(Apologies for cross posting on the Reader List)
As if by magic, those who had hidden themselves for the past few months in Kashmir are leading mobs and setting schools and public buildings on fire. And many more people have died tragic and unnecessary deaths. This time, unlike in the past, the blame must be squarely shared between those who fired the bullets, and some of those who led the incendiary crowds. Perhaps Kashmir has just entered a new and darker phase, brandishing a burning torch. This situation, in order not to be irreversible, needs the urgent and sane attention of Kashmiris themselves, and of all those who wish Kashmir and its people well.
We could do well by way of beginning by turning our attention to a surprising detail hidden within the reports of the recent events of arson. National Conference apparatchiks, who did not even dare appear in public till recently for fear of being attacked for their role in sustaining the occupation of Kashmir by India’s armed might, are now allegedly seen openly goading mobs of zealots to burn down a school in the name of the defence of religion. If this is true, the what we are witnessing is the realization by them of a wonderful opportunity to wear new costumes and speak new lines in the unfolding theatre of the moment.
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See – The Indian Express Report – ‘Valley Fires Rage, Omar feels the Delhi Chill’ that lays bare the incidents of the day, including the burning of a school at Tangmarg.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/valley-fires-rage-omar-feels-the-delhi-chill/681260/0
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Almost automatically, the tentative signs of even a partial climb-down by the Indian state or even a cosmetic dilution of measures like the hated Armed Forces Special Powers Act are being backpedalled at a furious pace. Almost magically, the shame and utter disgust associated with the discovery of videos of hideous instances of the naked humiliation of young men in Kashmir by the forces of the Indian state is drowned in a chorus of pious indignation at the sight of flames leaping in the skyline of Kashmir’s towns and summer capital.
What a profound victory for the intelligence-military-spin doctoring establishment in Delhi and what a bitter prospect of another impending setback, yet another foolish ‘self-goal’, for the beleagured people of Kashmir.
The higher echelons of the Indian political military and security establishment have reason to be thankful to the lunatic who sparked all this off by posing smugly for television cameras with a few burning pages of the Quran in hand in far away New York. They have reason to thank Press TV, and even more reason to thank some of the people eager to be seen as zealots of Islam in Kashmir, and the likes of the NC leader Ali Sofi of Tangmarg for his sudden discovery of himself – as both – wounded Muslim and calculating arsonist.
It is also important to remember, that the Eid day incident of arson of a few government buildings in Srinagar, which is a precursor to the current wave of attacks on public property, took place in highly suspicious circumstances. Each of the targeted buildings is under heavy security cover at all times, some even have round the clock CCTV surveillance. It is extremely surprising as to how an as yet unidentified group of arsonists could set fire to installations that were/are by no means neglected from the point of view of security. There appear to be no witnesses to the event either. The event, which drew the immediate condemnation of the Mirwaiz, was nevertheless attributed by government agencies to sections of the crowd provoked by his speech, and an FIR was duly lodged against him.
Other sources, claim on different fora, that people recently recruited into the dreaded Ikhwani counter insurgency irregulars, were seen in the vicinity of the targeted buildings. The truth, could be somewhere between the two. It could be that ikhwani elements were motivated by secret agencies to act as ‘agent provocateurs’, it could also be true that they had been mingling in the the otherwise peaceful protesting crowd that marched to Lal Chowk on Eid afternoon. Both are possible. Anything is possible in the shadows of Kashmir.
Close on the heels of the Eid incidents came yesterday’s highly regrettable action of a mob torching a branch of the well regarded and respected Tyndale Biscoe School under the expert guidance of a National Conference leader, Ali Mohammed Sofi in Tangmarg, ostensibly to protest against the isolated incident of a lone person burning a few pages of the holy Quran in New York (as reported by a satellite TV channel close to the Ahmadinijad Regime in Iran – Press TV). The unrest, reported to have begun in Shia neighbourhoods of Budgam in the aftermath of the Press TV broadcast, was swiftly contained by Shia clerics themselves, before spreading to other areas, apparently at the unlikely behest of Hurriyat(G) activists, acting in a strange concert with their arch-enemies – NC loyalists. Details of this murky scenario are still unravelling.
