Sajjad suggests the obvious
(Mr. Sajjad Bazaz, 45, was born in Srinagar. He attended the Khalsa high school and the Sri Pratap College in Srinagar. He received his bachelor's degree in Media and his master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University of Kashmir. Mr. Bazaz has over two decades of experience in journalism (both print & electronic), and he is author of the book "Bankwatch" which is about a financial scenario with particular reference to the J&K state. He is currently incharge of corporate communications department in a leaduing financial instution in J&K. Mr. Bazaz likes to spend leisure time watching movies and enjoying company of his friends.)
Revamp education system
When compared to other states, J&K State is considered as educationally backward in reference to the established indices - literacy rate, teacher pupil ratio, dropout rate and the absorption pattern of the educated persons. The most disturbing features are low literacy rate, higher drop-out rate, mismatch between education and employment. In our state education is avowedly free up to the university level. But this is partially true mainly in the autonomous institutions and establishments of the State Government.
When we talk of literacy rate, J&K state emerges as a disappointment on this front when compared with other states of India. However, merely being literate does not mean education by it self. Education necessitates a number of other things also such as vocabulary; perception; information; efficiency in using modern tools of information technology; set standards of excellence in acquiring knowledge and proficiency in dissemination of information. It also demands impartial and highest standards of examination; global and common standards of syllabi at every level of education; regular periodic exchange of ideas and activities through multiple levels of mutual collaboration among educational institutions, people and community and effective involvement of educators, researchers and students in policy making and implementation etc. But in our education system, we don’t find any regard to these requirements.
In this perspective, not even one per cent of our population is educated at all! That is why in the J&K education system, competence, merit, efficiency, talent, qualifications and expertise are of little consequence in the State. There is a parallel system of underground degree, diploma and certificate acquisition system having a price tag.
Our state is making all out attempt to rush headlong toward economic success and modernization. Unfortunately, it is the weak higher education sector which constitutes the Achilles' Heel. In higher education in recent years, we have neither produced world-class research nor very many highly trained scholars, scientists or managers. It is because we have failed to provide access to students at the bottom of the academic system. At the same time we don’t have research-based universities or educational institutions that are able to compete with the world's best institutions. Thus we lack the abilities to position ourselves for leadership in the knowledge-based economies of the coming era.
In the 21st century knowledge race, we have some significant advantages, like a large higher education sector, use of English as a primary language of higher education and research and a long academic tradition. We have a small number of high quality institutions, departments, and centres that can form the basis of quality sector in higher education. The fact that the state government exercises major responsibility for higher education creates a rather cumbersome structure, but the system allows for a variety of policies and approaches. Yet the weaknesses far outweigh the strengths.
We have a system where accountability lacks, which means that teaching and research performance is seldom measured. Hardly we find a system, which provides incentives to performers. Nonetheless, with an impression of normality, the system makes the faculty to provide teaching, conduct examinations and award degrees.
We don’t have field of higher education research. Our academic institutions and systems have become large and complex. We have survived with an increasingly average higher education system. Now as we strive to compete in a globalised economy in areas that require highly trained professionals, the quality of higher education becomes increasingly important and cannot be overlooked.
Precisely, we can attribute all this mess in our education system to the education policy, which is a disappointment. Simply, it is not a good policy. Most of our educationists and academics know this fact but are shy to accept it publicly. The government may not agree with this, but fact is always a fact. Anyways, Who is right? It needs a serious attempt to answer this question because the quality of an education policy has deep and wide-ranging implications including the ability of the state to compete for investments, generate jobs, raise productivity and create the wealth to increase the standard of living of the state subjects.
To stem the rot, there is need to redraft the education policy of the state. The government should identify a quality group constituting leading educationists even from other states which have success stories in education sector. These should include experts in teaching, research, educational planning, educational administration, educational financing, educational philosophy and primary, secondary, higher and vocational education. The experts should come from a cross-section of society and each expert identified should have a national, or better yet, an international standing in his or her field. Such standing can be confirmed by generally accepted criteria like publications, citations and membership of international societies.
Let the new policy be given to these identified experts with a summary statement of the objectives, which the government hopes to achieve through its implementation, and the resources it is willing to commit to the implementation. The government should subject the policy to an independent and objective test. In fact, given the dearth of independent policy institutes and think tanks in the State, it would be an ideal role for media here to pioneer such critical reviews and evaluations of the proposed policy prescriptions with far reaching implications for the welfare of whole nation.
Redrafting of the education policy and blending it with the current scenario is a must because J&K while competing in a global scenario and is progressively falling behind. We must understand that the policies on issues such as education, industry, agriculture, etc. will have a crucial impact on our competitiveness and welfare.
There is no excuse for a policy proposal to be based on poor problem analysis, have incoherent objectives and to prescribe unrealistic solutions. There should be not political interference in the educational field. However, Government priority should always be to promote the education system. It is now the time to demonstrate good intentions.
Introduction to KashmirForum.org Blog
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Putting Community Interests Above Personal Politics
Tanvir seems to have momentarily lost his senses to suggest even for a moment that Kashmiris can rise above petty politics
(Mr. Tanvir Sadiq, 31, was born in Srinagar and attended the Burn Hall School. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Information technology and management from Orissa University. He is the youngest Municipal Corporator of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) and was elected from Zadibal Constituency. He has contributed regularly to local newspapers like the Kashmir Times, Kashmir Images, Greater Kashmir, and Kashmir Monitor. He was associated with many programs on Disaster Management of J & K and did a couple of programs on highlighting urban poverty. He hopes to be a candidate in the upcoming State Assembly election in 2008 on the National Conference platform from Zadibal assembly constituency. His interest are writing and social work.)
Joining Hands
Many of my eloquent, well versed, and knowledgeable critics have varied opinions on some of the issues that I discuss in my opinion articles. Most readers are able to read that feedback on my blog, but sadly they are unable to read the numerous emails that I receive continually which contain excellent counter arguments to the issues that I raise in my articles. Recently, I have been writing about the ways in which we all can leave aside our petty differences and give the current government a helping hand to steer Kashmir toward the path of prosperity. Of all the great feedback that I receive, the one type of comment that stands out from the rest is where the writers feel that it has all along been India's policy to keep Kashmir underdeveloped for their own strategic reasons, and that all efforts to change our crumbling economy and unemployment are futile. I will argue here that regardless of what have been the circumstances in the past, we owe it to the newly elected government to give them a chance for the sake of our beloved Kashmir.
The reason that the new government deserves a chance is that although we may have disparate political views, I hope our motives converge on the desire to see a Kashmir with low unemployment, world-class infrastructure, and a reasonably high standard of living. It is without doubt going to be next to impossible for the government to move forward if all the people of Kashmir do not share this dream. This includes people who voted against the present government, and those who chose to stay away from the polls. Omar Abdullah in his NDTV award function said if I don’t do a job well there are people who will tell me that I have done a lousy job and hasn’t he at numerous occasions promised that lending him a helping hand to accomplish all these ambitious targets will not be a vote to shelf the Kashmir issue.
I write this knowing well that half the emails that I receive will accuse me of being an epitome of sycophancy. Accepting criticism is part of being involved in public life, and therefore I accept praises as well as brick-bats with open arms. At the same time, I promise them that no amount of negative feedback will scare me away from speaking what I believe is in the best interest of Kashmir.
Therefore, I strongly believe that it is in the best interest of Kashmir to hold back our conspiracy theories about the purported Indian policy of keeping Kashmir perpetually in the dark ages and that because of this imaginary Indian policy, Kashmiris are destined to live a life of servitude under India. I am sure these sort of statements will not stop the progress of Omar's plans, but they do distract from the main topic at hand. Instead, we should be concentrating on brainstorming all possible alternate routes in reaching our goal of bringing Kashmir back to the 21st century, and then picking the most feasible way forward. I am aware the preceding sentence seemed very hypothetical but what I mean is that I might suggest a path which involves bringing in experts from holland to teach us everything there is to know about starting greenhouses in Kashmir to jumpstart the greenhouse industry on a large scale, someone else might suggest something altogether different such as investing our time and effort in handing out loans to youth to start small scale units or any other viable idea. After debating the pros and cons of all these alternate routes that we could possibly take, we might agree on the best way forward. In all honesty I would be willing to debate these sort of issues for as long as it takes rather than debating whether a purported Indian policy exists to always keep Kashmir as a servile dependency.
I have repeatedly emphasized that the only reason I am in politics is my desire to see Kashmir at par with other great cities in the world. What defeats my understanding is that why is it that these cities seem to have many of the similar problems that Kashmir faces and yet we seem to fare much worse than them. Granted, the security scenario is a big hindrance but I have yet to find an answer as to what the security scenario has to do with modernizing our drainage system. I will not bore you all with details on how the drainage system is the vascular system of any city, including Srinagar, upon which other important issues facing Kashmir depends such as cleanliness of the Dal Lake and general hygiene of all areas. Therefore, my point is that for all these years and with thousands of crores worth of assistance from the central government why is it that our main artery of the drainage has not been completed yet. Apart from the possible answer of rampant corruption, the only other answer to this is that the common people are not involved.
In my personal experience whilst dealing with project completion, I have felt that involving people who will be affected with any particular development project in their area makes a huge difference. I accomplished this by discussing the project details with them and seeking their input about the final decision. This way people realized they had ownership of the lane, park, street-lights etc that was being built in their mohallas. The reason is that people realize they are the ultimate owners of any public property and the government is just the caretaker. Similarly, the government should involve the general public by hearing their suggestions and concerns regarding any major development project in Kashmir. In this way, the public knows the 'grand plan' and keeps the contractors and engineers on their toes if the public witnesses any laxity or deviation from the plan. In contrast, many people in Srinagar are unaware of the major development projects planned for the city.
This final statement brings me back to the original point that we should all keep our differences aside and work together for the development of Kashmir. Every one of us should be involved in the development of Kashmir. I respect all political views including those held by the separatists. But, prescribing to disparate views should not be a hindrance for all of us joining hands for the benefit of all Kashmiris. Developing our infrastructure, revitalizing our economy to help ease unemployment, and increasing everyone's standard of living - these should be the goals that we should all cooperate to achieve regardless of our political views
(Mr. Tanvir Sadiq, 31, was born in Srinagar and attended the Burn Hall School. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Information technology and management from Orissa University. He is the youngest Municipal Corporator of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) and was elected from Zadibal Constituency. He has contributed regularly to local newspapers like the Kashmir Times, Kashmir Images, Greater Kashmir, and Kashmir Monitor. He was associated with many programs on Disaster Management of J & K and did a couple of programs on highlighting urban poverty. He hopes to be a candidate in the upcoming State Assembly election in 2008 on the National Conference platform from Zadibal assembly constituency. His interest are writing and social work.)
Joining Hands
Many of my eloquent, well versed, and knowledgeable critics have varied opinions on some of the issues that I discuss in my opinion articles. Most readers are able to read that feedback on my blog, but sadly they are unable to read the numerous emails that I receive continually which contain excellent counter arguments to the issues that I raise in my articles. Recently, I have been writing about the ways in which we all can leave aside our petty differences and give the current government a helping hand to steer Kashmir toward the path of prosperity. Of all the great feedback that I receive, the one type of comment that stands out from the rest is where the writers feel that it has all along been India's policy to keep Kashmir underdeveloped for their own strategic reasons, and that all efforts to change our crumbling economy and unemployment are futile. I will argue here that regardless of what have been the circumstances in the past, we owe it to the newly elected government to give them a chance for the sake of our beloved Kashmir.
The reason that the new government deserves a chance is that although we may have disparate political views, I hope our motives converge on the desire to see a Kashmir with low unemployment, world-class infrastructure, and a reasonably high standard of living. It is without doubt going to be next to impossible for the government to move forward if all the people of Kashmir do not share this dream. This includes people who voted against the present government, and those who chose to stay away from the polls. Omar Abdullah in his NDTV award function said if I don’t do a job well there are people who will tell me that I have done a lousy job and hasn’t he at numerous occasions promised that lending him a helping hand to accomplish all these ambitious targets will not be a vote to shelf the Kashmir issue.
I write this knowing well that half the emails that I receive will accuse me of being an epitome of sycophancy. Accepting criticism is part of being involved in public life, and therefore I accept praises as well as brick-bats with open arms. At the same time, I promise them that no amount of negative feedback will scare me away from speaking what I believe is in the best interest of Kashmir.
Therefore, I strongly believe that it is in the best interest of Kashmir to hold back our conspiracy theories about the purported Indian policy of keeping Kashmir perpetually in the dark ages and that because of this imaginary Indian policy, Kashmiris are destined to live a life of servitude under India. I am sure these sort of statements will not stop the progress of Omar's plans, but they do distract from the main topic at hand. Instead, we should be concentrating on brainstorming all possible alternate routes in reaching our goal of bringing Kashmir back to the 21st century, and then picking the most feasible way forward. I am aware the preceding sentence seemed very hypothetical but what I mean is that I might suggest a path which involves bringing in experts from holland to teach us everything there is to know about starting greenhouses in Kashmir to jumpstart the greenhouse industry on a large scale, someone else might suggest something altogether different such as investing our time and effort in handing out loans to youth to start small scale units or any other viable idea. After debating the pros and cons of all these alternate routes that we could possibly take, we might agree on the best way forward. In all honesty I would be willing to debate these sort of issues for as long as it takes rather than debating whether a purported Indian policy exists to always keep Kashmir as a servile dependency.
I have repeatedly emphasized that the only reason I am in politics is my desire to see Kashmir at par with other great cities in the world. What defeats my understanding is that why is it that these cities seem to have many of the similar problems that Kashmir faces and yet we seem to fare much worse than them. Granted, the security scenario is a big hindrance but I have yet to find an answer as to what the security scenario has to do with modernizing our drainage system. I will not bore you all with details on how the drainage system is the vascular system of any city, including Srinagar, upon which other important issues facing Kashmir depends such as cleanliness of the Dal Lake and general hygiene of all areas. Therefore, my point is that for all these years and with thousands of crores worth of assistance from the central government why is it that our main artery of the drainage has not been completed yet. Apart from the possible answer of rampant corruption, the only other answer to this is that the common people are not involved.
In my personal experience whilst dealing with project completion, I have felt that involving people who will be affected with any particular development project in their area makes a huge difference. I accomplished this by discussing the project details with them and seeking their input about the final decision. This way people realized they had ownership of the lane, park, street-lights etc that was being built in their mohallas. The reason is that people realize they are the ultimate owners of any public property and the government is just the caretaker. Similarly, the government should involve the general public by hearing their suggestions and concerns regarding any major development project in Kashmir. In this way, the public knows the 'grand plan' and keeps the contractors and engineers on their toes if the public witnesses any laxity or deviation from the plan. In contrast, many people in Srinagar are unaware of the major development projects planned for the city.
This final statement brings me back to the original point that we should all keep our differences aside and work together for the development of Kashmir. Every one of us should be involved in the development of Kashmir. I respect all political views including those held by the separatists. But, prescribing to disparate views should not be a hindrance for all of us joining hands for the benefit of all Kashmiris. Developing our infrastructure, revitalizing our economy to help ease unemployment, and increasing everyone's standard of living - these should be the goals that we should all cooperate to achieve regardless of our political views
Uneducational Experience
Riyaz says that the education system is rotting and the rotten eggs cannot be hatched
(Mr. Riyaz Masroor, 37, was born and raised in Srinagar. He is a Srinagar based journalist who writes in English, Urdu and kashmiri. Besides working in the local press, his articles have appeared on BBC Radio online, Himal Southasia and the Journal of International Federation of Journalists.)
We all failed in class 10
Failure is the most disturbing outcome of human actions. But, interestingly, the societies such as ours tend to respond differently at individual and collective levels. This fact was clearly borne out during the just declared results of class 10 examinations.
Given our accepted standards 62 percent is a comforting pass ratio but we were face to face with the reality of 38 percent failures. And those failures triggered different responses. At the individual level, the tender hearted girl, Fancy, of South Kashmir’s economically downtrodden Verinag reacted by gulping down a full vial of poison that killed her instantly. At the collective level, we screamed in newspapers and slammed the government teachers. This collective response grew shriller by the silly quick fix solution of deducting salaries of the ‘erring’ teachers.
Compare these two responses – the one of Fancy and that of Director School education. Fancy’s act may seem an awkward response yet it was an honest admission of failure upon which the individual tends to deliver justice by looking inward, fixing blame upon oneself and hanging the erring self. Now look at the government, which in this case is represented by the Directorate of Education. It hurled an announcement that the teachers who did not deliver would have to face salary cut against the failure they faced. This one is sheer reaction, there is no honest admission. Fancy’s death should make the trumpeters of such theories hang their head in shame.
Indeed the private schools fared better. But, who should be held accountable for the dismal performance of our government schools, which have 79.38 percent (2007-08 figures) share in J&K’s elementary education. Teacher? Fancy? New Delhi? Or the power-drunk elite that runs the system. Our teaching community has certainly fallen pray to easygoing, sloth and Chalta hai mentality that not just stunts their personal growth but also harms the fundamental objective of imparting elementary education. However the state cannot escape its share of responsibilities. Teacher will have to be accountable and liable for failures but at elementary level, which means within the four walls of a particular school, under an administrative authority. When the Directorate of Education has to wait for the results to shock it into a clumsy response like “we will deduct their salaries” it is enough proof that something is patently wrong in the system.
There is a huge debate within management circles on whether the worker runs the system or the system makes the worker act successfully. Without falling pray to the chicken-and- egg story, one should safely conclude that in the modern public administration paradigm it’s the system as a whole that is credited for successes and, therefore, it should not shy away from taking the blame for the failures.
According to the central government data J&K has a total of 20789 schools of which 16502 are government schools and 4287 schools are run by private bodies. Though we are not too behind Kerala, India’s literacy hub, that has just 5087 private schools, Kerala’s private schools make for 58.84 percent share in state education, highest in India. J&K’s private schools contribute just 20.62 percent share in the total education profile but interestingly when it comes to pass-ratio these schools make for over 50 percent share. Calling for privatization of education would be a knee-jerk response but the need to rationalize the system is what government should think upon seriously.
Apart from the statistical plethora cranked out every year, there are other causes due to which our education system is continuously failing us. Passing the buck on to the lesser mortals such as a teacher, shows the incapacity of the system. Isn’t it a fact that little over one lakh teachers of J&K had all along been a sort of auxiliary workforce who bailout government when it comes to bigger social responsibilities such as health campaigns, elections etc? Why cannot government outsource these campaigns as is done by some other state governments? And in case of Kashmir, teaching community has been so much trivialized that it has almost lost the reputation it once enjoyed among the society. Visit any educational institute where a minister or some other VIP would be slated to speak and you will see highly qualified teachers mostly female ones arraying the crockery. Moreover, most of the energies of our teachers go waste while organizing cultural functions upon which the VIPs comment unwisely: “This is the sign of peace and normalcy.” In a state that had been hit by violence, when the education system is used as a tool to portray normalcy it is common logic that the system becomes defacto part of the counter insurgency. Should we expect miracles from such a system?
Take another example. The recruitment of teachers is so devoid of a purpose or policy that the poor unemployed youth view it as a shortcut to earn wages and the politicians treat it as a tool to ‘buy’ political support. In short, it is teacher list versus voter list!
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah may boast of “education bonanza” for Kashmir in the form of IIM and polytechnics. But the moot question is this: Even if those pending proposals are given a go ahead, has the system enough capacity to put those institutions to productive use?
Mr Omar Abdullah better think afresh on, at least, secondary and higher secondary level Education. Let there be an Education Commission comprising people who can better reassess the system and prescribe remedies. Report on Common School System Commission of Bihar can be a good example to draw inspiration from. This commission should formulate a concrete and rational policy about imparting elementary education. It would prepare a blueprint of capacity building mechanism for education; promoting B Ed colleges has become more of a mafia now though there are exceptions.
When the state has appropriate capacity building infrastructure, a fixed criteria could be set about who should apply for the post of teacher and what are the academic requirements for a teacher to ask for promotion. The commission may recommend ‘depoliticizing’ and ‘debureaucratizing’ the education system by proposing a common regulatory authority like University Grants Commission. These are faint ideas; the civil society should build upon them further. And those wanting to shout down the poor teacher should know: Fancy of Verinag alone did not fail, we all failed together; the State, the people as well as the underpaid teacher.
(Mr. Riyaz Masroor, 37, was born and raised in Srinagar. He is a Srinagar based journalist who writes in English, Urdu and kashmiri. Besides working in the local press, his articles have appeared on BBC Radio online, Himal Southasia and the Journal of International Federation of Journalists.)
We all failed in class 10
Failure is the most disturbing outcome of human actions. But, interestingly, the societies such as ours tend to respond differently at individual and collective levels. This fact was clearly borne out during the just declared results of class 10 examinations.
Given our accepted standards 62 percent is a comforting pass ratio but we were face to face with the reality of 38 percent failures. And those failures triggered different responses. At the individual level, the tender hearted girl, Fancy, of South Kashmir’s economically downtrodden Verinag reacted by gulping down a full vial of poison that killed her instantly. At the collective level, we screamed in newspapers and slammed the government teachers. This collective response grew shriller by the silly quick fix solution of deducting salaries of the ‘erring’ teachers.
Compare these two responses – the one of Fancy and that of Director School education. Fancy’s act may seem an awkward response yet it was an honest admission of failure upon which the individual tends to deliver justice by looking inward, fixing blame upon oneself and hanging the erring self. Now look at the government, which in this case is represented by the Directorate of Education. It hurled an announcement that the teachers who did not deliver would have to face salary cut against the failure they faced. This one is sheer reaction, there is no honest admission. Fancy’s death should make the trumpeters of such theories hang their head in shame.
Indeed the private schools fared better. But, who should be held accountable for the dismal performance of our government schools, which have 79.38 percent (2007-08 figures) share in J&K’s elementary education. Teacher? Fancy? New Delhi? Or the power-drunk elite that runs the system. Our teaching community has certainly fallen pray to easygoing, sloth and Chalta hai mentality that not just stunts their personal growth but also harms the fundamental objective of imparting elementary education. However the state cannot escape its share of responsibilities. Teacher will have to be accountable and liable for failures but at elementary level, which means within the four walls of a particular school, under an administrative authority. When the Directorate of Education has to wait for the results to shock it into a clumsy response like “we will deduct their salaries” it is enough proof that something is patently wrong in the system.
There is a huge debate within management circles on whether the worker runs the system or the system makes the worker act successfully. Without falling pray to the chicken-and- egg story, one should safely conclude that in the modern public administration paradigm it’s the system as a whole that is credited for successes and, therefore, it should not shy away from taking the blame for the failures.
According to the central government data J&K has a total of 20789 schools of which 16502 are government schools and 4287 schools are run by private bodies. Though we are not too behind Kerala, India’s literacy hub, that has just 5087 private schools, Kerala’s private schools make for 58.84 percent share in state education, highest in India. J&K’s private schools contribute just 20.62 percent share in the total education profile but interestingly when it comes to pass-ratio these schools make for over 50 percent share. Calling for privatization of education would be a knee-jerk response but the need to rationalize the system is what government should think upon seriously.
Apart from the statistical plethora cranked out every year, there are other causes due to which our education system is continuously failing us. Passing the buck on to the lesser mortals such as a teacher, shows the incapacity of the system. Isn’t it a fact that little over one lakh teachers of J&K had all along been a sort of auxiliary workforce who bailout government when it comes to bigger social responsibilities such as health campaigns, elections etc? Why cannot government outsource these campaigns as is done by some other state governments? And in case of Kashmir, teaching community has been so much trivialized that it has almost lost the reputation it once enjoyed among the society. Visit any educational institute where a minister or some other VIP would be slated to speak and you will see highly qualified teachers mostly female ones arraying the crockery. Moreover, most of the energies of our teachers go waste while organizing cultural functions upon which the VIPs comment unwisely: “This is the sign of peace and normalcy.” In a state that had been hit by violence, when the education system is used as a tool to portray normalcy it is common logic that the system becomes defacto part of the counter insurgency. Should we expect miracles from such a system?
Take another example. The recruitment of teachers is so devoid of a purpose or policy that the poor unemployed youth view it as a shortcut to earn wages and the politicians treat it as a tool to ‘buy’ political support. In short, it is teacher list versus voter list!
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah may boast of “education bonanza” for Kashmir in the form of IIM and polytechnics. But the moot question is this: Even if those pending proposals are given a go ahead, has the system enough capacity to put those institutions to productive use?
Mr Omar Abdullah better think afresh on, at least, secondary and higher secondary level Education. Let there be an Education Commission comprising people who can better reassess the system and prescribe remedies. Report on Common School System Commission of Bihar can be a good example to draw inspiration from. This commission should formulate a concrete and rational policy about imparting elementary education. It would prepare a blueprint of capacity building mechanism for education; promoting B Ed colleges has become more of a mafia now though there are exceptions.
When the state has appropriate capacity building infrastructure, a fixed criteria could be set about who should apply for the post of teacher and what are the academic requirements for a teacher to ask for promotion. The commission may recommend ‘depoliticizing’ and ‘debureaucratizing’ the education system by proposing a common regulatory authority like University Grants Commission. These are faint ideas; the civil society should build upon them further. And those wanting to shout down the poor teacher should know: Fancy of Verinag alone did not fail, we all failed together; the State, the people as well as the underpaid teacher.
Srinagar in Decay
An objective report in the Kashmir Observer unfolds an inconvenient truth
Srinagar In Decay
The trouble with traveling the sanitized route from Gupkar Road to the secretariat via the Boulevard every day is that one begins to harbour notions about the rest of the city being built on the same grand scale. This comfortable, scenic journey blinds our rulers to the harsher civic realties of Srinagar, lulling them into a cozy frame of mind where everything is supposed to be ship-shape and Bristol fashion. And if you happen to be among the lucky few residing in the green zone girdling Cheshma Shahi – as many of our top bureaucrats are – nothing could be more heavenly than the state’s summer capital.
An illuminating exercise, on the other hand, would be to take a detour up the handy Shankaracharya hillock and look down across the expanse of the city stretching from the now-squalid shores of the Dal Lake. The trip is particularly recommended in winter when trees have shed their foliage, laying the city bare in its stark ugliness. The view is quiet disconcerting, to say the least, as it encompasses the grotesque results of six decades of civic development.
It is a wonder that no leader of the ruling class has ever been struck by the progressive decay gripping Srinagar for decades in the total absence of an overall blueprint and vision of how the city should develop and spread. There appears to be no code governing new construction in the already congested parts of the city – which is most of it – and unmindful residents merrily build whatever they want wherever they want regardless of its impact on the look of the city. The plethora of government departments, including the top heavy Srinagar Municipal Corporation, plays no role whatsoever in defining a philosophy of development, and guiding people in adhering to it.
In the absence of a central authority that would have defined the form and content of construction in the city, and enforced the code, Srinagar has turned into an architectural nightmare, with neither rhyme nor reason in the monstrosities that go for its buildings. Even the rare tracts that began as planned projects have gone down the decrepit lane as even the purely residential areas have turned into a commercial mess.
Successive governments in the state have totally relinquished control over the use of land for construction, resulting in the mushrooming of unplanned colonies that at best resemble squalid slums with no planned layout, narrow, winding alleyways for roads, and residential buildings that have been put up without any architectural merit. This systematic defacing of the city landscape has taken place when every building in the municipal limits requires a permission, an exercise now exclusively serving as a money-minting machine for the officials concerned.
For the years the city municipality has functioned as a corporation with a full complement of expensively elected and maintained corporators, it has not made a single mention of the awry growth of Srinagar, but only served to multiply its ills by a blind adherence to past practices, mostly harmful. It has not even made a pretense at arresting the growth of ugliness in city architecture by putting its droves of engineers to some constructive use. All it has done is to move from crisis to crisis, failing even in the basic task of disposing off garbage.
For a city that boasts of being the capital of the paradise on earth, Srinagar has turned into a veritable hell, a sprawling hovel that tourists from any part of the world would only want to enter to see a living, breathing disaster. Let us, for the moment, keep aside the horrors of the interior city and the squalor of the new residential colonies, but concentrate on the showpiece that Residency Road was meant to be. That should be sufficient to indicate the scale of the vandalism that had been wrought on the city everywhere.
Despotic, autocratic rulers appear to have a far more enlightened idea of how a city centre should look like, and in laying out the Residency Road, with its –till then – broad avenues and parks, had created an idiom for the so called democratic governments to follow. But within a span of a few years, the deliberately low-rise buildings lining the mall have been crowded out by multi-storied monstrosities crammed against each other, robbing the once scenic area of its aura of space, serenity and openness. If planners give such a misshapen interpretation of development and progress, there is no hope whatsoever for Srinagar to recover from the decades of abuse.
Amidst the Srinagar Municipal Corporation’s utterly dismal showing on the garbage disposal front come reports of yet another triumph in dereliction of duty – legally designated residential enclaves are to be declared commercial areas in abject capitulation before galloping violations of the famed Srinagar Master Plan.
The distinction between purely residential and commercial areas had already become blurred due to unregulated sprouting of business outlets in zones meant exclusively for habitation. The unchecked shopping complex syndrome which has been allowed to straddle the city indiscriminately has turned Srinagar into a vast market place with no demarcation of business and private zones. Markets are taking over even the few enclaves specifically planned as exclusive residential zones. And the commercialization of other residential areas, which do not enjoy the luxury of being designated as such, has overturned the very basic character of the once quiet and peaceful localities.
Every city worth the name has maintained clearly demarcated business districts to spare residential areas the unwelcome intrusion of commercial activity. Even in the case of New Delhi, that appeared to have lost the battle with indiscriminate commercialization, a turnaround has been witnessed with the government putting its foot down and upholding the sanctity of residential areas by a series of strict measures. Centralized and localized shopping malls, closing down of commercial spaces in residential areas and other such steps have restored a semblance of sanity to Delhi.
But how do the bright sparks of Srinagar respond to the city’s crisis? By simply caving in to the fait accompli. Sparing themselves the headache of thinking out a Srinagar-specific way out, our illustrious rulers take the shortcut of a legal artifice: let us solve the problem by one stroke of the pen and declare the mongrelized residential areas as commercial zones.
The turmoil of the past years is often cited as the reason for the many ills plaguing government functioning, but no attempt is made to explain the booming commercial sector which has put such tremendous pressure on civic infrastructure. Taking a differential element for analysis, the case of Lal Chowk could prove particularly illuminating. This commercial hub of the city had begun showing unmistakable signs of saturation over two decades ago. But civic and government agencies have responded by choosing not to act. The message from Lal Chowk was clear – the demand for commercial space was growing at an incredible pace, and what was happening in the heart of the city would definitely be replicated in other parts of Srinagar. One of the several possible ways to address the need would have been to plan a satellite commercial district, even a series of them, that could absorb the overflow from Lal Chowk and other major markets of the city. The top-heavy and ugly construction in the city’s markets and the resulting intractable congestion, not to speak of traffic flow disasters, could have been avoided by the admittedly cost-intensive, but in the long run, cheaper, alternative of developing segregated, exclusively commercial zones. The daily needs of residential areas can always be met by planned and centralized shopping arcades or malls that would leave the peace of these zones largely undisturbed.
True, city planning cannot be carried out in isolated segments, but has to be a holistic exercise including social, economic and other factors. But that is precisely what the bloated officialdom of the state is being paid for. But, instead of applying its mind to the pressing issues, the ruling class and its complicit bureaucracy is content with merely going through the motions of administration.
Kashmir has had a singular set of rulers whose frequent jaunts outside and abroad have left them totally untouched and innocent of any desire to learn or be influenced by successful civic models elsewhere. Not a single ruler has ever voiced even the feeble wish of developing Srinagar on sane, practical and environmentally-sound lines. While the city is literally gasping for survival, all it gets as treatment is inaction on the bureaucratic front in the face of runaway commercialization and civic failure, and grandiose schemes on the rulers’ front like golf courses and tulip gardens -a classic case of asking a bread-starved people to eat cake.
Srinagar In Decay
The trouble with traveling the sanitized route from Gupkar Road to the secretariat via the Boulevard every day is that one begins to harbour notions about the rest of the city being built on the same grand scale. This comfortable, scenic journey blinds our rulers to the harsher civic realties of Srinagar, lulling them into a cozy frame of mind where everything is supposed to be ship-shape and Bristol fashion. And if you happen to be among the lucky few residing in the green zone girdling Cheshma Shahi – as many of our top bureaucrats are – nothing could be more heavenly than the state’s summer capital.
An illuminating exercise, on the other hand, would be to take a detour up the handy Shankaracharya hillock and look down across the expanse of the city stretching from the now-squalid shores of the Dal Lake. The trip is particularly recommended in winter when trees have shed their foliage, laying the city bare in its stark ugliness. The view is quiet disconcerting, to say the least, as it encompasses the grotesque results of six decades of civic development.
It is a wonder that no leader of the ruling class has ever been struck by the progressive decay gripping Srinagar for decades in the total absence of an overall blueprint and vision of how the city should develop and spread. There appears to be no code governing new construction in the already congested parts of the city – which is most of it – and unmindful residents merrily build whatever they want wherever they want regardless of its impact on the look of the city. The plethora of government departments, including the top heavy Srinagar Municipal Corporation, plays no role whatsoever in defining a philosophy of development, and guiding people in adhering to it.
In the absence of a central authority that would have defined the form and content of construction in the city, and enforced the code, Srinagar has turned into an architectural nightmare, with neither rhyme nor reason in the monstrosities that go for its buildings. Even the rare tracts that began as planned projects have gone down the decrepit lane as even the purely residential areas have turned into a commercial mess.
Successive governments in the state have totally relinquished control over the use of land for construction, resulting in the mushrooming of unplanned colonies that at best resemble squalid slums with no planned layout, narrow, winding alleyways for roads, and residential buildings that have been put up without any architectural merit. This systematic defacing of the city landscape has taken place when every building in the municipal limits requires a permission, an exercise now exclusively serving as a money-minting machine for the officials concerned.
For the years the city municipality has functioned as a corporation with a full complement of expensively elected and maintained corporators, it has not made a single mention of the awry growth of Srinagar, but only served to multiply its ills by a blind adherence to past practices, mostly harmful. It has not even made a pretense at arresting the growth of ugliness in city architecture by putting its droves of engineers to some constructive use. All it has done is to move from crisis to crisis, failing even in the basic task of disposing off garbage.
For a city that boasts of being the capital of the paradise on earth, Srinagar has turned into a veritable hell, a sprawling hovel that tourists from any part of the world would only want to enter to see a living, breathing disaster. Let us, for the moment, keep aside the horrors of the interior city and the squalor of the new residential colonies, but concentrate on the showpiece that Residency Road was meant to be. That should be sufficient to indicate the scale of the vandalism that had been wrought on the city everywhere.
Despotic, autocratic rulers appear to have a far more enlightened idea of how a city centre should look like, and in laying out the Residency Road, with its –till then – broad avenues and parks, had created an idiom for the so called democratic governments to follow. But within a span of a few years, the deliberately low-rise buildings lining the mall have been crowded out by multi-storied monstrosities crammed against each other, robbing the once scenic area of its aura of space, serenity and openness. If planners give such a misshapen interpretation of development and progress, there is no hope whatsoever for Srinagar to recover from the decades of abuse.
Amidst the Srinagar Municipal Corporation’s utterly dismal showing on the garbage disposal front come reports of yet another triumph in dereliction of duty – legally designated residential enclaves are to be declared commercial areas in abject capitulation before galloping violations of the famed Srinagar Master Plan.
The distinction between purely residential and commercial areas had already become blurred due to unregulated sprouting of business outlets in zones meant exclusively for habitation. The unchecked shopping complex syndrome which has been allowed to straddle the city indiscriminately has turned Srinagar into a vast market place with no demarcation of business and private zones. Markets are taking over even the few enclaves specifically planned as exclusive residential zones. And the commercialization of other residential areas, which do not enjoy the luxury of being designated as such, has overturned the very basic character of the once quiet and peaceful localities.
Every city worth the name has maintained clearly demarcated business districts to spare residential areas the unwelcome intrusion of commercial activity. Even in the case of New Delhi, that appeared to have lost the battle with indiscriminate commercialization, a turnaround has been witnessed with the government putting its foot down and upholding the sanctity of residential areas by a series of strict measures. Centralized and localized shopping malls, closing down of commercial spaces in residential areas and other such steps have restored a semblance of sanity to Delhi.
But how do the bright sparks of Srinagar respond to the city’s crisis? By simply caving in to the fait accompli. Sparing themselves the headache of thinking out a Srinagar-specific way out, our illustrious rulers take the shortcut of a legal artifice: let us solve the problem by one stroke of the pen and declare the mongrelized residential areas as commercial zones.
The turmoil of the past years is often cited as the reason for the many ills plaguing government functioning, but no attempt is made to explain the booming commercial sector which has put such tremendous pressure on civic infrastructure. Taking a differential element for analysis, the case of Lal Chowk could prove particularly illuminating. This commercial hub of the city had begun showing unmistakable signs of saturation over two decades ago. But civic and government agencies have responded by choosing not to act. The message from Lal Chowk was clear – the demand for commercial space was growing at an incredible pace, and what was happening in the heart of the city would definitely be replicated in other parts of Srinagar. One of the several possible ways to address the need would have been to plan a satellite commercial district, even a series of them, that could absorb the overflow from Lal Chowk and other major markets of the city. The top-heavy and ugly construction in the city’s markets and the resulting intractable congestion, not to speak of traffic flow disasters, could have been avoided by the admittedly cost-intensive, but in the long run, cheaper, alternative of developing segregated, exclusively commercial zones. The daily needs of residential areas can always be met by planned and centralized shopping arcades or malls that would leave the peace of these zones largely undisturbed.
True, city planning cannot be carried out in isolated segments, but has to be a holistic exercise including social, economic and other factors. But that is precisely what the bloated officialdom of the state is being paid for. But, instead of applying its mind to the pressing issues, the ruling class and its complicit bureaucracy is content with merely going through the motions of administration.
Kashmir has had a singular set of rulers whose frequent jaunts outside and abroad have left them totally untouched and innocent of any desire to learn or be influenced by successful civic models elsewhere. Not a single ruler has ever voiced even the feeble wish of developing Srinagar on sane, practical and environmentally-sound lines. While the city is literally gasping for survival, all it gets as treatment is inaction on the bureaucratic front in the face of runaway commercialization and civic failure, and grandiose schemes on the rulers’ front like golf courses and tulip gardens -a classic case of asking a bread-starved people to eat cake.
The Misfortune of being a Female in Kashmir
Two articles in the Rising Kashmir cover a broad canvass of emotions in describing challenges facing females in Kashmir. The third and the last article from the Kashmir Images is one of hope and exuberance
Female foeticide on rise in Valley: Report
Srinagar: Female foeticide is on rise in Kashmir, a study conducted by a lecturer of Kashmir University reveals.
Gulafroz Jan, a lecturer in the Department of Law, KU conducted a socio legal analysis on female foeticide in Kashmir surveying 15 diagnostic centres.
However only two of these centres confirmed that they conducted prenatal sex determination tests while 10 answered in negative and three preferred not to respond.
Jan in her research asked hundred expectant mothers if they had done any prenatal sex determination tests and abortions among which 10 respondents said yes.
According to the research, out of these 10 respondents, five were indulging in female foeticide for the first time while two were on anvil of aborting the female foetus for the second time.
Some of the expecting women said female child was a burden. “The girl child is subjected to sexual exploitations. It has to be protected and guarded always,” the research quoted some women as saying while others said they were aborting the female foetus as they already had two or more daughters.
The researcher said women from the upper middle class were carrying more abortions. However women from rustic and lower income groups were also found to be in the race.
Around 60 per cent of women surveyed in the study were housewives and 40 percent were working women.
In the research hundred expectant mothers were asked if they knew about sex determination. An overwhelming 70 per cent responded said yes and added that it was performed by simple sonography.
“Nearly 76 per cent of women knew about illegality of these tests,” Jan said.
The data in the research reveals that the tests were conducted in government hospitals as well as private nursing homes while others went outside the state.
Forty per cent women said their husbands and in-laws exerted force on them to abort the female foetus while 20 per cent said both the husband-wife duo were willing. Ten per cent of the respondents said it was their own choice.
However an overwhelming majority of the respondents termed the practice bad and immoral.
Khurshidul Islam, a sociologist termed the phenomenon as disturbing. “It’s an impact of other cultures. It is pity that having a girl child is considered a burden in the changing socio economic dynamics of our society,” he said. “The spurt in atrocities on women and their coverage of these issues in media is also contributing to the factor.”
Meanwhile, according to sources, the two centres conducting illegal prenatal sex determination operate in city outskirts.
The sources said these unrecognized clinics conduct nearly 20 tests a day, some on the medical advice and others at the behest of the individual couples.
Eve-teasing: a growing menace
A student of 7th standard (Sheena) name changed is followed by a middle aged man to her home from school continuously for a month. He tries to convince the girl to accompany him and when he failed, he starts to threaten the girl of dire consequences.
This frightens the innocent girl and she starts making excuses to stay at home. When the parents finally notice the trouble their daughter faces, they came to rescue and saved the girl. This is one among hundred cases of eve-teasing which is a growing social menace in our society.
Eve-teasing is used as a euphemism for molestation and harassment of women by men. However, a euphemism is not enough to lessen the severity of this crime which ranges from obscene gestures to sexually suggestive remarks. It is prevalent in almost all the societies of the World and its consequences and implications are a matter of serious concern.
In conservative societies like Kashmir, eve-teasing instills fear among females and causes mental and emotional trauma. As women here are not very vocal enough, the victim mostly suffers silently and at times develops self inhibiting behaviour. She feels guilty for a fault committed by others and tries to hide it from people around. In case of young immature girls, by the time they realize what is being done to them, they are already victimized.
In Kashmir, the situation has perpetuated over the years and women have suffered and are still suffering at the hands of such uncouth men. The undesirable attention shown by males towards females is acting as an irritant in the lives of women who leave their homes every morning to lend a helping hand in improving the overall condition of our society. It is not only School and College going teenagers or working young ladies, but even middle and old aged women don’t feel safe from this criminal act. Eve-teasers won’t spare any-one. In buses, on bus stops, around educational institutions, market places and even work places of women, these uncivilized creatures never miss a chance to harass females. The usual methods used to irk women include whistles, physical touch, physical advances, and passing comments. Some go4es to the extent of shouting at them and embarrasses the victims to their spine.
The situation is equally intense in other places in India and the women of the valley are in constant fear that some mishap might happen to them as well. Shyness and fragility made them more vulnerable to such incidents. Females here lack the confidence to retaliate if somebody approaches them.
