[Reader-list] Azadi: The Only Way – Report from a Turbulent Few Hours in Delhi

[TaraPrakash]

"No provocative, secterian or hateful slogans were raised by the
majority of the people present."

It is a cleverly written sentence that you can't really deny. It is time for 
SASG to make right kind of noises. But since there is no denying that 
struggle in Kashmir is primarily Jihadi, there always are in the entourage 
who will raise slogans, that may not sound provocative, sectarian or 
offensive to the self styled spokes person for the self styled tallest 
leader of Kashmir, but to me they are. I heardthe coverage of this event on 
BBC. No need for excitement, it was BBC Hindi that covers local news from 
India. Whoever threw that shoe, or whatever object, on SASG or on whoever, 
did the biggest service to the event. Conspiracy theorists will claim it was 
done by one of "the majority" The event wouldn't get so much coverage as it 
did if that incident did not happen.
Coming back to the coverage on BBC, which is not Times Now or NDTV, it said 
slogans were raised in favor of "Islamic Republic of Kashmir" To a secular 
mind the conception of "free" Kashmir as Islamic Republic should be as 
offensive as India's conception as Hindu Rashtra. The correspondent on BBC 
said usual slogans associated with Kashmiri freedom movement were raised. My 
understanding is that he meant the secular slogan of Allah ho Akbar and the 
slogan denoting freedom "Kashmir banega Pakistan." But I understand the 
majority did not raise those ones. The majority in Kashmir doesn't raise 
them either.

Before the Indian government used very effective jammers, I could listen to 
Sada-e-Hurriyat, a radio station operated from some undisclosed location, 
and available on shortwave band. It used to be crude, out of tune songs and 
full of filthy language against "Hindu dogs". I used to enjoy sheer 
indecency that was not readily available at that time on Radio. Alla hoooo 
used to be usual refrain of the songs. The one I liked the most had a line 
that translated as: "we will cut the head of the worshipper of monkey."

We are being told that Kashmir "freeKashmir" will be truely free, even for 
those with different faith. But they don't seem to agree. Duplicity of 
Hurriyat can be ignored only by SASG's entourage.

Talking about terrorism in Kashmir, we were told in the below mail that 
there is no terrorism in Kashmir except ..." Looks like Jaish-e-Mohammed 
admited today from Pakistan that 2 of their operatives were "martyred" by 
Indian army. I don't think they were trying to spread the message of peace 
and harmony with Indians.

Moreover, one who says common Kashmiris are not terrorized by stone pelters 
and ultra nationalistic zealots is telling a plane lie. Keep the heat on, 
spread the message far and wide. Keep dreaming, but if you are banking on 
Obama, "free" Kashmir will never be in the US's interest . So they will 
never support it, making right kind of noise is a different issue.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shuddhabrata Sengupta" <shuddha at sarai.net>
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 6:21 PM
Subject: [Reader-list] Azadi: The Only Way – Report from a Turbulent Few 
Hours in Delhi


> (Apologies for Cross Posting on Kafila.org)
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> I was present and speaking a few hours ago at a meeting titled  ‘Azadi: 
> The Only Way’ on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir,  organized by the 
> Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners at  the Little Theatre 
> Group in Delhi yesterday (21st October). I was not  present from the 
> beginning of the meeting as I was traveling from  another city, but can 
> vouch for what occurred from around 4:30 pm  till the time that the 
> meeting wound up, well after 8:00 pm in the  evening.