Fortunately, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, currently the most respected voice within the separatist camp, and the undisputed leader of the Hurriyat(G) faction, despite his reputation as an Islamist hardliner has strongly and unequivocally condemned the school burning and other acts of arson in protest against the desecration of the Quran. His statement, carried in today’s Greater Kashmir newspaper, deserves a lengthy quotation, because of the seriousness of the situation, and the need for saner voices, such as that of Geelani (in the current context of mobs intent on arson) to prevail.
The report is as follows –
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Geelani calls for restraint in protests over Quran ‘desecration’
GK NEWS NETWORK
Srinagar, Sept 13:The Chairman of Hurriyat (G) Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called people of the Valley to exercise restraint over the allegeddesecration of Quran in US.
The veteran leader condemned the attacks on Christian Missionary School in Tangamarg terming it handiwork of vested interests.
“I can understand that emotions of Kashmiris Muslims have been hurt by the desecration of Quran. But at the same time, we have to control our emotions and not create such a situation which could given chance to vested interests to defame Islam and our movement,” Geelani told Greater Kashmir.
In a bid to calm down angry protesters who had taken to streets against Quran desecration, Geelani addressed the protesters through telephones in various parts of the Valley.
Geelani said Quran does not approve attacks on the minority communities or their establishments. “I urge the Muslims to protect the members of minority community and their religious places. We should at any cost maintain the age old communal harmony and brotherhood for which Kashmir is known World over,” he said while
hailing the role of Christian missionaries in dissemination of education.
Strongly condemning the desecration, Geelani said such acts show the frustration of US and its allies over the popularity of Islam. “Quran is in our hearts. By desecration of Quran the US has accepted its defeat and shown its cowardice,” he added.
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However, the damage had been done.
The police responded to protests, not all of which were intent on arson and destruction of property, with massive gunfire, people died, which precipitated more protests. News spread in the valley faster than fire spreads in unprotected wooden structures. More protests, more firing. The result, a shocking number of sevehteen more dead in one day, smug television anchors nodding to the rhyhtm of their ‘I told you so’ incantations, and headlinesed that screamed – ‘Kashmir Burning’.
For detailed reports of the day’s violence see –
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BLOODBATH IN VALLEY: 17 killed, 100s injured; Toll 88
Greater Kashmir, 15 September
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Within a flash, the image of the resistance in Kashmir was transformed from being an example of the massive moral strength of unarmed, leaderless crowds to the picture of orchestrated mayhem and destruction at the behest of a few individuals, seeking to usurp ‘leadership’ from a functioning, well organized, peaceful, articulate, resistant, anarchy, mainly of the young and the very young. Every effort needs to be made (on the ground, in the web, and face to face) now to ensure that this is only a temporary setback, and that the powerful, leaderless and unarmed character of the protests is not hijacked by a new crop of ‘leaders’ bent on subversion of hard won successes.
The so called ‘dilution’ or partial repeal of the hated AFSPA, on which the Central Cabinet was supposed to take a decision, now seems highly unlikely. The fires, and those who started them, have done their work. The momentum that the sacrifices of the two month long period of peaceful protests had generated is now threatened by two days of arson. Shall the people of Kashmir, and those of us outside who are concerned by their fate, let this pass?
It is curious that the elements associated with the ruling NC, the puppet party of the Indian state in Kashmir have had such an open hand in the latest incident. This is an excellent opportunity for a section within the NC to re-cast itself as a champion of Islam, and to steal the thunder of a section of pro-Azaadi protestors by suddenly appearing to be even more ultra-islamist than the genuine Islamists. Similar situations have occurred before – the dubious role played by Kashmiri politicians close to Delhi (and secretly close to Delhi) in the protests surrounding the episode of the theft and recovery of a holy relic (a hair of the prophet kept at the Hazratbal shrine) in 1963 which were defly handled by Indian intelligence agencies allowed an earlier generation to lose their focus, to realize, that suddenly, the wind was no longer in their sails. Then too, leading mobs against the ‘desecration of a holy relic’ was a National Conference emi,nence his name happens to be Farooq Adullah. The drift that set in during the seventeen days of crisis around the holy hair in 1963 was to the greatest advantage of the Indian state.