The lack of awareness about these dastardly crimes worsens the situation. Lack of interaction with males also aggravates the problem. Girls don’t know how to react or handle men around them to judge their intentions. Women here lack basic self-defense techniques as they never get training or counseling as how to deal with under such circumstances.
The situation can be handled only if society and not women are sensitized about the whole issue. Women deserve all the respect and regard if the in the society has to function smoothly.
The biggest responsibility falls on the shoulders of parents and teachers, as they act as role models for younger generation. If a child is given proper moral teachings right from childhood, it will definitely reflect in his personality. In modern times the responsibility increases more on Parents as the means of communication and abundant growth of media has drastically affected the psyche of our young generation.
Awareness, education, moral and religious education seem the only solutions for this grave problem. Mass sensitization will awake the conscience of every individual of the society. But it needs to be accepted that eve-teasing is just an element of huge hitch that has cropped up in the structure of the society. Good and active effort on part of all conscientious people of society will help women to feel secure. Then they can lace themselves with confidence, knowledge and strength and so can have courage to self-guard themselves.
Matriculation topper says hard work is secret of her success
Baramulla: In our contemporary society although parents feel dismayed over having a girl child but girls too can prove to be better than boys.
And those who still regret having daughters should meet Anjuman Jeelani Toogo of apple town Sopore who topped the matriculation exams in Kashmir province bring pride not only her grand parents but to the whole Baramulla district.
Scripting her success story, Anjuman, 16, a student of St. Joseph School Baramulla, secured 489 marks out of 500 to bag first position in the Kashmir Valley in matriculation exams conducted by Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education.
Anjuman believes that hard work pays off in the long run if one is dedicated and committed to do and her secret of success is hard work.
Anjuman was conferred a trophy and Academic Achievement Certificate 2008 by Minster of state for PHE and Irrigation Flood Control Taj Mohi-ud-din on Republic Day function in Baramulla.
While talking to ‘Kashmir Images’, after receiving the award, she said, "I feel very happy at this moment and this the happiest day in life till now as I was successful to turn my dream into reality."
Since her grand success in matriculation, Anajuman had very busy time with friends, relatives and media persons.
When asked whom she owes her success and the inspirations, she said, "First of all I would like to thank Almighty Allah for showering His blessings upon me. I credit my success to my grandparents, many many thanks to my uncle Sir Mujtuba and heartfelt thanks go all teachers in St. Joseph school Baramulla who taught me from last 13 years."
"From Nursery to this class my teachers always showed me the way. I always stood first in class. By bagging the first position I have made my teachers proud," said Anjuman whose father, Ghulam Jeelani Tukoo is a police inspector and mother Mehbooba Jeelani, a government teacher.
Adopted by her grandparents when she was 6-months-old baby, Anjuman said that hard work was key to success and she couldn't have make topped the exams without her grandparents support. "Even if you are intelligent you have to work hard to strive for aim. Hard work is key to success," she said.
"Since my childhood my grandparents too care of me and from six class I was guided and supported by my uncle who helped lot," added she.
She said that to study for six hours daily was a routine for her. "I used to study from 5pm to 11pm everyday. Chalking out a study schedule helped me and I didn't feel any pressure during the exam days," she added.
When asked what she wanted to be in the life, Anjuman said, ""Basically for me it was not hard to decide what you want to be. I wanted to be prominent cardiologist to serve my society."
Anjuman’s grandfather, Abdul Wahid Tugoo, a retired teacher, says, "Since we adopted her both I and my wife strived to bring her up. I used to perch her on my shoulders taking him school as there was less transport available here."
"Today my entire fatigue has vanished and we both feel proud of her," Wahid who accompanied her.
Anjuman's grandmother Fatima said, "I fed her with cow's milk as we adopted her soon after she was born. I feel as if I have performed Hajj."
Pertinent to mention here, a total of 40,145 students including 22,243 boys and 17,902 girls had appeared in the annual examination held in November-December 2008. The over all pass percentage stands at 62.30 per cent with 65.64 per cent boys and 58.39 percent girls passing the exam. Among them, 5139 passed with distinction, 10,302 with 1st division and 9567 with second division.
Female foeticide on rise in Valley: Report
Srinagar: Female foeticide is on rise in Kashmir, a study conducted by a lecturer of Kashmir University reveals.
Gulafroz Jan, a lecturer in the Department of Law, KU conducted a socio legal analysis on female foeticide in Kashmir surveying 15 diagnostic centres.
However only two of these centres confirmed that they conducted prenatal sex determination tests while 10 answered in negative and three preferred not to respond.
Jan in her research asked hundred expectant mothers if they had done any prenatal sex determination tests and abortions among which 10 respondents said yes.
According to the research, out of these 10 respondents, five were indulging in female foeticide for the first time while two were on anvil of aborting the female foetus for the second time.
Some of the expecting women said female child was a burden. “The girl child is subjected to sexual exploitations. It has to be protected and guarded always,” the research quoted some women as saying while others said they were aborting the female foetus as they already had two or more daughters.
The researcher said women from the upper middle class were carrying more abortions. However women from rustic and lower income groups were also found to be in the race.
Around 60 per cent of women surveyed in the study were housewives and 40 percent were working women.
In the research hundred expectant mothers were asked if they knew about sex determination. An overwhelming 70 per cent responded said yes and added that it was performed by simple sonography.
“Nearly 76 per cent of women knew about illegality of these tests,” Jan said.
The data in the research reveals that the tests were conducted in government hospitals as well as private nursing homes while others went outside the state.
Forty per cent women said their husbands and in-laws exerted force on them to abort the female foetus while 20 per cent said both the husband-wife duo were willing. Ten per cent of the respondents said it was their own choice.
However an overwhelming majority of the respondents termed the practice bad and immoral.
Khurshidul Islam, a sociologist termed the phenomenon as disturbing. “It’s an impact of other cultures. It is pity that having a girl child is considered a burden in the changing socio economic dynamics of our society,” he said. “The spurt in atrocities on women and their coverage of these issues in media is also contributing to the factor.”
Meanwhile, according to sources, the two centres conducting illegal prenatal sex determination operate in city outskirts.
The sources said these unrecognized clinics conduct nearly 20 tests a day, some on the medical advice and others at the behest of the individual couples.
Eve-teasing: a growing menace
A student of 7th standard (Sheena) name changed is followed by a middle aged man to her home from school continuously for a month. He tries to convince the girl to accompany him and when he failed, he starts to threaten the girl of dire consequences.
This frightens the innocent girl and she starts making excuses to stay at home. When the parents finally notice the trouble their daughter faces, they came to rescue and saved the girl. This is one among hundred cases of eve-teasing which is a growing social menace in our society.
Eve-teasing is used as a euphemism for molestation and harassment of women by men. However, a euphemism is not enough to lessen the severity of this crime which ranges from obscene gestures to sexually suggestive remarks. It is prevalent in almost all the societies of the World and its consequences and implications are a matter of serious concern.
In conservative societies like Kashmir, eve-teasing instills fear among females and causes mental and emotional trauma. As women here are not very vocal enough, the victim mostly suffers silently and at times develops self inhibiting behaviour. She feels guilty for a fault committed by others and tries to hide it from people around. In case of young immature girls, by the time they realize what is being done to them, they are already victimized.
In Kashmir, the situation has perpetuated over the years and women have suffered and are still suffering at the hands of such uncouth men. The undesirable attention shown by males towards females is acting as an irritant in the lives of women who leave their homes every morning to lend a helping hand in improving the overall condition of our society. It is not only School and College going teenagers or working young ladies, but even middle and old aged women don’t feel safe from this criminal act. Eve-teasers won’t spare any-one. In buses, on bus stops, around educational institutions, market places and even work places of women, these uncivilized creatures never miss a chance to harass females. The usual methods used to irk women include whistles, physical touch, physical advances, and passing comments. Some go4es to the extent of shouting at them and embarrasses the victims to their spine.
The situation is equally intense in other places in India and the women of the valley are in constant fear that some mishap might happen to them as well. Shyness and fragility made them more vulnerable to such incidents. Females here lack the confidence to retaliate if somebody approaches them.
The lack of awareness about these dastardly crimes worsens the situation. Lack of interaction with males also aggravates the problem. Girls don’t know how to react or handle men around them to judge their intentions. Women here lack basic self-defense techniques as they never get training or counseling as how to deal with under such circumstances.
The situation can be handled only if society and not women are sensitized about the whole issue. Women deserve all the respect and regard if the in the society has to function smoothly.
The biggest responsibility falls on the shoulders of parents and teachers, as they act as role models for younger generation. If a child is given proper moral teachings right from childhood, it will definitely reflect in his personality. In modern times the responsibility increases more on Parents as the means of communication and abundant growth of media has drastically affected the psyche of our young generation.
Awareness, education, moral and religious education seem the only solutions for this grave problem. Mass sensitization will awake the conscience of every individual of the society. But it needs to be accepted that eve-teasing is just an element of huge hitch that has cropped up in the structure of the society. Good and active effort on part of all conscientious people of society will help women to feel secure. Then they can lace themselves with confidence, knowledge and strength and so can have courage to self-guard themselves.
Matriculation topper says hard work is secret of her success
Baramulla: In our contemporary society although parents feel dismayed over having a girl child but girls too can prove to be better than boys.
And those who still regret having daughters should meet Anjuman Jeelani Toogo of apple town Sopore who topped the matriculation exams in Kashmir province bring pride not only her grand parents but to the whole Baramulla district.
Scripting her success story, Anjuman, 16, a student of St. Joseph School Baramulla, secured 489 marks out of 500 to bag first position in the Kashmir Valley in matriculation exams conducted by Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education.
Anjuman believes that hard work pays off in the long run if one is dedicated and committed to do and her secret of success is hard work.
Anjuman was conferred a trophy and Academic Achievement Certificate 2008 by Minster of state for PHE and Irrigation Flood Control Taj Mohi-ud-din on Republic Day function in Baramulla.
While talking to ‘Kashmir Images’, after receiving the award, she said, "I feel very happy at this moment and this the happiest day in life till now as I was successful to turn my dream into reality."
Since her grand success in matriculation, Anajuman had very busy time with friends, relatives and media persons.
When asked whom she owes her success and the inspirations, she said, "First of all I would like to thank Almighty Allah for showering His blessings upon me. I credit my success to my grandparents, many many thanks to my uncle Sir Mujtuba and heartfelt thanks go all teachers in St. Joseph school Baramulla who taught me from last 13 years."
"From Nursery to this class my teachers always showed me the way. I always stood first in class. By bagging the first position I have made my teachers proud," said Anjuman whose father, Ghulam Jeelani Tukoo is a police inspector and mother Mehbooba Jeelani, a government teacher.
Adopted by her grandparents when she was 6-months-old baby, Anjuman said that hard work was key to success and she couldn't have make topped the exams without her grandparents support. "Even if you are intelligent you have to work hard to strive for aim. Hard work is key to success," she said.
"Since my childhood my grandparents too care of me and from six class I was guided and supported by my uncle who helped lot," added she.
She said that to study for six hours daily was a routine for her. "I used to study from 5pm to 11pm everyday. Chalking out a study schedule helped me and I didn't feel any pressure during the exam days," she added.
When asked what she wanted to be in the life, Anjuman said, ""Basically for me it was not hard to decide what you want to be. I wanted to be prominent cardiologist to serve my society."
Anjuman’s grandfather, Abdul Wahid Tugoo, a retired teacher, says, "Since we adopted her both I and my wife strived to bring her up. I used to perch her on my shoulders taking him school as there was less transport available here."
"Today my entire fatigue has vanished and we both feel proud of her," Wahid who accompanied her.
Anjuman's grandmother Fatima said, "I fed her with cow's milk as we adopted her soon after she was born. I feel as if I have performed Hajj."
Pertinent to mention here, a total of 40,145 students including 22,243 boys and 17,902 girls had appeared in the annual examination held in November-December 2008. The over all pass percentage stands at 62.30 per cent with 65.64 per cent boys and 58.39 percent girls passing the exam. Among them, 5139 passed with distinction, 10,302 with 1st division and 9567 with second division.
Refugees in Their own Country
Pervez gives human shape to Kashmiris whom the valley has long forgotten
(Mr. Pervez Majeed Lone, 32, was born in Ashpora, a hamlet located in Handwara Tehsil in the Kupwara District. His primary schooling took place in government schools in his hometown, and he finished his higher secondary education from the Government Higher Secondary School, Kupwara. He graduated from the University of Kashmir as a Continuing Education student with Sociology, Philosophy and English Literature as major subjects. In 2004, he completed his Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Kashmir. He has worked in various local Urdu journals (Chattan, Pukar) and the Radio Kashmir (Sheharbeen) before joining the Sahara Time, a weekly national news magazine from the Sahara Group. He is passionate about the Urdu language and poetry, and loves to listen to music, read English literature and traveling.)
Refugees in their own country (Report was published in the September 27, 2008 issue of the Sahara Time)
New Delhi: Ashok Kumar Munshi symbolizes the typical traumatic life Kashmiri pandits had to live following mass exodus of this religious minority of Jammu & Kashmir. While arranging the items of his makeshift readymade garments shop alongside a footpath at Yousuf Sarai area of south Delhi, he fondly remembers his elegant, attractive readymade garments showroom located at Nai Sarak in Srinagar. “ I was running an enviable business, my shop used to bustle with customers,” he sighs. 56-year- old Munshi remembers the horror of his migration from his motherland. “On the day of migration, we had to spend the night along with the small children under open sky in Sainik Colony Jammu.” Munshi blames nobody for his migration. “ Nobody threatened us, but the situation was uncertain, even Muslims were feeling unsafe. In fact a Muslim friend suggested me to leave home till situation improves…but that never did,” Munshi laments.
After spending sometime in Jammu, Munshi along with his six members family came to Delhi to search a livelihood. After hectic efforts, he got this NDMC structure allotted in his favour in 1991 at Yousuf Sarai. Since then he is trying to eke out a living by selling readymades. He earns by this readymade shop and also receives monthly four thousand rupees as government relief. “ Thank God, I manage to feed my family,” a contented Munshi says. After living at a rented accommodation for almost a decade, Munshi managed to buy his own flat at Patpadgunj six years ago. But owning a house in Delhi couldn’t fade the cherishable memories from his mind. “ We lived in a heveli in Aali Kadal area of Srinagar in the neighborhood of Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, but here our seven member family is confined in two small rooms,” Munshi wails.
Asked if he wanted to return to Kashmir, Munshi replies with a question. “ I do, but is there any such possibility?” Munshi explains that after the Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer controversy, the chances, if there were any, of Kashmiri pandits’ return to Kashmir, have dwindled. Munshi’s all the three children; two daughters and one son are born in Delhi. “ My children are very eager to see Kashmir…I want to take them for a visit.”
The row of NDMC makeshift shops at Yousuf Sarai alongside the busy Mehrauli Road is known as Kashmiri market, as Kashmiri migrant pandits predominantly own them. To enable the migrants earn a living, the government has provided these structures to them rent-free. P K Koul runs his hosiery shop beside Munshi’s one. Koul, a resident of Habba Kadal Srinagar, was living an affluent life in Kashmir. The forced migration ravaged his life as well as a flourishing bisiness. The shop and monthly one thousand rupees government relief is his sole income. Since their desperate arrival in Delhi in 1991, the five-member Koul family is living on rent in Green Park. Koul sees no prospectus of returning to Kashmir. “ We are trying to establish ourselves here, we can’t afford to start our lives afresh in Kashmir,” he maintains. “ Our children are born and brought up outside Kashmir, they have no idea what Kashmir is at all,” he adds. Koul cites another example to prove his point. “ My shop in Srinagar has been occupied by a local, despite my legal efforts he has not vacated it,” he said. Koul fishes out a paper. It is an order (No.459-62/05/DM/MG/179 Dated: 24-07-2003) of district magistrate Srinagar directing tehsildar and SHO concerned to vacate Koul’s shop from the illegal occupant. “ Should I go to fight with him for resuming my business at my shop,” he asks. Koul complains that Kashmiri Muslims are not playing their part for the return of pandits. “ If they were interested in our homecoming, they would have created those circumstances,” he explains. He blames government for its “lackadaisical approach” vis-à-vis rehabilitation of pandits. “ Even the Kashmiri pandit organizations are furthering their own interests,” he says. According to Koul, the migrant pandits have just one priority at the moment. “Future of our children,” he says emphatically.
In Yousuf Sarai’s Kashmiri Market a polite and sober Kuldeep Parimoo has his own story to tell. Parimoo family owned a well-established medicine business in Srinagar. “After the migration, I had to work on footpaths,” 41-year-old Kuldeep states. Like some other fellows of his community, he acquired an NDMC shop at Yousuf Sarai and opened a diagnostic laboratory there. With this income, he is supporting four family members residing at Sahibabad,Gaziabad.
Asked about the return of Kashmiri pandits, Kuldeep has precise reply. “ I can’t say about others, but there is no possibility of mine to go back to Kashmir because I am not in a position to re-establish myself there.” Elaborating on this, he said; “ I have two priorities strictly on my mind: my children and my business. I see no future of my children in Kashmir and I can’t again set-up my business there…I can’t afford a second migration.” Though Kuldeep hasn’t any complaints against Kashmiri Muslims, but he is wary about their “collective behaviour.” “ Individual Kashmiri Muslim is honest and compassionate, I have all the love for him, but the sloganeering about jehad and Pakistan make me apprehensive.”
Like any other pandit migrant, Kuldeep narrates emotional reminiscence of cordiality between Kashmiri Muslims and pandits. “ After the death of my father in 1987, I had to shoulder the family business as my brother was paralyzed due to an accident. A Muslim neighbor gave me ten thousand rupees to run the business,” Kuldeep says and wonders in an emotional tone. “ Alas, what happened to that brotherhood, who created this chasm of mistrust?”
For Ramesh Sidha, 31, return to Kashmir is a dilemma. “ We don’t want to leave our birthplace, but it is not possible to live there,” says the business executive. Even though enjoying a settled life in Delhi and living in their own flat in Palam Vihar, Sidha, resident of south Kashmir’s famous Mattan town, says he is very nostalgic about his childhood days spent with Muslims friends. Why is he scared to return to Kashmir? “ Slogans of azadi and Pakistan scare me , as long as such slogans are there, I don’t see any space for my community there,” he observes.
Sudheer Koul echoes the viewpoint of young Kashimiri pandit boys, brought up outside Kashmir. “ There is a wide chasm between young generations of Muslims and pandits, we have no interaction amongst ourselves, how can we go there and live with them?”
28-year-old Sandheep Bhat was studying in 5th standard at the local school of Namtahal village of Budgam district, when pandits left Valley en masse. He studied up to graduation in Jammu and came to Delhi for a job. Marketing manager with a software company, he lives with his cousins in Laxminagar. “ I don’t see there is any possibility of ours to back to Kashmir,” he said, with Hindi accent overrunning his Kashmiri speech.
In Delhi, Kashmiri pandits have established around 350 shops and small businesses to earn their livelihood. INA market is one of the Delhi markets where at least 150 shops and dhabas are run by pandits. A visit to this market reveals the sordid saga of this hapless Kashmiri lot. Shiv Kumar Bhatt chief organizer of Kashmiri Migrants’ Market Association here speaks a mix of anger, apprehension, expectation and pragmatism. “Kashmiri separatists are living a lavish lifestyle, but befooling common Kashmiri with emotional slogans,” Bhat 43, avers. “ Kashmir Muslims and pandits are one blood, we can’t be separated,” Bhat says in an emotional albeit forceful tone. “ But I am surprised why Muslims don’t denounce gun and those mean separatist leaders.” An energetic, impressive Bhat has a word of advice for his Muslim compatriots-“ Kashmir has strategic importance for India, how my Muslim brothers believe India will let it go.”
About the return of pandits to Valley, Bhat said: “ We haven’t burnt all bridges leading to Kashmir, but we can’t return until gun is there!”
A mini Kashmir in Delhi
Kashmiri Pandits are nostalgic for the land they had to leave, but see no way to go back home, finds Pervez Majeed during a visit to Vitesta Enclave
I was very enthusiastic to visit Najafgarh’s Kashmiri Colony. “ It is like a mini-Kashmir in Delhi.” This statement of a Kashmiri Pandit increased my excitement. But I knew nobody there. The only address I had was Chandji. Kashmiri Pandit Kuldeep Parimoo, whom I met at his diagnostic centre in Yousuf Sarai, told me to meet Chandji for help who runs a provision store in Kashmiri Colony. However, I was anxious while traveling first time on the road to Najafgarh. Anxious because I was not sure inhabitants of Kashmiri Colony will be willing to talk to me. Moreover, a Pandit friend had cautioned me about the imminent offensive response of some young Pandits. “These days some Pandits, particularly the youth are belligerent over the recent developments in Kashmir, they vent their pent up feelings at any Kashmiri Muslim they meet,” he warned. “We are frustrated by the two-decade life in exile, majority of Pandits are upset over the latest uprising in the Valley,” my friend explained to me, adding,”you need to be prepared to face their wrath.”
However, this apprehension couldn’t dampen my enthusiasm to visit Delhi’s “mini-Kashmir.” I was amazed to know that Kashmiri Colony was famous in the area. Miles away all the people, whom I sought help to reach my destination, guided me, for they knew the Kashmiri Colony. From the main market of Najafgarh , a left turn on a wide macadamized road leads to Kashmiri Colony. After traveling on around one kilometer stretch of this road, a signboard on a street on the right reads; “ Vitesta Enclave.” Vitesta or Veyth is Pandits’ name of legendary Kashmir river Jehlum, which originates from Veerinag in south Kashmir. Besides Srinagar, many other prominent towns are situated on the banks of Jehlum, before the river flows into Pakistan territory in north Kashmir. Kashmiri folklore and its history is abundant with the mention of Vitesta, with a lot of mythical tales associated with the river, revered religiously by Pandits.
I stopped at the Vitesta Enclave street corner and asked a bystander about Kashmiri Colony. He pointed towards the street. “ This is Kashmiri Colony.” Later during my interaction with the residents, I was told that they have named their abode, as Vitesta Enclave but is famous as Kashmiri Colony because of its inhabitants! It is a silent locality. Cars, motorcycles and cycle-rickshaws intermittently plying on its dusty lanes and by- lanes. Most of the houses are one or two-storeyed. Not only the name of the residential area but also the architectural design of their houses denotes Pandits are struggling to preserve their identity.
With the help of Chandji, I met Dawarika Nath Koul, president of Vitesta Enclave Welfare Association. Septuagenarian Koul is a compassionate person. After meeting him, my fears got alleviated. He is hospitable like a typical Kashmiri. We had a candid conversation over tea. Koul, a retired government employee, has three daughters and one son. All are married. Son is a prosperous builder and Kouls are living in the beautiful house. He has no complaints, no regrets. “Whether it is turbulent situation in Kashmir or our displacement, it is ill-luck of we Kashmiris,” Koul laments. During the conversation, Koul nostalgically revisited his past, talked about the beautiful life he lived amidst his Muslim neighbors.
So you want to return to Kashmir? I asked. He sighed and said: “ I want to die on the land where I was born.” I didn’t asked any further questions on this subject…emotional Koul’s body language conveyed more than his words.
Koul informed that more than two hundred Pandit families are residing in their own houses in the Vitesta Enclave. “ It was an open field. Years ago some Pandit bought land here and built his own house. Then it became a trend for Pandits to buy land and construct houses here, turning it into a Pandits’ habitation,” Koul said.
Even though residents belong to different areas of Valley and myriad family backgrounds, Vitesta Enclave is now a well-knit Kashmiri society and its demeanor is typical Kashmiri. Old men and women are seen strolling in the lanes in traditional Kashmiri attire. Shops cater to specific needs of a Kashmir village. A baker prepares Kashmiri bread in the traditional Kashmiri oven. “ We are struggling to keep intact our culture and traditions and impart them to our new generation,” Koul maintains. “ But children seem not imbibing them because most of their time is spent outside homes,” Koul observes.
He was right. Outside Koul’s home, I saw two kids playing in the courtyard of their home. Kajal and her younger brother Mayur have no idea about Kashmir. When I asked them what they know about Kashmir, they chuckled innocently. “ Vahan thandi baraf hoti ha,” this is all Kajal knows about Kashmir, who was born in Udhampur eight years after her parent’s migration.
During my stroll accompanied by Koul in the lanes of Kashmiri Colony, I had tête-à-tête with a number of young and old Pandits. They shared about their lives in chaste Kashmiri with me. Shopkeeper Bhushan Lal and his wife Phoolaji were all praise for their Muslim neighbors. But at the same time, they narrate how a militant commander forcefully made them to sell their house to him. “ We want to return but we can’t feel safe there because of gun,” they said. During the conversation, Pholaji couldn’t hold back her tears.
Sanjay Dhar was riding a motorcycle and stopped on seeing me. He met warmly. Dhar, who works in a private bank, says he proudly narrates the tales of communal harmony between Muslims and Pandits to his colleagues.“ But there is a wall of mistrust among the new generation,” he laments. Pyariji, 68 talked in an emotional tone. “ We wait to return to our janambhoomi, Muslims are like our eyes and ears, how can we live without them?”
However, Ajay Kumar,45, who runs a shop in New Delhi holds a contrary view. “ There is no hope of our return, we have spent the life, now we have to think about our children.”
Koul bid adieu to me while I embarked a cycle-rickshaw for the bus stop. He asked me to visit again. As I was on the bumpy bus- ride back home amid traffic jams, I thought Pandits’ homecoming is besieged with same circumstantial bumps and political jams. For them return to Kashmir is a conflict between emotions and reality, head and heart!
Leaders of two Pandit organizations holding divergent ideology, respond to a similar set of questions about Pandits’ return to Kashmir.
Agni Shekhar –President, Panun Kashmir
Q: Do you see any chances of Pandits’ return to Kashmir?
A: See, religious co-existence was rejected when Pandits were forced to leave their homes. So a separate homeland only can pave way for their return to Kashmir.
Q: Many say homeland formula goes against the spirit of traditional amity between Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims.
A: If Pandits are helped to return honorably by providing a political and administrative set-up and a homeland, the traditional harmony is inevitable.
Q: What is the hurdle in their homecoming?
A: Ideology of terrorism and extremism is the hurdle. This ideology dubs us as Kafirs. The sloganeering like Nizam-e Mustafa, azadi, Islam, Pakistan etc scare us.
Q: What are your views about the steps taken by state and central governments for Pandits’ return?
A: It seems Indian state is at cross with Indian civilization. Governments and political parties have failed us. We are treated as mere vote bank not a human tragedy.
Q: Some Pandits particularly youth say they are settled outside and their return to Kashmir will be like a second migration.
A: No, our return will be reversal of migration. Actually, Pandits are dying for Kashmir. But they don’t want to go to Kashmir in a situation where their lives are at stake.
Pandit Bhushan Bazaz-President, Democratic Forum
Q: Do you see any chances of Pandits’ return to Kashmir?
A: I hardly see any chances because the threat is embedded in their psyche now. They will have to live under constant fear. Moreover, most people are settled outside Kashmir.
Q: What is the hurdle in their homecoming?
A: The uncertain situation there! The Pandit families who chose not to migrate are not satisfied there. How can the others take risk to go back?
Q: Some Pandits organization see separate homeland a solution?
A: Homeland is not a solution. Pandits can’t live in enclaves aloof from the Kashmiri society. That is total impractical and illogical demand.
Q: What are your views about the steps taken by state and central governments for Pandits’ return?
A: They just make promises. Politicians capitalize on Pandits misery.
Q: Some Pandits particularly youth say they are settled outside and their return to Kashmir will be like a second migration.
A: They are right. In fact Pandits’ homecoming has become a complicated issue. The young generations of Muslims and Pandits are like aliens to each other. Twenty years of separation has battered the centuries-old harmony.
Box Items
For a Kashmiri Aura…
Syed Ahmad, working with Govt. Arts Emporium, is the only Kashmiri Muslim family living in, Najafgarh’s Vitesta Enclave. A resident of Rainawari Srinagar, Syed chose this colony as his abode in Delhi, as here only he can avail the Kashmiri aura. “We happily used to live with our Muslim neighbors in Kashmir and Syed’s house here gives us a feel of that nostalgic Kashmir,” says his neighbor Subash Chander Wali, a retired government employee. “I took care of the construction of his house as he used to be mostly out on job,” he adds elatedly. “ Many more Muslim families are expected to build homes here, one has already bought land for the purpose,” informs Dwarika Nath Koul, president of Vitesta Enclave Welfare Association.
Delhi- Oasis for the Homeless
For most of the displaced Kashmiri migrant Pandits, national capital proved an oasis. Out of more than 55 thousand families that fled Valley in early 90s, around 30 thousand families made Delhi their abode. “ Delhi has the second largest number of Pandit migrants,” says Kamal Haakh, general secretary of Panun Kashmir.
(Mr. Pervez Majeed Lone, 32, was born in Ashpora, a hamlet located in Handwara Tehsil in the Kupwara District. His primary schooling took place in government schools in his hometown, and he finished his higher secondary education from the Government Higher Secondary School, Kupwara. He graduated from the University of Kashmir as a Continuing Education student with Sociology, Philosophy and English Literature as major subjects. In 2004, he completed his Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Kashmir. He has worked in various local Urdu journals (Chattan, Pukar) and the Radio Kashmir (Sheharbeen) before joining the Sahara Time, a weekly national news magazine from the Sahara Group. He is passionate about the Urdu language and poetry, and loves to listen to music, read English literature and traveling.)
Refugees in their own country (Report was published in the September 27, 2008 issue of the Sahara Time)
New Delhi: Ashok Kumar Munshi symbolizes the typical traumatic life Kashmiri pandits had to live following mass exodus of this religious minority of Jammu & Kashmir. While arranging the items of his makeshift readymade garments shop alongside a footpath at Yousuf Sarai area of south Delhi, he fondly remembers his elegant, attractive readymade garments showroom located at Nai Sarak in Srinagar. “ I was running an enviable business, my shop used to bustle with customers,” he sighs. 56-year- old Munshi remembers the horror of his migration from his motherland. “On the day of migration, we had to spend the night along with the small children under open sky in Sainik Colony Jammu.” Munshi blames nobody for his migration. “ Nobody threatened us, but the situation was uncertain, even Muslims were feeling unsafe. In fact a Muslim friend suggested me to leave home till situation improves…but that never did,” Munshi laments.
After spending sometime in Jammu, Munshi along with his six members family came to Delhi to search a livelihood. After hectic efforts, he got this NDMC structure allotted in his favour in 1991 at Yousuf Sarai. Since then he is trying to eke out a living by selling readymades. He earns by this readymade shop and also receives monthly four thousand rupees as government relief. “ Thank God, I manage to feed my family,” a contented Munshi says. After living at a rented accommodation for almost a decade, Munshi managed to buy his own flat at Patpadgunj six years ago. But owning a house in Delhi couldn’t fade the cherishable memories from his mind. “ We lived in a heveli in Aali Kadal area of Srinagar in the neighborhood of Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, but here our seven member family is confined in two small rooms,” Munshi wails.
Asked if he wanted to return to Kashmir, Munshi replies with a question. “ I do, but is there any such possibility?” Munshi explains that after the Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer controversy, the chances, if there were any, of Kashmiri pandits’ return to Kashmir, have dwindled. Munshi’s all the three children; two daughters and one son are born in Delhi. “ My children are very eager to see Kashmir…I want to take them for a visit.”
The row of NDMC makeshift shops at Yousuf Sarai alongside the busy Mehrauli Road is known as Kashmiri market, as Kashmiri migrant pandits predominantly own them. To enable the migrants earn a living, the government has provided these structures to them rent-free. P K Koul runs his hosiery shop beside Munshi’s one. Koul, a resident of Habba Kadal Srinagar, was living an affluent life in Kashmir. The forced migration ravaged his life as well as a flourishing bisiness. The shop and monthly one thousand rupees government relief is his sole income. Since their desperate arrival in Delhi in 1991, the five-member Koul family is living on rent in Green Park. Koul sees no prospectus of returning to Kashmir. “ We are trying to establish ourselves here, we can’t afford to start our lives afresh in Kashmir,” he maintains. “ Our children are born and brought up outside Kashmir, they have no idea what Kashmir is at all,” he adds. Koul cites another example to prove his point. “ My shop in Srinagar has been occupied by a local, despite my legal efforts he has not vacated it,” he said. Koul fishes out a paper. It is an order (No.459-62/05/DM/MG/179 Dated: 24-07-2003) of district magistrate Srinagar directing tehsildar and SHO concerned to vacate Koul’s shop from the illegal occupant. “ Should I go to fight with him for resuming my business at my shop,” he asks. Koul complains that Kashmiri Muslims are not playing their part for the return of pandits. “ If they were interested in our homecoming, they would have created those circumstances,” he explains. He blames government for its “lackadaisical approach” vis-à-vis rehabilitation of pandits. “ Even the Kashmiri pandit organizations are furthering their own interests,” he says. According to Koul, the migrant pandits have just one priority at the moment. “Future of our children,” he says emphatically.
In Yousuf Sarai’s Kashmiri Market a polite and sober Kuldeep Parimoo has his own story to tell. Parimoo family owned a well-established medicine business in Srinagar. “After the migration, I had to work on footpaths,” 41-year-old Kuldeep states. Like some other fellows of his community, he acquired an NDMC shop at Yousuf Sarai and opened a diagnostic laboratory there. With this income, he is supporting four family members residing at Sahibabad,Gaziabad.
Asked about the return of Kashmiri pandits, Kuldeep has precise reply. “ I can’t say about others, but there is no possibility of mine to go back to Kashmir because I am not in a position to re-establish myself there.” Elaborating on this, he said; “ I have two priorities strictly on my mind: my children and my business. I see no future of my children in Kashmir and I can’t again set-up my business there…I can’t afford a second migration.” Though Kuldeep hasn’t any complaints against Kashmiri Muslims, but he is wary about their “collective behaviour.” “ Individual Kashmiri Muslim is honest and compassionate, I have all the love for him, but the sloganeering about jehad and Pakistan make me apprehensive.”
Like any other pandit migrant, Kuldeep narrates emotional reminiscence of cordiality between Kashmiri Muslims and pandits. “ After the death of my father in 1987, I had to shoulder the family business as my brother was paralyzed due to an accident. A Muslim neighbor gave me ten thousand rupees to run the business,” Kuldeep says and wonders in an emotional tone. “ Alas, what happened to that brotherhood, who created this chasm of mistrust?”
For Ramesh Sidha, 31, return to Kashmir is a dilemma. “ We don’t want to leave our birthplace, but it is not possible to live there,” says the business executive. Even though enjoying a settled life in Delhi and living in their own flat in Palam Vihar, Sidha, resident of south Kashmir’s famous Mattan town, says he is very nostalgic about his childhood days spent with Muslims friends. Why is he scared to return to Kashmir? “ Slogans of azadi and Pakistan scare me , as long as such slogans are there, I don’t see any space for my community there,” he observes.
Sudheer Koul echoes the viewpoint of young Kashimiri pandit boys, brought up outside Kashmir. “ There is a wide chasm between young generations of Muslims and pandits, we have no interaction amongst ourselves, how can we go there and live with them?”
28-year-old Sandheep Bhat was studying in 5th standard at the local school of Namtahal village of Budgam district, when pandits left Valley en masse. He studied up to graduation in Jammu and came to Delhi for a job. Marketing manager with a software company, he lives with his cousins in Laxminagar. “ I don’t see there is any possibility of ours to back to Kashmir,” he said, with Hindi accent overrunning his Kashmiri speech.
In Delhi, Kashmiri pandits have established around 350 shops and small businesses to earn their livelihood. INA market is one of the Delhi markets where at least 150 shops and dhabas are run by pandits. A visit to this market reveals the sordid saga of this hapless Kashmiri lot. Shiv Kumar Bhatt chief organizer of Kashmiri Migrants’ Market Association here speaks a mix of anger, apprehension, expectation and pragmatism. “Kashmiri separatists are living a lavish lifestyle, but befooling common Kashmiri with emotional slogans,” Bhat 43, avers. “ Kashmir Muslims and pandits are one blood, we can’t be separated,” Bhat says in an emotional albeit forceful tone. “ But I am surprised why Muslims don’t denounce gun and those mean separatist leaders.” An energetic, impressive Bhat has a word of advice for his Muslim compatriots-“ Kashmir has strategic importance for India, how my Muslim brothers believe India will let it go.”
About the return of pandits to Valley, Bhat said: “ We haven’t burnt all bridges leading to Kashmir, but we can’t return until gun is there!”
A mini Kashmir in Delhi
Kashmiri Pandits are nostalgic for the land they had to leave, but see no way to go back home, finds Pervez Majeed during a visit to Vitesta Enclave
I was very enthusiastic to visit Najafgarh’s Kashmiri Colony. “ It is like a mini-Kashmir in Delhi.” This statement of a Kashmiri Pandit increased my excitement. But I knew nobody there. The only address I had was Chandji. Kashmiri Pandit Kuldeep Parimoo, whom I met at his diagnostic centre in Yousuf Sarai, told me to meet Chandji for help who runs a provision store in Kashmiri Colony. However, I was anxious while traveling first time on the road to Najafgarh. Anxious because I was not sure inhabitants of Kashmiri Colony will be willing to talk to me. Moreover, a Pandit friend had cautioned me about the imminent offensive response of some young Pandits. “These days some Pandits, particularly the youth are belligerent over the recent developments in Kashmir, they vent their pent up feelings at any Kashmiri Muslim they meet,” he warned. “We are frustrated by the two-decade life in exile, majority of Pandits are upset over the latest uprising in the Valley,” my friend explained to me, adding,”you need to be prepared to face their wrath.”
However, this apprehension couldn’t dampen my enthusiasm to visit Delhi’s “mini-Kashmir.” I was amazed to know that Kashmiri Colony was famous in the area. Miles away all the people, whom I sought help to reach my destination, guided me, for they knew the Kashmiri Colony. From the main market of Najafgarh , a left turn on a wide macadamized road leads to Kashmiri Colony. After traveling on around one kilometer stretch of this road, a signboard on a street on the right reads; “ Vitesta Enclave.” Vitesta or Veyth is Pandits’ name of legendary Kashmir river Jehlum, which originates from Veerinag in south Kashmir. Besides Srinagar, many other prominent towns are situated on the banks of Jehlum, before the river flows into Pakistan territory in north Kashmir. Kashmiri folklore and its history is abundant with the mention of Vitesta, with a lot of mythical tales associated with the river, revered religiously by Pandits.
I stopped at the Vitesta Enclave street corner and asked a bystander about Kashmiri Colony. He pointed towards the street. “ This is Kashmiri Colony.” Later during my interaction with the residents, I was told that they have named their abode, as Vitesta Enclave but is famous as Kashmiri Colony because of its inhabitants! It is a silent locality. Cars, motorcycles and cycle-rickshaws intermittently plying on its dusty lanes and by- lanes. Most of the houses are one or two-storeyed. Not only the name of the residential area but also the architectural design of their houses denotes Pandits are struggling to preserve their identity.
With the help of Chandji, I met Dawarika Nath Koul, president of Vitesta Enclave Welfare Association. Septuagenarian Koul is a compassionate person. After meeting him, my fears got alleviated. He is hospitable like a typical Kashmiri. We had a candid conversation over tea. Koul, a retired government employee, has three daughters and one son. All are married. Son is a prosperous builder and Kouls are living in the beautiful house. He has no complaints, no regrets. “Whether it is turbulent situation in Kashmir or our displacement, it is ill-luck of we Kashmiris,” Koul laments. During the conversation, Koul nostalgically revisited his past, talked about the beautiful life he lived amidst his Muslim neighbors.
So you want to return to Kashmir? I asked. He sighed and said: “ I want to die on the land where I was born.” I didn’t asked any further questions on this subject…emotional Koul’s body language conveyed more than his words.
Koul informed that more than two hundred Pandit families are residing in their own houses in the Vitesta Enclave. “ It was an open field. Years ago some Pandit bought land here and built his own house. Then it became a trend for Pandits to buy land and construct houses here, turning it into a Pandits’ habitation,” Koul said.
Even though residents belong to different areas of Valley and myriad family backgrounds, Vitesta Enclave is now a well-knit Kashmiri society and its demeanor is typical Kashmiri. Old men and women are seen strolling in the lanes in traditional Kashmiri attire. Shops cater to specific needs of a Kashmir village. A baker prepares Kashmiri bread in the traditional Kashmiri oven. “ We are struggling to keep intact our culture and traditions and impart them to our new generation,” Koul maintains. “ But children seem not imbibing them because most of their time is spent outside homes,” Koul observes.
He was right. Outside Koul’s home, I saw two kids playing in the courtyard of their home. Kajal and her younger brother Mayur have no idea about Kashmir. When I asked them what they know about Kashmir, they chuckled innocently. “ Vahan thandi baraf hoti ha,” this is all Kajal knows about Kashmir, who was born in Udhampur eight years after her parent’s migration.
During my stroll accompanied by Koul in the lanes of Kashmiri Colony, I had tête-à-tête with a number of young and old Pandits. They shared about their lives in chaste Kashmiri with me. Shopkeeper Bhushan Lal and his wife Phoolaji were all praise for their Muslim neighbors. But at the same time, they narrate how a militant commander forcefully made them to sell their house to him. “ We want to return but we can’t feel safe there because of gun,” they said. During the conversation, Pholaji couldn’t hold back her tears.
Sanjay Dhar was riding a motorcycle and stopped on seeing me. He met warmly. Dhar, who works in a private bank, says he proudly narrates the tales of communal harmony between Muslims and Pandits to his colleagues.“ But there is a wall of mistrust among the new generation,” he laments. Pyariji, 68 talked in an emotional tone. “ We wait to return to our janambhoomi, Muslims are like our eyes and ears, how can we live without them?”
However, Ajay Kumar,45, who runs a shop in New Delhi holds a contrary view. “ There is no hope of our return, we have spent the life, now we have to think about our children.”
Koul bid adieu to me while I embarked a cycle-rickshaw for the bus stop. He asked me to visit again. As I was on the bumpy bus- ride back home amid traffic jams, I thought Pandits’ homecoming is besieged with same circumstantial bumps and political jams. For them return to Kashmir is a conflict between emotions and reality, head and heart!
Leaders of two Pandit organizations holding divergent ideology, respond to a similar set of questions about Pandits’ return to Kashmir.
Agni Shekhar –President, Panun Kashmir
Q: Do you see any chances of Pandits’ return to Kashmir?
A: See, religious co-existence was rejected when Pandits were forced to leave their homes. So a separate homeland only can pave way for their return to Kashmir.
Q: Many say homeland formula goes against the spirit of traditional amity between Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims.
A: If Pandits are helped to return honorably by providing a political and administrative set-up and a homeland, the traditional harmony is inevitable.
