[Reader-list] In Valley, gunmen take to moral policing: ‘enforce hijab in college’

Sun Aug 30 11:07:28 IST 2009

Dear All,

Rashneek says  -  "there is a history on this network here is a  
history on this
> network where people have called barbarians like Sikander Butshikan  
> and Syed
> mohd.Hamdani divinely ordained dervishes and incidentally these are  
> people
> who claim to have Marxist if not Moaist ideologies."

This is a very interesting statement. I am not a Maoist (I consider  
Maoism to be yet another variety of degenerate third worldist  
nationalism - ) but I am persuaded by critical strains within  
Marxism, (among other things) and have never concealed that fact.  I  
also happen to have mentioned Sikandar 'Butshikan' and Hamadani in  
one of my set of postings -

https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/2007-November/011030.html
Annotations to the History of Iconoclasm in Kashmir -	I (posted on  
November 9, 2007) written, incidentally in response to Rashneek  
Kher's postings on the subject of iconoclasm.

I have trawled through the Reader List archives, and the only  
reference to Hamadani that I could find made by anyone who could even  
remotely be described as a 'Marxist' (even by a stretch of  
imagination) occurs in this posting. So, I take it, that the gesture  
is made in my general direction. Hence this clarification.

Nowhere in this posting do I deny that either Sikandar 'Butshikan' or  
Hamadani were not in fact iconoclasts. I merely make the point that  
the history of iconoclasm in Kashmir does not have a solely 'Islamic'  
provenance. And that just as there were many non-muslim iconcolastic  
rulers in pre-Islamicate Kashmir, there were also several muslim  
rulers in Kashmir who protected non-muslim places of worship.

More importantly, never, in any posting, have I characterized either  
Sikandar 'Butshikan' or Hamadani as 'divinely ordained dervishes'.  
Shah Sikandar is a king, and that is how I have described him, and  
Hamadani is a religious leader, which is exactly what I have called  
him. Neither of these two descriptions amounts to what it means when  
one says 'divinely ordained'. For that to obtain, I would have first  
of all to believe in the notion of a 'divnity' which I don't. And  
secondly, believe that such a 'divinity' ordains the destruction of  
architecture and images, which, logically, following from the first,  
i don't either. I have viewed all acts of iconoclasm in the history  
of Kashmir, regardless of who caused them to occur, as acts of  
violence. And have never said any thing that can be read to the  
contrary.

I think, yet again, Rashneek, in his haste to score a weak point, has  
been a little too generous in his interpretation of the textual  
substance of the archive of this list. As always, I would urge him,  
and everyone else to buttress their easily brandished opinions with a  
modicum of evidence. The point I made about Nadeem Paracha's loosely  
articulated polemic against Roy, which inititated this exchange,  
seems, to me to be strengthened by this. I do however, remain  
hopeful, that this list will eventually teach Rashneek to be more  
careful with his words.

best

Shuddha

I
On 28-Aug-09, at 12:40 PM, rashneek kher wrote:

