[Reader-list] "leaderless protest"

[rashneek kher]

Dear Jeebesh,

The media has been so critical of Omar and rightly so.Now can we beleive a
man who seems completely at his wits ends.
Maybe it is leaderless as it happens in many cases that first a man leads a
movement and then a movement leads a man.

best regrds

rashneek

On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 12:19 PM, Jeebesh <jeebesh at sarai.net> wrote:

> dear Aditya,
>
> Recently Siddharth Varadarajan wrote an edit piece in Hindu. He writes -
> "Whatever his other failings, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah deserves praise
> for acknowledging that the protests which have rocked the Kashmir valley
> these past few weeks are ‘leaderless' and not the product of manipulation by
> some hidden individual or group."
>
> What do you have to say about this?
>
> warmly
> jeebesh
>
> http://www.hindu.com/2010/08/05/stories/2010080555331200.htm
>
> The only package Kashmir needs is justice
>
>
> Siddharth Varadarajan
>
> Whatever his other failings, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah deserves praise
> for acknowledging that the protests which have rocked the Kashmir valley
> these past few weeks are ‘leaderless' and not the product of manipulation by
> some hidden individual or group.
>
> This admission has been difficult for the authorities to make because its
> implications are unpleasant, perhaps even frightening. In security terms,
> the absence of a central nervous system means the expanding body of protest
> cannot be controlled by arresting individual leaders. And in political
> terms, the spectre of leaderless revolt makes the offer of ‘dialogue' or the
> naming of a ‘special envoy' for Kashmir — proposals which might have made
> sense last year or even last month — seem completely and utterly pointless
> today.
>
> Ever since the current phase of disturbances began, intelligence officials
> have been wasting precious time convincing the leadership and public of
> India that the protests are solely or mostly the handiwork of agent
> provocateurs. So we have been told of the role of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and
> ISI, of the ‘daily wage of Rs. 200' — and even narcotics — being given to
> stone pelters. A few weeks back, an audio recording of a supposedly
> incriminating telephone call was leaked to the media along with a misleading
> transcript suggesting the Geelani faction of the Hurriyat was behind the
> upsurge. Now, our TV channels have “learned” from their “sources” that the
> protests will continue till President Obama's visit in November.
>
> Central to this delusional narrative of manipulated protest is the idea
> that the disturbances are confined to just a few pockets in the valley. Last
> week, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters the problem was
> limited to Srinagar and two other towns. No doubt, some areas like downtown
> Srinagar, Sopore and Baramulla were in the ‘vanguard' but one of the reasons
> the protests spread was popular frustration over the way in which the
> authenticity of mass sentiment was being dismissed by the government. For
> the women who came on to the streets with their pots and pans and even
> stones, or the youths who set up spontaneous blood donation camps to help
> those injured in the demonstrations, this attempt to strip their protest of
> both legitimacy and agency was yet another provocation.
>
> In the face of this mass upsurge, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has two
> options. He can declare, like the party apparatchiks in Brecht's poem, that
> since the people have thrown away the confidence of the government, it is
> time for the government to dissolve the people and elect another. Or he can
> admit, without prevarication or equivocation, that his government has thrown
> away the confidence of the ordinary Kashmiri.
>
> This was not the way things looked in January 2009, when Omar Abdullah
> became chief minister. Assembly elections had gone off well. And though
> turnout in Srinagar and other towns was low, there was goodwill for the
> young leader. Of course, those who knew the state well had warned the Centre
> not to treat the election as an end in itself. The ‘masla-e-Kashmir'
> remained on the table and the people wanted it resolved. Unfortunately, the
> Centre failed to recognise this.
>
> It is too early to gauge the reaction to Mr. Abdullah's promise of a
> “political package” once normalcy is restored. But the people have thronged
> the streets are likely to ask why this package — which the chief minister
> himself admitted was “long in the pipeline” — was never delivered for all
> the months normalcy prevailed. What came in the way of amending the Armed
> Forces (Special Powers) Act? Of ensuring there was zero tolerance for human
> rights violations? Of strengthening the “ongoing peace process both
> internally and externally”, as the all-party meeting in Srinagar earlier
> this month reminded the Centre to do?
>
> At the heart of this missing package is the Centre's failure to craft a new
> security and political strategy for a situation where militancy no longer
> poses the threat it once did. The security forces in the valley continue to
> operate with an expansive mandate that is not commensurate with military
> necessity. Even if civilian deaths are less than before, the public's
