jammu & kashmir democratic process: conversion into...
TRANSCRIPT
Website:www.panunkashmir.org Email: [email protected]
Vol. 16, No: 5,6 June, 2011 Pages 20 Price Rs. 20/-
EDITORIALDeny the Separatists the
support within India........Pg 3
GUEST COLUMNAre Radicalized Hindus more
dangerous than LeT..........Pg 4
OPINIONRamlila Maidan:
Sonia Maino Gandhi’s
GESTAPO Project...............Pg 5
TUMULTUOUS VALLEYPC’s Indian Geelani...........Pg 7
MEDIA SCANRoadmap for Kashmir-the
path not trodden.............Pg 8
THE PLACE VALUELalded Consciousness.......Pg 9
BOOK REVIEWThoughts about
Homeland......................Pg 11
CONCERNIndeed Sad....................Pg 11
YOUTH COLUMNThe Exile Continues........Pg 12
HERITAGEProspects of Heritage
in Jammu.......................Pg 13
ASTROLOGYWant to own a
House.............................Pg 14
PHILOSOPHYPhilosophy-
A synoptic view-III..........Pg 15
RITUALSMaha Shivratri-
Revisting Kashmir-XIII....Pg 16
INSIDE PAKISTANNoor Ki Shaadi................Pg 17
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS.................................Pg 18, 19
Let Truth Prevail
Dr Ajay Chrungoo
TTHEHE developments inthe Middle East havecertainly created an
impact in Jammu andKashmir which witnessed adisturbed last summer. Thehappenings in Egypt andelsewhere have almost evap-orated the public demoraliza-tion in Kashmir valley thathad set in after the failed‘Quit Kashmir’ campaignand once again created ahope amongst the rank andfile of the separatists thattheir tactics on the streetmay bear fruits in the nearfuture.
The ‘Quit Kashmir’ cam-paign relied on a semi violentmass mobilization and non-cooperation methodologyresorting to sustained stonepelting assaults on policeand paramilitary forces, har-tals and protest demonstra-tions to bring the public lifeand the government func-tioning to a standstill. It isbeing described as a non-vio-lent transformation of anarmed uprising.
The campaigners weredriven by a hope that thesustained mobilizations
would galvanize the interna-tional opinion in favour oftheir objectives. Theybelieved that the public out-cry would force PresidentObama who was scheduled tovisit India to exert morepressures on Government ofIndia to come to terms withthe separatists andPakistan. They also hopedthat Indian political consen-sus on Kashmir will be fur-ther weakened to resist pres-sures for change of statusquo in Kashmir in favour ofthe separatists.
After the happenings inEgypt and elsewhere in the
Middle East the PrimeMinister of India tried toassure the nation that,“whatever happens in theGulf or in West Asia includ-ing the countries mentioned (Egypt ) is a matter of concernto us…. replication of suchevents is not possible inIndia, because India is afunctioning democracy….There is no question thatthings that have happened inEgypt and other Arab coun-tries can be replicated in
India.” Prime Minister’sstatement underlined thehope and confidence of arational being but could nothide the nervousness andapprehension which hasbeset his own government inthe Centre and the rulingalliance in the state ofJammu and Kashmir. “Ihope summer this year willbe peaceful… I have nopower to predict the future. Ican only say that there arecontinuous efforts on ourpart to ensure that there isno repeat of summer unrestin 2011,” has been therefrain of the Chief Minister
of the state Sh. OmarAbdullah. More conspicuousis however the disconnectbetween the perceptions ofthe Prime Minister and theperceptions of the people inKashmir valley.
Perceptions in the valleyMerely a day after Prime
Minister Manmohan Singhsaid that the political devel-opments in Egypt cannot bereplicated in Jammu andKashmir, the Hurriyat (G)
Chairman Sayed Ali ShahGeelani said Egypt like revo-lution is possible in Kashmir.He said, “This is a blatantlie. By muzzling voice ofKashmiris through bruteforce, India can’t claim victo-ry. World will see one daythere will be a bigger revolu-tion in Kashmir than Egyptand other uprisings.” Themoralizing by Geelaninotwithstanding, the sepa-ratists in the valley over theyears have demonstrated thecapability of mobilizing pub-lic in the streets and creatinga siege on the local govern-ment. The mobilizations dur-ing the summer of 2010 werenot as huge as during theAmaranth land row or vari-ous marches conducted earli-er to Chrar-i-Sharief orUnited Nations MilitaryObservers office in the outskirts of Srinagar city inKashmir.
The PDP leader MissMehbooba Mufti whose polit-ical party has received morethan generous support fromboth the Vajpayee led NDAcoalition and subsequentlyby the present ManmohanSingh led UPA coalition atthe Centre commented onthe uprising in Egypt andSaid, “We congratulate thepeople of Egypt on their suc-cess and for achieving thegoal in peaceful manner…. Itis necessary to mentionEgypt because they werefighting for democracy andwe are fighting a war in spiteof democracy.” She did nothesitate to compare the lastsummer’s unrest in Kashmirvalley with the uprising inEgypt and said, “Lakhs ofpeople had thronged theroads in Cairo, but nobody
COVER STORY
Democratic Process: Conversioninto a Subversive Space
By Dr Ajay Chrungoo
JAMMU & KASHMIR
(Contd. on Page 6)
A Kashmiri Pandit house at Nagam, Kashmir.
JKENG 00333/26/AL/TC/94 JK No: 1213/18 Regd. JK-219/2009-2011
THOSE WWHO LLEFT UUS 2June 20111. Sh. Shamboo Nath Dhar S/o Late Prasad Ram Dhar R/o
74-Ashok Nagar Canal Jammu. 14/4/20102. Smt. Somawati Bhat W/o Late Kashi Nath Bhat of
Krankshowan Sopore Kmr; presently residing at Qtr. No:61, Nagrota Camp (Railway, Phase) Jammu. 14/4/2010
3. Sh. Kaka Ji Bhat S/o Late Pt. Narayan Nath Bhat R/oL.I.G. 92, Housing Colony (BSNL), Udhampur.14/4/2010
4. Sh. Brij Lal Labroo S/o Late Sh. Anand Ram Labroo ofBul-Bul Lankar Alikadal Sgr; presently resident of FlatNo: 6143, F-6, Alok Vihar, Sec-50, Noida. 15/4/2010
5. Smt. Raj Dulari Kher W/o Late Sh. B.N. Kher of NaiSarak Sgr; presently residing at 6, Shiv Dhara RowHouse Pal Road Seerat Gujrat. 15/4/2010
6. Smt. Chuni Tickoo W/o Late Sh. P.N. Tickoo previouslyresident of Shahpora Ganderwal Kmr; presently residentof Lane-8, Netar Kothian Barnai Jammu. 15/4/2010
7. Sh. Kailash Nath Koul of Kalusa Bandipora Kmr; cur-rently residing at 157-C, Regents, Shipra CityIndirapuram (UP). 15/4/2010
8. Smt. Shyam Rani Shah of Rughnath Mandir Sgr;presently residing Qtr. No: 3, Vitesta Enclave Najafgarh,New Delhi. 16/4/2010
9. Sh. Moti Lal Raina S/o Radha Krishen Raina originallyresident of Akura Anantnag Kmr; presently residing atCD Hospital Qtr. GMC Jammu. 17/4/2010
10. Smt. Chand Rani W/o Late Sh. Soom Nath Sarf original-ly resident of Kha-Bazar Anantnag (Kmr.) peresentlyresident of H.No: 9, Lane No: 1, Adarsh Nagar BantalabJammu. 17/4/2010
11. Sh. Shiv Jee Bhat S/o Late Sh. Raghav Bhat (Darbar)originally residetn of Nai Basti Anantnag (Kmr) present-ly resident of H.No: 38, Lane-7, Muthi Jammu.17/4/2010
12. Sh. Gopi Krishen Pandita S/o Late Pt. Dina NathPandita originally resident of Kralyar Rainawari Sgr;presently residing at 54-Top Sherkhania Jammu.17/4/2010
13. Smt. Prabha Devi Nehru W/o Late Sh. Damodhar Nehrupreviously resident of 52- Pvt. Jawhar Nagar Sgr; cur-rently resident of 2/20 Panduka Colony Paloura Jammu.18/4/2010
14. Sh. Maharaj Krishen Zutshi S/o Late Sh. Shiv Jee Zutshiof Gankhan Zainakadal Sgr; presently residing at 148-C,Surya Vihar Anand Nagar Bohri Jammu. 18/4/2010
15. Sh. Maheshwar Nath Bhat S/o Late Pt. Nilla Kanth Bhatof Khaw Kmr; presently resident of 458, ColonelsColony Talab Tillo, Jammu. 18/4/2010
16. Smt. Raj Rani Dhar W/o Late Raj Nath Dhar of NaiSarak Ganpatyar Sgr; presently putting up at 184-GulabApparts. Pitampoura Delhi. 18/4/2010
17. Dr. Som Nath Zutshi R/o Upper Kralyar Rainawari Sgr;presently resident of Flat No: 126 (FF) Dream HomeApparts Green Enclave Naz Zirakpur Punjab. 19/4/2010
18. Sh. Avtar Krishen Koul S/o Late Sh. Shiv Jee Koul ofHushroo Badgam, Kmr; presently residing at H.No: 45,Ward-14, Sailan Talab Udhampur. 20/4/2010
19. Sh. Krishen Lal Raina S/o Late Pt. Gopi Nath Raina pre-viously resident of Nawa Kadal Khande Bawe Sgr; cur-rently residing at H.No: 178, Dharmal Temple UpperBarnai Jammu. 20/4/2010
20. Smt. Soomawati Koul W/o Late Pt. Dina Nath Koul foKaran Nagar, Sgr; rpesently residing at 68-A, Sector-31,Noida (UP) 20/4/2010
21. Smt. Rupawati Raina W/o Late Sh. Raghu Nath Raina ofKathwar Budgam, Kmr; presently residing at H.No: 6,Krishna Vinhar, Vinayak Nagar, Sector-1, Upper, MuthiJammu. 20/4/2010
22. Sh. Vijay Kumar Dhar S/o Sh. Bansi Lal Dhar of ArchKulgam Kmr; presently residing at H.No: 331, Lane-3,Laxmi Vihar Tomal Colony Anand Nagar, Bohri Jammu.21/4/2010
23. Sh. Kanhaiya Lal Handoo S/o Late Sh. RC Handoo orig-inally resident of Rajbag Sgr; presently resident of H.No:26, Lane-3, Pamposh Colony Janipur Jammu.21/4/2010
24. Sh. Kashi Nath Koul S/o Sh. Shiv Jee Koul R/o GudbughPulwam, Kmr. 21/4/2010
25. Smt. Rita Koul D/o Late Sh. NN Koul of Jawahar NagarRajbagh Sgr; presently resident of Mumbai. 21/4/2010.
26. Sh. Rattan Lal Handoo S/o Late Pt. Shamboo NathHandoo of Qazi Mohalla Anantnag Kmr; presently resid-ing at H.No: 713, Lane-3, Vinayak Nagar, Jammu.22/4/2010.
27. Sh. Nath Ji Raina S/o Late Sh. Shiv Jee Raina of Nanil,Anantnag, Kmr; presently at Qtr. No: 1,2, Block-M,Jammu. 22/4/2010
28. Roopawati Bhat W/o Pt. Nand Lal Bhat originally resi-dent of Chichlora (Magam) Pattan, Kmr; presently resid-ing at H.No: 491, Jeevan Vihar LIC Colony KunjporaRoad Karnal Haryana. 22/4/2010
29. Smt. Rattan Rani Razdan W/o Late Sh. Dina NathRazdan of Gund Ahalmar Nai Sarak Sgr; presently resi-dent o Post Office Colony, Aap Shamboo Mandir, RoopNagar, Jammu. 23/4/2010
30. Wife of Late Sh. JL Sazawal, Smt. Rajrani Sazawal cur-
rently putting up at 602, Technology Apparts. PatparGunj Delhi, Guraon. 23/4/2010.
31. Smt. Rani Pandita W/o Late Sh. Prithvi Nath Pandita ofSahipora Kupwara Kmr; presently resident of Jt-8, TRT,Camp Opposit FCI Toll Post Nagrota, Jammu. 24/4/2010
32. Sh. Som Nath Razdan S/o Late Sh. Gopi Nath Razdanresident of H.No: 35, Lane-2, Roop Nagar EnclaveBlock-A, Jammu, erstwhile resident of Sheetal NathSathu, Sgr. 24/4/2010
33. Sh. Gopi Nath Bhat S/o Late Sh. Ishar Dass Bhat previ-ously resident of Akingam Anantnag, Kmr, currentlyresiding at H.No: 18-A, Amar Colony Camp Road TalabTillo, Jammu. 24/4/2010.
34. Sh. Janki Nath Pandita S/o Late Vasudev Pandita erst-while resident of Hakura Anantnag Kmr; presently resid-ing at H.No: 46, Sharika Vihar Lower Roop Nagar, MuthiJammu. 24/4/2010.
35. Sh. Janki Nath Dhar S/o Late Sh. Keshav Nath Dharoriginally resident of Safakadal, Sgr; presently residentof Airole, Navi Mumbai. 25/4/2010
36. Sh. Tej Nath Kichloo S/o Sh. Arjan Nath Kichloo original-ly resident of Batapora Shopian Kmr; presently residingat H.No: 49, MCJ, Lane-4, Buta Nagar, Paloura Jammu.25/4/2010.
37. Sh. Hirday Nath Pandita of Batapora Kandha Kmr;presently putting up at Flat No: 449-B, Indira PuramShipra City Gaziabat (UP). 25/4/2010
38. Smt. Sunita Bazaz W/o Sh. Raj Kumar Bazaz R/oBaghe Sunder Ba Chattabal Sgr; presenty resident ofH.No: 46, Block-A, Lane-2, Roop Nagar EnclaveJammu. 25/4/2010
39. Sh. Narayan Dass Pandit originally resident of BataporaDealgam Anantnag Kmr; currently resident of H.No: 115-Z, Lane No: II Vitasta Enclave Najafgarh (KashmiriColony) New Delhi. 26/4/2010
40. Sh. Makhan Lal Bhat S/o Late Sh. Shiv Ram R/oChudrigund Kmr; presently residing at 1/130, VikasNagar Sarwal, Jammu. 26/4/2010
41. Sh. Makhan La Dhar S/o Late Sh. Shiv Ram Dhar R/oChudrigund presently residing at H.No: 130, Lane-1,Vikas Nagar, Sarwal Jammu. 27/4/2010
42. Smt. Leelawati W/o Late Sh. Dev Ram Pandita original-ly resident of Chogal Handwara Kmr; presently residingat 125/107 Ambica Vihar, Kabir Colony, Talab Tillo,Jammu. 27/4/2010
43. Sh. Bhushan Lal Rishi S/o Late Sh. Prem Nath ReshiR/o Mattan, Martand Anantnag, Kmr; presently residentof Post Office, Paloura, Jammu. 27/4/2010.
44. Sh. Satish Kumar Pandita S/o Late Pt. Janki NathPandita Lokpura-Sedakpura Jammu. 27/4/2010
45. Smt. Arandati Bhan W/o Late Sh. PN Bhan of D-105, 1stFloor Sun City, Sector-54, Gurgaon. 27/4/2010
46. Sh. Badri Nath Tickoo R/o Peth Kunihama Buru(Hagam) Kmr; presently residing at H.No: 360, Lane-12Kabir Nagar, Poonch House Talab Tillo, Jammu.28/4/2010.
47. Smt. Arandati Bhan W/o Late Prathivi Nath Bhan ofKanikadal Fire Brigade Lane Sgr; presently resident ofD-105, First Floor, Sunicyt, Sector-54, Gurgoan.28/4/2010
48. Smt. Tulsi Devi Raina W/o Sh. Dina Nath Raina ofRanipora Brah Anantnag Kmr; presently resident ofBatal Ballian Udhampur. 28/4/2010
49. Sh. Ram Nath Bagati S/o Late Pt. Balak Ram Bagati R/oTekipora (Lolab) Kupwara Kmr; presently resident ofSantra Morh Jammu. 29/4/2010
50. Prof. Joginder Nath Kar S/o Late Sh. Sham Lal Kar res-ident of 33, Indira Colony Talab Tillo Jammu. 29/4/2010
51. Sh. Shamboo Nath Raina S/o Late Sh. Nath Ram RainaR/o Abalwani Shopian Kmr; presently resident of Qtr.No: 749, Block-C, Mishriwalla Camp Jammu. 29/4/2010
52. Smt. Roopawati Bhat W/o Sh. Nand Lal Bhat R/oChichilora (Magam) Pattan Kmr; presently resident ofH.No: 491, Jewan Vihar L.I.C. Colony Kunjwani KarnalHaryana . 29/4/2010
53. Smt. Damyanti Raina (Razdan) W/o Sh. SarwanandRaina (Razdan) of Akhoora Anantnag, Kmr; presentlyresiding at H.No:1 Sector, Durga Nagar EnclaveJammu. 30/4/2010
54. Smt. Mohini Bhat W/o Sh. Makhan Lal Bhat originallyresident of Mehjoor Nagar Sgr;presently resident of1/2A, Durga Nagar, Roop Nagar, Jammu. 1/5/2010
55. Smt. Meenawati Bhat W/o Sh. Makhan Lal Bhat original-ly resident of Dangarpora Shopian Kmr; presently resid-ing of H.No: 254, Sector-1, Vinayak Nagar MuthiJammu. 1/5/2010
56. Sh. Sham Lal Koul S/o Late Damodhar Koul previouslyresidents of Jamia Qadeem Sopore, Kmr; currently put-ting up at H.No: 3, Lane-79 Hazuribagh Bohri Jammu.2/5/2010
57. Sh. S.K. Ambardar S/o Mr L.P. Ambardar originally hailsfrmo Sgr; presently residing at Delhi. 2/5/2010
58. Smt. Kamlawati Pandita W/o Late Sh. Hari Ram PanditaR/o Karihama Kupwara, Kmr; presently residing atH.NO; 105, Lane-8, Manorama Vihar Bohri Jammu.3/5/2010
59. Smt. Santosh Koul W/o Sh. Avtar Krishan Koul residentof H.No: 734, Sector-22, Pocket-B, Gurgoan Haryana.3/5/2010
60. Smt. Vidyawati Gassi W/o Late Sh. Laxmi Nath Gassioriginally R/o Mattan Kmr; presently resident ofSuryavanshi Nagar Upper Muthi Check Lane 6/D,Jammu. 4/5/2010
61. Smt. Kanta Kachroo W/o Sh. Jagan Nath Kachroo;presently residing at Mumbai, H.No: 230, FriendsColony, Subash Nagar, Jammu. 4/5/2010
62. Smt. Sham Rani Koul W/o Sh. Radha Krishen Koul orig-inally resident of Govripora (Sant Nagar) Sgr; presentlyresident of H.No: 63, Lane-3, Durga Nagar, Talab Tillo,Jammu. 4/5/2010
63. Sh. Radha Krishen Bhat S/o Late Pt. Sansar ChandBhat R/o Zaindar Mohalla Habbakadal Sgr; presentlyresiding at Himachal Pradesh. 4/5/2010
64. Smt. Kanta Pandita W/o Sh. K.N. Pandita of Shivpora,Broadway Cinema Sgr; presently residing at H.no: 175,Block-C, Sector-11, Faridabad, Haryana. 4/5/2010
65. Smt. Vijay Koul W/o Sh. Jawahar Lal Koul previouslyresident of Wanpoh Anatnag Kmr; presently residing atLaxmi Puram, Sector-1-A, Jammu. 6/5/2010
66. Smt. Somawati Sadhu W/o Late Dr. NK Sadhu original-ly resident of Safiyar Habbakdal, Doodh GangaNatipora, Sgr;presently residing at H.No: 109/B, BasantNagar, Janipur, Jammu. 6/5/2010
67. Smt. Prabhawati Badam W/o Sh. Lassa Koul Badam ofKralkhud Kharyar, Habbakdal Sgr; presently residing atG-33, H.I.G. Duplex Partap Vihar Gaziabad. 6/5/2010.
68. Smt. Lalita Patwari W/o Sh. Veerinder Patwari residentof Bohri Talab Tillo, Jammu, currently E-8, Sector-41,Noida. 6/5/2010
69. Smt. Indira Pandita W/o Late Sh. Arjan Nath Panditaoriginally resident of Umanagri Anantnag Kmr; presentlyresiding at H.NO: 63, Ward-17, Shankar Nagar, SailanTalab, Udhampur. 6/5/2010.
70. Smt. Mohan Pyari Mattoo W/o Lte Sh. Badri NathMattoo originally resident of Sabdan Budgam Kmr;presently resident of H.No: 82 Shantipuram MuthiJammu. 7/5/2010
71. Sh. Makhan Lal Handoo originally resident of Kani KadalSgr; presently residing at 102, Govind Nagar, Sector-2,Revenue Complex Road, Jammu. 7/5/2010
72. Smt. Shanta Bagati W/o Late Sh. Makhan Lal Bagati R/oBul Bul Lankar Alikadal Sgr; presently resident of R-205,21 Jal Vihar Noda (UP). 7/5/2010
73. Smt. Sham Saproo W/o Sh. J.L. Saproo R/oHabbakadal Sgr;presently residing at Laxmi NagarDlehi. 8/5/2010
74. Sh. A.K. Bali S/o Sh. Dina Nath Bali originally resident ofGoshabugh Pattan Kmr; presently resident o H.No: 229,Lane-1J Sector-2, Durga Nagar, Jammu. 8/5/2010
75. Sh. P.I. Koul R/o G-2/17, Malviya Nagar, New Deli.8/5/2010
78. Smt. Dhanwanti Raina W/o Late Sh. DN Raina of GundAhalmar Nae-Sarak Sgr; presently residing at H.No:222, Upper Laxmi Nagar Sarwal Jammu. 9/5/2010
79. Sh. Dina Nath Bhat S/o Late Sh. Sarwanand Bhat ofRamooh Pulwama, Kmr; presently resident of H. No: 42,Block-B Lane 2/3, Roop Nagar Enclave Jammu.9/5/2010
80. Sh. Ram Lal Mattoo S/o Late Sh. Mahanand Mattoooriginally resident of Chanapora Sgr; presently residentof H.No: 381, Lane-2, Anand Vhiar Bohri Jammu.9/5/2010
81. Smt. Nirmala Dhar W/o Sh. Ashok Kumar Dhar ofGubag Bagh Ganderbal Kmr; presently resident of A-42,Sainik Coony, Enclave Vipan Garden Uttam Nagar, NewDelhi. 9/5/2010
82. Sh. Brij Krishen Kandhari S/o Late Sh. Ram ChandKandhari originally resident of Kharyar Habakadal Sgr;presently resident of 36- Lower Laxmi Nagar SarwalJammu. 10/5/2010
83. Sh. Soom Nath Raina R/o Qtr. No: 342, Muthi CampJammu erstwhile resident of Sallar-Pahlgam, Kmr.10/5/2010
84. Sh. Kashi Nath Dhar S/o Late Sh. Mana Pandit R/oJablipora Bijbehara Anantnag Kmr; presently resident ofH.No: 3, Lane-3, Surya Vhiar Patta Bohri, Jammu.10/5/2010
85. Smt. Kamlawati Dhar W/o Sh. Arjan Nath Dhar ER/oMuran Pulwama Kmr; presently residing at S/2, Plot No:2007, Sector-A, Vaishali Gaziabad. 10/5/2010
86. Sh. Girdhari Lal Kakroo S/o Late Sh Ved Lal Kakroooriginally resident of 193, Balgarden Sgr; presentlyresiding at H.No: 25, Sector-C, Lane No: II, UdhewalaBohri, Jammu. 12/5/2010
87. Sh. Moti Lal Kuchroo S/o Late Sh. Sansar ChandKuchroo of Dewan Bagh Baramulla Kmr; presently put-ting up at 380, Niti-Khan-III, Indirapuram Gaziabad.12/5/2010
88. Sh. Badri Nath Razdan S/o Late Sh. Sarvanand Razdanoriginally resident of Sirnoo Pulwama, Kmr; presentlyresident of 15/16-IB, Kral Bab Nagar Bantalab, Jammu.13/5/2010 (Contd. on Page 12)
3June 2011
STATE Governmentseems to have risen tothe dangers posed by
the forays of people likeGautam Navlakha, ArundhattiRoy, Ram Jethmalani and somany others who flaunt them-selves as prominent membersof the civil society of India whocan help win supporters for theseparatist cause in Jammuand Kashmir in rest of India.That the state governmentthinks that the indulgence ofsuch persons in Kashmiraffairs is in fact bringing insta-bility and more trouble to thepeople of Jammu and Kashmiris a realization which shouldbe welcomed. It needs howev-er to be seen over a period oftime whether the displeasureof the state government ismerely a tactical and transientploy to somehow ensure apeaceful tourist season in thevalley this year or a moredeeper realization of the sup-port structures of separatism inthe state in rest of the Indianmainland.