Q: What is the hurdle in their homecoming?
A: Ideology of terrorism and extremism is the hurdle. This ideology dubs us as Kafirs. The sloganeering like Nizam-e Mustafa, azadi, Islam, Pakistan etc scare us.
Q: What are your views about the steps taken by state and central governments for Pandits’ return?
A: It seems Indian state is at cross with Indian civilization. Governments and political parties have failed us. We are treated as mere vote bank not a human tragedy.
Q: Some Pandits particularly youth say they are settled outside and their return to Kashmir will be like a second migration.
A: No, our return will be reversal of migration. Actually, Pandits are dying for Kashmir. But they don’t want to go to Kashmir in a situation where their lives are at stake.
Pandit Bhushan Bazaz-President, Democratic Forum
Q: Do you see any chances of Pandits’ return to Kashmir?
A: I hardly see any chances because the threat is embedded in their psyche now. They will have to live under constant fear. Moreover, most people are settled outside Kashmir.
Q: What is the hurdle in their homecoming?
A: The uncertain situation there! The Pandit families who chose not to migrate are not satisfied there. How can the others take risk to go back?
Q: Some Pandits organization see separate homeland a solution?
A: Homeland is not a solution. Pandits can’t live in enclaves aloof from the Kashmiri society. That is total impractical and illogical demand.
Q: What are your views about the steps taken by state and central governments for Pandits’ return?
A: They just make promises. Politicians capitalize on Pandits misery.
Q: Some Pandits particularly youth say they are settled outside and their return to Kashmir will be like a second migration.
A: They are right. In fact Pandits’ homecoming has become a complicated issue. The young generations of Muslims and Pandits are like aliens to each other. Twenty years of separation has battered the centuries-old harmony.
Box Items
For a Kashmiri Aura…
Syed Ahmad, working with Govt. Arts Emporium, is the only Kashmiri Muslim family living in, Najafgarh’s Vitesta Enclave. A resident of Rainawari Srinagar, Syed chose this colony as his abode in Delhi, as here only he can avail the Kashmiri aura. “We happily used to live with our Muslim neighbors in Kashmir and Syed’s house here gives us a feel of that nostalgic Kashmir,” says his neighbor Subash Chander Wali, a retired government employee. “I took care of the construction of his house as he used to be mostly out on job,” he adds elatedly. “ Many more Muslim families are expected to build homes here, one has already bought land for the purpose,” informs Dwarika Nath Koul, president of Vitesta Enclave Welfare Association.
Delhi- Oasis for the Homeless
For most of the displaced Kashmiri migrant Pandits, national capital proved an oasis. Out of more than 55 thousand families that fled Valley in early 90s, around 30 thousand families made Delhi their abode. “ Delhi has the second largest number of Pandit migrants,” says Kamal Haakh, general secretary of Panun Kashmir.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Audacity of Hope
Mehmood may not have thought about it, but his message applies to Kashmiri Muslims reaching out to Pandits as well
(Mr. Mehmood-ur-Rashid, mid-30's, lives and works in Srinagar. His commentary is published by the Rising Kashmir.)
Thinking of Change
“There is a way to be good again”. This is the thematic refrain and the underlying urge of Khalid Hosseini’s Afghanistan: war ravaged, intrigue infested and inflicted with cancerous version of religiosity. In the most depressing times Hosseini runs after the kite of hope. In Kashmir we keep vacillating between euphoria and depression. The question that occasionally visits mind is that can we also keep ourselves afloat thinking that the shores of hope are somewhere in the vicinity of vortex.
Across many oceans a Black man has started speaking about the audacity of hope. He wants to make a new beginning with the Muslim world. He even wants to unclench the fists. Is this the time to think of Change, Hope and a renewed understanding of who we are and what we stand for? Is there a chance to earn some peace by realigning the struggles in the Muslim countries and revising the content of these struggles?
Usually we have been hearing of peace processes initiated by states. Suspecting them is easy and rational as well. What if Muslim world gives thought to the idea of reaching out to the world of Political Power without compromising the essence of their struggles, find ways to bring peace to their lands! Can we think of an initiative of building trust with the Other, without doing injustice to the truth and essential core of our collective struggles. Can we act impartially, drop bias, jump over the barricade of anger and stereotyping, and make peace with the people around the globe. At least people are not our enemies, neither are we theirs.
Building trust, without sacrificing impartiality, may not an easy task, but, at the same time, never an impossible assignment. Besides the knowledge of the niceties of human nature and its pitfalls any attempt to bring about reconciliation between two conflicting parties must be supported by the love for peace and willingness to do justice. If any of the three ingredients is missing, building trusts may either be an exercise that will harm the principle of justice, thus straightaway making impartiality a victim, or will lead to a false and transitory impression that the two conflicting parties have developed the bond of trust. So in order to build trust between the two parties that are engaged in confrontation, of whatever level, it is necessary to have the knowledge of the interests, positions and stakes of both the parties. Without knowing who stands for what one cannot even think of making an attempt to build peace between the two parties. It is true for all conflicts, ranging from petty personal to mighty international disputes. If the parties to the conflict are better understood in terms of their relation towards the conflict it always becomes easier to build trust between the two. It was only when the World Bank understood the stakes of India and Pakistan in the water resources of the region that they brokered a deal between the two. It’s amazing that in spite of the two countries being at loggerheads with each other on a host of other issues, they could finalise an agreement on the sharing of water decades before and till now it survives. How could the World Bank broker peace between the two arch rivals over an issue that is immensely critical. The answer to this uneasy question is simple; the trust was build between the two parties when the stakes of both were understood and genuinely addressed.
Another important factor that has to be present in the efforts to build trust between two parties is to allow both of them express themselves. It has not just the value of catharsis, which has a salutary effect at psychological level, but also lets it known that what do the parties stand for. It is highly important that the efforts to build trust focus on taking the attention of the parties away from conflict and turn it in the direction of yearning for peace. Once this is done there is no need of being partial, as both the parties will automatically exhibit interest in coming closer to each other. The next step to strengthen the process of trust is to address the vulnerabilities and stakes of the parties. If that is left unattended it will leave the chances of acrimony again ruling the relation between the two parties. The telling example of this, at international level is the Mid East conflict. Although the parties came closer to negotiations many a time but since the stakes of a particular party were undermined things trundled back into the same abyss. Latest is the example of Gaza. The land has again been irrigated with blood, and it does not sleep.
A time tested tactic to build trust between the contending parties, without letting impartiality get hit, is to allow the parties to engage with some routine activity without actually making them conscious of the conflict that stands unresolved between them. In the current times Lebanon provides a wonderful example of this phenomenon. In its fight against the intrigues and military interventions of Israel, Hizbullah discovered that the Christian population of Lebanon were supportive of Israeli activities. Once Hizbullah won over the situation it was feared that they will now unleash their anger on the Christian population that collaborated with Israel. This could have resulted in great damage to life and limb. But they resorted to this unique method of letting time heal the wounds. The populations, Muslim and Christian were allowed to engage themselves in the banalities of life. In the process they again developed mundane and profitable relations with each other. This made them forget what had happened earlier. Both the populations regained the level of trust, and justice could be maintained by the fact peace was not imposed on the two but was rather allowed to grow from within them. This example provides us a golden lesson; whenever we are to build trust between the parties, the levels of active conflict should be brought down. With the passage of time a situation emerges where parties become unwilling to dissociate from the routine and engage with conflict. Second important lesson from this example is that forgiveness is the ultimate remedy to calm the frowned, furious and fighting heads and make them friends.
If the talk of Change has started, the all important question is that can Muslim world, participate in it? Willingness to understand the outer world and engage with it is the key to ensure a place in the emerging world. Every time talking about grievances, holding grudges, deepening animosity and taking a wrong roué to history to feed all this negatives, is never going to help Muslim world. We can secure a share in the Changed World only if we participate in Change. First step towards Change will be know our times, and for that purpose we will have to educate ourselves. Right now we are revelling in our ignorance, and Change has always refused to make friends with ignorance. And probably the prime reason for our ignorance is our understanding of religion!
(Mr. Mehmood-ur-Rashid, mid-30's, lives and works in Srinagar. His commentary is published by the Rising Kashmir.)
Thinking of Change
“There is a way to be good again”. This is the thematic refrain and the underlying urge of Khalid Hosseini’s Afghanistan: war ravaged, intrigue infested and inflicted with cancerous version of religiosity. In the most depressing times Hosseini runs after the kite of hope. In Kashmir we keep vacillating between euphoria and depression. The question that occasionally visits mind is that can we also keep ourselves afloat thinking that the shores of hope are somewhere in the vicinity of vortex.
Across many oceans a Black man has started speaking about the audacity of hope. He wants to make a new beginning with the Muslim world. He even wants to unclench the fists. Is this the time to think of Change, Hope and a renewed understanding of who we are and what we stand for? Is there a chance to earn some peace by realigning the struggles in the Muslim countries and revising the content of these struggles?
Usually we have been hearing of peace processes initiated by states. Suspecting them is easy and rational as well. What if Muslim world gives thought to the idea of reaching out to the world of Political Power without compromising the essence of their struggles, find ways to bring peace to their lands! Can we think of an initiative of building trust with the Other, without doing injustice to the truth and essential core of our collective struggles. Can we act impartially, drop bias, jump over the barricade of anger and stereotyping, and make peace with the people around the globe. At least people are not our enemies, neither are we theirs.
Building trust, without sacrificing impartiality, may not an easy task, but, at the same time, never an impossible assignment. Besides the knowledge of the niceties of human nature and its pitfalls any attempt to bring about reconciliation between two conflicting parties must be supported by the love for peace and willingness to do justice. If any of the three ingredients is missing, building trusts may either be an exercise that will harm the principle of justice, thus straightaway making impartiality a victim, or will lead to a false and transitory impression that the two conflicting parties have developed the bond of trust. So in order to build trust between the two parties that are engaged in confrontation, of whatever level, it is necessary to have the knowledge of the interests, positions and stakes of both the parties. Without knowing who stands for what one cannot even think of making an attempt to build peace between the two parties. It is true for all conflicts, ranging from petty personal to mighty international disputes. If the parties to the conflict are better understood in terms of their relation towards the conflict it always becomes easier to build trust between the two. It was only when the World Bank understood the stakes of India and Pakistan in the water resources of the region that they brokered a deal between the two. It’s amazing that in spite of the two countries being at loggerheads with each other on a host of other issues, they could finalise an agreement on the sharing of water decades before and till now it survives. How could the World Bank broker peace between the two arch rivals over an issue that is immensely critical. The answer to this uneasy question is simple; the trust was build between the two parties when the stakes of both were understood and genuinely addressed.
Another important factor that has to be present in the efforts to build trust between two parties is to allow both of them express themselves. It has not just the value of catharsis, which has a salutary effect at psychological level, but also lets it known that what do the parties stand for. It is highly important that the efforts to build trust focus on taking the attention of the parties away from conflict and turn it in the direction of yearning for peace. Once this is done there is no need of being partial, as both the parties will automatically exhibit interest in coming closer to each other. The next step to strengthen the process of trust is to address the vulnerabilities and stakes of the parties. If that is left unattended it will leave the chances of acrimony again ruling the relation between the two parties. The telling example of this, at international level is the Mid East conflict. Although the parties came closer to negotiations many a time but since the stakes of a particular party were undermined things trundled back into the same abyss. Latest is the example of Gaza. The land has again been irrigated with blood, and it does not sleep.
A time tested tactic to build trust between the contending parties, without letting impartiality get hit, is to allow the parties to engage with some routine activity without actually making them conscious of the conflict that stands unresolved between them. In the current times Lebanon provides a wonderful example of this phenomenon. In its fight against the intrigues and military interventions of Israel, Hizbullah discovered that the Christian population of Lebanon were supportive of Israeli activities. Once Hizbullah won over the situation it was feared that they will now unleash their anger on the Christian population that collaborated with Israel. This could have resulted in great damage to life and limb. But they resorted to this unique method of letting time heal the wounds. The populations, Muslim and Christian were allowed to engage themselves in the banalities of life. In the process they again developed mundane and profitable relations with each other. This made them forget what had happened earlier. Both the populations regained the level of trust, and justice could be maintained by the fact peace was not imposed on the two but was rather allowed to grow from within them. This example provides us a golden lesson; whenever we are to build trust between the parties, the levels of active conflict should be brought down. With the passage of time a situation emerges where parties become unwilling to dissociate from the routine and engage with conflict. Second important lesson from this example is that forgiveness is the ultimate remedy to calm the frowned, furious and fighting heads and make them friends.
If the talk of Change has started, the all important question is that can Muslim world, participate in it? Willingness to understand the outer world and engage with it is the key to ensure a place in the emerging world. Every time talking about grievances, holding grudges, deepening animosity and taking a wrong roué to history to feed all this negatives, is never going to help Muslim world. We can secure a share in the Changed World only if we participate in Change. First step towards Change will be know our times, and for that purpose we will have to educate ourselves. Right now we are revelling in our ignorance, and Change has always refused to make friends with ignorance. And probably the prime reason for our ignorance is our understanding of religion!
The End is Near
Irreversible environmental changes are affecting Kashmir
Wular wetland may disappear in 7 yrs: Environmentalist
Mir Tariq (Rising Kashmir)
Bandipora: The world famous Wular wetland reserve, according to environmentalist, may disappear from the scene in next seven years if government continues to ignore it.
The number of migratory birds visiting the wetland is already witnessing a decline.
The area of the wetland reserve, second largest in Asia, has decreased from 157.74 sq kms to 58.71 sq kms from 1911 to 2008.
Experts said that the unchecked encroachment by the locals and government departments has led to reduction of 45 percent of the wetland area. “It is badly affecting the habitat of migratory birds visiting the wetland from November to March,” they said.
It has been recently estimated that 60,000 kanals of wetland area has been encroached upon in the catchment villages of Sonawari, Bandipora, Watlab, Nigili and Sopore. Some of the reclaimed marshlands measuring about 25 sq kms have been transformed into willow plantations by the state government through social forestry while some areas have been transformed into permanent paddy fields.
Environmentalists warned that wetlands in the state especially Wular wetland are rapidly shrinking due to official apathy and rampant encroachment, endangering thousand of animals and migratory birds.
Wular used to host more than 30,000 migratory birds from different countries, but wildlife experts said that the number of winged visitors is slowly declining.
An environmentalist, Iftikhar Rashid Wani warned that if government continues to neglect the wetland, Wular wetland will vanish in next five to seven years.
Wild Life Warden Wetlands (WLWW), Muhammad Maqbool Baba, admitted that there has been a widespread encroachment in the Wular wetland reserve. “Yes, people of the area have encroached upon a large part of the wetland. We have taken steps to retrieve it,” said Baba.
He said, “Obviously Wular Wetland is shrinkage in size and the shallow water may have an impact on the winged birds visiting wetland every year. Such an affect is not visible”.
The guards, who are working in wetland from previous five years said that due to encroachment the number of migratory birds visiting the wetland is on decline.
An aged guard, Mushtaq Ahmad, who has seen lakhs of winged visitors arrive in the wetland, said that lesser number of winged birds are now visiting Wular wetland. “Since the space is shrinking due to encroachment, the birds have to compete and fight with each other for occupying space,” he added.
Wular wetland may disappear in 7 yrs: Environmentalist
Mir Tariq (Rising Kashmir)
Bandipora: The world famous Wular wetland reserve, according to environmentalist, may disappear from the scene in next seven years if government continues to ignore it.
The number of migratory birds visiting the wetland is already witnessing a decline.
The area of the wetland reserve, second largest in Asia, has decreased from 157.74 sq kms to 58.71 sq kms from 1911 to 2008.
Experts said that the unchecked encroachment by the locals and government departments has led to reduction of 45 percent of the wetland area. “It is badly affecting the habitat of migratory birds visiting the wetland from November to March,” they said.
It has been recently estimated that 60,000 kanals of wetland area has been encroached upon in the catchment villages of Sonawari, Bandipora, Watlab, Nigili and Sopore. Some of the reclaimed marshlands measuring about 25 sq kms have been transformed into willow plantations by the state government through social forestry while some areas have been transformed into permanent paddy fields.
Environmentalists warned that wetlands in the state especially Wular wetland are rapidly shrinking due to official apathy and rampant encroachment, endangering thousand of animals and migratory birds.
Wular used to host more than 30,000 migratory birds from different countries, but wildlife experts said that the number of winged visitors is slowly declining.
An environmentalist, Iftikhar Rashid Wani warned that if government continues to neglect the wetland, Wular wetland will vanish in next five to seven years.
Wild Life Warden Wetlands (WLWW), Muhammad Maqbool Baba, admitted that there has been a widespread encroachment in the Wular wetland reserve. “Yes, people of the area have encroached upon a large part of the wetland. We have taken steps to retrieve it,” said Baba.
He said, “Obviously Wular Wetland is shrinkage in size and the shallow water may have an impact on the winged birds visiting wetland every year. Such an affect is not visible”.
The guards, who are working in wetland from previous five years said that due to encroachment the number of migratory birds visiting the wetland is on decline.
An aged guard, Mushtaq Ahmad, who has seen lakhs of winged visitors arrive in the wetland, said that lesser number of winged birds are now visiting Wular wetland. “Since the space is shrinking due to encroachment, the birds have to compete and fight with each other for occupying space,” he added.
State of Denial in Kashmir Extends to Changes in its Climate as Well
Arjimand highlights an inconvenient truth while ignoring civil society's obsession with a single point agenda that snuffs out any discourse on non-political matters
(Mr. Arjimand Hussain Talib, 34, is from Srinagar and matriculated from Tyndale Biscoe Memorial School in 1991. He subsequently graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Bangalore University. He is also an alumni of the International Academy for Leadership, Gummerbach, Germany. Arjimand writes regular weekly columns for the Greater Kashmir and The Kashmir Times since 2000 on diverse issues of political economy, development, environment and social change and has over 450 published articles to his credit. His forthcoming book: "Confronting the Myths: A Critical Analysis of the Political Economy of Jammu & Kashmir" will be published soon.)
This winter is spring, so we better come out of denial
It is very much probable by the time these lines are in print, it is raining in the Valley. As I write these lines, latest satellite images show two to three weather systems hovering over Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. These are likely to pass over Jammu & Kashmir.
What is very unlikely, perhaps, is that we will have snow in the plains. The winds sweeping across through our winter-time Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan corridor are unusually warm. The temperature of our lower atmosphere is also unusually high.
It is not only about an elusive snowfall in the plains. This winter, in the midst of January, we witnessed snows melting even in the hills alarmingly. These were traditionally the times of deep frost. They seem to have gone, as if with the wind.
At least five major Western Disturbances – the winter-time cloud systems that arrive in J&K from the Mediterranean Sea and Central Asia – have hit the State by now, and yet there is very little snow in the mountains. Plains have had to be content with more of rain, except for the November snowfall when cold winds had blown from the Himalayas, bringing cold clouds, resulting in snowfall. That was a climatic aberration, which normally doesn’t happen.
This winter is the most uncharacteristic, at least in my living memory. Frost is nominal in the plains. Temperatures in the hills are unusually high.
What is rather scary is what is happening with our flora and fauna. Budding of blossoms in trees and plants has already begun. Plantation of trees, which would normally begin in March or late February in the Valley, may have to begin any time now. In some areas plantation has already begun.
Like the previous year, we are all set to see almond blooming well ahead of the normal times this year too.
It is not that February snowfall is not possible. It is. But it holds even greater danger in these circumstances. We all know snows now hardly freeze. Melting happens much faster. A February snowfall has the danger of wiping out the blossoms in fruit trees, mainly in almond trees. Early sap in fruit trees make them brittle and bulky. A February snowfall could wreck havoc with them.
Many types of greeneries - including puffballs – are already here in the plains and some semi temperate hills.
When it comes to wildlife, we all know the patterns of hibernation and habitat have already drastically changed. I came across the torso of a dead wolf while driving in the Charar–i-Sharief Karewas this week. Locals told me it was the handiwork of some wild animal. When I asked them how that could be so, locals told me the unusual warmth in the Karewas was making wild animals come out of hibernation.
All these things look really scary. When the report Climate Change and its Impacts in Kashmir – authored by myself – was published in 2007, there was a huge international response, mainly driven by panic. Many people working on climate change issues from around the world wrote to me saying that given the profound visible changes we are having, we people need to get our acts very fast. Hardly anything happened. This winter is turning out to be a kind of watershed. This situation must wake up our policy making apparatus now. As things stand globally, the politics of climate change and our miniature status in the whole calculus make us more apt to work in the adaptation mode.
There is no more kidding in that humanity is on the brink. That is something the world realized when the UN Inter-Governmental Panel report on Climate Change (IPCC) was released. Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth made things even clearer.
There is real panic around the world, which is not unfounded. What was unimaginable a couple of decades ago looks like a vivid reality now, staring humanity in its face. The IPCC report has debunked even those of the scientists who until recently denied that climate was really changing. It has virtually closed the is-it-really-happening debate. Now what the world is debating is how to slowdown the rate of this change to save the humanity.
Years of change in our climate has done many things to our lives in Kashmir. It is an irony that we haven’t started to look into how our climate has changed over the years. Our policy making system doesn’t seem to be keen on knowing what changes it was bringing about in our lives, mainly in livelihoods. We haven’t started to look at how the water sharing calculus between India and Pakistan would alter if the present changes continue unabated.
Though talking about climate change is about hard science, the changes that it is bringing about in our lives are discernible. And we are, of course, a part of the global future trends that the UN report has talked about.
According to the report global temperatures are likely to rise by 1.1 degree Celsius to 6.4 degree Celsius by 2100. What would that mean for Jammu & Kashmir? It could mean that the critical zero temperatures needed for snowfall in winters may not be available even in higher altitudes of J&K. That would mean critical snowfalls in the mountains to supply us water through the year. That, in turn, would mean lesser degree of glacier formation. And what would that mean for our agriculture?
It is likely that vast tracts of agricultural land presently fed by irrigation canals based on gravity irrigation would go dry. That is something which is already happening at a drastic scale. In the course of a study I could not believe the scale at which paddy lands have been changed into dry land orchards in the Shopian-Keller belt recently.
The IPCC report’s revelation that eleven of the last 12 years are among the 12 warmest years ever recorded on earth leaves hardly any scope for debate on global warming. That is quite well discernible in all the three regions of our State. All these changes, quite naturally, have huge economic costs. Drastic decrease in agricultural productivity, which on an average contributes 50 per cent to our Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), would shatter many livelihoods. It would result in food insecurity, and, possibly, even large-scale rural to urban migration.
It has been estimated that if the total impact of climate change is considered, then as much as 9 per cent of GDP of developing countries like India could be wiped out.
According to the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria, India stands to lose 120 million tons (or 18 per cent) of its rain-fed cereal production.
There was a time when all these statistical statements sounded like doomsday scenarios. Today they are not so anymore. Mr. Doom has, perhaps, arrived. All we need to do is to come out of denial, and act.
(Mr. Arjimand Hussain Talib, 34, is from Srinagar and matriculated from Tyndale Biscoe Memorial School in 1991. He subsequently graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Bangalore University. He is also an alumni of the International Academy for Leadership, Gummerbach, Germany. Arjimand writes regular weekly columns for the Greater Kashmir and The Kashmir Times since 2000 on diverse issues of political economy, development, environment and social change and has over 450 published articles to his credit. His forthcoming book: "Confronting the Myths: A Critical Analysis of the Political Economy of Jammu & Kashmir" will be published soon.)
This winter is spring, so we better come out of denial
It is very much probable by the time these lines are in print, it is raining in the Valley. As I write these lines, latest satellite images show two to three weather systems hovering over Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. These are likely to pass over Jammu & Kashmir.
What is very unlikely, perhaps, is that we will have snow in the plains. The winds sweeping across through our winter-time Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan corridor are unusually warm. The temperature of our lower atmosphere is also unusually high.
It is not only about an elusive snowfall in the plains. This winter, in the midst of January, we witnessed snows melting even in the hills alarmingly. These were traditionally the times of deep frost. They seem to have gone, as if with the wind.
At least five major Western Disturbances – the winter-time cloud systems that arrive in J&K from the Mediterranean Sea and Central Asia – have hit the State by now, and yet there is very little snow in the mountains. Plains have had to be content with more of rain, except for the November snowfall when cold winds had blown from the Himalayas, bringing cold clouds, resulting in snowfall. That was a climatic aberration, which normally doesn’t happen.
This winter is the most uncharacteristic, at least in my living memory. Frost is nominal in the plains. Temperatures in the hills are unusually high.
What is rather scary is what is happening with our flora and fauna. Budding of blossoms in trees and plants has already begun. Plantation of trees, which would normally begin in March or late February in the Valley, may have to begin any time now. In some areas plantation has already begun.
Like the previous year, we are all set to see almond blooming well ahead of the normal times this year too.
It is not that February snowfall is not possible. It is. But it holds even greater danger in these circumstances. We all know snows now hardly freeze. Melting happens much faster. A February snowfall has the danger of wiping out the blossoms in fruit trees, mainly in almond trees. Early sap in fruit trees make them brittle and bulky. A February snowfall could wreck havoc with them.
Many types of greeneries - including puffballs – are already here in the plains and some semi temperate hills.
When it comes to wildlife, we all know the patterns of hibernation and habitat have already drastically changed. I came across the torso of a dead wolf while driving in the Charar–i-Sharief Karewas this week. Locals told me it was the handiwork of some wild animal. When I asked them how that could be so, locals told me the unusual warmth in the Karewas was making wild animals come out of hibernation.
All these things look really scary. When the report Climate Change and its Impacts in Kashmir – authored by myself – was published in 2007, there was a huge international response, mainly driven by panic. Many people working on climate change issues from around the world wrote to me saying that given the profound visible changes we are having, we people need to get our acts very fast. Hardly anything happened. This winter is turning out to be a kind of watershed. This situation must wake up our policy making apparatus now. As things stand globally, the politics of climate change and our miniature status in the whole calculus make us more apt to work in the adaptation mode.
There is no more kidding in that humanity is on the brink. That is something the world realized when the UN Inter-Governmental Panel report on Climate Change (IPCC) was released. Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth made things even clearer.
There is real panic around the world, which is not unfounded. What was unimaginable a couple of decades ago looks like a vivid reality now, staring humanity in its face. The IPCC report has debunked even those of the scientists who until recently denied that climate was really changing. It has virtually closed the is-it-really-happening debate. Now what the world is debating is how to slowdown the rate of this change to save the humanity.
Years of change in our climate has done many things to our lives in Kashmir. It is an irony that we haven’t started to look into how our climate has changed over the years. Our policy making system doesn’t seem to be keen on knowing what changes it was bringing about in our lives, mainly in livelihoods. We haven’t started to look at how the water sharing calculus between India and Pakistan would alter if the present changes continue unabated.
Though talking about climate change is about hard science, the changes that it is bringing about in our lives are discernible. And we are, of course, a part of the global future trends that the UN report has talked about.
According to the report global temperatures are likely to rise by 1.1 degree Celsius to 6.4 degree Celsius by 2100. What would that mean for Jammu & Kashmir? It could mean that the critical zero temperatures needed for snowfall in winters may not be available even in higher altitudes of J&K. That would mean critical snowfalls in the mountains to supply us water through the year. That, in turn, would mean lesser degree of glacier formation. And what would that mean for our agriculture?
It is likely that vast tracts of agricultural land presently fed by irrigation canals based on gravity irrigation would go dry. That is something which is already happening at a drastic scale. In the course of a study I could not believe the scale at which paddy lands have been changed into dry land orchards in the Shopian-Keller belt recently.
The IPCC report’s revelation that eleven of the last 12 years are among the 12 warmest years ever recorded on earth leaves hardly any scope for debate on global warming. That is quite well discernible in all the three regions of our State. All these changes, quite naturally, have huge economic costs. Drastic decrease in agricultural productivity, which on an average contributes 50 per cent to our Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), would shatter many livelihoods. It would result in food insecurity, and, possibly, even large-scale rural to urban migration.
It has been estimated that if the total impact of climate change is considered, then as much as 9 per cent of GDP of developing countries like India could be wiped out.
According to the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria, India stands to lose 120 million tons (or 18 per cent) of its rain-fed cereal production.
There was a time when all these statistical statements sounded like doomsday scenarios. Today they are not so anymore. Mr. Doom has, perhaps, arrived. All we need to do is to come out of denial, and act.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
City Without a Soul
Ather pleads for preservation of Srinagar's historical buildings
(Syed Ather Qayoom Rufia, 27, was born in Srinagar, and received his initial schooling from the Tyndale Biscoe Memorial School, Srinagar, and Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi. He graduated as an Architect from the Rizvi College of Architecture, Mumbai. He is currently a partner in an architect and real estate development company in Srinagar. His personal interests are reading, writing and surfing the internet.)
Preserve the heritage, don’t destroy it
At a time when the world is moving successfully ahead, surprisingly, Kashmir for some mysterious reasons is going back to the future. Heritage means something being inherited and is a legacy from centuries. Any cultural heritage expresses the cultural diversity and wealth existing in the country and aids in defining its identity. The heritage intensifies the connection between the people and its land, the links between the community and the country’s cultural landscapes and those between man and his past, and contributes to social cohesiveness. The diverse and numerous cultural heritage assets in Kashmir are tangible archaeological and historical testimonies that give expression to the unique Kashmiri identity. They reflect the range of ethnic and cultural communities in Kashmir, and they tell us of our current identity and our past. The cultural heritage and its surroundings are a nonrenewable physical resource that cannot be replaced or copied. Cultural assets today are highly vulnerable and are constantly threatened by the ravages of nature and man, accelerated development that is accompanied by pollution, population growth and density, an increasing burden of internal and foreign tourism. The great sensitivity of cultural and historical buildings and sites requires that we actively protect, conserve, and present them, to enjoy them now and to bequeath them to future generations.
But unfortunately that is not the case in Kashmir. Local population seems least bothered in the concept of heritage conservation because in Kashmir for the past many years day-to-day survival has been the main concern. Government and semi-government bodies do not seem to have the concept, the capability and the resources to protect and conserve our heritage sites and buildings. As a result we are on day to day basis losing our most valued sites and buildings with respect to culture, architecture and historical importance. At present our heritage buildings with purely traditional architecture, which has now been transformed into the so-called modern architecture, can be seen in every nook and corner in the old city of Srinagar. These are our cultural treasures which need to be preserved. But on contrary these old and traditional buildings are not only being altered or vandalized but even being demolished. We can very clearly see the vandalization of the old “Ganda Singh building” in the heart of Lal Chowk. Some portion of the building is being forcibly possessed by the army and the other half can be seen altered at various places for different commercial purposes. The front façade of the building can be barely seen as it has large advertisement hoardings all along.
Adjoining this building is the old palladium cinema which is still in ruins and tells the same story. The estate building in Lal Chowk, which was burnt some years back, is still in ruins and the authorities do not seem to be bothered to make use of the building in the heart of the commercial hub of the city. There are numerous heritage buildings in Srinagar city which have not been altered but completely demolished for various reasons, mainly for commercial purposes. The latest such example which stunned almost every admirer of the historic and cultural fabric of the old city and many experts is the 150 years old heritage building, “Lal Ded Memorial School” situated at the right bank of the river Jehlum, opposite Shergarhi Palace. What is more surprising is that this demolition has come at a time when the authorities are engaged in the riverfront development of river Jehlum. The development plan seems to have more mechanical and engineering methods rather than more humane ones. Surely the demolition of this 19th century old heritage building can never fit in the development plan of the river Jehlum especially when the tourism department had proposed to convert the building into a cultural centre that would have housed a craft museum. It was a three storey building constructed with typical Kashmiri architecture and a part of its roof still had birch on it. What remains today of this historic building is its ground storey only.
The building was a construction of the Dogra period and ironically it served as the first office of the Srinagar Municipality when it was set up in 1886, and today the same department gave the nod for its demolition. The building was later converted into a school by the renowned poet, Pandit Deena Nath Nadim. On the basis of its architectural and historical significance, this 19th century building had been registered as a Grade-1 historical property. Every citizen of Kashmir has the right to question the Srinagar Municipality responsible for its demolition-- that why such a building with such a historical importance was demolished, and why authorities from time to time change the built heritage and historical fabric of the city, and why all the development plans related to town planning lack this basic issue of conservation of heritage buildings. Why old heritage buildings are allowed to be demolished by the Srinagar Municipality so easily on a mere certificate from any civil or structural engineer declaring it unsafe? Srinagar Municipality ordered for the demolition of this 19th century old building (vide order no: SMC/KH/9978002 dated 23-01-2008) on the basis of some cracks after the earthquake. Weather any expert was even consulted by the corporation could be anyone’s guess. However observations of the experts from INTACH, an NGO working towards the heritage sites and buildings in the city, revealed a different story. There report clearly stated that the building was suffering from minor problems which could be easily rectified. In order to give more teeth to their findings, INTACH asked a renowned structural engineer, Rajindar Desai (consultant UNESCO) to examine the building and he in his report corroborated the findings of INTACH. On the basis of these findings, the tourism department had also written to District Development Commissioner, Srinagar for acquisition of the building. It still remains a question that why the recommendations of the experts were ignored by the Srinagar Municipality and why this historic building was not handed over to the tourism department by the civil administration for its development even after written request.
This blind eye by the authorities towards the historical fabric of the city has converted these old heritage buildings into an “endangered species”. At present a proposal by the government is on the table, which could result in the demolition of the sadder court in Lal Chowk, and in its place could come up a multi-storey shopping complex. The court complex houses the Dogra period buildings, which are a real treasure in terms of our built heritage. There demolition would be one huge blow to our built heritage in the city. It is time not only for the authorities but for the common people too to wake up to this vandalization of our built heritage.
(Syed Ather Qayoom Rufia, 27, was born in Srinagar, and received his initial schooling from the Tyndale Biscoe Memorial School, Srinagar, and Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi. He graduated as an Architect from the Rizvi College of Architecture, Mumbai. He is currently a partner in an architect and real estate development company in Srinagar. His personal interests are reading, writing and surfing the internet.)
Preserve the heritage, don’t destroy it
At a time when the world is moving successfully ahead, surprisingly, Kashmir for some mysterious reasons is going back to the future. Heritage means something being inherited and is a legacy from centuries. Any cultural heritage expresses the cultural diversity and wealth existing in the country and aids in defining its identity. The heritage intensifies the connection between the people and its land, the links between the community and the country’s cultural landscapes and those between man and his past, and contributes to social cohesiveness. The diverse and numerous cultural heritage assets in Kashmir are tangible archaeological and historical testimonies that give expression to the unique Kashmiri identity. They reflect the range of ethnic and cultural communities in Kashmir, and they tell us of our current identity and our past. The cultural heritage and its surroundings are a nonrenewable physical resource that cannot be replaced or copied. Cultural assets today are highly vulnerable and are constantly threatened by the ravages of nature and man, accelerated development that is accompanied by pollution, population growth and density, an increasing burden of internal and foreign tourism. The great sensitivity of cultural and historical buildings and sites requires that we actively protect, conserve, and present them, to enjoy them now and to bequeath them to future generations.
But unfortunately that is not the case in Kashmir. Local population seems least bothered in the concept of heritage conservation because in Kashmir for the past many years day-to-day survival has been the main concern. Government and semi-government bodies do not seem to have the concept, the capability and the resources to protect and conserve our heritage sites and buildings. As a result we are on day to day basis losing our most valued sites and buildings with respect to culture, architecture and historical importance. At present our heritage buildings with purely traditional architecture, which has now been transformed into the so-called modern architecture, can be seen in every nook and corner in the old city of Srinagar. These are our cultural treasures which need to be preserved. But on contrary these old and traditional buildings are not only being altered or vandalized but even being demolished. We can very clearly see the vandalization of the old “Ganda Singh building” in the heart of Lal Chowk. Some portion of the building is being forcibly possessed by the army and the other half can be seen altered at various places for different commercial purposes. The front façade of the building can be barely seen as it has large advertisement hoardings all along.
Adjoining this building is the old palladium cinema which is still in ruins and tells the same story. The estate building in Lal Chowk, which was burnt some years back, is still in ruins and the authorities do not seem to be bothered to make use of the building in the heart of the commercial hub of the city. There are numerous heritage buildings in Srinagar city which have not been altered but completely demolished for various reasons, mainly for commercial purposes. The latest such example which stunned almost every admirer of the historic and cultural fabric of the old city and many experts is the 150 years old heritage building, “Lal Ded Memorial School” situated at the right bank of the river Jehlum, opposite Shergarhi Palace. What is more surprising is that this demolition has come at a time when the authorities are engaged in the riverfront development of river Jehlum. The development plan seems to have more mechanical and engineering methods rather than more humane ones. Surely the demolition of this 19th century old heritage building can never fit in the development plan of the river Jehlum especially when the tourism department had proposed to convert the building into a cultural centre that would have housed a craft museum. It was a three storey building constructed with typical Kashmiri architecture and a part of its roof still had birch on it. What remains today of this historic building is its ground storey only.
The building was a construction of the Dogra period and ironically it served as the first office of the Srinagar Municipality when it was set up in 1886, and today the same department gave the nod for its demolition. The building was later converted into a school by the renowned poet, Pandit Deena Nath Nadim. On the basis of its architectural and historical significance, this 19th century building had been registered as a Grade-1 historical property. Every citizen of Kashmir has the right to question the Srinagar Municipality responsible for its demolition-- that why such a building with such a historical importance was demolished, and why authorities from time to time change the built heritage and historical fabric of the city, and why all the development plans related to town planning lack this basic issue of conservation of heritage buildings. Why old heritage buildings are allowed to be demolished by the Srinagar Municipality so easily on a mere certificate from any civil or structural engineer declaring it unsafe? Srinagar Municipality ordered for the demolition of this 19th century old building (vide order no: SMC/KH/9978002 dated 23-01-2008) on the basis of some cracks after the earthquake. Weather any expert was even consulted by the corporation could be anyone’s guess. However observations of the experts from INTACH, an NGO working towards the heritage sites and buildings in the city, revealed a different story. There report clearly stated that the building was suffering from minor problems which could be easily rectified. In order to give more teeth to their findings, INTACH asked a renowned structural engineer, Rajindar Desai (consultant UNESCO) to examine the building and he in his report corroborated the findings of INTACH. On the basis of these findings, the tourism department had also written to District Development Commissioner, Srinagar for acquisition of the building. It still remains a question that why the recommendations of the experts were ignored by the Srinagar Municipality and why this historic building was not handed over to the tourism department by the civil administration for its development even after written request.
This blind eye by the authorities towards the historical fabric of the city has converted these old heritage buildings into an “endangered species”. At present a proposal by the government is on the table, which could result in the demolition of the sadder court in Lal Chowk, and in its place could come up a multi-storey shopping complex. The court complex houses the Dogra period buildings, which are a real treasure in terms of our built heritage. There demolition would be one huge blow to our built heritage in the city. It is time not only for the authorities but for the common people too to wake up to this vandalization of our built heritage.
Impact of Waste Waters on the Vegetational Pattern of the Dal and Nageen Lakes
Professor Majeed Kak shares the Abstract of his proposal that was recently awarded a major research grant from the University Grants Commission (UGC) New Delhi
(Dr. A. Majeed Kak, 63, was born and in Nowhatta, Srinagar. He received his primary education from the Government Middle School in Nowhatta and his secondary school education from Bagi Dilawar Khan Higher Secondary School in Fateh Kadal. He completed his college education at the Islamia College of Science and Commerce in Srinagar. In 1977 he was the first candidate from the University of Kashmir to be selected by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of the Government of India for a doctoral research scholarship at the university leading to a Ph.D. in Botany in 1980. He is currently the Research Coordinator in the Department of Botany at the Islamia College of Science and Commerce in Srinagar. Dr. Kak has over 35 years of teaching experience and research experience of over 25 years. He has received numerous research awards resulting in publication of 70 research papers and has authored two books on Botany. He is presently engaged in promoting and strengthening local and regional museums, a project supported by a grant from the Ministry of Culture, New Delhi.)
Aquatic weeds of Kashmir (J&K State) constitute a free crop of great potential value- a high productive crop that requires no tillage, fertilizers, seeds or cultivation. These plants have potential for exploitation as human and animal food, soil additives and fuel production besides a number of many other uses.
Two decades before all the lakes were thoroughly investigated. (Kak, 1985, 1997) and about 196 aquatic species recorded were identified, described, documented and preserved. Twenty-two new plants were recorded for the first time either from the Northern Himalayas or from India. Five new species were added to the Science as no vo.
During the recent past it was observed that large number of the species once growing abundantly in our lakes have dwindled and reached to near extinction and many of the species are recent introductions. Increase of some eutrophic aquatic weeds depicts change in the environmental complex, also the rapid process of eutrophication of our pride lakes (Dal and Nageen).
The significant change in the vegetational pattern of the Dal Lake and their prolific growth in the open areas were attributed to effluents from settlements and hotels. Presence of heaps of cow dung and garbage on the lake margins and the enrichment of waters with nutrients like N P K. Many other activities in and around the Dal and Nageen have increased the chemical parameters like, conductivity, chloride content, total alkalinity, total dissolved salts and sulphates.
Our main objective is to reinvestigate the macrophytic flora of both these lakes critically, We are working to have the complete checklist of all the existing species, and to record the number of the species that have totally vanished or are near extinction and those which are invasive or introduced by the human interference, visitors, migratory birds etc. Some immature scholars by just comparing the species with the illustrations without studying morphologically provide wrong information and great confusion, can defame us at international level, so the critical analysis of all the existing macrophytes of the valley is the dire need at present. Azolla, which was never recorded in the history of Kashmir lakes, is now in thick covers for the past three years and has created an alarming situation to the underwater life (both plants and animals ).naturally in a couple of years will change the whole aspect of our privileged lakes. We are studying the possible ways of its eradication or to keep it under control, its dominance and impact on our lake vegetation can also be critically studied. We also intend to record the impact of deweeding and drudging on our macrophytic vegetation, besides recording the extent of pollution in water and its effect on overall macrophytic vegetation.
(Dr. A. Majeed Kak, 63, was born and in Nowhatta, Srinagar. He received his primary education from the Government Middle School in Nowhatta and his secondary school education from Bagi Dilawar Khan Higher Secondary School in Fateh Kadal. He completed his college education at the Islamia College of Science and Commerce in Srinagar. In 1977 he was the first candidate from the University of Kashmir to be selected by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of the Government of India for a doctoral research scholarship at the university leading to a Ph.D. in Botany in 1980. He is currently the Research Coordinator in the Department of Botany at the Islamia College of Science and Commerce in Srinagar. Dr. Kak has over 35 years of teaching experience and research experience of over 25 years. He has received numerous research awards resulting in publication of 70 research papers and has authored two books on Botany. He is presently engaged in promoting and strengthening local and regional museums, a project supported by a grant from the Ministry of Culture, New Delhi.)