The same constellation of forces and opportunities seems to want to repeat itself today. A massive crackdown, no budging on AFSPA, and an opportunity for the NC and its allied cast of sleaze and shadow to reinvent themselves as the champions of Islam in Kashmir (with a little help from the – at worst, uncscrouplous, or, at best, unknowing, media hype of Press TV). For those who do not know it well, Press TV is not unlike a more urbane and sophisticated version of ‘Times Now’ in Iran, and acts as the notionally ‘independent’ mouthpiece of an increasingly unpopular regime that treats its own young people exactly as callously and brutally as the Indian regime does in Kashmir.
The raving book burning lunacy of a lone bigot in America is not a threat to the world of Islam, or to the people of Kashmir and their struggle. It should be treated as an isolated act that has received the harshest condemnation of a broad spectrum of the American people, including politicians ranging from Barack Obama and even Sarah Palin, secular commentators as well as the overwhelming number Christian and Jewish religious leaders, along with that of of world public opinion. Paradoxically, the threat to burn the Quran has generated more sympathy for Muslims in America, especially for American Muslims, amongst ordinary decent Americans, than any other incident has done so far. Even in the concerned video clip, we can hear the voices of numerous ordinary Americans loudly and clearly expressing their anger and outrage at the thoughtless assault by the lone-ranger on the freedom of Muslims to read and revere their scriptures.
This response (as is evident in the video, and in the broad based condemnation of the inicident) should be interpreted intelligently, as a clear victory for the rights of the freedom of worship and consience by Muslims in America, rather than as evidence of their marginalization, or threat of marginalization, by a lunatic fringe.
SAS Geelani is right in calling for restraint while protesting, but incorrect in implying that the people of the US as a whole are anti-muslim. Such broad generalizations are neither accurate, nor useful.
To be distracted, at this instant, from the pressing concerns of the people of Kashmir, which have to do with violence, human rights violations, disappearances, the AFSPA and the illegitimacy of the occupation itself into a wild goose chase in search of the global Muslim Umma’s notionally wounded honour, and into an ersatz Anti-Indianism/Anti-Americanism/Anti-Semitism is to play directly into the hands of the state in India, USA and Israel, which can happily paint the people of Kashmir (and Muslims everywhere) as ‘Islamist zealots’ on the one hand, even as it stokes the fires of communal and secterian passion through the underhand games of its trusted clients.
The people of Kashmir, if they do not wish to fritter away the gains of a sophisticated and maturing political language of action in this current phase of their struggle, must not let their movement be derailed by a newly discovered, self-declared ‘Islamist’ leadership, which is composed either of a section of delusional rank reactionaries, or of double-agents, willing to play the Indian state’s dirty game to subvert the movement for Azaadi in Kashmir.
Those who know the history of the Palestinian people know fully well that the divisions within Palestinian society were used to the hilt by the Israeli military occupiers, who promoted the direct precursors of Hamas, through the seventies and the eighties, by turning a blind eye to ‘Islamist’ politics in the , as a means of destabilizing the unity, achieved through struggle, of the movement against the occupation of Palestinian lands. The result, several decades later, is a sclerotic, divided Palestinian resistance, more content with fighting within than with struggling against the enemy without, more busy acting in accord with the conflicting agendas of cynical puppeteers in Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia (who express nothing other than a ‘token’ sympathy with Palestinians in order to mask the stench of their own regimes)
The bogey of ‘Islam in Danger’ in Kashmir is an instrument wielded by the clients of the shadowy operatives of the Indian state. The Iranian regime, as is to be expected, is also playing its dubious part. These may at first seem to be at cross purposes, but in reality, they are not very different from each other. Both have a stake (coming from different directions) in diluting the popular content of Kashmiri resistance into a ‘pan-Islamic’ movement that loses its specificity, its acuteness and sharpness, and begins to degenerate into the rhetorical banality of global Islamism – a chimera that can very conveniently mean all things to all people, and nothing at all to those it claims directly to represent.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently supported the objective reality of the Indian occupation of Kashmir. It has done this in order to bolster its own doctrine of suppressing the Kurds, Iranian Arabs and other Iranian minorities and to irritate Pakistan, which it has always seen as a client state of the USA, and with which it has issues of its own.
