[Reader-list] Gun Salutes for August 15

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

Dear Shuddha,

Your post only reflects how wrong you are in your entire assessment of the
grave situation in Jammu & Kashmir. I wonder why you could only see it from
one perspective and rather chose to go with the direction of the wind. It
shows your unfortunate tilt and inclination towards the anti-national and
anti-India forces. You know what I mean.

You obviously should have this understanding that things have been blown out
of proportion in some cases. Muzamel Jaleel covers Express from Srinagar; I
wonder how he knows so intricate details about Jammu. Surely, I cannot trust
his sources. His reporting in Express shows again his tilt towards state
bashing and support to the fanatic separatists in Kashmir. He forgot that it
was a journalistic piece or news item and not his column where he could go
on with the same rhetoric.

You really need to brush up with reading your daily Indian Express complete.
Maybe, the following few reports help you understand it better:

1. *Jammu Muslims back stir, but fear
clashes*<http://www.indianexpress.com/story/345557.html>

   Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/345557.html

2. *Two more die in firing, Jammu
simmers*<http://www.indianexpress.com/story/344765.html>
    Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/344765.html

3. *In some areas, Army faces 'Gandhigiri' from
protestors*<http://www.indianexpress.com/story/345595.html>
    Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/345595.html

4. *One killed as Army fires at protestors, curfew
defied*<http://www.indianexpress.com/story/345556.html>
   Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/345556.html

5. *Recall Vohra: Karan Singh*<http://www.indianexpress.com/story/345182.html>
   Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/345182.html

6. *PDP now opposes the transfer, but records show how it said the
opposite*<http://www.indianexpress.com/story/345063.html>
Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/345063.html

7. *Jammu fires spread, Cong reaches out to BJP: help us defuse
crisis*<http://www.indianexpress.com/story/344371.html>
   Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/344371.html

8. *Centre stays away* <http://www.indianexpress.com/story/343927.html>
    Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/tsearch/search.php?pg=9

9. *Amarnath row: 13 injured, Army called
in*<http://www.indianexpress.com/story/343923.html>
   Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/343923.html

10. *Jammu burning* <http://www.indianexpress.com/story/343523.html>
     Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/343523.html

11. *Blast targets migrants, 5 of a family die in
J-K*<http://www.indianexpress.com/story/340194.html>
     Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/340194.html

12. *Bid to attack Amarnath yatris foiled, 3 militants killed:
police*<http://www.indianexpress.com/story/338647.html>
     Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/338647.html

I just hope you read these news items too and not just your favourite
Muzamel Jalil.

It was a planned move to raise an issue such as "Economic Blockade" by the
separatists and hardline groups from the valley. I see a pattern here. As
reports say, it was even backed by ISI.

We all know, very well now that there was NO economic blockade. It was just
to gain publicity and to distract attention from the real issue of Amarnath
Land.

Shuddha, You have a great ability to play with words. Though your crafty
language won't gain much sympathy as it shows no logic. Food, Oil, Water,
Baby Milk, medicine etc etc all are in good supply to th valley and valley
itself has great amount of stock to last almost 3 months. If there has been
urgency for some material; it has been airlifted; as on previous occassions.


Your comments are sick and can only make things worse. I don't undertsnad
what your intentions are. You surely don't understand PEACE !!!!

It was people in Jammu who were shot on head. See pictures for urself at
www.thekashmir.wordpress.com/  While on the other hand, your Sheikh Abdul
Aziz a former Terrorist and now with Hurriyat was hit on the leg and he lost
his life due to blood loss.

This disinformation campaign launched by Kashmir based sepratists, fanatics,
and  3 hardline funded newspapers and then supported by secular apologists
based in Delhi and elsewhere only make matters worse.

The so called movement in Kashmir in complete fake and does not have mandate
of the people. By mere brainwashing people and instigating communal
passions; one cannot achiece any goal. Moreover, a movement which began with
targetting the minority Hindu community, killing them and with communal
slogans; cannot land up anywhere.

