Kashmir as i see it !

Sunday, July 25, 2010

KASHMIR PROTESTS

The recent incidents have left a very unusual scar on me and my friends and have made us reflect upon our point of view. I was meeting some elderly people the other day and this is the first time in a decade that I found all of them grim faced. Hardly connected with international politics, their point of view had more weight than the experts sitting in the news rooms of New Delhi and sermonizing. Honestly, it became difficult for me to have a discussion with them. I have yet to find someone who disagrees with majority of people who demand solution but not peace, anyone I have come across in recent days is of the same opinion.

The killings in Kashmir have to be condemned in all possible ways, irrespective of religion or political ideology. I don’t think any leader of the mainstream or separatist disagrees that they are irrelevant today when people have taken the initiate themselves. The recent killings have left many things wide open; the peace process that was given maximum hype has been razed to ground. If you ask me I do not trust the present leadership of any political party be it the mainstream or the separatist. They have no vision, no clear cut policy and are not sure what to demand if they are asked. No wonder one of the FB update states that, if situation gets back to normal like it happened during the Amaranth land row or the Shopian incident then he will be the first person to raise an Indian flag over his roof top. This is the amount of anger right now in an average citizen.

Every things has to be dealt with experience, a person doesn’t become an expert overnight but its takes ages to make one. My question to the experts in New Delhi is how many paramilitary personnel have been killed by the so called “Frenzy Mob”? You learn by your experiences and you decide your future course of action by what you have seen before. Ironically not even a single paramilitary official or Jawan has been ever killed by a stone pelter but in “retaliation” you have killed almost 15 young kids, how do you justify this? Having said that I do not approve stone pelting personally and I think none of us should. By implying that youth are dumb and can be used by anybody tantamount to insulting the aspiration of the youth and then they have all the reasons to justify their retaliation. Can’t you see this that they are giving this news more space then the genuine problems faced by an average Kashmir? Let people know that we demand our rights peacefully. If we condemn all forms of violence by the security forces then how can we approve stone pelting which is again a form of violence? Even the United States said that it regretted the loss of lives in Kashmir and asked “protestors to conduct agitations in a peaceful manner.

I was looking for the definition of stooping too low and couldn’t get a better answer than the Indian media repeating a tapped conversation between two people who according to them have orchestrated the whole series of killings in Kashmir. I guess this is their way of justifying the killings of young people? I don’t know how authentic the tapes are but for heaven’s sake 15 people have been mercilessly killed, have some remorse, the majority of them were school going kids . You can’t treat kids in the rest of the country with empathy and compassion but when it comes to Kashmir, bullet is your only answer. If this is not absurd I wonder what is.

The internet is abuzz with protests all over the world. Kashmiris for once have been seen united in an effort to send out a very strong message to the rest of the world that Kashmir needs a solution. I guess that’s the only way people can vent their anger. I had a very healthy discussion with my friends on the internet about changing their profile pictures with a black background “iprotest” one . Unexpectedly it has spread like wild fire and every second person has done so. Similarly some of my friends have started a group with the same name which swelled to around 1900 members in 4 days, the group’s main page reads “iProtest is a campaign for international awareness against human rights abuse in J&K India” it strikes you attention with it initial line that it’s an A-political group. Amazingly it has members from all across the world and from different faiths. Internet has become a strong medium for arguments and counter arguments on the recent happenings in Kashmir, while I kick started a discussion as to how would changing of a profile picture help the families of the persons killed. I must admit that I received some very articulate and thought provoking answers. I will use some of them that made sense to me and I am sure it will for the readers as well. While the discussion started with reasons to believe that this is a sudden emotional outburst and everything will be as normal as before because for a nation to be independent one needs to sacrifice. If nothing happened when Amarnath land row cost us 22 young people in one day and a total of 62, and again Shopian, there are all the reasons that same thing will happen now also.

More talks, more speeches and more FB accounts don’t get you Independence but Unity and Intifada does. In response to these arguments, my friend Mehnaz wrote “Do u think that there is a way of recuperation for those who lost their young ones? No power on earth can heal their wounds!! As far as changing of display picture is concerned atleast all of us who have done it are doing their bit by registering their protest. Similarly, Ishfaq wrote, “By changing our picture back to normal would only mean that somewhere deep down we feel that our protest has made a mark, however small. Raja adds, “Tanvir i wish we could take out a candle march but we would be shot as well. It's being sensitive and showing concern. Nobody can bring back the dead but at least we can mourn and show concern this way”.

Babar in his counter argument says “Don't talk about hollow protests if you're not willing to make the sacrifices yourself. If you are willing to boycott Indian culture, give up watching their TV, boycott their movies and songs, then that is sacrifice worth being proud about. Otherwise pontificating others about your profile picture just displays your hypocrisy”. Humayun adds to the comment saying that it’s fruitless and futile. Want your voice heard? Using media (especially international) is your best bet. Changing a Facebook picture is just plain feckless, he personally believes it will take a lot more than changing a Facebook profile picture to make a difference”. There are many more comments but my space doesn’t allow me to write all of them. One thing is clear that young educated people have taken the initiate in their own hands. They believe that leadership should be among them and not among people who sit in their palatial houses and sermonize while young people lose their lives. If you ask an average citizen about the happening they would blame first the leadership than anything else.

