Artistes break the ice and tread where most are hesitant to go
Kashmiri play reiterates need for inter-community dialogue
By Ravinder Kaul (Daily Excelsior)
There have been quite a few occasions in the recent past when Kashmiri artistes, through their artistic creations, have attempted to highlight the need to initiate a process of dialogue between Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits. Release of two music albums last month, one by a group from Kashmir, urging the members of the minority community to return to their homeland and another by a Kashmiri artiste living in forced exile in Jaipur (Rajasthan), highlighting the yearning of the members of the community for their land of ancestors, are an indicator towards the fact that there is still a glimmer of hope that the members of both the communities can come to terms with their respective loss and at least sit together and talk. The play Zamaanay Pok Na Humdum, presented by Manasbal Dramatics, Safapora, Kashmir in Rang Pratibha, the Festival of Plays by young theatre directors being organised by Sangeet Natak Akademi, in association with J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages at Abhinav Theatre here today, is another attempt to break the ice between the two communities.
The forced exodus of the entire community of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir Valley 18 years ago has left deep scars on the psyche of members of the displaced community. More than the physical and economic sufferings of the community during the period of exile, it is the feeling of ‘betrayal’ by their friends, neighbours and colleagues belonging to the majority community, at a time when they were being targeted by armed religious fanatics, aided and abetted by our belligerent neighbour, that has hurt them the most. The white lie spread by some interested groups among the majority community, that it was Jagmohan, the then Governor of the State, who coaxed the members of the community to leave their centuries old place of habitat with a promise of a tent and a few thousand rupees as relief, caused further damage. The fact that many among the majority community actually believed this preposterous lie resulted in the final break down of the possibility of a meeting ground between the two communities.
The title of today’s play has been derived from a popular Kashmiri song written by Ghulam Nabi Doolwal ‘Jaanbaaz Kishtwari’ and sung in a soulful voice by legendary singer Ghulam Hassan Sofi. The play begins with the migration of Pandits from Kashmir and projects the sufferings of the members of the community in exile. At the same time, the play also highlights the problems faced by the members of the majority community in the armed conflict between militants and the security forces. The role played by unscrupulous politicians in increasing the miseries of the masses by lining their own pockets has been included in the play.
The play concludes in a verbal encounter between members of the two communities trading charges against each other, which comes to an end with the dialogue of an abettor that he was prepared to continue the struggle till the last Kashmiri. The obvious reference here is towards the role of our neighboring country in the conflict. The members of both the communities realise the gravity of the situation but the play still has a question mark, formed by the artistes on stage, as the final outcome of the entire exercise, One is still not sure as to what will happen?
All the artistes were wearing symbolic costumes, a yellow robe and red trouser, with traditional Kashmiri headgear in similar colours. Ubaid Ahmed Wani, Syed Zubair Ahmed, veteran actor Rashid Ghamgeen and Suriya Khan impressed with their histrionics. The writer and the moving spirit behind the play Nisar Naseem has raised a significant issue through this play and has attempted to articulate the sufferings of common Kashmiris in the years of turmoil, highlighting the need to put our past behind the and initiate a dialogue process between members of the two communities. Ashiq Husain Manasbali, the young director of the play has exhibited his seriousness and deep understanding of theatre through this production. The concluding verbal duel was conceived as a Haenz fight, the fighting between the boatmen, rather boat-women, of Kashmir, who have developed such duels into a virtual art form. This and some similar scenes do denote a definite spark in him.
Jammu Kala Mandir presents its play Yatra on Wednesday. Varsha Dogra directs.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
A Prominent Women's Rights Scholar Highlights Structural Inequalities by Which Women are Deprived of Their Rights
Hameeda Nayeem writes on the status of Kashmiri women at present.
(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.)
Where are Kashmiri women today?
On behalf of the Asian Women''s Commision and Kashmir Centre for Social and Development Studies, I am highly elated and elevated to welcome you all this morning to a one day seminar on violence against women on the eve of the International Women's Day. However to cut the cackle and come to horses, let me straightaway come to the topic.
On the occasion of Women’s International Day, one can’t but begin by assessing how much progress women’s empowerment has made in terms of education, in terms of economic empowerment, in terms of socio-political empowerment and on top of all, in terms of human empowerment. Because empowerment is a multifaceted, multi-dimensional and multi-layered concept. It is not mere economic empowerment as is generally understood in our context. It is rather the action and reaction of various factors – physical, mental, socio-political, economic, psychological, attitudinal and so on. It could be described as a process in which women gain greater share of control over resources – material, human and intellectual - like knowledge, information, ideas; financial resources like money and property and control or equal share in decision-making in the home, community and society and nation to gain ‘power’. It means giving voice to the voiceless. The term has come to be associated with women’s struggle for social justice and equality. It refers to a range of activities from individual self-assertion to collective resistance, protest and mobilization that challenge basic power relations. To have power is being listened to, being recognized and respected as equal human beings with a capacity to make contribution to the society.
While we can take some satisfaction from the progress of women’s education and also from the availability of equal opportunities to women for economic empowerment, there is a grey area so far as her human empowerment is concerned.
The structural inequality by which women are subjected to systematic injustice and violence has not been addressed to so far. The never fully articulated invisible assumptions by which a society has been operating have not been changed. These invisible false assumptions of a patriarchal structure of society are the main culprits. We have not yet deconstructed the cultural constructions of gender by which women are objectified and turned into worthless, powerless, invisible victims of violence.
In the estimate of a common person, women are not only to be used for sexual gratification but a constant mastery has to be maintained over them by men and the patriarchal families by the use of physical, emotional and psychological violence. Unless the mindset – its thoughts and perceptions that shape individual and collective beliefs, values and attitudes – ways of perceiving thinking, feeling and analyzing undergo a correction, a positive change human empowerment of women is not possible. It needs an immediate co-ordinated response from academia, media, intelligentsia and the civil society at large to fight this menace and to change the mindset and ideology that tolerates and perpetrates violence against women. Violence against women has been paradoxically on the rise ever since the process of her ‘empowerment’ began with modernization and now coupled with Globalization.
While conflict situations, communal tensions, ethnic deprivations and colonial situations have completely objectified women and inflicted indescribable sufferings on them yet there is a need to introspect and turn the gaze inwards to confess that all of us all responsible in varying degrees for the rot within and need to rectify the mindset and the attitudes that perpetrate as well as condone violence in all subtle forms.
The UN General Assembly in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (1993) defines violence against women thus: ‘Any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private’.
This definition encompasses physical sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family and in the general community including battering, sexual abuse of girls and girl child, dowry-related violence, rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional barbarian practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and at the work place and elsewhere; trafficking in women, forced prostitution and violence perpetrated or condoned by the state. It includes patterns of behaviour characterized by the misuse of power and control by one person over another. It can occur in mixed gender – relations and same gender relationships and has profound consequences for the lives of children, individuals, family and communities.
When I cast an impartial glance on my part of the world, I am greatly pained and disturbed to say that all these abuses take place daily in our midst except the female genital mutilation which is the sole ‘prerogative’ of Afro-Arab world.
Domestic violence includes wife-beating, dowry related violence, sexual harassment, sexual abuse of children, verbal taunts, innuendos, insinuations abusive language, emotional and psychological torture and intimidation. The same is true of violence at the work place including discrimination and black mailing. According to recent survey forty thousand marriageable girls could not get a match in Srinagar city alone because they are not economically empowered. The dark side of economic empowerment has been disastrous for women because now they have become saleable commodities.
Leaving for a movement Euro-American women empowerment ideas aside, because western women’s movement and commitment to women’s rights is only a century old. We, who are the proud followers of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) - even though pride is somehow out a place in these - should remember that fourteen hundred years ago, one of the prime movers of Prophet’s mission was to liberate women from the patriarchal tyrannical yoke and reinstate their human status. With him it was an intellectual commitment, a great spiritual yearning actualized through a political movement to seek human justice for women and liberate them from the oppressive effects of male dominated society. He strove to build a just, peaceful and humane social order by bringing women on the equal human plane with men. So much so that he culminated this struggle in his farewell address thus while addressing men: ‘you have rights over your women and your women have rights over you’.
We have only to renew our pledge to the Prophet and through him to God that we will follow Him in letter and spirit and try to eliminate all forms of violence against women and acknowledge their human rights to build a justice humane and peaceful society and show the way to the world in these violent times.
(This paper is based on the speech Dr. Hameeda Nayeem made in the seminar titled Violence Against Women in the Gandhi Bhawan of Kashmir University on 7th March 2008)
(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.)
Where are Kashmiri women today?
On behalf of the Asian Women''s Commision and Kashmir Centre for Social and Development Studies, I am highly elated and elevated to welcome you all this morning to a one day seminar on violence against women on the eve of the International Women's Day. However to cut the cackle and come to horses, let me straightaway come to the topic.
On the occasion of Women’s International Day, one can’t but begin by assessing how much progress women’s empowerment has made in terms of education, in terms of economic empowerment, in terms of socio-political empowerment and on top of all, in terms of human empowerment. Because empowerment is a multifaceted, multi-dimensional and multi-layered concept. It is not mere economic empowerment as is generally understood in our context. It is rather the action and reaction of various factors – physical, mental, socio-political, economic, psychological, attitudinal and so on. It could be described as a process in which women gain greater share of control over resources – material, human and intellectual - like knowledge, information, ideas; financial resources like money and property and control or equal share in decision-making in the home, community and society and nation to gain ‘power’. It means giving voice to the voiceless. The term has come to be associated with women’s struggle for social justice and equality. It refers to a range of activities from individual self-assertion to collective resistance, protest and mobilization that challenge basic power relations. To have power is being listened to, being recognized and respected as equal human beings with a capacity to make contribution to the society.
While we can take some satisfaction from the progress of women’s education and also from the availability of equal opportunities to women for economic empowerment, there is a grey area so far as her human empowerment is concerned.