>
> The meeting took place in the packed to capacity auditorium of the  Little 
> Theatre Group on Copernicus Marg at the heart of New Delhi.  Several 
> speakers, including the poet Varavara Rao, Prof. Mihir  Bhattacharya, 
> Sugata Bhadra, Gursharan Singh, G.N.Saibaba, Professor  Sheikh Showkat 
> Hussain of Srinagar University, the journalist Najeeb  Mubaraki, a 
> repesentative of the Naga Peoples Movement for Human  Rights and Justice, 
> the writer Arundhati Roy and myself spoke at the  meeting. (I may be 
> missing out some names, for which I apologize, but  I was not present for 
> a part of the meeting, at the very beginning)  The climax of the meeting 
> was a very substantive and significant  speech by Syed Ali Shah Geelani of 
> the Hurriyat Conference (G), which  spelt out the vision of liberation 
> (Azaadi) and Justice that Syed Ali  Shah Geelani held out before the 
> assembled public, of which I will  write in detail later in this text.
>
> The artist known as ‘Inder Salim’ originally from Kashmir, currently 
> living in Delhi, made an intervention by inviting the assembled  people to 
> take (with him) the stance of a masked stone pelter for a  brief, silent 
> moment. Students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University  sang a song, ‘Tu 
> Zinda Hai to Zindagi Ki Jeet Mein Yakeen Kar’  invoking the delights of 
> life and liberation. In conclusion, the  meeting adopted a resolution, 
> which was read, on behalf of the  Committee for the Release of Political 
> Prisoners, by Mihir Bhattacharya.
>
> The atmosphere, for the several hours that I was present, was  absolutely 
> electric. The vast majority of the audience was warm and  appreciative of 
> all the speakers. They were patient and respectful –  and despite grave 
> provocation from a section that identified  themselves as ‘Indian patriots’ 
> and partisans of the ‘Kashmir as  indivisible part of India’ position - 
> that repeatedly tried to  interrupt the meeting and heckle speakers, and 
> on one occasion even  tried to throw an object at the dias – did not stoop 
> to be provoked  by these pathetic attempts at disruption of a peaceful 
> gathering.
>
> No provocative, secterian or hateful slogans were raised by the  majority 
> of the people present. The only provocative posturing that I  witnessed 
> was undertaken by the self-declared Indian patriots, who  were not stopped 
> from having their say, but were requested simply not  to disrupt the 
> proceedings.
>
> When their behaviour crossed the limits of public decency, they were 
> escorted out of the premises by representatives of the Delhi Police.  The 
> Delhi Police, to their credit, did not act against the majority  of the 
> audience, simply because the majority of the audience  conducted 
> themselves in a completely civil and democratic manner.
>
> There was no attempt made at intimidation of any kind. Professor SAR 
> Geelani, who was conducting the proceedings on behalf of the  organizers – 
> Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners  (CRPP) , repeatedly 
> asked the people obstructing the speakers to  conduct themselves in a 
> cultured and dignified manner. His pleas were  disregarded by the section 
> of the crowd that let its ‘Indian  patriotism’ get the better of its 
> civilisation. When things got a  little too hot on occasion, the majority 
> of the audience present  simply drowned the rude remarks and indignant 
> posturing of the small  minority of self styled Indian patriots and 
> champions of the ‘Kashmir  as indivisible part of India’ position – in 
> wave after wave of  cheerful but firm hand clapping.
>
> While there as enthusiastic cheering and sloganeering from the  majority 
> of the young men and women assembled at the gathering, there  was no 
> attempt while I was present to give the slogans a religious or  secterian 
> colour. When Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that the people of  India and 
> Kashmir are tied together by the bonds of insaaniyat  (humanity), when he 
> quoted Gandhi, or spoke of the necessity of  conducting a non-violent 
> struggle that was devoid of hatred, or even  when he said that he wished 
> to see India rise as a great power in the  world, but as a power that felt 
> no need to oppress others, he was  wholeheartedly and sincerely applauded, 
> by the majority of people  present in the auditorium, regardless of 
> whether or not they were  Kashmiri.