Aquatic weeds of Kashmir (J&K State) constitute a free crop of great potential value- a high productive crop that requires no tillage, fertilizers, seeds or cultivation. These plants have potential for exploitation as human and animal food, soil additives and fuel production besides a number of many other uses.
Two decades before all the lakes were thoroughly investigated. (Kak, 1985, 1997) and about 196 aquatic species recorded were identified, described, documented and preserved. Twenty-two new plants were recorded for the first time either from the Northern Himalayas or from India. Five new species were added to the Science as no vo.
During the recent past it was observed that large number of the species once growing abundantly in our lakes have dwindled and reached to near extinction and many of the species are recent introductions. Increase of some eutrophic aquatic weeds depicts change in the environmental complex, also the rapid process of eutrophication of our pride lakes (Dal and Nageen).
The significant change in the vegetational pattern of the Dal Lake and their prolific growth in the open areas were attributed to effluents from settlements and hotels. Presence of heaps of cow dung and garbage on the lake margins and the enrichment of waters with nutrients like N P K. Many other activities in and around the Dal and Nageen have increased the chemical parameters like, conductivity, chloride content, total alkalinity, total dissolved salts and sulphates.
Our main objective is to reinvestigate the macrophytic flora of both these lakes critically, We are working to have the complete checklist of all the existing species, and to record the number of the species that have totally vanished or are near extinction and those which are invasive or introduced by the human interference, visitors, migratory birds etc. Some immature scholars by just comparing the species with the illustrations without studying morphologically provide wrong information and great confusion, can defame us at international level, so the critical analysis of all the existing macrophytes of the valley is the dire need at present. Azolla, which was never recorded in the history of Kashmir lakes, is now in thick covers for the past three years and has created an alarming situation to the underwater life (both plants and animals ).naturally in a couple of years will change the whole aspect of our privileged lakes. We are studying the possible ways of its eradication or to keep it under control, its dominance and impact on our lake vegetation can also be critically studied. We also intend to record the impact of deweeding and drudging on our macrophytic vegetation, besides recording the extent of pollution in water and its effect on overall macrophytic vegetation.
Agenda for Good Governance
Ashraf suggests a way forward
(Mr. Mohammad Ashraf, 66, was born and raised in Srinagar. He attended the S.P. High School and the S.P College before joining the Regional Engineering College at Naseem Bagh in Civil Engineering. However, he changed his career to adventure sports like mountaineering and skiing, completing his training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling and Gulmarg. He also completed a diploma in French language from the Alliance Française in New Delhi. He joined the J&K Tourism Department in 1973, rose to become its Director-General in 1996, and retired in 2003 after 30 years of service. He has been associated with the Adventure Sports at the national level and was recently re-elected as the Vice-President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, the apex body of adventure sports in India, for two years. To commend his efforts in introducing rescue measures in Kashmir Mountains, he was awarded “Merite-Alpin” by Swiss in a special function in Les Diablerets in 1993. He continues to be a member of the Governing Council of IMF and is also the President of Jammu & Kashmir Mountaineering & Hiking Club.)
Agenda for Good Governance
One of the main planks on which most of the parties fought the recent elections in Kashmir has been the promise of “Good Governance”. People have made a conscious distinction between “Azadi” and Good Governance. They have been aspiring for “Azadi” for a pretty long time and are not sure when they will achieve it. In the meantime, the Governance of the State concerning the day to day living has considerably deteriorated. In fact, the State had got real “Good Governance” only for a couple stretches in its recent history. One was the first tenure of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah from 1950 to 1953 and the other was the tenure of G.M.Sadiq from 1965 to 1971. For the rest of the period most of the politicians have indulged in “Self-Governance”. They have been governing for their own selfish interests and not for the benefit of the common man. In the run up to the elections, various leaders have been promising moon to the common public. They have all spoken about “Good Governance”. Post election many columns, letters, and suggestive pieces have been written about what needs to be done. Most of these have made general suggestions for improving the governance and attending to very urgent and pressing issues. In fact, there are umpteen issues which need to be attended on priority if the promises are to be kept.
It is, therefore, very important not only to prioritise various issues but also to ensure planned implementation of the same with continuous monitoring. Some of the important ones connected with development side could be named as “Environment”, “Unemployment”, “Corruption”, “Healthcare”, “Power”, “Civic Services”, and so on. Let us begin with the most burning one. This is regarding our living environment. It may not seem so important to the common people at the present moment but it is going to be a decisive one for the very survival of our so called “Paradise on Earth”. When we talk of Environment in Kashmir, the first thing to hit us in the face is the dying Dal Lake. For more than three decades now the Lake is supposed to be under the process of restoration. However, instead of getting restored it is deteriorating at a fast rate and may be extinct soon! The so called Authority constituted for its conservation is not really a statutory authority which it should have been but a simple extension of a Government Department.
Had it been an autonomous organisation headed by an expert, it may have delivered something. It is just like any other government department and mostly headed by bureaucrats drawn from administrative services. The measures for the restoration of the Lake had been initiated by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah himself when he had commissioned a group of New Zealand experts to give a project report. That report known as the “Ennex Report” is the best so far on the subject. Subsequently the bureaucracy muddled the whole process of restoration by getting report after report. From a clear water area of 32 square miles it has been reduced to less than 11 square miles. The last Chief Minister called it a “Money Minting Machine”, thereby admitting his failure to save it. Corruption, red-tape, lack of popular concern have all contributed to its destruction. But the primary factor has been the lack of political will and initiative among the people at the helm. There is no better way to save Dal and restore it to its previous glory than to hand it over on a turnkey basis to an International Agency/Agencies specialising in such tasks. Unless we do it, it is doomed to extinction!
The Dal Lake is only the tip of the ice berg of an environmental disaster being faced by Kashmir. The other water bodies like Wular, Nageen, Manasbal and the River Jhelum are in no better state. Especially the River Jhelum has become a huge sewer. The previous governments have only tried to put make up on its banks and that too near the civil lines area. It once used to be the main channel for transportation and was fully navigable even for highly loaded barges. It needs to be made navigable once again by dredging. No dredging has been done in the River since Maharaja’s time. Next to water bodies are the lush green forests of the valley which have been massacred wantonly by timber smugglers (quite a few of whom are supposed to be so called ex-militants) in connivance with the authorities and the security forces. This butchery of our green gold must be stopped immediately if the valley is not to become a desert sometime in future. The diminishing forest cover has already resulted in freak weather in recent times.
The second most explosive problem being faced in ensuring “Good Governance” is the unemployment. Hundreds of thousands of youth some of them highly educated both academically and professionally are totally unemployed. It is they who had come out in large numbers to vote in the hope of getting some gainful employment. During election rallies it had been given out that two hundred thousand youth will be provided government jobs. Some leaders had stated 70,000 jobs are available. The State is already overburdened with staff. More than 4,000 crores is the annual pay bill of the establishment. If the bulk of funds go for the salaries of the staff what will go into development? It had also been given out that more and more battalions of India Reserve Police will be created. There seems to be a plan to create armies of paid slaves. It is just like keeping unemployed on social security without any productive work. What is needed is creation of productive employment avenues. Kashmir is rich many resources which have remained unexploited.
Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture, and many other fields present good opportunities for self employment. Similarly, there could be many industries based on the products of these sectors. One of the important sectors totally neglected is the possibility of finding overseas employment for Kashmiris on an organised basis.
There had been a proposal to set up an overseas employment corporation but this never materialised. The entire Gulf region has at the present moment an infrastructure development boom. There are thousands of jobs available but it is impossible for Kashmiri youth to land these jobs on their own because of numerous restrictions in getting travel papers and other clearances. Similar jobs are available in Malaysia, Brunei, and some other places. If Kashmiri youth could be guided and facilitated, they could be easily employed gainfully abroad. They would earn a lot of foreign exchange and also broaden their vision. One of the main sectors for economic development could be Tourism provided peace prevails. In a peaceful atmosphere Tourism could become a key sector and being a service oriented industry it can provide thousands of jobs. Even now with a limited scope it provides employment to a large section of the population. However, till the situation fully stabilises in Kashmir and in our neighbourhood, it cannot be depended upon solely as a viable and consistent economic activity. It needs to be taken only as additionality. For future it can be an important sector for large scale employment at all levels. Thus the unemployment problem needs to be tackled intelligently on a long term basis and no short cuts of creating armies of daily wagers and casual workers should be resorted to.
Any type of governance which is supposed to be good has to be uncorrupted. Corruption is the mortal enemy of good governance. The worst form of corruption is the political corruption. Everything depends upon the Chief Executive of an organisation and it is more so for a political organisation. If the top is clean, the bottom will have to get cleaned up. If the top is dirty, the bottom cannot be clean and even if a part of it is clean, it will not last! Corruption in Kashmir has totally lost the stigma normally attached to it in any reasonably good society. Here no one frowns upon corruption and it is taken to be a part of the system. Corruption has seeped into the blood stream of Kashmiris. One would have to conduct a special dialysis to clean the blood! Transparency International has now upgraded Kashmir to the first position among the most corrupt States of India.
(Mr. Mohammad Ashraf, 66, was born and raised in Srinagar. He attended the S.P. High School and the S.P College before joining the Regional Engineering College at Naseem Bagh in Civil Engineering. However, he changed his career to adventure sports like mountaineering and skiing, completing his training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling and Gulmarg. He also completed a diploma in French language from the Alliance Française in New Delhi. He joined the J&K Tourism Department in 1973, rose to become its Director-General in 1996, and retired in 2003 after 30 years of service. He has been associated with the Adventure Sports at the national level and was recently re-elected as the Vice-President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, the apex body of adventure sports in India, for two years. To commend his efforts in introducing rescue measures in Kashmir Mountains, he was awarded “Merite-Alpin” by Swiss in a special function in Les Diablerets in 1993. He continues to be a member of the Governing Council of IMF and is also the President of Jammu & Kashmir Mountaineering & Hiking Club.)
Agenda for Good Governance
One of the main planks on which most of the parties fought the recent elections in Kashmir has been the promise of “Good Governance”. People have made a conscious distinction between “Azadi” and Good Governance. They have been aspiring for “Azadi” for a pretty long time and are not sure when they will achieve it. In the meantime, the Governance of the State concerning the day to day living has considerably deteriorated. In fact, the State had got real “Good Governance” only for a couple stretches in its recent history. One was the first tenure of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah from 1950 to 1953 and the other was the tenure of G.M.Sadiq from 1965 to 1971. For the rest of the period most of the politicians have indulged in “Self-Governance”. They have been governing for their own selfish interests and not for the benefit of the common man. In the run up to the elections, various leaders have been promising moon to the common public. They have all spoken about “Good Governance”. Post election many columns, letters, and suggestive pieces have been written about what needs to be done. Most of these have made general suggestions for improving the governance and attending to very urgent and pressing issues. In fact, there are umpteen issues which need to be attended on priority if the promises are to be kept.
It is, therefore, very important not only to prioritise various issues but also to ensure planned implementation of the same with continuous monitoring. Some of the important ones connected with development side could be named as “Environment”, “Unemployment”, “Corruption”, “Healthcare”, “Power”, “Civic Services”, and so on. Let us begin with the most burning one. This is regarding our living environment. It may not seem so important to the common people at the present moment but it is going to be a decisive one for the very survival of our so called “Paradise on Earth”. When we talk of Environment in Kashmir, the first thing to hit us in the face is the dying Dal Lake. For more than three decades now the Lake is supposed to be under the process of restoration. However, instead of getting restored it is deteriorating at a fast rate and may be extinct soon! The so called Authority constituted for its conservation is not really a statutory authority which it should have been but a simple extension of a Government Department.
Had it been an autonomous organisation headed by an expert, it may have delivered something. It is just like any other government department and mostly headed by bureaucrats drawn from administrative services. The measures for the restoration of the Lake had been initiated by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah himself when he had commissioned a group of New Zealand experts to give a project report. That report known as the “Ennex Report” is the best so far on the subject. Subsequently the bureaucracy muddled the whole process of restoration by getting report after report. From a clear water area of 32 square miles it has been reduced to less than 11 square miles. The last Chief Minister called it a “Money Minting Machine”, thereby admitting his failure to save it. Corruption, red-tape, lack of popular concern have all contributed to its destruction. But the primary factor has been the lack of political will and initiative among the people at the helm. There is no better way to save Dal and restore it to its previous glory than to hand it over on a turnkey basis to an International Agency/Agencies specialising in such tasks. Unless we do it, it is doomed to extinction!
The Dal Lake is only the tip of the ice berg of an environmental disaster being faced by Kashmir. The other water bodies like Wular, Nageen, Manasbal and the River Jhelum are in no better state. Especially the River Jhelum has become a huge sewer. The previous governments have only tried to put make up on its banks and that too near the civil lines area. It once used to be the main channel for transportation and was fully navigable even for highly loaded barges. It needs to be made navigable once again by dredging. No dredging has been done in the River since Maharaja’s time. Next to water bodies are the lush green forests of the valley which have been massacred wantonly by timber smugglers (quite a few of whom are supposed to be so called ex-militants) in connivance with the authorities and the security forces. This butchery of our green gold must be stopped immediately if the valley is not to become a desert sometime in future. The diminishing forest cover has already resulted in freak weather in recent times.
The second most explosive problem being faced in ensuring “Good Governance” is the unemployment. Hundreds of thousands of youth some of them highly educated both academically and professionally are totally unemployed. It is they who had come out in large numbers to vote in the hope of getting some gainful employment. During election rallies it had been given out that two hundred thousand youth will be provided government jobs. Some leaders had stated 70,000 jobs are available. The State is already overburdened with staff. More than 4,000 crores is the annual pay bill of the establishment. If the bulk of funds go for the salaries of the staff what will go into development? It had also been given out that more and more battalions of India Reserve Police will be created. There seems to be a plan to create armies of paid slaves. It is just like keeping unemployed on social security without any productive work. What is needed is creation of productive employment avenues. Kashmir is rich many resources which have remained unexploited.
Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture, and many other fields present good opportunities for self employment. Similarly, there could be many industries based on the products of these sectors. One of the important sectors totally neglected is the possibility of finding overseas employment for Kashmiris on an organised basis.
There had been a proposal to set up an overseas employment corporation but this never materialised. The entire Gulf region has at the present moment an infrastructure development boom. There are thousands of jobs available but it is impossible for Kashmiri youth to land these jobs on their own because of numerous restrictions in getting travel papers and other clearances. Similar jobs are available in Malaysia, Brunei, and some other places. If Kashmiri youth could be guided and facilitated, they could be easily employed gainfully abroad. They would earn a lot of foreign exchange and also broaden their vision. One of the main sectors for economic development could be Tourism provided peace prevails. In a peaceful atmosphere Tourism could become a key sector and being a service oriented industry it can provide thousands of jobs. Even now with a limited scope it provides employment to a large section of the population. However, till the situation fully stabilises in Kashmir and in our neighbourhood, it cannot be depended upon solely as a viable and consistent economic activity. It needs to be taken only as additionality. For future it can be an important sector for large scale employment at all levels. Thus the unemployment problem needs to be tackled intelligently on a long term basis and no short cuts of creating armies of daily wagers and casual workers should be resorted to.
Any type of governance which is supposed to be good has to be uncorrupted. Corruption is the mortal enemy of good governance. The worst form of corruption is the political corruption. Everything depends upon the Chief Executive of an organisation and it is more so for a political organisation. If the top is clean, the bottom will have to get cleaned up. If the top is dirty, the bottom cannot be clean and even if a part of it is clean, it will not last! Corruption in Kashmir has totally lost the stigma normally attached to it in any reasonably good society. Here no one frowns upon corruption and it is taken to be a part of the system. Corruption has seeped into the blood stream of Kashmiris. One would have to conduct a special dialysis to clean the blood! Transparency International has now upgraded Kashmir to the first position among the most corrupt States of India.
The State authorities may try every means to create a fool-proof system to stem the corruption in different sectors. Unfortunately the operators themselves show the ways and means of short circuiting the system. An interesting episode is the installation of electronic meters for power consumption. The new ones are impossible to tamper with but the personnel who are supposed to guard these against tampering are themselves showing the common people the ways and means of by passing these! Thus, apart from transmission, and distribution losses, our power system has to face the deliberate human losses. The system of corrupt practices has been refined to finesse. An interesting example is the traffic department. There is a sophisticated system in operation throughout the state right from the first entry point in Lakhanpur.
Every truck driver, minibus owner, and a number of other vehicles like load carriers have to pay a monthly “tax” on plying various routes. By a strange secret code the traffic people posted at different points en route come to know whether the concerned driver has paid his monthly “tax”. The proceeds are distributed among all concerned. Similar is the situation in engineering departments where people in hierarchy have a fixed percentage for each work allotment right from the lowest officer to the senior most one. This process is not considered corruption but a regular and normal system of working. Corruption is when fictitious bills are drawn for non-existing projects. At one time it was the Revenue Department which was supposed to be the most corrupt due to an unimaginable amount of paper work involved in various procedures but now the disease is universal. Additionally, the disease has now gone into the moral fibre of the society and along with material corruption, moral corruption has spread fast in every sphere.
Material corruption can be possibly eliminated or reduced to some extent but how can the moral corruption be checked? This would need some drastic action not only from the government but by the members of the society itself. One of the surest ways of bringing in some order on the material side at least in the day to day working of different government organisations with lesser chances of corruption is the digitising of records and computerisation of different procedures. A beginning had been made in this regard in late nineties but with the change of government, the project was given a go by after the person who had initiated it was shown the door. The process needs to be restarted. It has been given out that an Information Technology Agency is being constituted.
Such an agency should be more like a statutory body without any outside interference from both bureaucrats and politicians. Only there should be a mechanism for co-ordination with the concerned authorities in the government. The job should be entrusted to an organisation having requisite expertise and resources on a turnkey basis in a specific time frame. Another important measure for lessening corruption is to have a strict system of accountability fully transparent and easily accessible to a common man. The implementation of the Central Right to Information Act in full in the state may ensure this. One of our other misfortunes is absence of an incorruptible development policy which would not get affected by any change of government.
With the change of government, everything changes even the basic principles of planning and development. There should be some sanctity for various government policies and procedures including the overall policy for development.
Any change should require sanction of the legislature so that works and projects started in one government automatically get carried on during the tenure of the succeeding government even if it is of a different political party or combination of parties. The projects or works should be suspended only if there is something terribly wrong with these as a matter of principle. This will not leave us a baggage of unfinished tasks and abandoned projects with the change of every government. Another avenue of corruption is the policy of frequent transfers. Normally there should be a fixed tenure for all officers and officials unless there is something adverse reported against them. People give and the concerned authorities both political and bureaucratic accept bribes for what are known to be prize postings. Sometimes prices are fixed for certain specific postings. This malaise is universal even in the Central Government! A sure way of developing vested interests and consequent avenues of corruption is the patronising of specific staff members by politicians, bureaucrats, and police officers.
All these people have a habit of carrying their personal staff, special assistants, sometimes even orderlies to whatever position or posting they go during the tenure of their service career especially at senior positions. The same is true of Ministers who desire officers of their choice regardless of the portfolios they are allotted to from time to time. It is said that some of these people insist on even carrying with them the same escorts and personal security officers wherever they go!
This is a sure blueprint for promoting corruption. It has been reported that the new rulers are not able to expand the state cabinet because there is a dearth of right people among the elected lot! Even some of the incumbents taken earlier are under a shadow. Here, one is compelled to appreciate the American Presidential System where the Chief Executive has the choice of picking the right people for the right job and does not have to depend upon a motley crowd of so called elected people. With each Presidential change in America about 5,000 people change jobs and a large number of advisors come from the top notch Universities which normally function as “Think Tanks” for the State policies in different sectors. One wishes that our Universities too would take the American example and become genuine think tanks for various government policies.
This needs, first of all, the removal of the taboo of political discussions in these centres of higher education. Coming back to corruption, it is so deeply entrenched in the society that the person honestly interested in removing it has a tough job ahead. Many people have become sceptical due to the imbalanced team and the failure to have the full complement soon. Nevertheless, someone has to make a determined effort to begin the process. Everything depends upon the Chief Executive now. If he takes the difficult but decisive first step, he will get full backing of the public. The fate of the widely publicised “Good Governance” depends upon that first step!
After tackling the most important item of “Good Governance” pertaining to the rapidly deteriorating living environment, the other urgent task is the provision of basic amenities of day to day living for both the urbanites and the village folk. In spite of being in the twenty first century in what has been called the “Paradise on Earth”, the dwellers in general here lead a pathetic life. No doubt compared to some other parts of India like Bihar, Eastern U.P., Rajasthan, Orissa, and some parts of Africa, we have a much better life style, yet it is not what one would expect with our natural resources! The amount of money supposed to have been invested in building our infrastructure during last 60 years or so should have made Kashmir like a real Paradise but it is still worse than hell in some places. During the severe weather conditions in winter life in the valley and remote areas is really tough. The first and foremost deficiency in the basic infrastructure is the perennial power famine. It is our tragedy that in spite of having the maximum potential for generating hydro-electric power we face a power famine.
The worst part of the story is that the same waters are being used to generate power on both sides of the divide but its full use has been made taboo for Kashmiris and we are entitled to mere 12% of the generated power! The potential of power is so much that after fulfilling our needs we could sell it to our neighbours and live only on that revenue. It is alleged by many that this water has been taken hostage on both the sides of the unnatural divide. However, no one seems to be really concerned about this supposed usurpation of our water resources. Neither the mainstream parties nor the leaders of the popular movement have earnestly thought about this problem. Our first priority should be to solve our power generation problem. This can be done only by mutual interaction between the three concerned parties, India, Pakistan, and the Kashmiris. Both the countries have to accept that they are exploiting the waters over which the first right is of Kashmiris. The least they can do is to set up some joint projects for the exclusive use of the local people. There are a number of major projects in the pipeline on both sides of the divide. These projects have not taken care of the local needs honestly and sincerely.
These have been planned with the aim of providing power for the use of people living in the mainland on two sides of the border. No doubt, Kashmiris may be getting 12% of the power without any investment but that does not solve our basic problem of the power famine. There is urgent need to sort out this basic issue of power generation. The micro-hydal projects and the run of the river small power houses are not going to solve the problem. For the generation to keep pace with the demand there is need of some high capacity storage projects for the exclusive use of the local people. These can be set up only when there is agreement between the signatories to Indus Water Treaty which has kept the Kashmir waters hostage to the two neighbouring countries. There is a Power Development Corporation but it has been mostly headed by bureaucrats and is abnormally short of funds. The Corporation should be headed by a top professional in setting up of power projects especially ones connected with hydro-electric power generation. Such a person could be even a foreign expert where many similar projects are functioning. Moreover, the Corporation should be able to raise global finances for setting up various projects. Along with resolving the basic issue of power generation, the government has to revamp the archaic distribution system. The entire distribution network is the most unscientific and obsolete in the present digital age.
Maximum losses occur because of this system. I remember one of my friends, a former Chief Engineer, relating to me an anecdote about the system. During the visit of an Engineering Delegation from the erstwhile Soviet Union to downtown Srinagar, the head of the delegation asked the host as to how many people get electrocuted in the city daily? On being told, none, he exclaimed that he had started believing in God! That was a couple of decades back. Since that time the world has moved far ahead but not our electric system. Recently there had been a news item about creation of a reservoir of transformers. According to another electric engineer, “Instead of rectifying the basic problem, which is poorly laid and overlaid distribution system, and unknown consumers, the engineers have proposed a solution which will increase their under the table earnings, (purchasing a large number of new transformers). The proposed remedy is like prescribing cough syrup for a patient suffering from lung cancer!”
One way of ensuring properly functioning transformers could be a maintenance contract with suppliers of the transformers. This would amount outsourcing the job to the companies which are supplying the transformers. They could be legally bound to ensure maintenance/replacement in case of default within 48 hours or so. Failure to do so should entail a progressive penalty. However, in any case the whole distribution system needs to be revamped. Sometime back there was talk of an Asian Development Bank loan being given to J & K for the revamping of the whole system. It is not known what happened to that scheme? Apart from technical problems, the power system in J & K has a human element which sabotages it. It is what is known as the “Power Theft”. This means consumers using more power than they pay for or using it without paying for it. This is a regular mafia involving both public and the departmental personnel. It is very disheartening for some people who pay full metered charges to see some of their neighbours paying just a pittance by having their meters bypassed by the very staffs which are supposed to monitor these! There is a massive revenue leakage. In a number of cases people do not pay at all by hooking wires that too on high voltage lines in some instances which is extremely hazardous. It may be ultimately worthwhile to realise fixed charges for each connection irrespective of the load. If an average is worked out depending upon energy consumption, a uniform charge can be levied. The overloading can be taken care of by relays which can be suitably calibrated to trip on overload in each receiving station. Thus the problem of “Power” in Kashmir is not an isolated one. It is quite comprehensive and involves multidimensional approach. Few isolated ad hoc measures are not going to cure the disease. Symptomatic treatment may give temporary pain relief but if one is sincere in solving this most basic major problem confronting the planned development of the state, one has to undertake an all inclusive and in depth study and devise a long term time bound programme for its rectification. Unless we do it, we will not be able to talk of good governance in real terms!
For “Good Governance” there are many essentials which have been highlighted in earlier columns. However, the basic and the most important ingredient of all the systems is a human being. Physical well being and good mental health is the fundamental necessity for a human being to deliver. An unhealthy person cannot be expected to develop and improve any society. Thus, the very concept of “Good Governance” of a State should start with the improvement in the health of its citizens. Numerous articles, columns, news reports, and public grievance letters about the deficiencies in our Healthcare System have been written umpteen times. Many attempts have been made to improve the set up but in spite of all these efforts the system has not shown appreciable improvement. On the contrary it has been deteriorating exponentially. One cannot hold the Department of Health wholly responsible for this deterioration. The malaise is much deeper. During the last couple of decades the most conspicuous visible impact on state administration in all spheres of its activity has been the loss of discipline and accountability. No one is answerable to no one! The entire focus of the people in authority had been on the maintenance of law and order and catching or killing the illusive militants. One could take any liberty under the cover of security reasons. The basic amenities and civic services were given a go by or these were allowed to be deteriorated to such an extent that it now seems impossible to redeem these. Instead of pointing out more deficiencies, it would be rather worthwhile to give suggestions to improve the system.
While talking of accountability one is reminded of regulations in the western countries or even in Middle East especially Saudi Arabia. If a patient under treatment dies in a hospital, there is an automatic inquiry into the cause of death and the role of the attending medical staff. If it is proved that a doctor or medical staff was at fault, he or she apart from losing the job and facing deportation can also be fined and sent to prison. In our case, there are almost daily deaths and sometimes even on the operating table which totally go unnoticed. Regarding administration of drugs, in the west if a patient in a ward is put on an antibiotic, the entire ward is on red alert. On the contrary, here any kid can buy a third generation anti-biotic over the counter and take it on his own. The Health Department needs to enforce the Drug Control Act vigorously to avoid complications by indiscriminate use of drugs by common people as well as the free circulation of spurious drugs. Drugs especially ones having severe side effects should in no case be dispensed without a proper prescription of a licensed medical practitioner.
To begin with, we have to improve the Primary Health Care which is not up to the mark. The Primary Health Centres have to be fully equipped both as regards the staff and equipment. There is common complaint of doctors refusing to serve in rural areas. We have Health Centres in far flung remote areas where we expect doctors and other staff to live on a punishment basis. In the deserts of Arabia, there are Medical Centres even in remoter areas but the facilities provided there are better than those available in the major metros of the country. The very same doctors who refuse rural duties in Kashmir gladly serve in the desert centres. It is not only because of higher emoluments but because of good living facilities available there. Why can’t we recreate similar facilities for our doctors in far flung areas? If it is made more lucrative and comfortable to serve in remote areas people will gladly opt to go there. Next come the sub-district and district hospitals.
Again these are not what hospitals should normally be. These lack both in specialists and specialised equipment. Most of the cases have to be referred to the City Hospitals. This is worse in regard to maternity cases. There is only one hospital in entire Kashmir and that is by now the most infamous “Lal Ded” Hospital. Totally over loaded and virtually in shambles. Same is the case with the Paediatric Hospital. The only one in the valley is an apology of a Children and Maternity Hospital. A number of reports have appeared about the status of these hospitals. In fact, the very first act of the new Chief Minister was to sack the top brass of Lal Ded Hospital. It is not difficult to maintain district or sub-district hospitals at a reputable standard. Only will to do so with the support of higher authorities is required. In late seventies when I was supervising winter sports in Gulmarg, the sub-district hospital at Tangmarg was kept in excellent shape by the then superintendant, Dr. Sheikh Mustafa Kamal. The centrally heated hospital was probably the first to have an auto-analyser! The reason for specialists avoiding district hospitals is the fact of these being non-teaching hospitals. The tenure of a specialist there is not counted as teaching experience required by him for promotion to higher posts. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to locate every important facility in Srinagar only.
This is true not only in Health sector but in almost all spheres. If one plots the growth of our urban areas on a map, the Srinagar City is like a football where as the other towns are no more than pinheads. Even in the City of Srinagar there is total dispersal of various specialities. Specialities concerning various parts of a human body are located in four corners of the city. The super-speciality institute, SKIMS, is operating as a normal hospital than a super-speciality centre because of the tremendous out patient load.
Kashmir does not have an ambulance service. In many other countries or even some of the metros the ambulances are so well equipped that a patient gets half the treatment during the journey to the hospital. In our case, many a patient may not survive the ride to hospital in view of the condition of the ambulances. One of most visible aspects which one notices in our hospitals is the lack of dedicated nursing staff. In any hospital, the success of treatment depends upon the post operative care. We have excellent consultants and some of these can be rated among the best in the world but their efforts go many times waste because of the lack of post operative care. If we do not have good nursing staff, why can’t we import good nurses such as the Keralites famous all over the world? This is more relevant in view of the massive import of both skilled and un-skilled Bihari labour. One suggestion for improving the facilities provided both by government and the private hospitals is to allow setting up of some international standard institutions in the state. These can be a bench mark for others to improve. For some unknown reasons the vested interests have not been allowing such establishments even by some non-resident Kashmiris desirous of serving their own people. An instant case is the permission to set up an International Hospital by some Kashmiri doctors from USA, UK, and Middle East which has been in the pipeline for last couple of years. It is reported that some politicians had demanded heavy bribes from them for giving the requisite permission!
Apart from Health Care, Civic Services like Municipal Services, Traffic, Drainage, there are umpteen other sectors involving basic amenities for the common people which need to be attended to urgently as part of “Good Governance”. There are other areas like Education which need attention. However, detailing all these would require writing a full fledged book on “Good Governance”. One would like to conclude the present series of the articles with the sincere hope that the issues already raised would get due attention of the concerned authorities. Depending upon the response it may be worthwhile to discuss other aspects especially pertaining to Civic Services in some future columns.
Saga of a Contemporary Woman Living an Imposed Lifestyle
Afshana gets personal with a story of a woman bifurcated between within and without
(Ms. Syeda Afshana, 35, was born in Srinagar. She attended the Vishwa Bharti High School in Rainawari, Srinagar, and the Government Women's College in Srinagar where she received a B.Sc. degree. She completed her Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Kashmir University in 1999 and was the Gold Medallist (first position holder) in her graduating class. She is currently a Lecturer in the Media Education Research Centre (MERC) of the Kashmir University and pursuing her doctorate on the role of internet after 9/11.)
Between within & without
"No! I do not understand it.
But what is more important to me is that I understand Dr. Einstein".
One cannot but appreciate this prompt reply of Mrs. Albert Einstein as someone asked her if she understood her husband's theory of relativity. Actually, the woman behind the scientific genius like Einstein was what she was: creative in her own very valuable way. For her it wasn't imperative to decipher the dimensions of sci-logistics, as was the urge to read the mind of a man who was more a precious life-partner to her than a renowned scientist.
It happens that many common people are often more sensitive and understanding than others. Possessing a low-profile, they may not be famous but they are incredibly creative. And this naturally simple fact has been substantiated even by various research studies. A. H. Maslow, Professor of Psychology and a researcher of note in the field of creativity, admits that when he first began to study the subject, he had unconsciously confined creativeness to painters, poets and certain scientists and inventors. Then Maslow met a woman who was uneducated, quite poor, and a full-time housewife and mother. She did not write fiction or dash off new scientific theories. Maslow says that yet she was a marvelous cook, mother, wife and homemaker. With little money, her home was somehow always beautiful. She was a perfect hostess. Her meals were banquets. In all these areas, she was original, novel, ingenious, unexpected, and inventive. And Maslow just had to call her creative.
As far as the grain of creativity is concerned, it is hard to believe that some decades back a knowledgeable critic would have cried out: 'We are in danger of developing a cult of the Common Man, which means a cult of mediocrity'. However, today we seem to be in a jeopardy of nurturing a cult of "Extraordinary Man, or for that matter, Woman" who have a tendency to overdo things in the rush of getting noticed or recognized. This has rendered the concept of creativity crackpot.
In relation to woman, her creativity is linked quite closely to her mind than any external agencies. The more her mind is trained, the more creative she turns out to be. Education, of course, is the best training. But the people who are concerned with the formation and stimulation of women's minds have a recurrent nightmare. They envisage one of their graduates suddenly confronting herself in a mirror at some point of her age.
In college, she had been a first class student. Teachers had praised her prose style, her insights into modern history, her keen grasp of economics and social problems. The question arises as to what she has done with her intellectual skills or, to say, her creativity. The grim answer is: nothing. She has either become a wife or a working woman. Why, she may be asking herself, did she go to college if this was the ultimate object or aim?
This may again smack of a dilemma as inner contradictions are not a new thing for women. On the home front, a woman had to be able to manage children and home. The attempt to play these roles, and at once remain 'feminine' produced its share of conflicts and anxieties. Nonetheless, it wasn't that painful. She had no part to play outside. Today, she is bifurcated between within and without. Consequently, her creative output suffers on both fronts. And this is happening despite the much talked about social, economic and technological changes now in process. The growing mechanization and automation of home can hardly help a woman to live an actively creative outside life. Too many promising professional careers on the part of women wither away at present before their high points have been reached. The woman, who enters a profession and then marries and has children, has to 'interrupt' her career which, in majority of cases, is rarely caught up later. She does not retire, but she resumes in 'piecemeal style'. This obviously tells upon consistent productivity and efficiency in her career.
The moot point, as such, is that if dual responsibilities will face her in the home and in her career (she is already facing them badly), what kind of education will prepare her to lead this 'double life' efficiently? What are the ways that will succour in the fuller exploration of her creative resources with ever-increasing fervour?
It is sad but unarguable fact that most human beings go through life partially aware of the full range of their abilities. In our society, we could do much more than we now do to encourage self-development. We could drop the increasingly silly absurdities dominating our education (this can be done by any educator/teacher on individual level), and devise arrangements for lifelong fruitful learning. Of course, we cannot question the credibility of anything that has been made to stay as infallible and unchallengeable. But if the 'dual-role' of women is now being accepted as something inevitable in our society, we have to chalk out and display alternatives for refuting its logic. And this can be easily done by those engaged in women's education. If the target group is itself addressed, it can be a result-oriented exercise. Educating women properly and then letting them decide for themselves their course of action, is far better than thrusting dictates on them. Compulsion works but only transiently.
Women's minds are one of the major resources for any nation. We should be determined to help them achieve the success they—and, of course, their community—need to make the pursuit of happiness and intellectual satisfaction a realistic goal. Creativity in them ought to be recognized and nurtured through healthy means.
(Ms. Syeda Afshana, 35, was born in Srinagar. She attended the Vishwa Bharti High School in Rainawari, Srinagar, and the Government Women's College in Srinagar where she received a B.Sc. degree. She completed her Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Kashmir University in 1999 and was the Gold Medallist (first position holder) in her graduating class. She is currently a Lecturer in the Media Education Research Centre (MERC) of the Kashmir University and pursuing her doctorate on the role of internet after 9/11.)
Between within & without
"No! I do not understand it.
But what is more important to me is that I understand Dr. Einstein".
One cannot but appreciate this prompt reply of Mrs. Albert Einstein as someone asked her if she understood her husband's theory of relativity. Actually, the woman behind the scientific genius like Einstein was what she was: creative in her own very valuable way. For her it wasn't imperative to decipher the dimensions of sci-logistics, as was the urge to read the mind of a man who was more a precious life-partner to her than a renowned scientist.
It happens that many common people are often more sensitive and understanding than others. Possessing a low-profile, they may not be famous but they are incredibly creative. And this naturally simple fact has been substantiated even by various research studies. A. H. Maslow, Professor of Psychology and a researcher of note in the field of creativity, admits that when he first began to study the subject, he had unconsciously confined creativeness to painters, poets and certain scientists and inventors. Then Maslow met a woman who was uneducated, quite poor, and a full-time housewife and mother. She did not write fiction or dash off new scientific theories. Maslow says that yet she was a marvelous cook, mother, wife and homemaker. With little money, her home was somehow always beautiful. She was a perfect hostess. Her meals were banquets. In all these areas, she was original, novel, ingenious, unexpected, and inventive. And Maslow just had to call her creative.
As far as the grain of creativity is concerned, it is hard to believe that some decades back a knowledgeable critic would have cried out: 'We are in danger of developing a cult of the Common Man, which means a cult of mediocrity'. However, today we seem to be in a jeopardy of nurturing a cult of "Extraordinary Man, or for that matter, Woman" who have a tendency to overdo things in the rush of getting noticed or recognized. This has rendered the concept of creativity crackpot.
In relation to woman, her creativity is linked quite closely to her mind than any external agencies. The more her mind is trained, the more creative she turns out to be. Education, of course, is the best training. But the people who are concerned with the formation and stimulation of women's minds have a recurrent nightmare. They envisage one of their graduates suddenly confronting herself in a mirror at some point of her age.
In college, she had been a first class student. Teachers had praised her prose style, her insights into modern history, her keen grasp of economics and social problems. The question arises as to what she has done with her intellectual skills or, to say, her creativity. The grim answer is: nothing. She has either become a wife or a working woman. Why, she may be asking herself, did she go to college if this was the ultimate object or aim?
This may again smack of a dilemma as inner contradictions are not a new thing for women. On the home front, a woman had to be able to manage children and home. The attempt to play these roles, and at once remain 'feminine' produced its share of conflicts and anxieties. Nonetheless, it wasn't that painful. She had no part to play outside. Today, she is bifurcated between within and without. Consequently, her creative output suffers on both fronts. And this is happening despite the much talked about social, economic and technological changes now in process. The growing mechanization and automation of home can hardly help a woman to live an actively creative outside life. Too many promising professional careers on the part of women wither away at present before their high points have been reached. The woman, who enters a profession and then marries and has children, has to 'interrupt' her career which, in majority of cases, is rarely caught up later. She does not retire, but she resumes in 'piecemeal style'. This obviously tells upon consistent productivity and efficiency in her career.
The moot point, as such, is that if dual responsibilities will face her in the home and in her career (she is already facing them badly), what kind of education will prepare her to lead this 'double life' efficiently? What are the ways that will succour in the fuller exploration of her creative resources with ever-increasing fervour?
It is sad but unarguable fact that most human beings go through life partially aware of the full range of their abilities. In our society, we could do much more than we now do to encourage self-development. We could drop the increasingly silly absurdities dominating our education (this can be done by any educator/teacher on individual level), and devise arrangements for lifelong fruitful learning. Of course, we cannot question the credibility of anything that has been made to stay as infallible and unchallengeable. But if the 'dual-role' of women is now being accepted as something inevitable in our society, we have to chalk out and display alternatives for refuting its logic. And this can be easily done by those engaged in women's education. If the target group is itself addressed, it can be a result-oriented exercise. Educating women properly and then letting them decide for themselves their course of action, is far better than thrusting dictates on them. Compulsion works but only transiently.
Women's minds are one of the major resources for any nation. We should be determined to help them achieve the success they—and, of course, their community—need to make the pursuit of happiness and intellectual satisfaction a realistic goal. Creativity in them ought to be recognized and nurtured through healthy means.
Rejection of a Myopic and Decadent Leadership
Following is the text of the speech Hameeda Nayeem made on 5th January in a seminar organized to mark the right to Self-determination Day
(Dr. Hameeda Banu, 40+, was born in Tral, now in Pulwama district. She received her primary and secondary education in Tral and completed her college education in the Government Women's College, Srinagar. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Kashmir, and has been teaching in the Department of English at the University for the past 17 years. She is an excellent orator and an internationally travelled human rights activist. Her personal interests include campaigning for women's rights, global peace, interfaith dialogue, philosophy, psychology, literature, history and religious studies.)
Mr. Chairperson, first of all I seek your permission to be a truth–teller rather than a tranquilizer given the things as they are because I have no words of comfort for you, I mean for the top Hurriyat leaders both within and outside the two factions of Hurriyat camp. Though this time I will not take on those who are outside the camp and their antics and theatrics during the agitation.
Let me begin by interrogating the topic for the seminar and then go on to say how you miserably failed us when we were close to achieving our right of self-determination. Reminding UN of its commitments and asking it to implement the same is an exercise in futility as we have done so in the past without getting any dividends. UN resolutions are the basic document which endorse and legitimize our right to decide our political future and should be taken as the basis of our demand but let me dislodge your misplaced confidence in UN as a body that can implement these resolutions. Firstly because it is already written off as a grand failure in addressing the issues of peoples’ rights and demand for justice around the world. Secondly it is a bonded maid of Euro-America and they use if occasionally to serve their own interests and crush the rights of people and sovereignty of nations as is duly testified by the recent world history.
It is the Indian people who could help us in getting us our right to determine our future and we have to invoke their conscience persistently. They almost did it this summer when they responded to our unprecedented protest demonstrations in very positive terms but alas !it was the top leadership in freedom camp that let us down who fumbled and stumbled and helped Indian establishment wittingly or unwittingly in suffocating people’s voice and scuttling the peaceful revolution with all the conceivable repressive measures. On seeing a sea of people on the grounds and streets of Srinagar and other parts of the valley and Jammu, top intellectuals of India advocated in unequivocal terms our right to decide our future and asked GOI not to hold Kashmiris against their will. Sawaminanthan Ayer, Vir Sanghvi, Jug Suraiya, Arundahti Roy and many others. Not only that. 59% respondents in a CNN IBN poll agreed to the demand for Azadi of Kashmiris and their right to secede from India. Besides, Omar Abdullah, then played a very positive role in highlighting the aspirations of Kashmiris and on acceding to their demands by India. It was the sacred duty of freedom leadership to build on that, to broaden the support base in Delhi among intellectuals and Indian national political parties and keep up the momentum of the movement but most deplorably the leadership capitulated to authorities in several ways.
