[Reader-list] On KP anger

[Vikas Kaul]

Short version of my response:

If I am in love with someone, does it mean it is dubious of me to criticize
my beloved? On the other hand, if I criticize a person, does it suggest I
must have any less regard for him/her? Who says KPs must take a zero-sum
approach? Who says KPs can not blame both the GoI as well as the Kashmiri
Muslim leadership and yet, at the same time, choose to be governed under
Indian constitution, be a part of the Indian nation with which they share
values of non-violence, democracy, secular world view, equality, freedom,
rule of law, culture, religion and history? Can someone provide me with an
answer to that?

Long version:

You are welcome to think of this as yet another hateful propagandist
message. But if you happen to be intellectual honest, you just might see the
world in a new light.

Before I begin, I must mention that I speak for myself, not for any
community. And I welcome critique with reasoning. And my views have nothing
to do with people; it's about the perception, ignorance and spinelessness.
My critique below reflects my derision for the words such as "genuflection"
and "state" among other presumptions.  Obviously, I can not possibly deny
some level of prejudice being a member of one of the communities involved in
the epic saga (sadly). But I can make one promise to the conversationalists
here, if you have air-tight logic, I just might be convinced. High-school,
puppy-love, idealist "feelings" are not convincing enough for me.

After giving a cursory look at Ms. Sethi's well articulated comments, I
"felt" there just might be a whole lot of sense in it. Being an empiricist,
I went against my professional code of conduct and chose to "feel" without
enough evidence. The dualist in us takes over more often than it should,
doesn't it? Gladly, the empiricist was back in business. After having read
through the comments, I was forced to ask a friend: "Why am I so
unfortunate?" Although I am still waiting on Mr. Farooqui's reply, let's get
to the meat and bones of the "perceived conundrum."


Children are born dualists and teleologists. Some of us never grow out of it
and thanks to "discipline" in childhood, creeds and canons we are rendered
even more vulnerable to the assignment of purpose (even inanimate objects)
to everything. Say, for instance, moths committing "suicide" when it has
nothing to do with our moral sense. It sure has a heck of a lot to do with
the evolved nervous system and artificial light. Or, for that matter,
"Jagmohan asked KPs to leave so Muslims could be wiped out." While the
former example is slightly understandable showing ones ignorance, the latter
is a sinister attempt at assigning purpose to something you create out of
thin air. Such "contradiction" is an apparent lack of sharp vision in
connivance with subservience to teleology and dualism. Forget that, it just
shows lack of understanding of KPs. Ask yourself: "how many KP friends do I
have?" Both examples underscore a subtly I hope you can appreciate. So, if
you do not see (or assign) a purpose, then you have a conundrum. And, of
course in the context of this thread, purpose must be assigned to a "group."
Let's dig into this a little deeper.

This is both funny and painful to me; I wish this weren't true. KPs are a
disunited lot! What you learn about KPs can't simply be assumed to work with
the majority, except, of course, when fundamentals are in the play. For
instance, Kashmiri Muslims supported the displacement (another one of those
words the UN comes up with reflecting its weakness) of KPs. Not one honest
apology from their leadership in the last 17 years. Statements like these,
in my opinion, will strike a cord among most KPs. In most other cases, in
particular political, there is very little accord. Blame it on too much
education and intellectuality. You can't be united unless there is some
element of irrationality. You see why the Ummah, relatively, are a united
lot?
Now, allow me to analyze Ms. Sethi's words.

1) "One, is a realisation of the immense power that the state wields."

Formulation of a correct sentence does not mean anything; it may not even
deserve a response. Besides, stating the obvious doesn't add to the debate
either. However, the proposition here might have been that "KPs" realized
the Indian "state" can overpower the Kashmiri Muslim terrorists and their
ideology. I have a rather fundamental question to ask: If KPs had a uniform
thinking, why in the world would they be scattered all over the place? Why
would they risk the survival of their language and culture? The point is:
KPs are independent thinkers. Unfortunately for them, that has not played
out all that great for them. So much for rationality!

Note: I did not use words like militants, separatists, radical Islamists
above.