As India celebrates 61 years of Independence, Kashmiri Hindus complete yet
another year in forced exile. Its been more than 18 years now. The night of
19th Jan. 1990; still haunts in the minds of the victims. 50,000 thousand of
whom are still languishing in refugee camps in Jammu and its outskirts.

And, then these limousine Communists say these protests in Jammu are by
RSS/BJP/VHP. I wonder if they have travelled to Jammu themselves and seen
the amount of anger in people. Do that and you will know what a people's
movement is !!! Sitting in Ac rooms, dictating lectures on sarai, and
sticking your finger to the latest laptop won't tell you much about the
situation in Jammu. And, these are our modern communists....

The transfer of the 40 hectares of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board
was the most logical, legal and ethical decision taken by the cabinet. Why
does this disturb the few sepratist elements in Kashmir who are hell bent to
communalise the situation ? It onlt goes on to show the religious and
cultural intolerance in so called Kashmiri Muslim leaders.

This Amarnath Land Row was as well a sinster game plan of the PDP; that is
evident from the above Indian Express reports which quotes all official
documents. It was clear cut vote bank politics and to divide the communities
in this state of India.

Omar Abdullah on the other hand gave a highly inflamatory statement in the
Parliament; not realising its consequenes. He did it without thinking too
much, and just to attract attention of the media. Let me tell him, that its
not only the land of Kashmiri Muslims, its equally of Kashmiri Pandits. And,
we will fight till the very end to have it....

Its unfortunate that holding the Indian Flag high in Jammu is a crime to
some here while holding a Pakistani Flag in Kashmir seems to be some kind of
symbol and some great work. I pity those people.

Hope some sense prevails upon those minds who support these communal forces
in the valley without a second thought. They have sold their conscience. Are
you guys so cheap ?

