[Reader-list] Please Think Before You Write the Subject Line

[Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्]

Dear Shuddha,

I admit I should have been more discreet and that in both cases, my
comments did amount to vilifying a community ("Hindus" and "Kashmiri
Pandits") and apologise for both.

However in the case of "Hindu terrorism" I want explain my intent. On
this list and elsewhere even non-violent protests in the Valley are
resulting in the Valley's Muslims being called 'terrorists'. The
problem here is not one of vilification, but that once you have
labelled someone using violence for political purposes a terrorist you
have explained away everything there was to explain. The condemnation
of violence becomes the condemnation of politics.

It was to that sort of loose usage of the word "terrorists" that I was
rhetorically responding to - meaning to say, that if 'Hindu' mobs use
violence, then that too, should be brushed aside as "terrorism".
Instead, we have been sold the "Jammu is burning" line as if someone
from outside Jammu had set it on fire.

However, I ought to have explained as much while posting the news
report on the attack on the Jammu Congress leader's car and the threat
to his life and not merely have left a provocative yet lazy one-liner
in the subject line.

I completely agree with you when you say:

> Arguing against the oppression that is carried out in the Kashmir valley by
> the Indian state does not mean that we have to vilify any community.

Once again, apologies.
Shivam


On 8/22/08, Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
> Dear Shivam.
>
>
>
>
> I was saddened to see that you had written "Hindu Terrorism in Jammu" in the
> subject line of your recent post. Also, I think your remark about KP
> "sanskars" in a previous post were not in good taste, I was saddened to read
> them.
>
>
>
>
> Arguing against the oppression that is carried out in the Kashmir valley by
> the Indian state does not mean that we have to vilify any community. And
> even if communities get vilified in this debate by some of its participants,
> I expect you not to reciprocate in kind. As a journalist whose work I
> respect, I expect much better of you.
>
>
>
>
> I must point out to you that nowhere in the report  that you had forwarded
> does it say that a 'Hindu' mob attacked the Congress politician, or that
> they were raising 'Hindu' slogans, (even if we assume that they were
> nominally Hindu) it merely says that they were raising 'Anti-Congress, PDP
> and NC" slogans.  And a mob attack, though reprehensible, is not an act of
> terrorism. To say it is to mirror the tactics of those who poison every
> discussion on these matters (all over the world) by adding the prefix
> "Islamic" to terrorism. It is as ridiculous to talk about Islamic or Hindu
> terrorism as it is to speak of Islamic of Hindu agriculture or mining.
>
>
>
>
> Crowds in the Kashmir valley often raise, "Anti Congress, PDP and NC
> slogans" and they are generally Muslim crowds, and sometimes they set fire
> to vehicles and ransack homes. Just as it would be totally inappropriate to
> tag such an episode as an instance of "Muslim" terrorism, so, too I think it
> is totally inappropriate and uncalled for on your part to tag this report
> with the headline "Hindu Terrorism in Jammu"
>
>
>
>
> This kind of rhetorical grandstanding does not help anyone, and I would urge
> everyone, especially Shivam, to be restrained and thoughtful while
> forwarding posts.
>
>
>
>
> best,
>
>
>
>
> Shuddha
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 22-Aug-08, at 3:17 PM, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् wrote:
>
>
> Jammu: Protesters attack Congress leader
>
>
>
>
> 22 Aug 2008, 0045 hrs IST,TNN
>
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Jammu_tense_protesters_attack_police_station/articleshow/3389045.cms
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> JAMMU/SRINAGAR: There was no let up in violent protests against the
>
> revocation of forestland transfer to the Amarnath Shrine Board on
>
> Thursday, as senior Congress leader and former J&K deputy chief
>
> minister Mangat Ram Sharma had a narrow escape when protesters
>
> attacked him at Bhagwatinagar in Jammu. ( Watch )
>
>
>
>
> SSP S D S Jamwal said Sharma was attacked while he was visiting a
>
> doctor with his grandson. "Protesters attacked his vehicle with rods
>
> and stones," he said. Sources said a cop saved Sharma from the
>
> rampaging mob and whisked him away on his scooter. Raising
>
> anti-Congress, PDP and NC slogans, the protesters set three cars in
>
> Sharma's cavalcade on fire. "Later, the mob also torched a nearby
>
> police nakka," a police officer said.
>
>
>
>
> Sharma has been at the receiving end of the Amarnath protesters; mobs
>
> have twice attacked his house in Jammu's upmarket Gandhi Nagar
>
> neighbourhood. Day curfew, meanwhile, was lifted from Jammu and
>
> Udhampur districts, while it was relaxed for varying periods in other
>
> areas of the province. Curfew was reimposed in Jammu after violent
>
> protests on Wednesday, the third and final day of Shri Amarnath Yatra
>
> Sangarsh Samiti (SASS)'s 'Jail Bharo Andolan'.
>
>
>
>
> Authorities relaxed curfew for three hours in Kishtwar town, the scene
>
> of communal clashes on August 12 that left two people dead and several
>
> others injured. "Curfew was relaxed for 11 hours in Samba," a senior
>
> official said.
>
>
>
>
> A large number of people turned up for Samiti's scheduled "funeral
>
> ceremony of Union government" programme in Jammu. Reports from across
>
> Jammu region said similar processions were carried out "to register
>
> protest against Centre's silence over the Jammu agitation".
>
>
>
>
> The Valley remained largely peaceful for the third consecutive day,
>
> after 10 days of violent street protests against the alleged economic
>
> blockade left at least 22 people dead.
>
>
>
>
> Police resorted to teargas shelling and mild baton charge to disperse
>
> protesters at Munawarabad in old Srinagar. "The protesters were trying
>
> to march towards United Nations Military Observers' office," an
>
> official said. He said no one was hurt in police action.
>
>
>
>
> Students continued to boycott classes and took to streets. "The
>
> indiscriminate use of power proves that New Delhi wants to suppress
>
> Kashmiris," Rafiqa Akhtar of prestigious Women's college said. She
>
> said college students' protests prove that even youth are against
>
> "imperialism".
>
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> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
>
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
>
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>
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>
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