[Reader-list] Kashmir as Living Hell by Giogiana Violante

[TaraPrakash]

I think a response from a woman hurts macho Kashmiri nationalist a lot.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Aditya Raj Baul" <adityarajbaul at gmail.com>
To: "reader-list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 9:26 AM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Kashmir as Living Hell by Giogiana Violante


> If that means you're accusing me of being Shivam, you're wrong. I'm
> Aditya Raj Baul.
>
> On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 4:17 PM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>> Shivam .... I miss your name ....
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 3:57 PM, SJabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> And you, who cowers behind a false name are still free to judge me, my
>>> intentions and my deepest feelings, sir/madam.
>>>
>>> We are still unsure whether the 7 year-old was victim of a stampede or 
>>> was
>>> indeed brutally beaten. There are lots of people who gleefully dance on 
>>> the
>>> graves of 7 year olds and wait for the next victim so that they can howl
>>> with righteous anger. I condemn all 64 deaths of civilians whether they 
>>> were
>>> accidental or intentional but I am not about to join a hysterical chorus 
>>> to
>>> prove I stand on some moral high ground.
>>>
>>> On 31/08/10 1:57 PM, "Aditya Raj Baul" <adityarajbaul at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Perhaps she's dependent on cyber-cafes?
>>>
>>> Stuff like this doesn't move Sonia
>>>> Jabbar: "Last week a seven year old
>>> child was beaten to death. You cannot
>>>> accidentally beat a seven year
>>> old to death. It is not like a bullet that goes
>>>> astray. I cannot see
>>> how a stone thrown by a seven year old child can do
>>>> sufficient damage
>>> to any man to warrant his being beaten to death."
>>>
>>> You are
>>>> more concerned about blaming the strikes, protests and stone-pelting.
>>>
>>> You
>>>> show your true colours again and again, Ms Jabbar. You change them
>>> frequently
>>>> but the true colours come out pretty often.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 1:42 PM,
>>>> SJabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> This may come as a churlish response
>>>> to what is obviously an unfeigned cri
>>>> de coeur, but I find it difficult to
>>>> let it pass without comment.
>>>> With her very first sentence Ms. Violante
>>>> condemns herself to hyperbole. She
>>>> writes: " This is the first time in weeks
>>>> I have had access to the
>>>> internet."
>>>>
>>>> Why, where does she live? I have
>>>> been in touch with friends every single
>>>> day over the net and when I was in
>>>> Kashmir in the first week of August when
>>>> violence had peaked, there was no
>>>> question of being cut off from the rest of
>>>> the world.
>>>>
>>>> To suggest that
>>>> people are on the street because they are "famished
>>>> rioters," and that the
>>>> shutdowns over the past 2 months have nothing to do
>>>> with the hartaal
>>>> calendars and stone pelters and everything to do with
>>>> curfew is not even
>>>> something that those on the street demanding azadi would
>>>> declare.
>>>>
>>>> The
>>>> Indian army whom she accuses of all kinds of excesses these past 2
>>>> months
>>>> have held aloof from the present troubles. Not one of the 64 deaths
>>>> have
>>>> been ascribed to them, but to the J&K Police and the CRPF. Even a
>>>> Kashmiri
>>>> child knows the difference and if a foreigner doesn't, well, at
>>>> least she
>>>> can read the newspapers before attempting a hysterical analysis of
>>>> a
>>>> situation that needs no more hysteria.
>>>>
>>>> And 'Muslim' hospitality? As
>>>> opposed to 'Hindu' security forces?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 30/08/10 8:54 PM, "Shuddhabrata
>>>> Sengupta" <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Dear All,
>>>>
>>>> Here is an account of
>>>> daily life nowadays, in Srinagar, Kashmir,
>>>>>
>>>> through the eyes of a woman
>>>> student (a westerner) currently resident
>>>> in
>>>>> Kashmir University.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> best
>>>>
>>>> Shuddha
>>>>
>>>> -------------------------
>>>>
>>>> India¹s
>>>>> brutality has
>>>> turned Kashmir into a living
>>>>> hell
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> http://www.thecommentfactory.com/indias-brutality-has-turned-kashmir-
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> into-a-living-hell-3472/
>>>>
>>>> By Giogiana Violante
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> This is the first time
>>>> in
>>>>> weeks I have had access to the internet. I
>>>> have not been allowed to
>>>> receive
>>>>> or send text messages for three
>>>> months. Just like all Kashmiris
>>>> my telephone
>>>>> has been barred from
>>>> such contact. The local news channels
>>>> have been banned.
