A Letter from USA!

Greater Kashmir
Perspective
28th May 2009

VIEW POINT

I have been in the US for just over a month now and I can only describe my initial observations and experiences of this great country in two words - awe inspiring! The purpose of my visit here, as Americans would describe it, is to "seek out a little silence" . I am very grateful to the US embassy for making the visa process easy for young Kashmiris like myself, unlike some other countries whose visa process in itself is a nerve wrecking experience. I am certain that the more interaction there is between young people of Kashmir and other westerners when they visit countries such as America, the more hope there is that we can learn from their success and replicate it back home. All human civilizations and peoples around the world have the potential and capabilities of defeating fundamentalism, poverty, chaos, hatred and corruption, and also possess the means to cooperate together so that their neighbourhoods, villages, towns, and cities have some semblance of belonging to the 21st century. Yet why is it that democracy in its true sense is only exercised in western countries? and why is a strong community spirit and civic sense only present in citizens of those western countries and not among fellow citizens back home in Kashmir?
I am not for one second implying that Indian democracy is not genuine or that it is flawed. What I am suggesting is that democratic values and morals have yet to permeate the deepest psyche of Indians . I am linking democratic values with civic sense because I believe they are strongly interlinked. Some readers will perhaps disagree with me even before reading this full article and argue that my initial assertion is inherently flawed because I am comparing oranges with apples. They will note the difference in population between India and EU and North American countries and use this to attempt a justification for the slow pace of development in India. They will finally make the case that India has only had 60 years since gaining independence while most western countries were once colonisers who robbed their colonies of wealth, or some others, like the US, who themselves were colonies but have had a good head start of over 150 years. While this is true, India has only been an independent country for just over sixty years and the infrastructural development has been taking place in leaps and bounds during this time, I somehow feel that the malls and flyovers are a mere facade that hides the real problem that is holding India back. In my opinion, the problem lay with our society as a whole and not just with a gargantuan population or bad governance.
In my opinion, democracy should not only run top-down, which means that the government espouses democratic values, as well as bottom-up, which means that people can freely elect and choose their law makers, but democracy should also run sideways or horizontal, which means that people should be respectful of the rights of their fellow citizens. What I mean by this is that practising democracy should not simply end when citizens cast their votes to elect their representatives, but rather, democratic values should encompass each and every interaction that a person has with their fellow citizens. This is one of the biggest differences that I have observed during my stay in America. Everything that is different in America has to do with how people treat their fellow citizens, their public places, and other amenities that they have to share with their community. In other words, people are respectful of others and follow common sense so as not to infringe upon the democratic rights of their fellow citizens.
Some readers might be perplexed about what I mean by infringing upon a fellow citizens democratic rights; after all, no one in India is holding a gun to someone's head in broad day light to do something they do not want to - at least not regularly, because I am not referring to crime here. The democratic rights of fellow citizens that I am referring to has to do with common everyday interaction with a person's neighbours, community and fellow countrymen and women. I believe that a person's democratic right to a clean environment is trampled every time they have to walk through someone else's trash that people are careless enough to just dump out on public roads. I also believe that a person's democratic right to safe roads is trampled when rash drivers ignore traffic laws, and cause traffic chaos and traffic jams. Most important of all, I believe that a person's democratic right to liberty is trampled when their fellow citizens discriminate against them because of their ethnicity, religion, or caste.
Sadly, our Indian society as a whole still has yet to come out of its self imposed shell to treat our fellow citizens with respect regardless of our ethnic backgrounds. In contrast, I find Americans very law abiding and mind their own business. Many readers will probably cite various stories of institutionalized racism and discrimination in America that we hear every now and then. But the common theme and conclusion in stories like those is that something is done about those incidents by the authorities. The law takes its course, and the guilty are brought to justice no matter how high up the position they occupy in government. Can we, in India, truly claim that accusations of torture or harassment by Kashmiris against police or Hindutva radicals in other parts of India are investigated by the authorities, and the guilty brought to justice ? Sadly, these events are simply reported in the local papers one day and that is the last we hear of these cases. The victims never see justice. This is totally in contrast to how incidents similar to these are treated in the US, where all claims of excessive force by the police are treated very seriously.
I hope that we all realize that each and every interaction we have with our fellow citizens is an opportunity to exercise democracy. The opportunity to treat others like we would ourselves like to be treated. Something to think about the next time we dump garbage in front of our neighbour's house or on sidewalks, or when we disobey traffic laws to make our way through traffic, or when we vandalise public property, or when we speak poorly of other religions or sects, or when we witness our fellow citizens become victims of injustice and choose not to speak up. Yes these are indeed examples of how democracy has yet to permeate our society and how the Americans practice them daily and is a part of their life
And Finally, I guess most of Indians are stubborn enough and will never concede that we can learn a lot from the Americans. After all, if they were mature enough to overwhelmingly elect President Obama, a black man, to the highest office, we can at least agree that a majority of Americans are not racists. On the other hand, can we in India claim that most Indian citizens are able to look beyond their preconceived notions about Kashmiris and hypothetically elect him or her as Prime Minister or President of India? President Obama gave all Americans hope that every one of them can realize their dreams in this "land of opportunities". The day our fellow Indians from other states stand up and speak up if they witness a Kashmiri being a victim of harassment is when I will truly believe that the "Yes We Can" slogan that President Obama uses in America can also be used by all Kashmiris in other states of India. Until that day, I will continue to believe that democracy has yet to permeate and trickle down to the common masses of India.

