[Reader-list] The Hindu on Tibet

TaraPrakash taraprakash at gmail.com
Sun Apr 13 20:48:48 IST 2008 

I am not sure this guy's problem is with any issue or with Ms Jabbar.
The issue was not Tibet and Kashmir, it was Hindu's coverage of the Tibet 
issue.
Stop mud slinging and tell the list what is your moral ground on which you 
can oppose her?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wali Arifi" <waliarifi3 at gmail.com>
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2008 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] The Hindu on Tibet


> *"This has got to stop. People cannot be killed every day because our
> leaders have no idea on how to proceed with initiatives that they 
> themselves
> take. If Kashmir is indeed an inseparable part of India as we have been 
> told
> for more than 50 years, then we must as Indians rise, and in one voice 
> say:
> stop killing our own people."*
>
> The end lines of Ms Jabbar's piece sums it up and describes her position
> about places like Kashmir. All the questions raised so far stand answered!
>
> Double standards of people like Ms Jabbar come out clear. For her, the
> world's highest militarised area doesn't qualify as an occupation because
> its the military of her own nation that she appears to be advising in her
> piece.
>
> Hypocrisy... Is this?
>
> Best
>
>
> On 4/12/08, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> FYI This is from the neo-Gandhian in 2001, published in the op-ed section
>> in the Indian Express.
>>
>>
>> Cease Firing!
>>
>> By Sonia Jabbar
>>
>>
>>
>> After announcing one or the other step in Kashmir "in the right 
>> direction"
>> the Indian State is in the habit of falling asleep with its head in the
>> sand, hoping that if and when it wakes up things would have sorted
>> themselves out—somehow.  The Prime Minister's Ramzan Cease Fire 
>> announcement
>> is the most recent example of this policy.
>>
>>
>>
>> I was in Kashmir in the early days of the cease-fire and the relief and
>> hope it promised amongst the Kashmiris was remarkable. There was a
>> carnivalesque feeling in the air: shops alight and open until late, large
>> crowds in the market places, mosques and shrines, feasting and revellry
>> after the day's fast. Even hardened separatists heaved a sigh of relief 
>> and
>> welcomed the Centre's move. Three months later things are back to normal:
>> curfew, custodial killings, firing on demonstrations, civilian 
>> casualties.
>>
>>
>>
>> Consider the events of the last few days: Jaleel Ahmed Shah was picked up
>> by the Special Operations Group (SOG, the counter-insurgency arm of the 
>> J&K
>> Police) and the army from his residence in Haigam, Sopore, on the 13th. 
>> Two
>> days later the people of Haigam were told that Shah had been killed in
>> "retaliatory action" when he had ambushed an army/SOG patrol in the 
>> forest
>> area of Juhama, Baramulla.  As it often happens, the police delayed in
>> handing over Shah's dead body to his relatives. This prompted the 
>> residents
>> of Haigam to lead a demonstration of an estimated 6,000 people onto the
>> Srinagar-Baramulla highway, demanding Shah's body be handed over to his
>> relatives. An officer leading an army convoy, on finding the road blocked 
>> by
>> the protestors, ordered his men to open fire on the crowd. 5 civilians 
>> were
>> killed, 30 were injured. Police sources say that the police was already
>> present, persuading the crowd to leave when the army opened fire. One
>> policeman was also injured in the firing. Of the two women killed, one 
>> was a
>> first-year B.A. student.
>>
>>
>>
>> The security forces claim that Jaleel Ahmed Shah was a dreaded district
>> commander of the Harkat-ul Jehad-i- Islami (HUJI) and had masterminded
>> several attacks on the army and on civilians. But this is in direct
>> contradiction to their own claim that the HUJI has no presence in the
>> Valley, but in the Jammu area.  Also contradicting the claim of Shah's
>> affiliation to the HUJI is a statement by Yasin Malik who says that Shah 
>> was
>> the Distict Secretary of the JKLF and had even participated in the blood
>> donation camp recently organised by the JKLF for the victims of the 
>> Gujrat
>> earthquake. The JKLF declared a unilateral cease-fire in 1994 and has 
>> since
>> advocated a non-violent, secular, political struggle. Since the Indian 
>> State
>> lifted the ban on the organisation last year it has a right, under law, 
>> to
>> exist. Its workers and office bearers have the right to profess their
>> ideology and engage in political activities.