>
> Yesterday’s meeting needs to be seen in the context of a momentum of 
> different events, which have included public meetings at Jantar  Mantar, 
> meetings in the Jawaharlal Nehru Universtiy and Delhi  University, film 
> screenings and talks, independently organized  exhibitions on the history 
> of Jammu and Kashmir in educational  institutions, photographic 
> exhibitions on the situation in Kashmir  today that have taken place 
> recently at the India Habitat Centre,  while Kashmir has reeled under the 
> brutality of the occupation that  has resulted in a hundred and eleven 
> deaths of unarmed or stone  pelting people, including children and 
> teenagers. The momentum of  this process, which recognizes the urgency of 
> the situation in  Kashmir, needs to be taken to its logical conclusion, 
> until the world  and the international community sits up and takes notice 
> of the true  nature of the hold of the Indian state on Kashmir and its 
> people.We  need many more such meetings and gatherings in Delhi, and 
> indeed in  every large city in India.
>
> It must be maintained so that even a Barack Hussein Obama, scheduled  to 
> visit New Delhi in November, is compelled to recognize the fact  that the 
> conduct of the Indian state in Kashmir, based as it is on  brutal violence 
> and intimidation, based as it is on a disregard of  every norm of the 
> conduct of civilized governance is unacceptable to  the world. You simply 
> cannot claim to be the world’s largest  democracy and preside over the 
> deaths of 70,000 people in twenty  years. You cannot claim to be judged as 
> a democracy and have laws  like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. You 
> cannot claim to be a  democracy and have your police and paramilitaries 
> beat children to  death openly on the streets, or rape and kill young 
> women with  impunity. A state that does so is an oppressive, immoral, 
> occupying  power, and needs to be resisted by every right thinking person 
> in the  world. The Indian state’s record in Kashmir over the past several 
> decades is not only an oppression visited on the people of Kashmir,  it is 
> an insult to the United Nations, to the world community, and to  every 
> principle of justice, fairness and democracy. It is an insult  to all the 
> peace loving and freedom loving citizens of India that do  not wish to see 
> oppression carried out in their name.
>
> This is the message that needs to go out, and is going out, not only  from 
> the streets of Sringar, Baramulla and Kupwara, but also from  gatherings, 
> such as yesterdays, from the heart of Delhi, the capital  of India. We, 
> who are the friends of liberty and justice in India,  need to stand 
> besides our Kashmiri brothers and sisters and say to  the world that we do 
> not accept the lies put out by the Indian state  and its apologists on 
> Kashmir. That is the true significance and  import of the process in which 
> yesterday’s meeting plays an important  part. This process will not stop 
> until the world takes notice. The  United Nations, and the broad 
> democratic currents as well as the  political leaderships of Europe, the 
> Americas, and of every  significant power in the world needs to know that 
> hundreds of people,  young and old, intellectuals, writers, activists, 
> lawyers, teachers  and others, Indians and Kashmiris can stand united, in 
> Delhi, at the  heart of the Indian Republic’s capital, in refusing to 
> accept the  continued occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, by India and by 
> Pakistan.  That they believe that it is only the people of Jammu and 
> Kashmir who  must decide for themselves their own future destiny, 
> peacefully, in a  climate free of coercion and intimidation.
>
> As Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Sheikh Showkat Hussain said, all that  they 
> are asking for is the right to self determination, promised by  India, 
> before the Untied Nations, to be freely enacted through a  plebiscite, in 
> conditions of peace and liberty, without the presence  of armed force, for 
> the inhabitants of every part of the undivided  state of Jammu and 
> Kashmir – regardless of whether the results of  that plebiscite are in 
> favour of India, Pakistan or an independent,  united, Jammu and Kashmir 
> that can live in peace with all its  neighbours in South Asia.
>
> There was a great diversity of statements and styles  present in  abundant 
> splendour at yesterday’s meeting. There was no way by which  the meeting 
> could be reduced or simplified a single monotonous  statement. Yes, all 
> the panelists, spoke unambiguously about the  necessity for ending the 
> military occupation by the Indian state in  Kashmir. This does not mean 
> that their statements and sentiments were  a manufactured and processed 
> uniformity. The people on the panel may  have significant political and 
> philosophical differences amongst  themselves, they may even think 
> differently about what ‘Azaadi’ might  mean, but this was a sign, not of 
> the weakness, but of the strength  and vitality of yesterday’s gathering.
