SRINAGAR: On August 11, Aqib Ahmad Khan*, 22, an undergraduate student, was returning home from college on his motorcycle when a policeman stopped him near a police station. He told Aqib to attend the Tiranga rally in Sopore the next day in the run-up to Independence Day celebrations.
“When I pleaded that I was a student and had to attend college, he demanded to see my Aadhaar card, took a photograph of it and told me: If you don't come to the rally tomorrow, I will seize your bike.”
Aqib was left with a dilemma and dread: If he went to the rally, he would miss college, and he didn’t have enough money for fuel. If he didn’t go, they might seize his bike and misuse his personal identity, whose details were already forcibly taken.
Scared of losing his bike, he went for the rally and ended up paying more for the fuel than he anticipated. The rally continued for the whole day, and he was compelled to ride the bike as part of the freedom celebration.
Aqib says he never got compensated for the fuel. But that’s the least of his worry. “If I don't feel free even to go to study, then what kind of freedom am I supposed to celebrate?” he says, posing a question.
Freedom Experience Shaped by Surveillance, Force
India marked its 80th Independence Day on Saturday, August 15, with the national tricolour hoisted across the country. But in Kashmir, the day unfolded under an atmosphere of heightened surveillance and security.
While authorities organised Tiranga rallies, flag-hoisting ceremonies and public events to project patriotism and normalcy, residents across the region faced intensified checkpoints, frisking, vehicle searches and surveillance. The contrast was stark: a day meant to celebrate freedom was, for many, experienced through layers of security and scrutiny.
On one side were the flags, rallies and official celebrations. On the other, the constant presence of checkpoints and security personnel. For residents already accustomed to living amid heavy security, the intensified restrictions added another layer of psychological strain.
The question was not only how freely people could move, but how freely they could choose whether to participate, display the national flag, or simply stay away, turning a day framed around freedom into an experience shaped by surveillance, pressure and the consequences of saying no.
A Crackdown Before the Celebration
The unease had set in well before August 15.
Sweeping summons, arrests and preventive detentions were reported across Kashmir ahead of Independence Day, including in Baramulla, Sopore, Tangmarg, Pulwama and Anantnag. Those detained included people previously booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), alleged over-ground workers (OGWs), and young men who had already served time in jail and were later released on bail.
There is no verifiable official data on how many people were rounded up and detained. But modest estimates range between a couple of hundreds and well over a thousand.
Speaking two days before Independence Day, a young man told the Kashmir Times he received a call from the police station asking him to report there. When he did, he was told that he would have to remain in custody for two days. He was released on August 15 late afternoon.
“This makes me feel vulnerable. I have already paid for what I did in the past by spending two years in jail under the UAPA in a stone pelting case. Why do they keep doing this - picking us up and releasing us? It really frustrates me. They treat us as if we are terrorists,” he said.
The man spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing further police action.
Politicians from across Jammu and Kashmir's political spectrum warned that the recurring summoning and detention of locals, particularly young people, ahead of Independence Day and other government functions was deepening what PDP leader Iltija Mufti called a "fear psychosis," in which residents feel that anyone could be picked up at any time.
National Conference MLA Tanvir Sadiq said people going about their lives and livelihoods should not be repeatedly called to police stations ahead of major occasions, warning that the practice was breeding fear and apprehension. CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said such summonses, though longstanding, had grown more frequent since August 2019, and questioned whether the practice served any genuine security purpose. Engineer Rashid's spokesperson, Firdous Baba, condemned the pattern outright.
Selfies, Salutes and "Strict Compliance"
The pressure to participate was formalised well before the celebrations. According to Order No. 14-DMS of 2026, dated August 8, 2026, and issued by the Office of the District Magistrate, Srinagar, Phase III of the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign and the commemoration of 150 years of "Vande Mataram" was scheduled to run from August 9 to 17.
The order directed departments to encourage officials and the public to upload "Selfie with Tiranga" photographs to the Har Ghar Tiranga portal and specifically stated that the Nodal Principal of Government Colleges and the Chief Education Officer, Srinagar, "shall ensure" that every student of government and government-recognised colleges and schools had a selfie taken and uploaded to the portal. It also called for strict compliance with the National Flag Code of India, laying out protocols to be followed throughout the campaign.
Ghulam Mohammed Wagay*, an Urdu teacher at a higher secondary school in Srinagar, who has taught for seven years, described what that compliance looks like in practice.
"We have to work according to the orders we receive from higher authorities," the teacher said. "If you want to keep your job, you have to salute the flag. If you do not salute it at school, you fear that you could lose your job."
