[Reader-list] Jaipur etc.

[rashneek kher]

Dear Sonia,

Kashmir is such an entangled mesh that there are no black and whites.Huge
areas of grey all over.It is this greyness that has turned us Kashmiris old
and sometimes unreasonable.Because of the proverbial "curse of Lakshmi" we
refuse to accept truth and as long as we do so we will never be able to
proceed to find solutions.
We have a public and private position on everything.But then in the
situation that we all are there is this Kashmiri word"Vwkheep" which I
cannot translate,that has encompassed all of us.After all we have been
slaves for 800 years.

Regards

Rashneek



On 5/15/08, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> A couple of pieces in the Indian Express this morning well worth reading.
> The first, an elegant understanding of the bomb blasts in Jaipur.  The
> second, a report of a former militant who switched sides.  Putting aside
> the
> enthusiasm of the reporter, what emerges is the complexities of lives lived
> in the vortex of a dirty war‹ precisely what I was trying to indicate in my
> posts about the renegades before it degenerated into unrelated and
> unwarranted accusations.
> -sj
>
>
> The geometry of contrasts
>
> Pratap Bhanu Mehta
>
>
>
> The old city of Jaipur has a unique physical layout, emblematic of gentle
> order. But unlike many cities with neatly planned parallel streets, there
> is
> nothing monumental or contrived about this planned city. Quite the
> opposite:
> it suggested an intimacy that was never claustrophobic, as old cities can
> sometimes be. While traditional in its architecture, it facilitated that
> most vital of activities: commerce. It has reeled under the onslaught of
> the
> frenetic pace of activity that characterises so many Indian cities. The old
> city contained within it everything: the most bustling of religious
> activity, whether it be the Id namaz outside Johari Bazaar, or the
> astonishing array of temples; the fascination with the most worldly of
> possessions, gold and jewellery, alongside the most ardent symbols of
> renunciation, Jain temples; and it contained all that any modern city
> brings
> with change. The famous Lakshmi Mishthan Bhandar, near a blast site, had
> long since changed over from a font of traditional delicacies to a modern
> mass production outlet, leading some to wonder if Jaipur would retain its
> character. It had its share of social negotiations and hierarchies. But
> despite very occasional stresses, the city always triumphed, as if its
> layout would enjoin its citizens to believe that in the well-ordered city,
> there will be space for everyone. Its orderly pink structures were always
> there for an odd kind reassurance: no matter how bristling and chaotic the
> life of the city, order and grace were still always possible.
>
> Alas, that reassurance has been irrevocably shattered by a series of bomb
> blasts, by an ideology that is the opposite of what the city stood for. The
> blasts are against commerce, against civic order, against aesthetic
> achievement, against sociability, against the idea that cities can be zones
> where we can overcome our vulnerabilities. But it is above all an attack
> against the state and people. An attack against the state, because it dares
> to say to the state: you claim to protect people, see what mockery we make
> of that claim. An attack against the people because it dares to say to
> them:
> we will take away the sense of security that is the precondition for the
> forms of sociability that make us a people. You thought this was a space
> where you would exchange goods, say your prayer, read your namaz, savour
> the
> delicacies, make a living, imagine other worlds through craft, fly your
> kites, shop to high heaven or even have the dignity of labouring, no matter
> how hard the work. You thought it were these quotidian activities that
> create the capillaries that connect us. Think again. The very site of these
> activities will now be the source of your vulnerability.
>
> The lives that have been destroyed by this attack already constitute an
> immeasurable loss. But terrorism is not just after lives, it is after the
> idea of a normal life itself. In some ways an attack like this is a classic
> combination of nihilism and opportunism. It is nihilism, because it serves
> no political end but the idea of destruction itself. We can always surmise
> that there are accumulated grievances, forms of alienation, the desire for
> revenge of some real or imagined injury, that cause such mayhem. But truth
> be told, such surmises are more our attempt to hold on to a sense of
> reality. How can we make sense of this so-called political act, where no
> one
> claims responsibility, where the cause is unclear, where there is not even
> the attempt to claim minimal moral legitimation for the act just
> perpetrated?
>
> Particular acts of terrorism may be explained, but there is no doubt that
> it
> has also acquired a sui generis character: it does not exist for any reason
> outside itself. Yes, we can say that its objective is to weaken India. But
> though this may be the case, this raises more questions than it answers.
> What politics of cowardice and resentment drives that objective? What is