> Dear Anupam,
>
> Well I am not confusing anything with anything.There is a history  
> on this
> network where people have called barbarians like Sikander Butshikan  
> and Syed
> mohd.Hamdani divinely ordained dervishes and incidentally these are  
> people
> who claim to have Marxist if not Moaist ideologies.
>
> Thanks
>
> Rashneek
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 12:07 PM, anupam chakravartty  
> <c.anupam at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Dear Rashneek,
>> "They would cleanse the society by imposing purity on the  
>> inhabitants and
>> the sly shadows of Mao would cheer them and call them dervishes oops
>> divinely ordained dervishes."
>>
>> I think you are confusing Talibanisation with Marxism and Maoism.  
>> If the
>> so-called "armed" gunmen threatened the college principal, as the  
>> reports
>> stated, to which he opposed and said:  "he would not be cowed by  
>> the threat
>> and would continue to do his work at the college" and also the  
>> fact he is a
>> specialist in greatest Islamic revivalist of our times, Sayyid  
>> Qutb (who
>> the
>> neo-liberal sorts think that because of his criticism of the  
>> American way
>> of
>> life has helped in shaping of al-qaeda) then there is an inherent
>> contradiction in your claims about dervishes. here we have someone  
>> who is
>> specialist, who is opposed to imposition of hijab. i think i would
>> appreciate the principal's stand.
>> - thanks
>> anupam
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 9:26 AM, rashneek kher  
>> <rashneek at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>> A story done by Indian Express on the Islamist Icons(Robin Hoods  
>>> of our
>>> friends) imposing Hijab and threating Prinicipals of Colleges by  
>>> burning
>>> their cars.
>>> How I wonder would Taliban control the land that once infidelds  
>>> lived
>>> in.They would cleanse the society by imposing purity on the  
>>> inhabitants
>> and
>>> the sly shadows of Mao would cheer them and call them dervishes oops
>>> divinely ordained dervishes.Their divine powers derived from  
>>> mediveal
>>> obscrutanist religiou practices-soon flogging,killing in football  
>>> grounds
>>> and burning of girls schools would be the order of day.And our  
>>> Marxist
>>> demi-icons would sing paeans to the piety of the new age dervishes.
>>> It may also be worthwhile to mention that the leaders of the "azadi"
>> today
>>> have done exactly this when they "were a part of the armed  
>>> struggle".For
>>> the
>>> proponents of jihad and their supporters...from Riyaz Wani
>>>
>>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>  In Valley, gunmen take to moral policing: ‘enforce hijab in  
>>> college’
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  In the first such incident in the Valley since the decline of  
>>> militancy
>>> started two years ago, masked gunmen waylaid the principal of a  
>>> North
>>> Kashmir college, destroyed his car, and gave him a three-day  
>>> ultimatum to
>>> ensure the 3,000 girl students in his institution began wearing the
>> hijab.
>>>
>>>  The principal, Muhammad Ashraf, a respected Islamic scholar,  
>>> told The
>>> Indian Express today that he would not be cowed by the threat and  
>>> would
>>> continue to do his work at the college.
>>>
>>>  Ashraf said seven men stopped his car — in which he was riding  
>>> with his
>>> son
>>> and a local acquaintance — near his village at Dangiwacha, and
>> commandeered
>>> the vehicle over a dirt track into a thicket of bushes. “They  
>>> wore masks
>>> and
>>> dark glasses and were heavily armed with Kalashnikovs, pistols and
>>> grenades,” Ashraf said.
>>>
>>>  According to the principal, the men appeared to know a lot about  
>>> him:
>> that
>>> he was a specialist on Sayyid Qutb — the Egyptian Islamist political
>>> theorist and leading intellectual of the Muslim Brotherhood in  
>>> the 50s
>> and
>>> 60s who is thought to be one of the philosophical progenitors of  
>>> Al Qaeda
>> —
>>> and that he had been trying to enforce discipline in his college.
>>>
>>> “You have taken some really good steps in the college like banning
>> smoking
>>> and cellphones. Now, you must do something that we want you to do.
>> Enforce
>>> an Islamic dress code for girl students,” Ashraf said the men  
>>> told him.
>>> They
>>> gave him three days to carry out their diktat, failing which they  
>>> would
>>> “act”, they said.
>>>
>>> Ashraf’s college, Degree College, Sopore, has around 7,000  
>>> students on
>> its
>>> rolls, 3,000 of whom are girls. It is among the largest colleges  
>>> in the
>>> state.
>>>
>>> “They told me that they had picked me to send a message to all other
>>> schools
>>> and colleges in the Valley in which girls study,” Ashraf said.
>>>
>>> Perhaps to rattle the principal and send the message that they meant
>>> business, the gunmen set his vehicle on fire. Ashraf and his  
>>> companions
>>> were
>>> released after about two hours in captivity.
>>>
>>> The Dangiwacha police have filed a case, and are looking at all  
>>> angles,
>>> including one unrelated to militancy. “We are exploring the possible
>>> dimension of college rivalry,” said a senior officer who did not  
>>> want to
>> be
>>> named.
>>>
>>> No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the incident. The
>>> separatists too have been silent, and are perhaps trying to  
>>> ascertain if
>>> militant groups were involved.
>>>
>>> Senior Superintendent of Police Viplav Kumar said a hunt was on  
>>> for the
>>> gunmen. “We are trying our best. Hopefully, we will crack the  
>>> case soon,”
>>> he
>>> said.
>>>
>>>
>> http://www.indianexpress.com/news/in-valley-gunmen-take-to-moral- 
>> policing-enforce-hijab-in-college/507208/0
>>>
>>> best
>>>
>>> --
>>> Rashneek Kher
>>> http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
>>> http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com
>>> _________________________________________
>>> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>>> Critiques & Collaborations
>>> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
>>> subscribe in the subject header.
>>> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
>>> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>> _________________________________________
>> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>> Critiques & Collaborations
>> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
>> subscribe in the subject header.
>> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
>> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Rashneek Kher
> http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
> http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with  
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>

Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net