The structural inequality by which women are subjected to systematic injustice and violence has not been addressed to so far. The never fully articulated invisible assumptions by which a society has been operating have not been changed. These invisible false assumptions of a patriarchal structure of society are the main culprits. We have not yet deconstructed the cultural constructions of gender by which women are objectified and turned into worthless, powerless, invisible victims of violence.
In the estimate of a common person, women are not only to be used for sexual gratification but a constant mastery has to be maintained over them by men and the patriarchal families by the use of physical, emotional and psychological violence. Unless the mindset – its thoughts and perceptions that shape individual and collective beliefs, values and attitudes – ways of perceiving thinking, feeling and analyzing undergo a correction, a positive change human empowerment of women is not possible. It needs an immediate co-ordinated response from academia, media, intelligentsia and the civil society at large to fight this menace and to change the mindset and ideology that tolerates and perpetrates violence against women. Violence against women has been paradoxically on the rise ever since the process of her ‘empowerment’ began with modernization and now coupled with Globalization.
While conflict situations, communal tensions, ethnic deprivations and colonial situations have completely objectified women and inflicted indescribable sufferings on them yet there is a need to introspect and turn the gaze inwards to confess that all of us all responsible in varying degrees for the rot within and need to rectify the mindset and the attitudes that perpetrate as well as condone violence in all subtle forms.
The UN General Assembly in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (1993) defines violence against women thus: ‘Any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private’.
This definition encompasses physical sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family and in the general community including battering, sexual abuse of girls and girl child, dowry-related violence, rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional barbarian practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and at the work place and elsewhere; trafficking in women, forced prostitution and violence perpetrated or condoned by the state. It includes patterns of behaviour characterized by the misuse of power and control by one person over another. It can occur in mixed gender – relations and same gender relationships and has profound consequences for the lives of children, individuals, family and communities.
When I cast an impartial glance on my part of the world, I am greatly pained and disturbed to say that all these abuses take place daily in our midst except the female genital mutilation which is the sole ‘prerogative’ of Afro-Arab world.
Domestic violence includes wife-beating, dowry related violence, sexual harassment, sexual abuse of children, verbal taunts, innuendos, insinuations abusive language, emotional and psychological torture and intimidation. The same is true of violence at the work place including discrimination and black mailing. According to recent survey forty thousand marriageable girls could not get a match in Srinagar city alone because they are not economically empowered. The dark side of economic empowerment has been disastrous for women because now they have become saleable commodities.
Leaving for a movement Euro-American women empowerment ideas aside, because western women’s movement and commitment to women’s rights is only a century old. We, who are the proud followers of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) - even though pride is somehow out a place in these - should remember that fourteen hundred years ago, one of the prime movers of Prophet’s mission was to liberate women from the patriarchal tyrannical yoke and reinstate their human status. With him it was an intellectual commitment, a great spiritual yearning actualized through a political movement to seek human justice for women and liberate them from the oppressive effects of male dominated society. He strove to build a just, peaceful and humane social order by bringing women on the equal human plane with men. So much so that he culminated this struggle in his farewell address thus while addressing men: ‘you have rights over your women and your women have rights over you’.
We have only to renew our pledge to the Prophet and through him to God that we will follow Him in letter and spirit and try to eliminate all forms of violence against women and acknowledge their human rights to build a justice humane and peaceful society and show the way to the world in these violent times.
(This paper is based on the speech Dr. Hameeda Nayeem made in the seminar titled Violence Against Women in the Gandhi Bhawan of Kashmir University on 7th March 2008)
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Forget missiles and tanks; the new "Great Game" in the region involves an ancient craft
The new "war theatre" invoves handicrafts and an endangered species of mountain goats.
Indo-Pak ‘handicrafts war' threatens pashmina trade
Srinagar, March 8: Ghulam Muhammad Malla is busy weaving through the 1,500 minute strands of pashmina wool at his handloom in old Srinagar. Malla, an old hand at the trade with 40 years of experience, has to navigate through these delicate threads made up of 12-micron filaments (a human hair is 200 microns wide) by hand as science is yet to evolve a machine that can handle the legendary pashmina wool. With the help of his loom, unchanged for ages, he manages to regulate the weak and extra-weak points of this finest wool and with every calculated stroke gives the cloth a shape to envy.
If everything goes on time, he will help to produce a superfine pashmina shawl within a week— he is 28th in an assembly line of 36 that contributed to its manufacture. While immersed in the intricacies of his craft, Malla is becoming increasingly aware that it is at the center of a cross-border controversy being fought out far from his workplace. India and Pakistan are fighting over who can have the name "Kashmir pashmina" registered at the Geographical Indication (GI) registry. At best, they will jointly file the application and reap the benefits in a mutual way. At worst, they will fight over the issue endlessly - as they have done over the issue of Kashmir itself. To fight is at present in vogue.
"There is a history of hostility between India and Pakistan and anything attached to Kashmir automatically becomes sensitive," says Ashfaq Ahmad Mattoo, spokesperson of Kashmir Handmade Pashmina Promotion Trust (KHPPT) a body of pashmina artisans. New Delhi-backed Craft Development Institute (CDI) at Srinagar filed an application in March 2006 with the Geographical Indications Registry in the Indian city of Chennai to claim the Kashmir pashmina brand.
GI registration is a sort of a patent that is given to a type of trade in a particular region from where it originated and is being practiced. Registration helps prevent unauthorized use of a registered product of one region by others. It can boost the region's exports by providing legal protection, promote the economic prosperity of the producers and supports legal protection in other member countries of the World Trade Organization. As is the normal procedure before granting such a claim, the registry invited objections from all over the world.
Before the CDI could secure the coveted title, the Pakistan-based Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce raised objections, citing the existence of similar shawls in Pakistan's part of Kashmir. "They said Kashmir is also on their side and pashmina products are there too, so argued that Kashmir pashmina belongs to them too," said CDI director Muhammad Shariq Farooqi.
Although the Pakistan side filed its objection after the set expiry date, the registry has so fare not ruled on whether it will entertain or reject its case. Further complicating matters, Kashmir-based KHPPT also objected to the CDI application on the grounds that it overlooked the "exclusivity of handmade process and special wool of Kashmir.” After talks, the CDI agreed to modify the application accordingly. Pashmina is one of the world's most sought-after fabrics in the fashion market and traces its origins to Kashmir. "The elegance, softness, warmth and number of other features make it the numero uno in its class," says Ahmad Fayaz, a handicraft dealer Srinagar.
Handicrafts are a major industry in the region, next only to horticulture, employing millions and making it a major exchange earner, and pashmina products are not the only focus of disputes between the two claimants on the landlocked state. Pakistan has also objected to CDI registration efforts for kani shawls and sozni products, as according to them similar items are present on its side of Kashmir. Sozni is the kind of needlework, while kani shawls are made with the help of needlework over a period of eight months to one year.
"It seems we are witnessing a 'Great Handicrafts War' between India and Pakistan, said Fayaz.
For Malla, the confrontation is the dawn of a dark era for the already struggling industry. "After witnessing unprecedented growth, we are going downhill," Malla said. In the early 1980s, there were just 800 pashmina weavers, Malla says. As the products caught the fancy of the international fashion market, and spurred by exposure to well-heeled tourists, demand for pashmina soared and the number of weavers jumped correspondingly to around 10,000. "But now prices are plummeting due to the influx of machine-made and foreign goods" he adds.
Pashmina wool comes from the mountain goat Capra Hircus, reared by Drokpa nomads in the higher altitudes (5,000 meters above sea level) of the Changthang plateau, spread between the Ladakh region of Kashmir and China. Mattoo of the KHPPT, who last year spearheaded a project on Capra Hircus for the Wildlife Trust of India, agrees. "We now deal with only 0.3 % of the whole pashmina trade and earlier Kashmir was hub of most of it," he says. The products face stiff competition from other countries.
"China is making pashmina, New Zealand is making pashmina, Australia is making pashmina, Nepal and many other countries are making pashmina," said Mattoo. China has an advantage as most of the Changthang plateau, where these goats live, is in its territory. Traders in Srinagar fear that soon China will flood the market with pashmina wool too after increasing the Capra Hircus population and investing heavily in the sector.
Between 200 to 300 grams of wool are used to produce a single shawl. An average pashmina goat in Kashmir yields 300-350 grams fine wool, while in China the goat yields 350 to 400 grams. "China is way ahead of us. They have invested heavily, made new weaving facilities and factories and are breeding pashmina goats on scientific lines," laments one trader.
There is no agreement on naming standard for fabric types. Most traders apply the name cashmere and pashmina loosely. China produces 70 percent of the roughly 20,000 tonnes of cashmere wool made in the world and a large amount of it is also branded as pashmina wool. While describing the difference between the two, Mattoo said, "Cashmere wool is anywhere between 14-19 micron in thickness while the pashmina wool is 12-14 microns thick."
Chinese and other traders are also flooding the market with fake and machine-made shawls in the name of Kashmir pashmina, hurting the reputation of the Kashmir brand. Pure pashmina cannot be woven on machines as it is too delicate for the task. So some manufacturers blend it with other wools or synthetic yarn to make it more durable. Some traders in the Indian state of Punjab have been seen to be using silicon softener on the wool to make it look like the real pashmina. "But that lasts for just one wash," said Mattoo.
Kashmir remains the only place where pashmina is being worked on by hand without any kind of mechanical help beyond the simple loom. It is this elaborate handmade practice of artisans that KHPPT wants CDI to involve in the patent form. "Nobody has the skill possessed by Kashmiris in this regard and if we register this, we will be simply registering the gold mine in our name," said Mattoo. "We have woken up but it is very late,'' said Farooqi. "We could have registered the name pashmina and cashmere in our own name as both have evolved here, but now they have become generic across the entire world and nothing can be done." Trade analysts believe that even now the name ‘Kashmir pashmina’ holds immense business potential, "as it holds a legendary aura around it.” If the title is allotted to Kashmir artisans, then no business or trade organization can use the name. The traders in Srinagar say it will end the practice of others selling the machine-made and fake pashmina products in the name of Kashmir pashmina and the value of such products produced in Kashmir would be immensely increased.
