[Reader-list] From the Urdu press in Srinagar

[kamalhak at gmail.com]

Sonia,
I am reminded of an incident in 1990 of which I am a witness. During one of the frequent curfews those days, a group of us consisting of both Muslims and Pandits, were whiling away the time inside the closed shop a friend. All conversations those days in Kashmir centered around militancy and azadi. A muslim teacher in our group that day suggested Kashmiris must be grateful to Sheikh Abdullah for empowering the people through education. This education, he reasoned, had provided the people with an intellect to launch a movement for azadi. He further argued the struggle for azadi would be long and would require supreme sacrifices. Kashmiris should be prepared for any eventuality but the leadership must ensure education doesn't suffer for illiterates can't sustain any struggle.
Next day the teacher was forced  into hiding as his name was announced in the hit list of militants over the public address system of a local mosque.
Seems twenty years later nothing has changed in Kashmir.  

Kamal Hak 
Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

-----Original Message-----
From: SJabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
Sender: reader-list-bounces at sarai.net
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:13:47 
To: Sarai<reader-list at sarai.net>
Subject: [Reader-list] From the Urdu press in Srinagar

Hartal, freedom and future
Manzoor Anjum
By closing down all the schools, the leaders are pushing our next generation
into an abyss of

Whatever is happening in Kashmir these days, people may have different
explanations and descriptions for the same but fact of the matter is that
whatever it is, it is intense. The fires that have engulfed the entire
valley spread gradually. Life after life was lost and the fires of anger and
pain continued intensifying.
If all the developments of the three weeks are looked at in a sequential
manner, the results are shocking and surprising.
It seems there has been a pattern in whatever happened. To bring the
situation to the boil, every killing took place at appropriate time; every
protest was staged at appropriate time; every atrocity was committed at
appropriate time and every demonstration was held at an appropriate time.
And this could have not happened without a proper planning. But how is it
possible that two warring sides will have a joint strategy and planning.
Then why this pattern, a question that may long for answers for times to
come.
Fifteen precious lives were lost in two week¹s time. Who is responsible ­
armed forces; government; those who instigated people or; peoples¹ own anger
and emotions? There are no answers and intention too is not to look for
answers at this juncture. Important is to see what is happening next.
From three weeks life all over the Valley is paralysed. Sometimes it is the
government curfew that cripples life, sometimes the civil curfew announced
by separatists and imposed by stone pelters; Government relaxes curfew,
stone pelters are again on the roads, protests are staged and thus again
imposition of curfew and the deterioration continues unabated.
Both the factions of Hurriyat are eager to see the situation on boil. Both
factions are in a race to take credit for protests and demonstrations. On
the other hand, some angry youth are threatening leadership that if they
call off strike, they (youth) would hoist Congress flag at Jama Masjid,
Srinagar. Cowed down by such warnings, the leadership is trying to make it a
Œdo or die¹ situation. Dukhtran-e-Milat chief Asiya Andrabi threatens
parents against sending their children to schools. Massrat Alam of Hurriyat
(G) also tells people not to talk about education of children but to think
of the children who have made sacrifices.
One wonders how could a nation, whose leaders are so averse to knowledge and
education, dream of freedom. Knowledge is the power that makes humans
distinguish between freedom and slavery ­ good and evil. Uneducated,
illiterate and knowledge-less people can¹t have any appreciation for
freedom. They live in the abyss of ignorance where ideals like freedom,
dignity and honour have no relevance.
And here are the leaders who deliberately and intentionally want to push our
young generation into the abyss of ignorance and then have cheek to talk
about freedom. If these leaders are barring Kashmiri children from seeking
knowledge for some noble religious cause, let somebody tell them that it is
the knowledge only that helps humans to recognize and accept Allah.
It is unfortunate that the leadership is listening to the voices which are
too emotional, vocal and angry but fail to hear the voices of sanity and
logic, which are in majority but not as vocal and loud as those of groups of
emotional people.
Logic and reason fail to understand that how the unending strikes, that harm
none but Kashmiris alone, would force India out of Kashmir. How long will