This said, factions within the current Iranian regime may appear to be moving in the direction of thinking of a replacement of Indian power in Kashmir, but this does not by any means signify that it wants to see the emergence of a stable and independent Kashmir. Its new found concern for Kashmir does not stem from a genuine sympathy for Kashmir, but out of its own geo-political concerns. It is competing with India to be a regional hegemon, and its dabbling in Kashmir’s troubled waters is just an indication of the moves it is preparing to make. Kashmiri people by and large (with the exception of a few gentlemen in the separatist camp) have few illusions about the dubiousness of successive Pakistani state sponsored support for the ‘Kashmir Cause’. It would be at tragedy if this measure of mature realism about Pakistan were to be replaced by an untimely and credulous enthusiasm for the cynical moves of the current Iranian regime.
The wider world (beyond the reach of the cliches of the self-declared leadership of the so-called Muslim umma, which never cared fundamentally for the fates of struggling people anywhere, within or without the Islamicate sphere) is just about beginning to be interested again, (and about time) in Kashmir. For this wider world to be suddenly confronted by images of bigots who burn schools in rage against bigots who burn pages from the scriptures is to virtually ensure that it’s interest rapidly turns into indifference, if not into disdain. The people of Kashmir cannot afford to let that happen at this crucial juncture in their history. They must remember, that some fires, like the fire in the Reichstag in Berlin, at the beginning of Nazi power, are started precisely by those in power in order to put down the flames of liberty, and to give resistance a bad name. I hope that the people of Kashmir are not fooled into witnessing Kashmir’s own distributed and dispersed version of the Reichstag Fire.
It is time that the broad masses of the people of Kashmir, and their friends outside Kashmir, understood this very simple fact. Stick to what is happening on the ground, to the evil that men do to men, women and children. Let offences against God and faith, be taken care of by God, if, whoseover he or she is, so desires. And, burn nothing – neither books, nor buildings, nor schools, nor places of refuge or worship, nor the remaining chances of the forging of a new, exemplary language of resistance in Kashmir.
END
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 
I am aghast by the deaths and destruction the valley has witnessed over the last few months. The latest being the bloodiest of all. But this article is a bit baffling. I hope the author is not suffering from temporary amnesia. He has pointed out (with unjustified emphasis) on the recent arsoning of the school which was caused by different sets of mobs and, “at least one led by Ali Sofi, the leader of the ruling NC”. Thus, claiming that a grand conspiracy in place in a bid to digress from real issues at hand crafted by some nexus between the NC-the centre and the intelligence agencies. If he was following the events of the last few months then I do not understand why he chose to ignore or severely dillute the other incidents of mob violence and arsoning. Be it the one on Eid, or the one where an ammunition depot was set on fire (some hapless protesters died as well) or be it the arsoning of the tehsildar’s office. Yes, they did not have the anti-American or anti-Christian fervour. But fallacy of the argument proposed by the author that arsoning in the name of protesting the Quran burning is an intentional ploy to ‘Islamize the Azaadi movement’ and hence discrediting it is that its devoid of any empirical evidence and historicity. Since the days of militancy there is a large scale Islamization of the Kashmiri freedom movement. Forced exodus of Pundits, increasing popularity of hardcore Islamic ‘terror’ groups and intifada-like protests. Even the recent Eid protest (as one can see from the photographs) was distinctly Islamic in fervour. I am not contesting the pros and cons here. May be Islam as a cohesive force is the way to gain freedom and I will be more than willing to admit that the people over there deserve their freedom after decades of repression. Though its impractical to think that Pakistan is just another nation across the border and giving Azaadi to Kashmir is going to settle the issues, but nevertheless a national aspiration as strong as in Kashmir cannot be straightjacketed as insurgency. However, I do not see the need to shy away from certain ground realities just to make your case politically correct, Mr. Sengupta.
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Dear Devadeep,
I am not at all unaware of the Islamist, or Islamic, or Islamicate character of significant sections of the movement for Azaadi in Jammu and Kashmir, and have commented on this feature in the past. Nor do I pretend or profess to wish it away, or to ignore its implications. I will respond to your points in this regard a little later. But first let me respond to your general point on violence.