According to one estimate, the annual shawl trade in Kashmir is worth anywhere between 5 billion rupees (US$124 billion) and 5 billion rupees, and involves more than 50,000 people in the business. These include weavers, spinners, embroidery artisans, washermen, dyers and others.
At least 32 Kashmiri handicrafts are exported and the government wants all of them to be patented to preserve them for posterity. CDI has listed seven more handicrafts for filing geographical indication applications. "We are going to apply for seven more handicrafts like the Khatamband lattice work [used in creating ceilings], wood carving, embroidery, crewel [a form of embroidery] and others," said Farooqi.
With Pakistan already having objected to three handicrafts, the country is expected also to raise objections to registration of these. The handicraft war is set to intensify; the losers may be the skilled workers on either side of the Kashmiri divide.
Indo-Pak ‘handicrafts war' threatens pashmina trade
Srinagar, March 8: Ghulam Muhammad Malla is busy weaving through the 1,500 minute strands of pashmina wool at his handloom in old Srinagar. Malla, an old hand at the trade with 40 years of experience, has to navigate through these delicate threads made up of 12-micron filaments (a human hair is 200 microns wide) by hand as science is yet to evolve a machine that can handle the legendary pashmina wool. With the help of his loom, unchanged for ages, he manages to regulate the weak and extra-weak points of this finest wool and with every calculated stroke gives the cloth a shape to envy.
If everything goes on time, he will help to produce a superfine pashmina shawl within a week— he is 28th in an assembly line of 36 that contributed to its manufacture. While immersed in the intricacies of his craft, Malla is becoming increasingly aware that it is at the center of a cross-border controversy being fought out far from his workplace. India and Pakistan are fighting over who can have the name "Kashmir pashmina" registered at the Geographical Indication (GI) registry. At best, they will jointly file the application and reap the benefits in a mutual way. At worst, they will fight over the issue endlessly - as they have done over the issue of Kashmir itself. To fight is at present in vogue.
"There is a history of hostility between India and Pakistan and anything attached to Kashmir automatically becomes sensitive," says Ashfaq Ahmad Mattoo, spokesperson of Kashmir Handmade Pashmina Promotion Trust (KHPPT) a body of pashmina artisans. New Delhi-backed Craft Development Institute (CDI) at Srinagar filed an application in March 2006 with the Geographical Indications Registry in the Indian city of Chennai to claim the Kashmir pashmina brand.
GI registration is a sort of a patent that is given to a type of trade in a particular region from where it originated and is being practiced. Registration helps prevent unauthorized use of a registered product of one region by others. It can boost the region's exports by providing legal protection, promote the economic prosperity of the producers and supports legal protection in other member countries of the World Trade Organization. As is the normal procedure before granting such a claim, the registry invited objections from all over the world.
Before the CDI could secure the coveted title, the Pakistan-based Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce raised objections, citing the existence of similar shawls in Pakistan's part of Kashmir. "They said Kashmir is also on their side and pashmina products are there too, so argued that Kashmir pashmina belongs to them too," said CDI director Muhammad Shariq Farooqi.
Although the Pakistan side filed its objection after the set expiry date, the registry has so fare not ruled on whether it will entertain or reject its case. Further complicating matters, Kashmir-based KHPPT also objected to the CDI application on the grounds that it overlooked the "exclusivity of handmade process and special wool of Kashmir.” After talks, the CDI agreed to modify the application accordingly. Pashmina is one of the world's most sought-after fabrics in the fashion market and traces its origins to Kashmir. "The elegance, softness, warmth and number of other features make it the numero uno in its class," says Ahmad Fayaz, a handicraft dealer Srinagar.
Handicrafts are a major industry in the region, next only to horticulture, employing millions and making it a major exchange earner, and pashmina products are not the only focus of disputes between the two claimants on the landlocked state. Pakistan has also objected to CDI registration efforts for kani shawls and sozni products, as according to them similar items are present on its side of Kashmir. Sozni is the kind of needlework, while kani shawls are made with the help of needlework over a period of eight months to one year.
"It seems we are witnessing a 'Great Handicrafts War' between India and Pakistan, said Fayaz.
For Malla, the confrontation is the dawn of a dark era for the already struggling industry. "After witnessing unprecedented growth, we are going downhill," Malla said. In the early 1980s, there were just 800 pashmina weavers, Malla says. As the products caught the fancy of the international fashion market, and spurred by exposure to well-heeled tourists, demand for pashmina soared and the number of weavers jumped correspondingly to around 10,000. "But now prices are plummeting due to the influx of machine-made and foreign goods" he adds.
Pashmina wool comes from the mountain goat Capra Hircus, reared by Drokpa nomads in the higher altitudes (5,000 meters above sea level) of the Changthang plateau, spread between the Ladakh region of Kashmir and China. Mattoo of the KHPPT, who last year spearheaded a project on Capra Hircus for the Wildlife Trust of India, agrees. "We now deal with only 0.3 % of the whole pashmina trade and earlier Kashmir was hub of most of it," he says. The products face stiff competition from other countries.
"China is making pashmina, New Zealand is making pashmina, Australia is making pashmina, Nepal and many other countries are making pashmina," said Mattoo. China has an advantage as most of the Changthang plateau, where these goats live, is in its territory. Traders in Srinagar fear that soon China will flood the market with pashmina wool too after increasing the Capra Hircus population and investing heavily in the sector.
Between 200 to 300 grams of wool are used to produce a single shawl. An average pashmina goat in Kashmir yields 300-350 grams fine wool, while in China the goat yields 350 to 400 grams. "China is way ahead of us. They have invested heavily, made new weaving facilities and factories and are breeding pashmina goats on scientific lines," laments one trader.
There is no agreement on naming standard for fabric types. Most traders apply the name cashmere and pashmina loosely. China produces 70 percent of the roughly 20,000 tonnes of cashmere wool made in the world and a large amount of it is also branded as pashmina wool. While describing the difference between the two, Mattoo said, "Cashmere wool is anywhere between 14-19 micron in thickness while the pashmina wool is 12-14 microns thick."
Chinese and other traders are also flooding the market with fake and machine-made shawls in the name of Kashmir pashmina, hurting the reputation of the Kashmir brand. Pure pashmina cannot be woven on machines as it is too delicate for the task. So some manufacturers blend it with other wools or synthetic yarn to make it more durable. Some traders in the Indian state of Punjab have been seen to be using silicon softener on the wool to make it look like the real pashmina. "But that lasts for just one wash," said Mattoo.
Kashmir remains the only place where pashmina is being worked on by hand without any kind of mechanical help beyond the simple loom. It is this elaborate handmade practice of artisans that KHPPT wants CDI to involve in the patent form. "Nobody has the skill possessed by Kashmiris in this regard and if we register this, we will be simply registering the gold mine in our name," said Mattoo. "We have woken up but it is very late,'' said Farooqi. "We could have registered the name pashmina and cashmere in our own name as both have evolved here, but now they have become generic across the entire world and nothing can be done." Trade analysts believe that even now the name ‘Kashmir pashmina’ holds immense business potential, "as it holds a legendary aura around it.” If the title is allotted to Kashmir artisans, then no business or trade organization can use the name. The traders in Srinagar say it will end the practice of others selling the machine-made and fake pashmina products in the name of Kashmir pashmina and the value of such products produced in Kashmir would be immensely increased.
According to one estimate, the annual shawl trade in Kashmir is worth anywhere between 5 billion rupees (US$124 billion) and 5 billion rupees, and involves more than 50,000 people in the business. These include weavers, spinners, embroidery artisans, washermen, dyers and others.
At least 32 Kashmiri handicrafts are exported and the government wants all of them to be patented to preserve them for posterity. CDI has listed seven more handicrafts for filing geographical indication applications. "We are going to apply for seven more handicrafts like the Khatamband lattice work [used in creating ceilings], wood carving, embroidery, crewel [a form of embroidery] and others," said Farooqi.
With Pakistan already having objected to three handicrafts, the country is expected also to raise objections to registration of these. The handicraft war is set to intensify; the losers may be the skilled workers on either side of the Kashmiri divide.
Snapshots of the International Women's Day in Kashmir: The Highs and the Lows
Two different reports - one regarding a function in an elite college in Srinagar, and the other a study of Gujjar women in Baramulla and other districts - capture the canvass of triumphs and challenges in emancipation of women in J&K today.
International Women’s Day observed at Women’s College
GK NEWS NETWORK
Srinagar, Mar 9: A function was organized at Government College for Women, M.A.Road, Sriangar, under the aegis of its Women’s Studies Centre (WSC), to mark the International Women’s Day. The district and sessions judge, Gous-u-Nisa, the commandant of 25th battalion, CRPF, Neetu Bhattacharya, and Sara of 92.7 F.M Radio, were specially invited for the programme to interact with the staff and students of the college.
The principal of the college, Prof.(Dr) Zeenat Ara, presided over the function. Prof Yasmeen Ashai, coordinator of the WSC in her welcome address apprised the guests of the work being done by the Centre in the advocacy of women and their empowerment.
Gous-u-Nisa talked about rights of women, enshrined in the constitution in general and in Muslim personal law in particular. She interacted with the audience.
Neetu Bhattacharya, talked about the “Role of CRPF in women empowerment in J&K”. She highlighted the issued confronting the female CRPF troopers in the Valley, and pledged her batallion’s support in the uplift of women in the Valley, particularly to prevent crimes against them.
Dr.Zeenat Ara, in her concluding remarks glorified the role played by the women of Kashmir in different phases of history and underlined the need for an collective effort to work for welfare and prosperity of women.
Nomadic JK tribal women living a medieval life: Study
Srinagar, Mar 9: Early marriages, illiteracy and abject poverty have made the life of hundreds of the nomadic Gujjar women miserable as compared with their urban counterparts, a study by the Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation says.