the leadership go forcing the people to observe strikes and how long could
people survive remaining confined to four walls of their homes.
Those who threaten to hoist Congress party flag on Jama Masjid (if the
strike call is taken back) need to be told that it will make no difference
which flag they hoist where. One can¹t get freedom by hoisting flags of one
colour and neither can one defeat the aspirations of people by hoisting
flags of some other colour. What percentage of youth is on roads enforcing
hartal and civil curfew? And are those who don¹t join them not for
resolution of Kashmir? No, they too are for it but the only difference is
that the majority of the youth understand and appreciate that they can¹t get
freedom by pelting stones. They have to acquire knowledge and education so
that they know what freedom means and then strive for that the way civilized
people are supposed to do.
A few days back when curfew was relaxed in Srinagar areas, people thronged
markets. Life seemed back on tracks with shops open and traffic plying on
the roads. Suddenly groups of youth emerged on the scene. Stoned vehicles
and shops and enforced strike. Does that mean whatever is happening is
happening under pressure and people are not with the movement? No, that too
is not true.
People have made huge sacrifices for resolution of Kashmir issue and
therefore they can never be against the movement. But fact of the matter is
that people are able to think more rationally and logically than the
leadership. They understand that if the situation continues to be what it is
today, the movement will die once for all. They know that freedom is not
round the corner which could be reached out at by observing strikes for a
few days. And also, the strikes can¹t continue for months and years
together. People know that to sustain freedom struggle it is a must that our
children go to school and the situation remains normal. It is only in a
normal situation that a nation evolves in a positive direction.
Unfortunately we have a crop of leadership here for whom their own relevance
is more important than the broader struggle. To show that they matter and
they are heard, this crop of leadership is hell bent upon breaking the back
of the entire nation by imposing unabated restrictions. And interestingly
this crop of leadership is helped in furthering their agenda by the
government forces who too are obsessed with imposing restrictions.
On July 15, while on one hand the stone pelters were stoning vehicles in
Srinagar to impose civil curfew, armed forces did the same to enforce their
brand of restrictions. Armed forces are not allowing ailing people to reach
hospitals and same is done by stone pelting youth. Neither government is
having any sympathy for ordinary people and any respect for human rights nor
these angry youth. Caught in a Catch-22 situation, the common people have
become prisoners of the situation. They (people) have lost all hope in the
government; in separatist leadership and also in these youth whom they, at
one stage, viewed as messiahs.
The rich of the society have already send their children outside Kashmir for
pursuance of education and those who hadn¹t earlier are doing the same now.
But the people who can¹t afford to do so (and majority is of such people)
are seeing themselves caught between devil and deep sea. The bleak future of
their children stares right in their faces and they are watching helplessly.
When I was writing this column, Hurriyat (G) had issued a fresh calendar
asking people to resume normal life on Saturday (July 17) but just till 2
p.m. For rest of the days, again programme of strikes, agitation, sit-in and
protests has been given and coming Sunday has been exempted from strikes and
protests and people have been asked to do shopping on that day.
It seems that those who have issued this calendar are in possession of some
hidden treasure. They will protest for six days; not work and therefore not
earn anything and still come out on the seventh day and do shopping. To do
shopping, one needs money and to earn money, one needs to work. A worker
does work for at least eight hours a day and then earns around two hundred
bucks and in that money he can¹t even buy sufficient vegetables for his
family. Those who issue calendars seem unmindful of the armies of widows and
orphans who have to struggle to earn a square-meal. And when they are forced
to remain indoors for six days, wherefrom they will get money to shop on the
seventh day?
I have no hesitation in saying that more than freedom it is every individual
life that is important. We can have struggles, movements and revolutions
only when we are alive but Hurriyat calendar seems taking the entire nation
towards death. This calendar is a humiliation to the entire Kashmiri nation.
This calendar can¹t get freedom but just destruction.

The author is Editor of Daily Uqab and the article has been translated from
Urdu.
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