The public discourse in Indiahas mainly remained focusedon the support provided to theseparatism in Jammu andKashmir by Pakistan. There isno denying the fact thatPakistan continues to be thekey and critical component ofthe separatist support struc-tures in Jammu and Kashmir.But it is also true that there aremany political actors and for-mations in rest of India who fortheir own reasons want theseparatist pot boiling in thestate. Ram Jethmalani led
Kashmir committee is not arecent addition to the band-wagon of separatist supportersin India masquerading aspeaceniks. In its first incarna-tion the Kashmir Committeehad Dileep Padgaonkar, whois now the chief Interlocutorappointed by Government ofIndia, as its member. Manyapprehend that services ofRam Jethmalani’s KashmirCommittee have been soughtby the interlocutors them-selves to engage those in theseparatist rank and file whohave refused to meet them.Others say KashmirCommittee is a
proxy committee of BJP toconvey signals to the sepa-ratist echelons in the valleythat the party still continues topursue the Vajpayee line evennow despite the fact that it isnot in a position to support itopenly because of the changein the political arithmetic in theparty as well as in the country.But when Mr. Jethmalani com-pares the situation in Kashmirwith that of Germany whenNazis were at the helms ofaffairs in that country we arewitnessing a vicious phenome-non of self-negation and self-flagellation which goes beyondthe rationale of lobbying,engagement and politicalbrinkmanship.
Ram Jethmalani has chosento pick up the thread whereArundhatti Roy had left aftershe chose to exit herself fromindulgence in Kashmir affairsfor a while. Arundhatti Roy haddescribed the repression in
Kashmir so severe that peoplewere even denied free breath-ing. Ram Jethmalani andArundhatti Roy represent ideo-logically different poles and yetthey seem to be meetingintensely in Kashmir. Or is itthat both of them are actuallyapproaching the task of balka-nization of India usingKashmiri Muslim Separatismas a cardinal insult to theNational unity.
The convergence of seg-ments of Indian right and theradical left on the issue ofJammu and Kashmir is per-haps more an indicator of theidentity of the bigger powerswhich have been promotingboth. Once we start examiningthe issue from this angle wereach an inevitable conclusionthat the right and the left werecognize as right and left arein fact merely tools of a viciousimperialist maneuver inJammu and Kashmir. Theimplications of RamJethmalani comparing the situ-ation in Jammu and Kashmirwith Nazi Germany are thesame as his support to theMusharraf formula. And theseimplications are perfectly insync with what Arundhatti Royand Gautam Navlakha havebeen saying and doing aboutKashmir. Such interventionshave been seen umpteentimes in the past when the sit-uation in Kashmir had shownsigns of improvement andwhen the credibility of sepa-ratism was starting to take anose dive. What is mostintriguing is the abject silence
of BJP high command onthe role of Ram Jethmalani in
Jammu and Kashmir. Whatmakes Jethmalani to becomea stronger player in BJP thaneven Jaswant Sing who wasexpelled from the party forcomments in his book whichwere not as dangerous as theutterances of RamJethmalani? Is it the legal sup-port which he provides toNarendra Modi in Gujarat or ishe the leader of the track twomaneuver of BJP on Kashmirwhich provides the party theroom for implementing theVajpayee line while providing asufficient space for deniability?
The government of India hasignored to its own discomfiturethe support Kashmiri Muslimseparatism has got from sec-tions of political class in rest ofIndia. The local governmentsin the state have also taken along time to realize howencouragements from withinhelp in complimenting thedestabilsation campaigns onthe ground. As the situation inPakistan is deteriorating andthe international opinion iswaking up to the dangersposed by Muslim identity poli-tics in fomenting and perpetu-ating culture of intolerance, thesupport which the separatistsin Jammu and Kashmir aregetting from within India is act-ing as a critical oxygen line. Itis time that the political supportline of separatists from withinIndia is disrupted decisively fordemocratic process to shiftfrom soft secessionism to avibrant nationalist mode.
EDITORIAL
Deny the Separatist the support within India
Sir,Thanks for sending me
regularly ‘KashmirSentinel’. Undoubtely itgives a indepth study ofthe problems, historicalimportance and oursocio-economic knownow.
I really congratulateyou all for continuing to
take ‘Kashmiriyat’ ofKP’s to move on.
The analysis‘Islamabad Conference’by Prof. M.K. Teng ismindblowing and I agreewith him to quote’- TheIndian office messed topicked up the signal’.
--Dr. Sunil KaulNew Delhi
Sir,Kashmir Sentinel is bringing
out well analyized writeupsand presents possibly the realpicture of different subjectsviz., Kashmiri PanditsKashmir imbroglio, culture,Tradition philosophy and whatnot. Although its publicationfrequency has sharply gonedown for some time, but the
material published is destinedto go into readers archives andshall be used as reference
material by our future genera-tion.
The indepth analysis of Dr.Chrungoo about the KP com-
munity, needs to be taken up... and the psychologists needto address the issues raised bythe writer with immediateremedial measures.
Sentinel is bound to guardthe broader issues of theCummunity and the Nation.
--A.N. RainaDelhi
LETTERS
K.S. Indepth study Kashmir Sentinel a real treasure
GUEST CCOLUMN 4June 2011
THIS is no babytalk. These wordsof ‘wisdom’ that
“Hindu terror groupscould pose a biggerthreat to India thanMuslim militant groupslike the Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT)” are coming fromthe mouth of RahulGandhi, the icon of theIndian NationalCongress (INC). Great-grandson of India’s firstPrime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru isstuck-up with the beliefthat “honey moon period”for the UnitedProgressive Alliance(UPA) was over, obvious-ly for lack of proper lead-ership.
His fears are justified.He knows the ins andouts of the Congress, andis obtrusively blamingthe leadership of hismother Sonia Gandhi,the high-flownChairperson of the UPA,which is united superfi-cially but bereft of pro-gressive ideals.
In a leaked U S diplo-matic cable, SoniaGandhi has beendescribed as “someonewho never misses anopportunity to miss anopportunity to show realleadership”. How appro-priate these words are.It has been amply madeclear in the cable, put outby WikiLeaks that “…Sonia Gandhi has beenunable to show princi-pled leadership”. It isunderstandable. That isexpected from SoniaGandhi, whose roots arenot embedded in theIndian culture. It givescredence to the beliefthat that Sonia Gandhi ismore powerful—whoexhibits her prowess—than Prime MinisterManmohan Singh. Allimportant decisions aretaken by her, and PM isagreeable to all. Thecountry has never beenso mired in multifariousscams. New Delhi lacksproper leadership. Till ithappens, the Congresswill have to endure.
M i n d - n u m b i n g l y ,Rahul Gandhi, the scionof the Nehru-Gandhifamily, in an uncannymanner, created anunnecessary fuss by the
outpouring of these chau-vinist remarks. Nothingcan be more outrageous.In a political conversa-tion with the USAmbassador TimothyRoemer, he has made itknown that although “there was evidence of‘some’ support for LeTamong certain elementsin India’s indigenousMuslim community, thebigger threat may be thegrowth of radicalizedHindu groups, which cre-ate religious tensionsand political confronta-tions with the Muslimcommunity”. These arewild allegations againstthe peaceful Hindu com-munity, comprising 80per cent of India’s popu-lation. They are not war-like.
Rahul Gandhi’s grand-mother Indira Gandhiwas never paranoidabout the ‘radicalized’community. She wouldnever blame them insuch a roughshod man-ner for the ills of thenation. On the contrary,these groups were uti-lized at election time togarner Hindu votes.Even Rajiv Gandhiwould never pass on suchobjectionable remarkschurlishly. Rahul’s betenoire, Varun Gandhi, hisfirst cousin, on the con-trary, has been askingthe Indians to “rise abovecaste; to build a unitedHindu society”. This isthe difference in upbring-ing. Rahul has lost hiscultural moorings.
What a comparisonbetween the hydra-head-ed LeT and the so-called‘radicalized Hindugroups’. There is aHimalayan difference.Rahul’s backgroundabout LeT is succinct.Even a child knows it isthe creation of ISI to dis-member India. Its sub-versive pan-Islamic roleis well-known interna-tionally. On the contrary,the RSS is nationalist tothe core, an organizationwedded to India’s unity.
If some elements in theRSS have turned bigots,there must be some rea-son. Intrinsically, theyhave lost patience withthe Indian authorities fortheir failure to combatPakistan-sponsored ter-rorism, continuing for 30years. Who is at fault?Who created SantBindranwallah and sub-sequently the Sikh ter-rorism, whichboomeranged on theCongress. Who alienatedthe Sikh community andat what cost? Who killednearly 7000 Sikhs in thewake of Indira Gandhi’s
assassination by a Sikhguard? (Still she did notblame the community). Itis only the government’sinefficiency to tackleIslamic terrorism whichhas led to the stray inci-dents of bomb blasts atAjmer and Hyderabad.The Students IslamicMovement of India(SIMI) is a well-knithomegrown terroristorganization, acting as asurrogate for the ISI ,LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Several hundredHindus have been killedin a series of bomb blastsin India, engineered byISI, in collaboration withLeT during the past 20years. Reac-tion wase x p e c t e dfrom them a j o r i t yHindu com-m u n i t y ,even belat-edly. Thosewho killedSikhs wereC o n g r e s sgoons, notradicalizedH i n d u s .Even afterp a r t i t i o n ,lakhs ofHindus in Pakistan andBangladesh have eitherbeen killed, converted or
forced to flee. Rahul Gandhi however
admits in the cable that‘homegrown extremistfront has been reactingto terror attacks comingfrom Pakistan or fromIslamic groups inIndia…’. His diabolicalstatement is a slur onIndia’s secular traditionsand Indian democracy.While the same Roemercable written on Jan 9,2009, has quoted then US Assistant Secretary ofState Richard Boucheras telling then India’sForeign Secretary ShivShankar Menon that theUS had told Pakistan to‘eliminate LeT’, Rahulhas pitifully considered
Hindu radicals moredangerous to India, thusdenigrating Hindu com-munity. Had it been so,there would have beenanarchy in India, as waswitnessed in Iraq,Afghanistan and now inPakistan, whereMuslims are being killedin hundreds on dailybasis.
As if Rahul’s revela-tions were not enough,Dighvijaya Singh went astep further in tarnish-ing the image of India bycomparing the attitude ofHindus towards Muslimswith that of Nazistowards Jews. What ashameful comparisons.His allegations that RSSwas instilling violence
and hatredthro-ugh Sh-ishu mandirsis preposter-ous. He hasfailed to men-tion aboutmad-rassas,run byIslamic insti-t u t i o n s ,where pupilsare openlytaught to kill‘kafirs’ (non-believers). In
a 32-page booklet : “ TheMuslims’ Belief” , stu-dents are told : “ It is our
opinion that whoeverclaims the acceptabilityof any existing religiontoday—other thanIslam— such asJudaism, Christianityand so forth, is a non-believer. He should beasked to repent; if hedoes not, he must bekilled as an apostatebecause he is rejectingthe Quran”. The booklethas been distributed bythe Jeddah D’awahCentre, Jeddah.
Israel has snubbedDighvijaya Singh formaking such a compari-son. It has warned that‘without entering into apolitical debate, no com-parison can be made
with the Nazi holocaustin which six million Jewswere massacred solelybecause they were Jews’.
Let Rahul Gandhi nar-rate to people in the nextelections that Hindus aremore dangerous and seethe result. Signals arealready discernible fromBihar Congress cannotrevive on the old plank ofdividing people on thebasis of caste and reli-gion. The party shouldhave learnt a lesson fromBihar polls where peopleignored communal poli-tics. The party shouldnot misread people’s ver-dict in Bihar. Instead ofsalvaging the image ofthe Congress, DighvijayaSingh and Rahul Gandhitogether have been slam-ming the BJP. They havesuccumbed to the worstkind of debased politics,provoking one communi-ty against the other. Itsonly agenda is to destroythe opposition and attackthe RSS, which isengaged in rebuildingIndia. The Congress isjust helping Pakistan inslamming India. Earlier,Singh raised controversyby suggesting that slain
ATS Chief HemantKarkare had receivedthreats from extremistHindu groups, which hesadly connected with the26\11 Mumbai attack.He can stoop so low.Even then MinorityAffairs Minister A RAntulay had chargedthat Karkare could havebecome a victim of ‘ter-rorism or terrorism plussomething’. What doesthis all indicate? It is onthe basis of theseassumptions and pre-sumption that the UShad come to believe thatthe Congress had‘backed’ the ‘outlandish’conspiracy theory overthe death of Karkare in26\11 attack for ‘crasspolitical gains’. Then U SAmbassador to IndiaDavid Mulford in a cableto Washington hadobserved that the“Congress had made acynical political calcula-tions to boast the con-spiracy theory”. EOM
*(The writer is a sen-ior most journalistbased at Pune)
Are “Radicalized Hindus” more dangerous than LeT?RADICALS
By J N Raina
In a 32-page booklet :
“The Muslims’ Belief” , students are told
: “ It is our opinion that whoever claims
the acceptability of any existing religion
today—other than Islam— such as
Judaism, Christianity and so forth, is a
non-believer. He should be asked to
repent; if he does not, he must be killed
as an apostate because he is rejecting the
Quran”. The booklet has been distributed
by the Jeddah D’awah Centre, Jeddah.
Smt. Indira Gandhi
A file photo of 1984 Delhi Roits
HomageSh Pushkar Nath Rainapopularly known as PapaJi was resident of NowgamAnantnag presently atLower Muthi, Jammu. Hewas soft spoken & Godfearing personality. Hewas staunch follower ofSwami Ashokananda JiMaharaj founder ofNagdandi Ashram inAnantnag district. Afterdisplacement fromKashmir he got himself associated with RamaKrishana Advaita Ashram Udhowalla fouund-ed by Swami Shakti Ji discipile of SwamiAshokanand Ji Maharaj.
He was taking keen interest in communityprogrammes.He was very much impressed bythe concept of Panun Kashmir & was takingpersonnel part in Panun Kashmir programmes.He was inspiring force for our family.
We have lost our guide, father, friend & haveno words to write about his great personality.
He breathed his last on early morinig (4:30AM) of 19th of May 2011.
--O.P. Raina
Sh PushkarNath Raina
OPINION 5June 2011
By Sandhya Jain
THE Congress-ledUPA governmentlost both honour
and legitimacy when, inthe dead of night of 4–5June, it sent armedpolicemen to invade andassault unarmed, sleep-ing, anti-corruption pro-testors at RamlilaMaidan in the capital,led by the celebratedYogi, Swami Ramdev.
The action is reminis-cent of the manner inwhich the CommunistParty of India–Marxistlost its reputation whengoons raped two womenprotesting against Stateland grab for a cronycapitalist in Singur,West Bengal . Hindutradition looks poorlyupon those who assaultunarmed citizenry,something the Italian-born Roman Catholicdoes not understand.
Petticoat politicianslike Digvijay Singh mayexult in the falseempowerment wroughtby misuse of power, butthere should be no doubtthat there will be asevere public backlash,with no quarter ormercy for supremoSonia Maino Gandhi,widely perceived as thearchitect and benefici-ary of this NaziGestapo–Sicilian styleoperation.
Tasks before thenation
There is an immediateneed to disband theNational AdvisoryCouncil and its illegalrole in law-making andsetting the nationalagenda, overridingParliament andGovernment. This bodyof intellectual charla-tans has been createdonly to give theCongress president aCabinet rank at publicexpense, and to host abunch of unelectablecronies who help herundermine and destabi-lize the Prime Ministerand the Government.
Under Sonia Gandhi,the UPA has been forcedto outsource all thinkingand law-making to thesedarbaris. As IndianExpress Editor-in-ChiefShekhar Gupta argued,the “idea of putting an o n - g o v e r n m e n t a lwatch over your owngovernment underminesthe very idea of elected,constitutional democra-cy.” So it is time to dis-mantle the NAC. Andwith this will end SoniaGandhi’s illegitimate
status as super-PM,thus restoring powerand authority to thelegitimate constitutionalposition-holders andinstitutions. Indeed, theCongress party may beprivately amenable tosuch a move as it realis-es that neither SoniaGandhi nor RahulGandhi are crediblevote-catchers and thatnew leaders will have tobe built at all levels.
The Supreme Court,whose judges surely wit-nessed the atrocity ontheir television screensalong with the rest ofthe nation, is morally ontrial at this critical junc-ture. To uphold its pres-tige, the Hon’ble judgesmust suo moto takenotice of the unprovokedviolence unleashed uponthe citizenry and orderan immediate ban on thepolitical culture of sur-reptitious and illegalmidnight arrests/ deten-tion of unarmed persons,without warrant, andparticularly the bashingup of sleeping men,women and children inthe darkness of night.
No matter how irkedpersons in authoritymay feel about peacefulprotestors, a civilizedsociety claiming to be ademocracy cannot allowits citizens to be hound-ed and assaulted likeanimals selected forculling in a jungle.There is no legitimatereason why the policedid not ask citizens toleave the venue in thedaytime, or why it couldnot wait for them tovacate as per scheduleon June 6.
The Supreme Courtmust make theGovernment apologisefor this atrocity and paypunitive damages forthe physical violenceand loss of human digni-ty suffered by SwamiRamdev and the thou-sands of men, women,and children, whosepeaceful gathering wasillegally disrupted withpolice brutalities.
Swami Ramdev andthe public should give awide berth to theNational Human RightsCommission headed bySonia acolyte K.G.Balakrishnan, whoremained a mute specta-tor to this scandal andfailed to take cognizanceof this massive outrageenacted in the capitalitself. In fact, we should
demand disbanding thisuseless and motivatedbody, which is merely aperch for cronies of thepowers-that-be.
The NationalCommission for Womenis another uselessorganisation could beshut down. As expected,it was missing through-out the action, thougheye witnesses appearedon national television tosay that policemenstepped on the bellies ofunarmed women andtore off their clothes;female constables were
deployed much later.NCW is a drain on thenational exchequer anda sinecure for unem-ployed retainers of theregime. Naturally, it isnotorious for selectiveconcerns regardingwomen’s rights.
To their credit, AnnaHazare and his col-leagues have realizedthat the police atrocity –which Government min-isters like Kapil Sibaland Subodh Kant Sahayare shamelessly defend-ing (while PranabMukherjee has slippedaway, surfacing only tocall it a ‘sad event’,while Home Minister P.Chidambaram claims hewas away and did notgive permission foraction!) – has made theirposition in the Joint Drafting Committee for theLokpal Bill invidious.
This writer is amongthe early critics of theJoint DraftingCommittee and LokpalBill, and it would beworthwhile for the ‘civilsociety’ representativesto resign and facilitatethe early demise of thecommittee (which any-way is going nowhere).The writer opposes theLokpal Bill because itusurps the powers of thelegislature, executive,judiciary and police,CBI, et al, and assumes
excessive powers foritself.
While the ‘civil society’representatives on theCommittee were savvyenough to support BabaRamdev in his fast atRamlila Maidan, and tocondemn the barbarousattack sponsored by theState, they surely real-ize that if they continueon the Committee, theywill be perceived as ‘poo-dles’ of Sonia Gandhi bythe general public. Assuch, their work, if itdoes conclude to theirsatisfaction, will lack
credibility. Wisdomdemands a retreat fromthe Committee. Maybethey will choose thiscourse during their pub-lic fast on June 8.
Need to rethink CivilSociety methods of agi-tation
Both Anna Hazareand Baba Ramdevwould do well to ponderover the methods theyused to forceGovernment actionagainst corruption, andto admit that these werecounter -product ive .While raising publicawareness about thescandalous proportionsassumed by corruptionin the political class isone thing, neither wasauthorised or capable (inthe end) of forcing theGovernment to submitto their demands. Bothwere manipulated byother forces, which iswhy the goalposts shift-ed in their respectiveagitations.
During the build up tothe Anna Hazare fast inJantar Mantar, RSSthink tank VivekanandaI n t e r n a t i o n a lFoundation organised atwo-day seminar to gal-vanise cadres for theJantar Mantar move-ment, probably withoutunderstanding theissues associated with it.Swami Ramdev came forthe valedictory function
and stated that anorganisation to lead theanti-corruption battlewould be formed by RSSthinker K.N.Govindacharya, whowould also lead it.Swami Ramdev made itclear that the BharatSwabhiman Trust wouldremain separate andcontinue public aware-ness work.
Obviously, the suddendecision for SwamiRamdev to lead a fast-unto-death at RamlilaMaidan and issue ulti-matums to theGovernment on theissue of return of blackmoney from abroad (andassorted other demands,some laughable) was theresult of manipulation ofa decent man.Throughout the day ofJune 4, Govindacharyahad a prominent role atRamlila Maidan.
The question legiti-mately arises why hewas missing at night –when everyone in thecity knew that theGovernment was plan-ning some action thatnight, and messages tothis effect had startedgoing out from 2 p.m.onwards. Officially, thetalks collapsed onlyaround 7 p.m., but clear-ly Government waspreparing the crack-down prior to the break-down. Where were allthe cadres of the BJPand the RSS, which hadclearly used the Baba fora proxy political fightwith ruling party? Why politics behind
purdah?It bears recalling that
the first major scandalinvolving political lead-ership in our times wasthe Bofors payoff scamwhich engulfed the rep-utation of PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi,all on account of hiswife, Sonia MainoGandhi, and her person-al associations.
This scandal wasopposed politically by allthe non-Congress oppo-sition parties, individu-ally and collectively, andthere was no culture ofproxy wars using non-political eminent per-sons to shadow-box onbehalf of some party orother. I particularlyrecall an all-party rally(perhaps JantarMantar) attended,among others, byNational Conference MPAkbar Jehan (mother ofDr Farooq Abdullah),Akali Dal MPs, and MPsof the then new TeluguDesam Party whoflaunted bright yellow
scarves. The point is why did
BJP not fight rulingparty corruption openly?And once it was knownthat Baba Ramdevwould fast on June 4,why did the BJPPresident call a nationalexecutive meeting andtake party stalwartsaway from Delhi at thevery same time?
Worse is the wimpishapproach of satyagrahaat Rajghat (give me abreak), rather than con-fronting the regimefrontally, and helpingbattered citizens. Theparty uses BabaRamdev to lure innocentvillagers into an inhos-pitable environment,and leaves them to fendfor themselves while itsleaders sleep in the com-fort of 5-star hotels (nomore tents, mind you).
This brings us to themost pertinent question- why did Advani and cosneakily join hands withthe Government andagree to covertly passthe Budget without dis-cussion in April, on thevery day Parliamentwas to break for the onemonth recess in whichthe Budget would bestudied by MPs, beforebeing passed in May?Given the huge corrup-tion, crushing price rise,and excessive favours tothe corporate sector,why did BJP not consid-er a cut motion to bringthe Government down orwrest some tax conces-sions for the middleclass?
And why did Advanipromise to pass theLokpal Bill (still notdrafted) without it beingbrought to Parliamentand seen by the party?Is a political party sup-posed to give blind sup-port to laws introducedby Government at theinstance of an extra-con-stitutional body?