>>
>>
>>
>> A day after the Haigam firing, workers of the JKLF organised a
>> demonstration at Lal Chowk protesting the custodial killing of Shah and 
>> the
>> 5 deaths at Haigam.  A plain clothed security man fired into the
>> demonstration killing one young man immediately. Another is in hospital 
>> with
>> a bullet in his head.  Curfew has been clamped in Srinagar. The 
>> tremendous
>> goodwill generated in the early days of the cease fire towards the Indian
>> state stands to be lost unless immediate measures are taken to rectify 
>> the
>> situation.
>>
>>
>>
>> The Centre must not be tempted to retract the cease-fire in view of the
>> escalation in violence. But an extension of the cease-fire would be
>> meaningless if it were seen simply as an instrument to score brownie 
>> points
>> against Pakistan in the international arena. It must demonstrate its
>> sincerity on the ground in Kashmir *if* it genuinely wants peace in
>> Kashmir.
>>
>>
>>
>> A high-ranking minister or official from New Delhi should visit the 
>> Valley
>> and listen to the grievances of the people. In the decade long war in the
>> Valley where thousands of innocent people have been killed, it is a rare
>> occassion when a minister visits. And yet, Kashmiri Muslims have seen how
>> the gruesome killings of 36 Sikhs of Chittisinghpora brought planeloads 
>> of
>> concerned officials from the Centre.
>>
>>
>>
>> The SOG/STF should be reined in. Fifteen of the twenty-three 
>> extrajudicial
>> executions recorded since the cease-fire have been attributed to the
>> SOG/STF. The granting of impunity to the security forces under the bogus
>> claim that holding them accountable would somehow "demoralise the forces" 
>> is
>> unacceptable to any self-respecting democracy.  Senior officers in the
>> Police and Army while admitting to working under tremendous pressure have
>> stated often enough how they would welcome a more transparent system as 
>> it
>> would discipline the forces. But finally, it should be recognised that
>> abuses by the security forces will only stop when they are pulled out of 
>> the
>> Valley. And that can only happen when a genuine peace gets a foothold in
>> Kashmir.
>>
>>
>>
>> For a genuine peace to be established Kashmiris need to be treated like
>> other citizens of this country with full democratic rights. If the Kar
>> Sevaks were not shot at in Ayodhya and the Shiv Sainiks during their 
>> V-day
>> celebrations, why should Kashmiris be shot at for protesting against
>> killings of non-combatant Kashmiris?
>>
>>
>>
>> The Centre should recognise that the Kashmir issue has festered for over
>> half a century because it did not allow any healthy opposition to grow 
>> and
>> democratically challenge the governments that New Delhi foisted upon
>> Kashmir. Opposition and protest are vital safety valves for any 
>> democracy.
>> Plug them and you have pressure growing and exploding like it did in 1989
>> when Kashmiri youth picked up the gun.
>>
>>
>>
>> Opposition to the National Conference government and Farooq Abdullah is
>> virtually non-existent in the Assembly. This is hardly a healthy 
>> political
>> scenario. The only opposition rests outside the Assembly, within the
>> Hurriyat Conference.  In such a situation the Centre needs to be a little
>> less paranoid about the Hurriyat's miniscule pro-Pak element and engage 
>> with
>> it seriously.  This would be the next logical step in the peace process.
>>
>>
>>
>> The Hurriyat had announced in early December its intentions to visit
>> Pakistan to hold talks with the militant organisations, and set the date 
>> for
>> their departure as January 15. The mandarins in the Home Ministry 
>> vacillated
>> and continue to stall their initiative by not issuing passports— a 
>> decision
>> entirely uncalled for. Abdul Ghani Lone's brave statements against 
>> foreign
>> militants on his last trip to Pakistan and the Hurriyat's transparent 
>> agenda
>> for Pakistan should have convinced the Centre how necessary it is to 
>> allow
>> the Hurriyat to travel without impediment.  The continued intransigence 
>> on
>> the passport issue impresses no one, and only underscores the whimsical
>> high-handedness of the Indian State.