On the eve of the International Women’s day, Dr. Javaid Rahi, the national secretary of the NGO which works on Indian tribes, said that the survey is based on the study of over 1000 Gujjar and Bakerwal households in Poonch, Rajouri, Varmul and Kupwara districts.
The survey points out that a shocking 89 per cent of the women, between the age group of 10 and 65 years, were illiterate and were subjected to the practices dating back to the medieval period such as superstition.
Early marriage practice prevalent in the community coupled with other social bindings has deprived the womenfolk of their share in the education and healthcare. A meagre 12 per cent of the girls who are able to get admissions at the primary level abandon schools for one or the other reason; lack of resources and poverty being the prime ones. Despite their excessive work they don’t get due respect and position in their society.
According to the study, the worst sufferers are the nomadic children of the Gujjar (Shepherd) and Manjhii Gujjar (Buffalo keepers), 88 per cent of whom have yet to see the door of a school.
The three Gujjar hostels in Jammu, Srinagar and Doda were insufficient to accommodate hundreds of thousands of women, the study points out. The centrally-sponsored schemes, such as, Balika Simridhi Yojna, Sawastiki and Indira Mahila Yojna have failed to bring any relief to the community, the survey alleges. The study says that Beda, Bot, Balti, Garra, Mon, Brokpa, Purigipa, Gaddi and Sippis tribes of the state were better placed. The mobile schools which number in hundreds have failed to bring about any change in the quality of their life, despite many UNICEF and central government programs.
The fact that only three Gujjar women served at the state administrative positions indicate the extent of negligence towards the women of the community. None served at the central administration level. Only three women have done their Ph.D.
Dr Rahi urged the state and the central governments to provide legal safe-guards to Gujjar women and adopt schemes for their education and social transformation.
International Women’s Day observed at Women’s College
GK NEWS NETWORK
Srinagar, Mar 9: A function was organized at Government College for Women, M.A.Road, Sriangar, under the aegis of its Women’s Studies Centre (WSC), to mark the International Women’s Day. The district and sessions judge, Gous-u-Nisa, the commandant of 25th battalion, CRPF, Neetu Bhattacharya, and Sara of 92.7 F.M Radio, were specially invited for the programme to interact with the staff and students of the college.
The principal of the college, Prof.(Dr) Zeenat Ara, presided over the function. Prof Yasmeen Ashai, coordinator of the WSC in her welcome address apprised the guests of the work being done by the Centre in the advocacy of women and their empowerment.
Gous-u-Nisa talked about rights of women, enshrined in the constitution in general and in Muslim personal law in particular. She interacted with the audience.
Neetu Bhattacharya, talked about the “Role of CRPF in women empowerment in J&K”. She highlighted the issued confronting the female CRPF troopers in the Valley, and pledged her batallion’s support in the uplift of women in the Valley, particularly to prevent crimes against them.
Dr.Zeenat Ara, in her concluding remarks glorified the role played by the women of Kashmir in different phases of history and underlined the need for an collective effort to work for welfare and prosperity of women.
Nomadic JK tribal women living a medieval life: Study
Srinagar, Mar 9: Early marriages, illiteracy and abject poverty have made the life of hundreds of the nomadic Gujjar women miserable as compared with their urban counterparts, a study by the Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation says.
On the eve of the International Women’s day, Dr. Javaid Rahi, the national secretary of the NGO which works on Indian tribes, said that the survey is based on the study of over 1000 Gujjar and Bakerwal households in Poonch, Rajouri, Varmul and Kupwara districts.
The survey points out that a shocking 89 per cent of the women, between the age group of 10 and 65 years, were illiterate and were subjected to the practices dating back to the medieval period such as superstition.
Early marriage practice prevalent in the community coupled with other social bindings has deprived the womenfolk of their share in the education and healthcare. A meagre 12 per cent of the girls who are able to get admissions at the primary level abandon schools for one or the other reason; lack of resources and poverty being the prime ones. Despite their excessive work they don’t get due respect and position in their society.
According to the study, the worst sufferers are the nomadic children of the Gujjar (Shepherd) and Manjhii Gujjar (Buffalo keepers), 88 per cent of whom have yet to see the door of a school.
The three Gujjar hostels in Jammu, Srinagar and Doda were insufficient to accommodate hundreds of thousands of women, the study points out. The centrally-sponsored schemes, such as, Balika Simridhi Yojna, Sawastiki and Indira Mahila Yojna have failed to bring any relief to the community, the survey alleges. The study says that Beda, Bot, Balti, Garra, Mon, Brokpa, Purigipa, Gaddi and Sippis tribes of the state were better placed. The mobile schools which number in hundreds have failed to bring about any change in the quality of their life, despite many UNICEF and central government programs.
The fact that only three Gujjar women served at the state administrative positions indicate the extent of negligence towards the women of the community. None served at the central administration level. Only three women have done their Ph.D.
Dr Rahi urged the state and the central governments to provide legal safe-guards to Gujjar women and adopt schemes for their education and social transformation.
A Perspective on Kashmiri Women who Have Suffered the Most During the Insurgency
She suffered the most and this must concern us all, says Dr. Khazana Aziz, on the Women's Day, 2008.
(Dr. Aziz, 29, was born and raised in Srinagar, Kashmir. She graduated from the Medical College, Srinagar, and completed her post graduate diploma from the Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. She is currently an elected member of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), and won her seat from the Rawalpora ward in 2005. She is also the President of the Medical Development Society, an NGO working on improving health among women and children of J&K.)
WOMEN’S DAY BY DR. KHAZANA AZIZ
Ever since the armed conflict in Kashmir broke out, the most suffered section of the society has been the women of Kashmir. When the militancy started in 1990, the first effect it had on the women folk was that their education started getting neglected. This was particularly more in rural areas where parents preferred to keep their daughters indoors so that they do not have to suffer the hardships during that time. There have been instances when armed groups have exploited women in Kashmir and many a times such instances have been reported in media as well. In the later years there have been many armed conflicts which resulted in cordon and search of areas, and since male members of the family would hide themselves, the females had to counter the law enforcement agencies so much so that the arrests if any, were resisted by women in Kashmir. This resulted into a situation when the arrests were also resisted by womenfolk; they would also take out processions on the streets. Even women would go to various offices connected to the investigation of the cases of arrested persons. And women would be seen in the premises of various trial courts to pursue the cases of their relations. They would also be seen in large numbers outside jails.
The aged girls were allured by various armed groups and were used as couriers to carry weapons, grenades, money and press report etc. Some of the women were arrested by the security agencies over the years. Kashmiri women would rely or turn towards their family in case of any crises, but find it very difficult in the present scenario and for the same reason there has been increase in the instances of suicide in the past couple of years. There are various reasons for these suicides. There is a need to address the basic problem of security, rather a sense of security in her mind. There is also need for women organizations who should sincerely study these problems and become an interface towards the suffering women and various agencies i.e. health, education, law enforcement, so that the problems of women, which earlier used to be reported through family, could be addressed through these organizations.
Study findings:
The study on Kashmir focused on women’s well-being from a holistic perspective. Since majority of women are affected and display symptoms of post traumatic stress, their health and its neglect formed a significant part of the study. Women look after those who are ‘ill’ in the family, performing their role as mothers, wives and daughters, thereby bearing the maximum burden as caregivers, at the cost of their own wellbeing. The study found that the mental health of people of Kashmir was under huge strain with more than 40,000 patients visiting the only mental hospital in Srinagar in a year, many of them suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. More than 85 percent of the population takes anti-depressant medicines and out of 100 cases of acute depression, 70-80 are woman. A large number of women also turn to shrines for ‘faith healing’. Women take on the burden of their own and their family’s suffering and trauma, in fact often not reporting their own mental ill health until it is critical as they put other’s concern ahead of their own.
The conflict did however push women into mobilization in new ways. The study looked in particular at the response of ‘half widows’- those women who sons and husbands are missing. Some of these half-widows led by one woman, who had never stepped out of her house before the conflict, set up the Association of the Parents of the Disappeared Persons (APDP). The founder of the organization began to negotiate with different state agencies, visiting jails, courts and various government offices, demanding that she be allowed to meet her missing son or at least be told of his whereabouts. And as she stated in an interview ‘Ladkay Ke Saat mera dar bhi kho gaya’ (along with my son, I have lost the sense of fear). Nearly 400 families are now mobilized for a collective struggle.
The study concludes that the continuing conflict in Kashmir has imposed new and challenging roles on women, as well as led to increase in the number of households headed by females. Responding to grave tragedies and emergencies in the family, community and society, women have had to adapt themselves to these new roles, as first generation workers, heads of households, and once in the public domain, as negotiators for justice and peace. While the urgent necessity to protect their families on a daily basis has often eclipsed the need to protect their own rights as women, they continue to defy the militant fundamentalist agenda that threatens their secular role in the family and society. These women demonstrate how their individual and collective development and help can determine their well-being even if they have to deal daily with great deprivation and crises.
(Dr. Aziz, 29, was born and raised in Srinagar, Kashmir. She graduated from the Medical College, Srinagar, and completed her post graduate diploma from the Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. She is currently an elected member of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), and won her seat from the Rawalpora ward in 2005. She is also the President of the Medical Development Society, an NGO working on improving health among women and children of J&K.)
WOMEN’S DAY BY DR. KHAZANA AZIZ
Ever since the armed conflict in Kashmir broke out, the most suffered section of the society has been the women of Kashmir. When the militancy started in 1990, the first effect it had on the women folk was that their education started getting neglected. This was particularly more in rural areas where parents preferred to keep their daughters indoors so that they do not have to suffer the hardships during that time. There have been instances when armed groups have exploited women in Kashmir and many a times such instances have been reported in media as well. In the later years there have been many armed conflicts which resulted in cordon and search of areas, and since male members of the family would hide themselves, the females had to counter the law enforcement agencies so much so that the arrests if any, were resisted by women in Kashmir. This resulted into a situation when the arrests were also resisted by womenfolk; they would also take out processions on the streets. Even women would go to various offices connected to the investigation of the cases of arrested persons. And women would be seen in the premises of various trial courts to pursue the cases of their relations. They would also be seen in large numbers outside jails.