Yeh nadan girgayay sajday main jab waqat-e-qayam aya
Nay, hang on, not because of ‘nadani’ which one could forgive but because of naked capitulation to the authorities.
First by recalling two members from the Coordination Committee (CC) who were spearheading the unity moves which was an abject surrender to the demands of the dubious elements in Hurriyat for no other perceivable reason but to abort and scuttle the movement as they were out of it. Going by the calls at that time which people made to TV channels for the sudden, unwarranted and anti-movement decision, one can scale the disappointment in people and they started smelling something fishy in the Hurriyat camp.
Secondly, by committing the historical monumental blunder of calling off the strike abruptly on the pretext of the month of Ramzan when people had girded up their loins and were ready to do or die for the attainment of the right to decide their future.
In this decision, Mr. Chairperson, you were not alone, you had the holier – than – thou chairperson of the other faction with you, who gives the impression of being `always in communion with God and defending Islam,’ `infallible while branding everyone else as a traitor to the cause’. Both of you strangulated the revolution by calling off the strike call in September 2008. After your abject capitulation there was selective crackdown on those who were the mobilizers and organizers of the public demonstrations, and the unifiers of Hurriyat ,with the active connivance of black sheep in Hurriyat Camp.
Both of you particularly Geelani Saheb committed another blunder after having served one week’s imprisonment in posh hotels by describing the land issue as a non-issue forgetting within no time, that land issue had fuelled and rejuvenated the movement of the right to self-determination as also provided you fresh oxygen for survival when you had become almost defunct.
These series of bunglings greatly disappointed people and they started audible whisperings on the streets, in public places and in drawing rooms and started questioning not only your lack of commitment but your capacity to lead the movement. This was the turn around in the situation which your crass insensitivity to public sentiments and opinions missed, the public sentiment which you always invoke for your survival! People were disgusted with your leadership and found themselves in a deep sea of despondency not knowing what to do. How long could you take people for a ride and continue to commit blunders and serve your own selves? How long would you escape the public wrath? You stumbled when the iron was hot. You have taken people for granted. They had given you a fresh lease of life when you were faced with identity crises because of your acts of omission and commission. After this debacle, you made half-hearted, luke-warm statements which inspired none. It seemed you had already sung a dirge on your leadership, mind you, not on the movement. Then comes another thunderbolt from Geelani Sahib on his return from Delhi where he was convalescing when he accused Sajad Lone of fielding a candidate in Kupwara district and then the latter’s response in which he crossed all limits of civility, set people pooh phooeying you.
Instead of lambasting at the authorities for unprecedented curfews, arrest of leaders and the youth, Geelani Sahib chose petty squabbles with his own kind. Even if Sajjad Lone had done what Geelani Sahib alleged, it was only one out of 87 seats, which could not have dented the boycott call in anyway. By his ‘puritanical attitude’ towards others, not for himself, mind you, he is frightening away not only minorities but also the well-meaning people from his own community.
In the midst of all this one faction of Hurriyat closed down all the fledging organizational structures of Hurriyat in districts, which could have given a body to the movement, a solidity of specification and helped in the implementation of boycott call.
Mere sloganeering and emotional demagoguery do not help in achieving solid objectives, it is institutional base which concretizes your objectives. plus humility, accountability and transparency which engages people and not mere statements by one and appeal to religious sentiments by the other.
And when elections were announced, you once again gave a clichéd boycott call, being frigid of new ideas, you had not learnt from past experience of 1996 and 2002 when GOI managed to impose a government on us and boycott calls fully helped pro-establishment elements to strengthen their base. The popping up of PDP is a direct result of your boycott calls because people had no other alternative which you could have provided by defeating the colonial power with her own weapons.
Once again you fell in the trap of identifying elections with a sort of referendum for Indian control on Kashmir or so it was presented by GOI.
Having already disappointed people enormously which you missed in your perceptual blindness, the less politically conscious and under privileged out of anger did not heed your boycott call to show their disappointment with you.
They knew you could be of no avail to them as you are neither clear in your understanding of the issues involved nor capable of leading the movement. Geelani Sahib is too busy in issuing fatwas, others in ego tussles and power politics within and outside Hurriyat, yet others in increasing the graph of personal profiles, while throwing the interests of the people to winds.
People to you seem to be as expendable material as they are to the establishment. You did not feel the agony and pain of the families who lost 60 precious dearest souls and bread earners and over 2500 youth who have been crippled and disfigured for life. It meant nothing to you. People from all walks of life were ready to contribute for their welfare and I wrote at that time that Hurriyat or CC should form a committee to collect and distribute aid to the victims and the devastated families. But as usual there was no response from your side.
People knew you could not get your act together given the so-called forum politics and wretched collective leadership mantra. Those who boycotted did it out of their own volition. Having a raised political consciousness they knew their vote could be misinterpreted by GOI in the presence of boycott call and those who are less fortunate were taken in by the rhetoric of development, and voted for the administrative promises and not to endorse status quo in Kashmir, as I have explained in my earlier write-up.
Geelani Sahib did not realize for all these years that human life cannot be suspended, it needs governance on daily basis and there has to be some structure that will do just that and elections have only that limited mandate. Larger issues like Kashmir dispute which have far reaching consequences are decided by referendum, he did not realize that unless the body is taken care of, it cannot think of freeing the spirit. Mehjoor says:
“Ye Azadi chehh sorgich hoor ye phereya khaane pate khaanai”
Unless the belly is gratified it cannot crave for the luxury of freedom. This reality dawned on him too late when much was lost for him.
If people voted under whatever circumstances they still showed the wisdom of separating elections as an administrative affair from larger political dispute of Kashmir. And all the actors of the election have declared the same and now if GOI is celebrating the victory in Kashmir as legitimization of her control on Kashmir, she is suffering from self-deception. If she really believes in her fictions, let her have a referendum tomorrow and put a find seal of her control on Kashmir forever.
This vote, was, therefore, also in part, a rejection of divided, myopic, passive and decadent leadership out of a concern for a new vibrant, dynamic, inclusive, indivisible and pragmatic leadership.
If you want to continue in spite of all this, it is high time for you to introspect and take cognizance of the historical blunders you committed and make an agenda for this year because whichever new government comes in Delhi after the forthcoming general elections, cannot put Kashmir on the back burner any more. They have to take it by horns and you should be ready with an agenda of what you will dialogue about and achieve this year.
1. Apologize to people and selflessly make one broad party with one leadership, dismantle the present hierarchical structure and let those run the movement who are committed and capable of doing so and let others gracefully pack up and go and rid this movement of sickness, of petty bickerings, of paralysis of action and monotony of ideas. And much much more of the same stuff! The present state of affairs is a travesty of movement which means flow, kinetic flow rather than static arrest.
2. Demilitarization and internal sovereignty should top your agenda for the first phase.
3. Spell out clearly in written form the safe guards for minorities like Pandits and Sikhs. Make every effort to bring back our Pandit brothers and sisters who are living a miserable life in Jammu camps as they have been much abused by politicians across the political divide.
4. Bring on board all the three regions and give them written assurance of proportionate equitable distribution of resources and jobs. Look into their real and imagined fears.
5. Clearly Geelani Sahib’s ideology will not work. If you are interested in keeping the whole state together then make your agenda inclusive, a state that has more than 30 person non-Muslims can’t have Azadi Barai Islam as a slogan. Prophet of Islam never taught us to coerce people into submission or to force any system on people which they are not ready to accept.
If you insist on the actualization of your ideology in political terms, then what is the difference between you and Sangh Parivar who are also trying to impose their ideology on the whole of India where Muslims and Christians form a sizable minority?
We always castigate them for trying to impose tyrannical and oppressive majoritarianism on minorities. Your refrain of Azadi Barai Islam has also been frightening away minorities and they are skeptic about their future in that kind of setup even though you may give guarantees to the contrary.
Secondly, the concept of Ummah is an utopian dream which doesn’t exist anywhere. If the sovereign powerful Muslim countries of the world are not united and do not do anything for Palestine and other repressed Muslim of the world ,what can hapless, helpless and besieged people of Kashmir do to help your dream of Uma to became a reality and who is going to accede to that demand? If you really want to serve Islam, reform the people at every level to make them good, practicing and conscientious Muslims who could really help stem corruption at all levels be it social, political, moral, intellectual or economic which could make Kashmir an example for others to follow. If, even after getting what we want, people are the same, the Azadi could become sour within no time as it did in India and Pakistan!
PS: Yes I forgot to remind Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of his promise of releasing all the political prisoners the moment he takes over. What has happened to that promise?
(Dr. Hameeda Banu, 40+, was born in Tral, now in Pulwama district. She received her primary and secondary education in Tral and completed her college education in the Government Women's College, Srinagar. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Kashmir, and has been teaching in the Department of English at the University for the past 17 years. She is an excellent orator and an internationally travelled human rights activist. Her personal interests include campaigning for women's rights, global peace, interfaith dialogue, philosophy, psychology, literature, history and religious studies.)
Mr. Chairperson, first of all I seek your permission to be a truth–teller rather than a tranquilizer given the things as they are because I have no words of comfort for you, I mean for the top Hurriyat leaders both within and outside the two factions of Hurriyat camp. Though this time I will not take on those who are outside the camp and their antics and theatrics during the agitation.
Let me begin by interrogating the topic for the seminar and then go on to say how you miserably failed us when we were close to achieving our right of self-determination. Reminding UN of its commitments and asking it to implement the same is an exercise in futility as we have done so in the past without getting any dividends. UN resolutions are the basic document which endorse and legitimize our right to decide our political future and should be taken as the basis of our demand but let me dislodge your misplaced confidence in UN as a body that can implement these resolutions. Firstly because it is already written off as a grand failure in addressing the issues of peoples’ rights and demand for justice around the world. Secondly it is a bonded maid of Euro-America and they use if occasionally to serve their own interests and crush the rights of people and sovereignty of nations as is duly testified by the recent world history.
It is the Indian people who could help us in getting us our right to determine our future and we have to invoke their conscience persistently. They almost did it this summer when they responded to our unprecedented protest demonstrations in very positive terms but alas !it was the top leadership in freedom camp that let us down who fumbled and stumbled and helped Indian establishment wittingly or unwittingly in suffocating people’s voice and scuttling the peaceful revolution with all the conceivable repressive measures. On seeing a sea of people on the grounds and streets of Srinagar and other parts of the valley and Jammu, top intellectuals of India advocated in unequivocal terms our right to decide our future and asked GOI not to hold Kashmiris against their will. Sawaminanthan Ayer, Vir Sanghvi, Jug Suraiya, Arundahti Roy and many others. Not only that. 59% respondents in a CNN IBN poll agreed to the demand for Azadi of Kashmiris and their right to secede from India. Besides, Omar Abdullah, then played a very positive role in highlighting the aspirations of Kashmiris and on acceding to their demands by India. It was the sacred duty of freedom leadership to build on that, to broaden the support base in Delhi among intellectuals and Indian national political parties and keep up the momentum of the movement but most deplorably the leadership capitulated to authorities in several ways.
Yeh nadan girgayay sajday main jab waqat-e-qayam aya
Nay, hang on, not because of ‘nadani’ which one could forgive but because of naked capitulation to the authorities.
First by recalling two members from the Coordination Committee (CC) who were spearheading the unity moves which was an abject surrender to the demands of the dubious elements in Hurriyat for no other perceivable reason but to abort and scuttle the movement as they were out of it. Going by the calls at that time which people made to TV channels for the sudden, unwarranted and anti-movement decision, one can scale the disappointment in people and they started smelling something fishy in the Hurriyat camp.
Secondly, by committing the historical monumental blunder of calling off the strike abruptly on the pretext of the month of Ramzan when people had girded up their loins and were ready to do or die for the attainment of the right to decide their future.
In this decision, Mr. Chairperson, you were not alone, you had the holier – than – thou chairperson of the other faction with you, who gives the impression of being `always in communion with God and defending Islam,’ `infallible while branding everyone else as a traitor to the cause’. Both of you strangulated the revolution by calling off the strike call in September 2008. After your abject capitulation there was selective crackdown on those who were the mobilizers and organizers of the public demonstrations, and the unifiers of Hurriyat ,with the active connivance of black sheep in Hurriyat Camp.
Both of you particularly Geelani Saheb committed another blunder after having served one week’s imprisonment in posh hotels by describing the land issue as a non-issue forgetting within no time, that land issue had fuelled and rejuvenated the movement of the right to self-determination as also provided you fresh oxygen for survival when you had become almost defunct.
These series of bunglings greatly disappointed people and they started audible whisperings on the streets, in public places and in drawing rooms and started questioning not only your lack of commitment but your capacity to lead the movement. This was the turn around in the situation which your crass insensitivity to public sentiments and opinions missed, the public sentiment which you always invoke for your survival! People were disgusted with your leadership and found themselves in a deep sea of despondency not knowing what to do. How long could you take people for a ride and continue to commit blunders and serve your own selves? How long would you escape the public wrath? You stumbled when the iron was hot. You have taken people for granted. They had given you a fresh lease of life when you were faced with identity crises because of your acts of omission and commission. After this debacle, you made half-hearted, luke-warm statements which inspired none. It seemed you had already sung a dirge on your leadership, mind you, not on the movement. Then comes another thunderbolt from Geelani Sahib on his return from Delhi where he was convalescing when he accused Sajad Lone of fielding a candidate in Kupwara district and then the latter’s response in which he crossed all limits of civility, set people pooh phooeying you.
Instead of lambasting at the authorities for unprecedented curfews, arrest of leaders and the youth, Geelani Sahib chose petty squabbles with his own kind. Even if Sajjad Lone had done what Geelani Sahib alleged, it was only one out of 87 seats, which could not have dented the boycott call in anyway. By his ‘puritanical attitude’ towards others, not for himself, mind you, he is frightening away not only minorities but also the well-meaning people from his own community.
In the midst of all this one faction of Hurriyat closed down all the fledging organizational structures of Hurriyat in districts, which could have given a body to the movement, a solidity of specification and helped in the implementation of boycott call.
Mere sloganeering and emotional demagoguery do not help in achieving solid objectives, it is institutional base which concretizes your objectives. plus humility, accountability and transparency which engages people and not mere statements by one and appeal to religious sentiments by the other.
And when elections were announced, you once again gave a clichéd boycott call, being frigid of new ideas, you had not learnt from past experience of 1996 and 2002 when GOI managed to impose a government on us and boycott calls fully helped pro-establishment elements to strengthen their base. The popping up of PDP is a direct result of your boycott calls because people had no other alternative which you could have provided by defeating the colonial power with her own weapons.
Once again you fell in the trap of identifying elections with a sort of referendum for Indian control on Kashmir or so it was presented by GOI.
Having already disappointed people enormously which you missed in your perceptual blindness, the less politically conscious and under privileged out of anger did not heed your boycott call to show their disappointment with you.
They knew you could be of no avail to them as you are neither clear in your understanding of the issues involved nor capable of leading the movement. Geelani Sahib is too busy in issuing fatwas, others in ego tussles and power politics within and outside Hurriyat, yet others in increasing the graph of personal profiles, while throwing the interests of the people to winds.
People to you seem to be as expendable material as they are to the establishment. You did not feel the agony and pain of the families who lost 60 precious dearest souls and bread earners and over 2500 youth who have been crippled and disfigured for life. It meant nothing to you. People from all walks of life were ready to contribute for their welfare and I wrote at that time that Hurriyat or CC should form a committee to collect and distribute aid to the victims and the devastated families. But as usual there was no response from your side.
People knew you could not get your act together given the so-called forum politics and wretched collective leadership mantra. Those who boycotted did it out of their own volition. Having a raised political consciousness they knew their vote could be misinterpreted by GOI in the presence of boycott call and those who are less fortunate were taken in by the rhetoric of development, and voted for the administrative promises and not to endorse status quo in Kashmir, as I have explained in my earlier write-up.
Geelani Sahib did not realize for all these years that human life cannot be suspended, it needs governance on daily basis and there has to be some structure that will do just that and elections have only that limited mandate. Larger issues like Kashmir dispute which have far reaching consequences are decided by referendum, he did not realize that unless the body is taken care of, it cannot think of freeing the spirit. Mehjoor says:
“Ye Azadi chehh sorgich hoor ye phereya khaane pate khaanai”
Unless the belly is gratified it cannot crave for the luxury of freedom. This reality dawned on him too late when much was lost for him.
If people voted under whatever circumstances they still showed the wisdom of separating elections as an administrative affair from larger political dispute of Kashmir. And all the actors of the election have declared the same and now if GOI is celebrating the victory in Kashmir as legitimization of her control on Kashmir, she is suffering from self-deception. If she really believes in her fictions, let her have a referendum tomorrow and put a find seal of her control on Kashmir forever.
This vote, was, therefore, also in part, a rejection of divided, myopic, passive and decadent leadership out of a concern for a new vibrant, dynamic, inclusive, indivisible and pragmatic leadership.
If you want to continue in spite of all this, it is high time for you to introspect and take cognizance of the historical blunders you committed and make an agenda for this year because whichever new government comes in Delhi after the forthcoming general elections, cannot put Kashmir on the back burner any more. They have to take it by horns and you should be ready with an agenda of what you will dialogue about and achieve this year.
1. Apologize to people and selflessly make one broad party with one leadership, dismantle the present hierarchical structure and let those run the movement who are committed and capable of doing so and let others gracefully pack up and go and rid this movement of sickness, of petty bickerings, of paralysis of action and monotony of ideas. And much much more of the same stuff! The present state of affairs is a travesty of movement which means flow, kinetic flow rather than static arrest.
2. Demilitarization and internal sovereignty should top your agenda for the first phase.
3. Spell out clearly in written form the safe guards for minorities like Pandits and Sikhs. Make every effort to bring back our Pandit brothers and sisters who are living a miserable life in Jammu camps as they have been much abused by politicians across the political divide.
4. Bring on board all the three regions and give them written assurance of proportionate equitable distribution of resources and jobs. Look into their real and imagined fears.
5. Clearly Geelani Sahib’s ideology will not work. If you are interested in keeping the whole state together then make your agenda inclusive, a state that has more than 30 person non-Muslims can’t have Azadi Barai Islam as a slogan. Prophet of Islam never taught us to coerce people into submission or to force any system on people which they are not ready to accept.
If you insist on the actualization of your ideology in political terms, then what is the difference between you and Sangh Parivar who are also trying to impose their ideology on the whole of India where Muslims and Christians form a sizable minority?
We always castigate them for trying to impose tyrannical and oppressive majoritarianism on minorities. Your refrain of Azadi Barai Islam has also been frightening away minorities and they are skeptic about their future in that kind of setup even though you may give guarantees to the contrary.
Secondly, the concept of Ummah is an utopian dream which doesn’t exist anywhere. If the sovereign powerful Muslim countries of the world are not united and do not do anything for Palestine and other repressed Muslim of the world ,what can hapless, helpless and besieged people of Kashmir do to help your dream of Uma to became a reality and who is going to accede to that demand? If you really want to serve Islam, reform the people at every level to make them good, practicing and conscientious Muslims who could really help stem corruption at all levels be it social, political, moral, intellectual or economic which could make Kashmir an example for others to follow. If, even after getting what we want, people are the same, the Azadi could become sour within no time as it did in India and Pakistan!
PS: Yes I forgot to remind Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of his promise of releasing all the political prisoners the moment he takes over. What has happened to that promise?
Monday, January 19, 2009
Another Disaster in the Making
Basharat pokes into details about the Solid Waste and sees a disaster over the horizon
(Mr. Syed Basharat, 29, was born in Kreeri, Baramulla, and did his schooling in Kreeri, and later in Uri and Sopore. He graduated from the Degree College in Baramulla and completed his Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Kashmir University in 2005. He has been a reporter for Kashmir Images, a Srinagar based daily, London based website Gaashonline.Com, and a Srinagar based journal, Globe. Currently, he is working as a special correspondent with Jammu based daily newspaper, The Kashmir Times.)
Srinagar's chaotic solid waste management turning into unmanageable crisis
Srinagar: Brazen violation of master plan, high urbanisation ratio coupled with the poor infrastructure has made Solid Waste Management (SWM) in Jammu and Kashmir a classic example of chaotic situation. The experts in the field believe that if not redressed in time, the situation may turn into an unmanageable crisis.
Srinagar district alone produces 350 metric tones of solid waste every day and the same quantity is generated by the district Jammu, said an officer in Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC). For this garbage, the SMC has only one land fill site (spread at 620 Kanlas of land) at Achen Saidapora in outskirts of Srinagar, where a 50,000 population is caught with no alternative, but to tolerate this 'nuisance'.
Health officer SMC, Dr Shafqat Khan, who is also a renowned expert in Solid Waste Management believes that unchecked urbanisation ratio in Jammu and Kashmir is one of the major causative agents of this SWM mess in the State.
"Our State's urbanisation ratio is 16.5 per cent while the same is 7 per cent at national level. With the rise in economic growth, the per capita waste generation has increased to 0.285 Kilograms in Srinagar. You can imagine the effects of this unplanned urbanisation," said Dr Khan, who is the member of Sweden based International Solid Waste Association and Jaipur based Indian Solid Waste Association.
Sources in the Jammu municipality revealed that there is no land fill site in this district and the Solid Waste along with the bio medical wastes is chucked on the banks of river Tawi.
Despite the latest trends framed by the World Bank and the union ministry for housing and urban development,ÿ Jammu and Kashmir lags behind in addressing the water and sanitation mission which talks of sanitary land fills for cities and a common sanitary landfill for regional levels.
Since there are no designated waste collection points in colonies, no designated space for installing dust bins in Srinagar, sources believe that government hardly bothers to address this grave issue. "There are only 100 dust bins in Srinagar district and in Jammu it may be 175. But there are no landfill sites at district levels. An order for another 50 dust bins was placed by the SMC but in view of their sub standard quality the entire process was stalled," sources added.
According to Dr Khan, unless the government addresses this issue with top priority, nothing will improve on the ground. "Like in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Hyderabad where the respective Municipal Corporations have a memorandum of understanding with various foreign agencies including many Non Governmental Organisations for Solid Waste Management, it would be a breakthrough if our State government take some steps on these lines," Dr Khan opined.
He added that in order to streamline the SWM in Jammu and Kashmir, there is a dire need of a comprehensive plan which will include identification of solid waste collection points. These points, he added, should be well covered and maintained as well.
"You know the present garbage collection points have turned into breeding grounds for stray animals especially for dogs which create another nuisance. This comprehensive plan will also include up gradation of tools and equipment with which the scavengers handle the collection of garbage," the SMC health officer added.
He said that it was imperative to improve the primary collections of solid waste at house hold level, besides seeking cooperation from the public through an awareness programme.
In Srinagar there are only 1700 Scavengers even though as per the municipal limits the minimum requirement of Scavengers for 316 square kilometers is 4500, said one SMC officer pleading anonymity.
"The less number of Scavengers in Kashmir is a violation of one of the rulings from Supreme Court in this regard. Leave aside the scavengers, we have only one garbage compactor in Srinagar what can you expect from the SMC people," sources added.
Dr Khan believes that the violation of master plan is also a factor which contributes to loopholes in SWM. "You can see commercial establishments have been raised in residential areas, besides multiplexes without parking lots. This all in one or the other way contribute to the Solid Waste nuisance," Dr Khan who is an expert in SWM observed.
He predicted that time is not far away when the State government will face a crisis like situation if it failed to address the Solid Waste Management problem at this Stage. "Converting existing landfills at Achen into an engineered sanitary landfill does not make SWM a cumbersome process but the same becomes a burden on the State exchequer," Dr Khan opined.
(Mr. Syed Basharat, 29, was born in Kreeri, Baramulla, and did his schooling in Kreeri, and later in Uri and Sopore. He graduated from the Degree College in Baramulla and completed his Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Kashmir University in 2005. He has been a reporter for Kashmir Images, a Srinagar based daily, London based website Gaashonline.Com, and a Srinagar based journal, Globe. Currently, he is working as a special correspondent with Jammu based daily newspaper, The Kashmir Times.)
Srinagar's chaotic solid waste management turning into unmanageable crisis
Srinagar: Brazen violation of master plan, high urbanisation ratio coupled with the poor infrastructure has made Solid Waste Management (SWM) in Jammu and Kashmir a classic example of chaotic situation. The experts in the field believe that if not redressed in time, the situation may turn into an unmanageable crisis.
Srinagar district alone produces 350 metric tones of solid waste every day and the same quantity is generated by the district Jammu, said an officer in Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC). For this garbage, the SMC has only one land fill site (spread at 620 Kanlas of land) at Achen Saidapora in outskirts of Srinagar, where a 50,000 population is caught with no alternative, but to tolerate this 'nuisance'.
Health officer SMC, Dr Shafqat Khan, who is also a renowned expert in Solid Waste Management believes that unchecked urbanisation ratio in Jammu and Kashmir is one of the major causative agents of this SWM mess in the State.
"Our State's urbanisation ratio is 16.5 per cent while the same is 7 per cent at national level. With the rise in economic growth, the per capita waste generation has increased to 0.285 Kilograms in Srinagar. You can imagine the effects of this unplanned urbanisation," said Dr Khan, who is the member of Sweden based International Solid Waste Association and Jaipur based Indian Solid Waste Association.
Sources in the Jammu municipality revealed that there is no land fill site in this district and the Solid Waste along with the bio medical wastes is chucked on the banks of river Tawi.
Despite the latest trends framed by the World Bank and the union ministry for housing and urban development,ÿ Jammu and Kashmir lags behind in addressing the water and sanitation mission which talks of sanitary land fills for cities and a common sanitary landfill for regional levels.
Since there are no designated waste collection points in colonies, no designated space for installing dust bins in Srinagar, sources believe that government hardly bothers to address this grave issue. "There are only 100 dust bins in Srinagar district and in Jammu it may be 175. But there are no landfill sites at district levels. An order for another 50 dust bins was placed by the SMC but in view of their sub standard quality the entire process was stalled," sources added.
According to Dr Khan, unless the government addresses this issue with top priority, nothing will improve on the ground. "Like in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Hyderabad where the respective Municipal Corporations have a memorandum of understanding with various foreign agencies including many Non Governmental Organisations for Solid Waste Management, it would be a breakthrough if our State government take some steps on these lines," Dr Khan opined.
He added that in order to streamline the SWM in Jammu and Kashmir, there is a dire need of a comprehensive plan which will include identification of solid waste collection points. These points, he added, should be well covered and maintained as well.
"You know the present garbage collection points have turned into breeding grounds for stray animals especially for dogs which create another nuisance. This comprehensive plan will also include up gradation of tools and equipment with which the scavengers handle the collection of garbage," the SMC health officer added.
He said that it was imperative to improve the primary collections of solid waste at house hold level, besides seeking cooperation from the public through an awareness programme.
In Srinagar there are only 1700 Scavengers even though as per the municipal limits the minimum requirement of Scavengers for 316 square kilometers is 4500, said one SMC officer pleading anonymity.
"The less number of Scavengers in Kashmir is a violation of one of the rulings from Supreme Court in this regard. Leave aside the scavengers, we have only one garbage compactor in Srinagar what can you expect from the SMC people," sources added.
Dr Khan believes that the violation of master plan is also a factor which contributes to loopholes in SWM. "You can see commercial establishments have been raised in residential areas, besides multiplexes without parking lots. This all in one or the other way contribute to the Solid Waste nuisance," Dr Khan who is an expert in SWM observed.
He predicted that time is not far away when the State government will face a crisis like situation if it failed to address the Solid Waste Management problem at this Stage. "Converting existing landfills at Achen into an engineered sanitary landfill does not make SWM a cumbersome process but the same becomes a burden on the State exchequer," Dr Khan opined.
The "Save Hangul" (Kashmir Stag) Project
J&K Kick Starts 'Save Hangul'
Asifa Amin Koul (Kashmir Times)
SRINAGAR: Following the ringing of alarm bells about the sharp decline in the number of Kashmir Stag or Hangul, the state government has kick-started its "Save Hangul" project-a long-term captive breeding programme.
The Rs 1.67 crore project involves construction of an enclosure for the ex-situ breeding or artificial breeding of the highly endangered Hangul. According to state wildlife officials, the departmental plan has got assent by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), an autonomous statutory body under Ministry of Environment and Forests, involved with conservation of wildlife. The plan is being undertaken by the financial assistance of CZA.
J&K chief wildlife warden, A K Srivastava told "The Kashmir Times", "We have started construction of the enclosure for the first plant in Shikargah Wildlife Conservation Reserve in Tral on an area of about five-acre as per the guidelines of CZA," adding that CZA has already released Rs 42.5 lakhs for the breeding programme.
"Besides the enclosure, the infrastructure to be set up for the breeding plant will include guard huts, watch towers, cabins for officials, pasture improvement, fencing and construction of road for round-the clock monitoring and management of Hanguls," he said.
He said the infrastructure is expected to be ready till April after which both male and female Hanguls not exceeding 10 in number and of the ratio 3:7 will be kept in the enclosure for breeding purposes.
"Once the fawns grow, they will be released into the forests after being fitted with radio collars in order to monitor their activities by the experts," he added.
When contacted Dr B R Sharma, member secretary, Central Zoo Authority, said that the funds to initiate the ex-situ breeding programme in Shikargah wildlife reserve has been released to the J&K wildlife department and depending on the success of the project, the programme will be expanded further.
Following the shocking revelation about the steep drop in their number by Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the state wildlife department is making knee-deep efforts to conserve Hangul-the only surviving breed of Red Deer family, by initiating various Hangul conservation plans. The March 2006 WII consensus estimated their numbers between 117 and 160 as against 2000 plus Hanguls in 1947. In Kashmir they are mainly found in Dachigam National Park.
The Hangul is listed as an endangered species in the Red Data Book of the international Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). The downslide in their number, according to experts, is due to poaching, excessive grazing of livestock, forest fires and increase in the leopard population inside Dachigam Park.
Asifa Amin Koul (Kashmir Times)
SRINAGAR: Following the ringing of alarm bells about the sharp decline in the number of Kashmir Stag or Hangul, the state government has kick-started its "Save Hangul" project-a long-term captive breeding programme.
The Rs 1.67 crore project involves construction of an enclosure for the ex-situ breeding or artificial breeding of the highly endangered Hangul. According to state wildlife officials, the departmental plan has got assent by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), an autonomous statutory body under Ministry of Environment and Forests, involved with conservation of wildlife. The plan is being undertaken by the financial assistance of CZA.
J&K chief wildlife warden, A K Srivastava told "The Kashmir Times", "We have started construction of the enclosure for the first plant in Shikargah Wildlife Conservation Reserve in Tral on an area of about five-acre as per the guidelines of CZA," adding that CZA has already released Rs 42.5 lakhs for the breeding programme.
"Besides the enclosure, the infrastructure to be set up for the breeding plant will include guard huts, watch towers, cabins for officials, pasture improvement, fencing and construction of road for round-the clock monitoring and management of Hanguls," he said.
He said the infrastructure is expected to be ready till April after which both male and female Hanguls not exceeding 10 in number and of the ratio 3:7 will be kept in the enclosure for breeding purposes.
"Once the fawns grow, they will be released into the forests after being fitted with radio collars in order to monitor their activities by the experts," he added.
When contacted Dr B R Sharma, member secretary, Central Zoo Authority, said that the funds to initiate the ex-situ breeding programme in Shikargah wildlife reserve has been released to the J&K wildlife department and depending on the success of the project, the programme will be expanded further.
Following the shocking revelation about the steep drop in their number by Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the state wildlife department is making knee-deep efforts to conserve Hangul-the only surviving breed of Red Deer family, by initiating various Hangul conservation plans. The March 2006 WII consensus estimated their numbers between 117 and 160 as against 2000 plus Hanguls in 1947. In Kashmir they are mainly found in Dachigam National Park.
The Hangul is listed as an endangered species in the Red Data Book of the international Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). The downslide in their number, according to experts, is due to poaching, excessive grazing of livestock, forest fires and increase in the leopard population inside Dachigam Park.
Alarming Rise in Drug Abuse in Kashmir
Anantnag, Baramulla worst hit
Alarming rise in drug abuse in Kashmir
Tanveen Kawoosa (Kashmir Monitor)
Srinagar: The menace of drug abuse in Kashmir seems to be raging on and on with no apparent end seems to be in sight. Worse still is the fact that the district Anantnag tops with 45% of population consuming illicit drugs according to reports. Data provided by an NGO, Action Aid international indicates a steep rise in the consumption of illicit drugs especially by youth in the two major districts Anantnag and Baramulla.
According to study, the younger generation in the age group of 15 to 30 years is more indulged in drug abuse and males outnumber the female drug abusers in the district Anantnag. The study while quoting physician in sub-district hospital Anantnag, states that 45% of people are involved in the addiction. However, in Baramulla district, involvement of 40% of population has been reported. The uninterrupted illegal cultivation of Marijuana, Hashish, Bhang, Opium in various parts of the state in violation of the norms and laws prescribed under various legislations, is the basic cause of the spread of this menace, the study maintains The most affected areas in the district Anantnag include, Tulkhun, Sangam, Dupathyar, Sampthan, Nanil, located at a 7 km from Bijbehara. The substance used includes Poopy seeds, Phuki product of poppy, Charas, Ganja, Corex, Alprox, Diazipam. "School children being less risky group are employed for harvesting and processing of addictive substance,'' said Arjimand Hussain, Project Manager, Action Aid International "In the process they become more vulnerable to this menace,'' he adds. According to the report, doctors in the District hospital Baramulla, estimate that 40% of population are involved in the drug abuse.
The affected population mostly comprises drivers and youth from rich families. IV injection, cough syrup, alcohol, alprax and brown sugar is main addictive substance consumed. The study details that both school and college students are involved in this illicit practice. The study further alleges that the main suppliers are military camps and hotels in this district. "Several factors play a key role in initiating youth into addiction. Irrespective of their educational background drug abusers can be surprisingly ignorant of the extent of damage that addiction can cause,'' said Dr Sumeera, Sociologist She further states drugs are taking captive millions of our children, and even killing them. To prevent the present situation from further worsening, substantial measures need to be taken at the earliest. "If we don't do something right now about drug abuse, we are in danger of losing an entire generation of our children,'' adds Sumeera.
Alarming rise in drug abuse in Kashmir
Tanveen Kawoosa (Kashmir Monitor)
Srinagar: The menace of drug abuse in Kashmir seems to be raging on and on with no apparent end seems to be in sight. Worse still is the fact that the district Anantnag tops with 45% of population consuming illicit drugs according to reports. Data provided by an NGO, Action Aid international indicates a steep rise in the consumption of illicit drugs especially by youth in the two major districts Anantnag and Baramulla.
According to study, the younger generation in the age group of 15 to 30 years is more indulged in drug abuse and males outnumber the female drug abusers in the district Anantnag. The study while quoting physician in sub-district hospital Anantnag, states that 45% of people are involved in the addiction. However, in Baramulla district, involvement of 40% of population has been reported. The uninterrupted illegal cultivation of Marijuana, Hashish, Bhang, Opium in various parts of the state in violation of the norms and laws prescribed under various legislations, is the basic cause of the spread of this menace, the study maintains The most affected areas in the district Anantnag include, Tulkhun, Sangam, Dupathyar, Sampthan, Nanil, located at a 7 km from Bijbehara. The substance used includes Poopy seeds, Phuki product of poppy, Charas, Ganja, Corex, Alprox, Diazipam. "School children being less risky group are employed for harvesting and processing of addictive substance,'' said Arjimand Hussain, Project Manager, Action Aid International "In the process they become more vulnerable to this menace,'' he adds. According to the report, doctors in the District hospital Baramulla, estimate that 40% of population are involved in the drug abuse.
The affected population mostly comprises drivers and youth from rich families. IV injection, cough syrup, alcohol, alprax and brown sugar is main addictive substance consumed. The study details that both school and college students are involved in this illicit practice. The study further alleges that the main suppliers are military camps and hotels in this district. "Several factors play a key role in initiating youth into addiction. Irrespective of their educational background drug abusers can be surprisingly ignorant of the extent of damage that addiction can cause,'' said Dr Sumeera, Sociologist She further states drugs are taking captive millions of our children, and even killing them. To prevent the present situation from further worsening, substantial measures need to be taken at the earliest. "If we don't do something right now about drug abuse, we are in danger of losing an entire generation of our children,'' adds Sumeera.
Improper Disposal of Biomedical Waste is Another Disaster in the Making
Biomedical waste poses a great threat to the general health in our valley
Wake up to challenge
Iftikar Rashid Wani (Rising Kashmir)
Some days back I happened to visit one of the biggest hospitals of our valley. To my utter surprise I found heaps of garbage and littered in every corner of the hospital, much like the roads of Kashmir. My unease drove me to the dump where I felt disturbed because of the presence of Biomedical waste which was lying un-incinerated, perhaps from many days together. Biomedical wastes, which are generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings, including human anatomical waste, micro-biology and biotechnology waste, discarded medicines and cyto-toxic drugs, solid wastes, liquid wastes etcetera have now become the matter of great concern because it has been found that hundreds of diseases are caused due to the infection originating from such wastes.
One should not get confused between Biomedical and other wastes. Biomedical wastes have deadly impact on human beings. Every day valley dumps thousands of tones of the toxic waste on land effecting air and water also. The domestic wastes exacerbate the situation; however, the most serious problem arises due to the dumping of hazardous hospital wastes without any treatment.
In Kashmir valley there are 1536 government health care centers, including 8 district and 48 sub district hospitals, besides hundreds of nursing homes, clinics, private hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, dental clinics which contribute to the wastes of Biomedical origin. This type of waste forms 10-20% of the total waste of Kashmir valley. In Srinagar city alone there are 10 big hospitals which generate about 12,000 kgs of biomedical waste per day which is in addition to 350 metric tones which the residents of Srinagar contribute by way of day to day domestic waste. While analyzing the water qualities of certain polluted water bodies of Kashmir it has been found that the wastes like saturated items dripping with blood and body fluids, discarded medical equipments, soiled cotton, plasters and autopsy wastes are the major hazards as they provide fertile environment for harmful micro-organisms to multiply.
In the recent years, Kashmir valley has witnessed the rise in water borne diseases because of the water contamination due to the presence of pathogens like Escherichia, Salmonella, Vibro Hepatitis, and Shigella which remain active until incinerated. Recently there was an outbreak of water borne diseases in district Bandipora also due the dumping of Biomedical wastes from civilian and army authorities in the water bodies of Bandipora. The list of diseases caused due to improper disposal of hospital wastes are endless, however AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, Bronchitis Gastroenteritis, eye and skin related diseases deserve a special mention. On the one hand the life expectancy is increasing day by day but on the other there are more deaths due to these infections.
A study conducted by WHO reveals that more than 50,000 people die every day from infectious diseases, the cause is simple that there is lack of awareness in the public regarding the Biomedical wastes and the risks exposed due to discarded needles, syringes and other medical waste together with municipal garbage bins at disposal sites. Aren't the frequent reports in various news papers of Kashmir, highlighting the mental agony and health problems because of the large waste dumping site, enough to shake the responsible authorities off sleep. Near the waste dump sites few people try to pick rags to make their living out of it. These rag pickers are exposed to the risk of injuries from contaminated needles and other sharp objects.
It is surprising on part of the health care centers that their administrators are least bothered about the disposal of biomedical wastes. There are not even separate biomedical waste bins for the collection of the wastes in the wards of the health care systems and off course no question arises pertaining to the functional autoclaves, incinerators or latest STPS. On an average these infectious wastes are stored in the hospitals for more than 48 hours and after that they may be burnt in open or handed over to Srinagar Municipal Council for its disposal.
But no body asks The Lal Ded Maternity Hospital with 500 beds capacity (which is always in news for wrong reasons) how it poses threat than healing its inmates. It generates those wastes which include human anatomical waste (placenta, etc) and are thrown away on the banks of river Jehlum besides dumping it in the compound for many days which was observed by Chief Minister himself. Same is the case with SKIMS which is the main cause of dying Anchar Lake and other water bodies.
It is the mismanagement of the administration in the hospitals, lack of commitment, and non availability of scientific instruments, which is resulting in a state of crisis. Because of the failure of proper disposal of Biomedical wastes four problems arise; I. non-destruction of infectious pathogens, 2. illegal recycling of disposable hospital items like syringes, catheters, plastic bottles, blood bags, 3. making of quilts from soiled cottons , bandages and 4. direct bodily contact of the sanitary staff which handles the infectious waste without having any protective gear and rag pickers which with infectious material. These problems need immediate attention by government authorities who seem to be least bothered over this sensitive issue.
With the introduction of modern medical practice the biomedical wastes would get piled up in coming times. The condition that Kashmir valley is going through demands special attention to this problem. In normalcy if the hospitals generate such a huge percentage of these wastes what should be the level of the production of such waste in the present day circumstance. It has been estimated that there will be a growth of 8% of such waste annually in peaceful atmosphere assuming that each bed of the hospital generates about 2 kgs of such wastes. Is the government of Jammu and Kashmir ready to face the worst situation? Infact there has developed a relationship of hatred between the Municipal authorities and the people residing near the dumping site, what will happen if it spreads to other areas. Valley needs to prepare herself for the rising crisis if things remain unchanged.
We know, in Kashmir, the mass causalities and injuries are common, hundreds of blood transfusions are administered to the patients, can any body guarantee the safe quality of these bottles, bags and other such materials when there is constant threat from people having ulterior motives of reusing such materiel, because of the absence of incinerators, ovens and any other mechanism through which such material could have been disposed off. Perhaps answer is in negative. Now time has come when government should wake up from deep slumber and try to correct the derailed system on war footing, other wise outbreak of epidemic is waiting with open arms bear hug us.
Wake up to challenge
Iftikar Rashid Wani (Rising Kashmir)
Some days back I happened to visit one of the biggest hospitals of our valley. To my utter surprise I found heaps of garbage and littered in every corner of the hospital, much like the roads of Kashmir. My unease drove me to the dump where I felt disturbed because of the presence of Biomedical waste which was lying un-incinerated, perhaps from many days together. Biomedical wastes, which are generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings, including human anatomical waste, micro-biology and biotechnology waste, discarded medicines and cyto-toxic drugs, solid wastes, liquid wastes etcetera have now become the matter of great concern because it has been found that hundreds of diseases are caused due to the infection originating from such wastes.
One should not get confused between Biomedical and other wastes. Biomedical wastes have deadly impact on human beings. Every day valley dumps thousands of tones of the toxic waste on land effecting air and water also. The domestic wastes exacerbate the situation; however, the most serious problem arises due to the dumping of hazardous hospital wastes without any treatment.