Last words The UPA govern-
ment instead of crackingdown on crooks, hawalaoperators, and illegalforeign bank accountholders, has insteadswooped on an unarmedSwamiji and worldrenowned Yoga teacherwho had wanted effec-tive action against thecorruption, makingIndia look like a tin potdictatorship in a BananaRepublic – DrSubramanian Swami
Supreme Court mustorder a probe as justicecannot be expected fromthe Centre - UttarPradesh chief ministerMayawati
*(The writer isEditor, www.vijay-vaani.com)
Ramlila Maidan: Sonia Maino Gandhi’s GESTAPO project
The police run roit at midnight during the interven-ing night of 4 & 5th June 2011 at
Ram Lila Maidan, New Delhi.
This write up was written by the author on 6th of June 2011, soon after the police action at Ram Lila Ground
CONTINUATION 6June 2011
leveled allegations on them.Our people are being dubbedas LeT militants, paid agentsand now recently as drugaddicts by the state govern-ment only for raising the voicefor resolution of Kashmirissue...”
The sections of separatists,whom Government of Indianever hesitates to call as‘moderates’, also drew paral-lels between the situation inEgypt and Kashmir. All ofthem hoped that Egypt can bereplicated in Kashmir.
How the ferment inside isshaping can be gauged fromthe following two sampleresponses. One from a formerterrorist and now a self-pro-fessed moderate whom manyin Kashmir believe to be clos-er to government of India, Mr.Firdous Sayed , one of the firstof the initial band of youngmen who took to arms andalso one of the first torenounce them. And second,Mr. Hassan Zainagiree whohas been a pro Jamaat andpro Geelani columnist andwrites regularly for the localEnglish dailies. Sh Firdouscompared the situation inKashmir with Egypt thus,“On February 11, when HosniMubaraq was forced to resignand Tehrir Square burst inimpromptu jubilations, peoplein Tehran were observing thethirteenth year of Iranian rev-olution. Iran’s and Egypt’srevolution share a dateFebruary 11. The comparisondoes not end here, February11 in Kashmir is rememberedas a day when Maqbool Bhattkissed the rope and kindledthe flame of Azadi with hisblood.” Mr. Hassan Zainagireewrote in his column, “No polit-ical manipulation or militarymight can stop simmeringlava of rebellion from accumu-lating a critical mass and thenblowing up citadels of hubrisinto smithereens….. If todayAl-Tehrir Square sent twentyfirst century Pharaoh of Egyptin the dark dungeons ofHistory, some other squaresare waiting and gearing up forreplicating Al-Tehrir. ”Referring to the role of Islamicorganizations in Egypt Mr.Zainagiree notes, “ TheIslamist Organization (inEgypt) remaining invisiblyvisible behind the scenes usedits organizational strengthand mobilized large number ofits supporters for the protestthat was mainly non-religiousand spontaneous in character.Despite being banned frompolitical activity it acceptedthe invitation for discussionon political transition….Projecting a more pragmaticimage of itself to domestic andinternational audienceIkhwan declared it as an‘Egyptian Revolution’, and notan Islamic revolution. Withone stroke of political acumenand dexterity it blunted many
arrows aimed at it fromWashington, Brussells andTel Aviv.” Mr. Zainagiree hasalmost revealed the mindsetof the cadre based Jamaat asalso the core content of theprocesses which are makingthe radical and more popularseparatist leader to behave ashe has been. Geelani, byengaging with the govern-ments at the state level andthe Centre and cohabitingwith the likes of ArundhattiRoys, once in a while extend-ing his hand of patronage tohapless Kashmiri Hindus andSikhs living in the valley, isexhibiting a flexibility whichmany are describing as achange of heart of the ailingand aged leader. When theseptuagenarian leader choseto be one of the first leaders inthe entire Islamic world tocondemn the killing of thedreaded Osama bin Laden heonly demonstrated a ruthlesscommitment to pan Islamicmovement for which Osama isan undisputed icon. Geelaniby declaring Osama bin Ladenas a martyr in the cause ofIslam also mocked at those inIndia within the governmentand outside who have beenclaiming a change of heart inhim.
The issue in Kashmir valleyis not whether Egypt likeuprising can be replicated.The separatist regimes havethe confidence and expertiseof mobilizing people far morein numbers. They have thematurity to ignore the multi-plying fractures within theirrank and file. The stone pelt-ing campaign last year amplydemonstrated this. They havedemonstrated it at many occa-sions in the past, be it march-es to UN Military ObserversPosts in the outskirts ofSrinagar, or march to Chrar-i-Sharief and many similarmobilizations during theAmarnath Land row. Theissue which they are address-ing is how such mobilizationson the ground could be used towreck the status quo onKashmir. When the Primeminister talks about the valueof ‘functioning democracy’ heis ignoring the fact that thepolitical class across the spec-trum in the valley recognizesit as a ‘managed democracy’and they also believe that theworld at large is just a verysmall distance from recogniz-ing it so. He also is blissfullyunaware about the fact thathis own government hasallowed the democraticprocess to be underminedwith impunity.
Undermining of theDemocratic process
The ‘functioning democracy’argument as a counter weightto the mass upsurges inKashmir valley guided byregressive political ideologies
has certainly a great value.But if the government has apolicy structure which essen-tially undermines and alsodelegitimizes the ‘democraticprocess’ which it has estab-lished in an extremely stress-ful environment of terroristintimidation, then the ‘func-tioning democracy’ argumentloses its value and cannot beharnessed as a protectiveshield.
Only very recently the NewDelhi appointed ChiefInterlocutors for Jammu andKashmir said that the partici-pation of people in Panchayatpolls and the Kashmir prob-lem were two different issues.“Polls and Kashmir issue arefar away from each other.People are participating inelections to address theirbasic issues,” said DileepPadgaonkar at a two day‘Peace Conference’ organizedby J&K Peace Foundation inSrinagar on May 16, 2011. Inan earlier interview onDoordarshan, Radha Kumar,another interlocutor appoint-ed by the Government ofIndia, described the electedgovernment in Jammu andKashmir as almost non-repre-sentative because as per her avery large public constituencyfell outside the boundaries ofthe democratic sphere. Theseare not isolated views of per-sons who might have beennominated as interlocutors bythe Government of India forreasons other than their viewson the democratic experimentin Jammu and Kashmir. Asignificant section of Kashmirexperts and track 2 actorsemployed by none other thanthe Government of India itselfprofess the same views.
When government of Indiaallowed Mufti MohammadSayed and Omar Abdullah toadvocate publicly, as the ChiefMinisters of the state, thattheir elected governmentswere just a day to dayarrangement to handle theday to day problems of thepeople and they have no locusstandi to decide about thelarger political issues it ren-ders the entire functioningdemocracy in the state to astature of even worse thanthat of a ‘managed democra-cy’ which the educated middleclass in Kashmir valley choos-es to call it. If the elected gov-ernment in Jammu andKashmir is accorded the sta-tus of a mere interfacebetween the governments ofPakistan, India and the peo-ple of Kashmir by the govern-ments in the state and theCentre then the democraticlegitimacy automaticallyshifts outside of the democrat-ic sphere to the regimesorchestrating secessionistpublic mobilizations butwhich have stubbornly
opposed the democraticprocess in the state over theyears. The international opin-ion which the secessionistmind in Kashmir is targetingcannot be expected to ignorethis reality.
Why will the internationalopinion not take the cog-nizance of the fact that theIndian Government itself doesnot accord the respect of afunctioning democracy to thedemocratic process which ithas established under thenose of a terrorist gun? CanAmericans afford to call theelected governments InAfghanistan and Iraq as non-representative and merely asday to day arrangements?
The strategic fraternity inIndia and an overwhelmingsection of the Indian politicalclass advocated the initiationof democratic process in thestate in 1996 to restore thedemocratic rights of the peo-ple. Initiation of the demo-cratic process served twoother major strategic objec-tives. First has been to deploydemocracy to mobilize opinionagainst terrorism and sepa-ratism and isolate the armedseparatist regimes in thestate. And second to use thedemocratic interface as alegitimate moral shield whileconducting counter terroristoperations on the ground.Democratic interface acts as aconstant deterrent againstHuman Rights violations anddoes not allow terrorists touse the argument of HumanRights violations, whichinevitably happen once in awhile as collateral damagewhen security forces confrontviolence organized from with-in the sanctuary of the societyitself.
The decision to initiate dem-ocratic process then was acritical decision as the terror-ist regimes in the state werefar from being vanquishedeven though falling into disar-ray under the attack of count-er insurgent operations. Morecritically subversive entrench-ment in the organs of thestate administration hadremained untouched andthere was every possibilitythat restoration of democraticprocess might lead to widen-ing and deepening of the sub-versive entrenchment. But asthe policy of Government ofIndia unfolded the democraticprocess in the state far frombecoming an anti-dote tosecessionism got transformedinto a process where sepa-ratists were accorded an extraconstitutional veto over all thepolitical interventions devisedby the elected governmentitself.
All the three Round TableConferences on Jammu andKashmir were primarilydevised to ensure participa-
tion of the separatist leaders.The importance accorded tothe separatist participation inthese conferences was actual-ly a process of delegitimizingthe democratic process itself.The outcome of each such con-ference and the reports of theWorking Groups created dur-ing these conferences aimedprimarily to further woo theseparatists. With each cycle ofconcessions the separatistleaders, including particularlythose whom the Governmentof India calls as moderates,further stiffened their stanceand stubbornly refused to giveany credibility to the demo-cratic process. The influenceand the concomitant pres-sures which the democraticprocess could have generatedwere neutralized by the verycharacter of the democraticprocess employed on theground.
Conversion of DemocraticProcess into a
Subversive SpaceDuring the stone pelting
campaign last year, theCentral Government wasexposed in ample measure tothe contradictions and pitfallsof the democratic processwhich it has employed inJammu and Kashmir. Thefailure of the elected govern-ment in the state was callederroneously as a ‘governancedeficit’ by the CentralGovernment. The unwilling-ness of the state governmentto stand up against secession-ist mobilizations in the stateand many times if not alwaysacting as an accomplice to thesecessionists cannot be merelycalled as a ‘governancedeficit’.
At the peak of ‘stone pelting’campaign the Chief Ministerof the State said without inhi-bitions that the “the aspira-tions of the people of Jammu& Kashmir cannot beassuaged only by develop-ment, good governance andeconomic packages but needsa political solution…. Wemust work together to find asolution that can lead to alasting peace in Jammu &Kashmir as per the aspira-tions of the people of thisgreat land.” This position wasexactly in sync with the sepa-ratist line. How many timeshave we heard Ali ShahGeelani say that development,unemployment, miss-gover-nance were non issues and thereal solution was settlementof Kashmir issue as per thewishes and aspirations of thepeople!
Attitude of the StateGovernment during lastyear’s so called ‘Quit Kashmir’campaign was both of help-lessness as well as politicalunwillingness to stand up tothe secessionists .Unwillingness to stand upagainst secessionist forcesbecause there is a definite
Democratic Process: Conversion into a Subversive(From Page 1)
(Contd. on Page 10)
TUMULTUOUS VALLEY 7June 2011
By Capt. S.K. Tikoo
SOON after PChidambaram took overas the Union Home
Minister, a senior Congressparty leader and an ex-minis-ter of Jammu and Kashmir(J&K) state sought anappointment with him, toapprise him of the groundrealities existing in the statein general and the Valley inparticular. The Union HomeMinister gave him a patienthearing but no sooner, thisCongressman who had trav-elled all the way fromSrinagar, talked about SyedAli Shah Geelani, the chair-man of Tehrik-i-Hurriyat, aconglomerate of many subver-sive, secessionist and anti-Indian outfits as the master-mind and the brain behindthe anti-national and sepa-ratist agitations being held inthe Valley day in and day out.The Home Minister brushedhim aside by saying that SyedAli Shah Geelani was anIndian and conveyed in nouncertain terms to thisCongressman that he was nolonger interested in any fur-ther talks on the subject. Themeeting ended then andthere. Indian and Geelani arepoles apart. Here is the briefprofile of this 'Indian':
As early as 1989, a meetingof Jamaat-e-Islami was heldon August 3, in village Soi-Bug of Budgam district inKashmir Valley, under thechairmanship of Syed AliShah Geelani. The meetingwas held at the residence ofDr. Mohd. Sultan.
Incidentally. Dr Mohd Sultanhad also fought the electionsas a JI (Jamaat-e-Islami) can-didate to the J&K LegislativeAssembly held in 1987. Thosewho attended the meetingincluded Ghulam Mohd. Miralias Shamas-ul-Haq, Mohd.Ismail, Ashraf Dar andMaqbool Ilahi among others.All of them were senior JIleaders.
Those days, Ashraf Dar wasknown as founder (BAANI)
militant and Maqbool Ilahi asreal (ASLI) militant. MasterYousuf Shah, a fire spewingimam of a mosque and resi-dent of the same village whohad unsuccessfully fought the1987 Assembly election as theJI candidate from AmiraKadal constituency, was con-spicuous by his presence. Itwas SAS Geelani who pro-posed that the time was ripeto stage an armed struggleagainst India and he alsopromised total support of JIto this armed struggle. AshrafDar, the founder militant sug-gested ZIA Tigers as the
name of the new outfit, whichwould carry out insurgency inthe state. Immediately there-after, hundreds (some sayeven thousands) of youngboys were sent across toPakistan Occupied Kashmir(POK) and Pakistan to getarms training in variouscamps in POK and Pakistan.These camps were run by Pakarmy and JI Pakistan jointly.It was this 'Indian' Geelaniwho persuaded the reluctantmembers of the Majlis-i-Shoora of JI, to releaseenough funds to this newadventure and he ensuredthat ‘ZIA Tigers’ would neverfall short of financial supportto be provided by JI.
Some sudden developmentslike the growth of JKLF(Jammu Kashmir LiberationFront), 'Allah Tigers' besides'ZIA Tigers' declaring somesort of autonomy shockedGeelani. His reaction wasquick and sharp-he coined anew word HM (Hizb-ul-Mujahideen), borrowing theword Hizb from Arabic lan-guage which means jamaat(gathering group) and addedMujahideen to it. This newmilitant outfit was thus creat-ed by JI and its constitutionwas presented by MasterAhsan Dar, who later rose to
be the supreme commander.JI Jammu and Kashmir
and JI Pakistan recognisedonly HM as a truly Islamicterrorist outfit and both theseorganisations, locally andfrom across the border, sup-ported it fully. In 1991, ameeting was held under thechairmanship of masterAhsan Dar, in the house ofAbdul Gani Sofi aliasShaheen, a well known JIworker, situated in villageSepdan (district Budgam) andwas attended by Mohd.Yousuf Shah, Mohd. Abdullahalias commander, GhulamMohammed Gani known as'ISI Agent', SAS Geelani.Ghulam Mohammed Mir,Waheed Sheikh and MaqboolIlahi and a few more commit-ted JI members. In the saidmeeting, Geelani ordered his(HM) 'commanders' to disarmall 'commanders' owing alle-giance to rival militantgroups. He even went to theextent of ordering their phys-ical elimination if they did notagree to work under the ban-ner of HM. This move wasvehemently opposed andobjected to by two senior-mostJI leaders viz GhulamMohammed Ganai andMohammed Abdullah 'com-mander'., but Geelani the'Indian' stuck to his guns andstripped Ahsan Dar of thepost of 'supreme commander'and appointed MohammedYousuf Shah in his placeunder a new name-SyedSalah-ud-Din. Master AhsanDar was given the title of'Military Adviser'-a decora-tive consolation. MasterAhsaan Dar who had tremen-dous hold in Pattan town andits adjacent villages inBaramulla district struckback quickly. In a significantmove, he issued a pressrelease declaring HM as theASKARI (militant) wing of JI- it was the first public decla-ration of JI running a terror-ist outfit. Almost at the sametime. Mohammed Abdullah'Commander'. who hadwalked out of HM, issued aseparate press statementclaiming that HM in fact wasa political outfit and 'Jamait-i-Mujahideen was its militant(ASKARI) wing. Surprisingly,these two contradictory state-ments issued by two stal-warts of JI were neitherendorsed nor contradicted byJi or HM. However, general
public got disillusioned withthe internal bickering of JIand HM and started openlyhelping other rival militantand terrorist outfits. JI couldnot take it lightly, it startedco-opting and owning up, bymeans fair and mostly foul,other smaller terrorist outfitslike 'Allah Tigers' 'Tehrik-i-Jamaait-i-Islami' etc. andcontinued to do so in spite ofbitter opposition by HajiGhualm Mohammed, arespected and a senior JIleader. Geelani, not used todisobedience, it is wellknown, got Haji Ghulam
Mohemmed Shot dead soonafter he came out of a mosqueafter having offered hisevening prayers. The killingwas owned by 'Al-HasanCommandoes' of 'Hazrat AliRegiment', a fake outfit whichwas never heard of again.
In 1991 itself, HM declaredthe creation of a political out-fit and named it as HurriyatConference with SAS Geelanias its president. Known JIheadliners like MohammedAkbar Bhat, Zaffar-ul-Islam(Divisional Commander ofHM) and Sadiq Ali, the chiefconfidante of Geelani, weregiven key posts in theHurriyat Conference. Geelaniensured that militant 'com-manders' and upper groundleaders from other outfits didnot get important and promi-nent positions in the HurriyatConference. But the highhandedness of Geelani wassoon challenged by those whohad been fighting the 'holywar' on the ground unlikeGeelani who was always issu-ing dictates from safe havenswithout having ever operated,nay even touched an AK-rifle.A vertical division split theHM in two warring outfits,one headed by master AhsanDar and the other by masterYousuf Shah alias Syed
Salahu-du-Din. Senior 'com-manders' of both groups gotkilled in this internecine war-fare. Geelani issued orders toSyed Salah-ud-Din to elimi-nate all those who defied HMheaded by him. During thisperiod, master Ahsan Dar gota setback, when an importanthideout in the house ofRashid Zain-i-Gami, an influ-ential, rich and wealthy sup-porter of Ahsan Da wasdestroyed by the grenadeattacks and in the process.Rashid-Zaini-Gami was killed- a severe blow suffered byAhsan Dar. Rashid-Zaini-Gami, was not the only one,two other senior leaders of JI,the senior most 'original(ASLI) commander' and'founder (baani) militant' metthe same fate. It was Geelaniwho had ordered theirkillings, only to emerge as theunchallenged leader ofHurriyat, says one ofGeelanis one time colleaguewho does not want to be iden-tified for obvious reasons.
Geelani did not stop at that.The rise of SLF (StudentsLiberation Front) to populari-ty in late 1994, was thebiggest setback to Geelaniand he set his murdermachine to motion. Hedetailed Syed Salah-ud-Din tokill the 'supreme commander'of SLF - someone known asKuka Parrey, Salah-du-Dinfailed to deliver and an imme-diate change of plans tookplace. A meeting was held invillage Vachi in southKashmir in the house of oneGhulam Hassan Khan, a sen-
ior JI leader. Another
senior JI leader, GhulamQadir Ganaai, present in themeeting sent for AbdulQayoom Shah, an importantleader of NationalConference. There were 40 to50 fully armed militantsalready in the room whenQayoom Shah arrived. Hewas offered a princely sum ofRs 50 lacs and asked to sur-render to the army, gain theirconfidence and kill 'that'
PC's 'Indian' Geelani: the insider story
(Contd. on Page 8)
P.Chidambaram Syed Ali Shah Geelani
It was SASGeelani who pro-
posed that the timewas ripe to stage an
armed struggleagainst India andhe also promisedtotal support of JI to this armed
struggle.
The constitution(dastoor) of
Tehrik-i-Hurriyatright in its
permeable,incites, instigatesand provokes its
members to elimi-nate all non-
believers in thename of Islam
Geelani, not used to disobedience, it is well known,got Haji Ghulam Mohemmed Shot dead soon after he
came out of a mosque after having offered hisevening prayers.
MEDIA SCAN 8June 2011
By Navnita Chadha Behera
THE interlocutorsfor Kashmir aredue to submit an
interim report to thecentral government. It istoo early to say if theirroadmap will resolve theconflict because what itentails is unclear. If it’sexpected to yield a finalpolitical settlement,then it may not succeedbecause that can onlyresult from a multi-lay-ered and inclusive politi-cal dialogue whereinJ&K’s political classtakes the lead in re-working the rules ofpower sharing. TheDelhi-based , eminentalbeit ‘apolitical’ inter-locutors are not bestsuited to thismonumental task.
Even so, they maymake a significant con-tribution to the peaceprocess. This, simply byundertaking the overdueand neglected task ofmapping out the broadparameters withinwhich the specificities ofa peace proposal may bedebated. Even this muchcalls for a fundamentalshift in the basic termsof discourse because itquestions the multiplefables that pass for con-ventional wisdom.
The original blunderwas made in 1947 whenthe ideological prism ofthe two-nation theorywas used to characterizeKashmir as a Hindu-Muslim conflict. This
historical narrative sug-gested that Pakistan —the “homeland” of thesubcontinent’s Muslims— was incomplete with-out Kashmir’s inclusion,or that India’s secularcredentials depended onKashmir’s accession. Italso suggested that thedispute arose because aMuslim-majority statehad its fate determinedby a Hindu Maharaja.Both propositions do notstand up to historicalscrutiny. In 1947,Kashmir’s fate was nei-ther preordained nordecided on ideologicalgrounds. The princelyDogra state of Jammu& Kashmir lay outsideBritish India. The battleover it between the lead-ership of Congress andthe Muslim League wasfundamentally politicaland mainly because ofthe respectiveDominions’ defenceneeds and need for geo-graphical consolidation.
Another critical factorwas the local dynamicsof Kashmiri politics.Though legally, theMaharaja alone couldsign the Instrument ofAccession, it was theSheikh Abdullah-ledNational Conference’spolitical backing thatultimately swung it. TheMuslim League chose toblame the HinduMaharaja because itwould have been farmore difficult to explainhow a popular Muslim
leader like Sheikh hadvoluntarily opted to joinIndia.
The ‘territorilization’of the Kashmir conflicthas also detracted fromthe question of peoples’‘political’ rights and per-
petuated the fallacy ofviewing two parts of thedivided state as homoge-nous entities. The politi-cal construct of a‘ M u s l i m - m a j o r i t y ’Jammu & Kashmir statepitted against a ‘majori-tarian Hindu India’ orits counterpoint thatIslam is sufficient tocement the relationshipbetween ‘Azad Kashmir’and Northern Areaswith Pakistan are, atbest, misleading.
Jammu & Kashmirwith its extraordinarymedley of races, tribalgroups, languages andreligions is arguably oneof the most diverseregions in the subconti-nent. Its majority com-
munity of ‘KashmiriMuslims’ is not a uni-fied, homogenous entityin terms of politicalbeliefs , ideological lean-ings or political goals.Nor is the KashmiriMuslims’ interpretation
of the right to self-deter-mination in terms ofdemanding a plebiscitemandated by the 1949UN resolutions sharedby other communitiessuch as the Dogras,Kashmiri Pandits,Gujjars, Bakkarwalsand Ladakhi Buddhists.
The Kashmiri leader-ship has consistentlyfailed to come to termswith this reality. In the1950s, if SheikhAbdullah argued thatself-determination wasthe inherent right of allpeoples and demanded itfor Kashmiris, he couldnot justify denying thesame to people ofJammu and Ladakh.However, the latter’s
demand for full andunconditional accessionto India acted as acountervailing force tothe Valley’s demand forindependence. Currentlytoo, the separatist lead-ership faces the samedilemma. It speaks onbehalf of the ‘people ofJammu & Kashmir’ butrepresents the politicalinterests of only a part ofthe majority community—Kashmiri Muslims inthe Valley. The minori-ties in Jammu andLadakh, in fact, seekautonomy from theValley. The secessionistagenda underlying thedemand for right to self-determination has thusfailed because it lacks aninclusive character.