I must also make it very clear that I have no problem in principle, at all, with crowds setting fire to structures that are symbols of a hated state’s control, provided there is no injury, or, loss of life involved, and adequate warning is given to all those who are within such structures to evacuate them. Bringing down a structure of state power is not necessarily violence. It may, at times be tactically necessary in order to safeguard specific gains of a large scale popular movement, or even to act against the locus of violence in a given situation. My definition of violence is restricted and simple – it pertains to injury inflicted without reference to self-defence or to causing grievous harm that amounts to loss of life. So far, not a single soldier, no paramilitary personnel have lost their lives in the last few months of turmoil. Some soldiers/paramilitary personnel have been injured by stone pelters who have acted in self defence when fired upon. On the other hand, ninety (maybe more) lives have been lost to bullets fired by the security forces. It is not the crowds on the streets of Kashmir who have, in this instance, been violent. Rather, they have faced the most brutal violence of the state, without taking recourse to firearms and lethal weapons. So let’s be clear about where the violence comes from, (it does not come from the street) and who perpetuates it on whom.
However, burning a school, or a library, or a hospital or a cinema is not the same thing as burning a building that houses a section of the state administration or a police station. Burning a school is an attack on society, burning a police station or a CRPF bunker is an attack on the state. While I have no ethical problem in countenancing an attack on the state (I am prepared to discuss when and where it may or may not be tactically necessary to do so, and there can be no absolute positions, only contingent choices), I have severe ethical as well as pragmatically tactical problems with mounting an attack on society at large. In Kashmir, we have seen CRPF personnel attack hospitals, and we are now seeing statist politicians attack schools. These are instances of organs of the state, attacking society. I am merely suggesting that the people of Kashmir need to be clear and careful about which insitution or structure may be necessary to attack at which time, and for what reason. The state would like the general popular insurrection in Kashmir to turn away from targetting it (the state) and attacking society instead. The slogan of ‘islam in danger’ is especially useful in this regard. Because it can be used. and in fact has been used, to target sections of society that are not nominally nmuslim. These include the minorities in Kashmir, and places of worship and educational institutions associated with them. This has happened before, and it must not be allowed to happen again. It does the greatest damage to Kashmiri society. And it objectively helps the Indian state in attributing intolerance and immaturity to Kashmiri society.
I am also saying, that the ideas of ‘Islam in Danger’, or, the ‘Glory of Islam’ are equally open to being used by pro-Azaadi currents, as well as by currents that would seek to subvert and destabilize the pro-Azaadi current, if expediency so requires. In all the talk of ‘Islamisn’ in Kashmir, scarcely anyone ever mentions the fact that the full name of the dreaded counter insurgency force – ‘The Ikhwan’ was actually, Ikhawn-al-Muslimeen’ (the Muslim Brohtherhood). The ideological foundations of the Ikhwan, which have rarely been examined, involve genuflections in the direction of the ‘muslim’ duty to protect the legitimately founded organs of state power, and are just as awash in Islamist thinking as that of any ‘dyed in the wool’ Islamist-Separatist currents in Kashmir.The Ikhwan was and remainst ostensibly, nominally and practically, as islamist as some of its antagonists.
My specific intervention (in the text under discussion) is by way of an appeal to those who would care to listen to me in Kashmir, not to get carried away, at this juncture, by the red-herring of an invocation to combat the shadow of an isolated incident of some pages of the Quran being burnt somewhere, halfway across the world. The incident’s occurrence or non-occurrence have no bearing on the contours of the military occupation of the Kashmir valley, or the fate that befalls the people of Kashmir.
Moreover, I have reason to believe that from a strictly ‘Islamic’ point of view, it would be legitimate to argue, that it is the prerogative of divine power, not human agency, to act against an offence directed at God. And therefore, that even those who claim to be sincere Islamists within the pro-Azaadi movement, would be acting within the highest traditions of Islamic piety by completely ignoring insults aimed at their faith and their notion of the divine. To have the protesting crowds on the street be distracted by this event, would not only lay them open to the charge of arrogating to themselves, what is strictly only within the domain of the divine, but also to suit the ruling power eminently, which is precisely why we see agents of the ruling power (what else are NC politicians ?) acting to achieve this end.
My point, simply, ultimately, is this – if you are a believing Muslim, as the vast majority of people in Kashmir are, then, you do not have any reason to act against an offence aimed at divinity. If, on the other hand, you do not act against crimes against humanity (which the Indian state perpetuates in Kashmir) with sufficient robustness, or are distracted from doing so, by your obsession with an insult to the faith (which then leads you to act against society), then, ironically, you would be failing in living up to the strict standards of the religiously ordained injunction to focus one’s energies against the oppressions that humanity has to endure.