In Kashmir valley there are 1536 government health care centers, including 8 district and 48 sub district hospitals, besides hundreds of nursing homes, clinics, private hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, dental clinics which contribute to the wastes of Biomedical origin. This type of waste forms 10-20% of the total waste of Kashmir valley. In Srinagar city alone there are 10 big hospitals which generate about 12,000 kgs of biomedical waste per day which is in addition to 350 metric tones which the residents of Srinagar contribute by way of day to day domestic waste. While analyzing the water qualities of certain polluted water bodies of Kashmir it has been found that the wastes like saturated items dripping with blood and body fluids, discarded medical equipments, soiled cotton, plasters and autopsy wastes are the major hazards as they provide fertile environment for harmful micro-organisms to multiply.
In the recent years, Kashmir valley has witnessed the rise in water borne diseases because of the water contamination due to the presence of pathogens like Escherichia, Salmonella, Vibro Hepatitis, and Shigella which remain active until incinerated. Recently there was an outbreak of water borne diseases in district Bandipora also due the dumping of Biomedical wastes from civilian and army authorities in the water bodies of Bandipora. The list of diseases caused due to improper disposal of hospital wastes are endless, however AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, Bronchitis Gastroenteritis, eye and skin related diseases deserve a special mention. On the one hand the life expectancy is increasing day by day but on the other there are more deaths due to these infections.
A study conducted by WHO reveals that more than 50,000 people die every day from infectious diseases, the cause is simple that there is lack of awareness in the public regarding the Biomedical wastes and the risks exposed due to discarded needles, syringes and other medical waste together with municipal garbage bins at disposal sites. Aren't the frequent reports in various news papers of Kashmir, highlighting the mental agony and health problems because of the large waste dumping site, enough to shake the responsible authorities off sleep. Near the waste dump sites few people try to pick rags to make their living out of it. These rag pickers are exposed to the risk of injuries from contaminated needles and other sharp objects.
It is surprising on part of the health care centers that their administrators are least bothered about the disposal of biomedical wastes. There are not even separate biomedical waste bins for the collection of the wastes in the wards of the health care systems and off course no question arises pertaining to the functional autoclaves, incinerators or latest STPS. On an average these infectious wastes are stored in the hospitals for more than 48 hours and after that they may be burnt in open or handed over to Srinagar Municipal Council for its disposal.
But no body asks The Lal Ded Maternity Hospital with 500 beds capacity (which is always in news for wrong reasons) how it poses threat than healing its inmates. It generates those wastes which include human anatomical waste (placenta, etc) and are thrown away on the banks of river Jehlum besides dumping it in the compound for many days which was observed by Chief Minister himself. Same is the case with SKIMS which is the main cause of dying Anchar Lake and other water bodies.
It is the mismanagement of the administration in the hospitals, lack of commitment, and non availability of scientific instruments, which is resulting in a state of crisis. Because of the failure of proper disposal of Biomedical wastes four problems arise; I. non-destruction of infectious pathogens, 2. illegal recycling of disposable hospital items like syringes, catheters, plastic bottles, blood bags, 3. making of quilts from soiled cottons , bandages and 4. direct bodily contact of the sanitary staff which handles the infectious waste without having any protective gear and rag pickers which with infectious material. These problems need immediate attention by government authorities who seem to be least bothered over this sensitive issue.
With the introduction of modern medical practice the biomedical wastes would get piled up in coming times. The condition that Kashmir valley is going through demands special attention to this problem. In normalcy if the hospitals generate such a huge percentage of these wastes what should be the level of the production of such waste in the present day circumstance. It has been estimated that there will be a growth of 8% of such waste annually in peaceful atmosphere assuming that each bed of the hospital generates about 2 kgs of such wastes. Is the government of Jammu and Kashmir ready to face the worst situation? Infact there has developed a relationship of hatred between the Municipal authorities and the people residing near the dumping site, what will happen if it spreads to other areas. Valley needs to prepare herself for the rising crisis if things remain unchanged.
We know, in Kashmir, the mass causalities and injuries are common, hundreds of blood transfusions are administered to the patients, can any body guarantee the safe quality of these bottles, bags and other such materials when there is constant threat from people having ulterior motives of reusing such materiel, because of the absence of incinerators, ovens and any other mechanism through which such material could have been disposed off. Perhaps answer is in negative. Now time has come when government should wake up from deep slumber and try to correct the derailed system on war footing, other wise outbreak of epidemic is waiting with open arms bear hug us.
Reinventing Character amd Ethics in a Modern Age
Afshana uses the parody of a make-believe princess to drive home a point
(Ms. Syeda Afshana, 35, was born in Srinagar. She attended the Vishwa Bharti High School in Rainawari, Srinagar, and the Government Women's College in Srinagar where she received a B.Sc. degree. She completed her Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Kashmir University in 1999 and was the Gold Medallist (first position holder) in her graduating class. She is currently a Lecturer in the Media Education Research Centre (MERC) of the Kashmir University and pursuing her doctorate on the role of internet after 9/11.)
Cinderella and Beauty unravel the world of crude realities
Next morning bright
and early as always I awoke.
I saw my parent sleeping.
I thought it was a joke.
Wakeup, wake up! I shouted!
You've slept enough, I'd say.
What year is it? asked Mother.
Same year as yesterday.
We didn't sleep
a hundred years?
The Witch did us no harm?
She couldn't, I said proudly,
'Cause I set the alarm.
Sleepless Beauty
(Viking, 1996)
Cinderella is simpleton. An unlucky girl with disregarded merit and
beauty. She is despised because she is not cunning. She is maltreated
because she is not pretentious. Her step-sisters give her hell and
even get their eyes pecked out by doves out of malice. But Cinderella
endures everything silently until fairies come to her succour and
magic turns wind in her favour. More precisely, it's a magical
windfall and the fairy tale ends. Cinderella lives happily ever after.
Even today fairy tales end on happy notes. One of the most successful
contemporary revisions is Frances Minter's light-hearted Sleepless
Beauty. Written in verse and exquisitely illustrated, it stars a
resourceful Beauty who saves herself and also gets her prince.
This Beauty grows up in a swank Manhattan apartment. After she pricks
her finger on the needle attached to an old time vinyl record player
brought by a witch who crashes her 14th birthday party, she falls
asleep. However, in this tale, Beauty calls the shots.
Beauty writes a thank-you note to the comely rocker whose music helped
her fool the wicked stranger. They meet, and the rest is a fairy-tale
history.
Sleepless Beauty has an interesting crunch in it: the witch is creepy,
the threat is real, and Beauty triumphs romantically in the end. The
whole tale reworks just one popular rendering of Sleepless Beauty – a
sage of many incarnations. Unlike a passive heroine Cinderella, there
is a progressive twist in the character of Beauty who is a 'doer',
subverting traditional scenarios in order to skewer the values that
Cinderella reinforced sometimes back.
This paradigm shift, even in fairy tales, implies many a point. The
foremost is that the world is not same. And it won't be ever. Change
is something inevitable. Cinderella has not died. The fact is that she
is no more wanted. An embodiment of virtues, a paragon of
truthfulness, and a byword of nobility—Cinderella is confined to
archives. Beauty has stolen the march. She is on the stage, glittering
under the flash-bulbs, swaying the world with her bold persona. Yes,
she's bold!! Rather bold and beautiful. No hang-ups, no hesitations;
striking the iron when it's hottest, unmindful about burning of
fingers and carrying the day impudently. This is the quintessence of
Beauty. Witches won't stop her and world she won't leave. Pain she
cannot endure but prince she can entice.
The character of Beauty is all-alluring. Don't think she is 'Revamped
Cinderella'. She is Beauty out and out. No white dress, no long hair,
no golden wings, no magic wand: Beauty is bereft of all such frippery.
She is more or less a playboy. She thinks not of bees and butterflies,
but burgers and burgundy. She dreams not of flowers and fragrances,
but of fads and fans. Reason is her anathema; ardour her manna. Love
is her pet dog; lust her pet toy. She is the fast worker for she knows
the art of fast-talk. Relations matter only when they suffice her
interest. She is faintly amused to see emotions fluttering aimlessly
in the dust. Time is her slave, she rides it like a queen and whips it
like a sturdy horse woman.
Cinderella is antipathic. She is everything save Beauty. Her image
evokes no razzle-dazzle. She has gathered an anachronistic halo. She
is no oil painting but she symbolizes something living, pulsating and
seeing. Small wonder, Cinderella today seems unhappy even as her tale
has been rolled up, long back. She is witness to the pitiful
devaluation of her character. Every aspect belonging to her has met a
steep down slide. Something really seems jinxing Cinderella. Her
spoiled rival Beauty has rendered her a cockshy. People disdain her.
She fails to appeal their ogling eyes and appease their sentimental
loitering. More pathetic is the way she feels sorry about her
generation that has morphed into sheer "also-ran generation."
Perhaps, Cinderella epitomizes something that is never ancient
history. Some characters remain as ever. They don't just represent any
airy-fairy thinking but there is a complete ideology behind them. Mr.
Man Friday of Robinson Crusoe is still a password of loyalty. Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde still depict the duality inhuman nature. Lucy of
Wordsworth still resonates selfless love. Characters are not mere
contrived creations, they are connatural conceptions. They are born
because they exist somewhere around, and keep existing endlessly with
several changing add-ons.
So, no pink elephants around. Cinderella sans a fairy touch is a jolly
decent girl existing in our tangible, real world in a miniscule
proportion. She is anguished and concerned about us: the one of her
ilk. The truth is that we aren't like Cinderella. We've changed our
roles and we've come a long way since Sleepless Beauty. Even though we
hold on to smiles and songs, dreams and desires, we actually make lots
of hard choices and cry fewer tears. Stolidly oriented, we see nothing
beyond mirrors. We don't deserve Cinderella's concern. She needs not
to feel pity for us. She should value and preserve her tears for some
good cause.
Please Cinderella, don't cry for us!
(Ms. Syeda Afshana, 35, was born in Srinagar. She attended the Vishwa Bharti High School in Rainawari, Srinagar, and the Government Women's College in Srinagar where she received a B.Sc. degree. She completed her Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Kashmir University in 1999 and was the Gold Medallist (first position holder) in her graduating class. She is currently a Lecturer in the Media Education Research Centre (MERC) of the Kashmir University and pursuing her doctorate on the role of internet after 9/11.)
Cinderella and Beauty unravel the world of crude realities
Next morning bright
and early as always I awoke.
I saw my parent sleeping.
I thought it was a joke.
Wakeup, wake up! I shouted!
You've slept enough, I'd say.
What year is it? asked Mother.
Same year as yesterday.
We didn't sleep
a hundred years?
The Witch did us no harm?
She couldn't, I said proudly,
'Cause I set the alarm.
Sleepless Beauty
(Viking, 1996)
Cinderella is simpleton. An unlucky girl with disregarded merit and
beauty. She is despised because she is not cunning. She is maltreated
because she is not pretentious. Her step-sisters give her hell and
even get their eyes pecked out by doves out of malice. But Cinderella
endures everything silently until fairies come to her succour and
magic turns wind in her favour. More precisely, it's a magical
windfall and the fairy tale ends. Cinderella lives happily ever after.
Even today fairy tales end on happy notes. One of the most successful
contemporary revisions is Frances Minter's light-hearted Sleepless
Beauty. Written in verse and exquisitely illustrated, it stars a
resourceful Beauty who saves herself and also gets her prince.
This Beauty grows up in a swank Manhattan apartment. After she pricks
her finger on the needle attached to an old time vinyl record player
brought by a witch who crashes her 14th birthday party, she falls
asleep. However, in this tale, Beauty calls the shots.
Beauty writes a thank-you note to the comely rocker whose music helped
her fool the wicked stranger. They meet, and the rest is a fairy-tale
history.
Sleepless Beauty has an interesting crunch in it: the witch is creepy,
the threat is real, and Beauty triumphs romantically in the end. The
whole tale reworks just one popular rendering of Sleepless Beauty – a
sage of many incarnations. Unlike a passive heroine Cinderella, there
is a progressive twist in the character of Beauty who is a 'doer',
subverting traditional scenarios in order to skewer the values that
Cinderella reinforced sometimes back.
This paradigm shift, even in fairy tales, implies many a point. The
foremost is that the world is not same. And it won't be ever. Change
is something inevitable. Cinderella has not died. The fact is that she
is no more wanted. An embodiment of virtues, a paragon of
truthfulness, and a byword of nobility—Cinderella is confined to
archives. Beauty has stolen the march. She is on the stage, glittering
under the flash-bulbs, swaying the world with her bold persona. Yes,
she's bold!! Rather bold and beautiful. No hang-ups, no hesitations;
striking the iron when it's hottest, unmindful about burning of
fingers and carrying the day impudently. This is the quintessence of
Beauty. Witches won't stop her and world she won't leave. Pain she
cannot endure but prince she can entice.
The character of Beauty is all-alluring. Don't think she is 'Revamped
Cinderella'. She is Beauty out and out. No white dress, no long hair,
no golden wings, no magic wand: Beauty is bereft of all such frippery.
She is more or less a playboy. She thinks not of bees and butterflies,
but burgers and burgundy. She dreams not of flowers and fragrances,
but of fads and fans. Reason is her anathema; ardour her manna. Love
is her pet dog; lust her pet toy. She is the fast worker for she knows
the art of fast-talk. Relations matter only when they suffice her
interest. She is faintly amused to see emotions fluttering aimlessly
in the dust. Time is her slave, she rides it like a queen and whips it
like a sturdy horse woman.
Cinderella is antipathic. She is everything save Beauty. Her image
evokes no razzle-dazzle. She has gathered an anachronistic halo. She
is no oil painting but she symbolizes something living, pulsating and
seeing. Small wonder, Cinderella today seems unhappy even as her tale
has been rolled up, long back. She is witness to the pitiful
devaluation of her character. Every aspect belonging to her has met a
steep down slide. Something really seems jinxing Cinderella. Her
spoiled rival Beauty has rendered her a cockshy. People disdain her.
She fails to appeal their ogling eyes and appease their sentimental
loitering. More pathetic is the way she feels sorry about her
generation that has morphed into sheer "also-ran generation."
Perhaps, Cinderella epitomizes something that is never ancient
history. Some characters remain as ever. They don't just represent any
airy-fairy thinking but there is a complete ideology behind them. Mr.
Man Friday of Robinson Crusoe is still a password of loyalty. Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde still depict the duality inhuman nature. Lucy of
Wordsworth still resonates selfless love. Characters are not mere
contrived creations, they are connatural conceptions. They are born
because they exist somewhere around, and keep existing endlessly with
several changing add-ons.
So, no pink elephants around. Cinderella sans a fairy touch is a jolly
decent girl existing in our tangible, real world in a miniscule
proportion. She is anguished and concerned about us: the one of her
ilk. The truth is that we aren't like Cinderella. We've changed our
roles and we've come a long way since Sleepless Beauty. Even though we
hold on to smiles and songs, dreams and desires, we actually make lots
of hard choices and cry fewer tears. Stolidly oriented, we see nothing
beyond mirrors. We don't deserve Cinderella's concern. She needs not
to feel pity for us. She should value and preserve her tears for some
good cause.
Please Cinderella, don't cry for us!
An Agenda for the Omar Abdullah Government
Amitabh Proposes an Agenda
(Dr. Amitabh Mattoo, 47, was born in Srinagar. He received his education from the Burn Hall School in Srinagar, the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, and earned a D. Phil in International Relations from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. He is currently a Professor of International Politics at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University and a Member of the National Knowledge Commission. From November 2002 until early December 2008, Amitabh Mattoo was also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu, the youngest person ever to serve on this position. Professor Mattoo serves on the Governing council of Pugwash, and was, till recently, a member of India's National Security Council's Advisory Board, and a member of the task force constituted by Indian Prime on Global Strategic Developments. He has been Chairperson of the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.)
Stitching a New 'Pheran': An Agenda for the Omar Abdullah Govt
One of the most abiding symbols of Kashmiri culture is the pheran. A combination of an over-coat and a gown, the pheran is a great leveler. For generations, all sections of Kashmiri society – the young and the old, men and women, Pandits and Muslims, the aristocratic and the subaltern – have depended on this long and loose robe to protect and comfort them in the harshest of winters.
This traditional Kashmiri dress has, of course, been both a symbol of resistance and haute couture. The militant's Kalashnikov virtually disappeared under the crease-less layers of the tweed variant, while embroidered pashmina designer-pherans have rarely been out of fashion even in Paris's Gallery Lafayette. Not surprisingly then, the pheran is also a potent acronym for the agenda that the new Omar Abdullah led National Conference-Congress coalition government should follow, with each one of the alphabets expanding into a weighty policy direction: planning, human rights, education, reconciliation, autonomy/ self-rule, and a new culture of governance. The Omar Abdullah government must begin the exercise of stitching this new pheran within the first 100-days of his government.
Jammu and Kashmir does, in a manner of saying, conduct an extensive planning exercise. But like much else in the state, the reality is starkly different. The evidence is not difficult to find. Earlier this week, the Financial Commissioner Planning and Development Department, presumably to endear himself to the new government, delivered a lecture in which he pompously declared that Jammu and Kashmir has pioneered planning decentralization in the country by creating district development boards. In fact, the planning department is the most over-centralized, inefficient, and idiosyncratic part of the government. Other than token meetings, there is rarely any significant consultation with stakeholders. Bureaucratic adhocism and administrative anarchy, are the liet motifs of the planning process in the state. Not surprisingly, there is a disconnect between the planning process and the people.
Omar Abdullah has signaled that he may set up a planning board, and this would be a very important initiative with far-reaching implications. The planning board must be manned, however, by primarily professional economists (and sociologists) and those who understand the importance of a more imaginative, organic, and a truly decentralized perspective to planning, especially from the NGO sector. The Planning Board must also be entrusted with developing a "Vision-2015" for Jammu and Kashmir which should reflect the aspirations of the people, and the government's commitment to realizing them within the next six years.
One of the most sensitive areas where the new government will be tested is the issue of human rights. Will the new government be able to strike the right balance between ensuring the dignity of the average citizen while continuing the fight against militancy and terrorism? There are four fronts on which the new government can and must act. First, the state human rights commission must be given real teeth. This should be possible through an immediate ordinance, so that citizens get greater confidence in the Commission. Second, the government must plead with the centre to seriously review the applicability of some of the draconian laws and gradually repeal them, district by district, if not in their entirety right away. Third, it is time to consider giving general amnesty to all political detainees from the state. Finally, ensuring the dignity and human rights of the Kashmiri Pandits must also form a centre-piece of the agenda of the new government.
Investing in Education, training and skill development have to be part of the fundamentals of the new government if it has to take advantage of the huge demographic dividend in the state. The youth can become the state's greatest strength, its soft power, in the years to come. Jammu and Kashmir – as we know - has witnessed, in recent years, a massive expansion of educational infrastructure from the school to the University level. At the higher-education level itself there are seven universities, more than 200 colleges and 14 off-site campuses. Much of this expansion, however, has been unregulated and there has been little attention paid to issues of academic direction, equity, excellence, public-private partnership and the needs of the market. The state has, consequently, witnessed high levels of educated unemployment and low levels of vocationally skilled human resources.
In order to ensure that education promotes employability, knowledge creation and its application in areas critical to Jammu and Kashmir like information and communication technology, agriculture, tourism, health and – most important- in the area of governance and work culture - there is a need to initiate key reforms in the education and knowledge sector. It is imperative also to create a broad policy framework and a monitoring and regulatory mechanism that can facilitate Jammu and Kashmir's movement towards truly becoming a "knowledge society and a knowledge economy."
It is essential also to give the youth of Jammu and Kashmir a greater stake in the country's booming knowledge economy. Public-private partnerships are also needed to enhance international connectivity by extending broad-band access in the state – with stronger incentives provided through the existing universal access funds for telecommunications. Given the geography of the state, and its growing endowments of skills, electronic exports of services may play a more significant role in its beneficial economic integration than the export of apples and handicrafts.
The state has rarely been as polarized as before, and, let us face it, with both a regional and a religious divide. Reconciliation should not remain a slogan but become a reality. It cannot merely be the embroidery on the pheran, but become part of the fabric itself. There is the need for multiple reconciliations at various levels : within the valley between the Kashmiri Pandits and the Kashmiri Muslims and between the separatists and those within the mainstream; between the valley and Jammu and Ladakh; and between the sub-regions in Ladakh and Jammu. While a reconciliation commission may be a formal mechanism needed to institutionalse the process of dialogue and revive the bonds of tolerance, pluralism and togetherness, much more can and needs to be done at the civil society level. The state can act as a facilitator and promoter of this people-to-people reconciliation.
In the long term, dealing seriously with the issue of autonomy, self rule and regional balance are critical . While key decisions on these contentious issues may have to await backing from New Delhi, the state government must initiate a dialogue on them between stakeholders from all over the state. The government must not hold its own views/ reports on the issue sacrosanct, but generate real creative thinking on these issues while considering other models and experiences in other parts of the country and the world.
Finally, the new government must initiate a new work culture and a new culture of governance that is rooted in the politics of positivism. This new culture must seek to channelise the immense talent within the state through inspirational leadership, which learns from the past, but does not remain a prisoner to past divisiveness and bitterness.
(Dr. Amitabh Mattoo, 47, was born in Srinagar. He received his education from the Burn Hall School in Srinagar, the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, and earned a D. Phil in International Relations from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. He is currently a Professor of International Politics at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University and a Member of the National Knowledge Commission. From November 2002 until early December 2008, Amitabh Mattoo was also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu, the youngest person ever to serve on this position. Professor Mattoo serves on the Governing council of Pugwash, and was, till recently, a member of India's National Security Council's Advisory Board, and a member of the task force constituted by Indian Prime on Global Strategic Developments. He has been Chairperson of the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.)
Stitching a New 'Pheran': An Agenda for the Omar Abdullah Govt
One of the most abiding symbols of Kashmiri culture is the pheran. A combination of an over-coat and a gown, the pheran is a great leveler. For generations, all sections of Kashmiri society – the young and the old, men and women, Pandits and Muslims, the aristocratic and the subaltern – have depended on this long and loose robe to protect and comfort them in the harshest of winters.
This traditional Kashmiri dress has, of course, been both a symbol of resistance and haute couture. The militant's Kalashnikov virtually disappeared under the crease-less layers of the tweed variant, while embroidered pashmina designer-pherans have rarely been out of fashion even in Paris's Gallery Lafayette. Not surprisingly then, the pheran is also a potent acronym for the agenda that the new Omar Abdullah led National Conference-Congress coalition government should follow, with each one of the alphabets expanding into a weighty policy direction: planning, human rights, education, reconciliation, autonomy/ self-rule, and a new culture of governance. The Omar Abdullah government must begin the exercise of stitching this new pheran within the first 100-days of his government.
Jammu and Kashmir does, in a manner of saying, conduct an extensive planning exercise. But like much else in the state, the reality is starkly different. The evidence is not difficult to find. Earlier this week, the Financial Commissioner Planning and Development Department, presumably to endear himself to the new government, delivered a lecture in which he pompously declared that Jammu and Kashmir has pioneered planning decentralization in the country by creating district development boards. In fact, the planning department is the most over-centralized, inefficient, and idiosyncratic part of the government. Other than token meetings, there is rarely any significant consultation with stakeholders. Bureaucratic adhocism and administrative anarchy, are the liet motifs of the planning process in the state. Not surprisingly, there is a disconnect between the planning process and the people.
Omar Abdullah has signaled that he may set up a planning board, and this would be a very important initiative with far-reaching implications. The planning board must be manned, however, by primarily professional economists (and sociologists) and those who understand the importance of a more imaginative, organic, and a truly decentralized perspective to planning, especially from the NGO sector. The Planning Board must also be entrusted with developing a "Vision-2015" for Jammu and Kashmir which should reflect the aspirations of the people, and the government's commitment to realizing them within the next six years.
One of the most sensitive areas where the new government will be tested is the issue of human rights. Will the new government be able to strike the right balance between ensuring the dignity of the average citizen while continuing the fight against militancy and terrorism? There are four fronts on which the new government can and must act. First, the state human rights commission must be given real teeth. This should be possible through an immediate ordinance, so that citizens get greater confidence in the Commission. Second, the government must plead with the centre to seriously review the applicability of some of the draconian laws and gradually repeal them, district by district, if not in their entirety right away. Third, it is time to consider giving general amnesty to all political detainees from the state. Finally, ensuring the dignity and human rights of the Kashmiri Pandits must also form a centre-piece of the agenda of the new government.
Investing in Education, training and skill development have to be part of the fundamentals of the new government if it has to take advantage of the huge demographic dividend in the state. The youth can become the state's greatest strength, its soft power, in the years to come. Jammu and Kashmir – as we know - has witnessed, in recent years, a massive expansion of educational infrastructure from the school to the University level. At the higher-education level itself there are seven universities, more than 200 colleges and 14 off-site campuses. Much of this expansion, however, has been unregulated and there has been little attention paid to issues of academic direction, equity, excellence, public-private partnership and the needs of the market. The state has, consequently, witnessed high levels of educated unemployment and low levels of vocationally skilled human resources.
In order to ensure that education promotes employability, knowledge creation and its application in areas critical to Jammu and Kashmir like information and communication technology, agriculture, tourism, health and – most important- in the area of governance and work culture - there is a need to initiate key reforms in the education and knowledge sector. It is imperative also to create a broad policy framework and a monitoring and regulatory mechanism that can facilitate Jammu and Kashmir's movement towards truly becoming a "knowledge society and a knowledge economy."
It is essential also to give the youth of Jammu and Kashmir a greater stake in the country's booming knowledge economy. Public-private partnerships are also needed to enhance international connectivity by extending broad-band access in the state – with stronger incentives provided through the existing universal access funds for telecommunications. Given the geography of the state, and its growing endowments of skills, electronic exports of services may play a more significant role in its beneficial economic integration than the export of apples and handicrafts.
The state has rarely been as polarized as before, and, let us face it, with both a regional and a religious divide. Reconciliation should not remain a slogan but become a reality. It cannot merely be the embroidery on the pheran, but become part of the fabric itself. There is the need for multiple reconciliations at various levels : within the valley between the Kashmiri Pandits and the Kashmiri Muslims and between the separatists and those within the mainstream; between the valley and Jammu and Ladakh; and between the sub-regions in Ladakh and Jammu. While a reconciliation commission may be a formal mechanism needed to institutionalse the process of dialogue and revive the bonds of tolerance, pluralism and togetherness, much more can and needs to be done at the civil society level. The state can act as a facilitator and promoter of this people-to-people reconciliation.
In the long term, dealing seriously with the issue of autonomy, self rule and regional balance are critical . While key decisions on these contentious issues may have to await backing from New Delhi, the state government must initiate a dialogue on them between stakeholders from all over the state. The government must not hold its own views/ reports on the issue sacrosanct, but generate real creative thinking on these issues while considering other models and experiences in other parts of the country and the world.
Finally, the new government must initiate a new work culture and a new culture of governance that is rooted in the politics of positivism. This new culture must seek to channelise the immense talent within the state through inspirational leadership, which learns from the past, but does not remain a prisoner to past divisiveness and bitterness.
Triangulating Omar's Future
Riyaz provides an interesting perspective
(Mr. Riyaz Masroor, 37, was born and raised in Srinagar. He is a Srinagar based journalist who writes in English, Urdu and kashmiri. Besides working in the local press, his articles have appeared on BBC Radio online, Himal Southasia and the Journal of International Federation of Journalists.)
Omar! Enjoy the grace period
Two days ahead of assuming office as the youngest chief minister of J&K, Omar Abdullah called on the former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and sought his guidance as well as support for a challenging task he was about to take upon.
The otherwise reticent Mufti, whose distaste for Abdullahs is all too well known, wished him "good future" and hoped that the new government delivered on every front under the new leadership. Syed Ali Geelani, the uncompromising face of Kashmir separatism, had already sounded soft toward Omar when he wanted him to "deliver on promises" and obliquely complimented him for being the youngest ever CM. Mirwaiz Umar, whose party Awami Action Committee over past decades, especially during the Lion-Goat tussle of seventies, has almost embodied the politics of NC-bashing, also hurled an unexpectedly sober response. Mirwaiz, the youngest of all separatist stalwarts, urged his counterpart on other side to "deliver on promises" he had made during the poll campaign. Later, when Omar was being administered oath of office in Jammu on January 5, Mirwaiz, speaking at a seminar about self-determination in Srinagar, asked the young Abdullah to "represent Kashmir in Delhi rather than Delhi in Kashmir". BJP's J&K chapter is yet to sound out on Omar Abdullah's ascendance however its leading lights, Ashok Khujoria and Chaman Lal Gupta attended the swearing in ceremony and exchanged pleasantries with Mahbooba Mufti and Choudhary Aslam. BJP is yet to convene legislative party meeting and appears in a dilemma if it should pin down Omar at the very outset. And above all, despite a loud debate around why people voted close on the heels of a blazing street campaign against India, United Jihad Council remained content with its response to the Israeli aggression in Gaza, it did not have a word on the political changeover in Kashmir, its main forte.
Such a positive beginning should augur well for Omar but all this good talk has brought with it the challenge of meeting the expectations, which are running rife on either side of the political divide. From New Delhi (read Congress) to Mufti Sayeed (PDP is now single) and from separatist to militant camp, all key actors of Kashmir's labyrinthine politics appear in virtual agreement over the need to give Omar at least the margin of being the first-timer. Does it mean that our politics is finally maturing or it is like the levers are being moved from somewhere else? Any attempt to answer this would lapse into hypothesis. What is even more important to ponder on is, if Omar can really deliver change in Kashmir by appropriating this 'grace period', which his friends and foes have given him with invariable magnanimity. But this level playing field is actually lying within a sort of triangle. We need to place Omar Abdullah within this triangle of compulsion, ideology and expectation.
His compulsion comes from his need to forge political alliance with Congress, the party that has ironically twisted arms of both his father Farooq Abdullah and his grandfather Sheikh Abdullah despite the fact that Sheikh held sway on Kashmir population and Farooq had a tighter grip over mainstream politics. Omar no doubt enjoys a non-aggressive political audience in Kashmir yet his numbers in assembly make his compulsion even more troublesome. If the Congress has been in the habit of deposing Sheikh and Farooq despite their political and electoral strength, will it think twice if tomorrow it chose to switch over? And, it is quite easy to discern what would be Congress' brief for Omar. May be not in categorical terms but in a subtle way, he must have been conveyed: "Talk governance, be silent on politics?" Nonetheless we don't expect Congress to leash Omar so quickly even if he chose to blend his talk on governance with a dash of politics but his assertions are bound to raise eyebrows in Delhi. For any friction, if at all Omar allows it to appear, we may have to wait till the elections for Indian Parliament are over. After all, Congress considers Omar as its star campaigner in J&K, or may be elsewhere too.
As for ideology Omar, by saying that he would accept any solution better than autonomy, has creatively reached out to separatist circles. And, by re-branding the proposal as 'autonomy-plus' he has actually walked into the realm of Kashmir's neo-separatist politics, more loudly championed by Muftis. Both these postures are well within the discourse Mufti has floated amidst Pakistan's soft policy on Kashmir but Omar seems intent on something big. He wants to be remembered as the one who included the discourse of justice in the mainstream politics by pleading for a Truth and Reconciliatory Commission (TRC) in Kashmir, thus widening his constituency far beyond Muftis and separatists.
TRC is basically a South African concept. After the fall of apartheid in South Africa Nelson Mandela pleaded for setting up of TRC that would probe the crimes committed by the minority whites against the beleaguered and victimized majority of blacks. Let's wait to see how Omar moves about this agenda, which may include reviewing PSA cases, advocating compensation for losses to thousands of house owners who lost their property in disproportionate use of force during encounters, curbing armed forces and their allied agencies. Mufti did not make a big difference toward that end but he postured against Army and New Delhi and that worked. Will Omar Abdullah find it easy to go beyond Mufti's posturing and press for setting up of TRC? How will he tackle pressures from New Delhi? If he falters on this issue, how will the forces who gave him the 'grace period' respond? And, if he moves forward, how will Congress respond? America has reinvented its interest in Kashmir via Afghanistan; it has almost finalized Clinton's appointment as special envoy for the disputed region. Will Omar's nationalist or neo-separatist tendencies lead National Conference to yet another rebirth as Kashmir's best bet? Will Omar allow himself to be used as a preemptive tool by Indians or respect the national consensus around his abilities to deliver? These would be the questions hovering over 2009. Dear Omar! Enjoy the grace period.
(Mr. Riyaz Masroor, 37, was born and raised in Srinagar. He is a Srinagar based journalist who writes in English, Urdu and kashmiri. Besides working in the local press, his articles have appeared on BBC Radio online, Himal Southasia and the Journal of International Federation of Journalists.)
Omar! Enjoy the grace period
Two days ahead of assuming office as the youngest chief minister of J&K, Omar Abdullah called on the former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and sought his guidance as well as support for a challenging task he was about to take upon.
The otherwise reticent Mufti, whose distaste for Abdullahs is all too well known, wished him "good future" and hoped that the new government delivered on every front under the new leadership. Syed Ali Geelani, the uncompromising face of Kashmir separatism, had already sounded soft toward Omar when he wanted him to "deliver on promises" and obliquely complimented him for being the youngest ever CM. Mirwaiz Umar, whose party Awami Action Committee over past decades, especially during the Lion-Goat tussle of seventies, has almost embodied the politics of NC-bashing, also hurled an unexpectedly sober response. Mirwaiz, the youngest of all separatist stalwarts, urged his counterpart on other side to "deliver on promises" he had made during the poll campaign. Later, when Omar was being administered oath of office in Jammu on January 5, Mirwaiz, speaking at a seminar about self-determination in Srinagar, asked the young Abdullah to "represent Kashmir in Delhi rather than Delhi in Kashmir". BJP's J&K chapter is yet to sound out on Omar Abdullah's ascendance however its leading lights, Ashok Khujoria and Chaman Lal Gupta attended the swearing in ceremony and exchanged pleasantries with Mahbooba Mufti and Choudhary Aslam. BJP is yet to convene legislative party meeting and appears in a dilemma if it should pin down Omar at the very outset. And above all, despite a loud debate around why people voted close on the heels of a blazing street campaign against India, United Jihad Council remained content with its response to the Israeli aggression in Gaza, it did not have a word on the political changeover in Kashmir, its main forte.
Such a positive beginning should augur well for Omar but all this good talk has brought with it the challenge of meeting the expectations, which are running rife on either side of the political divide. From New Delhi (read Congress) to Mufti Sayeed (PDP is now single) and from separatist to militant camp, all key actors of Kashmir's labyrinthine politics appear in virtual agreement over the need to give Omar at least the margin of being the first-timer. Does it mean that our politics is finally maturing or it is like the levers are being moved from somewhere else? Any attempt to answer this would lapse into hypothesis. What is even more important to ponder on is, if Omar can really deliver change in Kashmir by appropriating this 'grace period', which his friends and foes have given him with invariable magnanimity. But this level playing field is actually lying within a sort of triangle. We need to place Omar Abdullah within this triangle of compulsion, ideology and expectation.
His compulsion comes from his need to forge political alliance with Congress, the party that has ironically twisted arms of both his father Farooq Abdullah and his grandfather Sheikh Abdullah despite the fact that Sheikh held sway on Kashmir population and Farooq had a tighter grip over mainstream politics. Omar no doubt enjoys a non-aggressive political audience in Kashmir yet his numbers in assembly make his compulsion even more troublesome. If the Congress has been in the habit of deposing Sheikh and Farooq despite their political and electoral strength, will it think twice if tomorrow it chose to switch over? And, it is quite easy to discern what would be Congress' brief for Omar. May be not in categorical terms but in a subtle way, he must have been conveyed: "Talk governance, be silent on politics?" Nonetheless we don't expect Congress to leash Omar so quickly even if he chose to blend his talk on governance with a dash of politics but his assertions are bound to raise eyebrows in Delhi. For any friction, if at all Omar allows it to appear, we may have to wait till the elections for Indian Parliament are over. After all, Congress considers Omar as its star campaigner in J&K, or may be elsewhere too.
As for ideology Omar, by saying that he would accept any solution better than autonomy, has creatively reached out to separatist circles. And, by re-branding the proposal as 'autonomy-plus' he has actually walked into the realm of Kashmir's neo-separatist politics, more loudly championed by Muftis. Both these postures are well within the discourse Mufti has floated amidst Pakistan's soft policy on Kashmir but Omar seems intent on something big. He wants to be remembered as the one who included the discourse of justice in the mainstream politics by pleading for a Truth and Reconciliatory Commission (TRC) in Kashmir, thus widening his constituency far beyond Muftis and separatists.
TRC is basically a South African concept. After the fall of apartheid in South Africa Nelson Mandela pleaded for setting up of TRC that would probe the crimes committed by the minority whites against the beleaguered and victimized majority of blacks. Let's wait to see how Omar moves about this agenda, which may include reviewing PSA cases, advocating compensation for losses to thousands of house owners who lost their property in disproportionate use of force during encounters, curbing armed forces and their allied agencies. Mufti did not make a big difference toward that end but he postured against Army and New Delhi and that worked. Will Omar Abdullah find it easy to go beyond Mufti's posturing and press for setting up of TRC? How will he tackle pressures from New Delhi? If he falters on this issue, how will the forces who gave him the 'grace period' respond? And, if he moves forward, how will Congress respond? America has reinvented its interest in Kashmir via Afghanistan; it has almost finalized Clinton's appointment as special envoy for the disputed region. Will Omar's nationalist or neo-separatist tendencies lead National Conference to yet another rebirth as Kashmir's best bet? Will Omar allow himself to be used as a preemptive tool by Indians or respect the national consensus around his abilities to deliver? These would be the questions hovering over 2009. Dear Omar! Enjoy the grace period.
Leadership Challenges in a Coalition
Shuhab describes various challenges facing the incoming Chief Minister
(Shuhab Hashmi, 39, was born in Baramulla, and graduated from the Degree College in Sopore, and completed his M.A. from the University of Kashmir. He is a Columnist, and in his spare time enjoys reading, discussions and traveling.)
Problem path for Omar Abdullah
Omar Abdullah's landing in the most coveted post in Jammu and Kashmir is being seen as the continuation of the transformation that has been witnessed in Indian politics with the new generation taking over the responsibility of affairs.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee even quoted Omar's example during an interaction in Chennai on January 8 and made it known to people of India that the probability of Rahul Gandhi taking up the top job of Prime Minister in the country is highly likely. He was visibly upbeat while saying that one of the most important states in India was now being governed by a 38-year-old youth. Earlier this distinction was associated with Prafulla Kumar Mahanta only, who became Chief Minister of Assam in early 80s at the age of 30. So all eyes are set on Omar; set to see whether he is able to deliver on ground or not.
But given the fact that this scion of Abdullah family is not heading a single party government but is tied to the wedding knot of coalition between National Conference and Congress, things may not as easy as they may appear. Congress has a dubious distinction of making and breaking the coalitions in the state. History of Kashmir politics is a testimony to that. Though Omar wanted to start the innings on a high moral ground and with an indication of his being impeccable in dealings and execution but the tatters have started becoming visible. Leaving politics in Jammu and Kashmir aside, as it may not be the area where he would immediately burn his fingers, governance is something people have started looking at. The governance which is needed in the State at this juncture, and about which Omar and his father, Farooq Abdullah talked enough during elections, is the biggest challenge before him. To see that dream of people come true, the main stumbling block to be overcome is the menace of corruption in the state for which politicians, bureaucracy and the people are equally responsible, as they supplement each other to feed their interests.
It is a fact that Omar is dependent on Congress for its support to run the government and he cannot dictate to his coalition partners, especially on the issues of choosing the people for pivotal positions or assigning the ministerial berths. But the message, which has gone down to the people on the first day, is that the coalition will not be as clean as one could expect. There were many surprises, and shocking ones, as the people who are tainted and have been involved in scandals have found their way to the cabinet. One of them who grabbed the top job in the Congress was under fire from his own party's MP who levelled serious charges against him. The other one had to resign as a sitting MLA levelled charges of corruption against him on the floor of the House. What is the outcome of investigations into that matter is not known, but of hand it has sent a signal about how the new dispensation is going to take off. Against these choices the Congress sidelined one of its most reputed leaders, Chowdhary Mohammad Aslam, who returned to Assembly for the sixth time and has been Speaker of Assembly besides being Pradesh Congress Chief. Another junior-most MLA was inducted in the Cabinet only to cool down tempers between the two leaders who had fought elections in the adjacent constituencies. These choices in any case are not acceptable to ensure a system of transparency and corruption free government. This is also a fact that these ministers were duly elected by public but that is not the measuring rod for being above board, that too with latest controversies surrounding them.
This is the first uncomfortable situation Omar might be facing though publicly he would refuse to indulge in the issue saying that it is Congress' prerogative. The Congress culture which has its imprint in the state comes with these "misadventures". Going by the reports, the Congress has also bargained heavily on portfolios and has staked claim for the most of the developmental ministries, which are considered to be "lucrative". Here they have a point that they sacrificed the Chief Minister's post for six years. But putting the right man in the right job should have been left to the Chief Minister who has to lead the team in a crucial state like Jammu and Kashmir. Omar is very much confident in saying that he has stitched the coalition at the highest level in Delhi and what according to him "Mufti could not do in 20 days I did in less than an hour". His friendship with Rahul Gandhi did work out the coalition arrangement, but will that cast its shadow on the functioning of the government at the state level is difficult to predict. The way the Congress in the state has started behaving in the coalition arrangement, there seems to be no guarantee for a "clean and transparent" government.
Omar, at his maiden press conference in Jammu, on Friday, parried questions on the issue as he was in company of this "tainted lot" only and does not want to push to the wall his coalition partners. In his own way he is handling the situation in the manner, which would befit him at this juncture. But he has to keep an eye on the system, which he is to lead. For this, strengthening the State Vigilance Organisation and State Accountability Commission (SAC) should be his top priority. He has conceded that SAC has no teeth and its parameters need to be changed.
However, he has to see that it does not become a redundant body as it is right now, like the State Human Rights Commission, which recommends action to the government, but nothing actually happens on the ground. For him, the real challenge is clean government and not the politics as he himself says, "Separatists are demanding Azadi from New Delhi and not from the J & K Government". So Mr. Omar Abdullah let you not disappoint people on governance front; politics will be taken care of by those who can handle it!
(Shuhab Hashmi, 39, was born in Baramulla, and graduated from the Degree College in Sopore, and completed his M.A. from the University of Kashmir. He is a Columnist, and in his spare time enjoys reading, discussions and traveling.)