A just, viable and last-ing peace in Kashmirmust involve all thecommunities andnationalities living inthe state, not KashmiriMuslims alone whoresorted to the gun andhave thus been theworst affected by thepolitical violence. This isimportant because if thepolitical demands of thenon-violent mobilizationin Jammu, Ladakh andelsewhere are notaddressed through thepeace process, it willsend the message that‘violence pays’. Thiswould defeat the verypurpose of a peaceprocess. And yet, J&K’spluralities are an asset,
not a liability whendevising a strategy toresolve this conflict ifthey are viewed as abasis for linkages, notdivision.
Finally, it’s importantto bring developments in‘Azad Kashmir’ and theNorthern Areas withinthe purview of debateson Kashmir’s politicalfuture. The people of‘Azad Kashmir’ and theNorthern Areas had towait until 1970 and 1994respectively to exercisetheir basic civil right tovote. Ambiguities aboutthe constitutional andlegal status of the latterhave fostered typicalcolonial conditionswhereby all civil andlegal rights reside in thePakistani state andnone in the people.Nonetheless, Pakistanhas always assumed themantle of championingthe Kashmiri cause anddictated the terms ofKashmir’s discourse athome and in the interna-tional arena. The basicrules of the game inagenda-setting mustchange and if the inter-locutors could set thisball rolling it may wellprove to be a game-changer in Kashmir.
*(The author teachesat the Department ofPolitical Science,University of Delhi)
--Source: Times of India
Roadmap for Kashmir: the path not trodden
Kuka Parrey. This too didnot work.
An alternate plan washatched. A group of hardcoreHM 'commanders' that includ-ed Abdul Majeed Hajam, MAshraf Hajam, Tufail a 'coycommander' and youngerbrother of Zafar-ul-Islam ofSalvation Movement andFayaz Ahmed Ahangar aliasJunaid-ul-Islam were orderedto surrender along with theirarms and then work for Hmfrom within. To Geelani's dis-belief and shock, most of thesesurrendered militants actuallystarted working against HM,but Geelani could not take itlightly. He got Abdul MajeedHajam burnt alive in a brickkiln, to send a sterm messageto any prospective 'renegades'.He continued issuing 'DeathOrders' regularly MirAsadullah, a prominentCongress leader of Soi Bug wasdone away with in a mine blastand in March/April, 1996 when8 militants and 3 civilians got
killed in an encounter in vil-lage Chivdara of Beerwahtehsil. Geelani publiclydeclared to the assembledmourners that he knew whothe informer (mukhbir) wasand the next day, the bulletridden body of Abdul KhaliqMir of J&K police, of the samevillage, was found in the vil-lage square. Geelani haddeputed Musaib bhai, aPakistani militant to kill Mir.
This modern day godfathercontrols HM, appoints naazims(commanders) of even pla-toons, companies and battal-ions - not to speak of higherformations, looks after thefinances and has a well knitorganisational set up where hehas his favoured and trustedcommanders working for him.A well known journalistworked for him for years underthe assumed name of IdreesKhan. This journalist laterworked as a staffer of a nation-al daily for years, this timeunder his real name. Under awell chalked out plan, he madesome of those 'ex-commanders'
surrender, spend few years injail and are now openly run-ning his Tehrik-i-Hurriyat.And what is Tehrik-i-Hurriyat? This Geelani 'theIndian' once thrown out ofHurriyat Conference (was it apart of a deep rooted conspira-cy?) floated another politicalparty under the name and titleof 'Tehrik-i-Hurriyat Jammu
and Kashmir in 2004 withhimself as its chairman. Theconstitution (dastoor) ofTehrik-i-Hurriyat right in itspermeable, incites, instigatesand provokes its members toeliminate all non-believers inthe name of Islam and thuscomplete the unfinished taskof the Prophet. Just read whatis written in the very firstchapter (there are three chap-ters in all) of the constitution(DASTOOR) pages 4 and 5.
"....Those who are not accept-ing the fact that all creationflows from the dispensation ofthe one God, those that insist
that they will bow to the God oftheir choosing and base theirculture and civilisation on thephilosophies and points of viewof their liking are hereby toldunequivocally that theMessenger of God has not beensent to accommodate them, buthas been sent to impose theinstructions of (the one) Godthat he brings on every aspectof creation. This (the will ofGod) has to be carried out byhim in whatever mannerrequired. You should leave nostone un-turned tocondemn/admonish/lashout atthe apostate polytheist and thedisbeliever to accept this, hemay try howsoever hard(towards the controversy): thismission of the Messenger willstand accomplished”.
Is this 'Indian' not exhorting
his followers (Muslims) of ter-rorising Hindus (Polytheists)?Yet he is not booked under therelevant sections of IPC. He isthe only 'Indian' who callsOmar Abdullah the chief min-ister of Indian occupiedKashmir. Even the Pakistanisrefer to the state of J&K as theIndian administered J&Kstate. In a booklet 'teen hadaf'(three aims), he throws cautionto the winds and pleadsintensely for the creation forummah, where there will be nogeographical demarcationsand different governments, butjust one khilafat. This modernday 'Indian' godfather is call-ing the shots.
The state bureaucracy andpolice are unwilling to touchhim.
CONTINUATION
Printer Publisher B.N. Kaul for and on behalf of Panun Kashmir Foundation.Editor: SHAILENDRA AIMA Computer Graphic: S.K. Babbu, Printed at : TheKashmir Times Press, Gangyal, JammuOwned by: PANUN KASHMIR FOUNDATIONPublished from PANUN KASH-MIR FOUNDATION, 172, Sector-3, E.W.S Colony, Lower Roop Nagar, Jammu-180013 (INDIA) Tele/Fax: 0191-2593166 emal: [email protected] website:panunkashmir.org
PC's 'Indian' Geelani: the insider(Contd. from Page 7)
The interlocutors on J&K addressing media persons at Srinagar.
9June 2011 THE PLACE VALUE
FROM the stories of itsorigin as mentioned inNeelmata Purana to our
times Kashmir has got a mys-tic feeling associated with it.In Neelmata Purana the landof Kashmir is itself the body ofMother Goddess and the life-line of this land the sacredriver “Vitasta” too is MotherGoddess herself. With such amystic lore associated withthis land the people whoinhabit it have a natural affin-ity towards mysticism andthey readily enter into discus-sions about the comparison ofthe powers of various mystics.And when we talk of mysticsLalded is held in the highestesteem by the common folk ofKashmir and almost all mys-tics most of whom were poetsas well have held her as worthemulating through theirrecorded word and thus placedthemselves in her tradition.This reverence for mystics is avery important aspect of theplace consciousness ofKashmir which makesKashmiri People what theyare. Lalded is considered thepinnacle of mystic tradition ofKashmir. Attempts to appro-priate her by the Islamists ofKashmir bears testimony tothe fact that her inclusion inany faith will glorify thatfaith. This also shows thateven these Islamists could notescape the effect of Lalded con-sciousness.
All the mystics and thosewho have the awareness of themystic practice of Lalded con-sider her an unparalleledShaiva yogini. Mystics ofKashmir give an example toexplain her extraordinaryyoga marga. Lalded wouldkeep an inverted earthensaucer (Toke in Kashmiri) onher head and then stand onanother earthen saucer. Shehad got such control on theenergies of her body that insome moments her body wouldslowly dissolve away and theearthen saucer on her headwould sit on the earthensaucer on which was underher feet. Then she would reap-pear from within thesesaucers again with the sauceron her head, standing onanother saucer. The mystics ofKashmir agree that she wasthe only one who had achievedthis state. She had the powerto change the matter consti-tuting her body into energyand the energy back into mat-ter. We have heard of the prac-tices of transforming the vital
energy or the soul into otherbodies but Lalded hadattained that state of shiva-hood where she could play thisgame of transformation withevery cell of her body. Thispractice is known among mys-tics as ‘Chandrakala’. Suchstates are not achieved all of asudden. She had worked on atradition of mystic practiceswhich existed in her timeswhich was nurtured by greatsages like AcharyaAbhinavagupta and AcharyaUtpladeva and achieved theextraordinary state of heryoga. She was the living epito-me of this tradition. This prac-tice attained heights with herand after her we do not knowanybody who had achievedthis state. Before her alsonobody had achieved thisstate. That is why every mys-tic of Kashmir finds her worthemulating. Lalded represent-ed the pinnacle of the mystictradition of Kashmir.
Her poetry also marks thebeginning of the literary histo-ry of Kashmiri language. Itmust be kept in mind that herpoetry is not a treatise onshaivite philosophy ofKashmir. It is an extraordi-nary expression of her experi-ences which are predominant-ly associated with her shaivayoga. Every one of her vaakhsis an intense experience inwhich every particle of herbeing seems to be involved.She has given such heights toevery aspect of poetry that noKashmiri poet has ever afterher been able to fall near her.Before her there were poetsand mystics who wrote theirexperiences in form of poetrybut all of them wrote inSanskrit, Lalded was the firstwho made Kashmiri as hermedium of expression. Buthere also a big question arises.The sort of poetry she wrote,the powerful matured lan-guage that carries the extraor-dinary intensity of her experi-ences could not be achieved atone blow. Such a kind of lan-guage-Desh Bhasha could notcome without a powerful tradi-tion of doing literature init.But such works in the theKashmiri desh Bhasha beforeLalded are not available.Lalded’s language and poetryis not the origin, it is the peak,the pinnacle of a literary andlinguistic tradition but with-out any trace of the predeces-sors. Lalded’s poetry carrieswithin her the labour of thosepredecessors who transmittedto her the legacy which shecarried to the topmost heights.Thus Lalded consciousnessstimulates within us an obli-gation to remain grateful forever to those forgotten poetswhose toil and sweat made ourlanguage what it is in Lalded’s
poetry and gave us the tongueto say that we exist and belongto the land of Lalded. ThusLalded consciousness adds anew dimension to the placeconsciousness of Kashmir andbecomes synonymous with it.
Lalded was a Shaiva Yoginiand thus could not take thisworld as an illusion. She had astrong awareness of the objec-tive world and exhibits a deepconsciousness of the place shedwelled in, that is Kashmir.One of her vaakhs which iseasier to understand but com-plex in its structure is impor-tant from this point of view:-
Gagan tsuy bootal tsuyTsuy then pawan tu raathArag tsandan posh ponya
tsuySoruy tsay tu laegizi
kyah. (you are the sky and the
earth, you are the day, thebreeze and the night, you arethe grain offered in oblation,you are the sandal paste andthe flowers, you are all theseand everything , so whatshould I offer you in worship?)
In the structure of thisvaakh, every word is meaning-fully placed. It is like a camerawhich focuses on the sky thenmoves to earth, it happens inthe day light then a breeze ofair blows and there is night,then there is grain of oblation,the sandal paste, flowers andwater then there is Laldedthinking that shiva is every-thing and if he is everythingwhat should be offered to him!
Now if the camera movesfrom sky to earth all thethings in between will be visi-ble. When a day passes andnight comes there is generallya cool breeze in between in theevening. Between all thesenatural processes the culturalact of worship is there whichagain is done with naturalthings like grain, sandalpaste, flowers and water. Andall these natural things arenot assets granted to us by theGod as semitic religions tellus. They are themselves shivathe ultimate lord, not his man-ifestations but he himself as isevident from the vaakh. Thisis the ultimate non-dualisticthinking. And when this con-sciousness comes to a personthe traditional form of worshipundergoes a crisis. If every-thing is Shiva, flowers, grains,water etc. what is there tooffer. Every natural happen-ing is shiva. Every object isshiva and thus has inherentvalue. Here we see no differ-ence in sakaar-the manifestand nirakaar-the unmanifest.Shiva is everything and every-thing is Shiva. Everythingthat has shape is shiva andevery other thing that doesn’thave a shpae is shiva as well.This understanding is not
rejecting the idol worship buttranscending it throughawareness that everything isShiva and there is nothing tooffer because that awarenessmakes everyone of your acts,your interaction with any-thing between sky and earth,your every experience the wor-ship of lord. This is humaninteraction with the worldaround in its totality throughwhich any difference betweenthe deity and devotee iserased. Even worship is notneeded because whatever youdo is the doing of God. Thisverse exhibits the ecologicalthought of the highest order,which leaves even the conceptof ‘Deep Ecology’ far behind.The concept of Deep Ecologyhas inspired many interna-tional environmental groupslike Friends of Earth, EarthFirst and Sea Shepherd. Thisconcept was given byNorwegian philosopher ArneNaess in 1972. With otherthinkers he put forth eightbasic principals of deep ecolo-gy the first two of which are:-
1. Every living being has aninherent value.
2. The prosperity and diver-sity of life has an inherentvalue.
These two principals can beseen in this vaakh of Lalded ,which was written centuriesbefore Arne Naess. Butnobody understands this inKashmir these days. They arebusy proving whether she hadconverted to Islam or not andtheir ecology is taking a beat-ing.
It should be noted in thisvaakh that the sky and theearth Lalded is talking aboutis the sky and the earth ofKashmir because she had notbeen outside Kashmir. All herexperiences were in and ofKashmir. So the earth and skyand all things between themare in Kashmir and all areshiva. She expresses Kashmiras sacred geography and getsconnected with the tradition ofNeelmata Purana wheremother Goddess herself saysthat Kashmir is her body.Same is said here in terms ofShiva. This is the miracle ofLalded and her consciousness.Lalded is the most profoundexpression in Kashmiri lan-guage where the geography ofKashmir becomes the sacredgeography. When you areassociated with her conscious-ness you are automaticallyassociated with Kashmir, his-tory, geography and culture ofit and all the meaningsKashmir has as a place. In theVaakh given above the earthand sky of Kashmir are Shivaand thus attain a universalsignificance. This shows thatthe deep consciousness of yourplace only can give you univer-
sal significance and provesthat Lalded Consciousness, isnot a reduction but a totalityin itself. That is why all mean-ingful mystics and poets andthe commom folks after hershow their association withLalded consciousness.
Lalded legion amply reflectsthat the Lalded consciousnessis so deeply rooted even in theecological entities of Kashmir.Lotus stem (nadur) is cookedby all Kashmiris and is rel-ished as a delicacy. It grows inmany lakes of Kashmir. Whenwe cut a lotus stem into twoand pull the two pieces apartwe see extremely fine hairbetween the two pieces. Thereis a Legend associated with it.Once Lalded was working on aspinning wheel. She had spunextremely fine thread. But hermother-in-law, criticized herfor not spinning fine enough.She threw the thread in apond which grew into lotusstem. The mystic lore ofKashmir holds that the threadwe see in the lotus stem is thesame thread which was spunby Lalded. This legendgrasped the imagination ofKashmiri women who throughthis have offered resistance toall torturing mothers-in-law.All daughters-in-law inKashmir, who have borne thetorture of their mothers-in-law, are referred to asLalded’s. Kashmiris haveoffered resistance to Sayyedsthrough the fable of Laldedjumping into the tandoor of abaker on seeing ShahiHamadan and coming out cladin a divine costume to showthat Sayyeds ran awaybecause they feared theywould die if they passedthrough fire. But in Kashmir awoman could do it. This showsthat Lalded has been anempowering consciousness forKashmiris and has made themto assert their spiritual, intel-lectual and emotional strengthand specificity from time totime. No other personality inKashmir has attained suchsignificance or dwelled in theconsciousness of people in thematters ranging from mun-dane to spiritual to thisextent.
Lalded Consciousness issynonymous with the con-sciousness of our being asKashmiris and underlines spe-cific meanings carried byKashmir as a place. It incorpo-rates the grandeur of our tra-ditions, the depth and univer-sality of our thought, our spir-itual intensity, evolution ofour linguistic heritage andecological thinking whichrespects the inherent value ofevery being. It is the con-sciousness which will make uslive till eternity.
*(The author is a prolificwriter and a poet).
Lalded Consciousness”-IIBy Dileep Kumar Kaul
CONTINUATION 10June 2011
overlap between the objec-tives of the secessionists andthe main party of the rulingalliance and helplessnessbecause all organs of the soci-ety seem to be on the otherside. They are in fact twopoles of a vicious cycle whichfeed each other.Unwillingness generates help-lessness and the helplessnessfeeds the unwillingness.
Omar Abdullah, whileresponding to the criticism ofhis handling of the situationmade a very revealing state-ment. “By focusing on mystyle of governance, you aredistracting from the mainissue. In which protest did yousee slogans against my gov-ernment? The slogans were‘Hame chahiye Azadi, GoIndia Go’. What has that to dowith my style of governance,”he said. “There are lessons tobe learnt from this crisis - les-sons I have to learn, lessonthe state has to learn andimportant lessons theGovernment of India has tolearn. Don’t underplay thecomplexity of the issue that ifI change my style of gover-nance, miraculously, every-thing will get better. TillJune, you hadn’t a problemwith my style,” Abdullahobserved. The real paradox ofthe situation is that the peo-ple on the streets raise brazensecessionist slogans and theChief Minister does not at allconsider them as against hisgovernment. The ruling partyin fact finds a resonance inthe secessionist din raised inthe streets.
In Jammu and Kashmir onething which has been over-looked over the years by thethink tanks of the main-stream political parties aswell as the experts on strate-gic affairs in India is the con-sensus within the separatistconstituency in the valley thatthey have to control the ‘spaceof governance’. This consen-sus reflected for the first timeafter the defeat of Pakistan inthe 1971 war. SheikhAbdullah agreed to join backthe electoral politics becausehe was aware that the sepa-ratist class in the valley, atleast the overwhelmingmajority of it, was convincedabout denying the pro Indiapolitics in Jammu andKashmir the space of gover-nance to survive in the after-math of Pakistan’s humiliat-ing defeat. Control of thestate government emerged asan imperative strategic neces-sity for the separatist elite inthe valley. That SheikhAbdullah had taken up thecourse of joining the powerpolitics in the state notbecause of any ideologicaltransformation but to meetthe exigencies of the timeswas clear when he respondedto the statement of the thenPresident of Pakistan,
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, that thefight for Kashmir’s right ofself-determination was lost in1948. What Sheikh said inresponse revealed his ideolog-ical disposition as well as urgefor an alternative strategicparadigm. He said, “Mr.Bhutto’s statement as report-ed in the Indian Press is notclear to me… It is a historicaltruth which had been amplyproved that any countrywhich has depended on otherpowers for achievement of itsobjectives has always metwith disaster….It is very diffi-cult to understand that thefight for the right of self-deter-mination was virtually lost in1948.”
Sheikh assumed the helmsof affairs in the state andassiduously saw to it that thecadres of plebiscite front andeven Al Fatah were accommo-dated within the new powerstructure. Pro –Pak and radi-cal Islamist formation ofJamaat- i-Islami of Kashmirwas first to realize the importof capturing the legislativespace to sustain secessionismin the valley. The thenJamaat supremo, Ali ShahGeelani, contested elections tothe State LegislativeAssembly and won in 1972,1977, and 1997. He had thefull endorsement of his partyand also Pakistan to do so.This is how one young partici-pant in the 2010 stone peltingcampaign explained the par-ticipation of Ali Shah Geelaniin the electoral process of thestate, “….And there are somepeople who say Geelani con-tested elections earlier, yes hedid, but why? At that time theentire pro- freedom groupscontested elections, they allwanted to raise Kashmir issuethrough Indian Parliament.”Geelani himself describes hisparticipation in the Assemblyelections in a brazen uninhib-ited way, “Yes that was a com-pulsion; when NationalConference, Congress andother parties fight elections,they raise slogans of social-ism, secular democracy andthe accession of India, andthese slogans are anti-Islam.We people are for Islam, sowhenever these principles andideological systems are beingforced to the Muslims, wemust fight against these anti-Islamic theories. That was themain objective for which wewere fighting the elections.”
The transformation of thedemocratic space into a sub-versive space started withearnestness after SheikhAbdullah assumed the reins ofpower in 1975. Indira Gandhirealized its unfolding soonerthan later. To an explanationfrom Syed Mir Qasim whowas instrumental in persuad-ing her to hand over power to
Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah,she did not mince words torebuff him and wrote back, “…For the present it is sufficientto recall that you misled meand the Congress party aboutthe nature of your talks withSheikh Sahib….. For me theaccord was, and remains amethod of fruitful cooperationamong all secular and patriot-ic forces in the state. It cer-tainly did not mean thatCongress should fade intooblivion. I did not and cannotaccept this interpretation ofthe accord…. At this criticaljuncture in our history, wheninternational forces are work-ing for the destabilization ofIndia… and you admit thatyou are not unaware of thesefacts— was it not incumbenton all Congress workers towork selflessly to fight allforces that are against thesecular and democratic unityof our country. Would we havecarried any credibility had wedone what you prompted us todo i.e., abandon the battle inthe valley?”
The difference between themethodologies adopted by theterrorist regimes inAfghanistan and Pakistanand the separatist regimes inJammu and Kashmir needs tobe recognized with clearity. InAfghanistan and Pakistanterrorist regimes seek cre-ation of ungoverned spaces. InJammu and Kashmir armedseparatism views control ofgoverned space as a key com-ponent of their strategy. Thatis why we see symbiotic rela-tions between regionalMuslim parties promotingreligion based identity politicswho participate in electionsand the frank secessionist for-mations who oppose elections.
When Indira Gandhi har-nessed the democratic processto neutralize the secessionisttendencies of National confer-ence by voluntarily vacatingspace for Sheikh MohammedAbdullah she was basicallycommitted to join the battlewith the secessionist and visu-alized a critical role for thenational political formationsin the state. The presentCongress regime has aban-doned the battle in Kashmir.When Azad became ChiefMinister during Congress-PDP coalition in the state,Congress allowed PDP tonominate candidates for theassembly bye elections in con-stituencies which as per coali-tion sharing formula belongedto it. Abandoning Kashmir topolitical parties espousingMuslim sub-nationalism hasin recent years been advocat-ed by top security experts whohave served Government ofIndia at the highest level.Former director RAW, Sh A.SDulat, is on record of having
advocated such a line forKashmir many times in thepast.
Indira Gandhi visualizedthe role of Congress to pre-serve the ‘secular democraticunity of India’ in Jammu andKashmir. Present Congressregime is consideringMusharraf formula as a solu-tion of Kashmir problem andin fact conceding to carve outa separate territorial sphereof Muslim influence inJammu and Kashmir. It hassent unambiguous signals tothe displaced KashmiriHindus to submit to the domi-nant politics of the valley. Thepresent Congress regimeseeks to hostage Hindus to theimperatives of MuslimIdentity politics in the state topreserve its relationship withthe Muslim communalism inthe state. It has used its cloutin Jammu only to paralyze thegrowing restlessness in thestate against the increasedclout of Muslim identity poli-tics in the state.
During Vajpayee andManmohan Singh regimes inthe Centre we have seen aperverted democratic attitudebeing allowed and promotedin the state which operatesbeyond the Constitution ofIndia. We have seen manytimes Legislative Assembly inthe state taking up issueswhich do not constitutionallybelong to it. The GreaterAutonomy resolution by theNational Conference or theWomen’s PermanentResidents Bill, are the glaringexamples. When the ChiefMinister used the podium ofthe assembly to comment onthe accession of the state withthe Union of India we werewitnessing the crossing ofsacrosanct lines being allowedby the Centre in the name ofconflict resolution.
The conferring of almost aveto to the separatist leader-ship operating outside theboundaries of democraticprocess by the Government ofIndia has led to democraticprocess assuming a characterto target the credibility of theprocess itself. In this situationextra constitutional impor-tance accorded to Geelani orOmar Faroq is in fact an
expression of the governmentpolicy to shift the democraticlegitimacy outside the demo-cratic sphere. Democracy inJammu and Kashmir ismutating into a subversivespace.