> capacity to tolerate ‘collateral damage' when it is officially said that
> militancy has ended and normalcy has returned is also much less than before.
>
> The immediate trigger for the current phase of protests was the death of
> 17-year-old Tufail Mattoo, who was killed by a tear gas canister which
> struck his head during a protest in Srinagar in June against the Machhil
> fake encounter of April 30. Many observers have blamed his death — and the
> deaths of other young men since then — on the security forces lacking the
> training and means for non-lethal crowd control. Tear gas, rubber bullets
> and water cannon are used all over the world in situations where protests
> turn violent but in India, live ammunition seems to be the first and only
> line of defence. Even tear gas canisters are so poorly designed here that
> they lead to fatalities.
>
> Whatever the immediate cause, however, it is also safe to say that young
> Tufail died as a direct result of Machhil. Though the Army has arrested the
> soldiers responsible for the fake encounter, the only reason they had the
> nerve to commit such a heinous crime was because they were confident they
> would get away with it. And at the root of that confidence is Pathribal, the
> notorious fake encounter of 2000. The army officers involved in the
> kidnapping and murder of five Kashmiri civilians there continue to be at
> liberty despite being charge-sheeted by the CBI. The Ministry of Defence has
> refused to grant sanction for their prosecution and has taken the matter all
> the way to the Supreme Court in an effort to ensure its men do not face
> trial. What was the message that went out as a result?
>
> Had the Centre made an example of the rotten apples that have spoiled the
> reputation of the Army instead of protecting them all these years, the
> Machhil encounter might never have happened. Tufail would not be dead and
> angry mobs would not be attacking police stations and government buildings.
> Impunity for the few has directly endangered the lives of all policemen and
> paramilitary personnel stationed in Kashmir. There is a lesson in this,
> surely, for those who say punishing the guilty will lower the morale of the
> security forces.
>
> Mr. Abdullah may not be the best administrator but his biggest handicap as
> chief minister has been the Centre's refusal to address the ordinary
> Kashmiri's concerns about the over-securitsation of the state. Today, when
> he is being forced to induct an even greater number of troops into the
> valley, the Chief Minister's ability to push for a political package built
> around demilitarisation is close to zero.
>
> At the Centre's urging, Mr. Abdullah made a televised speech to his people.
> His words do not appear to have made any difference. Nor could they, when
> the crisis staring us in the face is of national and international
> proportions. Today, the burden of our past sins in Kashmir has come crashing
> down like hailstones. Precious time is being frittered in thinking of ways
> to turn the clock back. Sending in more forces to shoot more protesters,
> changing the chief minister, imposing Governor's Rule — all of these are
> part of the reliquary of failed statecraft. We are where we are because
> these policies never worked.
>
> The Prime Minister can forget about the Commonwealth Games, AfPak and other
> issues. Kashmir is where his leadership is urgently required. The Indian
> state successfully overcame the challenge posed by terrorism and militancy.
> But a people in ferment cannot be dealt with the same way. Manmohan Singh
> must take bold steps to demonstrate his willingness to address the
> grievances of ordinary Kashmiris. He should not insult their sentiments by
> talking of economic packages, roundtable conferences and all-party talks. He
> should unreservedly express regret for the deaths that have occurred these
> past few weeks. He should admit, in frankness and humility, the Indian
> state's failure to deliver justice all these years. And he should ask the
> people of Kashmir for a chance to make amends. There is still no guarantee
> the lava of public anger which is flowing will cool. But if he doesn't make
> an all-out effort to create some political space today, there is no telling
> where the next eruption in the valley will take us.
>
> Corrections and Clarifications
>
> Safi A. Rizvi, Officer on Special Duty to the Union Home Minister P.
> Chidambaram, writes in response to Siddharth Varadarajan's article “The only
> package Kashmir needs is justice” (Editorial page, August 5, 2010) that a
> sentence in the fourth paragraph, “Last week, Union Home Minister P.
> Chidambaram told reporters the problem was limited to Srinagar and two other
> towns,” is inaccurate. The transcript of the media briefing on July 30, 2010
> reads as follows: “I do not agree with you that the writ of the separatists
> is running. Yes, in Srinagar and perhaps in some other towns they are able
> to mobilise support, urge people to indulge in stone pelting and are able to
> call bandhs. According to the J&K Government, there are many parts of the
> valley which are quite normal … The most aggressive activity is in Srinagar
> and few other towns.”
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-- 
Rashneek Kher
http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com