>>
>>
>>
>> The Valley is in shadow again today. Six families are bereaved. There 
>> will
>> be six funerals. I have seen this scene played out hundreds of times:
>> Mothers, grandmothers, children, uncles will be sitting around the bodies
>> weeping; weeping for a boy or girl who was a student, a worker, a
>> businessman.  He or she was just going to be married or just had a child, 
>> or
>> there would be some little detail about this person that would make the
>> whole thing terribly tragic. Afzal or Imran or Ghulam Mohammed was
>> soft-spoken, I would be told, had never picked up the gun.  And yet, here 
>> he
>> lies, cold, never to wake again.
>>
>>
>>
>> This has got to stop. People cannot be killed every day because our
>> leaders have no idea on how to proceed with initiatives that they 
>> themselves
>> take. If Kashmir is indeed an inseparable part of India as we have been 
>> told
>> for more than 50 years, then we must as Indians rise, and in one voice 
>> say:
>> stop killing our own people.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 4/11/08 8:41 PM, "Wali Arifi" <waliarifi3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  One would have hoped that this response was posted on the Sarai forum.
>> These are no personal issues though...
>>
>> Now that Ms Sonia Jabbar wants a response to her work/writing about
>> Kashmir, may I ask if she considers Kashmir a military occupation, just 
>> like
>> Tibet, or a law and order issue most nationalist Indians like to beleive 
>> it
>> is?
>>
>> Not that her readership and observance is not aware of Ms Jabbar's
>> neo-Gandhian activism in Kashmir. Could Ms Jabbar also, for the benefit 
>> of
>> Sarai subscribers, point out any published stand on what she believes
>> Kashmir issue to be?
>>
>> And does she also have anything to say about Kashmir reportage by the
>> likes of Praveen Swami and Barkha Dutt both of whom along with many 
>> others
>> owe their careers as journalists to misrepresenting Kashmir.
>>
>> best
>>
>>
>>
>> On 4/11/08, *sonia jabbar* <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Easy for you to accuse me of  enjoying 'an organic
>> relationship with the powers that be.'  Easier to say I  observe criminal
>> silence than to find out what I've said  and  respond intelligently and
>> substantively to my writings and activism.
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 12:28 AM, Wali Arifi <waliarifi3 at gmail.com> 
>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear all
>>
>> It is not clear why the signatories to the letter are agitated about the
>> way
>> The Hindu has dealt with the Tibet issue. The editorial in question
>> actually
>> reflects the newspaper's consistent outlook about many similar issues.
>>
>> The newspaper's well known Rural Editor simply chose to overlook recently
>> exposed state terrorism by the CPI(M) government in Nandigram. Mr P
>> Sainath,
>> the interrogator of Indian social reality, in complete contrast to what 
>> he
>> is known for, chose to remain silent about purging, massacre and 
>> onslaught
>> of corporate world. All this in conformity with the newspaper's proximity
>> to
>> the so called CPI(M) ideology and the party.
>>
>> Similarly, The Hindu's "ace reporter" and its "Kashmir expert", Mr 
>> Praveen
>> Swami, appears to have been left above any ethical or professional
>> scrutiny
>> - the right a newspaper is supposed to unequivocally reserve for itself
>> and
>> its readers. The newspaper willingly chooses to ignore how Swamiji has
>> over
>> time been turned into a dumping yard for its scrap book by the country's
>> intelligence establishment. The ace journalist does not even seem to
>> exercise the basic minimum professional duty of cross checking 
>> information
>> dolled out to him by his intelligence handlers.
>>
>> For patient readers the link bellow provides just an example, the tip of
>> the
>> Swamiji iceberg.
>>
>> http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/04/stories/2008040458210100.htm
>>
>> While the ace reporter was being briefed for this particular report (I am
>> taking the sweet liberty to imagine once like Swamiji so regularly does),
>> his (and thus The Hindu's) trusted handlers forgot to check that the
>> Hizbul
>> Mujahideen (HM) ceasefire dates were off the mark only by three years.
>> According to Swamiji, HM's July 2000 ceasefire was scripted by the 
>> group's
>> ideologue in 2003!
>>
>> For a discerning reader, The Hindu cannot be disappointing in this 
>> regard.