Conclusion We cannot overlook the core
content of the democraticprocess employed in the stateeven if we choose to have faithin Government of India andassume that it has allowedsoft secessionism in the con-stitutionally sanctioned demo-cratic space only to purge thesecessionist sentiment. Apeach fruit graft on an appletree grows peaches not apples.A secessionist graft on a sov-ereign democratic body growsonly secessionism. In factsecessionist political graftsassume a malignant tendencyto throw up metastasis else-where on the body polity. Theinterplay of Maoists andIslamists in Kashmir is anexpression of this phenome-non. Democratic process canonly neutralize secessionism ifit chooses to contest it and notcohabit with it. Democraticprocess can become effective ifit does not allow itself tobecome an insulator of regres-sive content of secessionism.Democracy wins if it does notoffer itself as a willing accom-plice in creating a false con-sciousness based on historicaldistortions and falsehoods.The Prime Minister’s hopethat ‘functioning democracy’argument can act as a criticaldeterrent against one moresecessionist upsurge in thevalley may be misplacedbecause international actorsknow it very well that PrimeMinister of India has shown aproclivity not to defend whatis sacrosanct in Jammu andKashmir. These players haveample experience thatGovernment of India under-mines its own leverages inJammu and Kashmir. Theymust be baffled that in a wors-ening situation for the sepa-ratists in Jammu andKashmir Government of Indiais more than willing to lose.
*(The author headsPanun Kashmir)
Democratic Process: Conversion into a Subversive Space(From Page 6)
Indira Gandhi visualized the role of Congress to preserve the ‘secular demo-
cratic unity of India’ in Jammu and Kashmir.Present Congress regime is considering
Musharraf formula as a solution of Kashmirproblem and in fact conceding to carve out a
separate territorial sphere of Muslim influence in Jammu and Kashmir.
BOOK REVIEW 11June 2011
Prof M L Raina
AT a subtle level of perception, the anthology entitled “Homeland AfterEighteen years”, by Dr K L Chowdhury, seems to be a poetic bioscope,presenting myriad scenes and sights of the historical city of Srinagar and
its outskirts. At a subtler level, it is a work of pure poetic magic that casts aspell on the reader, preparing him for flights of imagination.
A powerful description of the features of the city, enlivened with theauthor’s “modifying colours of imagination” cannot but touch the inner chords.The author lifts the reader as it were on the “wings of poesy” to give him a first-hand feel of what the city looks like and what it looked like by contrast beforea deep and destabilising pall of gloom descended on it, eclipsing its bright andbeautiful looks. Creating empathy in the reader, the author makes him walkalong with him and visit various areas ofSrinagar. In the process, he takes him up thehills and down the dales, through the streets,big and small, rivers and pools, lakes and gar-dens, high rise buildings, dilapidated struc-tures, malls and burnt houses and so on andthere come tumbling down on the mind of thereader painfully pleasant memories.
The book is a sensitively written narrative,an account of events and experiences, cast in apoetic mould. It is a fine blend of pathos andsubdued pleasure. The poet’s nostalgia is sooverpowering that, to quote him, “I would dieto be there again for once, if only once” and“strong is the urge for a reunion with peopleand places”. The thrill of the anticipatedreunion is, however, diluted and his bubblingenthusiasm cooled down when he conformsthe dismally changed environs of once the“paradise on the earth” while coursingthrough the city, coupled with his ever presentfeeling of anguish and pain his communitymembers have been through, having been driven out their ancestral land andobliged to live as refugees outside, away from “the ashes of their fathers and thetemples of their gods”.
Dr. Chowdhury is bitterly critical of “What man has made of man” in thepeaceful and sedate city of yore, the pride of its people, and the envy of the vis-itors from outside. He describes painfully the scenes of the destruction of menand material. There are flashes of several accusations in the narrative, direct-ed against the insensate Jihadis, the enemies of peace, prosperity, and thegood old values of communal amity and brotherhood, social cohesion, civilisedbehaviour, and decency of attitude. This impression is conveyed in the follow-ing lines:
‘What place for values and idealsWhere religious bigotry holds sway,Where divisions and discord prevailOver reason or rationality?’Blatant hypocrisy of the Jihadis and their sympathisers of all hues, who call
themselves devout religionists, is exposed by the author in these lines:‘The mandarins and ministers.The politicians………The high officials and the lowly workers-
One and all-Have joined the loot’The forced exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits, with its pathetic consequences, is
the recurring theme of the narrative. Their pitiable condition of uncertaintyand the pain of exile find an echo in the bard’s lament:
“We look before and after,And pine for what is not”When they think of the past, their raw wounds are ripped open. When they
think of the future, a sense of dismay overtakes them, because they are not sureof what the future holds for them. They eagerly long for what they have beenbrazenly denied at present.
All the poems in the book have a charm of their own, but the one titled “TheAudience” stands out as a grand and sublime poetic piece, with a profound reli-
gious import. The poet is candid about his faith inthe divine and divine intervention. His reveren-tial awe comes to the fore when he looks at thestone image of his beloved Lord Shiva in the tem-ple of Shankaracharya. When he approaches theidol to touch it, his hands quiver, and an electrify-ing divine wave sends a shiver through his mortalframe and he remains immersed in ‘celestial joy’that is marked by inner peace. His passion for thedivine embrace is so intense that he wants to givehimself up to the divine presence, body and soul.
This, he feels intuitively, is the right place andtime for him, not to offer material oblations, but tooffer his whole being, as expressed in these lines:
“I have come to offer myself,My entirety,My essence”The author seems to firmly believe that “there is
destiny in the affairs of men”. He says that theaward ceremony at Srinagar to honour him wasan excuse, an act of divine intervention, to grant
him the long cherished prayer for visiting his motherland. He sees destiny’shand in sending a doctor (the author) to the doorsteps of the ailing priest in thetemple.
The narrative, though subjective in nature, has an air of objectivity about it,in so far as it holds a mirror to the smeared soil of Srinagar for all to see, includ-ing the Jihadis who perceive beauty in every scene of ugliness. As for thePandits, the narrative unfolds the saga of sufferings and deprivations theyhave faced. When all this is recapitulated through the medium of songs, theyeffect catharsis of their pent up feelings and loosen their emotional baggage,thus providing some reprieve.
The style of the narrative is marked by lucidity of diction and felicity ofexpression. The technique of moving forward and backward in time, use of his-torical present to lend poignancy to a scene depicted or a thought expressed,use of varying rhythmical patterns of lines, to suit the shifting events andmoods, use of apt figures like metaphors and similes, sensuous touches hereand there and above the all use of brilliant images- all these enhance the graceof the subject matter.
Such is the poetically treatment given to an otherwise gloomy content of thenarrative that the reader would love to read the book over and again, for, veri-ly “Our sweetest songs are those that tell of the saddest thoughts.”
Thoughts about HomelandThe book is a sensitively written narrative, an account of
events and experiences, cast in a poetic mould
Indeed sad,“PAKISTAN is going to lose one of
the most precious rock art carv-ings due to construction of the
Diamer-Basha Dam. The proposed site of thedam hosts some 30,000 ancient art carvingsand inscriptions which may vanish foreverdue to the construction of this reservoir.
Some of the carvings and inscriptions aremore than 10,000 years old which provide awindow to discover ancient lexicography,history, anthropology, culture and lifestyle ofthe people settled in the upper Indus area.
There is an urgent need to preserve thesesites so that they remain a part of world her-itage.
--Source: Dawn
Please have alook atthis masterpiece
carving of theBuddhist era with
Stupas and writingsin three different
languages ofKharoshti ,
Brahmi andSogdian.
– Photos courtesy by Harald Hauptmann/Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities,Germany.”
Concern
YOUTH COLUMN 12June 2011
By Varad Varenya
21 years ago, on 19thJanuary 1990 started thebiggest exodus since parti-
tion. About half a millionKashmiri Hindus, facing the threatof Islamic fundamentalism left theirhomeland. Every year since that dayKashmiri Pandits observe 19January as Kashmiri PanditHolocaust/Exodus Day, hoping to goback to their homes one day.
Why did it happen? Every stake-holder has their own version.Muslims in Kashmir blame then gov-ernor Jagmohan but Pandits seem tohave not forgotten the events thattook place before the fateful night ofJanuary 19, 1990.
Warnings were shouted frommosques against KAFIRs, threat let-ters posted on walls of Pandit houses,often processions would shout slo-gans like Hum Kya Chahte, Azaadi(We want freedom), Yahan KyaChalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa (Whatwill have sway here - Prophet's gov-ernance) etc. Killing of Pandits hadbecome a regular affair.
Well Pandits, who were a minisculeminority, thought that the situationin valley will improve in few months.They left for the land unknown, hop-ing that one day when the normalcyreturns, they will come back HOME!
What remains an irony is thatthere was no judicial enquiry forgenocide in the valley till date. Thereare enquiries, probes, commissionsfor 1993 Mumbai Blasts, GujaratRiots, Babri Mosque Demolition,26/11 Mumbai Attack but no fairenquiry as such on exodus of minori-ties from Kashmir. The killer ofPandits - Bitta Karate, who claimedto have killed 22 Pandits in an inter-view, was let go because of lack ofevidence!
Who is responsible for KashmiriPandit Exile? Well I would say every-one from the terror mastermind sit-ting across the border to the electedleaders of this country.
Our neighbours from the majoritycommunity did nothing to stop ourselective murders. In fact, most ofthem were driven towards the Azaadisentiment and openly supported it.Pandits were detested and many atime the local would turn an informerfor the terrorist organization lookingfor a Kashmiri Pandit. In 22 years,not a single protest was held toprotest against injustice done toKashmir Pandits. In fact, when
killers like Karate were released theywere given a HERO's welcome.
Indian government remained andremains a mute spectator to the exo-dus. Spokespersons of the politicalparty in power have often ridiculedKashmiri Pandit cause to attract vot-ers of a particular sect. The smallcommunity of Kashmiri Pandits defi-nitely doesn't interest the vote-hun-gry politicians of this country. Todaya NATIONALIST community is onverge of extinction and seems no-onecares! The people responsible for theexodus have now become power bro-kers in Kashmir. Our Government
hold parleys with them. This article is neither for the gov-
ernment nor for our neighbours,because enough has been said tothem. But, it's for the common man ofIndia; please awake before it's toolate. Kashmir is about to fall and younever know what will be next!
Kashmiri Pandits will keep fight-ing for their right over their mother-land and they will sure return ontheir own terms!
"If I die in exile, think this of me.There is a corner out there inKashmir where my soul will come torest."
The Exile Continues!
IInn MMeemmoorriiaamm
Pt. Herday Nath Gurtoo Smt. Chuni Gurtoo
In Sweet and everlasting memory of noble andguiding spirits, our dearest Sh. Herday Nath
Gurtoo & Smt. Chuni Gurtoo who left for theirheavenly abode on 13th May 1991 &
9th June 2011 respectively.
Remembered ByGURTOO PARIVAR
"If I die in exile,
think this of me.
There is a corner
out there in
Kashmir where
my soul will
come to rest."
“JAI SIYA RAM”A completeEnglish translationof ValmikiRamayan hasbeen published byNandini KhoshooTikku and C.L.Tikku. The transla-tion is an attemptto rebuild our faithin the story of "SriRam".The price of thebook is Rs 450/.Speed post/couri-er/registered willbe charged extra.With best compli-ments from Nandini Khoshoo Tikku, C.L. Tikku &Parivar.
Please Contact:C.L. Tikku
66/B Rajpur Road, Opp. Hotel Madhuban Dehradun-248001,
UttarakhandTel : 0191-2740540
(Contd. from Page 2)89. Sh. Brij Krishen Razdan of Late Hari Chand
Razdan of Nawakadal, Karan Nagar, Sgr;presently resident of Panchkula Chandigarh.13/5/2010
90. Sh. Omkar Nath Bhat S/o Late Sh. MadhawRam Bhat of Vishal Nagar, H.No: 126, JMC,Talab Tillo, Jammu. 13/5/2010
91. Sh. Badri Krishen Razdan of Late Hari ChandRazdan of Nawakadal, Karan Nagar Sgr;presently resident of Panchkula Chandigarh.13/5/2010
92. Sh. Omkar Nath Bhat S/o Late Sh. MadhawRaw Bhat of Vishal Nagar, H.No: 126, JMC,Talab Tillo, Jammu. 13/5/2010
93. Sh. Badri Nath Pandita of Chingund VerinagKmr; presently resident of H.No: 47, Lane-3,Buta Nagar, Jammu. 14/5/2010
94. Sh. Poshkar Nath Naqab S/o Late Sh. RamChand Naqab of Ramahama Budgam (Kmr);currently residing at H.No: 111, Enclave-2A,Roop Nagar, Jammu. 14/5/2010
95. Sh. Radha Krishen Dutt S/o Late Sh.Narayan Joo Dutt resident of TullamullaGanderbal Kmr; presently resident of Qtr. No:398, Camp Mishrwalla Jammu. 14/5/2010
96. Smt. Suman Koul W/o Sh. T.N. Koul R/o D-8/32, Sector-15, Rohini, New Delhi.14/5/2010
97. Gouri Shori Raina W/o Sh. B.N. Raina origi-nally resident of Khiram Anantnag, Kmr;presently resident of Qtr. No: 73, Phase-2nd,Purkhoo Camp Jammu. 15/5/2010
THOSE WHO LEFTUS
HERITAGE 13June 2011
INTRODUCTION
JAMMU region ofthe state of Jammuand Kashmir in
India represents the richsource of heritage thathas remained untappedin terms of heritagetourism. The region hasbeen the seat of the rul-ing dynasty of the statewhich came into being in1846 as the amalgama-tion of the three regionsviz; Jammu, Kashmirand Ladakh. The lack ofcomprehensive policyand vision on the part ofthe planners and politi-cal discrimination metedout to the region by theruling elite of Kashmirbased political dispensa-tions from time to timehas relegated Jammuregion to the backgroundin terms of the heritagetourism development. Inspite of the rich culturallegacy that matured intoheritage assets ,the onlysolace lies in the pilgrim-age tourism. It is a greatparadox that more than70 lakh tourists visitMata Vaishnov DeviShrine annually but theplanners have failed toextend their length ofstay in Jammu as theyhave given no thought tobroaden the tourism cir-cuit of the region.
Prospects for the devel-opment of heritagetourism in the Jammuregion of the Jammu andKashmir state areimmense as it isimmensely blessed withbounty of not only thediversity in its topogra-phy but it has a culturethat manifests itself inthe rich heritage interms of forts ,palaces,folk lore’s etc. The needis to create a heritagetourism product thatenables the Jammu’sheritage, which is thedirect derivative of theSanskrit civilization ofthe Indian nation to bethe foremost element ofthe economic upliftmentof the region.
Evolution of Jammuand its heritage
Capital of the “JammuRaj”, Jammu stands onthe outer most range
overlooking the Punjab,and a terminus of theNorthern Railways wasonce considered most ori-ental and picturesquetowns. River Tawi flowsthe narrow gorges belowthe town. The cliffswhich guard the rivers atthe heights are the storehouse of flora and fauna.When one looks oversouth and West from thelofty terraces of Jammu,Punjab Mountains risefrom the east to north inthe form of ridges havingintervening valleyswhich rise gradually andbeyond these lie Ladakh,Kashmir and Gilgit, theother constituents of theJammu and Kashmirstate. Jammu regionacquired the name ofJammu during the mid-dle ages and playedimportant role in the pol-itics and history of then o r t h - w e s t e r nIndia.(Drew,1875,p.29)The original sources thatgive the detailed andaccurate account of theevolution of the Jammuregion are theVanshavalis of the rulingfamilies of the chiefs ofthe various dynasties.Dewan Kripa Ram’sGulabnama andRajdarshni of GaneshDas Wadhera are therich sources of the evolu-tion of the Jammu regionand its Sanskrit cul-ture.(Charak,1983)
Archaeological excava-tions and records carriedfrom time to time revealthat Jammu region is asold as the civilization ofIndia itself .The sensa-tional discovery of theproto-historic site at thevillage Manda inAkhnoor on the rightbank of Chenab hasproved the existence ofthe Harrapan red ware,grey ware and blackslipped ware .Potteryremains of the Kushanperiod both incised andplain includes terracottafigurines ,bone arrowheads ,iron daggers andcopper antimony rods.These materials havingcultural significancehave been discovered atvarious sites in Jammuand Akhnoor as well asat the places like Tikri,Guru Baba KaTiba,Jhiri, Jafarchak,etc.These archaeologicalfindings highlight thecultural developmentand evolution of Jammufrom the Harrapan Age,about 2500 B.C. to theearly Christian era.
The great importancehas been laid down bythe historians andarchaeologists on theAkhnoor-Ambaran terra-cotta. The Buddha heads
of various sizes and maleand female heads withornamental dresses andcurly hair are of greatinterest and attraction.Akhnoor terracotta is ofunique style free fromthe Graeco-Buddhistinfluence but there arecertain indications thatthese may have the influ-ence of the GandharaSchool of art. Buddhistsites here are of greatsignificance as here theremains of the Buddhistmonasteries dating backto the Gupta period canbe easily traced from thecopper coins of about 500A.D.
Akhnoor has alsorevealed how deep thefoundations of theSanskrit civilization ofIndia in Jammu are. Itcan be judged from theshell inscriptions onstones found in the com-pound of theKameshwara temple. Infact these are the pilgrimrecords engraved on thestones in the conch shellscript dating back to 6thto 7th century. The use ofthese Southern charac-ters by the South Indianpilgrims, the ardentdevotees of the LordShiva establishesJammu as the importantpilgrimage centre for theadherents of theShaivism. This hashelped the rulers andpeople of Jammu todevelop the culturewhich is based on panIndian feeling. Ancientevidence that establishesthe antiquity of theJammu’s religion andcultural heritage is thetrishula or the tridentinscription found on theShiva trishul at ShudhMahadev. The writingconsists of three lines. Itis written in Sanskritlanguage and the charac-ters belong to the north-western variety of theIndian alphabet of the3rd and the 4th centuriesA.D. These deciphered
lines establish the con-tact of the Jammu regionwith other states ofIndia.
The records ofJammu’s evolution as thecentre of power andhence the cultural hubare not only confined tothe vanshvalis and otherdocuments available inthe region only but canbe traced from the richsources of authentic lit-eratures like NilamataPurana andR a j a t a r a n g i n i - t h eauthoritative and profes-sional histories of theKashmir.(Charak,1983,p.71-72)
The descendents of therulers of the Jammuregion trace their originfrom the house of theLord Rama, the heroicGod of the Hindu pan-theon .it is presumed tohave descended throughthe famous conquerorsIkshvaku, Mandhata,H a r i s hChandra,Dalip,Bhagirath and Rama tillSudershan, the twelfthin descent fromRama,the hero of theRamayana. Among thetwo sons of Sudarshan,Agnivaran andAgnigir,Agnigir migrat-ed to the Shiwalik hillsand reached the banks ofthe Ravi river in thepresent Kathua districtof Jammu region.
These historical evi-dences and excavationsestablish beyond doubtthe heritage value of theJammu in civilisationalterms and in no mannercan be sidelined as itreveals the foundationsnot only of the Jammu’scultural heritage but thecivilisational boundariesof the Indian nation arewell authenticatedbeyond any doubt.
Over the centuries hisdescendents developedthe various clans of thenearly 22 hill principali-ties that ruled over theJammu region from time
to time. These rulingdynasties fortified theboundaries of the Jammukingdom from time totime and it resulted inthe building of forts andpalaces, besides otherbuildings’ that serve asliving monumentsdepicting the heritage ofthis region. The mainattraction has been theconstruction of templesdevoted to the variousdeities of the Hindu pan-theon abounding everynook and corner of theregion which has giventhe Jammu city the titleof the city of temples
The main principalitiesthat formed the part ofthe Jammu and the erst-while “Jammu Raj”include the following:
• Poonch• Rajouri • Bhimber(Khari
Kharyali)• Akhnoor• Reasi• Gulab Garh(Deng
Batol)• Bhartul• Banihal•
Kishtwar(Kashthawat)• Chenani(Himta)• Ramnagar/Bandralta• Bhillawar or Basohli
group• Jasrota• Mankot• Samba• Bhau• Krimchi Bhuti• Babbapur These are the major
principalities that formthe part of the Jammuprincipalities not interms of the territory butin terms of cultural con-tribution as well. Themajor art form that hasgained national andinternational recognitionis the Basohli paintings.(Kaul, 1993)
The reflection of theroyal patronage of therulers of these principali-ties is evident from thearchitectural style andpaintings on the walls ofthe various palaces androyal buildings and thetemples within the cityas well as the peripheryof the Jammu region.
The evidence of theroyal cultural imprints isstill clearly evident fromthe names of the placeslocated well in the heartof the present Jammucity. The place where theRajas of Jammu receivedthe rajtilak or mark ofinvestiture was popular-ly known as Rajtilakroad.This place is nowknown as Purani Mandi.Purani Mandi is the spotwhere the palace ofJambulochan existed.The buildings in thePurani Mandi area are
said to be erected by MalDev during the last quar-ter of the 14th century.Another historic urbancity area of significanceis Mubarak Mandi, it is acollection of palacesdepicting the variousphases of the Dograrulers.The existingpalaces in the MubarakMandi owe their founda-tion to Dhruv Dev andRanjit Dev. The latteradditions in theMubarak Mandi areattributed to GulabSingh. The ancient refer-ences regarding the townof Jammu are found inthe Malfuzat-i-Taimuriwhich describes the inva-sion of Taimur in theSiwaliks in 1399 A.D.Tar ikh - i -Kashmir - i -Azami refers to the Rajaof Jammu during theperiod of 1417 A.D.(Charak, 1983, p.158-164)
Forts of Sambha,Akhnoor, Bahu, Jasrota,Hiranagar, Bhimgarh etcare just a few examplesthat stand as the majes-tic emblems of theJammu’s pristine gloryand military traditionswhich has few equals inthe annals of history.The cuisine is anotheraspect of the culturalheritage that grows handin hand with the develop-ment of the society andmakes the food habitsunique and reflective ofthe climatic conditions interms of appetite.Jammu has its own cui-sine that can add a flavorof ethnicity to the her-itage and can give thefast food joints good runfor money and taste.Ambal ,Rajmash ,tooda,malpure,babru etc. are afew delicacies that can bethe unique selling pro-portion of the Jammu’sheritage if the it is incor-porated as the function ofthe tourism business.
From the above analy-sis based on the cursorylook at the developmentof history and the impacton the local populace ofthe royal patronage todevelop the ,refined cul-ture and heritage itclearly brings to the forethe availability of all theelements and ingredientsthat are required in theheritage tourism prod-uct.
This brief historicaldescription of the Jammuregion citing various inci-dents and referencesfrom the historical docu-ments reveals the antiq-uity of Jammu with asound cultural basis.
--(To be continued)
Prospects of Heritage Tourism in Jammu Regional of J&K
By Mahesh Kaul
A view of Mubarak Mandi, Jammu.
ASTROLOGY 14June 2011
By G.K. Gurtu
OWNING a house isthe first priorityafter ‘Roti Aur
Kapda ’. Man has developeda set of guidelines after cen-turies of observation andexperience. Some of themmay seem to be antiquated,impracticable and evenlaughable in this age ofshortage of space and com-ing up of skyscrapers andmulti- storey complexes.However, it may be usefulto know some of these.
1. The first and foremostthing to know, astrological-ly speaking, is whether aperson is destined to buy orconstruct a house or not.Otherwise the asset maynot bring the desiredresults. The planet Mangal(Mars) is the signifier oflanded property and thefourth House in the horo-scope represents, amongother things, owning /acquiring landed property.Therefore, the position ofMars along with aspect(Nazar) of Brahaspati(Jupiter) and Shani(Saturn) also is to be con-sidered.
2. The history of plot/house should also be inves-tigated. It should neither beunder distress disposal norhave an unpleasant historylike illness, deaths, finan-cial losses or any disastersuffered by the seller norshould be bought by usingthreats, coercion, intimida-tion, temptation, undueinfluence etc. Further, if, ondigging the foundation,bones, a grave, a Tantrikpot, dried -up old well, tun-nel etc. is revealed, thework should be stopped andthe plot should be sold atthe earliest.
