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

Wali Arifi waliarifi3 at gmail.com
Tue Sep 1 15:59:29 IST 2009 

Dear all,



The Indian Express report just mentions “gunmen” in the story. And gunmen in
Kashmir mean anybody holding a gun --- from state or non-state. It’s
appalling the champions of e-activism just pounce on anything that comes
their way, without even scrutinizing the reported facts.



How does Indian Express story only mean that militants have done it? Why
can’t be it army? Any paramilitary unit, or for that matter the police?
After all, they are also ‘gunmen’!



The point is when it comes to Kashmir everybody tends to stick to the
statist position and our e-warriors have mastered this art of twisting
semi-facts into suitable arguments to their fixated positions.



This incident, as reported by the principal, happens not more than two
kilometers from the nearest massive army camp. Police categorically rule out
any possibility of presence of armed six or seven militants in the area
where incident occurred. They say there are operational hazards for
militants to carry out such an action in the area as it has all the
possibility of “rendering huge sacrifice (in the form of lives) for
achieving a small goal (of enforcing dress code!).” The police officials say
the action defies logic, particularly in the current scenario when militants
are constantly on run and also have tremendously polished their operational
capabilities. They say there has been almost no sighting of more than three
militants in a group for last many years now for multiple reasons.



So who are these ‘gunmen’? Either the college principal is misleading or
they are gunmen from some state agency?



Kashmir has witnessed strange incidents related to morality post Shopian
rape and murder of two young women. In many strange incidents, which the
Indian mainstream press has conveniently ignored to report, the Mualvis and
respected elders in various areas have been humiliated and thrashed by
strange-looking gunmen. These incidents have particularly occurred in those
country side areas where anti-India protests have been more intense.



There have been concerted efforts to paint people in Kashmir as
"fundamentalists out there to malign" the central armed forces in whatever
they do. The fact is that many journalists who live on "information" fed to
them by the intelligence establishment have tried this even in Shopian in an
attempt to neutralize embarrassment to the state.



What is most appalling about this skewed and motivated e-activism in the
name of journalism is that the law that the state employs to violate a
people are never even commented upon let alone scrutinized. Media reportage
alone about a place like Kashmir should never be allowed to form opinions
and inform positions on disputed political entities. It is good to know the
ground than to exist in an orbit tied to a statist or nationalist string,
far removed from the center of gravity.