http://paper.greaterkashmir.com/2852009/showtext.aspx?parentid=2997&boxid=23332315

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/today/full_story.asp?Date=28_5_2009&ItemID=22&cat=11

The Young India- Huh?

Congres party’s 201-seat tally has been the best ever since a long time now, The people of India clearly ignored communalism, caste-ism, and voted for stability.The youth power showed its existance.

The general election of 2009 has been significant for congress. The only reason congress staged a comeback was because of the youth brigade. The gen-next leaders of the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi,with the likes of Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Milind Deora, Priya Dutt and many more.People wanted new faces, young blood and new ideas. They got them elected . I am told that it is for the first time that millions of newly registered voters came out to vote but strangely none of the 19 minsters inducted in to the Manmohan Singh's cabniet belong to the youth catagory. Except Mamata banerjee off course who they claim is the youngest . Million dollars to Guess her age?

Whatever happens later , even if there is an induction and some young faces are inducted , it wont have the same effect as it would have on friday. The youth have and will be a target of all the leaders in india for their selfish gains.

Just received a Message in the autonomy group of Face Book,It say'z "How does it help kashmir with the happenings in the Indian ministry" .. Well a matter for debate...

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WE LACK LEADERSHIP?

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet





We have answered so many astonishing questions in the century gone by — can we put a man on the moon? How do atoms work? But mysteries endure, and even after a century, we are no closer to an answer for the greatest of historical questions: Where do leaders come from? It’s a lively question as we gaze at the pink morning of a new dawn, a question that vibrates with possibility and that engages both our hopes and fears: Who will be the Nalsen Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, or Khomeni of 2007? Will we have another Hitler? Who will rescue us from him? It's a historical tautology that leaders are generated by their times and that great issues produce great men. And while we can't predict the leaders of the next decade, let alone the century, we can at least glimpse the likely shape of their era.

While recent history was written at the intersection of ideologies — communism versus capitalism, fascism versus democracy — the end of the cold war has produced a collection of other, more subtle challenges. In places as diverse as Kosovo and Colombo, new history is being written in the blood of deep-seated ethnic panics. "Global politics is being reconfigured along Religions lines,” Political boundaries are increasingly redrawn to coincide with cultural ones: ethnic, religious and civilization." At the same time, much of the world is being remade by a global economy that has linked political openness to economic growth. Democracy, always a moral high ground, turns out to be good for business. But the idea that we are moving toward a single global culture is both wrong and dangerous. Economic strength and social mobility will unlock a new, more complex balance of power as even simple ideas about how we live our lives come into question.