3. Construction workshould not begin when
3.1. Jupiter and Venus(Brahaspat and Shukra)are combust (Ast);
3.2. The Sun (Surya) is inVirgo sign (Kanya Rashi),in Gemini (Mithun) and inPisces (Meen);
3.3. It is Malmas,Kharmas, Adhikmas andShunyamas;
3.4. Main planets are ret-rogate;
3.5. The land (Dharti) isin sleep (Suptawastha) andnot awake (Jagrat);
3.6. The fire (Agni) isoverhead (Ooper) and notdown below the earth(Pataal).
3.7. And finally, the aus-picious day and time(Muhurt) should be fixedfor and done during sun-light time and duringmoon-lit night fortnight(Shukla paksh).
4. The plot / house shouldnot be near a drain, canal,burial place or cremationground.
5. There should not beany Peepal (The Sacred Figor Bo-Tree) or Barghad(Banyan) tree in the plot orinside the compound of thehouse. Any type of place ofworship should also not benear enough so as to cast itsshadow on the plot / house.
6. The main house shouldbe a little away from theroad and not stand bang onthe road i.e. with a littlebreak of open space or lawnin-between the road andthe main house.
7. The plot / house shouldpreferably be rectangularor square in shape and nottrapezoidal, rhombus, tri-angular or multi – cornered
in shape. 8. There should not be a
depression or slope on thenorth and / or east side orfacing the main gate. Northere should be a pit,depression underground pitor tank and natural / artifi-cial waterfall on Southwestside. Similarly, thereshould not be a water tankbelow the driveway.Further, it should not havea basement.
9. The plot / house shouldbe facing east, north andwest (in that order) and notsouth.
10. The family temple /worship room / place shouldeither be in the north oreast or preferably on thenortheast corner and theidols or the pictures of godsand goddesses should be soplaced that when one sitsfor Pooja he / she facesnorth or east side. The wor-ship room should not be inthe bedroom if the bedroomhappens to be on that side.The bedroom should,preferably, be in the south-west side.
11. Kitchen / generator /transformer should be inthe southeast side.
12. Toilet room shouldnot be located on the northor east side and definitelynot in the northeast corner.
13. Southeast side shouldbe closed and not open.
14. Staircase: One shouldnot have a spiral staircaseas in a duplex house andthe staircase should noteither be in the centre or inthe drawing room. Thestaircase should be on oneside so that one may not
have to walk or pass underit. One should not sleepunder a staircase. Thestaircase should be locatedin the southeast or north-west side but not in thenortheast side. The stair-case should ascend clock-wise and descend anti-clockwise. The steps in astaircase should be in oddnumbers i.e. 3, 5, 7, 9, 11,13, etc.
15. The mirror should behung on the eastern wall sothat one stands facing eastwhile looking at oneself inthe mirror.
16. Guests and visitorsshould be entertained inthe lobby, drawing room orliving room and not allowedinside worship room, bed-room, bathroom or kitchen.
17. Main entrance doorshould be larger than therest of the doors in thehouse. The main entranceshould not pass through thekitchen. The number of thedoors should be even i.e. 4,6, 8, 12, 14 etc. but not 10,20, 30 etc. to avoid 0 (zero).There should not be halfarches over the doors, win-dows, ventilators etc. If themain gate faces west thenthe gate should be paintedin black.
18. Pictures, paintingsand statues showing earth-quake, fire, funerals, grave-yards, wild animals,demons, witches and old,ugly, crying or weepingfaces, men and animalsfights, bloodshed etc. mustnot be kept in the house.Instead, pictures etc. show-ing blooming flowers,happy smiling faces, cows,
peacocks, pigeons, greenmountains, verdant valleys,streams, rising sun, bluesky etc. should be kept.
19. Disused, discarded orbroken items like idols,toys, clock / watches, fans,furniture, sewingmachines, machinery,faded pictures, unusableclothes etc. should be dis-posed off earliest.
20. Thorny plants, lilyflower- plants, plants withyellow flowers and plantsfrom which white milky liq-uid oozes out on pluckingleaves etc. should not bekept inside the house.
21. One should not sleepwith head towards northand feet towards south toavoid the adverse effect ofnorth and south poles.
22. The head of the fami-ly should occupy south-western room / place. Thismust not be given to chil-dren /relations /guests orpartners /subordinates in ashop / office / factory, estab-lishment etc. otherwise itwill make others powerful,aggressive and undisci-plined.
23. Shifting to a newhouse (owned or rented)should be avoided onThursdays and also onChaturthi and Chaturdashiof both Shukla as well asKrishna Paksh.
24. At the time of GrahPravesh or shifting to arented house a bucket fullof water and a pot of Tulsiplant (Holy Basil) should betaken first inside the houseand put in a room beforeany member of the familyenters the house or the lug-
gage is taken inside thehouse. The water of thebucket should then bethrown near the root of agrown up tree.
25. The photos of thedead relatives must not beput in the worship room.These should be hung onthe south side wall or kepton a south side mantelpieceso that these face northdirection. Further, thesephoto frames should have agarland around them.
26. The statue or the pic-ture of the god / goddessshould be on both side of awall and not only on one(front or back) side of awall. And should have agarland around it.
27. Wooden bed steadand other furniture shouldbe preferred instead ofsteel.
About the author: G. K. Gurtu, whose
ancestors were the resi-dents of Tankyapora(Amiya Kadal), Srinagar,belongs to that group ofmigrants which settled inKashmiri Mohalla,Lucknow (UP) around1780. He was Secretary,Kashmiri Samaj, Agrabetween 1988-90. Heretired as Superintendent,National Sample SurveyOrganisation, (Govt. ofIndia), in 1995. He lives inFaridabad and pursues cre-ative writing and helps theneedy.
*(G. K. Gurtu, whoseancestors were the resi-dents of Tankyapora,Srinagar, belongs to thatgroup of migrants whichsettled in KashmiriMohalla, Lucknow (UP)around 1780. Presently heis living at Faridabadand pursues creativewriting.
Want to own a house?
By Ananth Krishnan
THE Sanskrit pro-gramme at PekingUniversity has a long
history, set up in the 1960sand subsequently expandedby renowned Indologist JiXianlin, who translateddozens of works
Almost two millenniaafter the language firstcame to China throughBuddhist scriptures,renewed interest inBuddhist studies andrecent discoveries of long-forgotten manuscripts inTibet have sparked arevival of the study of theancient language amongChinese scholars.
Beijing’s PekingUniversity has nowlaunched an ambitious pro-gramme to train more than60 Chinese students inSanskrit, with the hope ofcreating a team ofresearchers to help trans-late hundreds of manu-scripts containing scrip-tures that have been foundin Tibet and other centresof Buddhism, such asHangzhou in China’s east.
“There is a rich manu-script collection in Tibet,particularly. Many of theoriginals have not beenrecovered, and are onlyavailable in Chinese andTibetan, so it is importantfor us to find a way to ren-der them back intoSanskrit,” said SatyavratShastri, a renowned NewDelhi-based Sanskrit schol-ar and poet, who is inBeijing this week as a visit-ing lecturer to meet andadvise students and teach-ers here.
“What they are trying todo here is invaluable, andthey are making greatprogress,” Mr. Shastri said,adding that he was pleas-antly surprised by the stu-dents’ technical level.
“I was struck by theinterest, of both teachersand scholars, in littledetails, such as getting thepronunciation perfect. Theyrecited the Bhagavad Gitawith me, and it was aunique experience. The pro-nunciation, the metre [ofreciting the verses], wasremarkable.”
The Sanskrit programmeat Peking University has along history, set up in the1960s and subsequentlyexpanded by renownedIndologist Ji Xianlin, whotranslated dozens of worksand is seen by many here assingle-handedly introduc-ing classical Indian cultureto a whole generation ofChinese.
“We want to continuewhat Ji Xianlin started,”said Duan Qing, a professor
in Sanskrit and Pali whoonce trained under Ji. “Ourprogramme is quite maturenow, and is the only com-plete Sanskrit programmein China.”
She attributed the recentboost in funding to increas-ing government support forthe humanities, ignoredduring the People’sRepublic’s first threedecades when the country’sfocus was on developmentalone.
“Sanskrit research isbeing viewed with impor-
tance now,” she said. “Indiaand China were culturallyconnected. I don’t thinkthere’s another country inthe world where so manySanskrit works were trans-lated into another lan-guage, and this has beengoing on for more 1,000years.”
Ms. Duan heads theResearch Institute ofSanskrit Manuscripts andBuddhist Literature atPeking University, which isworking with regional gov-ernments and hoping tocreate an archive for lostmanuscripts and palm-leaves. Graduate studentswill work with the instituteto help translate scriptures.
Yu Huaijin, a PhD stu-dent who is studyingK a l i d a s a ’ sKumarasambhava, said shejoined the programmebecause she believed it wasplaying the role of “a bridgebetween two cultures.”
“India and China areneighbours, but they knowlittle about each other,especially the younger gen-eration. It is a big objective
for me to introduce Indianculture and literature to aChinese audience,” shesaid.
Few Chinese studentsare interested in Indian cul-ture, with much greaterinterest in Western litera-ture. Ms. Yu, too, was firsta student of Western litera-ture — until she happenedto read a translation of theMahabharata by Ji Xianlin.“It was a different world,”she said. “And one that fewChinese are aware of.”
Peking University hasalso begun working withSanskrit programmes inuniversities in the West,particularly in Germany, toimprove both teaching
methods and archivingpractices.
Indian universities, havehowever, appeared to showlittle interest in taking for-ward cooperation. Mr.Shastri, who is an honoraryprofessor at JawaharlalNehru University, admittedthere was “precious little”cooperation between thetwo countries. There wasroom for much more, hesaid, encouraged by thepositive response to histeaching methods this pastweek.
“We want to learnSanskrit through tradition-al methods,” one teachertold him. “Not from theWest.” --Source: The Hindu
In China, a rediscovery of Sanskrit
A class in session at Peking University with renownwedIndian Sanskrit scholar Satyavrat Shastri teachingChinese graduate students.
News
15June 2011 PHILOSOPHY
Prof. M.L. KoulRigveda
IT is the first writtenrecord of mankindand its hymns
though addressed to var-ious gods contain seedideas that are essential-ly philosophic in content.It provides an amazinginsight into that hoarypast of which minimumor negligible records andnotices are available.The hymns underpin athinking that rotatesround 'religion myth andmystery'. Most of themcontain 'germs ofthought', 'hints at sur-mises about truth' and'flashes of insight intothe Supreme Being'. Inthe hymns questions ofperennial significanceare raised, but notanswered. They do notpresent a pattern ofthought that is coherentand consistent, but theyreflect a mind that isvigorous, this-worldlyand brimming with viva-cious life. The Rigvedicseers seem to be openingnew vistas into therealms of philosophicalspeculation by raisingmeaningful questionsabout the nature of uni-verse and meaning ofhuman life. The philo-sophic mood of theRigveda set the tone andtemper for future evolu-tion of Indian philoso-phy. To Max Muller, 'theVedas were unique andpriceless guides in open-ing before us tombs ofthought richer in relics,than the royal tombs ofEgypt and more ancientand primitive in thoughtthan the oldest hymns ofBabylonia and Acadianpoets'.
The Rigvedic godssymbolise nature powersand are anthropomor-phic representations ofvarious phenomena ofnature. Observes MaxMuller, "These godswere the first philosophythe first attempt atexplaining the wondersof nature". The gods thatare purported as agentsbehind the natural phe-nomena reveal the reli-gious consciousness ofthe Indians in a seminalform. 'The Hymn ofCreation' underpins anintense curiosity toprobe the ultimate ori-gin of the universe. Itradiates a consciousnessthat swings between
'being' and 'non-being'and reveals a mood ofwonderment at theprospect of cosmos andunderpins a reflectiveseriousness to know theorigins of it.
UpanishadsThe Upanishads as
texts of Indian wisdomhave attracted the deepattention of thinkersand scholars of allshades and persuasions.To Schopenhaur, theywere the products of thehighest wisdom and assuch were 'the solace ofhis life and solace of hisdeath'. But, to MaxMuller, the Upanishadscontained a heap of rub-bish from which frag-ments of gold had to beextracted. The firstencounter that theEuropean scholars hadwith the Indian wisdomwas through theUpanishads. They werebaffled and dazzled.With a view to down-grading their impor-tance in terms of philos-ophy most of them cameout with irrelevantappraisals lacking inhistorical perspective.An Indian scholar,Ranade, evaluated theavailable texts from ahistorical stand-pointwithout taking them asexcellent and flawlessbits of human wisdom.
The Upanishads, infact, mark the burgeon-ing of the seeds thatwere sown in the gar-den-bed of Rigveda inparticular and otherVedas in general. Amongother connotations theUpanishads imply'rahasya' or secret oresoteric predilections.The Vedic texts hademphasised 'sacerdotal-ism' and 'complexus ofceremonies'. But, theUpanishads emerged asa protest against theseritual crafts and markeda milestone towards'deepening inwardness'.Seriously doubting theutility and purpose ofsacrifices and rituals,the Upanishads fixedtheir accent of emphasison 'Atman' or self, aregion deeper and vasterthan the external world.'Sacerdotalism' with itsbarren-ness and super-fluity had misled spiri-tual aspirants from theregion of inner world asa locus of probing andfathoming. 'Quest with-in' is the cardinal princi-ple of Upanishads rumi-nations. Lacking in anintegrated frame, theUpanishadic are inter-spersed with 'flashes ofinsight' and 'gems ofthought'. They impacted
the entire Indian streamof culture and thoughtand more than most thetrends of thought out-side the purlieux ofIndia.
As per theUpanishadic stipula-tions, Atman as self orsoul is the fundamentalessence of man. It origi-nally meant 'breath' butsubsequently donnedanother layer of mean-ing signifying every-thing from gross body tothe finest principleunderlying the existenceof man. Finally it cameto constitute an essen-tial part of anything,especially of man, hisself or soul. To Sankara,‘Atman’ is all pervading,it is the subject and itknows, experiences andilluminates the objects.It is immortal andimmutable'. In its pro-founder connotations,Atman means the self-conscious being withinman underpinning theultimate reality. TheUpanishads as a wholeexplain Atman as theinnermost existence andbody and mind as 'thetrappings that dressreality'.
The over-riding con-cern of the Upanishadsis to probe the primor-dial source of cosmos. Itis this sense of pre-occu-pation that has motivat-ed the Upanishadicseers to establish anentity called 'Brahman'as the life-breath of cos-mosas a whole. The word'Brahman' is derivableto the root 'brh' mean-ing 'to grow' or 'to burstforth'. Brahman' is thatwhich naturally 'burstsforth' as world and soul.As per the TaittiriyaUpanishad, all existenceis traceable to the fountof 'Brahman' is thatwhich naturally 'burstsforth' as world and soul.As per the TaittiriyaUpanishad, all existenceis traceable to the fountof 'Brahman', 'fromwhich all beings origi-nate by which they aresustained and intowhich they are with-drawn'.
Though packed withstray and disjointedideas, the Upanishadshave established thespiritual unity of allforms and varieties ofexistence through loftyutterances of deeperimport. The openingverse of Isha VasyaUpanishad posits Isha(Supreme Lord) as theomnipresent reality ofthe entire creation. TheMandukya Upanishadopens a new vistathrough the utterance
'This Atman isBrahman'. The sameidea is crystallisedthrough the utterance'Thou Art That' as avail-able in the ChandogyaUpanishad. TheB r h i h a d a r a n y a kUpanishad establishesthe identity of man withSupreme Truth throughits utterance 'I amBrahman'. These utter-ances are gems ofthought and highlight atrend-setting standpointimpacting the strugglingminds to free themselvesfrom cold and frigid doc-trines of deism.Observes KrishnaChaityna that the cur-rent set in motion bythese resounding utter-ances 'flowed to the mys-tics of Persian Sufism,the mystic logos-doctrineof the neo-Platonists andthe AlexandrianChristians, to the radi-cal doctrines of Eckhardtand Tauler".
That the universefunctions like a machineis not what theUpanishadic seers holdand trot out. Nor do theysubscribe to the viewthat 'world is a phantomor a mere appearance'.They endeavour to dis-cover an underlyingunity, essentially spiri-tual, amidst diversitiesof life and world. Man isseen as undergoing acontinuous process ofbecoming with a view togetting identified withultimate reality. As aseeker he is required toachieve ethical excel-lence leading to theawakening and fruitionof his faculties and urgesto share the final beauti-tude and bliss.
MimansaHimansa as a school of
thought owes its originsto Jaimini who founddiscerning intellects likePrabhakara andKumarilla Bhat to elabo-rate and propound hisviews. Though'Mimansa' implies criti-cal analysis and investi-gation, yet it as a systemof thought remainsstuck in the grooves ofVedic ritualism with itsenormous superfluities.To Jaimini and allshades of mimansakas,Vedas are a revealedknowledge and a pletho-ra of commands andinjuctions allied withthem are eternal andunchangeable. Owingtotal servility to theVedas the manner ofexplicating issues relat-ing observance of ritualsby the mimansakas isdownright traditionaland fossilised.Performance of rituals is
so vital for themimansakas that it hasnearly grabbed the posi-tion of God as its groundprinciple. Despite manya lacuna, the Mimansahas evolved a sound the-ory of knowledge. Itappears that it has acci-dentally strayed into thefield of linguistic analy-sis through the tools oflogic. It also counters thestandpoint of theBuddhists and Nayaykias regarding their expo-sition of language andtheory of knowledge.
To Himansakas,knowledge is 'apprehen-sion that is immediate,direct and valid, nottainted by defects andnot to be made invalidby subsequent knowl-edge'. They stick to theposition that no erro-neous cause or conditionis required to validateknowledge. In fact,knowledge, to them, isself-valid and 'itself cer-tifying its own truth'. ToKumarilla Bhat, knowl-edge lies in 'apprehend-ing an object only to beset aside by the discrep-ancies arisen by its non-confirmity to the inher-ent nature of the object'.To Prabhakar, 'all cogni-tions as cognitions arevalid and their lack ofvalidity depends upontheir disagreement withthe nature of objects'.Mimansakas are consid-erably aware of deficienttools that render knowl-edge invalid.
Mimansa as a school ofthought is broadly real-istic in its approach toand treatment of issuesrelating philosophy. Thesystem that it has builtis not propped upon thecrutches of God. In fact,the agency of God or atranscendent being ismissing in it. But doc-trines like transmigra-tion of soul, law ofKarma and eternalworld do provide thestrengthening support tothe edifice of Mimansaas a thought system.The creation and disso-lution of the world doesnot find favour with theproponents of Mimansaas it conflicts with itsbasic assumption ofholding the Vedas aseternal and revealedknowledge.
Doctrinally speaking,Mimansa is barren anda mis-mash of borrowedview-points from differ-ent systems of thought.As a structured systemit is so fragile that itcomes tumbling as andwhen authority of theVedas is questioned ordoubted. Mimansa holdsthat absolute obedience
to the Vedas and theirinjunctions is the defi-nite path that can lead aseeker to heaven as amatter of redemptionfrom the tangles of birthand death. Ethical life asa tool of salvation ismore stressed than thatof knowledge or contem-plation.
SankhyaAs a separate school of
thought Sankhya is aunique development inthe annals of Indian phi-losophy. Its origins canbe sought in the think-ing moods and conceptsthat are found enunciat-ed in the Upanishadsand epics. The Sankhyaas a word connotes 'enu-meration' and 'reason-ing'. It is enumeration asthe system has devisedtwenty-five categories toreinforce its positions. Itis reasoning as it hasformulated its positionslogically and intellectu-ally.
Sankhya is predomi-nantly materialistic inits exposition of the real-ities of man and world.Despite its bold andnovel doctrinal posi-tions, it has been regard-ed as an orthodox schoolof thought. Debi PrasadChattopadyaya has elab-orately exposited thebasic positions ofSankhya from a materi-alistic standpoint. Butwhat makes theSankhya system as ahall-mark in the realmsof Indian thought is itsreasoned discussion ofthe fundamental cate-gories of Purusa andPrakriti and the processof cosmic evolution. Thesystem is so logical andreason-oriented that itknocks the bottom out ofthe myth created bysome Westerners thatIndian thought is not areasoned discourse.Observes theos Bernard,"The Sankhya is the old-est school of Indian phi-losophy for it is the firstattempt to harmonisethe philosophy of theVdas through reason".
Kapil Muni is said tohave authored theSankya Sutras that arenot now extant.Isharkrishna andVachaspati Misra arethe later authors whohave expounded theSankhya positions fromtheir own perspectives.The exposition that theyhave offered form thesubstratum of the criti-cal analysis of the sys-tem. The availableSankhya Sutras upholdthe authority of theVedas and primacy of
Indian Philosophy-A Synoptic View-III
(Contd. on Page 17)
16June 2011 RITUALS
By Upender Ambardar
THE Shivratri festival rich insymbolism and metaphors rep-resents a ritual canvas of con-
trasts, which celebrates a rich legacyof mythology, culture and social his-tory of Kashmir, affirmed Smt.Basanti Hakchar, originally a resi-dent of the village Trehgam districtKupwara and presently putting up atJanipur, Jammu. Reminiscing aboutthe festival celebrations of the yester-years, she divulged that the househummed with the festival relatedactivities on Phagun Krishan PakshDuvadashi or 'Vagur Bah' with thereverntial installation of an earthen-ware named 'Doulij' usually in themorning. The ritualistic offerings tothe 'Vagur' amidst religious invoca-tions were leavened chapatis' locallycalled 'phulka', a kind of sweetenedfried puri and fried fish. However,the offering of fried fish has now beensubstituted by fried nadru slicescalled 'nadir churma' after dis-placement. The said offering to the'Vagur' is made in the morning to theaccompaniment of pooja and recita-tion of Shiv Mahmnapar in which allthe family members participate.Continuing further, she disclosedthat on the morning of Shivratri, the'Vagur' was emptied of its ritualisticofferings at the village rivulet. In theevening, the earthen pot of 'Nout' isfilled up with walnuts and water.Afterwards, cooked rice is mixed withghee, milk and 'Vatak Masala'. TheShivling or Parthishor made out of itis worshipped amidst recitation of'Mahimnapar'. The ritualistic offer-ings made to it are leavened rotiscalled 'phulka', a kind of sweetenedoil fried roti called locally as 'naej',backed rice flour rotis' called'tomlavoer' and fried pieces ofsheep's liver, locally known as 'chur-van'. All these offerings are alsotaken as 'naveed' by the family mem-bers and the rest is distributedamong near kith and kin. Apart fromthe walnuts, the naveed also includesdelectable meat preparations andcooked fish. The Shivratri festival is acolourful tapestry of different cus-toms and sacred commitments hav-ing acquired diverse settings inbygone times, opined Sh. MK Kapoor,an erstwhile resident of SafakadalSrinagar and now putting up atAnand Nagar Bohri Jammu. Herevealed that on Shivratri, walnutsand water are put in a brass untensil'Gagar' instead of the earthen pitch-er 'Nout'.
The ritualistic offering to it aremilk, Vatak, masala and SugarCandy 'Kand'. Additionally pooja isalso performed for 'Parthishor'made out of clay, which in earliertimes was procured fromShankracharya hill. Presently as asubstitute, 'Parthishor' is made outof water chestnut flour, locally knownas 'garioat'. The meat preparationsand vegetable dishes are the ritualis-tic offerings to it instead of the usual'Bhairav doul'. The ritual of knockat the door, known as 'thuk thuk' isperformed on 'Doon Mavus' at thehome. On Tila Ashtami, eight oil litlamps are placed, one each at themain door entrance courtyard, con-necting lane of the house and theroad crossing. There carefully nur-
tured and painstakingly preservedShivratri rituals moored in medievalorigin make Shivratri a brand festi-val of Kashmir, spoke Sh. KK Raina,an originally resident of the villageGoshbug, tehsil Pattan, districtBaramulla and presently settled atDurga Nagar, Jammu.
