[Reader-list] The updated list of killings by the firing of armedforces

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Pawan,

I don't treat news of death as reasons for laughter, no matter who dies.

The Col. Thomas who died in Kashmir did not die at the hands of the  
crowds on the streets of Kashmir. He died while on an operation, in  
combat, exactly as  an insurgent dies in combat, while on an   
operation. As one armed man taken out by other armed men.

See -
http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/24/stories/2008082457840100.htm

The report says - "Col. Thomas was killed as he led a quick reaction  
team from 45 Rashtriya Rifles in the dense forests of Macchal sector,  
near the Line of Control. His team shot down six militants and he was  
one of the four Indian soldiers who were killed in the battle."

I regret all such deaths, whether they be of Col. Jojan Thomas, or  
Mohan Chand Sharma, or of a named or nameless insurgent, and consider  
them to be lives wasted in a senseless war. The only way to stop  
deaths like these is to stop this war. I want this war to end.

The two policemen who died in Jammu happened to be lynched by the  
crowds on the streets of Jammu. They were not killed by militants in  
dense forests. The mob killed because it had a sense that it could  
act with impunity. They were not acting in self defence either. In  
this case, the mob was not retaliating for violence inflicted upon it.

See - http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/PoliticsNation/ 
Cops_lynched_rail_track_uprooted_in_Jammu/articleshow/3331088.cms

The report says - "Mobs in Jammu lynched two cops to death and  
uprooted a long stretch of the Jammu-Pathankote railway track."

One can compare militants with militants and crowds of protestors,  
with crowds of protestors

And when you do, you realize (if you are not wearing the kind of   
blinkers that make you think of some deaths as more important than  
others) the important difference that I was trying to point out  
between two kinds of 'peaceful protestors', and the responses to them  
by the state in Jammu, and in Kashmir.

Try and cultivate a less vicious sense of humour.

Shuddha


On 20-Sep-08, at 12:03 PM, Pawan Durani wrote:

> lol......funniest post ever.
> How soon we have forgotten Col. Thomas who was killed in Kashmir.  
> and then
> the statement  People in Kashmir threw stones, like angry crowds do
> everywhere in the world.
>
> lol........
>
> What an Idea Sirrr Jee.
>
> Pawan
>
>
>
> On Sat, Sep 20, 2008 at 1:53 AM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta  
> <shuddha at sarai.net>wrote:
>
>> Dear Radhika,
>>
>> Thank you for your observations on Khurram's posting.
>>
>> Well, in this case some  "protesters who claim to be peaceful,
>> holding sticks, guns and resort to arson and riot" were "garlanded."
>> I am referring to the ones in Jammu. You will recall, that not a
>> single policeman or soldier or paramilitary personnel were killed in
>> Kashmir. But two policemen did die in Jammu, and some truck drivers
>> assaulted by the 'peaceful' protestors in Jammu also succmbed, I
>> suppose in your opinion, "peacefully"  from their injuries. Gujjar
>> huts were burnt in acts of "peaceful" arson. The crowds in Kashmir
>> who were fired upon, 50 of whom were killed at the last count, did
>> not bear weapons. We all saw the television pictures. They threw
>> stones, like angry crowds do everywhere in the world. But they did
>> not kill policemen.
>>
>> The government did not garland these protestors, it clamped
>> indefinite curfews and shot at them to kill. One the other hand it
>> did garland the protestors on the other side of the Banihal pass. it
>> held some leaders under the Public Safety Act, and then released
>> them. It counducted 'negotiations' with the leaders of the peaceful
>> protests in Jammu and garlanded them with a sham 'accord'. All these
>> prove that if you happen to belong to the right place, sport the
>> right kind of name, then even if your 'peaceful' protest turns
>> occasionally violent, you can still be 'garlanded' as you (in this
>> case) rightly point out.
>>
>> After all, we live in the country whose government called its nuclear
>> weapons tests in 1974, 'peaceful implosions'.
>>
>> In the novel, '1984' George Orwell, whom I have referred to in an
>> earlier posting, wrote about how in the language perfected by
>> fictional regime that he was decribing, (newspeak) 'PEACE' was 'WAR'.
>>
>> are you not indulging in a little modest 'newspeak' Radhika, surely,
>> you can do better than that?
>>
>> warm regards
>>
>> Shuddha
>>
>> On 18-Sep-08, at 1:46 PM, radhikarajen at vsnl.net wrote:
>> Khurram,
>>
>>  your post makes me wonder, whether the protesters who claim to be
>> peaceful, holding sticks, guns and resort to arson and riot should be
>> garlanded. ?
>>
>>
>>
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net