>
> ‘Azaadi’ if and when it comes, will not be the parting gift of an 
> exhausted colonial power, it will be the harvest of the fruits of the 
> imaginations and intelligences of millions of people, of their  debates 
> and their conversations.
>
> What was extremely heart warming was the fact that each speaker spoke  of 
> the fact that the voices of the people of Kashmir are no longer  alone and 
> isolated, that there is a chorus of voices in different  parts of South 
> Asia that echo and endorese their desire for  liberation from a brutal 
> militarized occupation. From my notes of the  time that I was there, I 
> recall that the writer Arundhati Roy, while  endorsing the demand of 
> Azaadi for Kashmir, reminded the audience of  the need for the people of 
> Kashmir not to be selective about justice  and injustice, that they must 
> find methods to forge webs of  solidarity with all the suffering and 
> oppressed peoples of India. She  was heckled and rudely interrupted by a 
> small group of Indian  nationalists in the audience, who repeatedly raised 
> the situation of  Kashmiri Pandits, Arundhati Roy, when she was able to 
> resume  speaking, spoke unambiguously about the fact that she considered 
> the  situation of Kashmiri Pandits to be a tragedy. She was echoed in this 
> sentiment later by Syed Ali Shah Geelani who said that he personally 
> stands guarantee for the safety and security of all minorities,  Hindu, 
> Sikh, Buddhists, Christians and others in a future free  Kashmir. He 
> implored the Pandits to return to Kashmir, and said, that  they are an 
> integral part of Kashmiri society. He spoke of the need  for ensuring that 
> a free Kashmir was a just Kashmir, and that justice  meant that the 
> freedom, safety and security of all minorities, of  their property, their 
> places of worship, their freedom of conscience  be given the utmost 
> importance. He reminded the assembled people that  throughout these 
> turbulent months, the people of Kashmir have  continued to be hospitable 
> to Hindu pilgrims, have set up  ‘Langars’ (Kitchens) for them, and have 
> cared for them when they have  fallen sick, despite being at the receiving 
> end of the violence of  the Indian state.
>
> I spoke briefly, about the fact that I was proud that so many of us  had 
> gathered in my city, Delhi, putting aside the abstraction of our 
> politically determined, state given construct of citizenship, and 
> standing, here, now, on the grounds of a concrete human solidarity  with 
> the people of Kashmir. I spoke of the fact that there are  significant 
> voices, even in the mainstream media who have been  compelled to recognize 
> the urgency of the situation in Kashmir, by  the sheer determination of 
> the youth of Kashmir to get the news of  what is happening in Kashmir out 
> to the world. I spoke of the role  played by facebook sites like ‘Aalaw’ 
> and blogs, and the fact that  the people of India and the world can no 
> longer be kept in the dark  by a pliant media, as happened in 1989-90. I 
> spoke of the ways in  which the viral circulation of leaked videos of the 
> humiliation of  Kashmiri youth on facebook pages and online fora have 
> successfully  shown us what the reality of Kashmir is today. I urged media 
> professionals in the mainstream media to introspect and reflect on  the 
> role that they may be compelled, against their own professional  ehtics, 
> to play in the pyschological and propaganda war that the  Indian state is 
> currently conducting. I spoke of my sense of shame  and remorse at the 
> evasive and dissimulating role played by sections  of the mainstream media 
> in India while reporting (or not reporting)  atrocities that make even the 
> images from Abu Gharaib pale in  comparison.