Best,

Wali


On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 12:07 PM, rashneek kher <rashneek at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear All,shuddha,
>
> I have never ever said that their havent been the Sufi's of highest order
> in
> Kashmir though I always have had my love for those who were born in Kashmir
> rather than the ones who came from elsewhere,Iran included.
> If a link to that needs to be provided I shall be glad to provide that as a
> support of my statement.
> But as far as spread of Islam is concerned I firmly maintain that Islam was
> spread in Kashmir through forcible means.Incidentally I am these days
> translating a Persian text called Tohfatul Ahbab by Shmasdin Araqi and it
> records with great pride how the so called sufi forcibly put an end to
> "infidel practices" like dance,festivities,singing and wine making.
> Here i how it is recorded
>
>
> *“He baton charged the dancing amd singing women,the musicians and the
> drumbeaters till they ran away.Wine and liquor assemblies had been set up
> around and he closed them down.Pitchers of wine were broken and in this way
> the black customs of the infidels were put an end to.All this was done on
> the day of the Spring Festival.The festivities were taking place at the
> foothills of the Hari Parbat.On the following day he ascended the  heights
> of Koh-i-Maran(Hari Parbat).Together all of them destroyed even the
> minutest
> remains of the idol house and scattered even the bits of the idols.”*
> So Shuddha while I have great regard and respect for ShamS Faqir,ahmed
> Batwari,Rahim saeb,Ahmed Dar,swoche kral, Ahad azad saeb,Wahab khar,Shah
> Gafoor ,Shah Kalandar,Samad Mir,Santosh and my Guru Ayub Betab and many
> such
> real great sufis I cannot by any means draw myself to accept what is not
> truth and truth that I know or have read from original texts myself
> thankfully.
> So let us stay in the realm of reality and accept truth as it is.
> With that hopefuly we can end this discussion
>
> I say to you
>
> Chalo ab shiddate narazgee mehdood karte hain
> chalo aut bhi aao,chalo main maan jaata hoon.
>
> Best Regards
>
> Rashneek
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net
> >wrote:
>
> > Dear all,
> > I did not find the names of Sikandar Butshikan and Syed Hamadani in the
> > sentence from my posting quoted so kindly by Rashneek Kher in support of
> his
> > argument.
> >
> > "It is necessary to remember that Kashmir is a part of South Asia where
> the
> > rise of Islam
> >
> > *did not accompany a military invasion, but occurred largely due to the
> > example set by missionaries and religious divines."*
> >
> >
> > If anyone does find them I would be grateful if they could help me locate
> > them.
> > Nor do i find it necessary to digress too far in pointing out that the
> > meaning of the word 'divines' as used here (indicating religious adepts)
> is
> > quite different from the sense of anything being 'divinely ordained' (or
> > commanded by god). Whosoever should wish to educate themselves on the
> > semantic distinction between these two instances of usage could consult a
> > standard dictionary of the English language. But let us leave that aside
> for
> > now.
> >
> > I find Rashneek's second assertion that 'even a kid in Kashmir' would
> know
> > that the process of bringing Islam to Kashmir was spearheaded by Sikandar
> > 'Butshikan' and Syed Hamadani entertaining. And this is where the meat of
> > his contention lies.
> >
> > Because, 'every kid' in Kashmir, and a few adults elsewhere, would also
> > know that these two names were not the only ones on whose backs Islam
> came
> > to Kashmir. Islam came to Kashmir from diverse sources, and if we do not
> > want to dissimulate, we must remember that some of these sources were
> > different from, and contrary to those represented by Sikandar 'Butshikan'
> > and even, Syed Hamadani. Some of these strains were distinctly heterodox,
> > for instance, Sheikh Yaqub of the Kubrawi order, also credited with the
> > spread of Islam in Kashmir, was often disparaged as a 'but-parast' (and
> idol
> > lover) and he in fact challenged the ulema of his time to find fault with
> > this finding truth in the altars of icons. The history of Islam in
> Kashmir,
> > as 'every child' knows, is a testament to its doctrinal diversity.
> >
> > How else do we account for figures like Bulbul Shah (who is said to have
> > carried out the first conversions) Sheikh Nooruddin Wali (or Nund Rishi -
> of
> > the entirely Kashmiri indigenous sufi order of the 'Rishis').  Apart from
> > the inflence of the entirely local 'Rishi' order, the rise of early Islam
> in
> > Kashmir was marked by the influences of the Nakshbandi, Suhrawardy, and
> > heterodox Qadiri and Kubrawi orders, besides several different strains of
> > Shia Islam, and of course the presence of canonical, orthodox Sunni
> Islam.
> > To say that this variety of beliefs and practices amounted to one thing
> is
> > to be totally oblivious to the enormous variety in the cultural and
> > religious landscape of early Islam in Kashmir
> >
> > Here, for instance is one of Nooruddin Wali/Nund Rishi's 'vaks'/
> > utterances. Incidentally, Nooruddin is affectionately referred to as the
> > 'Alamdar-e-Kashmir' or the 'standard bearer'. This is what he has to say.
> >
> > *"We belong to the same parents.
> > Then why this difference?
> > Let Hindus and Muslims(together)
> > Worship God alone.
> > We came to this world like partners.
> > We should have shared our joys
> > and sorrows together."
> > ***
> >
> > This was written in the explicit context of the persecution of non
> muslims
> > and dissenting muslims that Sheikh Nooruddin was witness to in the reign
> of
> > Sultan Sikandar and some of his immediate successors. This clearly
> > demonstrates that there were competing strains of tolerance and
> intolerance
> > within Islam in Kashmir. This is normal, it happens in the history of
> every
> > religious tradition in the world. To claim that intolerance alone marks
> the
> > history of any religious tradition, anywhere, is to pander to prejudice.
> >
> > The trouble is, I think that someone like Rashneek knows exactly what I
> am
> > talking about. He is not, in my opinion, unlike many others, a hysterical
> > bigot. He knows that the history of Islam in Kashmir is not marked by
> hatred
> > of other ways of life or intolerance alone, but, and this is what is most
> > disturbing, he still chooses to present a one-sided picture to score a
> cheap
> > polemical point. The knowing dissimulator, in my opinion. is far more
> > disturbing than the ignorant bigot.
> >
> > best
> >
> > Shuddha
> >
> > On 31-Aug-09, at 9:40 AM, rashneek kher wrote:
> >
> >  dear all,
> >
> > i just hope Shudda's gives the right links,however i dont think even this
> > forum can teach him that,otherwise he would have learnt it by now
> >
> > https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/2007-November/011033.html
> >
> > I will not let the readers have the trouble of clicking the link.Here is
> > what our friend Shuddha writes.
> >
> > *"It is necessary to remember that Kashmir is a part of South Asia where
> > the rise of Islam
> > did not accompany a military invasion, but occurred largely due to the
> > example set by missionaries and religious divines."*
> >
> > and who were these people who spearheaded the conversion of Kashmir or
>  let
> > us say "rise of islam"(even a kid in Kashmir will us these two
> > names-Butshikan and Syed hamdani),and what were the examples of these
> > "missionaries and religous divines"...
> >
> > Iconoclasm and imposition of "true" Sharia through all means...which are
> > enumerated here
> >
> > https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/2007-December/014758.html
> >
> >
> > So here we are.....Shudda's shoots himself in the foot again....
> >
> > Best Regards
> >
> > Rashneek
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta <
> shuddha at sarai.net
> > > wrote:
> >
> >>  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
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > Rashneek Kher
> > http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
> > http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com
> >
> >
> >  Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> > The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> > Raqs Media Collective
> > shuddha at sarai.net
> > www.sarai.net
> > www.raqsmediacollective.net
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
>  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/>
>

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