It reminds me of President Musharaf Book “In the Line of Fire”. I personally found that book quite interesting and believe me for a generation I belong; it is an eye opener, about how a country can break in a jiffy if right decisions are not made at the right time . Many people suggested it as self proclamation but if a person who becomes the Army Chief of a country and then has the guts to become the president and Chief Executive, explains how he rose to become the most known faces of the world, in my opinion does not need to write a book to become a hero , He is already one!. The book explains how a leader has to become flexible in his decision. Had Pakistan decided to go the other way may be it would have been wiped out of the map. The general showed farsightedness and saved his country from destruction. It is he who brought Pakistan back on the track and don’t forget it is he who initiated the peace talks between India and Pakistan . Never in the history of subcontinent has a Pakistani ruler, not only gone out of way to talk of a purposeful and acceptable solution to Kashmir but also given one. You like it or not, he is emerging as a great leader and in the contemporary world a strong statesmen. According to his book “Leadership is inborn to a degree , but it can be acquired through effort , It is an art , not all science .It is an art of interacting and talking with people , it is the art of reacting to situations and is an art of meeting challenges, what most people like in most of our leaders, aside from his character is decisiveness, as well as boldness and a cool temperament . A leader must understand his environment in all its intricacy. He must always have a finger on the pulse of times. I read in one of the write ups from a UK tabloid that it is paradoxical that elsewhere the western countries talk of democracy but when it comes to Pakistan the choice is always the dictatorship. The army is not accountable and as long as the General is in uniform they have a say. I like many disagree with such an assertion, an average Pakistani has seen the futility of war and he has seen how regime after regime has exploited the situation. He wants peace and if it is available by an army men, why not..., hasn’t he done an excellent job! Like he puts it quite stringy that a leader has to have the ability to motivate, inspire them infuse confidence in them. The nation must see the leader perform upfront .Only a man of real substance can be a true leader. In such a queue, I find him on top!. Most people are seduced by the lure of the comfort zone. The average person, when he feels the storm swirling outside his comfort zone, rushes back inside where it’s nice and warm. But not the true leader. The true leader has the courage to step away from the familiar and comfortable zone and to face the unknown with no guarantees of success. It is this ability to “boldly go where no man has gone before” that distinguishes you as a leader from the average person. This is the example that you must set if you are to rise above the average. It is this example that inspires and motivates other people to rise above their previous levels of accomplishment as well. Alexander the Great, the king of Macedonia, was one of the most superb leaders of all time. He became king at the age of 19, when his father, Philip II, was assassinated. In the next 11 years, he conquered much of the known world, leading his armies against numerically superior forces.Yet, when he was at the height of his power, the master of the known world, the greatest ruler in history to that date, he would still draw his sword at the beginning of a battle and lead his men forward into the conflict. He insisted on leading by example. Alexander felt that he could not ask his men to risk their lives unless he was willing to demonstrate by his actions that he had complete confidence in the outcome. The sight of Alexander charging forward so excited and motivated his soldiers that no force on earth could stand before them.

Over the years, we have been led to believe that leaders are those who stride boldly about, exude power and confidence, give orders and make decisions for others to carry out. However, that is old school. The leader of today is the one who asks questions, listens carefully, plans diligently and then builds consensus among all those who are necessary for achieving the goals. The leader does not try to do it by himself or herself. The leader gets things done by helping others to do them. In the lighter vein as Groucho Marx puts it “Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men -- the other 999 follow women.

In the world where emails and communication are backbones of a VIBRANT nations there have been people from around the world who are fighting, with careful passion, for their beliefs.. We tend to beleive that we are living in peaceful times, but short, temporary bursts of tranquility have followed all the major wars of this century — think of the Roaring Twenties and the boom years of the 1950s. Today’s leaders have to ensure that the current era of peace and prosperity continues long after the close of the cold war. The next 100 years will bubble with questions that are as difficult as the ones we have faced in this century. Perhaps, because of their incredible subtlety, these questions are even more difficult. And our future leaders? Ultimately, just like Churchill and Reagan and Mandela, they will find the answers to these hard questions in their own hearts. If there is one lesson of the past 100 years, it is that conscience remains the truest guide. "A man does what he must," . We have wasted enough years hoping for the impossible. As I said in the beginning, the world geography has been changing every fifty years. May be it does someday. Till then let us opt for peace and progress. In the changed global context boundaries are disappearing and narrow nationalism is fast losing its appeal. Economy is preceding ideals and ideologies. We have entered an era where hollow slogans and destructive emotionalism have absolutely no relevance. It’s high time that people start taking decisions. As they rightly say “You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.

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