Recapping the festival of earliertimes, he recalled that 'Vatuk' com-prised of earthen Nout, Choud, Douljiand two Saniewari. Extra Saniewariswere added as per the number of chil-dren in the family. Only the 'Nout'and 'Choud' were taken to the vil-lage stream called 'Darjin' by theladies of the house on their heads orshoulders. The said stream was aboutone km. away from his home. All themale members and children of thehousehold would also participate inthe ritual of 'Vatuk barun' at thevillage stream. Only eldest male
member of the family who had under-taken the fast, locally known as'Yezmun' was required to remain inthe house. He would perform'aalath' on the entry of water filledVatak utensils at the main entry doorof the house. It is at complete vari-ance with the reeth in most of thehouses where the said act is per-formed by a female member of thehouse. Sh. Raina also recalled that allthe old grass woven floorings locallyknown as 'Vagiv' and 'Pautji' werediscarded and substituted by newone's.
The entire path of the ground floorcorridor locally known as 'Vuz' andthe connecting stairs into VatakKuth were also required to be coveredwith dry grass to welcome the entryof water filled 'Vatuk' in the house.It bears a striking resemblance withthe welcome gesture of earlier timesdisplayed at the time of Kashmirimarriages, where in the connectinglane upto bride's house was coveredwith coloured wood saw dust on theday of marriage. The bridegroom andhis accompanying baraat would walkdown on the decorated path as atoken of regality and royal privilege.In accordance with the culinary cul-ture of Kashmir, the most celebrateddishes of meat and vegetables werethe ritualistic offerings to the'Bhairav Doul'. A sheep was collec-tively purchased by the Pandit house-holds of the village for the purpose ofmeat. As a part of the celebrations,the children would play the indoorgame of 'Harun Gindun' with thesea shells for one week upto'Salaam', but strongly enough thefamily elders would not participate init during the said time. However, inaccordance with an unusual andunfamiliar custom of the Pandit
households of the village, at least onemale member of each family had toassemble in a prefixed house on theday of 'Doon Mavus'. They wererequired to participate in an indoorgame of even and odd with the wal-nuts.
The said game was known by thelocal name of 'Juf and Taak'. EachPandit household would contributefifty walnuts for it. As per the gamerule, each participant by turns wouldgrasp the stockpiled walnuts withboth the hands. If the grasped wal-nuts turned out to be in odd number,the said participant was entitled toown the said number of walnuts. Incase, if it turned out to be even num-ber the game would pass on to thenext participant. The game wouldcontinue till the exhaustion of thestockpiled walnuts. On the day of'Salaam' in addition to the neigh-
bours and friends, the iron smith, thepotter, the village tailor, the carpen-ter, the milk vendor and the'Kashkar's' would invariably drop-into offer Shivratri greetings. As atoken of auspiciousness or 'Shagun',each one of them would bring a knife,cooking earthen utensil or 'laej', areel of thread and needle, woodenfootwear known as 'Khrav, curdfilled clay pot and a handfull ofalmonds and cardamom respectively.The folk singer 'ladishah' would alsoinvariably drop in on the day of'Salaam' to add colour to the sympho-ny of festive celebrations.
The 'Doon Mavus' was performedcollectively on the rivulet bank. Afterpooja ladies would exchange the wal-nut kernels as 'naveed' among them-selves at the rivulet ghat itself. Itwould signal the subsequent distribu-tion of walnuts and rice flour rotis''chochiver' usually in odd number. Itis in contrast with the more prevalentpractice of distribution of walnutswith the leavened rotis' called'phulkas'. 'The ritual of knock at thedoor of 'Thuk Thuk' was notobserved. On Tila Ashtami, oil litearthen lamps, one each was kept atcattle shed, paddy storage room, cow-dung heap and charcoal ash pile,while as one lamp was floated in therivulet.
The Shviratri festival is a majesticcommunity festival and an eventfuloccasion of month long celebrations.It is the only festival, where a visit toone's home for participation in thefestivities is a must do for every indi-vidual, stated Sh. Jagar NathHandoo, an erstwhile resident of thevillage Hanand Chowalgam, districtKulgam and now putting up atBantalab Jammu. Recalling the foulmemories of the festival in earlier
times, he divulged that flurry ofcleanliness related activities wouldcommence on 'Hur Oakdoh' i.e.Phagun Krishan Paksh Pretipadha.
In conformity with his family spe-cific custom or 'reeth', the piece ofcloth material employed for mudsmearing of the house locally knownas 'liven hur' was not dispossessedoff but retained for the act of mudsmearing or 'livun' for the entireyear. As per his family belief its'retention and subsequent sensewould ensure plentiful of auspicious-ness, prosperity and overall wellbeing for the ensuing year. He alsorecalled that as per his family lore,the governing deity of scrupulouspurity and home cleanliness knownas 'Hur Raza' was given final goodbye on 'Hur Ashtami' in the form oftoken mud smearing of kitchen, themost pious areas of the house andstepping stair slab of the main entrydoor, locally known as 'Brandh'. Sh.Handoo also informed that potterwould bring the earthen Vatak uten-sils only on pre ascertained auspi-cious timing or 'muharut'. TheVatuk would comprise thirteen itemsof 'nout', choud, eight small sizedpitchers called 'Varie', one BhairavDoul apart from Sonipatul andDupzoor. The notable omission wasthat of Resh Doul.
The Vatak untensils were filled upwith water at the village 'Doelradh'stream. It was customary for all thefamily members to participate in theact of 'Vatak Barun'. The side wallsand upper portion of the main entrydoor of the house were decorated withthe coloured motifs of a creeper plantwith its' accompanying tender shootsand associated leaves and flowers.The said act was known as 'KroolKharun' and it was accomplished onthe day of the 'Vatak Barun'. Thesacrificial offerings to the BhairavDoul were meat preparations and'Sutsoas' comprising barley (Vushka),twigs of a native herb of 'Babur',moong, rajmah, maha, masoor andchanna pulses. On Doon Amavasya,the Vatuk was not taken to thestream but instead the decorativeassemblages like mouli, vucir etc.were untied in the 'Vatak Kuth'itself. They were collected in a utensiland then consigned to the flowingwater of the village stream. Insteadof the earthen lamps, eight lampswere made out of kneaded rice flour.They were oil lit and subsequentlyplaced one each at the main entrydoor of the house, locally known as'Dass', cowdung and charcoal ashheaps, courtyard wall, the connectinglane and the stream bank. The act of'Jatoon toon' was not performed.
The Shivratri rituals are our social-cultural relics, which bestow anethno-religious identity to us. Thecelebration of a festival outside thehomeland gives an emotional andsentimental comfort cum content-ment. The celebration is also aremembrance of our original geogra-phy, locale and native land. It confersa sense of belonging to the communi-ty in displacement. It is our collectiveresponsibility and duty to stay faith-fully with our time tested rituals forthey are distinctly linked with theuniqueness of our identity.
--(Continued)
Maha Shivratri-Revisiting Kashmiri Ritual Variants-XIII
The Shviratri festival is a majestic community
festival and an eventful occasion of month long
celebrations. It is the only festival, where a visit
to one's home for participation in the festivities
is a must do for every individual
17June 2011 INSIDE PAKISTAN
THE Pakistanimedia from thebeginning has
adopted the policy of giv-ing publicity to thosenews pertaining to India,which create a negativepicture about the lifestyle over there. Whetherit is child marriage orNaxalite issue or Maoistissue, the Pakistanimedia always sensation-alized them among thereaders. The people ofPakistan though havingsuccumbed to the influ-ence of the Bollywoodfilms, still do not like anyPakistani artist to partic-ipate in Bollywood filmsor any stage show pre-sented over there.
Anita Ayub, originallyfrom (Kashmir), becamefamous Pakistan as abeauty queen and as abikini ‘girl of Pakistan.She decided to partici-pate in ‘Miss world beau-ty contest’ on behalf ofPakistan. But because ofstiff opposition in aPakistan media, she hadto retreat from the saidcompetition. The printmedia of Pakistan hasalways given wide public-ity to Anita Ayub and heraffairs. Dev Anand gaveher first break inBollywood in his filmPyar Ka Tarana’ followedby another feature filmby Dev Anand tilted‘Gangster’. Anitareceived lot of popularityin Pak media because ofher comments on IndianCivil Society. Accordingto her, Pakistani womenare always more beauti-ful than were Indianwomen. “She says,“There is not much phys-
ical beauty in India,especially if compared toPakistan. The glamorouseffect is created totallyby the make -up andcamera tricks that makethem beautiful on screen.They are very simple indressing in real life. Theygo to studios in shorts.Very simple ! The malesare quite conceited abouttheir macho, cool lookswhich generally our menare not bothered about.And I found it very funnythat the actors wheneverseen in public have ahabit of combing theirhair all the time !”
When Anita Ayubstayed in Mumbai shehad an affair with one MrSaumil Patel who washer landlord and a resi-dent of Ahmedabad. OnApril 13' 1995 Anita leftfor New york & thenmarried him and got set-tled in the United States.No one in Pakistanapproved of the fact thatAnita Ayub should marryan Indian Hindu. InPakistan she had inti-mate relations withmany. Anita knew sever-al young men; It is amaz-ing that she found hers inIndia. According to her, “Men out here in Pakistanhave a strange attitude.They would say ‘yehshaadi material nahinhai !” she can be a goodgirlfriend; I can show heroff, but shadi no way !People thought AnitaAyub was controversialand badmash. Saumiland I did not have a loveydovey affair. The kind ofrespect he gave me Ithing no man in Pakistanwould have given me. Iwas very outspoken inPakistan, which peoplecould not digest. I wasbadmash in Pakistan,how come there was not asingle scandal about mein India where there isan open society, menwomen live together. Iwas living alone for threeyears with no restrictionson me. Most people inPakistan have notbelieved Anita Ayub get-ting married. Many
would have doubted. Thepropriety and the logicalsanity of the man marry-ing a celluloid doll whohad a mixed plate ofscandals, true or false,trailing behind her “ youknow even my friendsused to laugh at theidea.”
‘Noor’ is a famousmodel and an actress inPakistan. She has actedin Several Urdu andPunjabi films and per-formed in many T.V.advertisements. Noorwas born at Lahore OnJuly 3, 1977. The famousPakistani actress ‘ SanaNawaz’ is her cousin.Noor started film actingsince 2000. So far 21 fea-ture films have beenreleased with Noor as aheroine. In the musicvideo of a famousPakistani Singer ‘Nasibolal’ the beauty of Noor isfilmed. In 2003 Noor,had gone for a stage showin Dubai. There she fellin love for one VikramSeth, a businessman ofIndian Origin and mar-ried him. Initially therewas a great discussion inPakistani print mediawhether or not Noor hadreally married Vikram.After Noor’s marriageShiraz the father andMumtaz the mother ofNoor declared that theyhave disowned Noor onaccount of her behaviorand marrying a Hinduagainst the dictates ofthe religion and thenorms established by cul-ture and traditions. Nooris in the glamour showbusiness, since she wasonly 5. All her income isbeing grabbed andhogged by her parents,about 17 feature filmsand 6 T.V. serials are onway of release. Noor’sparents are making thesestatement only due tothe, fear that they shallbe deprived of the saidincome, and that Noorhas stopped all the pay-ments to them, saidFazal Shah manager ofNoor.
The reports of defama-tion of Noor by her par-
ents on account of thefact that Noor married aperson who is a Hindu ofIndian origin were pub-lished and were given awide publicity. Vikramhas promised Noor to seethat she gets suitableroles in the feature filmsin Bollywood and there-fore this gave rise toanother discussion ofwhether Noor will go toIndia and whether thereigns of the transactionsand the controls of,Vikram’s offices inMumbai and UnitedArab Emirates will beheaded by Noor. Somepeople in Pakistan alsotook out the processionrally to protest and toexpress disapproval themarriage of Noor at hercity.
In the year 2003 Noorreturned to Pakistan andher parents locked her intheir house. Noor had tofile an application inSessions court of Lahoreand had to get herselfreleased with the help ofthe court’s order. Noorafter being released waskept in the welfare cen-tre. Noor then pleaded inthe court that her par-ents had threatened tokill her. Noor’s fatherShiraz, made a state-ment in the court thatthey would neverapprove of Noor’s regis-tered marriage with aHindu and that thewhole prestige of theirfamily had since beenrazed. This way Noor leftPakistan for Dubai. Noorreceived a wide publicityin Pakistan on account ofher marriage with aHindu, rather than heracting in the films.
After staying in Dubaifor seven years, one dayNoor returned toPakistan unexpectedlyand started working in aT.V. serial. There wasrumour that she wouldmarry again with one Mr
F a r o o k hMayangal, hercolleague andproducer offilms. Thetype of report-ing in newsmedia whichtook place atthe time of herthe first mar-riage wasalmost repeat-ed this timealso. WhenNoor went toDubai onceagain, filed aF.I.R. againstVikram there.Many reportsto the effectthat Noord e s e r t e dVikram sinceshe did notbear anyissues fromhim were published. Inthe weekly edition ofNawa-e- waqt (familymagazine) in Urdu, anexclusive interview ofNoor was published. Inthis interview, Noor isstated to have said thatmarrying Vikram wasthe greatest folly in herlife and that she has beendivorced from Vikram.When at the end of thisinterview, Noor thankedher fans, Nawa -e- waqtcommented that all thefans of Noor were cursingher on account of hermarriage with a Hinduand as an aftermath of ither marriage went onrocks. She was also fur-ther advised not to ven-ture into Dubai as manymore wolves (LikeVikram) would be therein the offing. When suchdebates in Pakistan’smedia were in full swing,Vikram sent an explana-tory statement clearinghis take on the issue.According to Vikram hewas legally married toNoor in the courts of
Dubai and because hehas not divorced Nooryet, his marriage withNoor still stands and isvalid, and that Noor ishis wife.
After receipt of thisexplanation fromVikram, Nawa-e- waqthas taken a somersaultand, said that it is thecourt only which willdecide who is right orwrong. Very hypocritical-ly, it further says thatthey have been given arevelation (by Him) as towhy should they poketheir nose in someone’spersonal and private life.When there are formida-ble problems in front ofPakistan such as unem-ployment, dearness,extremists and terrorists,poverty and floods, atten-tion should not bediverted to suchaccounts. “There aremany agonies before thesociety other than the(trivial) issues like mar-riage !”
*(The author is amuseologist/archeolo-gist based at Pune)
Noor Ki Shaadi
the spirit over matter. Thatthe Sankhya system is akin tothe Tantric thought and tradi-tion is established by Sankaracalling the Sutras of Kapila as'tantrakhya'. It leads one tobelieve that the originalSankhya positions were mate-rialistic and atheistic. Jacobiholds the same view but is out-right rejected by Dr.Radhakrishnan who observesthat Sankhya 'at any stage ofits development could never beidentified with materialism'.Despite Radhakrishnan's spir-ited defence of the Sankhyaorthodoxy, the fact remains
that Purusa is grafted on thesystem in a manner that itdoes not appear to be organi-cally woven with the innerlogic of the system.
The Sankhya in its basics isa dualism that rotates roundtwo of its dominant categories,Purusa and Prakriti. It stipu-lates them as two separate andindependent categories with-out any cogency for a meaning-ful contact or bond. Prakriti isstipulated as beginninglessand endless matter constitut-ing the basis of the world ofname and form. It grows andevolves as per its own dynam-ics and does not depend on anyexternal agency to impulse itsgrowth and development.
Prakriti is 'absolute, eternal,unmanifest, ever dynamic andimperceptible' and in this stateit is known as Mula Prakriti orPradhan. It is endowed withthree attributes of satva, rajasand tamas. Satva is 'staticenergy, psychological poise',rajas is 'dynamic energy andpsychological extroversion',and tamas is 'physical inertiaand mental apathy'.
Constituting matter the three'gunas' with their intrinsicenergies maintain an equilibri-um and 'are inseparably linkedand mutually condition oneanother'. The process of evolu-tion is generated when thethree gunas lose theirequipoise and get disturbed.
The evolutionary processimplies change 'which ishomogenous and heteroge-neous'. The cause for the loss ofequipoise of the gunas is inher-ent dynamism or contradic-tion.
The Sankhya has delineateda sketch of a yogic discipline orpraxis for attainment ofrelease from the sorrowsafflicting a man through hiscontact with the 'miserableand corruptible world'. Thereis no concept of grace as it doesnot sit well with its essentialatheism. Redemption orrelease from the world in theparlance of the system isknown as kaivalya.
The Sankhya thought is orig-inal, compact, analytical andmore that most penetrating.Its impact on the formative
processes of other systems hasbeen tremendous and over-whelming. In fact, all systemswith rare exceptions have'filled their husks' with theSankhya content including itsstructural elements. Theentire corpus of Indian litera-ture from the Mahabarta tothe mythological Puranas arereplete with they stray doc-trines of Sankhya. It has givena comprehensive description ofevolutionary processes whichare not viewed 'from anglesmetaphysical' but are based on'the conservation, transforma-tion and dissipation of energy'.The Sankhya thought hasdevised 'a theory of matter, atheory of causality, a theory ofknowledges and a theory ofcosmic evolution'.
Indian Philosophy-A Synoptic View-III(From Page 15)
CONTINUATION
By Sanjay Godbole
Vikram & Noor.
Feb. 1: Addressing CM’s conference on Internal Security,PM said that the Kashmir situation has taken aturn for better while J&K CM asked for politicalsolution based on pragmatism. CM condoled thekilling of two girls in Sopore by the terrorists andquestioned the mute or no condemnation by thesepratists. Political leaders asked for honest dia-logue for resolution of Kashmir.Pak chopper fliesclose to IB. Pre Summer unrest train operationsin the valley are to be restored by the March end.
Feb. 2: Terrorists attacked the house of Congress leader GR Kar and a CRPF camp in Sopore. A terroristand an OGW were arrested in Baramulla. Ninestone pelters were also arrested in the valley.Security forces have improved their vigil in theback drop of movement of terrorists along theLoC and IB. Hurriyat termed killing of two sis-ters in Sopore as inhuman while BJP askedOmar Abdullah to be proactive against the ter-rorists.Farooq Abdullah reiterated demand onthe troop reduction. Terming Kashmir issue anoutcome of uncontested communalism, PanunKashmir asked Centre to clear its stand on theMusharraf formula. Home Minister is to reviewsecurity of five districts at a meeting at Kishtwarand is expected to meet CM, Governor andCongress leaders during his visit to Jammu.
Feb. 3: Hurriyat has called for a shutdown tomorrow aspeople protest killing of two sisters. PC asks con-gress leaders to prepare a document for the res-olution of Kashmir as he met two factions of theparty separately. He also called on the Governor.Centre asked states to be sensitive while dealingwith the Kasshmiris. BJP opposed appeasementto the sepratists. Pak team is to assess work onartificial Tawi Lake.
Feb. 4: Life remained affected in the Valley while anemployee of BSNL Ali Mohd Bhat was arrestedand a pouch, one binocular, HM’s letter pad andfour petrol bombs were recovered from his pos-session. P Chidambaram discussed CBMs withthe CM while he asked for ending residual mili-tancy but winning over the youth during areview meeting at Kishtwar. BJP asked the cen-tre not to take hasty decisions on Kashmir. MHAhas reportedly not given security clearance tothe start of the 3G Services in the J&K. Amidstopposition to the appointment of Amitab Mattooas VC of the Central University Jammu, Mattoohas reportedly declined the offer.
Feb. 5: CM calls for restraint while a student was report-edly killed during an Army ambush in kupwaraand a murder case was registered in the case.Terrorists shot at an NC activist in Pulwamawhile six stone pelters were arrested inBaramulla. An OGW was arrested and a terror-ist hideout destroyed in Kishtwar. The numberof rehabilitation seekers has reportedly swollento 300. 13 IM terrorists are to face trial for mas-terminding serial blasts in Delhi in 2008.
Feb. 6: An arms and ammunition haul was recovered inRajouri. CM emphasized need for zero tolerancewhile Army ordered probe in Handwara inci-dent. India and Pakistan agreed to carry forwardtalks.
Feb. 7: Pakistan refused permission to NIA to interrogatemasterminds of 26/11 Mumbai attack inPakistan.
Feb. 8: Three top terrorists were eliminated in anencounter in Banihal. CS visited Jagti townshipto take stock of the work.
Feb. 9: A stone pelter was arrested in Baramulla. SSPSrinagar Sayed Ashiq Bukhari said that 70%stone-pelters were either drug addicts or havingparental problem. AK Antony said that the govt.is to modernize armed forces.
Feb.10: Terrorists struck twice in Sopore and injured twopersons. Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Leaguepresident and one time dreaded terrorist whowas instrumental in Summer-unrest was arrest-ed in Srinagar.Three trans-border smugglerswere arrested in Jammu. CM asked sepratists tomeet the interlocutors and added that they havethe mandate and full backing of PM to find apolitical settlement of Kashmir issue. Indiatoday formally announced start of comprehen-sive dialogue with Pakistan on all issues includ-ing Kashmir that had hit a road-block in wake of26/11 Mumbai attack.
Feb. 11: Life remained paralysed in the valley due to thestrike on the death anniversary of JKLF leaderMaqbool Bhat. Eight top LeT terrorists haveoffered to return as 265 terrorists of Doda arereportedto be in PoK.SC has sought centre’sresponse on Guru’s plea for transfer to a jail inJ&K. Omar Abdullah favours Indo-Pak dialogue.
Feb. 12: Three people were injured in Baramulla during
protests as four stone pelters were arrested.Seven terrorist-supporters were convicted toeight years imprisonment after 20 years trial.Amidst war of words between PDP and NC,Omar Abdullah charged Mehbooba Mufti ofinstigating people for replicating Egypt.
Feb.13: Two siblings were killed and three others wereinjured as children fiddled with an explosivedevice left behind after an encounter at Maloorain the outskirts of Srinagar in October 2010. TwoHM terrorists were arrested even though theytook families as shield to escape. UHS G K Pillaisaid that 10000 troops will be withdrawn fromthe state of J&K and the amendment to AFSPAis still on the table. Four people were arrested asa fake gun license racket was busted even sever-al youth managed employment on these licensesin Mumbai and Kolkata. Home Minister askedPDP to correct itself and Omar Abdullah saidthat gifting away parts of J&K is unacceptableas PDP reportedly showed parts of J&K as partsof China during a presentation.
Feb.14: A hunt has been launched for three terrrists inPoonch and one another in Ramban. Congresstoday asked PDP to withdraw the controversialmap.
Feb. 15: Terrorists lobbed a grenade towards a securitypicket in Sopore while gunmen opened fire on ahouse in Pattan injuring two girls. 12 stone pel-ters were arrested from Kreeri and Patten. ArmyChief reviewed security situation in a meeting inUdhampur and said that India wants to solve alldisputes with pak.Omar Abdullah said that BSFwill pay rent for the land taken for fencing theborder.
Feb. 16: NIA filed final charge sheet in the case relatingto the recruitment of kerala youth as terroristsfor Kashmir. PM said that the situation in J&Khas improved.
Feb. 17: Terrorists struck twice as they attacked an Armycamp and a Police patrol in Sopore as Policeclaimed 40 terrorists active in the area. Anintrusion bid was foiled in KG sector. Reacting toPM’s statement about normalcy, Geelani saidthat the lull is temporary and added thatKashmiri people will bring such a revolutionthat the revolutions in Egypt and other placeswill look pale. A high powered committee delib-erated upon removal of DAA in Srinagar andBudgam to facilitate withdrawal of AFSPA.Omar Abdullah announced removal of 12 morebunkers. A K Antony dismissed reports aboutwithdrawal of AFSPA and added that thesepratists are misusing facebook in J&K.
Feb.18: Terrorists short dead an NC activist in Hajan,Bandipore while threee policemen and oneanother person were injured in stonepelting on apolice post in Baramulla. An Army jawan wasinjured in a blast in KG area. Shabir Shah wasarrested in Hazratbal. Police claimed that 4294arrests have been made and 195 stone peltershave been booked under PSA to ensure a peace-ful summer. Pak team is arriving to inspect abarrage on the Tawi, two canals and a powerproject.
Feb. 19: A terrorist was destroyed in Keshwan, Kishtwarand ammunition was recovered there. Policearrested five persons in connection with theattack on two girls in Kreeri and recovered theweapon of offence.