>> Be it Tibet, Kashmir, Nandigram or the issue of Northeast. In fact, its
>> Kashmir reportage happens through the intelligence establishment with 
>> just
>> tulip gardens from the ground. Or, may be the newspaper is mandated only
>> to
>> write about US imperialism.
>>
>> For the signatories of the letter to the newspaper, particularly Sonia
>> Jabbar, Shashi Tharoor and Ramachandra Guha, who enjoy an organic
>> relationship with the powers that be, it is easy to understand how they
>> give
>> themselves the moral right to talk about Tibet and choose to exercise
>> criminal silence about what India has been doing in Northeast and 
>> Kashmir.
>>
>> Nationalism, lady and gentlemen, is quite a mandate!
>>
>> Best
>> On 4/9/08, radhikarajen at vsnl.net <radhikarajen at vsnl.net> wrote:
>> >
>> > I very much appreciate your concern and anguish, but it is wellknown
>> fact
>> > that our "cadres" always hail china and welcome them with painting red
>> the
>> > whole of the city like they did in 1962.The very fact that the line
>> marked
>> > as Mcmohan line as border between british india in 1945 after the end 
>> > of
>> > world war, even today remains unsurveyed, thanks to our cadre friends
>> > engineering hindi-chini bhai bhai. It is not late even now to make a
>> joint
>> > survey and with dialogue end the border row and disputes with China,
>> then
>> > two nations, the developing economies of Asia, both India and China can
>> have
>> > honourable  interaction with all nations in the comity of nations, even
>> US
>> > would be thinking twice if our leaders think of the nation and its
>> freedom
>> > than kickbacks in N-deal for the first family.!
>> > Regards.
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "S. Jabbar" <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
>> > Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2008 5:44 pm
>> > Subject: [Reader-list] The Hindu on Tibet
>> > To: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
>> >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Letter to the Editor:
>> > >
>> > > The Hindu's bias in favour of the Chinese Government in its
>> > > editorial on
>> > > Tibet (March 28, 2008) is dismaying.  The reasons behind the recent
>> > > demonstrations by Tibetans are transparent. You speak of sustained
>> > > growth,omitting the fact that Han Chinese control the economy,
>> > > Party and
>> > > government. Impartial observers have documented the onslaught on
>> > > naturalresources, the repression of Buddhism, the enforced
>> > > denunciations of the
>> > > Dalai Lama.
>> > >
>> > > The subjugation of Tibet is most evident in re-settlement policy.
>> > > In 1952
>> > > Chairman Mao complained that there were "hardly any Han in Tibet."
>> > > By 1953
>> > > there were 100,000 Chinese in the province of Qinghai, the renamed
>> > > easternTibetan province of Amdo. In 1985 there were 2.5 million
>> > > Chinese and 750,000
>> > > Tibetans in Qinghai. By the 2000 census only 20% of Qinghai's
>> > > population was
>> > > Tibetan.
>> > >
>> > > This demographic engineering undermines the comparison you draw
>> > > betweenTibet and Kashmir. Right-wing groups in India have long
>> > > demanded the
>> > > re-settlement of the Kashmir Valley. However, Article 370 disallows
>> > > non-state subjects from buying land; and it is to allay Kashmiri
>> > > anxietiesthat New Delhi has not granted autonomy or separate
>> > > statehood for Ladakh and
>> > > Jammu.
>> > >
>> > > Beijing's abusive denunciations of the Dalai Lama and its
>> > > stonewalling of
>> > > his proposals make it difficult to accept their sincerity. A just
>> > > solution"within the framework of one China" is precisely what the
>> > > Dalai Lama has
>> > > pursued.
>> > >
>> > > The Hindu's wholesale reproduction of the official Chinese line on
>> > > Tibetdoes it little credit.
>> > >
>> > > Yours sincerely,
>> > >
>> > > Sonia Jabbar
>> > > Ramachandra Guha
>> > > Mukul Kesavan
>> > > Madhu Sarin
>> > > Jyotirmaya Sharma
>> > > Dilip Simeon
>> > > Tenzin Sonam
>> > > Shashi Tharoor
>> > > _________________________________________
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>>
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>> _________________________________________
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>> Critiques & Collaborations
>> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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