarters in Srinagar, were under water. “We had to rescue our soldiers first. You first have to get yourself in order to help others later,” Hooda said.
Still, India declined an offer from the United Nations to help.
“They’re neither doing enough themselves nor allowing international aid. Four weeks have passed. There are only promises,” local aid worker Nissar Ahmed said at a roadside medical camp in Srinagar.
In the immediate aftermath, Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved $1.83 billion in rescue and relief funds, but Kashmir’s finance department said Tuesday that no aid money had been released to the region’s coffers. Kashmir is now spending $100 million from its own relief budget.