The aged girls were allured by various armed groups and were used as couriers to carry weapons, grenades, money and press report etc. Some of the women were arrested by the security agencies over the years. Kashmiri women would rely or turn towards their family in case of any crises, but find it very difficult in the present scenario and for the same reason there has been increase in the instances of suicide in the past couple of years. There are various reasons for these suicides. There is a need to address the basic problem of security, rather a sense of security in her mind. There is also need for women organizations who should sincerely study these problems and become an interface towards the suffering women and various agencies i.e. health, education, law enforcement, so that the problems of women, which earlier used to be reported through family, could be addressed through these organizations.
Study findings:
The study on Kashmir focused on women’s well-being from a holistic perspective. Since majority of women are affected and display symptoms of post traumatic stress, their health and its neglect formed a significant part of the study. Women look after those who are ‘ill’ in the family, performing their role as mothers, wives and daughters, thereby bearing the maximum burden as caregivers, at the cost of their own wellbeing. The study found that the mental health of people of Kashmir was under huge strain with more than 40,000 patients visiting the only mental hospital in Srinagar in a year, many of them suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. More than 85 percent of the population takes anti-depressant medicines and out of 100 cases of acute depression, 70-80 are woman. A large number of women also turn to shrines for ‘faith healing’. Women take on the burden of their own and their family’s suffering and trauma, in fact often not reporting their own mental ill health until it is critical as they put other’s concern ahead of their own.
The conflict did however push women into mobilization in new ways. The study looked in particular at the response of ‘half widows’- those women who sons and husbands are missing. Some of these half-widows led by one woman, who had never stepped out of her house before the conflict, set up the Association of the Parents of the Disappeared Persons (APDP). The founder of the organization began to negotiate with different state agencies, visiting jails, courts and various government offices, demanding that she be allowed to meet her missing son or at least be told of his whereabouts. And as she stated in an interview ‘Ladkay Ke Saat mera dar bhi kho gaya’ (along with my son, I have lost the sense of fear). Nearly 400 families are now mobilized for a collective struggle.
The study concludes that the continuing conflict in Kashmir has imposed new and challenging roles on women, as well as led to increase in the number of households headed by females. Responding to grave tragedies and emergencies in the family, community and society, women have had to adapt themselves to these new roles, as first generation workers, heads of households, and once in the public domain, as negotiators for justice and peace. While the urgent necessity to protect their families on a daily basis has often eclipsed the need to protect their own rights as women, they continue to defy the militant fundamentalist agenda that threatens their secular role in the family and society. These women demonstrate how their individual and collective development and help can determine their well-being even if they have to deal daily with great deprivation and crises.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
A sad Commentary on the Official Website of the Jammu and Kashmir Government
Muzaffar Bhat discusses the chasm between a 21st century necessity with the 15th century thinking.
(Dr. Raja Muzaffar Bhat, 33, was born in Wathoora village in the Budgam district and matriculated from Tyndale Biscoe Memorial High School in 1993. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Dental Surgery from from the Karnatka University in 2000. He has a private dental practice in Chandoora and is a social activist dedicated to educating public on the Right To Information legislation.)
Official website of Jammu and Kashmir
Among the many thousands of people, who no doubt, turn to the state's official website across the world, there must be many international travellers looking for information to the possibility of visiting Kashmir. Their first impression must be most discouraging. We are already being labelled as backward, illiterate people. We seem determined to encourage such impressions.
The official website of the Jammu & Kashmir government (http://www.jammukashmir.nic.in/) is a good indicator of the state government's performance in the entire information technology (IT) sector. On the very first page of the site is a small column marked "what is new". Clicking it, one finds the final list of candidates for the municipal elections of 2005, the new industrial policy of 2004 and other events and programmes that took place three to four years ago. That is how recently the site has apparently been updated.
It is a crying shame. For the IT sector is driving the high end of the global village, which is bursting with opportunities and potential for prosperity. We have a full-fledged Information Technology department in Jammu & Kashmir and our state government spends millions on the development of this hi-tech sector. The result on the ground - virtually nothing. Most government officials do not seem to know the existence of internet, email etc.
The condition of the state's official website is not unique. That sort of apathy is common in most of the websites of the state government. Worse, almost none of the top government officers whose email contacts are shown on the website respond to mails from the public. Even our Chief Minister and chief secretary, who have batteries of personal and other assistants at their beck and call, do not respond to emails from the public. No doubt, these include computer operators – all of whom are paid from public funds. Yet, as if to rub salt on wounds, there is a separate column on the official website of the state government that invites one to contact the CM or the chief secretary, but a score of mails to both over the past five years elicited not a single response.
Surely, it would not be too much to designate officials to read emails to the CM and Chief Secretary, place grievances and issues before them and, once action has been initiated, respond to the sender. As it happens, however, only a few officials respond to mails. These include the principal secretary, GAD, the secretary health, the IG CID and the DC Baramulla. Kudos to them but one wishes their colleagues take a lesson from them.
Rebuilding the Past Glory called the Sharda Peeth
Sharda Peeth to be replicated in Srinagar
Yusuf Jameel reports on an extra-ordinary gathering of Kashmiri intellectuals to discuss the rebuilding of an icon of Kashmir's rich history.
(Mr. Yusuf Jameel, 50, was born and raised in Srinagar. He completed his B.A. (Humanities) from the Kashmir University and went on to complete a Master's degree in Political Science from the same University in 1980. He served as an Assistant Editor of the Urdu daily, Aftab, during his student days, and afterwards did some freelancing before joining the Daily Telegraph in 1983. Since 1993, he is a special correspondent with the Asian Age and its sister publication, the Deccan Chronicle. He has been a frequent contributor to the BBC, the New York Times, the Voice of America, the Agency France Presse (AFP) and a number of other national and international news agencies. He received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in New York in 1996, and the SAFMA Best Reporter Award in 2005. Mr. Jameel is noted for his fearless reporting that has earned him the ire of both authorities and militants, but takes his leasure time in stride with photography, fishing and trekking.)
Srinagar, March 6: Sharda Peeth, the oldest and most important learning seat of Kashmiri Hindus and the old script of Kashmiri language Sharda, now in ruins in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, will be replicated in Srinagar.
Prominent Kashmiri Pandits, together with academics from within the community and outside it, have taken the initiative to set up a new Sharda Peeth university here on the pattern of Mata Vaishno Devi and Islamic universities being successfully run in the state with or without government help since their inception a few years ago.
"But in this case, it would be a purely private initiative involving Kashmiris, not necessarily only the Pandits. Sharda Peeth will be open to all, irrespective of their faith, region or ethnic background," said one of the promoters of the project.
Governor Lt. Gen. S.K. Sinha (retd), who visited the proposed site for its campus in Baghat area of Srinagar on Wednesday, has agreed to be the chancellor of the university, while well-known academic from the Valley Amitabh Mattoo will be its pro-chancellor. He is presently the vice-chancellor of Jammu University.
"The vice-chancellor for Sharda Peeth will be chosen purely on his or her professional footing," said Vijay Kumar Dhar, one of the architects of the project. To start with, bio-technology, computer science and MBA will be the taught at the proposed university to be followed by the setting up of other streams of learning.
The financial and other resources for the new university will be mobilised from within the community and its well-wishers under the auspices of the recently-launched Sharda Peeth trust.
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had, last month, while announcing in the state Assembly of his government’s resolve to prevent the sale of properties of temples in Kashmir, welcomed the demand for a separate university under the name of Sharda Peeth to be run by a proposed trust like Islamic universities set up at Awantipore near Srinagar and in the frontier Rajouri district.
Reports emanating from Muzaffarabad said that the PaK government, which had brought Sharda under the archaeological map some time ago, is spending a huge sum on the renovation of the ancient and historic temple, which is now in ruins, and has also decided to throw it open for pilgrims. Sharda is about 150 km from Muzaffarabad, the capital of PaK.
Situated at an altitude of 1,981 metres, Shardi and Nardi are actually the two mountain peaks overlooking the Valley, named after legendary princesses Sharda and Narda. It has a captivating landscape with numerous springs and hillsides covered with thick forest.
Over the right bank, opposite to Sharda, the river Neelam (known as Kishan Ganga on the Indian side of the LoC) is joined by the Surgan mountain stream along which a track leads to the Noori Nar Pass and through it to Kaghan valley.
In Sharda, the ruins of an old Buddhist monastery and a fort are located. It was also an important learning seat of Kashmiri Hindu and the old script of Kashmiri language Sharda and older than Taxila.
Yusuf Jameel reports on an extra-ordinary gathering of Kashmiri intellectuals to discuss the rebuilding of an icon of Kashmir's rich history.
(Mr. Yusuf Jameel, 50, was born and raised in Srinagar. He completed his B.A. (Humanities) from the Kashmir University and went on to complete a Master's degree in Political Science from the same University in 1980. He served as an Assistant Editor of the Urdu daily, Aftab, during his student days, and afterwards did some freelancing before joining the Daily Telegraph in 1983. Since 1993, he is a special correspondent with the Asian Age and its sister publication, the Deccan Chronicle. He has been a frequent contributor to the BBC, the New York Times, the Voice of America, the Agency France Presse (AFP) and a number of other national and international news agencies. He received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in New York in 1996, and the SAFMA Best Reporter Award in 2005. Mr. Jameel is noted for his fearless reporting that has earned him the ire of both authorities and militants, but takes his leasure time in stride with photography, fishing and trekking.)
Srinagar, March 6: Sharda Peeth, the oldest and most important learning seat of Kashmiri Hindus and the old script of Kashmiri language Sharda, now in ruins in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, will be replicated in Srinagar.