To focus unduly on ‘insults to Islam’ in this context, when the immediate setting is of a brutal assault on human life and dignity, would end up in making the person who does so, a really ‘bad’ Muslim. So, those self declared ‘Islamists’ who want to direct the entire attention of the people’s movement in the direction of assaults and defences of the faith, are actually setting (from the religious point of view) a bad example.
Finally, let me make it very clear, I have no patience with ‘politically correct’ arguments. I am not for a moment suggesting that Islamists are not present in the popular movements in Kashmir. I oppose them, in Kashmir, in Palestine, in Pakistan, in Kosovo, in Afghanistan, in Iran, and wherever they exist in the Islamicate world, because I abhor their politics and their vision of life, even as I oppose the militarized occupation of Kashmir by the Indian State, or of Palestinian territories by the State of Israel.
And let me make it clear that I am not in opposition to them because of some ‘secular-liberal’ concern about separating religion from politics either. I oppose them, because i find the specificity of their politics abhorrent, and by this I mean, current Islamism’s obsessions with interdictions in the realm of personal life, its misogyny and homophobia, its blindness to questions of class and gender, and its willingness to endorse the acts of suitably ‘Islamist’ tyrannies, all equally, abhorrent to me, just as I find the politics of a great deal of secular ‘nationalism’ abhorrent, not because of their relationship, or non-relationship, to faith, as such.
If there were to be an ‘Islamicate’ politics that were willing to engage with the rich vein of debates and dissenting voices within the Islamic tradition, that were willing to foreground issues of class, gender and ecology, (as some currents within ‘Liberation Theology’ tried to do, before they were cracked down upon by the current conservative backlash in the Vatican), then I would have no problems in seeking them out as allies, even if they did not conform to the anaemic requirements of ‘liberal-secularism’. But such currents are few and far between in the Muslim world today (they are not entirely absent either) and to my limited knowledge, they are not present as an organized force in Kashmir. This absence, (of the non-secular, but emancipatory space of a faith based Islamic politics) does not tie me down. I can only hope that it will emerge, in the course of the struggle for the self-fashioning of Kashmiri society, in counterpoint to, and in dialogue with, the secular nationalist, secular non-nationalist as well as islamist currents in Kashmir, because it can only enrich the conversation. But in its absence, I see no reason to be paralysed by its absence, into a needless reticent about the fact that Indian nationalism (both secular as well as non-secular) has been a failure, at least as far as Kashmir is concerned.
I hope this clarifies my position in the matter.
regards
Shuddha
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You are quoting fanatic barbarian terrorist Geelani’s statement. LET, LTTE, JEM, TTP and various other terrorist organisations and their mouthpieces issue exactly the same statements after drenching their hands in the blood of innocent civlians. You expect them to be taken seriously?
The violence seen in Kashmir, after anti-hindu pogrom and ethnic cleansing presided over by the likes of animal Geelani and his Pakistani paymasters, is simply a continuation of the gradual Saudi-Arabisation of Kashmir. It is not some conspiracy by the ‘Indian state’ as you are alleging, without any proof. How about if I allege that your articles are paid for by ISI?
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Robert, a quick clarification, I have made a specific point, about the arson attack on a branch of a well regarded missionary school in Tangmarg. This attack was led by Ali Mohammed Sofi, who is not a separatist, he is, as I have indicated, a well known local level leader of the ‘loyalist’ National Conference Party which currently administers Jammu and Kashmir. The National Conference is a pro-India party. If the arson attack is led by a pro-India politician, then, we can hardly say that it is the handiwork of separatists. If on the other hand a separatist leader like Ali Shah Geelani condemns the arson attack, and calls for restraint and non-violence in protests against the ‘Pages of the Quran Burning’ incident, then, in that case, we cannot hold him responsible for something that he has not actually done. You have to hold the perpetrator responsible for the crime. You cannot have an absurd situation where the person who indulges in the arson, and does so openly, goes scot free, and the person who condemns the arson is held guilty. We cannot afford to pretend that such an absurdity can stand to reason, or to justice, Just because the arsonist happens to be pro-india, and the person appealing for restraint happens to be a separatist. I hope I have made my point clear.