Aditya Raj Kaul

On 8/15/08, Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> (apologies for cross posting on Kafila)
>
> Anniversaries are good opportunities for reflection. I write this the
> early hours of 15th August, 2008, the 61st anniversary of Indian
> independence.
>
> The events of the past few months, and the past few days, in the
> Indian adminsitered state of Jammu and Kashmir have demonstrated how
> well and how equally (or not) the police, paramilitaries and armed
> forces of the Indian Republic treat different kinds of protesting
> crowds. The facts that I am about to discuss are good measures with
> which to think about the relationship between acts of power,
> different kinds of people, sovereignty, life and death in the Indian
> nation state as it has evolved over the past 61 years.
>
> The region of Jammu in the province of Jammu and Kashmir has been
> caught in the grip of a fierce agitation against the revocation of
> the land transfer to the Amarnath Shrine Board. We have all seen
> footage of angry SASS (Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti) activists
> brandishing trishuls, setting up roadblocks and burning tyres, the
> agitation has spread to different parts of India
>
> As of August 10, the following has taken place (in Jammu)
>
> "...* 18 cases have been registered in connection with communal
> violence in which 20 persons were injured, 72 Kulas (hutments) of
> Gujjars were burnt down, 22 vehicles damaged and several trucks
> carrying supplies looted. "These are only reported incidents. Many
> such incidents have taken place, which have not been reported so
> far," the officers told the team.
>
> * 117 police personnel and 78 civilians were injured including two
> policemen who were lynched and are "battling for life" in PGI
> Chandigarh while six civilians were killed, including three in police
> and Army action.
>
> * 129 cases were registered against the rioters. A total of 1171
> arrests were made but most of them are now out on bail.
>
> * 10, 513 protest demonstrations and 359 serious incidents of
> violence have taken place across Jammu in which 28 government
> buildings, 15 police vehicles and 118 private vehicles have been
> damaged..."
>
> The information given above is quoted from - "Dangerous divide: Jammu
> officials put it in black and white"
> by Muzamil Jaleel, Indian Express, August 10, 2008. Muzamil Jaleel
> culled this information from a briefing delivered by government
> officials in the Jammu region to a visiting 'all party delegation'
> http://www.indianexpress.com/story/346889.html
>
> As is clear, of the 6 reported deaths in the Jammu region, two are of
> policemen, who were attacked by the pro Amarnath Land Transfer
> agitationists. Two of these are suicides, both of whom have been
> hailed as 'martyrs' by the Shree Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti activists.
> Only two out of six deaths, in the past twenty or so days of
> relentless and violent agitation, which included intimidation of
> truckers on the Jammu Srinagar highway can be attributed to police or
> paramilitary action. Each of these deaths is unfortunate and deserves
> to be condemned.
>
> In two further and separate incidents, the VHP, BJP, Shiv Sena  and
> Sangh Parivar and allied organizations 'Chakka Jam' that paralysed
> roads in major cities yesterday, two more people died, because they
> could not reach hospitals on time. These two people were the
> 'collateral damage' of the upsurge of patriotic sentiment displayed
> by activists sympathetic to the SASS agitation in Jammu.
>
> On the other hand, in the part of the Kashmir valley administered and
> occupied by India, in the past few days alone, in several instances
> of firing on unarmed mobs, have led to the deaths of 29 people. Many
> of these deaths occured when unarmed crowds tried to accompany trucks
> carrying fruit (which had earlier been prevented from proceeding
> towards markets on the Srinagar Jammu highway) towards Pakistan
> Occupied Kashmir. Fruit growers in Indian administered Kashmir were
> at the forefront of attempting to salvage precious stocks of produce
> by taking to the 'Muzafarabad Road'. Apart from the 29 confirmed
> dead, several more are in hospitals, injured in critical conditions,
> and there lives are endangered by the fact that life saving medicines
> are in short supply due to the economic blockade of the Kashmir
> valley. trying to reach across the line of control to Pakistan
> Occupied Kashmir.
>
> The difference in treatment of two different kinds of crowds is easy
> to see. In one instance, more than twenty days of continuing, violent
> agitation result in two deaths by police firing. In another instance,
> less than a week's agitation results in 29 deaths. Clearly, the loss
> of lives in the Kashmir valley does not amount to much in the
> calculus of power. A rough arithmetic of sorts would indicate that a
> comparison of two casualties (in Jammu) to twenty nine casualties (in
> Kashmir) means that agitating Kashmiri lives are approximately fiteen
> times less significant (or more expendable) than agitating Jammu
> lives. The agitation in Jammu has harped often on how it is
> discriminated against in comparison to Kashmir. In one sense at least
> there is some truth in this charge. In the matter of the expenditure
> of bullets by the Indian state, there is no comparison at all between
> Jammu and Kashmir. When it comes to ammunition, way more bullets are
> spent in Kashmir than is the case in Jammu.
>
> It is clear, that the Indian state's armed might does not confront
> rampaging Jammu mobs if they hold the tricolour and shout nationalist
> slogans, or slogans in favour of the Amarnath Shrine Board's desire
> for land in the Kashmir Valley, even if they sometimes lynch
> policemen. On the other hand, unarmed fruit growers and ordinary
> people on the streets of the Kashmir valley are sitting targets for
> trigger happy police, paramilitary and army personnel. Guns can be,
> and are being aimed at their heads.Unlike Jammu, no policemen or
> armed forces personnel have been killed, at least until now, in the
> course of the fruit growers agitation in the Kashmir valley.
>
> As, independence day dawns, a clear pattern emerges. When push comes
> to shove, the Indian state has no hesitation in expending its bullets
> in some cases, and in showing exemplary restraint in others. Mowing
> down crowds that hold the tricolour flag aloft doesn't look good on
> TV. But, obviously, a little bloodletting in the streets of Srinagar
> on the eve of Independence day is good for 'national' morale.
>
> Now, if, you were one of those who happens to be the kind of person
> who the state seems to be willing to favour with a  shower of bullets
> at any given opportunity, would you be celebrating 'Independence
> Day'? What would you be celebrating, - your freedom to fall to a
> policeman's gun?
>
> No wonder they play national anthems with gun salutes. A hail of
> bullets makes for the most fitting percussive accompaniment to
> poignant displays of national pride in India today.
>
>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
>
>
>
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