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

[Pawan Durani]

And the apology would have been incomplete without re-asserting the support
to separatists................
Doesn't matter anyway......your writings are as much important to us as the
import of apples from Cambodia.

Pawan

On Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 1:15 PM, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्
<mail at shivamvij.com>wrote:

> 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
> >
> > Raqs Media Collective
> >
> > shuddha at sarai.net
> >
> > www.sarai.net
> >
> > www.raqsmediacollective.net
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
>
> National Highway - http://shivamvij.com/
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