[Reader-list] Hindu intifada

[Pawan Durani]

Images can have a profound impact and make a lasting impression even on the
most cynical among us. They can also act as a force multiplier in a conflict
zone. Recall the photographs and television footage of teenaged Palestinian
boys in Gaza and the West Bank confronting Israeli tanks armed with no more
than shepherd's slings; of young men, their faces half-covered with
handkerchiefs and kafiyeh, racing through billowing clouds of tear gas to
hurl stones at soldiers armed with assault rifles; of middle-aged and old
women violating police pickets and defying curfew. That was the first time
we heard of a little-used Arabic word, intifada, which literally means to
shake off but in recent times has come to mean a rebellion premised on the
Biblical tale of David vanquishing Goliath, a relentless mass protest born
of festering anger, deep-seated grievance and overwhelming, uncontrollable
rage.
We are witnessing a similar intifada in Jammu province where young and old,
men and women, are locked in an unequal battle with the police — and, since
Friday, the Army — demanding the immediate revocation of the Government
order cancelling the transfer of 800 kanals of land to the Sri Amarnath
Shrine Board. The land was meant for creating temporary facilities for
pilgrims who trek to the Amarnath shrine every year, braving inclement
weather and jihadi attacks. This time, it's a Hindu intifada, an outpouring
of pent-up anger which has brought life in Jammu and other towns and
villages in the province to a standstill.

It's been more than a month that the Hindus of Jammu have taken to the
streets, burning tyres, taunting policemen, braving tear gas and real
bullets, violating curfew and blockading the highway to Srinagar. The images
emanating from Jammu are eerily similar to those that emanated from Gaza and
the West Bank during the Palestinian intifada. More tellingly, the tactics
that have been adopted by the protesters are those that have often brought
Kashmir Valley to a standstill. If you look at the photographs of the Hindu
intifada, you will get a sense of how Jammu has decided to give Kashmir a
taste of its own medicine — in this case it is Dum Dum dawai.

Read complete article at

http://kanchangupta.blogspot.com/2008/08/jammu-erupts-in-rage.html