>>>>> India
>>>> controls everything here. And then kills it. The
>>>> situation is
>>>>>
>>>> horrific. Over these months of food rationing and persistent
>>>> curfew
>>>> whereby
>>>>> all is closed and the streets totally deserted in utter
>>>>
>>>> silence, suddenly a
>>>>> protest arises and then spreads throughout the
>>>> whole
>>>> city in a surge of
>>>>> frustrated and famished rioters shouting
>>>> ŒAZADI AZADI
>>>> AZADI¹ (freedom) until
>>>>> it dissipates suddenly into a
>>>> cacophony of
>>>> gunshots and clouds of
>>>>> teargas.
>>>>
>>>> I observe all this going on at a safe
>>>> remove of only one metre by a
>>>>>
>>>> big thick brick wall interrupted by the
>>>> Mevlana Rumi gate to Kashmir
>>>>>
>>>> University, where I am residing. I see
>>>> through the iron bars hordes
>>>> upon
>>>>> hordes of protesters being shot at
>>>> randomly, and I stand there
>>>> repellently
>>>>> incapable of doing anything. An
>>>> endless cycle of silence
>>>> and violence. The
>>>>> Indian army own total control
>>>> and freedom to shoot
>>>> at will, to shoot to
>>>>> kill, anyone whom they choose
>>>> to.
>>>>
>>>> Last week a seven year old child was beaten
>>>>> to death. You cannot
>>>>
>>>> accidentally beat a seven year old to death. It is not
>>>>> like a bullet
>>>> that
>>>> goes astray. I cannot see how a stone thrown by a seven
>>>>> year old
>>>> child
>>>> can do sufficient damage to any man to warrant his being
>>>>> beaten
>>>> to death.
>>>> Children in this part of the world are tiny. A seven-year-
>>>>>
>>>> old is the
>>>> size of a three year old westerner. So what kind of person
>>>> beats
>>>>> a tiny
>>>> child to death when his stone throw must carry so little
>>>> force that
>>>>> it
>>>> barely deserves a shrug? This is such a common
>>>> occurrence here.
>>>>
>>>> The
>>>>>
>>>> other day I left the university grounds to visit a professor only
>>>> one
>>>> minute
>>>>> away. True there is curfew but his house is in a private
>>>> road
>>>> attached to
>>>>> the university so I thought I would risk it. When I
>>>> returned
>>>> a roofless sumo
>>>>> vehicle full of ten Indian army thugs
>>>> laughing and
>>>> shouting came charging
>>>>> through the street waving their
>>>> batons and guns.
>>>> They headed for an old man
>>>>> and tried to hit him and
>>>> then they knocked a
>>>> 4-year-old boy off his
>>>>> tricycle. For fun. He was
>>>> only 50 centimetres
>>>> outside his house¹s garden so
>>>>> that hardly counts
>>>> as disobeying the curfew
>>>> and yet they charged at him on
>>>>> purpose. They
>>>> knocked him off the tricycle
>>>> and then headed for me, which as
>>>>> a
>>>> western woman I did not expect.
>>>>
>>>> I
>>>> am living here within the deserted
>>>>> university grounds, alone with
>>>> the
>>>> security guards and a few random
>>>>> professors and clerks. The
>>>> university
>>>> was evacuated three months ago when
>>>>> the troubles commenced
>>>> and the
>>>> students and school children all over the
>>>>> valley have
>>>> experienced, as
>>>> they always do, a great void in their
>>>>> education.
>>>>
>>>> The Indian army gun
>>>> down eleven-year-old girls banging on the
>>>>> doors
>>>> of pharmacists when it is
>>>> clear that their disobedience of the curfew
>>>>>
>>>> is purely out of desperation.
>>>> How can a full grown man gun down and
>>>> kill an
>>>>> eleven-yea- old girl
>>>> banging on a pharmacy door in an empty
>>>> street? A woman
>>>>> kneeling on the
>>>> pavement covering her face with her
>>>> hands had her hands
>>>>> beaten to a pulp
>>>> and they had to be amputated.
>>>> Two weeks ago, on a Friday, I
>>>>> heard the
>>>> usual impassioned pleads for
>>>> freedom hailing from Hazratbal
>>>>> Mosque, which
>>>> is just outside the
>>>> university. For an hour the calls of
>>>>> ŒAzadi¹
>>>> escalated and escalated
>>>> until suddenly I heard a spray of gunshots.
>>>>> The
>>>> shots continued
>>>> sporadically over the next hour. I later found out that
>>>>>
>>>> the mosque
>>>> was raided by the army and people were beaten severely. Some
>>>>>
>>>> died, of
>>>> course.
>>>>
>>>> The Indian army have the right and the freedom to
>>>> behave
>>>>> like this,
>>>> invading places of worship simply because of
>>>> impassioned calls
>>>>> for
>>>> freedom by a people who are being totally crushed
>>>> and obliterated.