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WOW Sengupta – you really try hard dont you ? So does this noble idea of “Kashmiri Resistance ” include hindus ? Guess not – because most hindus ran away from Kashmir after many of then were killed and their women raped by the brave practitioners of this “Kashmiri Resistance” that you speak so highly of.
Are the buddhists in Leh a part of this brave resistance ? Guess not. The Sikhs atleast ? Nope. Infact even the shias of Kasrgil do not want to be a part of this wonderful “Kashmiri Resistance” thing.
Truth is , this “Kashmiri Resistance” thing is in reality a Communal Kashmiri Muslim Separatist Hatred of Kufr thing. That is the reality that you and your fellow anti-India folks want the world to ignore. But your strategy is not working.
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Shudda, where did you find the news that arson incident was the work of the person you name, and the fact that he is NC proxy?
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@Robert – The source for the information that Ali Mohammed Sofi, who instigated the burning of the branch of the Tyndale Biscoe School in Tangmarg is given in the posting itself. It is a news item in the Indian Express. Here it is again –
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/valley-fires-rage-omar-feels-the-delhi-chill/681260/0
best Shuddha
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Your overall point should be addressed to Muslims in general (and perhaps conservatives in any religion) that one should not react to stray incidents, that too when it is clear the person doing that is in the fringe and is not taken seriously. One should also not engage in violence, whatever be the provocation. I agree with those points.
Only, that needs to be pointed out in general context, not in the Kashmir context that too as a way of encouraging the separatists there and getting them to become Gandhians. That is impossible, they have to reverse the ethnic cleansing to start with. And stop bombing trains and markets.
Even if one were to agree that Indian state is playing games there, compare the games with what is being played AGAINST it, by the fanatic barbarians and Pakistanis and see if the response is proportionate. I would say it is too wimpy.
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You know Sengupta , your mentality (and by extension the mentality of your fellow travellers / comrades) can be determined by this single statement…
you say :
“Some soldiers/paramilitary personnel have been injured by stone pelters who have acted in self defence when fired upon.”
Thats very interesting. Instead of the soldiers shooting in self-defence to the stones pelted by the Communal Kashmiri Sunni Separatists (for thats what they really are)….. you say it is the reverse.
You are very smart. There was a man called Goebbels who said something about telling a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. You seem to be an ardent disciple of that man.
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Another piece of verbose sophistry! Funny how every single “action” can somehow be twisted to represent the “ugly face of the Indian state”…
for Shuddha and those who attempt to intellectualise (and legitimise) each aspect of the so-called “azadi” movement, a few basic questions never seem to nuance their position:
1. When the Hizbul Mujahideen (and JKLF too) drove the Kashmiri pandits out of the valley, the slogan was “azaadi ka matlab kya, la ilaha illallah”…Are we to suppose that the intent in 1989 was anything other than of an islamic caliphate?
2. In form, shape and rhetoric, is there any articulation of the so-called azaadi that is in anyway different from the ideological basis of Pakistan? All the “independence wallahs” talk in generalities, shorn of the sophistry (yet again), azaadi is nothing but a duplication of another islamic state….
Given the above, why should the Indian nation, above all its 130 million muslims, be at all sympathetic to the Kashmiri cause? What happens to those Indian muslims if there is a second partition on religious lines? 6 million kashmiri muslims v/s 1.2 billion Indians – the equation is too lop-sided…
And Geelani? To bestow upon him the title of a “peacemaker” is laughable..A man of singular lack of integrity – he accpets pension and expensive medical treatment paid by the Indian taxpayer, but talks of a merger with Pakistan….He encourages young men to spend their days in agitation (and nights on work – whatever that means!), but none of his own children are anywhere close to any “agitation”….And he is the new icon of the liberal cognoscenti?!!!
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A lot of procrastinating and too many factions to
understand but what I do understand is that the majority of Kashmir residents are being used as
pawns in many games.
So sad, such a peaceful gentle race they do not deserve the treatment dished out by the Indian
Gov’t, the polititians with their agendas or their own fanatical insurgents.