>
> I am ashamed to say, that despite my respectful plea to the media to  play 
> a responsible role in their reportage of Kashmir related  matters, major 
> channels like Times Now and NDTV once again let the  truth down in their 
> reports on the days events. NDTV saw it fit to  simply report
>
> an incident of ‘shoe throwing at SAS Geelani’. A shoe (or some other 
> indeterminate object) was indeed thrown, but not at Geelani. It  landed on 
> a bottle of water in front of another speaker, while he was  speaking. So 
> let’s at least set that record straight. Arnab Goswami  of Times Now, 
> while conducting what he likes to call a ‘debate; on  the programme called 
> ‘News Hour’ (neither News, nor just an Hour)  repeatedly uttered 
> hysterical untruths, such as the presumption that  ‘No State permits the 
> advocacy of secession and self determination’  and that a meeting such as 
> the one I participated in yesterday, were  it to take place, say, in the 
> United States, would immediately lead  to all speakers present (including, 
> presumably, myself) in being  imprisoned on charges of sedition. I have to 
> inform my readers here,  that on both counts, Arnab Goswami is wrong. 
> Seriously wrong. Either  he is a misinformed idiot. Or he knows that he is 
> wrong, and is lying  to his public through his teeth. We can choose to be 
> generous about  how he would interpret his motives, and assume he is 
> simply a fool.
>
> Goswami, consequently demanded to know why we were not immediately 
> imprisoned under section 124 of the Indian penal code. Arnab Goswami 
> needs to be reminded, that in United States law, the provisions of  the 
> Sedition Act are applicable only in times when the country is in  a 
> declared state of war. And therefore his analogy does not apply, as  I am 
> not aware that the Indian republic is currently in a declared  state of 
> war, as per international law, (unless Arnab Goswami has  lost his marbles 
> to the extent that he confuses the shadow boxing  that he does on 
> television with a war declared by a state under  international law). That, 
> furthermore, the provisions of the US  Sedition Law have been declared 
> substantially void by the US Supreme  Court ruling in the Brandenberg vs. 
> Ohio (1969) judgement, and of  course, by the US Supreme court 
> guaranteeing the primacy of free  speech, including ‘seditious’ speech, 
> including the burning of the  United States flag, under the provisions of 
> the first amendment to  the US constitution.
>
> There have been repeated attempts made to pass a law that would make 
> ‘flag burning’ an offence under US Law. Fortunately, (for liberty and 
> free speech) as of now, these attempts have not come to pass, and 
> currently, under US Law it is perfectly legal to advocate self- 
> determination and secwssion, if done peacefully, even to the extent  of 
> burning or destroying or descerating symbols of state authority  like the 
> national flag. Furthermore several constiutions, such as the 
> constitutions of Canada, Ethipopia, Austria and France, implicitly or 
> explicitly, provide for a legal expression of right to self 
> determination, provided it is exercised in a peaceful and democratic 
> manner, as part of the freedom of expression principle.
>
> But the point that needs to be made is larger than whether or not  Arnab 
> Goswami is a fool and a charlatan. Yesterday’s meeting was a  historic 
> opportunity for his channel, and indeed for all of the  Indian mainstream 
> media, to report and take cognizance of the fact  that there is a 
> significant section of Indian public opinion that is  actually in favour 
> of ‘Azaadi’ in Kashmir. I am not suggesting that  this section constitutes 
> an overwhelming majority at present (that  might change) but, that it does 
> exist, and that it presents, cogent,  precise arguments, that cannot be 
> dismissed, (as is being done by  Times Now and its ilk) by invoking the 
> spectre of ‘terrorism’. There  is hardly any ‘terrorism’ in Kashmir today 
> (if we don’t count the  Indian state and its terror) . The 111 people who 
> have died in the  past months, have not died at the hands of non-state 
> insurgents, they  have died, unarmed, facing the bullets of the Indian 
> state. The  movement for Azaadi in Kashmir has left the culture of the gun 
> and  the grenade behind. It fights today without weapons, armed only with 
> courage. If there is a terrorist in Kashmir today, he wears the  uniform 
> of the forces of the Indian state, and carries the weapons  supplied by 
> the arsenal of the Indian state. To discount the voices  that rise in 
> dissent against this reality as ‘terrorist sympathizers’  as Arnab Goswami 
> has done on his channel is to insult reality.