>>>>>
>>>> This sort of thing happens every day. Total abuse of
>>>> power by the
>>>> occupying
>>>>> forces. But the people of Kashmir have no right
>>>> to
>>>> retaliate. Nor the
>>>>> freedom to even leave their homes. I cannot bear
>>>>
>>>> my complete and utter
>>>>> uselessness in this situation. As a rich
>>>> westerner
>>>> even I cannot get food.
>>>>> The other day myself and seven boys
>>>> shared two
>>>> carrots between us and a
>>>>> handful of rice.
>>>>
>>>> So how can these Kashmiris be
>>>> managing when they have not
>>>>> been able
>>>> to open their businesses for three
>>>> months? How can they even have
>>>>> the
>>>> money to afford food, even if there
>>>> WAS food to be had from
>>>> somewhere?
>>>>> You risk your life in order to get
>>>> food. How can you get
>>>> food without
>>>>> leaving home? Yesterday a young boy
>>>> working as a clerk
>>>> in the university
>>>>> showed me his mauled arms and the
>>>> gash in his
>>>> thigh. His arms were black and
>>>>> purple with crusted blood from
>>>> last
>>>> week. His legs were obscene. Flesh made
>>>>> hell.
>>>>
>>>> ŒI went to get
>>>> medicine¹ he said, Œand the army caught me¹. I smiled
>>>>>
>>>> and said, ŒOh you
>>>> people are always getting caught on the way to get
>>>>>
>>>> medicine. Rubbish it
>>>> was medicine. You went to get biscuits.¹
>>>>
>>>> ŒAren¹t
>>>>> biscuits medicine?¹ he
>>>> replied, smiling the same smile as mine.
>>>>
>>>> Lat week as I
>>>>> circled the
>>>> admittedly beautiful university grounds, a
>>>> forest of chinar
>>>>> trees and
>>>> endless rows of roses in full bloom,
>>>> moghul gardens outside every
>>>>>
>>>> department (Why are these gardens
>>>> perfectly tendered? Given the situation
>>>>>
>>>> outside how do these people
>>>> have the strength and hope to even care to
>>>> tend
>>>>> their gardens?
>>>> Everything here is death and hopelessness. I would
>>>> have
>>>>> expected the
>>>> gardens to have been left to run to desolation), I saw
>>>> a thin
>>>>> little
>>>> old man with a cotton bag full of lumps. Usually one
>>>> doesn¹t see
>>>>>
>>>> bags. Certainly not ones with lumps in them. Not in these
>>>> conditions.
>>>> My
>>>>> mind viciously wondered how he got the food? Who he got it
>>>> from?
>>>> Had he
>>>>> bribed one of the army pigs at the university gates? I
>>>>
>>>> suddenly realised I
>>>>> was frowning and in a very ugly-minded manner.
>>>> The
>>>> ugly things hunger does
>>>>> to a person¹s mind is shocking. His bag
>>>> was
>>>> probably full of dirty
>>>>> laundry.
>>>>
>>>> Sometimes someone will address me
>>>> angrily as I pass by, something
>>>>>
>>>> along the lines of:
>>>>
>>>> ³Hey you,
>>>> America! Why aren¹t you helping us? You do
>>>>> something.²
>>>>
>>>> ³What can I do?²
>>>> I reply, ³I¹m neither a politician nor a
>>>>> journalist.
>>>> I¹m just trapped
>>>> here like you.²
>>>>
>>>> ³But you¹re a Westener. You
>>>>> see how things are here. We
>>>> have been
>>>> living like this for twenty years.
>>>>> When you go back to your
>>>> country
>>>> you tell them. You ask them why they aren¹t
>>>>> helping us.²
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ³It¹s your own fault,² I reply. ³Why should we bother saving
>>>>> your
>>>> country
>>>> when its got no natural resources worth raping? All you¹ve
>>>>>
>>>> got is apples,
>>>> goats and saffron. You¹re doomed.²
>>>>
>>>> A few seconds of silence
>>>>> will be
>>>> followed by a warm invitation to
>>>> tea. Muslim hospitality. At this
>>>>> time
>>>> when every tea leaf is precious
>>>> these people will share even their last
>>>>>
>>>> few crumbs of powdered milk
>>>> with you. And you sit there sipping the tea
>>>>>
>>>> wondering how and where
>>>> they managed to procure it and how much it cost
>>>> them
>>>>> in beatings.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
>>>> The Sarai Programme at
>>>> CSDS
>>>> Raqs Media
>>>>> Collective
>>>> shuddha at sarai.net
>>>> www.sarai.net
>>>>
>>>> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _____
>>>>>
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>>
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