I hope better sense prevails on our separatist leaders when they decide their future course of action and similarly with mainstream ones. For a lasting solution, we need convergence of views and consensus on a possible solution otherwise everybody will be toeing their own way. As someone rightly said, the need of the hour is a solution not peace but at the same time we should avoid any form of violence. The youth of the contemporary world denounce any form of violence unless drawn to it because as justifiably suggested by Supriya Soni a member of i protest team that “people who live by guns die by guns”.


Wednesday, July 07, 2010

....and we stand stunned!

KASHMIR BLEEDS .....


In the promo of the new flick of the Bollywood “Lamhaa”, Sanjay Dutt says “Mein Kashmir Mein Huun , Duniya ki Sabsay Khatarnak Jageh” ( I’m in Kashmir , the most dangerous place in the world)… Dangerous it is... 11 people killed in one week including a nine year old child and news keeps on pouring. Sanjay’s statement sounds a true reflection of today’s Kashmir.
You can’t kill people at will and expect them not to protest. Protests are the strongest tool of democracy and no power on earth can stop that. Similarly silence does not help anyone but addressing the cause does. It’s time for India to get over its obsessed notion that they can get things done by a bullet but in the bargain they are creating more anger and hate to the extent never seen in Kashmir. People in the country are answerable to their conscience, if they claim to follow Ahimsa and internationally try to stand on a high moral ground. How hallow it is, has to be witnessed in Kashmir of today. If you remember that during the trail of Jassica Lal’s murder case the whole of India including the media went into frenzy to get justice for her. Similarly when the Mumbai attack happened in which innocent people died, people from different walks of life including Kashmiris stood up to condemn the killings and same was with the Nithari murder case and numerous such examples where Indians have been united to get justice for their people. Then why this double standards when something more barbaric happens in Kashmir where 11 people are mercilessly killed in one week including a 9yr old boy. Not even a single voice was raised from the length and breadth of India condemning these horrendous killings. To rub salt on the wounds the paramilitary comes out with the most bizarre statement saying they fired in self defense only to retract later, saying they never fired. Was a nine year old kid strong enough to challenge the whole Indian military might that he was killed? Do you approve of it? Aren’t we humans or its only about the land that you love. Why is it that when it comes to Kashmir Humans rights have no value? I am surprised with the statements of the CRPF trying to tell us that they are the only righteous people around and all others are lying. The comment of the Home Secretary G.K Pillai, that CRPF has shown restraint in not firing and that all these people who were killed are not innocent is, to say the least, ridiculous. He commended his forces for doing a great job. This shows how insensitive they are to the sufferings of the people. He says that the Nine year old kid was kept in front to be killed. Either he is too naive to the actual happenings or maybe they are up to something.

The past few days rumors were rife that Omar Abdullah was to resign and lots of social networking sites asking for it, which the CM empathetically set aside in his press conference. I can’t speak on behalf of Omar nor do I have the right to do so. I condemn the killings as all others do. No civil society would approve the use of brutal force against people. As I had said in my earlier article that killing should never be an option, but having said that I don’t understand how it would help to calm the situation if Omar Abdullah resigns. Can anyone please tell me? and who after him? The one who is responsible for bringing armed forces including the demon Jagmohan to Kashmir or the other who started the whole Amaranth controversy and the Chalo phobia or are you talking about the one who was more interested in his pillion rides, or are we talking about the turn coat who cannot set his house in order and doesn’t even know why is he, where he is. Name one person worth his salt to head the state. Why would we oppose someone who is clearly the most 'no-nonsense' CM Kashmir has ever seen in recent times. I do not want to be a loudmouth who opposes just because conventional wisdom dictates that. Wasn’t It on his intervention that the Machhil fake encounter surfaced? Was anyone aware of it ? Did anyone protest or demand an inquiry? Things would have been long forgotten had he not put his foot down and asked for all encounters to be re-examined. Now that an unfortunate incident like this has happened you can’t blame him for this when the force in question is directly under the control of the centre. Even then the CM had asked the CRPF in clear terms that no fire arms should be used, but even then they disobeyed. In such a situation if someone has to resign then it should be the Home Minister P. Chidambaram. If he offered his resignation when 73 CRPF personnel were killed by Maoist in West Bengal why doesn’t he resign today when the same force has unleashed a reign of terror against the innocent citizens of his country. If he cannot tame his forces he has no right to head them. It’s under his direction that these forces work here. These armed forces are armed with impunity under the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act, and their acts are beyond the purviews of the judiciary or the state government. The readers are intelligent enough to understand this. I know it’s difficult to comprehend the fact that young people are getting killed and we have all the reasons to get emotionally charged up and condemn the killings but blaming Omar without knowing the reality is being dishonest.

As Omar said in his press conference I also feel that the political parties have become traders of death. They look out for someone to get killed so they would get an opportunity to exploit the situation. They are equally responsible for the situation that Kashmir is in now. And finally, if you want to help, come up with some concrete ideas about how to stop this. Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.
This post appeared in the Greater kashmir .

A video I made on history of Kashmir. All feedback's are welcome.

Various Rallies of Tanviir Sadiq

Tanvir Sadiq

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