Problem path for Omar Abdullah
Omar Abdullah's landing in the most coveted post in Jammu and Kashmir is being seen as the continuation of the transformation that has been witnessed in Indian politics with the new generation taking over the responsibility of affairs.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee even quoted Omar's example during an interaction in Chennai on January 8 and made it known to people of India that the probability of Rahul Gandhi taking up the top job of Prime Minister in the country is highly likely. He was visibly upbeat while saying that one of the most important states in India was now being governed by a 38-year-old youth. Earlier this distinction was associated with Prafulla Kumar Mahanta only, who became Chief Minister of Assam in early 80s at the age of 30. So all eyes are set on Omar; set to see whether he is able to deliver on ground or not.
But given the fact that this scion of Abdullah family is not heading a single party government but is tied to the wedding knot of coalition between National Conference and Congress, things may not as easy as they may appear. Congress has a dubious distinction of making and breaking the coalitions in the state. History of Kashmir politics is a testimony to that. Though Omar wanted to start the innings on a high moral ground and with an indication of his being impeccable in dealings and execution but the tatters have started becoming visible. Leaving politics in Jammu and Kashmir aside, as it may not be the area where he would immediately burn his fingers, governance is something people have started looking at. The governance which is needed in the State at this juncture, and about which Omar and his father, Farooq Abdullah talked enough during elections, is the biggest challenge before him. To see that dream of people come true, the main stumbling block to be overcome is the menace of corruption in the state for which politicians, bureaucracy and the people are equally responsible, as they supplement each other to feed their interests.
It is a fact that Omar is dependent on Congress for its support to run the government and he cannot dictate to his coalition partners, especially on the issues of choosing the people for pivotal positions or assigning the ministerial berths. But the message, which has gone down to the people on the first day, is that the coalition will not be as clean as one could expect. There were many surprises, and shocking ones, as the people who are tainted and have been involved in scandals have found their way to the cabinet. One of them who grabbed the top job in the Congress was under fire from his own party's MP who levelled serious charges against him. The other one had to resign as a sitting MLA levelled charges of corruption against him on the floor of the House. What is the outcome of investigations into that matter is not known, but of hand it has sent a signal about how the new dispensation is going to take off. Against these choices the Congress sidelined one of its most reputed leaders, Chowdhary Mohammad Aslam, who returned to Assembly for the sixth time and has been Speaker of Assembly besides being Pradesh Congress Chief. Another junior-most MLA was inducted in the Cabinet only to cool down tempers between the two leaders who had fought elections in the adjacent constituencies. These choices in any case are not acceptable to ensure a system of transparency and corruption free government. This is also a fact that these ministers were duly elected by public but that is not the measuring rod for being above board, that too with latest controversies surrounding them.
This is the first uncomfortable situation Omar might be facing though publicly he would refuse to indulge in the issue saying that it is Congress' prerogative. The Congress culture which has its imprint in the state comes with these "misadventures". Going by the reports, the Congress has also bargained heavily on portfolios and has staked claim for the most of the developmental ministries, which are considered to be "lucrative". Here they have a point that they sacrificed the Chief Minister's post for six years. But putting the right man in the right job should have been left to the Chief Minister who has to lead the team in a crucial state like Jammu and Kashmir. Omar is very much confident in saying that he has stitched the coalition at the highest level in Delhi and what according to him "Mufti could not do in 20 days I did in less than an hour". His friendship with Rahul Gandhi did work out the coalition arrangement, but will that cast its shadow on the functioning of the government at the state level is difficult to predict. The way the Congress in the state has started behaving in the coalition arrangement, there seems to be no guarantee for a "clean and transparent" government.
Omar, at his maiden press conference in Jammu, on Friday, parried questions on the issue as he was in company of this "tainted lot" only and does not want to push to the wall his coalition partners. In his own way he is handling the situation in the manner, which would befit him at this juncture. But he has to keep an eye on the system, which he is to lead. For this, strengthening the State Vigilance Organisation and State Accountability Commission (SAC) should be his top priority. He has conceded that SAC has no teeth and its parameters need to be changed.
However, he has to see that it does not become a redundant body as it is right now, like the State Human Rights Commission, which recommends action to the government, but nothing actually happens on the ground. For him, the real challenge is clean government and not the politics as he himself says, "Separatists are demanding Azadi from New Delhi and not from the J & K Government". So Mr. Omar Abdullah let you not disappoint people on governance front; politics will be taken care of by those who can handle it!
Taking the Faithful for a Ride
An Editorial in the Kashmir Images discusses moral bankruptcy in the Separatist Elite
It seems separatist leadership in Kashmir is hellbent upon humiliating the people of Kashmir and the recent statement issued by veteran separatist leader and portions of the resolutions passed by his Tehreek-e-Hurriyat are brazen examples of this reality. On way to New Delhi, where he would be staying for two months in connection with his health problems, Geelani told a local news agency that people, who voted during the just concluded elections, should perform Tauba (a Muslim ritual of repentance if some wrong is committed). In Geelani's view people who have voted have in fact done wrong and therefore need to repent. Interesting to note that nearly 60 per cent of the voters exercised their votes and therefore Geelani wants almost the entire population of Jammu and Kashmir to perform Tauba.
Geelani is a senior and respected political figure of the state. He has represented his Sopore constituency in state's Assembly for several years and is known to be an able parliamentarian. People respect him and have great regard for him. But that doesn't give a leader of Geelani's stature to issue Fatwa against his own people. If majority of the people are wrong, who has given a license to Geelani that he and his party alone are the right? People voted because they thought they need to vote. It was out of their free will and living in a democratic world, peoples' will is to be regarded as supreme. Some religious zealots may argue that it's God's will that is supreme, agreed but God never asked Kashmiris not to vote. God made humans, gave them grey matter and allowed them to choose the right path.
More interesting were the portions of the resolution passed by Geelani's Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. The resolutions tell Kashmiris not to think of "CONSTRUCTION". "We are oppressed and the oppressor would continue to indulge in destruction. We should steadfastly continue our struggle for realization of right of self determination and not talk about construction," the resolution said. Not only this, the resolution says that talking of construction in present scenario is killing for the freedom movement. The resolution doesn't stop there but asks people not to strive for good roads. "Let us talk about god roads once we get Azadi." One wonders how a party that is headed by a politician like Syed Ali Geelani should issue such absurd statement. Does the resolution want to tell people that they should not have goods roads to commute; not have good health care facilities to treat themselves; not to have good schools to get education…
What exactly is the resolution aiming at? Let Geelani, with due respect, be asked that if he wants people to live with bad roads, why is he flying to New Delhi for specialized treatment. Ordinary Kashmiris are not allowed to talk about roads and other basic facilities and leaders are free to get costliest and the best treatment in the reputed hospitals of India. Isn't it an irony?
The voter turn out may have given some set back to the separatist leaders but that doesn't mean that separatist leadership started humiliating the intellect of the ordinary Kashmiris. Leaders don't exist in vacuum. They need people and if all the people are wrong, as Geelani is trying to convey, leaders should either quit or join the mob.
It seems separatist leadership in Kashmir is hellbent upon humiliating the people of Kashmir and the recent statement issued by veteran separatist leader and portions of the resolutions passed by his Tehreek-e-Hurriyat are brazen examples of this reality. On way to New Delhi, where he would be staying for two months in connection with his health problems, Geelani told a local news agency that people, who voted during the just concluded elections, should perform Tauba (a Muslim ritual of repentance if some wrong is committed). In Geelani's view people who have voted have in fact done wrong and therefore need to repent. Interesting to note that nearly 60 per cent of the voters exercised their votes and therefore Geelani wants almost the entire population of Jammu and Kashmir to perform Tauba.
Geelani is a senior and respected political figure of the state. He has represented his Sopore constituency in state's Assembly for several years and is known to be an able parliamentarian. People respect him and have great regard for him. But that doesn't give a leader of Geelani's stature to issue Fatwa against his own people. If majority of the people are wrong, who has given a license to Geelani that he and his party alone are the right? People voted because they thought they need to vote. It was out of their free will and living in a democratic world, peoples' will is to be regarded as supreme. Some religious zealots may argue that it's God's will that is supreme, agreed but God never asked Kashmiris not to vote. God made humans, gave them grey matter and allowed them to choose the right path.
More interesting were the portions of the resolution passed by Geelani's Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. The resolutions tell Kashmiris not to think of "CONSTRUCTION". "We are oppressed and the oppressor would continue to indulge in destruction. We should steadfastly continue our struggle for realization of right of self determination and not talk about construction," the resolution said. Not only this, the resolution says that talking of construction in present scenario is killing for the freedom movement. The resolution doesn't stop there but asks people not to strive for good roads. "Let us talk about god roads once we get Azadi." One wonders how a party that is headed by a politician like Syed Ali Geelani should issue such absurd statement. Does the resolution want to tell people that they should not have goods roads to commute; not have good health care facilities to treat themselves; not to have good schools to get education…
What exactly is the resolution aiming at? Let Geelani, with due respect, be asked that if he wants people to live with bad roads, why is he flying to New Delhi for specialized treatment. Ordinary Kashmiris are not allowed to talk about roads and other basic facilities and leaders are free to get costliest and the best treatment in the reputed hospitals of India. Isn't it an irony?
The voter turn out may have given some set back to the separatist leaders but that doesn't mean that separatist leadership started humiliating the intellect of the ordinary Kashmiris. Leaders don't exist in vacuum. They need people and if all the people are wrong, as Geelani is trying to convey, leaders should either quit or join the mob.
Islamic Oligarchy Sputters in Kashmir
Mehmood puts his finger in the crux of the emerging Islamic agenda in Kashmir
(Mr. Mehmood-ur-Rashid, mid-30's, lives and works in Srinagar. His commentary is published by the Rising Kashmir.)
Kashmir: Problem Islam Inc.
Immediately after her release from detention, Asiya Andrabi, head of a Kashmiri based women organization Dukhtaran-e-Millat, often atrociously translated as 'Daughters of faith', made an out of the blue statement in her press conference. The old guard of Resistance should stay behind and make way for the new; this was the salvo that Asiya fired in the wilderness of Kashmir's Resistance politics aimed directly at Syed Ali Geelani.
She repeated the same things, albeit with an elaboration that she wants Geelani to lead the movement spiritually and leave the more practical side of it to young blood, in her interview with Rising Kashmir ( 08 Jan, 09). Although, neither this statement nor the kind of mindset that gives birth to such crass and flagrant comments, deserves any serious attention, but it becomes an occasion to get actuated into a discourse that is not only pertinent to the happenings in Kashmir but the factor of timing has made it inevitable for us to get started in this direction. Thematic imbalances and frequent upheavals in public behavior is like a pincer movement, warding off which becomes immensely urgent, if the Socio-Political being of Kashmir has to be saved. Although people like Asiya cannot be suspected of being oblivious to the threats that Kashmir society faces today, but their political behavior has always unwittingly added to the precariousness of Kashmir's society, more particularly its Muslim character. It might sound ironical that those who are identified as radical in their Muslim assertion can contribute to the peril of a Muslim society. It may be provocative to some, off putting to some others and pure pleasure for still some ears; but here the intent to bring Islam Inc. of Kashmir into question is neither to offend any particular section of our society nor to needlessly provide grist to the mill that has always been working for the state power of India in Kashmir. It is an attempt to approach an unease that is getting intense with every turn of events in Kashmir.
First an explanation; what one means by Islam Inc. in Kashmir are all those organizations who came into politics after getting inspired, mobilized (led or misled!) by the runaway marriage of the details of practical politics and an inter-referential system based on religious text. (The relation of politics and religion is an academic and intellectual theme, having political implications. that was hardly attended, let alone improved by the Islamic organizations of Kashmir. Their engagement with political Islam has mostly been to the extent of intense public rhetoric, naïve sentiment and a response to the onslaught and invitation of power.)
The mother of all such organizations is Jamat-e-Islami, whose share of political errors and blunders notwithstanding, has much to its credit in terms of contribution towards making religion and faith approachable, affordable and affable in many ways, for the younger generation. (Since this party did not develop on intellectual lines, it creased to be inviting in its later stage.) Fanning out from this central body are all those groups, who borrowed their expression and stance on welfare works, dissemination of religious teachings, and political protest from the very core teachings and methods of Jamat-e-Islami. These groups went in all directions; some of them becoming soft and benign by turning away from active politics and engaging themselves with welfare works, and others morphing into more radical and militant in their rhetoric and behavior. Among the later kind falls Dukhtaran-e-Millat. This party, although statistically not very substantial, has unmistakable presence in Kashmir, thanks to the generous interest that media always shows in shallow and sensational political behavior. Islam Inc. may also include those groups and parties which connect themselves to Salafi school of thought, who have gravitated towards political Islam under the impact that traveled from exterior lands after 1989. Since we had many militant organizations who traced their origin to Salafi school, and approached Kashmir issue from a particular frame of reference, this school of thought too becomes a part of Islam Inc. in Kashmir. Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith may represent this school of thought for a common man in Kashmir. (Interestingly this party has shown an unusual engagement with public protests that were witnessed in Kashmir in the wake of Amarnath land crisis.)
All these Islamic organizations can be merged into one huge body under the title Islam Inc.
The vanguard of this Islam Inc. represented by the senior leadership of all the Islamic parties gradually started getting uneasy with the over engagement of party cadres in active politics, considering it as deviation of mind and wastage of resources. More active and effervescent lot fell to the temptation of being steadfast and loyal to the themes of Islamic movement and started skidding towards extremes. This way what seemed to others as radical and extreme version of Islam, in the form of Jamate–e-Islami, was within blamed of being soft in its approach towards political Islam. This way Islam Inc. became a layered body with varied degree of hardness in their carapaced exteriors; softer layers blaming the rest as being extremist in their approach and vice versa. Asiaya's remarks about Geelani emanate from that extremist mindset which got formulated within the larger body of Islamic movement. The sense of being superior in understanding, deeper in commitment and purer in sincerity is the hallmark of this mindset. They presume that they alone can understand what is good for others and can better safeguard the interests of a Muslim society and culture. This inward-looking-belief gets strengthened when it is fed from the scripture. To begin with, this whole layered body should willfully suspend the belief that they alone are the solution to all the problems that Kashmir is facing. Up ahead they need to rethink structured religiosity and jettison the rhetoric based on dogmatic assertion that we represent faith and want its applicability ensured in the collective life of a society. Further, they must make a distinction between text and its interpretation. Quran and understanding-of-Quran are two essentially different realms; one is the domain of faith, connecting the spiritual in an individual to Unseen, and another very mundane, connecting body with the world of matter. And this mundane element is a part of the larger territory of human issues that are secular in appearance, profane and uninitiated in purpose, dispensable in relation to space, and changeable in its movement through time.
Once, if at all, this happens Islam Inc. will feel liberated from the bondages of its own creation; they will become more agile, can engage with the outer world more fruitfully, and contribute, in collaboration with others, in winning its people freedom at a lower price and with better prospect.
(Mr. Mehmood-ur-Rashid, mid-30's, lives and works in Srinagar. His commentary is published by the Rising Kashmir.)
Kashmir: Problem Islam Inc.
Immediately after her release from detention, Asiya Andrabi, head of a Kashmiri based women organization Dukhtaran-e-Millat, often atrociously translated as 'Daughters of faith', made an out of the blue statement in her press conference. The old guard of Resistance should stay behind and make way for the new; this was the salvo that Asiya fired in the wilderness of Kashmir's Resistance politics aimed directly at Syed Ali Geelani.
She repeated the same things, albeit with an elaboration that she wants Geelani to lead the movement spiritually and leave the more practical side of it to young blood, in her interview with Rising Kashmir ( 08 Jan, 09). Although, neither this statement nor the kind of mindset that gives birth to such crass and flagrant comments, deserves any serious attention, but it becomes an occasion to get actuated into a discourse that is not only pertinent to the happenings in Kashmir but the factor of timing has made it inevitable for us to get started in this direction. Thematic imbalances and frequent upheavals in public behavior is like a pincer movement, warding off which becomes immensely urgent, if the Socio-Political being of Kashmir has to be saved. Although people like Asiya cannot be suspected of being oblivious to the threats that Kashmir society faces today, but their political behavior has always unwittingly added to the precariousness of Kashmir's society, more particularly its Muslim character. It might sound ironical that those who are identified as radical in their Muslim assertion can contribute to the peril of a Muslim society. It may be provocative to some, off putting to some others and pure pleasure for still some ears; but here the intent to bring Islam Inc. of Kashmir into question is neither to offend any particular section of our society nor to needlessly provide grist to the mill that has always been working for the state power of India in Kashmir. It is an attempt to approach an unease that is getting intense with every turn of events in Kashmir.
First an explanation; what one means by Islam Inc. in Kashmir are all those organizations who came into politics after getting inspired, mobilized (led or misled!) by the runaway marriage of the details of practical politics and an inter-referential system based on religious text. (The relation of politics and religion is an academic and intellectual theme, having political implications. that was hardly attended, let alone improved by the Islamic organizations of Kashmir. Their engagement with political Islam has mostly been to the extent of intense public rhetoric, naïve sentiment and a response to the onslaught and invitation of power.)
The mother of all such organizations is Jamat-e-Islami, whose share of political errors and blunders notwithstanding, has much to its credit in terms of contribution towards making religion and faith approachable, affordable and affable in many ways, for the younger generation. (Since this party did not develop on intellectual lines, it creased to be inviting in its later stage.) Fanning out from this central body are all those groups, who borrowed their expression and stance on welfare works, dissemination of religious teachings, and political protest from the very core teachings and methods of Jamat-e-Islami. These groups went in all directions; some of them becoming soft and benign by turning away from active politics and engaging themselves with welfare works, and others morphing into more radical and militant in their rhetoric and behavior. Among the later kind falls Dukhtaran-e-Millat. This party, although statistically not very substantial, has unmistakable presence in Kashmir, thanks to the generous interest that media always shows in shallow and sensational political behavior. Islam Inc. may also include those groups and parties which connect themselves to Salafi school of thought, who have gravitated towards political Islam under the impact that traveled from exterior lands after 1989. Since we had many militant organizations who traced their origin to Salafi school, and approached Kashmir issue from a particular frame of reference, this school of thought too becomes a part of Islam Inc. in Kashmir. Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith may represent this school of thought for a common man in Kashmir. (Interestingly this party has shown an unusual engagement with public protests that were witnessed in Kashmir in the wake of Amarnath land crisis.)
All these Islamic organizations can be merged into one huge body under the title Islam Inc.
The vanguard of this Islam Inc. represented by the senior leadership of all the Islamic parties gradually started getting uneasy with the over engagement of party cadres in active politics, considering it as deviation of mind and wastage of resources. More active and effervescent lot fell to the temptation of being steadfast and loyal to the themes of Islamic movement and started skidding towards extremes. This way what seemed to others as radical and extreme version of Islam, in the form of Jamate–e-Islami, was within blamed of being soft in its approach towards political Islam. This way Islam Inc. became a layered body with varied degree of hardness in their carapaced exteriors; softer layers blaming the rest as being extremist in their approach and vice versa. Asiaya's remarks about Geelani emanate from that extremist mindset which got formulated within the larger body of Islamic movement. The sense of being superior in understanding, deeper in commitment and purer in sincerity is the hallmark of this mindset. They presume that they alone can understand what is good for others and can better safeguard the interests of a Muslim society and culture. This inward-looking-belief gets strengthened when it is fed from the scripture. To begin with, this whole layered body should willfully suspend the belief that they alone are the solution to all the problems that Kashmir is facing. Up ahead they need to rethink structured religiosity and jettison the rhetoric based on dogmatic assertion that we represent faith and want its applicability ensured in the collective life of a society. Further, they must make a distinction between text and its interpretation. Quran and understanding-of-Quran are two essentially different realms; one is the domain of faith, connecting the spiritual in an individual to Unseen, and another very mundane, connecting body with the world of matter. And this mundane element is a part of the larger territory of human issues that are secular in appearance, profane and uninitiated in purpose, dispensable in relation to space, and changeable in its movement through time.
Once, if at all, this happens Islam Inc. will feel liberated from the bondages of its own creation; they will become more agile, can engage with the outer world more fruitfully, and contribute, in collaboration with others, in winning its people freedom at a lower price and with better prospect.
Reviewing Election Results from Regional Perspectives
Balraj Puri analyzes the election outcome
(Mr. Balraj Puri, 80, was born in Jammu city and attended the Ranbir High School and the Prince of Wales College in Jammu. He is a journalist, human rights activist and a writer who has been an eye witness to the turbulent history of the State. He has written 5 books, including the historical "5000 years of Kashmir" in 1997. He is the Convenor of the J&K State branch of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and the Director of the Institute of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs, based in Jammu.)
Edifying Elections
Omar Abdullah received a massive reception when he arrived in Jammu, a day before taking oath on January 5 as eleventh Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
In July-August Omar's effigies were burnt in Jammu for a word in his much acclaimed speech in Parliament on confidence motion.
His remark that "we will sacrifice our life if an inch of our land was taken by an outsider" (the reference was to outside members of the Amarnath Shrine Board). The word "we" was misinterpreted as meaning Muslims of Kashmir. A young man provoked by this word, committed suicide with a statement that "we can also sacrifice our life." His suicide revived the tempo of the agitation which had subsided after the resignation of the chief minister on July 7, 2008.
In July-August Jammu was full of anger against all Kashmiri leaders. Sangarash Samiti leaders would not talk to the Governor or to the all party committee sent by the Prime Minister till Kashmiri leaders left Jammu. The enthusiastic reception to Omar Abdullah does not mean that Jammu has reconciled to its present status.
Many were surprised over the change in the mood of Jammu. There were more surprises in changing mood of the people in Kashmir valley. The year 2008 was, in fact, full of surprises. For first few months, the separatist movement was at its lowest ebb. The hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was a persona non-grata, during Musharraf's regime in Pakistan and isolated even in the separatist camp in Kashmir. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the leader of the moderate factions did not stop praising Musharraf even after he was over thrown by a democratic revolution in Pakistan. The new government instead invited mainstream leaders like Mirwaiz and Omar Abdullah and gave them recognition and warm hospitality.
Many read this situation as an end of secessionist movement. But it was a misleading impression. For the underlying causes of alienation of Kashmiris had not ended. It became soon obvious from the reaction over a rather exaggerated impression that land transferred to the Shrine Board would be used to settle outsiders and thus threaten demography and identity of Kashmir.
Big protest demonstrations were held through out valley against the government order for transfer of land. The Hurriyat leaders found a god sent opportunity to revive their relevance. They sought to turn the agitation to a movement for self-determination and Azadi. But they misread the popular mood as the agitation subsided when the government revoked the order of transfer of land to the Shrine Board.
The separatist leaders again got an opportunity to lead a popular movement when the people got agitated over the reports of blockade of Srinagar-Jammu highway. The fruit growers association gave a call for Muzaffarabad chalo. As an alternative to Srinagar- Jammu highway, they called for a route across the LoC to market their fruit which was perishing. The separatist leaders provided leadership to the agitation which was basically motivated by an anti-Jammu sentiment and diverted it to a movement for self-determination and Azadi. In this agitation many people lost their lives in clashes with security forces.
In this surcharged atmosphere, the Governor's rule announced the election in the chilly days of winter. Nobody expected that the people would come out to vote. But surprise of surprises was when 61.5 per cent voters polled their votes, a record during the last two decades.
There were no serious allegations of coercion on voters; nor any serious threat by the militants to impose the boycott call. The Election Commissioner acknowledged that higher voter turn out was due to absence of fear factor. Only three political killings took place this time whereas 101 political workers and leaders were killed during large scale attacks on election rallies and polling booths in 2002 election. Farooq Abdullah thanked Pakistan and militants for not interfering in elections.
It would again be misleading to interpret, high polling as a vote for status quo or end of Kashmir problem. When asked people standing in long queues invariably told reporters that they wanted Azadi as well as good governance. They would not postpone their needs for development, employment, hospitals and schools till they get Azadi. At some places, same people after attending rally for Azadi would rush to the polling booths. Though none could explain what was their concept of Azadi.
The mainstream parties had made enough allowance in their manifestoes and election campaign for popular sentiments. They conceded that the election was no substitute for a settlement of Kashmir issue and that they would facilitate the process for that.
Everybody has to learn lessons from the series of surprises that we witnessed during 2008, culminating in the election. The separatist camp, too must be wiser after the election. Syed Ali Shah Geelani admitted that such a high voter turn out was something he had never thought would happen. He said, "Our people have shown a weak resolve and this voting has pushed us far back in our struggle for freedom." He expected the new government to fulfil the promises made during the electioneering.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq went a step further calling for a need to "introspect and rethink". He conceded that the separatist lacked rapport with the ground. He acknowledged that people have genuine problems like bijli, pani and sadak which "Hurriyat is in no position to address". He would appreciate if Omar's government played a positive role in arriving at the resolution of the crisis and offered his cooperation.
Another separatist leader and chairman of the People's Conference said, "the ongoing movement had received a set back not due to heavy polling but improper strategy by the Hurriyat leadership." In his view, "if people are annoyed with the Hurriyat and took part in election to seek redresses of their day to day problems, they should not be blamed."
In Jammu region, the disillusionment with the election is no less obvious. The Sangarash Samiti, which led the movement over land row, drew popular support from the wide spread feeling of discrimination against the region over the last 61 years. It did not offer any positive solution to this feeling. Among its constituents were parties which wanted separate Jammu state as a solution to the Jammu problem. But most of their candidates lost their security deposits.
BJP, the main constituent of the Samiti, did win 11 seats against just one in 2002. But in the previous election the Congress swept the poll in the region by projecting GN Azad, a leader from Jammu, as the chief minister. In Lok Sabha election of 2004, the BJP had won majority in 15 assembly segments. The main weakness of he party lies in the fact that it can neither come to power nor share it with any Kashmir based party.
It was the Congress which played a very passive role during the Jammu agitation and election. But despite its depleted leadership could choose its partner and share power with it. Nevertheless, unlike last time, it had to concede chief ministership to the National Conference for the full term of this assembly. Quantitatively, and qualitatively as well, leaders from Jammu are somewhat inferior to those from the Kashmir region.
Thus Shrine Board agitation has not helped its leaders in either of the region to take their respective agenda forward. But two main problems that the election has projected viz Azadi—a nebulous and vague idea which has to be defined and concretized—and regional tension—the solution of which has to be sought through constitutional and institutional changes—cannot be dismissed. Both sentiments feed each other. Agitation in both regions demonstrated that populist slogan do not represent the interest and aspirations of the people.
The absence of an all state party either in the government or the opposition is major weakness of the post election state. The PDP, with an image of a soft separatist party espousing the cause of Kashmiris and Muslims and the BJP with its traditional Hindutva and ultra-nationalist agenda would be pulling the government in divergent directions.
Young Omar Abdullah, who with all his qualities and high ambition has raised high expectations, must take cognizance of the realities, some of which are less than helpful.
(Mr. Balraj Puri, 80, was born in Jammu city and attended the Ranbir High School and the Prince of Wales College in Jammu. He is a journalist, human rights activist and a writer who has been an eye witness to the turbulent history of the State. He has written 5 books, including the historical "5000 years of Kashmir" in 1997. He is the Convenor of the J&K State branch of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and the Director of the Institute of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs, based in Jammu.)
Edifying Elections
Omar Abdullah received a massive reception when he arrived in Jammu, a day before taking oath on January 5 as eleventh Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
In July-August Omar's effigies were burnt in Jammu for a word in his much acclaimed speech in Parliament on confidence motion.
His remark that "we will sacrifice our life if an inch of our land was taken by an outsider" (the reference was to outside members of the Amarnath Shrine Board). The word "we" was misinterpreted as meaning Muslims of Kashmir. A young man provoked by this word, committed suicide with a statement that "we can also sacrifice our life." His suicide revived the tempo of the agitation which had subsided after the resignation of the chief minister on July 7, 2008.
In July-August Jammu was full of anger against all Kashmiri leaders. Sangarash Samiti leaders would not talk to the Governor or to the all party committee sent by the Prime Minister till Kashmiri leaders left Jammu. The enthusiastic reception to Omar Abdullah does not mean that Jammu has reconciled to its present status.
Many were surprised over the change in the mood of Jammu. There were more surprises in changing mood of the people in Kashmir valley. The year 2008 was, in fact, full of surprises. For first few months, the separatist movement was at its lowest ebb. The hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was a persona non-grata, during Musharraf's regime in Pakistan and isolated even in the separatist camp in Kashmir. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the leader of the moderate factions did not stop praising Musharraf even after he was over thrown by a democratic revolution in Pakistan. The new government instead invited mainstream leaders like Mirwaiz and Omar Abdullah and gave them recognition and warm hospitality.
Many read this situation as an end of secessionist movement. But it was a misleading impression. For the underlying causes of alienation of Kashmiris had not ended. It became soon obvious from the reaction over a rather exaggerated impression that land transferred to the Shrine Board would be used to settle outsiders and thus threaten demography and identity of Kashmir.
Big protest demonstrations were held through out valley against the government order for transfer of land. The Hurriyat leaders found a god sent opportunity to revive their relevance. They sought to turn the agitation to a movement for self-determination and Azadi. But they misread the popular mood as the agitation subsided when the government revoked the order of transfer of land to the Shrine Board.
The separatist leaders again got an opportunity to lead a popular movement when the people got agitated over the reports of blockade of Srinagar-Jammu highway. The fruit growers association gave a call for Muzaffarabad chalo. As an alternative to Srinagar- Jammu highway, they called for a route across the LoC to market their fruit which was perishing. The separatist leaders provided leadership to the agitation which was basically motivated by an anti-Jammu sentiment and diverted it to a movement for self-determination and Azadi. In this agitation many people lost their lives in clashes with security forces.
In this surcharged atmosphere, the Governor's rule announced the election in the chilly days of winter. Nobody expected that the people would come out to vote. But surprise of surprises was when 61.5 per cent voters polled their votes, a record during the last two decades.
There were no serious allegations of coercion on voters; nor any serious threat by the militants to impose the boycott call. The Election Commissioner acknowledged that higher voter turn out was due to absence of fear factor. Only three political killings took place this time whereas 101 political workers and leaders were killed during large scale attacks on election rallies and polling booths in 2002 election. Farooq Abdullah thanked Pakistan and militants for not interfering in elections.
It would again be misleading to interpret, high polling as a vote for status quo or end of Kashmir problem. When asked people standing in long queues invariably told reporters that they wanted Azadi as well as good governance. They would not postpone their needs for development, employment, hospitals and schools till they get Azadi. At some places, same people after attending rally for Azadi would rush to the polling booths. Though none could explain what was their concept of Azadi.
The mainstream parties had made enough allowance in their manifestoes and election campaign for popular sentiments. They conceded that the election was no substitute for a settlement of Kashmir issue and that they would facilitate the process for that.
Everybody has to learn lessons from the series of surprises that we witnessed during 2008, culminating in the election. The separatist camp, too must be wiser after the election. Syed Ali Shah Geelani admitted that such a high voter turn out was something he had never thought would happen. He said, "Our people have shown a weak resolve and this voting has pushed us far back in our struggle for freedom." He expected the new government to fulfil the promises made during the electioneering.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq went a step further calling for a need to "introspect and rethink". He conceded that the separatist lacked rapport with the ground. He acknowledged that people have genuine problems like bijli, pani and sadak which "Hurriyat is in no position to address". He would appreciate if Omar's government played a positive role in arriving at the resolution of the crisis and offered his cooperation.
Another separatist leader and chairman of the People's Conference said, "the ongoing movement had received a set back not due to heavy polling but improper strategy by the Hurriyat leadership." In his view, "if people are annoyed with the Hurriyat and took part in election to seek redresses of their day to day problems, they should not be blamed."
In Jammu region, the disillusionment with the election is no less obvious. The Sangarash Samiti, which led the movement over land row, drew popular support from the wide spread feeling of discrimination against the region over the last 61 years. It did not offer any positive solution to this feeling. Among its constituents were parties which wanted separate Jammu state as a solution to the Jammu problem. But most of their candidates lost their security deposits.
BJP, the main constituent of the Samiti, did win 11 seats against just one in 2002. But in the previous election the Congress swept the poll in the region by projecting GN Azad, a leader from Jammu, as the chief minister. In Lok Sabha election of 2004, the BJP had won majority in 15 assembly segments. The main weakness of he party lies in the fact that it can neither come to power nor share it with any Kashmir based party.
It was the Congress which played a very passive role during the Jammu agitation and election. But despite its depleted leadership could choose its partner and share power with it. Nevertheless, unlike last time, it had to concede chief ministership to the National Conference for the full term of this assembly. Quantitatively, and qualitatively as well, leaders from Jammu are somewhat inferior to those from the Kashmir region.
Thus Shrine Board agitation has not helped its leaders in either of the region to take their respective agenda forward. But two main problems that the election has projected viz Azadi—a nebulous and vague idea which has to be defined and concretized—and regional tension—the solution of which has to be sought through constitutional and institutional changes—cannot be dismissed. Both sentiments feed each other. Agitation in both regions demonstrated that populist slogan do not represent the interest and aspirations of the people.
The absence of an all state party either in the government or the opposition is major weakness of the post election state. The PDP, with an image of a soft separatist party espousing the cause of Kashmiris and Muslims and the BJP with its traditional Hindutva and ultra-nationalist agenda would be pulling the government in divergent directions.
Young Omar Abdullah, who with all his qualities and high ambition has raised high expectations, must take cognizance of the realities, some of which are less than helpful.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Analyzing BJP Success in Jammu
Rekha dissects polling results in the Jammu region
(Prof. Rekha Chowdhary, 55, was born in Jammu and has been a university teacher for the past 30 years. She is currently the Professor of Political Science, University of Jammu. During her distinguished teaching career, she was the visiting Fellow under a Ford Foundation grant at the Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford, in 1992-1993; winner of the Commonwealth Award availed at the University of Oxford, 1997-1998; and the Fulbright Fellow availed at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, in 2005.)
Appearance and Reality
How does one interpret the massive victory of the BJP in the assembly elections of Jammu and Kashmir? Is it simply the communal polarisation of the Jammu region — a direct impact of the religious mobilisation during Amarnath land agitation? Certainly the BJP’s gain, from one seat in 2002 to eleven now — all in the Hindu-dominated belt of the region — has a reflection of the agitation, and yet the verdict is not as straight as it seems to be.
To begin with, the Hindu belt has not exclusively gone to the BJP; there are many significant exceptions where the party has lost. Of these, the most interesting is the case of Bishnah where it had fielded the widow of Kuldeep Verma, whose suicide during the agitation had generated an intense response in Jammu. It was this constituency which Gujarat CM Narender Modi had chosen to campaign for. This epicentre of the agitation could not be returned to the BJP. There were many other constituencies that had witnessed a strong emotional response during the agitation — such as, Kathua, Samba, Vijaypur and Akhnoor — that remained constantly in the news during the agitation, but did not return the BJP. Another constituency where the BJP faced a setback was Gandhi Nagar, the urban heartland of Jammu where Nirmal Singh, the erstwhile party president, was contesting. Nowshera, Billawar, Ramnagar, Udhampur, Chenani, Chhamb were the other constituencies which saw the mobilisation during the agitation but remained out of the BJP fold.
Interestingly, some of these seats have gone not only to the Congress and the local Panthers Party, but also to the National Conference — a party against which negative campaigns were launched in these areas, and the statement made by Omar Abdullah in Parliament was used to whip up frenzy against the Kashmiri leadership. That the impact of such campaigning had not gone deep could be seen soon after the election process began — the flags of the NC were all over the place.
Like the earlier times, one can see a plural political response in the Jammu region. The seats have been divided between the Congress, the NC, the BJP and the Panthers Party. It is difficult to see the communal polarisation, since the Muslim belt of the region has given as much of a plural response as the Hindu belt has. While in the two districts of Poonch and Rajouri the seats have been divided between the NC, the Congress and the PDP, in the Doda belt — comprising the three districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban — it is the Congress which has registered its dominance, winning five of the six seats. The entry of the PDP is seen by many as an indication of the communalisation of the Muslim belt. Yet one cannot see Muslims in Rajouri and Poonch voting as a bloc for any party, divided as they are between the two identities — Gujjars and Paharis. Doda, meanwhile, is a story of development — it was the most backward and unattended area of the region, which was paid attention to by the Congress government, specifically by Ghulam Nabi Azad, who himself represented one of the constituencies within this belt.
If the BJP has succeeded in Jammu, it is not because of its communal agenda; it is because of many other factors, anti-incumbency working against the Congress being the most important one. The Congress faced problems also due to internal dissensions, wrong candidate choices, rebels and the lack of credible faces. Where it could field a credible candidate, as in Gandhi Nagar, it could win despite the BJP wave. It is a similar story of credible candidates in Kathua where an independent could win despite the constituency being a BJP stronghold.
On the whole, one can say that it was the vacuum of the regional politics that has helped the BJP. Jammu does not have a regional party parallel to the NC. (The Panthers Party is the only regional party of Jammu and it has succeeded in maintaining its position by retaining three of the four seats it had won in 2002.) Hence, the politics based upon the regional aspirations is appropriated by the BJP. The Amarnath agitation in many ways succeeded in Jammu because, apart from the Hindu sentiments, it could mobilise the dormant but persistent feeling in Jammu that this region is politically subordinated to Kashmir and is taken for granted when it comes to political negotiations with the Centre. It is therefore the regional rather than the communal response that has resulted in the BJP’s unprecedented victory.
(Prof. Rekha Chowdhary, 55, was born in Jammu and has been a university teacher for the past 30 years. She is currently the Professor of Political Science, University of Jammu. During her distinguished teaching career, she was the visiting Fellow under a Ford Foundation grant at the Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford, in 1992-1993; winner of the Commonwealth Award availed at the University of Oxford, 1997-1998; and the Fulbright Fellow availed at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, in 2005.)
Appearance and Reality
How does one interpret the massive victory of the BJP in the assembly elections of Jammu and Kashmir? Is it simply the communal polarisation of the Jammu region — a direct impact of the religious mobilisation during Amarnath land agitation? Certainly the BJP’s gain, from one seat in 2002 to eleven now — all in the Hindu-dominated belt of the region — has a reflection of the agitation, and yet the verdict is not as straight as it seems to be.
To begin with, the Hindu belt has not exclusively gone to the BJP; there are many significant exceptions where the party has lost. Of these, the most interesting is the case of Bishnah where it had fielded the widow of Kuldeep Verma, whose suicide during the agitation had generated an intense response in Jammu. It was this constituency which Gujarat CM Narender Modi had chosen to campaign for. This epicentre of the agitation could not be returned to the BJP. There were many other constituencies that had witnessed a strong emotional response during the agitation — such as, Kathua, Samba, Vijaypur and Akhnoor — that remained constantly in the news during the agitation, but did not return the BJP. Another constituency where the BJP faced a setback was Gandhi Nagar, the urban heartland of Jammu where Nirmal Singh, the erstwhile party president, was contesting. Nowshera, Billawar, Ramnagar, Udhampur, Chenani, Chhamb were the other constituencies which saw the mobilisation during the agitation but remained out of the BJP fold.
Interestingly, some of these seats have gone not only to the Congress and the local Panthers Party, but also to the National Conference — a party against which negative campaigns were launched in these areas, and the statement made by Omar Abdullah in Parliament was used to whip up frenzy against the Kashmiri leadership. That the impact of such campaigning had not gone deep could be seen soon after the election process began — the flags of the NC were all over the place.
Like the earlier times, one can see a plural political response in the Jammu region. The seats have been divided between the Congress, the NC, the BJP and the Panthers Party. It is difficult to see the communal polarisation, since the Muslim belt of the region has given as much of a plural response as the Hindu belt has. While in the two districts of Poonch and Rajouri the seats have been divided between the NC, the Congress and the PDP, in the Doda belt — comprising the three districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban — it is the Congress which has registered its dominance, winning five of the six seats. The entry of the PDP is seen by many as an indication of the communalisation of the Muslim belt. Yet one cannot see Muslims in Rajouri and Poonch voting as a bloc for any party, divided as they are between the two identities — Gujjars and Paharis. Doda, meanwhile, is a story of development — it was the most backward and unattended area of the region, which was paid attention to by the Congress government, specifically by Ghulam Nabi Azad, who himself represented one of the constituencies within this belt.
If the BJP has succeeded in Jammu, it is not because of its communal agenda; it is because of many other factors, anti-incumbency working against the Congress being the most important one. The Congress faced problems also due to internal dissensions, wrong candidate choices, rebels and the lack of credible faces. Where it could field a credible candidate, as in Gandhi Nagar, it could win despite the BJP wave. It is a similar story of credible candidates in Kathua where an independent could win despite the constituency being a BJP stronghold.
On the whole, one can say that it was the vacuum of the regional politics that has helped the BJP. Jammu does not have a regional party parallel to the NC. (The Panthers Party is the only regional party of Jammu and it has succeeded in maintaining its position by retaining three of the four seats it had won in 2002.) Hence, the politics based upon the regional aspirations is appropriated by the BJP. The Amarnath agitation in many ways succeeded in Jammu because, apart from the Hindu sentiments, it could mobilise the dormant but persistent feeling in Jammu that this region is politically subordinated to Kashmir and is taken for granted when it comes to political negotiations with the Centre. It is therefore the regional rather than the communal response that has resulted in the BJP’s unprecedented victory.
"You Don't Get What You Deserve, You Get What You Negotiate"
Sajjad discusses challenges facing the new Administration in Kashmir. One challenge overlooked is how to successfully negotiate with Resistance Movement leaders who emerged out the gun culture
(Mr. Sajjad Bazaz, 45, was born in Srinagar. He attended the Khalsa high school and the Sri Pratap College in Srinagar. He received his bachelor's degree in Media and his master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University of Kashmir. Mr. Bazaz has over two decades of experience in journalism (both print & electronic), and he is author of the book "Bankwatch" which is about a financial scenario with particular reference to the J&K state. He is currently incharge of corporate communications department in a leaduing financial instution in J&K. Mr. Bazaz likes to spend leisure time watching movies and enjoying company of his friends.)
And now the realism?
Finally, against all odds J&K elections 2008 were held and the youngest designate chief minister of the State so far, Omar Abdullah, is taking oath. Even as the most of the political analysts and their opponents had written off the National Conference and were expecting 'last nail in their coffin', it again staged a comeback with a brigade of young minds. However, more challenges galore for the new brigade in the context of development and the core Kashmir issue.
Basically, many people turned out for the elections with local development issues in mind, which surprised the political analysts. For the first time in the history of Kashmir, people categorized their aspirations into the long-term political goal and the immediate, day-to-day problems of roads, electricity, education and employment.