"I started participating in the flag salutation ceremonies five years ago," the teacher said. "Every year, orders come from the higher authorities to every educational institution - middle school, higher secondary school or college - telling us to participate in the August 15 celebrations and record photographs and videos. We are told that if photographs or videos are not taken during the flag ceremony, or if someone forgets to record them, the institution's Independence Day celebration may not be considered, even if the school has observed the entire day through other activities,” Wagay said.
Students are also pressured to participate in rallies and roadshows. “Why?” asks Wagay, and adds with a supplementary question, “Is it for photographs and videos to show the outside world that Independence Day was celebrated in Kashmir?"
A similar directive reached schools in north Kashmir. According to Notice No. ZEO/*/26/607, dated August 14, 2026, issued by the Office of the Zonal Education Officer, Baramulla, all government and private educational institutions under Education Zone Baramulla were instructed to attend the main Independence Day function at Government Degree College once the National Flag was hoisted on August 15.
The notice further directed heads of middle and primary schools to share high-quality, geo-tagged photographs or a one-minute video of their Independence Day functions through a designated nodal officer, while cluster coordinators of higher secondary and high schools were asked to forward photographs and videos of their own. All concerned institutions, it said, must ensure "strict compliance" with the directions.
The emphasis, a teacher adds, is more on collecting evidence of celebration than the actual celebration.
No Freedom, More Fear
A Class 10 student at a high school in Budgam district said the pressure begins long before August 15 itself.
"Ten to 15 days before Independence Day, colleges, higher secondary schools and even private institutions are asked to start rehearsing activities that will be showcased on the day. Once the preparations begin, our regular classes are disturbed. Is this what you call independence?
"Independence means freedom from all kinds of tyranny, but in Kashmir, the situation feels different. Security is tightened, there is frisking at checkpoints, and vehicles are checked as if we are all terrorists.
"Why would I celebrate this day when I am afraid to step out in the evening? It has become routine for security personnel to go around villages and check or seize people's phones and identity cards. How can I feel free when I am constantly afraid of being stopped or questioned?"
Livelihoods Disrupted
Twenty-eight-year-old Ishfaq Ahmad*, a truck driver, described being forced to lend his vehicle to Independence Day rallies, without payment.
"They also take our vehicles to Tiranga rallies by force. We are not paid for our labour or fuel," he said. "If the Army has its own vehicles, or the government has buses, why don't they use those vehicles for these rallies?
"I was ordered to go to a rally in Baramulla district, the next day, because Army personnel had told me to attend. I did not go. Instead, I stayed hidden at home the entire day. I was afraid that if I went outside to do some other work, they would catch me and beat me.
"What kind of azaadi is this? You take away a poor person's livelihood and make him even poorer. You take his vehicle for the whole day, make him participate for free, and expect him to live like a slave. I have taken a loan to purchase this vehicle to earn a livelihood. I didn’t sign up for this,” he says, helplessly.
His ordeal is not new. It is repeated every year on every day of national importance.
"I have to put the flag on my vehicle every year. For me, this is not about celebrating Independence Day. It is about being afraid of what might happen if I remove it."
He points to the flag on his truck. The army gave it to him three days before Independence Day. Two days after the celebrations, he is still scared to remove it. For his regular work of ferrying goods, he crosses the Army’s RR Camp every day.
“I removed it once, but later, when Army personnel saw my vehicle without the Tricolour, they got angry and told me that if the flag was not on the vehicle, they would beat me. I was also told that I had to buy the flag myself, spending Rs 50 from my own pocket,” he says.
For Ishfaq, Independence Day is not about celebration. It is about, as he says, “being afraid of what might happen if I remove it.”
Nation-wide Flag Rows and Kashmir Contrast
Across the country, this year's celebrations were shadowed by controversy over allegations of "disrespecting" national symbols. On August 15, Congress social media chairperson Supriya Shrinate shared two videos online claiming they showed BJP workers hoisting the party flag instead of the tricolour. Both claims were quickly disputed, and fact-checker, NewsMeter, traced the videos to a previous date. The BJP denied the claims and filed a police complaint against Shrinate over what it called the circulation of old footage.
The episode nonetheless points to a question raised repeatedly in Kashmir: whether actions perceived as disrespecting national symbols draw the same scrutiny and legal consequences whoever is involved. Critics in Kashmir and elsewhere have long argued that Muslims face police cases, arrests or other legal action for such acts in circumstances where others do not.
For many in Kashmir, the more immediate imposition this Independence Day was not a contested video but the compulsion to display the flag, regardless of cost or choice.
(*Names have been changed to protect their identity.)
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