> worrying in the Jaipur blasts is the fact that it must have taken more than
> a couple of people to put this operation together, to engineer blasts in
> quick succession. The fact that such an operation can be mounted with
> impunity ought to be worrying for security forces.
>
> But it is not hard to discern an element of opportunism in the choice of
> targets. Rajasthan is going to elections, places like Chittor have had a
> simmering communal dispute. It would be otiose to deny that the delicate
> social equilibrium that Jaipur had crafted over decades has been fraying at
> the edges for a while. The terrorists are hoping, as they were elsewhere in
> Hyderabad and Varanasi and Ajmer, that Rajasthan might prove combustible
> material. Or it may have something to do with developments in the domestic
> politics of Pakistan, to strengthen the hands of those that do not want to
> give peace a chance. Or as is so much the case with terrorism, it may all
> be
> over-determined.
>
> Civilians are terrorised precisely so that, under the pressure of
> responding
> to their outrage, the state commits sins of commission and omission. There
> is a danger that this issue will get politicised in the wrong sense of the
> term. It is high time that we created institutions, cutting across party
> lines that can interface with the state and security agencies so that a
> proper and shared understanding can be evolved of this menace. Our ability
> to tackle terrorism is not enhanced by a politics of grandstanding by any
> party. It requires a supple intelligence and clarity of purpose. The point
> of terrorism is that it wants to take our politics in certain directions.
> It
> is up to our political class to resist that temptation.
>
> But Jaipur has, for the moment at least, become a symbol of our
> vulnerability, rather than an emblem of a safe civic life. The gates of
> Tripolia don¹t protect it, its famous squares, the chaupads, will not be
> the
> site of easy sociability for some time to come. It was Jaipur¹s unique fate
> that for a long time it had not really experienced any serious stress in
> the
> old city. But for now its intimate reassurance and bustle are gone. Jaipur
> was famous for having an MP whose sole claim to political fame was that he
> attended as many funerals in the city as he could. Yesterday, funerals were
> the only activity allowed in large parts of the city. But if Jaipur
> recovers
> the sense that its founders had, of a city as a civilising place, it will
> be
> the source of resistance to the new barbarians that sought to replace its
> geometry with chaos.
>
> The writer is president, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi
>
>
>
>
>
> ŒHe wanted a life and death of dignity... He got both¹
>
> Raghvendra Rao
>
>
> NEW DELHI, MAY 14
> ³Woh hamesha kehta tha ki mujhe izzat ki zindagi aur izzat ki maut chahiye.
> Humein sukoon hai ki usey dono miley. (He always wanted a life and death of
> dignity. We are happy that he got both).²
>
> It's difficult to miss the sense of pride in Gulshan Akhtar¹s voice as she
> speaks about her slain husband Rifleman Abdul Hamid Chara, the
> militant-turned-soldier who joined the Indian Army and laid down his life
> eliminating terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. On Wednesday, Gulshan received
> from the President of India the Shaurya Chakra, the country¹s third highest
> peacetime gallantry award, given posthumously to her husband.
>
> On her first visit to New Delhi, Gulshan struggled to hide her emotions.
> ³He
> used to narrate stories about Delhi. He would say one day he will take me
> to
> see the India Gate. Par woh pehle hi chala gaya (but he died early),² she
> said, clinging to her 9-month-old daughter Hamida. ³Anyway, I am going to
> see the India Gate.²
>
> Christened after Param Vir Chakra awardee Abdul Hamid Khan, Adbul Hamid
> Chara's life took a tumultuous turn when he was kidnapped by Al-Barq
> terrorists in 2001 and forced to join the outfit. ³My brother was not a
> terrorist. He never wanted to be one. Having stayed with the terrorists who
> had kidnapped him for almost a week, he escaped and surrendered before the
> police,² recounted Dariaz Ahmad Chara, Abdul¹s brother.
>
> Having surrendered, Abdul worked with the Special Group (SOG) of J&K
> Police.
> It was in October 2004 that Abdul joined the 62 Infantry Battalion (TA) and
> was posted with Divar (markul) Company of 18 Rashtriya Rifles Battalion. On
> June 12 last year, Hamid was a part of the search-and-destroy operation in
> Ander Nar area of Gagal in Kupwara. Having spotted two terrorists who were
> trying to escape, Abdul allowed them to come within five meters as he
> crawled under dense undergrowth of vegetation to cut off their escape
> route.
> This caused retaliatory fire from the other side, causing Abdul Hamid
> multiple gunshot and splinter injuries. But the rifleman continued to fight
> and killed one terrorist who was later identified as Mussa, the self-styled
> District Commander of the LeT, Kupwara, in charge of coordinating all
> activities and management of the LeT.
>
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-- 
Rashneek Kher
http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com