Sawt Falasteen - Fearing Indian police, Kashmiris scrub 'resistance' tattoos

Basit Bashir receives up to 100 people, mostly men, every day at his laser clinic in the main city of Srinagar, hovering swiftly over designs ranging from AK-47 rifles to Islamic symbols such as a crescent moon.

"I have safely removed AK-47 and similar type tattoos from the arms and necks of more than 1,000 young people using laser," Bashir told AFP at his clinic in the old quarter of Srinagar as he blasted high-intensity light pulses to break up the ink.

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, with both governing the disputed territory separately and claiming it in its entirety.

That long-running conflict has shot back to attention after gunmen targeting tourists carried out the deadliest attack on civilians in a quarter of a century in the Himalayan territory, killing 26 men on April 22 in Pahalgam.

Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack -- two Pakistanis and an Indian -- who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.

India blames Pakistan and, while Islamabad denies any role, troops from the nuclear-armed neighbours have repeatedly fired at each other across the Line of Control, the de facto border in contested Kashmir.

"After Pahalgam, we have seen a rise in the number of people with a crescent or AK-47 tattoos coming in for removal," 28-year-old Bashir said.

One young man came in this week with an AK-47 tattoo after friends told him it was "better to get it removed" since the situation was "very precarious", he said.

- 'Fearful young' -

In Indian-controlled Kashmir, body tattoos have been a form of political expression, like graffiti, since an armed rebellion against Indian rule erupted in 1989.

Rebel groups -- largely crushed in recent years -- demand Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan, and tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.

But deeply held anti-India sentiment has remained.

Many who grew up during the violent uprising had their bodies inked with symbols expressing not just resentment towards Indian rule but also their religious identity.

Bashir, the laser technician, said he initially started erasing tattoos depicting Muslim religious symbols.

"They wanted the tattoos removed, believing it was prohibited in Islam, and wanted to be buried as pure after death," he said.

But others with pro-independence slogans started coming in big numbers after 2019, when New Delhi cancelled the region's partial autonomy and clamped down on dissent and protests.

Thousands were arrested and civil liberties were drastically curtailed.

Police and security forces increased surveillance following the 2019 change in the territory's status.

They punished political expression hinting at resistance or a reference to the disputed nature of Kashmir in any form -- even on social media.

"I started getting a stream of fearful young men and women seeking their tattoos to be safely removed," Bashir said.

On some days more than 150 people turned up at his clinic, prompting him to buy a new machine for a million rupees (nearly $12,000).

"Many of them told me their stories of being harassed by police for their tattoos showing any anti-India sentiment", he said.

- 'Interrogation' -

The rush for having tattoos erased for fear of police reprisal has now spawned more than 20 other laser clinics across Srinagar, charging between 300 and 3,000 rupees ($3.50-$35) for the job, depending on the tattoo's size.

Sensing the rush, Bashir said he had trained in India's Gujarat state to learn how to erase tattoos safely.

"People come from all across Kashmir," Bashir said. "Many have told me their horrific stories of facing police interrogation for their tattoos."

Many were hesitant, fearful of speaking about younger motivations for the tattoo.

"I get rebuked by my family and school friends all the time for my tattoos," a student said, clenching his teeth during the painful procedure.

"I can't deal with it anymore, that is why I came here".

Another, a lawyer hoping to find a match for marriage, said she had an assault rifle tattooed on her arm during the 1990s when the armed rebellion was at its peak.

"That is what I had seen all around me during my childhood -- soldiers and militants wielding and firing from their AK-47s," she said, declining to be identified for fear of reprisal.

"Everything has changed since then," she said, showing the blisters that now replaced the rifle after two rounds of laser.

"These things are trouble."

J.AbuShaban--SF-PST