Prominent Kashmiri Pandits, together with academics from within the community and outside it, have taken the initiative to set up a new Sharda Peeth university here on the pattern of Mata Vaishno Devi and Islamic universities being successfully run in the state with or without government help since their inception a few years ago.
"But in this case, it would be a purely private initiative involving Kashmiris, not necessarily only the Pandits. Sharda Peeth will be open to all, irrespective of their faith, region or ethnic background," said one of the promoters of the project.
Governor Lt. Gen. S.K. Sinha (retd), who visited the proposed site for its campus in Baghat area of Srinagar on Wednesday, has agreed to be the chancellor of the university, while well-known academic from the Valley Amitabh Mattoo will be its pro-chancellor. He is presently the vice-chancellor of Jammu University.
"The vice-chancellor for Sharda Peeth will be chosen purely on his or her professional footing," said Vijay Kumar Dhar, one of the architects of the project. To start with, bio-technology, computer science and MBA will be the taught at the proposed university to be followed by the setting up of other streams of learning.
The financial and other resources for the new university will be mobilised from within the community and its well-wishers under the auspices of the recently-launched Sharda Peeth trust.
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had, last month, while announcing in the state Assembly of his government’s resolve to prevent the sale of properties of temples in Kashmir, welcomed the demand for a separate university under the name of Sharda Peeth to be run by a proposed trust like Islamic universities set up at Awantipore near Srinagar and in the frontier Rajouri district.
Reports emanating from Muzaffarabad said that the PaK government, which had brought Sharda under the archaeological map some time ago, is spending a huge sum on the renovation of the ancient and historic temple, which is now in ruins, and has also decided to throw it open for pilgrims. Sharda is about 150 km from Muzaffarabad, the capital of PaK.
Situated at an altitude of 1,981 metres, Shardi and Nardi are actually the two mountain peaks overlooking the Valley, named after legendary princesses Sharda and Narda. It has a captivating landscape with numerous springs and hillsides covered with thick forest.
Over the right bank, opposite to Sharda, the river Neelam (known as Kishan Ganga on the Indian side of the LoC) is joined by the Surgan mountain stream along which a track leads to the Noori Nar Pass and through it to Kaghan valley.
In Sharda, the ruins of an old Buddhist monastery and a fort are located. It was also an important learning seat of Kashmiri Hindu and the old script of Kashmiri language Sharda and older than Taxila.
Apex Kashmiri Pandit Organization Demands Immediuate Action to Save Kashmiri Ethos in the Valley
Shiban Dudha, General Secretary of the All India Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS), reports on a recent visit to the valley. AIKS blames successive Governments for failure to protect temples and shrines of Pandits from desecration, encroachments, closure and sales.
(Mr. Shiban Dudha, 47, was born in Srinagar. He went to government schools in Chandilora (Tangmarg) and Srinagar, and matriculated from the D.A.V. High School in Srinagar. He attended the S.P. College, Srinagar (1980 batch), and completed the Chartered Accountancy course from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He runs his own Chartered Accountancy firm with offices in Srinagar and New Delhi, and divides his professional and personal time between the two cities. He is a well known social activist and a community volunteer. He is also a strong proponent of Kashmir's pluralistic culture.)
Srinagar, 18.2.2008: Concluding its three days emergency visit of valley arising in wake of large scale sales of temple properties in the recent past perpetrated by Land mafia operating in valley, AIKS General Secretary Shiban Dudha squarely blamed the present and past Governments of Jammu & Kashmir in protecting these properties. He said the community is practically left with no major temple in absolute form where KPs’ can worship. He also ridiculed some of the trustees and caretakers of these properties who have been a party to such sales.
Shiban Dudha said in many cases transactions have taken place through non state subjects supposedly acting as caretakers and legitimate parties to transact the deals in collusion with local land mafia. It was here that the Government had failed to act, in holding proper enquiries to verify the genuineness of transactions and thereby prevent the sales. The passage of pending shrines bill in entirety except Bhagwan Gopinath, Ishwar Swaroop Laxmanjoo and Swami Ramakrishna Ashrams is of paramount importance and Government is dilly dallying on this bill only to reportedly accommodate some trustees and individuals having control over major temples of Kashmiri Pandits. AIKS demands that till the Bill is passed as an act, there should be a Government order for blanket ban on transfers of all properties of shrines and temples belonging to Kashmiri Pandits.
“Restoring back of their sold/encroached temples, shrines and properties thereof to Kashmiri Pandits is a primary demand of AIKS from the Government and majority community has to come forward suo moto in this regard as it will go a long way in building confidence amongst Kashmiri Pandits and enable them to eventually return to their homes.” He said Kashmir has a long and recorded history of inter community mutual respect and KPs’ hope this gesture would forthcome from majority community.
The delegation led by Shiban Dudha and accompanied by Shri Sanjay Tikoo, Rattan Chaku, R,L.Kaul, Vijay Sas of KPSS, Shri Baljee, Bushanlal Shah, Makhan Lal Raina of HWSK a local affiliate of AIKS and various intellectuals and district wise coordinators of AIKS visited various temples and shrines, both sold and existing, in Budgam, Srinagar, Anantnag districts and downtown Srinagar. It also called on the Pandit families living in these districts and deliberated with them on various issues of their survival. AIKS puts on record the care and support that muslim majority community extends to these families in their hour of distress.
AIKS demands the immediate clearance of proposals pending with the Chief Minister for shifting of 51 extended KP families living in Pandit camps at Budgam to Sheikhpora and 15 families living in Mattan to cluster of flats constructed at Mattan. AIKS considers the keeping of flats on one hand vacant and making the displaced people to suffer as a glaring example of indifference of Government towards KPs. The construction of these flats for KPs was at one time highly hyped to draw mileage by the then Political Government in Power. AIKS hopes that the new JKPCC chief who has been apprised of this and other matters at New Delhi by AIKS will intervene in all the matters personally since present Chief Minister is totally inaccessible for the KPs despite seeking advance appointments through proper channel. AIKS urges the newly appointed JKPCC President to personally visit various camps of KPs in the valley and see to himself the hardships and inhuman living conditions of these people as none amongst the Government or the civil administration has ever bothered to visit them.
AIKS demands and reiterates proper social and economic rehabilitation of valley based Kashmiri Pandits as its primary demand and an acid test before the Government before it invites displaced Kashmiri Pandits living outside valley to return to their homes.We demand that local administration of Kashmir valley and CM when he is in valley, should invite HWSK and KPSS the two vibrant organizations of KPs’ living in valley and hold discussions with them and act timely to redress their grievances.
AIKS also wants Government to inveontorize all left out properties of KPs’ as was decided by previous Government in February 2004 meeting of apex committee. Also, the matter of issuance of State Subject certificates to Kashmiri Pandits living in valley and outside should be made simpler and hassles free.
AIKS demands that 1,995 graduate and 10+2 cases of KPs’ living in valley must be provided jobs immediately otherwise they will also have no recourse left other that to leave valley.
(Mr. Shiban Dudha, 47, was born in Srinagar. He went to government schools in Chandilora (Tangmarg) and Srinagar, and matriculated from the D.A.V. High School in Srinagar. He attended the S.P. College, Srinagar (1980 batch), and completed the Chartered Accountancy course from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He runs his own Chartered Accountancy firm with offices in Srinagar and New Delhi, and divides his professional and personal time between the two cities. He is a well known social activist and a community volunteer. He is also a strong proponent of Kashmir's pluralistic culture.)
Srinagar, 18.2.2008: Concluding its three days emergency visit of valley arising in wake of large scale sales of temple properties in the recent past perpetrated by Land mafia operating in valley, AIKS General Secretary Shiban Dudha squarely blamed the present and past Governments of Jammu & Kashmir in protecting these properties. He said the community is practically left with no major temple in absolute form where KPs’ can worship. He also ridiculed some of the trustees and caretakers of these properties who have been a party to such sales.
Shiban Dudha said in many cases transactions have taken place through non state subjects supposedly acting as caretakers and legitimate parties to transact the deals in collusion with local land mafia. It was here that the Government had failed to act, in holding proper enquiries to verify the genuineness of transactions and thereby prevent the sales. The passage of pending shrines bill in entirety except Bhagwan Gopinath, Ishwar Swaroop Laxmanjoo and Swami Ramakrishna Ashrams is of paramount importance and Government is dilly dallying on this bill only to reportedly accommodate some trustees and individuals having control over major temples of Kashmiri Pandits. AIKS demands that till the Bill is passed as an act, there should be a Government order for blanket ban on transfers of all properties of shrines and temples belonging to Kashmiri Pandits.
“Restoring back of their sold/encroached temples, shrines and properties thereof to Kashmiri Pandits is a primary demand of AIKS from the Government and majority community has to come forward suo moto in this regard as it will go a long way in building confidence amongst Kashmiri Pandits and enable them to eventually return to their homes.” He said Kashmir has a long and recorded history of inter community mutual respect and KPs’ hope this gesture would forthcome from majority community.
The delegation led by Shiban Dudha and accompanied by Shri Sanjay Tikoo, Rattan Chaku, R,L.Kaul, Vijay Sas of KPSS, Shri Baljee, Bushanlal Shah, Makhan Lal Raina of HWSK a local affiliate of AIKS and various intellectuals and district wise coordinators of AIKS visited various temples and shrines, both sold and existing, in Budgam, Srinagar, Anantnag districts and downtown Srinagar. It also called on the Pandit families living in these districts and deliberated with them on various issues of their survival. AIKS puts on record the care and support that muslim majority community extends to these families in their hour of distress.
AIKS demands the immediate clearance of proposals pending with the Chief Minister for shifting of 51 extended KP families living in Pandit camps at Budgam to Sheikhpora and 15 families living in Mattan to cluster of flats constructed at Mattan. AIKS considers the keeping of flats on one hand vacant and making the displaced people to suffer as a glaring example of indifference of Government towards KPs. The construction of these flats for KPs was at one time highly hyped to draw mileage by the then Political Government in Power. AIKS hopes that the new JKPCC chief who has been apprised of this and other matters at New Delhi by AIKS will intervene in all the matters personally since present Chief Minister is totally inaccessible for the KPs despite seeking advance appointments through proper channel. AIKS urges the newly appointed JKPCC President to personally visit various camps of KPs in the valley and see to himself the hardships and inhuman living conditions of these people as none amongst the Government or the civil administration has ever bothered to visit them.