For the love of God, Muhammed, Buddha or whowever give the Kashmiri people a chance of peace. I believe in people power pure and simple but suggesting they all rally together and demonstrate would be a mistake under the ircumstances, maybe if the world was truelly watching, (not a CNN media hyped video), then things could change-get people amongst this and then the world would really see the oppression and manipulation of the people of Kashmir as I have. I am an Australian, I believe in a greater being I believe in religious freedom-I do not believe in intimidation, murder, rape or any form of violence to achieve any means whether it be by
state, individuals or religious fanatics. Holy Wars are a joke-what is HOLY about war on each other for any reason.!!!!!!!!
Kashmir is in my thoughts and prayers.
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An interesting article about the so-called leaders of the “azaadi” movement…while instigating Kashmiri kids to come out on the streets and risk life and limb, their own kith are safely ensconced away….Many of them earn (a good) living out of the “hated” Indian polity…
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100919/main2.htm
Hypocrisy rules – and people like Shuddha dont think twice before anointing such people as principled exemplars!
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And how different is this from those Indians who love to criticise the USA but nonetheless lose no opportunity to visit it or to avail themselves of Ford Foundation grants and the like? Indeed, many feel bitter when the US embassy denies them visas.
A long time ago, Ainslie Embree (in one of the essays in his lovely book Imagining India: Essays on Indian History) observed this and noted that this was not so bizarre after all. For many, if not all, leftists the critique of the USA does make sense at a “theoretical” or if you will, the “ideological” level. However, at a “personal” level, people (including leftists) want the best for themselves and their children. This is why many lose no opportunity to go there or send their kids there.
Is this hypocrisy? Perhaps: but if so, a lot of people are susceptible to such inconsistencies and discovering them is not difficult at all. We in India have always been aware that the “free world” in the US terminology of the cold war era included many patently non-democratic regimes like Pakistan, or even worse, apartheid South Africa. In the movie My son, the fanatic, one of the strongest lines is delivered by Om Puri to the (actor playing the role of the) Pakistani cleric who is a strong critic of UK society but nonetheless wants to immigrate there. I can count myself in this number: I benefited from state funding of higher education but would nonetheless like to see this funding cut back if not removed altogether.
So the behaviour of Kashmiri separatists is not surprising at all. For me, “hypocrisy” as you term it is not relevant at all. But then I guess you are one of those whose behaviour is totally consistent.
I know for sure I will regret responding to you but couldn’t help it. Feel free to have the last word.
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My previous comments on the article expressing outrage on the naked video were deleted by the mods. One specific issue I had raised in those comments was that the rules of engagement which the Indian Armed forces follow in Kashmir are among the best when it comes to minimizing civilian deaths and often result in significantly higher casualties for the forces, especially the officers who true to the tradition they swore to defend, lead from the front.
Wonder what does Shuddha have to say about this video which shows how the Pakistani Army deals with miscreants in Swat?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOic1aMb_zQ&feature=player_embedded
(If it has been removed: They were lined up and shot). Not unlike how one of Pakistan’s masters the Chinese deal with dissidents (> 10K executions per year in China).
BTW, I am glad that you clarified your views on Islamists. Perhaps, you should take the next step in your study of Islamists to learn where they succeeded, and where they failed.
Islamists grow by the cult of violence. They suppress all internal dissent with violence; the sword (or the gun) reigns supreme. So far in the 14 centuries of Islamism, the only way to curb militant Islam has been to face its violence with violence the Islamists too fear. Whether it was Andulasia or the Gates of Vienna, the retreat of the Islamists required a military victory followed by a decision to utterly and completely decimate the ideology.
You can not negotiate peace with an ideology which treats your existence as unfinished business, and has a stubborn persistence built upon blind faith. Any compromise is viewed as a sign of weakness; any peace a temporary truce.
Unless and until, the Islamist virus, is removed from the conscious of Muslims world-wide, the war will continue.
People who question the tactics used in the battle against the Islamists, help ensure that the level of internal dissent that the Islamist has to face remains in check. They help feed the persecution/victimhood complex that is a valuable tool in the arsenal of the Islamist to keep the flock in check.
You need to know the enemy before you worry about the assault on the values you hold dear.That is essential for the survival of the freedoms you cherish so much.
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Read Salim Haq article to read the other side of conflict.
‘The colour of ‘Azaadi’ cannot be green or saffron’
Link:
http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/sep/24/slide-show-1-the-colour-of-azaadi-cant-be-green-or-saffron.htm
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Extremely good and important piece, more so when it comes from a non-kashmiri.
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