This report describes the September 2014 floods in Indian-Administered Jammu and Kashmir (IAJK), focusing on the ways in which the political economy and ecology of India's militarized governance enabled a humanitarian disaster and made it a practical inevitability. The report describes disaster management and flood management in IAJK from historical, legal, economic, ecological and political lenses. It is based on field research conducted from 15 September 2014 to early December 2014.
Topics: Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, military occupations and international environmental law, disasters and social marginality, the river and the valley, political economy of flood management in Kashmir, floods of 2014, militarisation, ecology, disasters, massive military deployment and the occupation of land, militarised development, disaster management, flood control department, urban planning and development, reconstruction and infrastructure, the impact of flooding, the health care deluge, the 'normalcy' narrative, civil administration in disarray, survival and rescues, relief, resistance
Terms: chronology of 2014 floods, criminal negligence of occupyng power, illegal changes to prevailing order in occupied territory, violations of international humanitarian law, ecological ramifications of militarized occupation, ecological negligence, illegal occupation of land, expropriation of land, environmental impact of occupation, lack of disaster preparedness, ecological degradation, climate change, jingoistic reportage, denial of international aid, development as counter-insurgency.
Experts and official bodies, including the J and K State Economic Survey had, in their post September flood evaluations, identified Jammu and Kashmir as a chronically flood vulnerable region, and recommended urgent remedial measures such as dredging and building of an alternative flood channel. These measures were not taken.
Unless structural factors such as the militarization of land and water resources, and the functioning of militarised governance and political economy, are taken into account, little will change with respect to the region's increasing disaster vulnerability. Recent events add force to this contention.
Under International Humanitarian and Environmental Law, occupying powers are required to exercise 'guardianship' over the natural resources of the territory they occupy, and are prohibited from causing extreme and disproportionate damage to the environment during warfare and armed interventions. The massive occupation of land and water resources in Kashmir, is inimical to this principle. The occupation of Jammu and Kashmir has entailed a massive military deployment, and the construction of militarised development infrastructure, which have caused untold environmental destruction. The report has found that in several specific instances, such as the Jammu Baramulla Railway line project, and the physical occupation of civilian flood control infrastructure by the military, the overt and covert militarisation has considerably added to the region's disaster vulnerability, and the expendability of Kashmiri lives and property.
April 2015
Originally published
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