AIKS demands and reiterates proper social and economic rehabilitation of valley based Kashmiri Pandits as its primary demand and an acid test before the Government before it invites displaced Kashmiri Pandits living outside valley to return to their homes.We demand that local administration of Kashmir valley and CM when he is in valley, should invite HWSK and KPSS the two vibrant organizations of KPs’ living in valley and hold discussions with them and act timely to redress their grievances.
AIKS also wants Government to inveontorize all left out properties of KPs’ as was decided by previous Government in February 2004 meeting of apex committee. Also, the matter of issuance of State Subject certificates to Kashmiri Pandits living in valley and outside should be made simpler and hassles free.
AIKS demands that 1,995 graduate and 10+2 cases of KPs’ living in valley must be provided jobs immediately otherwise they will also have no recourse left other that to leave valley.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Finally an Awakening in Srinagar: Dal Lake is Dying
The possibility of Dal Lake's imminent demise brings together a coalition of environmentalists, politicians, beneficiaries, and exploiters ......
Protests in Srinagar Against Govt Apathy Towards Dal Lake
Srinagar, Mar 04, KONS: Alarmed at the deteriorating condition of world famous Dal and Nigeen lakes of Srinagar, hundreds of people, including social activists and environmentalists besides displaced residents, on Tuesday staged a march protesting against apathy of the authorities. The lake's size has been halved in a few decades, to some 13 square km due to encroachments, they allege.
A large number of people, including shikara owners, Dal dwellers and farmers, affected by the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority’s (LAWDA’s) demolition drive in and around the Dal Lake joined by environmentalists and common people, took out a march from the Boulevard and converged on the Partap Park.
The protestors were shouting slogans for saving the endangered lake, and denouncing the LAWDA for its demolition drive.
They carried placards demanding protection to the lake and immediate rehabilitation of those displaced by the LAWDA campaign.
They alleged that LAWDA authorities were flouting High Court orders in the demolition operations.
“Violating court orders, LAWDA teams demolish only specific houses and don’t touch constructions and encroachments by influential people,” they said.
"We can still create a Taj Mahal, but we cannot produce a Dal Lake with its unique ecology set in the midst of verdant mountains. Even if we spent billions of dollars, we cannot have another Dal Lake, "said Chairman of the House Boat Owners' Association, Mohammad Azim.
Authorities and environmentalists blame the families living around the lake for dumping rubbish, sewage and other wastes, which create landfills of mud and weeds in the waters for farming land and floating gardens.
“They should provide us with alternative accommodation first if they have to pull down our houses,” said a displaced resident.
A study conducted last year by the State's Comptroller and Auditor General reported that the lake has excessively high levels of toxic metals due to sewage.
Tests of water samples showed arsenic levels were almost 1,000 times above permissible levels
Functionaries of the Zameendar Union, the Shikara Association and the House Boat Association said that Dal dwellers had played an important role in promoting tourism in the valley but had been badly hit during the turmoil, and now the government could not make them homeless in the name of promoting tourism.
The protestors demanded that to save the Dal Lake, the famed water body should be handed over to some foreign company, because LAWDA had no account of the crores of rupees spent on the lake’s conservation.
The protestors staged prolonged demonstrations in the press enclave, chanting “save water reserves, sack LAWDA and give us justice.”
An activist Habib Khanqashi, said that the steps taken by the government to save water reservoirs and the plans made to restore them to their past glory were insufficient as only people had been affected by the measures.
“I have been living in Britain for the past 25 years and am in touch with experts in ecology and environmental sciences for conserving water bodies and maintaining ecological balance. Soon I will exchange views with experts in the Kashmir University,” he said.
House Committee Visits Dal, Nageen Areas
The House Committee headed by MLAs Ali Mohammad Sagar, Shaoib Lone and Nazir Ahmad Gurezi today visited various areas of Dal and Nageen lakes to assess the work done by LAWDA for restoring the pristine glory of these lakes. The committee was accompanied by Secretary Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Naseem Lanker and Vice Chairman LAWDA, M.Y. Naseem besides other officers.
The authorities informed the House Committee about the measures taken up for demolishing and removing the encroachments in and around Dal and Nageen Lakes.
The House Committee asked the authorities to accelerate the pace of work keeping in view the ensuing tourist season.
____________________________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HOUSEBOAT OWNERS ASSOCIATION
Are you serious about the conservation of our vanishing lakes and other water bodies?
If you are, then come, and join us for:
Creating awareness &
mobilize public support for the
Preservation of our precious lakes and other water bodies.
All men and women of conscience, including students, are invited to participate
in a peaceful rally organized by the Houseboat owners association
to endorse support to this noble cause.
The rally will start from Nehru Park and will end at Press colony,
Partap Park, Regal Chowk Srinagar on 4th March, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Similar rallies will be organized same day in national capital Delhi and other Western cities to highlight the importance of preserving our endangered water bodies.
All participants to bring along with them banners or placards, if any, in the proposed rally.
Some of the salient features of this rally are:
1. Demand identification and demarcation of territorial limits of Dal and Nigeen Lake as the same is in consonance with the directions issued by the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu and Kashmir.
2. LAWDA should come up with a model of the Dal Lake as it should look after its restoration which should be made public in print and electronic media. The much hyped master plan of which the conservation of Dal, Nigeen, River Jehlum and
3. Chunti Koul is a part has become redundant since these were designated as protected water bodies by law.
4. Immediate rehabilitation of all such families who are willing to shift from Dal, Nigeen, River Jehlum and Chinar Bagh voluntarily.
5. Immediate ban on use of all polythene and plastic material in an around the water bodies. The orders of the Hon’ble High Court against the import of this hazardous and harmful material to the valley though in place or not being implemented in letter and spirit. We suggest that a mobile judge be deputed who will monitor the complaints of these orders by law enforcing agencies of the state.
6. Immediate cessation of dredging along the western foreshore road of Dal Lake by LAWDA as this has plugged many natural springs found on the lake bed. Similarly, filling of land with so excavated mud and slush in the area under dredging by the authority be stopped forthwith.
7. Install drainage systems with septic tanks which will cater to all the houseboats.
8. Plug all live drainage pipes around the peripheries of our water bodies which are dumping harmful effluents round the clock.
9. Immediate widening of backwater channels of Dal Lake, leading to Rainawari and Naidyar to make these functional again for a smooth movement of boat traffic.
10. Restore the former needle type system of water gates at Dalgate, Nallah Amir-Khan and at Brari Nambal immediately as the iron shatters/gates have adversely affected and impeded the normal outflow of these water reservoirs.
11. Restore traditional de-weeding of Dal and Nigeen Lakes as the mechanized de-weeding by weed harvesters have not only added to more growth of useless weeds and other bio-mass but these have seriously endangered fragile marine life of these twin lakes.
12. All four water treatment plants, now in operation at Kral Sangri, Habak, Hazratbal and Brari Nambal, be put to test and verification by foreign experts to assess the purification level of the so treated water.
13. If all else fails and options run out to preserve our water bodies, we demand that their conservation be handed over to some private firm or to a foreign agency or agencies who have the requisite expertise and technology for accomplishing the job rather than allow it lingering before it is too late.
It is a historical fact that Houseboats and the conservation of Dal, Nigeen, Chunti Kul and River Jehlum have a strong correlation and same is, therefore, indispensable. As such, all houseboat owners are prepared to fully cooperate with conservation plan. For that, the Houseboat Owners Association has more suggestions which shall be made public in due course of time.
So, with an unfailing commitment and sincerity in purpose we appeal to you to join your hands with us and show your resolve for the preservation and conservation of our heritage for our future generations.
Houseboat Owners Association.
Contact Numbers are: +91-0194-2450326 Mobile: 09906735715
E-Mail: hboassociation@locatorbiz.com
Protests in Srinagar Against Govt Apathy Towards Dal Lake
Srinagar, Mar 04, KONS: Alarmed at the deteriorating condition of world famous Dal and Nigeen lakes of Srinagar, hundreds of people, including social activists and environmentalists besides displaced residents, on Tuesday staged a march protesting against apathy of the authorities. The lake's size has been halved in a few decades, to some 13 square km due to encroachments, they allege.
A large number of people, including shikara owners, Dal dwellers and farmers, affected by the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority’s (LAWDA’s) demolition drive in and around the Dal Lake joined by environmentalists and common people, took out a march from the Boulevard and converged on the Partap Park.
The protestors were shouting slogans for saving the endangered lake, and denouncing the LAWDA for its demolition drive.
They carried placards demanding protection to the lake and immediate rehabilitation of those displaced by the LAWDA campaign.
They alleged that LAWDA authorities were flouting High Court orders in the demolition operations.
“Violating court orders, LAWDA teams demolish only specific houses and don’t touch constructions and encroachments by influential people,” they said.
"We can still create a Taj Mahal, but we cannot produce a Dal Lake with its unique ecology set in the midst of verdant mountains. Even if we spent billions of dollars, we cannot have another Dal Lake, "said Chairman of the House Boat Owners' Association, Mohammad Azim.
Authorities and environmentalists blame the families living around the lake for dumping rubbish, sewage and other wastes, which create landfills of mud and weeds in the waters for farming land and floating gardens.
“They should provide us with alternative accommodation first if they have to pull down our houses,” said a displaced resident.
A study conducted last year by the State's Comptroller and Auditor General reported that the lake has excessively high levels of toxic metals due to sewage.
Tests of water samples showed arsenic levels were almost 1,000 times above permissible levels
Functionaries of the Zameendar Union, the Shikara Association and the House Boat Association said that Dal dwellers had played an important role in promoting tourism in the valley but had been badly hit during the turmoil, and now the government could not make them homeless in the name of promoting tourism.