Feb. 20: Four more terrorists have been arrested inRamban even as dreaded terrorist remained atlarge.BSF decided to go on with the installationof flood lights even thoug Pak Rangers tried tostop the installation along the border.
Feb. 21: BSF continued the floodlighting along the fencedespite objections by the Rangers. GOC 15 corpssaid that at present there is no infiltration andthe troop cut does not apply to the Army andadded that the decision about AFSPA lies withthe political establishment. India proposed datesfor talks with Pakistan. President said that pro-active measures have improved situation inJ&K. The Bombay HC confirmed the death sen-tence awarded to Kasab.
Feb. 22: Another conduit of slain terrorist Qari Zubairwas held with arms and explosives. Two livebombs were recovered in Nowshera. Valley wit-nessed partial strike against the restrictionsimposed on Geelani in New Delhi. The interlocu-tors were moved by the plight of Basties whilethe PoK refujees demanded relief at par with theKPs.
Feb. 23: Huge cache of arms and ammunition was recov-ered as two terrorists’ hide-outs were busted inAnantnag and Kupwara districts. The interlocu-tors are to submit report within two weeks and
the sepratists’ point is to figure in the report.Omar Abdullah met Home Minister anddemanded deletion of DAA in peaceful areas.
Feb. 24: The interlocutors met family of the sisters killedby terrorists in Sopore and of the youth killed inan Army operation in Handwara. PM said thatthe centre is keeping fingers crossed for the sum-mer and the Rangarajan committees report willchange the mindset as it is expected to recom-mend creation of one lakh jobs.
Feb. 25: Two terrorists with their wives and seven chil-dren crossed Loc and were captured in Poonch.India asked Pakistan to eschew rehetoric.
Feb. 26: A VDC member was injure and two terroristsreportedly trapped as an encounter was going onin Keri, Budhal. Many Jammu terrorists arereportedly in pitiable conditions in PoK as thereis no space for terrorists above 40. Even thoughthe interlocutors claimed that they spared noattempt to reach to the sepratists, Mufti Sayeedwanted CBMs before inviting sepratists fortalks.
Feb. 27: Terrorists killed a truck driver in Pulwama whilea huge cache of arms was recovered inBandipore.Police claimed that the surrenderedterrorists and criminals have also benefited fromthe fake license racket as many youth reachMumbai, Kolkata and Nepal. Omar Abdullahvisited IB and called for beter Indo-Pak ties.
Feb. 28: Terrorists shot dead a shopkeeper in Baramullawhile three persons including two policemenwere injured in a grenade attack in Batmaloo.NN Vohra asked sepratists to seize historicopportunity of dialogue as agitation and con-frontation cannot resolve issues. Omar Abdullahasked for political solution to Kashmir. Rs 8000crore package has been provided to J&K in theunion budget.
Mar. 1: Hurriyat leader Geelani was questioned in Delhiin hawala trail.
Mar. 2: A terrorist was killed and an Army Major injuredin az day long gun-battle in Dadsar, Tral.Pakistan’s Minority Affairs minister ShabazBhati was killed and Taliban is believed behindthe incident.
Mar. 3: S A S Geelani has been put under house arrestafter his return from New Delhi while judicialremand of KBA Chief was extended by a court.Omar Abdullah termed unemployment and mili-tancy as biggest challenges. CPM leaderTarigami demanded withdrawal of DAA and rev-ocation of PSA while NC and PDP charged eachother over the prevailing situation in the state.
Mar. 4: A BSF jawan died of accidental fire in Srinagar.JKLF chief appeared in a court in hawala case.PM inaugurated Jagti Township and said thatthe government will make situation conducivefor the return of migrants. PM said that the cen-tre recognizes political and emotional grievancesof J&K.
Mar. 5: A terrorist surrendered along with his family inDoda after his return from PoK. Speaking in theseminar “Should Kashmiri Pandits Look for anOption Beyond the Nation” organized by PK leadby Agnishekhar, Ram Jethmalani said thatMusharraf tried to resolve Kashmir while S KTickoo of Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti saidthat the community should approach organiza-tions like the UN seeking a territory for themoutside India, preferably in North America. M HBaig opined that the Article 370 cannot bescrapped while CM mooted Truth andReconciliation Commission for two decade mili-tancy.
Mar. 6: An LeT OGW was arrested in Doda. Two childrenwere hurt in a mine-blast in Nowshera,Rajouri.Geelani backed of India Today Conclavesaying that he cannot share the platform withNational Security Adviser as hurriyat cannotengage itself with the centre until his five-pointdemand is accepted.
Mar. 7: An HM worker from Ramban was arrested in NewDelhi. Terrorists blew up portion of RailwayTrack in Nowgam. A Delhi court is to decide on aplea on March 10 to charge-sheet Geelani,Arundati Roy and others in a sedition case.
Mar. 8: Army repatriated a youth to Pak after he hadinadvertently crossed to this side. PDP leaderBaig asked the government to reduce depend-ence on centre before autonomy or self-rule andcharged the government of recruiting 200 NCworkers in Police.
Mar. 9: A terrorist was killed and one another injured asBSF foiled an infiltration bid in Niki Tawi area.Pakistan violated ceasefire in Poonch. Geelanicalled for a strike on 12 March. Statehood
CHRONOLOGY OOF EEVENTS 18June 2011
(Contd. on Page 19)
CONTINUATION 19June 2011
demand again echoed in the Assembly. TwoRajouri villages shown in PoK in revenuerecords.
Mar. 10: Dreaded terrorist Sajad Afgani and his body-guard were killed in an encounter inSrinagar.Awantipora police seized 50 kg explo-sives from a shop at Lidhoo. Three children wereinjured while playing with an explosive device.An LeT operative was held in Doda and Rs 1.84lakh worth Hawala money was recovered fromhis possession. Rubbishing the reports thatSrinagar is a militancy-free area, DIG CentralKashmir Abdul Gani Mir said that about 50 mil-itants including foreigners are active in CentralKashmir.
Mar. 11: Police arrested Ghulam Hassan Mir alias ChotaGeelani, a close associate of A S Geelani, fromSoura while carrying immoral activities with agirl. DGP said that the centre and the state haschalked out strategy on summer unrest andadded that the wages of SPOs may be hiked.Interlocutors are to hear women’s voice. CU issueagain rocked Assembly. Revenue Minister saidthat health insurance is being provided to themigrants.
Mar. 12: An HuM Div. Comdr. Was among three terroristskilled in Kashmir valley. Army nabbed a suspectfrom LoC when he was trying to cross over toPoK. A Doda SPO was held in Punjab andcocaine was recovered from his possession.Interlocutors meet women leaders. Kashmirobserved a shut down against alleged massarrest on Hurriyat (G) call though Geelani saidthat there were no plans for prolonged shut-downs or for violent protests and was not infavour of damaging the tourist season butdescribed shutdowns as the only means of peace-ful protests.
Mar. 13: police claimed to have killed the terrorist ChotaKalimullah who was responsible for killing of twosisters in Sopore in January. The terrorist hadset up hide-out in a doctor’s clinic. A Jawan waskilled after falling from a train. Interlocutorsasked for setting up a Task Force to addresswomen’s issues. Multi Agency Centre (MAC) haswarned of intrusion bids as LeT and HM hasreadied 489 ultras for infiltration. 30 PoKrefugees were arrested and others dispersed asthey tried to cross over LOC in Akhnoor sectordemanding compensation and one time settle-ment. RSS described presence of Chinese Armyin PoK a serious issue. While Mufti Mohd Sayeedsaid that PDP is keeping a close watch on Govt.,M H Baig said that NC hatched conspiracyagainst Maharaja Hari Singh.
Mar. 14: Assembly witnessed clashes as Ashok Khajuriatook exception to the allegation of some membersthat valley faces shortage of ration duringAmarnath Yatra. Panthers party described re-organisation as the only solution. Panditsexpress dismay over non tabling of the shrinesbill in the Assembly.
Mar. 15: Grenade blasts rocked Sopore. IEDs were recov-ered in Kupwara while a person was arrestedand fake currency recovered from his possession.Interlocutors submitted 6th report to PC.Revenue Minister announced issuance of DograCertificate to the Dogri speaking people to getconcessions in recruitment in defence forces.Police recruitment, funds to NC candidates, CUand empowerment of Panchayats issues rockedthe Assembly.
Mar. 16: Defence Minister described situation in J&K sta-ble but infiltration cause of concern. Governorvisited Chakan-da-Bagh TFC. NC blamed MuftiSayeed while PDP Sheikh Abdullah for Kashmirproblem.
Mar. 17: 12 more CRPF bunkers have been removed fromcivilian areas in Srinagar. GOC 15 Corps claimedthat 700 ultras are waiting to enter J&K. OmarAbdullah told the US Ambassador that the USshould not look at J&K through security prism.The entire opposition from Jammu stages a walkout as the Assembly witnessed uproar over thereported interlocutors’ report suggesting changeof nomenclature of Governor and CM.
Mar. 18: In a snub to the sepratists, The US Ambassadorsaid that he met CM only as he is the elected rep-resentative. Arun Jaitely dismissed OmarAbdullah’s remarks who had said that it wasNDA that made offers of bribe and not the UPA.
Mar.20: Five people including three security personnelwere injured as terrorists attacked a patrol partyin Rainawari, Srinagar. A tragedy was avertedas an IED was detected and defused at a shrinein Kupwara. CWC member Mohan Prakash
claimed that the Congress is in forefront on dia-logue over Kashmir.
Mar. 21: A security force patrol was attacked in Sopore.Army Chief reviewed situation on LoC inKashmir. IAF Comdr. Air Commodore ArjunSubramaniam said that Talibans may infiltrateinto India and Pakistan.
Mar. 22: Army Chief met Jawans on LoC. Rs 23.84 lakhhave been incurred on the security of sepratissas17 of themare under security while YaseenMalik, Fazal Haq Qureshi, Shabir Shah, NayeemKhan and SAS Geelani have refused securityfrom police.Mehbooba-Sagar, BJP-Congressclash in the Assembly on issues of Kashmir andAutonomy.
Mar.23: A top HM terrorist Mudassir Nazir was arrestedin Batmaloo three persons were arrested outsidea coaching centre in Srinagar for trying to kidnapa teenaged girl. Police arrested three persons-one in Jammu & two in Kashmir under PSA. 39bunkers have been removed since October lastyear. Baig advocated for Sadar-e-Riyasat whileKhajuria asked for revocation of DO Nishan DoVidhan policy. Terror camps and Samjotaexpress blasts are to dominate Home Secretarytalks.
Mar. 24: An Army Jawan committed suicide inBaramulla. Three sepratists Prof. A G Bhat andLone brothers stayed away from Pakistan Dayfunction while PDP leader Iftikhar HussainAnsari was the surprise guest.
Mar. 25: A woman of Kreeri, Baramulla who was injuredin summer unrest last year succumbed to herinjuries. S A S Geelani who was under house-arrest gave slip to police and was later traced athis aide Ashraf Sehrai’s house.
Mar. 26: NC and PDP clashed over diversion of CentralRoads Fund (CRF) from Kashmir to Jammuwhile Jammu opposition MLAs walked-out overTask-Force and delimitation issues. BJP saidthat it will not allow toe division of Jammu. Indiahas decided to extend the stay of visitors of PoKto six months. Farooq Abdullah said that thecricket diplomacy will bridge differences.
Mar. 27: Two suspects were held in Rajouri while armswere seized in Poonch. While Indo-Pak HomeSecretary’s are to begin two days talks, Indo-PakPMs are to meet at Mohali.Rs 26 crore penaltieshas been slapped on Airtel for not following veri-fication guidelines in J&K. Dr Karan Singh saidthat serious thought should be given to theInterlocutors’ report.
Mar. 28: LeT terrorist Chacha Talha was killed at Reban,Baramulla. Two people were arrested and fakecurrency worth Rs 25,000 received from theirpossession in Mendhar. Maharashtra police hasarrived in Jammu after more fake gun licenseswere seized. Mohd Yousf Tarigami was the onlymember to dissent as the house united to givemore than 100 Pc hike in their own salaries.Indo-Pak Home Secretaries termed their talkspositive and the two PMs are to meet before thematch.
Mar. 29: Army sources said that the infiltration is on riseas against 490 infiltration attempts in 2009, 500were made in 2010 and against 105, 120-25 ter-rorists succeeded to infiltrate. MLC Mohd Yousfwas snubbed by the Dy Chairman for using AzadKashmir for PoK. A trust based in Hyderabad-Justice on Trial- and headed by former HPGovernor Justice (Retd) V S Kokje submittedreport on militancy victims of Jammu toGovernor N N Vohra. Indo_Pak HomeSecretaries agreed to set up Joint WorkingGroup as Pakistan agreed to allow India to probe26/11 terror case. Pak HM Rehman Malikthanked P Chidambaram for successful talks.Omar Abdullah described invitation to Pak PMas historic.
Mar. 30: An NC leader Gh Mohiudin was shot dead andhis wife injured as terrorists barged into hishouse at Pinglish, tral. SDM Mendhar MukhtiarAhmed Chowdry was attached in gun licenses’case.12 more bunkers would be removed fromSrinagar.India and Pakistan push for normaliza-tion as the two PMs held wide rangingtalks.Diwali in Jammu as India beat Pakistan inthe semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup.
Mar. 31: Prepaid mobile service in J&K has been extend-ed for two more years.12 people were killedthough the JUI Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehmansurvived second time in two days.
April 1: Mirwaiz Umar said that Hurriyat is ready to facil-itate dialogue process.
April 2: Explosives were recovered in Mahore. Speaking ata function organized by Athwas, Ali Mohd Sagarsaid that migration of Pandits was a tragedy for
majority community and added that madness ofsome people and agencies was behind the exodus.M M Ansari said that election and cricket diplo-macy delayed the submission of interlocutors’report.
April 3: An HM terrorist was killed in Shopian.OmarAbdullah ordered release of stone pelter Faizanwho is claimed to be a teenager. CorpsCommander 15 Corps, Lt Gen Hassnain saidthat Army is still wanted in Kashmir as there isexistential border threat and camps are still fullwith militants.Jagmohan said that fear led toKPs’ migration. KPC demands consolidatedrehabilitation of KPs in the valley.
April 5: An HM terrorist, an Army jawan and a JKP ASIwere killed in an encounter at Dadsar, Tral.Number of ultras seeking rehabilitation crossed800 as unlisted ultras also apply. CM said thatreduction of troops is linked to ground situation.
April 6: Police busted an extortion module in Reasi as theyarrested two OGWs of HM with explosives. TheUN said that there is no report about sexualabuse by security forces in J&K. Cross-LoCtraders clashed at Chakan-Da-Bagh accusingone another of being defaulters.
April 7: An LeT hideout was busted and arms recovered inMendhar.10 Kg explosives were recovered fromGandoh on Doda-HP border.CM briefedGovernor on internal security.SASB justifyreduction of Yatra duration.
April 8: Terrorists struck in Srinagar and killed Jamiat-e-Ahalhadith Chief Showkat Ahmed Shah, whowas reportedly engaged with interlocutors andhad denounced stone pelting. Army interceptedan LeT-Reporter talk in which former asked thereporter to circulate report that Shah was killedby Hindu extremists. An official report of the USclaimed that sepratists and terrorists wereinvolved in HR abuses in J&K. The gun licenseracket has roots in four states.
April 9: A civilian was killed by terrorists and an ultraarrested while life remained paralysed in the val-ley against the killing of the religiousleader.CRPF Special Director General J&K zonesaid that there is no proposal to withdraw moreCRPF troops.
April 11: A Hurriyat activist was held with a rifle in SouthKashmir while life remained paralysed in thevalley on the call given by Hurriyat (Geelani)against the issue of Dogra Certificate. Explosiveswere recovered in Mahore. A jawan ended life atthe house of MLA Doda. CM claimed that someclues have been found in the killing of the cleric.
April 12: Two persons were killed and one injured as ashell exploded in a Kabadi’s shop in Jourian. Ex-SDM Mendhar was arrested in fake gun-license’scase.Farooq Abdullah said that governmentshould reconsider Dogra Certificate issue. Chinaexpressed its willingness to work with India onstapled visa issue. Several delegations meetBJP’s Study Group at Jammu.
April 13: A youth was held in Poonch and fake currencyworth 8 lakh recovered from his possession.Seven BJP MLA’s cross-voted in favour ofNC,Congress in LC elections. BJP’s Study Groupinteracts with several delegations in the valley.India and Chiana are to resume defenceexchange as China is expected to scrap stapledvisa for J&K.
April 14: A Pakistani was held on IB in R S Pura. OmarAbdullah described dialogue as the only option tosettle all issues.
April 15: Ammunition was recovered from LoC in Kreerisector. An Iraqi woman was arrested inBishnah.Tt Gen. Hasnain said that trainingcamps are still operational and warned of intru-sion bids as snow melts. Omar Abdullah saidthat he will resign if charges of bribing BJPMLA’s are proved while BJP National Presidentsummoned all the 11 BJP MLAs.
April 16: Terrorists gunned down a woman Panch inBudgam. An unidentified man was killed inArmy firing in Kupwara. Two jawans wereinjured in a blast at Sona Gali in Mendhar. Twocivilians were beaten up by terrorists inKishtwar. In a major breakthrough, policearrested three persons in connection with thekilling of cleric and claimed that SAUTUL HAQwas responsible for the killing and the operationwas conspired by Ashiq Hussain Fakhtoo, hus-band of Asiya Indrabi.
April 17: Farooq Abdullah favoured talks between Indiaand Pakistan while Omar Abdullah claimedimprovement in situation. Mirwaiz Farooqallaged that centre is not serious to solveKashmir.PM said that India and China are work-ing for peace on border.
(Contd. from Page 18)
INTERVIEW 20June 2011
For the benefit of our readers we reproduce an interview of Sh. Sanjay Tickoo, a non-displacedKashmiri Pandit leader who stayed put all through in Valley. Mr Tickoo talked to
Kunal Mujumdar of Tehelka Times in April 2011.
HOW do you look atseparatist leaderSyed Ali Shah
Geelani’s visit to KashmiriPandit camps outsideSrinagar?
It has surprised us all.For years, Geelani advocat-ed that Kashmir should bean Islamic State and shouldhave Islamic law. Now, hetalks about protectingKashmiri Pandits. Since2005, we have been askingwhat rights will minoritieshave in a Kashmiri settle-ment.
News reports suggestedthat more than 100Kashmiri Pandits werepresent at Geelani’s meet-
ing. How acceptable is he?No one takes him serious-
ly, leave alone KashmiriPandits. He remembers thePandits only when he is los-ing ground in Kashmir. Theonly option left for Geelaniis to approach the Panditswho are returning to theValley for jobs — not torebuild their old homes.
Does that mean the visitis meaningless?
In 2008, before theAmarnath land row, wewent to Geelani with photo-graphs of our temples thathad been desecrated, lootedand burnt by unscrupulouselements from the majoritycommunity. We went
because he had issued astatement saying the tem-ples were not burnt by peo-ple of the majority commu-nity. He said he would issuea fatwa against the guilty.But nothing has happenedso far. Therefore, we fail tounderstand what he reallymeans when he says thathe will protect our dignityand our religious places.
Geelani had alsoannounced that KashmiriPandits should move totheir ancestral homes inthe Valley. Is it possible inthe present atmosphere?
No way. The burning ofKashmiri Pandit propertiesbegan in 1992 after the
demolition of the BabriMasjid. If Geelani is askingthe Pandits to return totheir homes, why doesn’t helabel their houses? Thepolitical rhetoric of thestate changes according tothe interest of the state andnon-state actors. As of now,no one wants KashmiriPandits to really come andlive in the pre-1991 state. Itis just not possible. There isa big political, religious andsocietal divide between thetwo communities now.
How do you suggest rec-onciliation then?
The only way reconcilia-tion is possible is when bothmainstream political par-ties and separatist organi-sations start acknowledg-ing that the Pandits weretargeted. They know thepeople responsible forkilling the Pandits from 15March 1989 till today. Wehave already informedthem that we have identi-fied the killers. If they wishwe can give them thenames but they alreadyknow. The killers of not justthe Pandits but also ordi-
nary innocent KashmiriMuslims have to be pun-ished, even if they are pun-ished under Islamic law.Let them make this ges-ture. They have also beenpropagating that theCentre conspired by send-ing Jagmohan as governor.This is a lie. If you go backin history, you will findmost of the migration hap-pened after Jagmohan’stenure. The truth has to betold.
But there will be no rec-onciliation this way.
I didn’t leave the Valley, Ihave been living herethrough the troubled times.If I have not been gettingthe same stature as aKashmiri, how can youexpect whoever is returningto get a fair deal? Will weget back our lands, whichwere encroached upon? Willthey return our businesses?People who have returnedfrom other cities are virtu-ally in jail here. They can-not venture out after 7 pm.Going to a Kashmiri Panditcamp means nothing. Therehas to be some concreteaction.
‘Geelani is no longer takenseriously in Kashmir’Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s visit to Panditcamps is pointless-Sanjay Tickoo
We dismiss out-of-handand disapprove of the con-tention of Government ofIndia to continue dialoguewith Pakistan despite theuniversal acknowledgementabout Pakistan’s neck-deepinvolvement in the interna-tional terrorism that hasgripped the whole of theglobe. The stand which theGovernment of India hastaken in the aftermath ofMay 2 killing of the world’smost sought after terroristOsama bin Laden is suicidal.
India has been the worstvictim of Jihadi terrorismpromoted by Pakistan as aninstrument of its foreign pol-icy. Over the years,Government of India hasbeen only bemoaning theduplicity of America and theWestern world with regardto handling issues pertain-ing to international terror-ism. Now is the time to act.India can no longer afford toshirk declaring Pakistan asa terrorist state. We demandthat the Government of
India must correct its coursevis a vis Pakistan and shunits ambivalent approach toissues of national import.
India has already paid avery heavy price for pursu-ing a policy course withPakistan which has onlystrengthened subversiveand terrorist regimes inIndia and accorded interna-tional legitimacy to thePakistan’s communal standon Jammu and Kashmir.
Such a policy cannot go onforever. It has to be aban-doned here and now or histo-ry will not forgive whatcould be termed as a treach-ery of sorts. Sovereignty ofIndia and its territorialintegrity are non-negotiableand our foreign policy has tobe based on these two cardi-nal imperatives.
The Government of Indiahas to realize that its poli-cies on Jammu and Kashmir
have only negated the prin-ciples of secularism anddemocracy and accorded anundue importance to sepa-ratist variants. And it is thisthat has led to its failure todefeat terrorism and sepa-ratism in the state.
The willingness of theGovernment of India to con-tinue dialogue withPakistan despite the inter-national outrage caused dueto the latter’s involvement inacting as a base for interna-tional terrorism will furtherstrengthen radical Jihadiforces in India. The conver-sion of Kashmiri Muslimmasses into radical Salafi orWahhabi brand of Islam hasassumed a new stridency inrecent times. It is happeningbecause the Government ofIndia has chosen to accordrespectability to radicalIslamist leadership in thestate. The dithering of theGovernment of India on theissue of Pakistan being aterrorist State will act as alease of life for the Jihadis in
the region and it will be atIndia’s own peril.
The American call toIndia to ‘show patience’smacks only of hypocrisyand double standards. Italso smacks of deliberatepressures being exerted onIndia to toe a line which isonly in the American inter-ests in the region. India
should not act as a surrogatenation and demonstrate itsresolve to exist as a sover-eign State.
We once again demandthat the Government ofIndia must declare Pakistanas a terrorist State and dis-continue forthwith its dia-logue with Islamabad.
Brief of the press statement issued during a press conference addressed jointly by Dr. Ajay Chrungoo Chairman, Panun Kashmir, Prof Hari Om, eminent intellectual and a senior leader and
Sh. Yuvraj Gupta, senior PoK Refugee leader & Social activist, on May 6, 2011 at Jammu.
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