>
> Syed Ali Shah Geelani spoke of the bonds of insaaniyat that tie the 
> peoples of Kashmir and India yesterday. I heard him say this. I was 
> barely five feet away from him. I heard him speak of his regard and 
> respect for the minorities in Jammu and Kashmir. I do not agree with  much 
> of what Geelani Saheb represents politically, or ideologically,  but I 
> have no hesitation in saying that what he said yesterday, was  surprising 
> for its gentleness, for its consideration, for its  moderation, even for 
> its liberality and open heartedness. This should  have been big news. That 
> Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that he wants to  see a strong and resurgent 
> India. I heard him say this. And was this  reported by anyone? NO. Was it 
> reported that he was cheered when he  said this ? NO. Was it reported that 
> no one had any thing angry to  say against the struggling peoples of 
> India?  NO. Was it reported  that SAS Geelani expilicity said that he is 
> NOT against dialogue,  provided that the five point formula put forward by 
> him (none of  whose provisions – 1. acceptance of the disputed nature of 
> the  territory of Jammu and Kashmir, 2. repeal of AFSPA and other black 
> laws, 3. release of political detenues and prisoners, 4. withdrawal  of 
> the disproportionate presence of the armed forces and 5.  punishment to 
> those gulty of taking life in the past few months –  require the 
> government of India to think ‘outside’ the framework of  the Indian 
> Constitution) are accepted as the basis of the dialogue? NO.
>
> Don’t you think that it makes BIG news that the tallest separatist  leader 
> in Jammu and Kashmir actually, in a moderate voice, spells  out, in Delhi, 
> the fundamental basis of a considered dialogue with  the Indian state, 
> while offering it a chance to do so on bases that  are absolutely 
> reasonable and sound, and honourable to all concerned?  Do you not think 
> that a responsible media organization would consider  this a scoop, a 
> major news stor?  But that is not what happened.
>
> Instead, Times Now, (and I am waiting for the morning newspapers to  see 
> how far this muck has spread) chose to focus on the deliberately  staged 
> disruption of a handful of agent provocateurs, our familiar  posse of self 
> styled patriotic champions of the continued occupation  of Kashmir, who 
> posed for the camera, hyperventilated, and occupied,  perhaps no more than 
> five percent of the attention of several patient  hours. If you saw the 
> news reports on Times Now’s ‘NEWSHOUR’  programme, you would have thought 
> that all of what happened was their  presence as a ‘protest’ against the 
> meeting. As someone who was  present through much of this, I am totally, 
> utterly aghast that a lie  of such magnificient proportions could be 
> dished out with such ease.  I am aghast that Aditya Raj Kaul who was one 
> of the panel invited by  Arnab Goswami to the Times Now Newshour show 
> could lie with a  straight face by saying that there was no attempt made 
> to ‘disrupt’  the meeting by those who were there to represent his point 
> of view.
>
> Someday, I hope that all of these people, the Arnab Goswamis of the 
> world, find reason to repent for continuing to keep the people of  India 
> and Kashmir in the dark. They had better think hard, because  the day when 
> they will have cause to repent, is not far. Azaadi will  come to Kashmir, 
> and with it, a glimmer of Azaadi will be the share  of those people in 
> India who stood by their Kashmiri friends, in  their darkest hour.Going by 
> what I witnessed yesterday, there will be  many such people, so Arnab 
> Goswami and his ilk had better start  practicing how to say sorry, several 
> hundred times a day.
>
>
>
> best,
>
>
>
> Shuddha
>
> ---------------------------------------------
>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
>
>
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