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

Sat Aug 23 15:10:44 IST 2008

Dear Pawan

Shivam has very graciously apologised. That must be acknowledged and accepted. Even if one does it in silence. 

I would also say that in this post Shivam has not "expressed support for the separatists".  

Shivam has tried to (now) explain and thereby justify the use of the word "terrorism" when he wrote "Hindu Terrorism". One could disagree with the argument given by him. I certainly do.

You think otherwise, but for me what Shivam writes is important. 

Shivam is from the Media, he writes extensively on Kashmir. He is one of the voices in the rest of India who (when not recognisably Kashmiri Muslim) get endowed with the presumption that they are free of bias and prejudice. What Shivam writes therefore becomes important (for me) whether it is in a Newspaper or a Blog or on a list like SARAI.

It is important to keep track of any such voice, that has a limited understanding of Kashmir, or an Anti-India slant to it's commentary/reportage and interpretation of events, or a bias/prejudice (cloaked as it may deviously be to suggest otherwise). Such voices have a willing and 'ready to believe what you say' audience. If you ignore them, you allow them to establish their misrepresentations as "facts". 

Kshmendra

--- On Sat, 8/23/08, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Please Think Before You Write the Subject Line
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Saturday, August 23, 2008, 1:21 PM

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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> >
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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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