No doubt, we should not turn a blind eye to the fact that those who voted in the elections were the same people who took to streets demanding 'freedom', but at the same time, the response of the people to the election call should be taken that the time has come when both the issues- that of good governance and to find a solution to Kashmir's imbroglio – have to be addressed simultaneously. So the biggest challenge for the new government headed by Omar Abdullah is to avoid making these two issues hostage to each other. If the new regime feels acceptability and respectability of the voters, then it has to ensure the genuine aspirations of Kashmir people are respected and accommodated with dignity.
One of the unique features of the current coalition partners is that now Omar Abdullah at the centre of power has the next six years at his disposal. This is an opportunity for him to resurrect his party's reputation, obviously through pro-people deeds. He has to see that the state administration supports good governance practices. Apart from delivering on the administration front, his government will need to call up political imagination in dealing with the autonomy issue. How skillful Omar Abdullah proves in political management would be a thing to watch and the keenest watchers would be both the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the separatist conglomerate.
One of the greatest challenges also lies here would be to listen respectfully to the opposition. In other words, Omar has to change the culture here, as the opposition has to be involved in major decisions where governance or core issue is touched. Let him allow his opponents in the government to board the bus for a large transformation in the state at all fronts – be it political or developmental.
Recently, LoC trade got underway. In this context, new regime has a responsibility to strengthen such measures so that the political leadership of the two divided parts of the Kashmir remains at disposal for each other at least economically, I mean on the economic front. A slight rewind of the events reminds of some important statements, which Omar Abdullah dished out in the context of Kashmir issue. At Pugwash conference, last year, he opposed the suggestions that the Kashmir issue should be 'deep frozen'. Now, at the helm of affairs, Omar has an opportunity to address to the core Kashmir issue on the lines he has spoken in the past. At least he should have no problems in working with other forces in finding a solution to the Kashmir issue.
When we talk of challenges, we cannot ignore the separatist conglomerate. Now the challenging times are ahead of them also in the sense that the election 2008 has shown them the power of peoples' leadership. In reality, revival of the dead Kashmir issue in 1988 had brought it back to the fore, for international attention. Even as the launch of armed separatist movement in 1988 gave a new turn to the Kashmir issue by forcing the international community to focus on the Kashmir affairs, the separatist politics (unarmed separatists) has failed to fulfill the aspirations of the people.
In May 2008, the separatist conglomerate assembled at a seminar and talked about realism and a strategy to carry forward the 'struggle'. Before they face the wrath of masses, it is high time for them to evolve a definite strategy and work on the lines where the ground situation is taken into account. They should not aspire for things, which are impractical. Now is the time for them to carry forward their goal of 'realism'.
If the separatist conglomerate discourages this, even inadvertently, it will only distance itself from the people for whom they claim to be fighting a 'freedom war'. So, one would expect them to do so with wisdom, reasonableness and farsightedness. The separatist conglomerate has to board the bus for the peace, prosperity and welfare of the people. If they miss it, they shall be exposing the state subjects to further dangers.
The honest and frank assertion of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq during a conference in Srinagar last year that 'you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate' should be basis of a renewed approach in modern times. They have to move from traditional stand of bashing pro-India politicians and at least seek a constructive engagement with regional parties like National Conference and People's Democratic Party.
Most of the separatists have been calling for the international community to prepare a road map to resolve the issue. But the third party intervention, in the coming times, can turn out to be a redundant idea if the Kashmiris living across the Line of Control (LoC) are allowed to meet at frequent intervals. Here the onus lies on the new regime, as occasions should be carved out so that such an Kashmiris across the LoC are given an opportunity to sit together in a family atmosphere and chalk-out the best possible solution to the dispute. Ultimately, it is the people of both parts of Kashmir, India and Pakistan, who by virtue of good relations and understanding among each other can ensure peace and prosperity of the beleaguered J&K State.
There is a lot at stake. Will National Conference re-establish itself now under its young leader Omar Abdullah as the messiah of the interests of the people of Kashmir? Only time will tell.
(Mr. Sajjad Bazaz, 45, was born in Srinagar. He attended the Khalsa high school and the Sri Pratap College in Srinagar. He received his bachelor's degree in Media and his master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University of Kashmir. Mr. Bazaz has over two decades of experience in journalism (both print & electronic), and he is author of the book "Bankwatch" which is about a financial scenario with particular reference to the J&K state. He is currently incharge of corporate communications department in a leaduing financial instution in J&K. Mr. Bazaz likes to spend leisure time watching movies and enjoying company of his friends.)
And now the realism?
Finally, against all odds J&K elections 2008 were held and the youngest designate chief minister of the State so far, Omar Abdullah, is taking oath. Even as the most of the political analysts and their opponents had written off the National Conference and were expecting 'last nail in their coffin', it again staged a comeback with a brigade of young minds. However, more challenges galore for the new brigade in the context of development and the core Kashmir issue.
Basically, many people turned out for the elections with local development issues in mind, which surprised the political analysts. For the first time in the history of Kashmir, people categorized their aspirations into the long-term political goal and the immediate, day-to-day problems of roads, electricity, education and employment.
No doubt, we should not turn a blind eye to the fact that those who voted in the elections were the same people who took to streets demanding 'freedom', but at the same time, the response of the people to the election call should be taken that the time has come when both the issues- that of good governance and to find a solution to Kashmir's imbroglio – have to be addressed simultaneously. So the biggest challenge for the new government headed by Omar Abdullah is to avoid making these two issues hostage to each other. If the new regime feels acceptability and respectability of the voters, then it has to ensure the genuine aspirations of Kashmir people are respected and accommodated with dignity.
One of the unique features of the current coalition partners is that now Omar Abdullah at the centre of power has the next six years at his disposal. This is an opportunity for him to resurrect his party's reputation, obviously through pro-people deeds. He has to see that the state administration supports good governance practices. Apart from delivering on the administration front, his government will need to call up political imagination in dealing with the autonomy issue. How skillful Omar Abdullah proves in political management would be a thing to watch and the keenest watchers would be both the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the separatist conglomerate.
One of the greatest challenges also lies here would be to listen respectfully to the opposition. In other words, Omar has to change the culture here, as the opposition has to be involved in major decisions where governance or core issue is touched. Let him allow his opponents in the government to board the bus for a large transformation in the state at all fronts – be it political or developmental.
Recently, LoC trade got underway. In this context, new regime has a responsibility to strengthen such measures so that the political leadership of the two divided parts of the Kashmir remains at disposal for each other at least economically, I mean on the economic front. A slight rewind of the events reminds of some important statements, which Omar Abdullah dished out in the context of Kashmir issue. At Pugwash conference, last year, he opposed the suggestions that the Kashmir issue should be 'deep frozen'. Now, at the helm of affairs, Omar has an opportunity to address to the core Kashmir issue on the lines he has spoken in the past. At least he should have no problems in working with other forces in finding a solution to the Kashmir issue.
When we talk of challenges, we cannot ignore the separatist conglomerate. Now the challenging times are ahead of them also in the sense that the election 2008 has shown them the power of peoples' leadership. In reality, revival of the dead Kashmir issue in 1988 had brought it back to the fore, for international attention. Even as the launch of armed separatist movement in 1988 gave a new turn to the Kashmir issue by forcing the international community to focus on the Kashmir affairs, the separatist politics (unarmed separatists) has failed to fulfill the aspirations of the people.
In May 2008, the separatist conglomerate assembled at a seminar and talked about realism and a strategy to carry forward the 'struggle'. Before they face the wrath of masses, it is high time for them to evolve a definite strategy and work on the lines where the ground situation is taken into account. They should not aspire for things, which are impractical. Now is the time for them to carry forward their goal of 'realism'.
If the separatist conglomerate discourages this, even inadvertently, it will only distance itself from the people for whom they claim to be fighting a 'freedom war'. So, one would expect them to do so with wisdom, reasonableness and farsightedness. The separatist conglomerate has to board the bus for the peace, prosperity and welfare of the people. If they miss it, they shall be exposing the state subjects to further dangers.
The honest and frank assertion of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq during a conference in Srinagar last year that 'you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate' should be basis of a renewed approach in modern times. They have to move from traditional stand of bashing pro-India politicians and at least seek a constructive engagement with regional parties like National Conference and People's Democratic Party.
Most of the separatists have been calling for the international community to prepare a road map to resolve the issue. But the third party intervention, in the coming times, can turn out to be a redundant idea if the Kashmiris living across the Line of Control (LoC) are allowed to meet at frequent intervals. Here the onus lies on the new regime, as occasions should be carved out so that such an Kashmiris across the LoC are given an opportunity to sit together in a family atmosphere and chalk-out the best possible solution to the dispute. Ultimately, it is the people of both parts of Kashmir, India and Pakistan, who by virtue of good relations and understanding among each other can ensure peace and prosperity of the beleaguered J&K State.
There is a lot at stake. Will National Conference re-establish itself now under its young leader Omar Abdullah as the messiah of the interests of the people of Kashmir? Only time will tell.
Did Ali Shah Geelani let his Nation Down by Congratulating Omar Abdullah?
Shuhab puts forth an interesting perspective and indicates there may be good reasons behind the statement by Geelani saheb
(Shuhab Hashmi, 39, was born in Baramulla, and graduated from the Degree College in Sopore, and completed his M.A. from the University of Kashmir. He is a Columnist, and in his spare time enjoys reading, discussions and traveling.)
Geelani: He is housing contradictions
ashmir's septuagenarian resistance leader Syed Ali Geelani is once again in sharp focus, thanks to his remarks about new dispensation, post election results. It is understandable to have him in the centre of any discussion related to Kashmir issue, but all the time he is being discussed, is for the wrong reasons.
There is no denying the fact that Geelani, over past few decades had emerged as the credible voice of Kashmiri struggle. It is publicly acknowledged that he has been consistent in his stand - right or wrong - and has not polluted his character by trying to be on both sides of the fence. On many occasions, he has been targeted for not softening his stand vis-à-vis Kashmir resolution, and is astringently criticized of being needlessly stubborn in advocating Kashmir's accession to Pakistan; a country that is herself neck-deep in crises and facing unprecedented instability.
What makes Geelani more attracted to Pakistan is his pan-Islamic stand, but ironically his parent organization Jamat-e-Islami does not figure at a prominent place in Pakistan's political arena. He opposed former Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf tooth and nail, simply because Geelani viewed him through the prism of his own ideology. It is a different issue whether his opposition to him holds much water but he was the one who told him to his face that his government should stop killing Islamists in Waziristan.
Keen Kashmir watchers are of firm opinion that but for Geelani's presence a sell out on Kashmir issue would have come around since. However, it was not Geelani's person alone which would thwart such an adventure but the presence of militants played a significant role in that. Since Geelani happened to be their darling, as he would publicly glorify their activities even at the cost of his political reputation, this kept those at a bay who wanted to bargain with New Delhi. A larger section of Kashmir population, especially the youth who grew up in an atmosphere of hatred against India in past 20 years, has strong admiration for Geelani. They see him as a father figure and a spiritual leader of Kashmir movement. While his 20 year long career as one who was part of Indian mainstream and fought elections for assembly is underlined as one of his prominent weaknesses, but once placed in the backdrop of historical events it is not fair to take it to the extent that his opponents do.
In 1972 when Jamat-e-Islami decided to contest in the elections, the geo-political situation in sub continent had changed drastically with the fall of Dhaka. Pakistan was no longer a strong fort for the Kashmiris, who were dependent on that country.
What Jam’at did in 1972 by publicly surrendering before New Delhi's hegemony, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah completed in 1975 by reaching an Accord with Indira Gandhi which only proved to be a road to power rather than for resolution of Kashmir. Whatever was inked down in the Accord to address political problems was never opposed by the National Conference after wards. But Geelani and his associates continued to shout in the wilderness of state assembly about the issue as also against the tools of immorality which Sheikh was imposing on Kashmiris in the shape of opening liquor shops etc. Jam’at's stiff opposition to Communism in South Asia in 60s and 70s is the remarkable contribution the party made in saving the Muslim character of this region; and Geelani by the side of the likes of Saduddins, Qari Saifuddins, Ahrars and others played a significant role in saving the Muslim character of Kashmir.
But coming to the latest debate thrown up after the recent Assembly elections vis-à-vis Geelani, it merits thorough discussion. His role as the pioneer of "Azadi" movement notwithstanding, it is fraught with lapses. While his confidants and unquestioning supporters call them as aberrations but he is not in a position to perfunctorily dismiss them as aberrations, given his stature as a political leader.
Recent statement of Geelani hoping redress of people's grievances from the new coalition government has pained many. Though he tried to clarify it the other day but the damage was already done. It was seen as endorsement of the new regime, which according to him was an outcome of a "fraud exercise", called elections. Geelani has always termed the mainstream leaders as "Gumashte" (Storekeepers) of New Delhi. This time he, along with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and others, aggressively campaigned against elections, though the entire separatist leadership was behind bars. His speaking in a language and tone, that reflects hope-for-any-good from the government tantamount to endorsement of the regime. If this was the case he should have let the people decide as they did by defying his boycott call. It ill-behooves a leader of Geelani’s stature to treat the people as deaf and dumb and be on the path of carving out some space in the conditions that entail new government in the state.
Many people believe that Geelani sometimes is shaken with the governments in power (particularly of National Conference) and is scared of its tactics to show him down by Income Tax raids or intimidating or harassing his kith and kin. But on the face of it a leader of such a strong spiritual character can not expected to be scared of these tactics. He disappointed "his nation" earlier also on many occasions. During a rally at TRC ground he forced people to accept him as their sole leader which spoiled the atmosphere that otherwise deserved to be channeled collectively by the leadership. With strong resentment from all the quarters he retracted from the same dismissing it merely as "slip of tongue".
Geelani had supported the Muzaffarabad Chalo call which was meant to force India and Pakistan to open the road for trade. In the months long agitation, 60 Kashmiris laid down their lives including that of Hurriyat leader Sheikh Aziz. When the road was opened for trade, though symbolically, he termed it as a "non issue" and failed to explain why he supported the call which devoured 60 innocent lives. His recent faux pas was the needlessly made remarks about moderate separatist leader Sajjad Lone, pushing him to wall. Sajjad had actively associated himself with boycott call, may be for his own reasons, but by undermining his "gesture" Geelani further alienated him from the separatist camp and forced him to wash Geelani's dirty linen in public.
At the time the separatist leadership ought to introspect and review its strategy vis-à-vis the "struggle for right to self determination" they are sending confusing signals which only shows their inability to lead people. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has also talked about people's expectations from the new government, though in vague terms. When they declared the elections as "Haram" why should they expect anything good from them! Better think over why they were "rejected" by people in the name of Bijli, Sadak and Pani rather than mending fences with the government in such a meek way.
(Shuhab Hashmi, 39, was born in Baramulla, and graduated from the Degree College in Sopore, and completed his M.A. from the University of Kashmir. He is a Columnist, and in his spare time enjoys reading, discussions and traveling.)
Geelani: He is housing contradictions
ashmir's septuagenarian resistance leader Syed Ali Geelani is once again in sharp focus, thanks to his remarks about new dispensation, post election results. It is understandable to have him in the centre of any discussion related to Kashmir issue, but all the time he is being discussed, is for the wrong reasons.
There is no denying the fact that Geelani, over past few decades had emerged as the credible voice of Kashmiri struggle. It is publicly acknowledged that he has been consistent in his stand - right or wrong - and has not polluted his character by trying to be on both sides of the fence. On many occasions, he has been targeted for not softening his stand vis-à-vis Kashmir resolution, and is astringently criticized of being needlessly stubborn in advocating Kashmir's accession to Pakistan; a country that is herself neck-deep in crises and facing unprecedented instability.
What makes Geelani more attracted to Pakistan is his pan-Islamic stand, but ironically his parent organization Jamat-e-Islami does not figure at a prominent place in Pakistan's political arena. He opposed former Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf tooth and nail, simply because Geelani viewed him through the prism of his own ideology. It is a different issue whether his opposition to him holds much water but he was the one who told him to his face that his government should stop killing Islamists in Waziristan.
Keen Kashmir watchers are of firm opinion that but for Geelani's presence a sell out on Kashmir issue would have come around since. However, it was not Geelani's person alone which would thwart such an adventure but the presence of militants played a significant role in that. Since Geelani happened to be their darling, as he would publicly glorify their activities even at the cost of his political reputation, this kept those at a bay who wanted to bargain with New Delhi. A larger section of Kashmir population, especially the youth who grew up in an atmosphere of hatred against India in past 20 years, has strong admiration for Geelani. They see him as a father figure and a spiritual leader of Kashmir movement. While his 20 year long career as one who was part of Indian mainstream and fought elections for assembly is underlined as one of his prominent weaknesses, but once placed in the backdrop of historical events it is not fair to take it to the extent that his opponents do.
In 1972 when Jamat-e-Islami decided to contest in the elections, the geo-political situation in sub continent had changed drastically with the fall of Dhaka. Pakistan was no longer a strong fort for the Kashmiris, who were dependent on that country.
What Jam’at did in 1972 by publicly surrendering before New Delhi's hegemony, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah completed in 1975 by reaching an Accord with Indira Gandhi which only proved to be a road to power rather than for resolution of Kashmir. Whatever was inked down in the Accord to address political problems was never opposed by the National Conference after wards. But Geelani and his associates continued to shout in the wilderness of state assembly about the issue as also against the tools of immorality which Sheikh was imposing on Kashmiris in the shape of opening liquor shops etc. Jam’at's stiff opposition to Communism in South Asia in 60s and 70s is the remarkable contribution the party made in saving the Muslim character of this region; and Geelani by the side of the likes of Saduddins, Qari Saifuddins, Ahrars and others played a significant role in saving the Muslim character of Kashmir.
But coming to the latest debate thrown up after the recent Assembly elections vis-à-vis Geelani, it merits thorough discussion. His role as the pioneer of "Azadi" movement notwithstanding, it is fraught with lapses. While his confidants and unquestioning supporters call them as aberrations but he is not in a position to perfunctorily dismiss them as aberrations, given his stature as a political leader.
Recent statement of Geelani hoping redress of people's grievances from the new coalition government has pained many. Though he tried to clarify it the other day but the damage was already done. It was seen as endorsement of the new regime, which according to him was an outcome of a "fraud exercise", called elections. Geelani has always termed the mainstream leaders as "Gumashte" (Storekeepers) of New Delhi. This time he, along with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and others, aggressively campaigned against elections, though the entire separatist leadership was behind bars. His speaking in a language and tone, that reflects hope-for-any-good from the government tantamount to endorsement of the regime. If this was the case he should have let the people decide as they did by defying his boycott call. It ill-behooves a leader of Geelani’s stature to treat the people as deaf and dumb and be on the path of carving out some space in the conditions that entail new government in the state.
Many people believe that Geelani sometimes is shaken with the governments in power (particularly of National Conference) and is scared of its tactics to show him down by Income Tax raids or intimidating or harassing his kith and kin. But on the face of it a leader of such a strong spiritual character can not expected to be scared of these tactics. He disappointed "his nation" earlier also on many occasions. During a rally at TRC ground he forced people to accept him as their sole leader which spoiled the atmosphere that otherwise deserved to be channeled collectively by the leadership. With strong resentment from all the quarters he retracted from the same dismissing it merely as "slip of tongue".
Geelani had supported the Muzaffarabad Chalo call which was meant to force India and Pakistan to open the road for trade. In the months long agitation, 60 Kashmiris laid down their lives including that of Hurriyat leader Sheikh Aziz. When the road was opened for trade, though symbolically, he termed it as a "non issue" and failed to explain why he supported the call which devoured 60 innocent lives. His recent faux pas was the needlessly made remarks about moderate separatist leader Sajjad Lone, pushing him to wall. Sajjad had actively associated himself with boycott call, may be for his own reasons, but by undermining his "gesture" Geelani further alienated him from the separatist camp and forced him to wash Geelani's dirty linen in public.
At the time the separatist leadership ought to introspect and review its strategy vis-à-vis the "struggle for right to self determination" they are sending confusing signals which only shows their inability to lead people. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has also talked about people's expectations from the new government, though in vague terms. When they declared the elections as "Haram" why should they expect anything good from them! Better think over why they were "rejected" by people in the name of Bijli, Sadak and Pani rather than mending fences with the government in such a meek way.
Crossing the Line of Control set by the Delhi Durbar
Mehmood provides a one-sided perspective on the emergence of the National Conference-Congress Alliance. But in the end an elected government is only as good as its people.
(Mr. Mehmood-ur-Rashid, mid-30's, lives and works in Srinagar. His commentary is published by the Rising Kashmir.)
The dynasty is back
After all the backdoor and open air politics, Congress finally decided to have a date, once again with National Conference. More than Party alliance, it seemed as dynastic marriage, Gandhi’s and Sheikh’s solemnising the contract. Mufti Sayeed and his PDP were plainly rejected making it clear that for Delhi, and Congress guidelines for Kashmir politics are long back laid down.
Mufti might have been an insider but in Kashmir there is a desired limit to friendships. (The future of PDP now depends upon whether Mufti will crawl back within those limits and win Delhi’s favours next time or will he cross this line of actual control carved out by Delhi from the times of Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah. Just imagine, if he does the later can we expect the ex-Home minister of India languishing in an Indian jail for playing spoilsport in Kashmir, like Delhi did with Sheikh Abdullah! Amazing!)
On all the earlier occasions Sheikh-Gandhi alliance would take off with an emotional and cheerful note, be it Sheikh Abdullah reviving his friendship with Nehru, and later mending fences with his daughter, or Farooq Abdullah cheerfully shaking hand with Rajiv Gandhi, and raising the Rajiv-Farooq combined fist jubilantly in air before a huge gathering at Iqbal Park. (By the way, Kashmiris are always present in huge numbers, be it for anything!) The engine of alliance would start knocking only later. But this time it all began with a cruel note. Congress overstepped Sheikh-family ladder, leaving behind father and adopting the son. With this Omar will share power with Congress and Farooq Abdullah will share the pain of losing chair with Mufti Sayeed.
Given the kind of situation that has thrown Omar to power, this young man will be up against a plethora of old troubles. The days ahead are stuffed with pungent problems. He will have to manage his relations with an anguished father and the Patron of his party; he will have to steer clear of the fault lines within his own party as the old guard may not always fall in sync with his mind and method; he will have to take care of how Resistance, Soft-separatism, and Pakistan will unfold its politics in Kashmir, once the dust settles down; he will have to constantly lend his ears to the rhetoric of development that he raised during elections; and he will have to confront the perverted politics of his own party if he really means business. Since old habits die hard, his image as a young and open-to-new-ideas will never sit comfortably with the rusty apparatus and set minds of National Conference. Either of the two has to change, or the distinction is only false and crafted one.
If Omar Abdullah wants to make a meaningful contribution to Kashmir politics, his two biggest enemies are National Conference and Congress. He has an enemy within, and besides. He is not just sleeping with the enemy but for the enemy. So what Omar Abdullah does in future depends on how he deals with past.
National Conference is identified with the politics of deceit and hooliganism. The history of this party may be approached and understood differently but the way Sheikh Abdullah facilitated Indian occupation in Kashmir stands out as an objective fact. For this he cannot be pardoned by history. Once in power, the way this party encouraged a culture of McCarthyism to disallow its opponents from posing a political challenge is known to all. Even when everybody would expect National Conference to change, Farooq Abdullah presided over a reign of extreme terror when he came back to power in 1996 elections. True, that Omar cannot undo history, but will he be able to stop the past of National Conference from eating into the future of Kashmir. Can Kashmir expect a democratic and pro people regime under Omar’s command? This is the question that Omar has to find an answer to.
The second predicament for Omar is to manage bed with Congress. The history of this party in Kashmir makes it massively clear that Congress is a ruthless partner. The two parties and the two families have earlier also been partners-in-politics, and this partnership has always been at the cost of Kashmir. In 1965 Sheikh Abdullah had an “emotional” reunion with Pandit Nehru. In the words of Sheikh Abdullah, ‘Panditji expressed his deep anguish and sorrow at the past incidents. I also became very emotional and told him that I was glad to have convinced him that I was not disloyal to him personally or to India.’ Instead of getting things right within Kashmir Congress made use of Sheikh Abdullah in convincing the heads of Muslim states across the world about Indian viewpoint on Kashmir. (Omar Abdullah is best suited for this foreign funda of India!) On this trip Sheikh met the premier of Communist China, Chou En-lai, at a dinner, in Morocco. On this he received a humiliating divorce from Delhi. Reaching London he was told to return back or else his passport was to be withdrawn. Sheikh Abdullah reached Palam and found himself arrested. This was the ‘tragic’ end of the ‘emotional’ reunion.
After a long detention Sheikh Abdullah was released once he reached an agreement with Mrs Gandhi. He was now to lead a Congress government in J&K. Marriage was again solemnised and named as Delhi Accord. How Sheikh thought that Congress behaved later needs a reading of the chapter, .....Woh Apni Khu Na Badklain Gai ( .... they will never change their ways) in his autobiography, Aatishe Chinar ( biography!). “Look at my naivety; I placed my trust in their false assurances, ignoring all previous experience, and agreed to work together with unpolluted intention. It was only after some time that I had to taste the bitterness of my folly.” These are the words of Omar’s grandfather.
After Sheikh Abdullah’s death, Congress found a golden opportunity to strengthen its hold on Kashmir. Later in its history Congress went on to join hands with Farooq Abdullah. Farooq agreed to contest 1987 elections in partnership with Congress. (Omar Abdullah has agreed to contest coming Parliamentary elections together with Congress from J&K!) Earlier Sheikh Abdullah made one kind of confession, but this time Farooq was more ‘open’, by accepting that ‘ if I want to implement programmes to fight poverty....and run a government, I have to stay on the right side of the centre.’ It was Farooq Abdullah in 1987, and who can forget what happened just two years later in 1989.
So the history of this party and its behaviour towards Delhi demonstrates that National Conference thrived at the cost of Kashmir’s unique political being. From the day Sheikh M. Abdullah fell fatally in love with power to the time Farooq Abdullah garlanded his son, Omar, to take the reins of National Conference in his young hands, Kashmir has been bitten by the politics of National Conference million times over. (Others may hold back their cheer, for they have been no different in this regard. Almost all the political parties and faces that have surfaced in Kashmir, have actually tried to take lead over National Conference by not just behaving the same way, but diving deeper into the waters of power hunger.)
Will Omar Abdullah prove himself mature enough to disown the legacy that catapulted him to power?! All the best to him, hoping that he will not forget people and will be mindful of history. A thoughtful wish or a wishful thinking!
Tailpiece: Omar says Ganderbal taught him a lesson and he is thankful to them for having him taught one. His own party and what it has done to Kashmir has million lessons for him. Any intensions of paying heed to that, Mr. Omar Abdullah!
(Mr. Mehmood-ur-Rashid, mid-30's, lives and works in Srinagar. His commentary is published by the Rising Kashmir.)
The dynasty is back
After all the backdoor and open air politics, Congress finally decided to have a date, once again with National Conference. More than Party alliance, it seemed as dynastic marriage, Gandhi’s and Sheikh’s solemnising the contract. Mufti Sayeed and his PDP were plainly rejected making it clear that for Delhi, and Congress guidelines for Kashmir politics are long back laid down.
Mufti might have been an insider but in Kashmir there is a desired limit to friendships. (The future of PDP now depends upon whether Mufti will crawl back within those limits and win Delhi’s favours next time or will he cross this line of actual control carved out by Delhi from the times of Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah. Just imagine, if he does the later can we expect the ex-Home minister of India languishing in an Indian jail for playing spoilsport in Kashmir, like Delhi did with Sheikh Abdullah! Amazing!)
On all the earlier occasions Sheikh-Gandhi alliance would take off with an emotional and cheerful note, be it Sheikh Abdullah reviving his friendship with Nehru, and later mending fences with his daughter, or Farooq Abdullah cheerfully shaking hand with Rajiv Gandhi, and raising the Rajiv-Farooq combined fist jubilantly in air before a huge gathering at Iqbal Park. (By the way, Kashmiris are always present in huge numbers, be it for anything!) The engine of alliance would start knocking only later. But this time it all began with a cruel note. Congress overstepped Sheikh-family ladder, leaving behind father and adopting the son. With this Omar will share power with Congress and Farooq Abdullah will share the pain of losing chair with Mufti Sayeed.
Given the kind of situation that has thrown Omar to power, this young man will be up against a plethora of old troubles. The days ahead are stuffed with pungent problems. He will have to manage his relations with an anguished father and the Patron of his party; he will have to steer clear of the fault lines within his own party as the old guard may not always fall in sync with his mind and method; he will have to take care of how Resistance, Soft-separatism, and Pakistan will unfold its politics in Kashmir, once the dust settles down; he will have to constantly lend his ears to the rhetoric of development that he raised during elections; and he will have to confront the perverted politics of his own party if he really means business. Since old habits die hard, his image as a young and open-to-new-ideas will never sit comfortably with the rusty apparatus and set minds of National Conference. Either of the two has to change, or the distinction is only false and crafted one.
If Omar Abdullah wants to make a meaningful contribution to Kashmir politics, his two biggest enemies are National Conference and Congress. He has an enemy within, and besides. He is not just sleeping with the enemy but for the enemy. So what Omar Abdullah does in future depends on how he deals with past.
National Conference is identified with the politics of deceit and hooliganism. The history of this party may be approached and understood differently but the way Sheikh Abdullah facilitated Indian occupation in Kashmir stands out as an objective fact. For this he cannot be pardoned by history. Once in power, the way this party encouraged a culture of McCarthyism to disallow its opponents from posing a political challenge is known to all. Even when everybody would expect National Conference to change, Farooq Abdullah presided over a reign of extreme terror when he came back to power in 1996 elections. True, that Omar cannot undo history, but will he be able to stop the past of National Conference from eating into the future of Kashmir. Can Kashmir expect a democratic and pro people regime under Omar’s command? This is the question that Omar has to find an answer to.
The second predicament for Omar is to manage bed with Congress. The history of this party in Kashmir makes it massively clear that Congress is a ruthless partner. The two parties and the two families have earlier also been partners-in-politics, and this partnership has always been at the cost of Kashmir. In 1965 Sheikh Abdullah had an “emotional” reunion with Pandit Nehru. In the words of Sheikh Abdullah, ‘Panditji expressed his deep anguish and sorrow at the past incidents. I also became very emotional and told him that I was glad to have convinced him that I was not disloyal to him personally or to India.’ Instead of getting things right within Kashmir Congress made use of Sheikh Abdullah in convincing the heads of Muslim states across the world about Indian viewpoint on Kashmir. (Omar Abdullah is best suited for this foreign funda of India!) On this trip Sheikh met the premier of Communist China, Chou En-lai, at a dinner, in Morocco. On this he received a humiliating divorce from Delhi. Reaching London he was told to return back or else his passport was to be withdrawn. Sheikh Abdullah reached Palam and found himself arrested. This was the ‘tragic’ end of the ‘emotional’ reunion.
After a long detention Sheikh Abdullah was released once he reached an agreement with Mrs Gandhi. He was now to lead a Congress government in J&K. Marriage was again solemnised and named as Delhi Accord. How Sheikh thought that Congress behaved later needs a reading of the chapter, .....Woh Apni Khu Na Badklain Gai ( .... they will never change their ways) in his autobiography, Aatishe Chinar ( biography!). “Look at my naivety; I placed my trust in their false assurances, ignoring all previous experience, and agreed to work together with unpolluted intention. It was only after some time that I had to taste the bitterness of my folly.” These are the words of Omar’s grandfather.
After Sheikh Abdullah’s death, Congress found a golden opportunity to strengthen its hold on Kashmir. Later in its history Congress went on to join hands with Farooq Abdullah. Farooq agreed to contest 1987 elections in partnership with Congress. (Omar Abdullah has agreed to contest coming Parliamentary elections together with Congress from J&K!) Earlier Sheikh Abdullah made one kind of confession, but this time Farooq was more ‘open’, by accepting that ‘ if I want to implement programmes to fight poverty....and run a government, I have to stay on the right side of the centre.’ It was Farooq Abdullah in 1987, and who can forget what happened just two years later in 1989.
So the history of this party and its behaviour towards Delhi demonstrates that National Conference thrived at the cost of Kashmir’s unique political being. From the day Sheikh M. Abdullah fell fatally in love with power to the time Farooq Abdullah garlanded his son, Omar, to take the reins of National Conference in his young hands, Kashmir has been bitten by the politics of National Conference million times over. (Others may hold back their cheer, for they have been no different in this regard. Almost all the political parties and faces that have surfaced in Kashmir, have actually tried to take lead over National Conference by not just behaving the same way, but diving deeper into the waters of power hunger.)
Will Omar Abdullah prove himself mature enough to disown the legacy that catapulted him to power?! All the best to him, hoping that he will not forget people and will be mindful of history. A thoughtful wish or a wishful thinking!
Tailpiece: Omar says Ganderbal taught him a lesson and he is thankful to them for having him taught one. His own party and what it has done to Kashmir has million lessons for him. Any intensions of paying heed to that, Mr. Omar Abdullah!
Civic Sense or Lack of it
Two articles in the Kashmir Images address two characteristic civic deficiencies - one urban, one rural - requiring new investment and education
Fatalities on roads
Roads in Kashmir valley are turning into death traps with fatal road accidents showing dangerously upward skew. Reports suggest that around 221 precious human lives were lost to 1636 road accidents from January to November-end this year only. And the records further suggest that during the last four years (from Jan 2005–Nov 2008), 1012 people lost their lives in 8052 accidents while more than 12,058 were wounded. There were 835 fatal mishaps while 7392 accidents of lesser intensity. Only a few years back just stray incidents of road accidents were witnessed in the length and breadth of the state but now it is three to five accidents a day with the deaths and wounded far exceeding the number of incidents.
There are about 40,0000 vehicles plying on Valley roads as per official data available and the roads which are considered as the backbone for the proliferation of vehicles in any state or country have become so constricted in the state that pedestrians find it hard to get along a road without fear of being hit by a passing vehicle.
Government seems lagging far behind to lay down roads so that the increasing flow of traffic could be regulated in a smooth manner without the roads getting congested, clogged or jammed for hours together. It is an ill devised strategy to let the population of vehicles multiply unchecked to match the number of persons in the state in absence of the roads. In the last 20 years the number of vehicles has increased by ten-fold while as the road construction could not run with half of that pace resulting in chaos on the roads. It has rendered the plying vehicles as mobile angels of death rather than an item to assist human development. Insult to the injury is that the Regional Transport Authorities are issuing permits without taking the road accommodation into consideration. With it the indiscriminate issuance of driving licenses to those who do not undergo any proper trial makes the mess more stinking. It is no wonder to see even teenage boys driving passenger vehicles without any one taking notice of the killing trend. In most of the cases it is these untrained drivers who are seen hitting and crushing people to death or maimed for life. There can be hardly any state in whole of the India that takes the life of its subjects so easily as in Jammu and Kashmir.
The accidents on Srinagar Jammu Highway are more frequent. True the road is a mountainous one but then this is not the only such road in the world. Fact of the matter is that it is the reckless driving and negligence of traffic authorities that has made this beautiful highway a road of death. There are not much traffic police cops available on this highway who would ensure smooth plying of vehicles. Besides the frequent plying of army and other security forces vehicles create much discomfort as these vehicles don’t care about the travel norms and therefore result into massive traffic jams which waste a lot of time and to compensate the lost time drivers over-speed resulting into tragic accidents. Need is to deploy maximum traffic police men on the highway who would strictly ensure the speed limits and act against the erring people promptly.
Dangerous trend of open-defecation in rural areas continues unabated
Open-defecation still continues in most parts of rural Kashmir despite the target set by the Government of India to achieve “no open-defecation” across India by 2012.
Even as it needs no rocket science to confirm that open-defecation is dangerous for human health, however, the lack of awareness among the people about it together will the lackadaisical attitude of the governmental agencies, the problem of open-defecation continues to be a common thing in rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
“By 2012, there will be no open defecation as per the Central government scheme (a scheme Rs 2,000,000) to ensure complete sanitation facilities in rural areas. Besides, there will be 5,98,882 toilets constructed under Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) up to 2012 for those living below the poverty line,” informed Shabir Ahmed Khan, Director, Rural Sanitation, Kashmir.
So far, he said, 1, 06,659 individual household lavatories have been made and in 13,893 government schools almost 7628 toilets have been constructed. However, sources informed that not much progress has been made with respect to TSC so far as Srinagar and Ganderbal districts as the department was able to construct only 2234 lavatories in these twin district till date.
When asked why the response to TSC was poor in these districts, Director alleged the people in these areas “want subsidy on everything!”
However, he said, there are certain areas where people adopt TSC without much hesitation and they do not even demand Rs 2200 as incentive whereas at other places people say that the incentive amount is less and they are reluctant to adopt it.
He said in hilly areas, the department gives almost Rs 3000 as incentive for construction of latrines. He also informed the response to TSC is good in Poonch, Doudha, Rajouri and Ananatnag.
When asked about what the department was doing on the publicity front to make people aware about the dangers of open-defecation, Director said, the department was supposed to organize more awareness programmes last year but due to the undeclared curfews, strikes and elections it got delayed.
“Whatever work or awareness programmes remained incomplete, we will try to complete it this year,” the Director said, adding that there will be tremendous response of the people for TSC within two years.
He also informed that manual scavenging has declined by 65 percent. “Basic purpose of TSC is to put an end to manual scavenging. The campaign provides individual facilities as well as the sanitary complexes for the people.”
Encouraging the people to come forward, Director said the TSC is demand-driven and “they can be constructed only when masses come forward for it.”
He said the mindset and attitude of the people has to change and that can bring a drastic change at the grass-roots level.
Lack of awareness and the human and animal excreta being used as manure in the fields are believed to be the reasons why people stick to the age-old practice of open-defecation.
While taking about the present and future plans of the department, Director said, “In order to make TSC successful, we have already step up village committees and school sanitation committees and we are depositing amount in their accounts for construction of the latrines and in this way we have already covered a target of 30 percent through these committees.”
Fatalities on roads
Roads in Kashmir valley are turning into death traps with fatal road accidents showing dangerously upward skew. Reports suggest that around 221 precious human lives were lost to 1636 road accidents from January to November-end this year only. And the records further suggest that during the last four years (from Jan 2005–Nov 2008), 1012 people lost their lives in 8052 accidents while more than 12,058 were wounded. There were 835 fatal mishaps while 7392 accidents of lesser intensity. Only a few years back just stray incidents of road accidents were witnessed in the length and breadth of the state but now it is three to five accidents a day with the deaths and wounded far exceeding the number of incidents.
There are about 40,0000 vehicles plying on Valley roads as per official data available and the roads which are considered as the backbone for the proliferation of vehicles in any state or country have become so constricted in the state that pedestrians find it hard to get along a road without fear of being hit by a passing vehicle.
Government seems lagging far behind to lay down roads so that the increasing flow of traffic could be regulated in a smooth manner without the roads getting congested, clogged or jammed for hours together. It is an ill devised strategy to let the population of vehicles multiply unchecked to match the number of persons in the state in absence of the roads. In the last 20 years the number of vehicles has increased by ten-fold while as the road construction could not run with half of that pace resulting in chaos on the roads. It has rendered the plying vehicles as mobile angels of death rather than an item to assist human development. Insult to the injury is that the Regional Transport Authorities are issuing permits without taking the road accommodation into consideration. With it the indiscriminate issuance of driving licenses to those who do not undergo any proper trial makes the mess more stinking. It is no wonder to see even teenage boys driving passenger vehicles without any one taking notice of the killing trend. In most of the cases it is these untrained drivers who are seen hitting and crushing people to death or maimed for life. There can be hardly any state in whole of the India that takes the life of its subjects so easily as in Jammu and Kashmir.
The accidents on Srinagar Jammu Highway are more frequent. True the road is a mountainous one but then this is not the only such road in the world. Fact of the matter is that it is the reckless driving and negligence of traffic authorities that has made this beautiful highway a road of death. There are not much traffic police cops available on this highway who would ensure smooth plying of vehicles. Besides the frequent plying of army and other security forces vehicles create much discomfort as these vehicles don’t care about the travel norms and therefore result into massive traffic jams which waste a lot of time and to compensate the lost time drivers over-speed resulting into tragic accidents. Need is to deploy maximum traffic police men on the highway who would strictly ensure the speed limits and act against the erring people promptly.
Dangerous trend of open-defecation in rural areas continues unabated
Open-defecation still continues in most parts of rural Kashmir despite the target set by the Government of India to achieve “no open-defecation” across India by 2012.
Even as it needs no rocket science to confirm that open-defecation is dangerous for human health, however, the lack of awareness among the people about it together will the lackadaisical attitude of the governmental agencies, the problem of open-defecation continues to be a common thing in rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
“By 2012, there will be no open defecation as per the Central government scheme (a scheme Rs 2,000,000) to ensure complete sanitation facilities in rural areas. Besides, there will be 5,98,882 toilets constructed under Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) up to 2012 for those living below the poverty line,” informed Shabir Ahmed Khan, Director, Rural Sanitation, Kashmir.
So far, he said, 1, 06,659 individual household lavatories have been made and in 13,893 government schools almost 7628 toilets have been constructed. However, sources informed that not much progress has been made with respect to TSC so far as Srinagar and Ganderbal districts as the department was able to construct only 2234 lavatories in these twin district till date.
When asked why the response to TSC was poor in these districts, Director alleged the people in these areas “want subsidy on everything!”
However, he said, there are certain areas where people adopt TSC without much hesitation and they do not even demand Rs 2200 as incentive whereas at other places people say that the incentive amount is less and they are reluctant to adopt it.
He said in hilly areas, the department gives almost Rs 3000 as incentive for construction of latrines. He also informed the response to TSC is good in Poonch, Doudha, Rajouri and Ananatnag.
When asked about what the department was doing on the publicity front to make people aware about the dangers of open-defecation, Director said, the department was supposed to organize more awareness programmes last year but due to the undeclared curfews, strikes and elections it got delayed.
“Whatever work or awareness programmes remained incomplete, we will try to complete it this year,” the Director said, adding that there will be tremendous response of the people for TSC within two years.
He also informed that manual scavenging has declined by 65 percent. “Basic purpose of TSC is to put an end to manual scavenging. The campaign provides individual facilities as well as the sanitary complexes for the people.”
Encouraging the people to come forward, Director said the TSC is demand-driven and “they can be constructed only when masses come forward for it.”
He said the mindset and attitude of the people has to change and that can bring a drastic change at the grass-roots level.
Lack of awareness and the human and animal excreta being used as manure in the fields are believed to be the reasons why people stick to the age-old practice of open-defecation.
While taking about the present and future plans of the department, Director said, “In order to make TSC successful, we have already step up village committees and school sanitation committees and we are depositing amount in their accounts for construction of the latrines and in this way we have already covered a target of 30 percent through these committees.”
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