[Reader-list] Dangers of a PR machine

[Sanjay Kak]

There is surely a lesson in this story from Kashmir:
how suppression of something can lead to it's widest dissemination.
Best

Sanjay Kak


Masrat CD creates ripples:
Govt Circulates Transcript, Warns Against Publishing It

GK NEWS NETWORK
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2010/Jul/28/masrat-cd-creates-ripples-67.asp
Srinagar, July 27:
In a jittery move aimed at preventing the dissemination of the
contents of a compact disc of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader, Masrat Alam
urging the armed forces to join the ongoing “Quit Kashmir Campaign”,
the government Tuesday ‘by default’ facilitated wide circulation of
the CD’s transcript ‘with a warning against publishing the same.’
The District Magistrate Srinagar, Meraj Ahmad Kakroo, vide his letter
no: DMS/PS-Misc/10/827-31, addressed to Director Information
Department and also circulated to the press, said: “This office is in
receipt of a communication which reveals that Masrat Alam of
Tehreek-e-Hurriyat has circulated a video CD in which he is not only
trying to spread dissatisfaction among the security forces working in
J&K but is also asking the security personnel to Quit Jammu and
Kashmir. The transcript of the CD is enclosed.”
Curiously, DC Srinagar while asking the Director Information to “issue
instructions to the print and electronic media to desist from
printing/publishing the CD,” puts no such bar on the CD’s transcript
circulated by his office.
The transcript of the Masrat Alam’s CD (circulated by the District
Magistrate Srinagar), titled “Quit Jammu Kashmir” addressed to the
“armed forces” reads: “We appeal you to lend solidarity with the
people of Jammu and Kashmir for the state’s rightful
self-determination, and the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir
to be free. We call on your conscience to end the long chapter of
deception, tyranny and death. Your actions have killed 1,00,000,
disappeared 10,000 and orphaned 60,000.”
Interestingly, the one-page transcript has been forwarded to the
Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, Additional
Director General of Police, CID, J&K Srinagar, Divisional
Commissioner, Kashmir and Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar.
“You thought your violence would kill our dreams for freedom. They
have not. You thought our spirit would break; we would turn against
each other. We will not. You have succeeded in murder, but not in the
death of our dreams. Before more violence, before more sorrow, before
more graves, we ask you to stop,” the transcript read. “Ours is a rich
and resilient culture. We are proud people whose hospitality has
defined our history. We welcome guests, invited or uninvited, not
invaders. We understand your deception, your psychological warfare.
You will be tired of killing us; some day you might be horrified at
what you have done to humanity. We will never tire of struggling for
our history, for our future, our freedom. We will not forgive.”
Masarat said, “We are against terror and in solidarity with all who
oppose violence and repression. We seek truth, justice and freedom.”
Masrat, through the CD, called for civil disobedience against the
government.