[Reader-list] Kashmir-Tanks on busy market squares - Harsh Mander

Sun Sep 7 02:49:01 IST 2008

January 1992. Five of us took a trip to the Seven Sisters. A long time
tourist-dream. Heard about some 'disturbances' but reckoned that we had
sufficient and reliable contacts in all the north-eastern states. We were in
our early teens at Kolkata during 1968-1972 and remembered how we only came
to know about a lot of such 'disturbances' only through the newspaper the
next morning! So we went and – returned 'safely'!

However we got learned about guns and curfew!

Kohima was unbeatable – curfew was at 4.30pm! Earlier I lost count after 63
– being the number of pickets on the hillside occupied by armed Indian Army
personnel, while on the 74 km road from Dimapur to Kohima. Additionally we
crossed or overtook an equal number of small groups on foot or in all sorts
of bizarre vehicles (not tanks, Kshmendra!). A curfew pass to visit our well
connected 'contact' in a police vehicle gave us the opportunity to get the
'feel' of this deserted State Capital an hour after we had entered what was
then a hubbub of activity. Locals smiled and said (borrowing from Sonia)
that they had "gotten so used to" all this! Everyday, for months at a
stretch. At Dimapur it was 6pm; 8pm at Imphal and Shillong; 10 at
Guwahati...

And guns! I'm sure one would not see so many types even in an Army
Cantonment unless one strayed into the armoury. The short ones and the long;
with holes in the barrel and those with the butt at right angle to the
barrel. Realised what 'mind boggling' meant! You could see them almost
everywhere. In every State excepting Arunachal. On this account the
unbeatable experience was at the famous 'Ema Market' at Imphal. For every
maybe five female shop owners at this woman-run market there was one 'jawan'
with a gun held in readiness while tracing Brownian patterns in this crowded
bazaar. Hitting the barrel of the gun with my elbow a number of times and
looking up startled into the cold eyes of Jats each time I distinctly
remember hearing one of my friends mutter, "You can tell where all this
unity in our country emanates from".

Today as we talk about Kashmir – I remember the Seven Sisters I last saw in
1992.

Anyone on this list been there recently?

Warmly
Tilak

> From: S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>Date: 2008/9/3
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Kashmir-Tanks on busy market squares - Harsh
> Mander
> To: kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com,
>
>
> Yes I agree he ought to have been careful but I think what he¹s referring
> to here is what we call commensurate force or lack thereof.  At the height
> of militancy in the Œ90s this could have been understandable but I think
> these things ought to be reviewed periodically and calibrated like troop
> strength and the locations of bunkers.
>
> Do you really require armoured vehicles (bulletproof, mineproof, IED proof)
> with LMGs mounted on top at street corners in the Valley when the levels of
> incidents have dropped?  I¹d feel pretty offended if one moved into my
> neighbourhood. I¹ve objected to armed bodyguards that trail behind important
> politicians in Lodi Park.  I don¹t like the way guns have littered our
> landscape and become part of it.  We¹ve gotten so used to them now that
> we¹ve almost forgotten what life looked like without them, when the
> policeman wielded nothing deadlier than a stout staff and the army man a
> bolt action three-naught-three.
>
>
>
>
>
> From: Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>
> Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2008 07:31:08 -0700 (PDT)
> To: Sarai <reader-list at sarai.net>, "S. Jabbar" <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Kashmir-Tanks on busy market squares - Harsh
> Mander
>
> No.
>
> But, if an idiot like me knows the difference, I would expect an IAS person
> to be much more aware.
>
> All said.... A Tank, is a Tank, is a Tank, is a Tank ........
>
> I am sure he would have seen pics of the 'Tank' in Tiananmen Square. Maybe
> he was transposing from that to  imagining Tanks in "busy market squares"
> ....."even in the small towns" of Kashmir.
>
>
> --- On Wed, 9/3/08, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
> > From: S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Kashmir-Tanks on busy market squares - Harsh
> Mander
> > To: kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com, "Sarai" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Date: Wednesday, September 3, 2008, 7:45 PM
> >
> > !! Do you really think the ability to distinguish between weaponry should
> > become a criterion in the administrative services?
> >
> >
> >
> > From: Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>
> > Reply-To: <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>
> > Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2008 06:52:05 -0700 (PDT)
> > To: Sarai <reader-list at sarai.net>, "S. Jabbar" <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Kashmir-Tanks on busy market squares - Harsh
> Mander
> >
> > Well! Well! Well!
> >
> > Mander is Ex IAS. Doesn't speak well of IAS.
> >
> > Tanks have 'Tracks' and APCs (at least in India) are wheeled. The girth
> and
> > general size are distinctly different.
> >
> > I thought highly of Mander after his resigning from Govt service as a
> protest
> > against the 'Gujarat Riots". But now .....
> >
> >
> > --- On Wed, 9/3/08, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> From: S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
> >> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Kashmir-Tanks on busy market squares - Harsh
> >> Mander
> >> To: kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com, "Sarai" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> >> Date: Wednesday, September 3, 2008, 6:58 PM
> >>
> >> A common mistake that people make when they come across armoured
> vehicles
> >> with LMGs mounted on top.
> >>
> >>
> >>> > From: Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>
> >>> > Reply-To: <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>
> >>> > Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2008 06:14:17 -0700 (PDT)
> >>> > To: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> >>> > Subject: [Reader-list] Kashmir-Tanks on busy market squares - Harsh
> Mander
> >>> >
> >>> > The well known personality Harsh Mander is quoted as saying:
> >>
> >> """"""" Even in
> >>> > small towns, you encounter even today bullet-proof tanks stationed on
> busy
> >>> > market squares ...... """""
> >>
> >> Would someone please let me know if this is
> >>> > true. Are there 'tanks' stationed on busy market squares even in
> >> the small
> >>> > towns of Kashmir? This is the first time I have heard of this.
> >>
> >> Ex IAS cadre
> >>> > and current Director Action Aid India, Harsh Mander is not expected
> to
> >> speak
> >>> > untruths. He is unlikely to mistake some other vehicle for being a
> >>> > "tank".
> >>
> >> If it is true then it is shameful.
> >>
> >> If it is not true, then Harsh
> >>> > Mander was being deliberately and deviously deceitful. "Tanks"
> >> being stationed
> >>> > at busy market squares 'even in small towns' presents quite a
> >> damning
> >>> > picture.
> >>
> >> The quote is from a Press Release (02/09/08) by 'Kashmiri American
> >>> > Council'  about a seminar in Columbus, Ohio, USA . It was at
> >> a convention of
> >>> > ISNA (Islamic Society of North America).
> >>
> >> Kshmendra
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> >
> >> _________________________________________
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> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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