2) This is an interesting point but also an ugly reminder of ignorance. The
premise of the point is that "KPs" (as a community) might have actually
thought about the ludicrous notion of "azadi." I do not think you will find
a single KP who was so unhappy with the Indian state that (s)he wanted a
separate land. Yet another presupposition is that Muslims and Hindus were
living in peace and harmony. An ignoramus would pick a point in recent past
and contrast it with pre-89 situation, use a variable like "number of
deaths," and get a journal publication out of it. How cute! But, at the same
time, how arrogantly preposterous! Muslims in Kashmir weren't betrayed
during the Parmeshwari Handoo saga, were they? It wasn't KPs who assaulted
Kapil Dev/Sunil Gavaskar when they came to Srinagar for a cricket match with
the Pakistani team. KPs didn't use their temples to play tape recorders that
ran for hours intimidating Muslims into packing their bags for Hindutva, not
Nizam-e-Mustafa, would be the rule of land. They didn't cry out loud: "and
forget to leave your women behind."

Yes, blame the KP for not throwing in the towel with the terrorists. Blame
the KP for not teaming up with the "militants" who in their Koranic quest
for "jihad," raped their women and cut them into pieces. Do that. Blame
him/her for not standing against a repressive Indian "empire" whose average
tax-payers rupee took care of the roads (s)he walked on everyday, ensured
there was no shortage of food, fuel, jobs, hospitals and schools. Blame the
darned KP for supporting the army of the "empire" that saved him from
Pakistani aggression so many times. Blame him for not lifting arms, making
black lists and going postal on unarmed men, women and children. Yes Sir,
Yaseen Malik is a Gandhian. But make sure you blame a KP for showing some
dignity, class and integrity. How conveniently hypocritical!

 Can a KP not see the atrocities committed by the state? Of course, (s)he
does. For instance, just look at the pathetic leadership of the NDA in the
early stages of the ongoing Amarnath land crisis and Union Home Ministers'
incompetence. However, let's not forget to blame the KP for being smart
enough to realize that in a multi-party democratic system within a
multi-ethnic environment of a country the size/history/socio-econo-political
landscape as India, few Cabinets can perform better. Blame him/her for
recognizing the fact that PDP did the first blood and Hurriyat sucked on it.


Blame the smartest kid in the class for being smart. Way to go!

3) I have my own dilemma. What do I dislike the most: stupidity, ignorance
or spinelessness? Ignorance takes the silver medal. Ignorance of the history
and evolution of Islam in times like these ought to be a crime against
intelligence. But then, if you are aware and act spineless, well,
congratulations for bagging gold.

If you read Quran and the history of Islam - say by Karen Armstrong or Reza
Aslan or your favorite - you would have to work extremely hard not to
appreciate that religious ideology and politics are intertwined in Islam.
It's true for Christianity as well. I do not regurgitate what I hear from
others; I have read Quran twice by two different widely regarded authors in
the Islamic world (New Testament once). Finally, please do not waste time
thinking of Shiv Sena/VHP/RSS et al. because that would make you look
stupid; those are not religions.

Let's start the blame game again. Blame the Dogras for not seeking
separation from India. And why let the Ladhakhis off the hook? They too must
have been oppressed, right? How about the folks in Rajouri and Udhampur? Oh,
wait! They all just out of sheer serendipity happen to be non-Muslim
majority regions. These Hindus, I tell you! Why must they all genuflect
before the Indian state? I doubt if one has to be an Einstein to truly
figure this one out.


Ms. Sethi, whether you like it or not, admit it to yourself or not, religion
is at the heart of the issue. Otherwise, more than a hundred Hindu temples
in Kashmir wouldn't have been desecrated for the sake of fun or, as you like
to call it: "self-determination."

Finally, the idea of a "state" is yet another funny story keeping the
context in mind. We are not talking about a communist or a socialist state
where the ideological opinions in the higher echelons of the
political/intellectual class percolate down to the districts and towns, if
not neighborhoods.

In conclusion, dear Ms. Sethi, please do not take my rather acerbic views
and judgments personally. I tell it the way I see it.



Geetika: Yes, Shiv Sena did provide help to KPs when no one else did in
their time of dire need. But Shiv Sena/VHP etc. carry out actions and crimes
that have no bounds. Period. I have as much scorn for them as I do for
PDP/NC/Hurriyat etc. I think spreading hatred equally qualified me for being
a secular chap.