The protestors demanded that to save the Dal Lake, the famed water body should be handed over to some foreign company, because LAWDA had no account of the crores of rupees spent on the lake’s conservation.
The protestors staged prolonged demonstrations in the press enclave, chanting “save water reserves, sack LAWDA and give us justice.”
An activist Habib Khanqashi, said that the steps taken by the government to save water reservoirs and the plans made to restore them to their past glory were insufficient as only people had been affected by the measures.
“I have been living in Britain for the past 25 years and am in touch with experts in ecology and environmental sciences for conserving water bodies and maintaining ecological balance. Soon I will exchange views with experts in the Kashmir University,” he said.
House Committee Visits Dal, Nageen Areas
The House Committee headed by MLAs Ali Mohammad Sagar, Shaoib Lone and Nazir Ahmad Gurezi today visited various areas of Dal and Nageen lakes to assess the work done by LAWDA for restoring the pristine glory of these lakes. The committee was accompanied by Secretary Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Naseem Lanker and Vice Chairman LAWDA, M.Y. Naseem besides other officers.
The authorities informed the House Committee about the measures taken up for demolishing and removing the encroachments in and around Dal and Nageen Lakes.
The House Committee asked the authorities to accelerate the pace of work keeping in view the ensuing tourist season.
____________________________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HOUSEBOAT OWNERS ASSOCIATION
Are you serious about the conservation of our vanishing lakes and other water bodies?
If you are, then come, and join us for:
Creating awareness &
mobilize public support for the
Preservation of our precious lakes and other water bodies.
All men and women of conscience, including students, are invited to participate
in a peaceful rally organized by the Houseboat owners association
to endorse support to this noble cause.
The rally will start from Nehru Park and will end at Press colony,
Partap Park, Regal Chowk Srinagar on 4th March, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Similar rallies will be organized same day in national capital Delhi and other Western cities to highlight the importance of preserving our endangered water bodies.
All participants to bring along with them banners or placards, if any, in the proposed rally.
Some of the salient features of this rally are:
1. Demand identification and demarcation of territorial limits of Dal and Nigeen Lake as the same is in consonance with the directions issued by the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu and Kashmir.
2. LAWDA should come up with a model of the Dal Lake as it should look after its restoration which should be made public in print and electronic media. The much hyped master plan of which the conservation of Dal, Nigeen, River Jehlum and
3. Chunti Koul is a part has become redundant since these were designated as protected water bodies by law.
4. Immediate rehabilitation of all such families who are willing to shift from Dal, Nigeen, River Jehlum and Chinar Bagh voluntarily.
5. Immediate ban on use of all polythene and plastic material in an around the water bodies. The orders of the Hon’ble High Court against the import of this hazardous and harmful material to the valley though in place or not being implemented in letter and spirit. We suggest that a mobile judge be deputed who will monitor the complaints of these orders by law enforcing agencies of the state.
6. Immediate cessation of dredging along the western foreshore road of Dal Lake by LAWDA as this has plugged many natural springs found on the lake bed. Similarly, filling of land with so excavated mud and slush in the area under dredging by the authority be stopped forthwith.
7. Install drainage systems with septic tanks which will cater to all the houseboats.
8. Plug all live drainage pipes around the peripheries of our water bodies which are dumping harmful effluents round the clock.
9. Immediate widening of backwater channels of Dal Lake, leading to Rainawari and Naidyar to make these functional again for a smooth movement of boat traffic.
10. Restore the former needle type system of water gates at Dalgate, Nallah Amir-Khan and at Brari Nambal immediately as the iron shatters/gates have adversely affected and impeded the normal outflow of these water reservoirs.
11. Restore traditional de-weeding of Dal and Nigeen Lakes as the mechanized de-weeding by weed harvesters have not only added to more growth of useless weeds and other bio-mass but these have seriously endangered fragile marine life of these twin lakes.
12. All four water treatment plants, now in operation at Kral Sangri, Habak, Hazratbal and Brari Nambal, be put to test and verification by foreign experts to assess the purification level of the so treated water.
13. If all else fails and options run out to preserve our water bodies, we demand that their conservation be handed over to some private firm or to a foreign agency or agencies who have the requisite expertise and technology for accomplishing the job rather than allow it lingering before it is too late.
It is a historical fact that Houseboats and the conservation of Dal, Nigeen, Chunti Kul and River Jehlum have a strong correlation and same is, therefore, indispensable. As such, all houseboat owners are prepared to fully cooperate with conservation plan. For that, the Houseboat Owners Association has more suggestions which shall be made public in due course of time.
So, with an unfailing commitment and sincerity in purpose we appeal to you to join your hands with us and show your resolve for the preservation and conservation of our heritage for our future generations.
Houseboat Owners Association.
Contact Numbers are: +91-0194-2450326 Mobile: 09906735715
E-Mail: hboassociation@locatorbiz.com
Monday, March 3, 2008
Human Rights 101: Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
Syed Basharat speaks to a victim who has been ignored by the system.
(Mr. Syed Basharat, 27, 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, Feb 28: Fatima Bano, 45, epitomises the indescribable ordeal, she and women like her, have undergone all along this turmoil. Living along with her four daughters in a mosque's single rent-free-room at Bohri Kadal Srinagar, today, pinning hope that her plea would be highlighted, she participated in a sit-in convened by S.A.R Geelani's committee for release of political prisoners, here at press enclave near Pratap Park.
It was only in 2007, when Fatima met her husband after a gap of ten years of his solitary confinement at Tihar Jail's high risk cell. Her husband, Mehmood Ahmad Khan, 50, alias Topiwala—a cleric, at Sheikh-ul-Islam mosque Bohri Kadal Srinagar, was arrested by troopers of Border Secuirty Force (BSF) on November 20, 1996, when he was on his way to home in Kangan from Srinagar.
Disembarked from the passenger bus, Khan was arrested near his home and lodged at BSF camp Kangan for about 15 days. He was shifted to Sharifabad camp where he was kept for another 20 days. Finally he landed at Tihar Jail in Delhi, where it is his 12 year of detention. Reason—'land dispute' with his step-brothers.
Fatima alleges that somebody in his close relations misled the BSF troopers at Kangan camp that Khan is involved in some subversive activities, which led to his arrest. When asked about her impression about Tihar Jail, Fatima—the helpless woman sighed deeply, paused, and then said, that she was separated from her husband by thick iron grills.
"Our ears strained listening to each other. There was a significant distance between us," Fatima said, adding that the Kashmiri detainees are the special targets of the jail authorities. Many of Kashmiri detainees have been under trials for many years without even a hope of getting a trial at all, she added.
"In addition to the physical abuse is the verbal humiliation heaped on the detainees and prisoners in the high-risk cells. The majority of the men are Muslims and the jail authorities vent their prejudices and hatred without any hesitation. The atrocities of the jail authorities is best seen when they do not allow the detainees to offer Namaz. They seem to derive infinite pleasure from preventing the detainees from praying," quoting her husband Fatima narrated.
It is pertinent to mention that so far nobody has approached Fatima for any kind of help. There is no private counsel for Khan at Delhi and Fatima was not in a position to offer any help to her frail, ailing, and helpless husband. "Once I approached an advocate in Srinagar. He demanded Rs 50,000 for filing a petition in the court," said Fatima, who runs her family on charity and alms.
12 years down the line, letter from both sides have been a communication link between Khan and his family. "Since my husband faces backache, once he wrote that jail authorities are denying any medical help, saying that there was no provision for medical facility for Kahsmiri militants. Khan was also told to pay Rs 5000 if he wanted to see any doctor. I begged and collected Rs 5,000 and send it to him, which facilitated his medical check up," Fatima, the resident of Delhi said.
She added that she had never thought that one day she would have to face such ordeal that too immediately after her marriage with Khan in Delhi. "I can not describe my husband. He is very gently, honest and upright. This is why my father liked him and arranged our marriage," Fatima, whose father has died a few years back, added.
When asked that had she met any of the political leaders in valley for her husband's release, Fatima said, that once she tried to approach former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, but it could not materialize instead she met his secretary who showed his helplessness in helping her out.
"This secretary told me that he could not help her out as there was no place left in central jail Srinagar where her husband could be lodged," she said. "Since I have no money and my husband is ill for many days now I appeal to state government to bring him back from Tihar jail. I have no money to follow his case in Delhi,"she appealed. Like Fatima, there were about a dozen women displaying pictures of their loved ones who are languishing in different jails of the country.
(Mr. Syed Basharat, 27, 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, Feb 28: Fatima Bano, 45, epitomises the indescribable ordeal, she and women like her, have undergone all along this turmoil. Living along with her four daughters in a mosque's single rent-free-room at Bohri Kadal Srinagar, today, pinning hope that her plea would be highlighted, she participated in a sit-in convened by S.A.R Geelani's committee for release of political prisoners, here at press enclave near Pratap Park.
It was only in 2007, when Fatima met her husband after a gap of ten years of his solitary confinement at Tihar Jail's high risk cell. Her husband, Mehmood Ahmad Khan, 50, alias Topiwala—a cleric, at Sheikh-ul-Islam mosque Bohri Kadal Srinagar, was arrested by troopers of Border Secuirty Force (BSF) on November 20, 1996, when he was on his way to home in Kangan from Srinagar.
Disembarked from the passenger bus, Khan was arrested near his home and lodged at BSF camp Kangan for about 15 days. He was shifted to Sharifabad camp where he was kept for another 20 days. Finally he landed at Tihar Jail in Delhi, where it is his 12 year of detention. Reason—'land dispute' with his step-brothers.
Fatima alleges that somebody in his close relations misled the BSF troopers at Kangan camp that Khan is involved in some subversive activities, which led to his arrest. When asked about her impression about Tihar Jail, Fatima—the helpless woman sighed deeply, paused, and then said, that she was separated from her husband by thick iron grills.
"Our ears strained listening to each other. There was a significant distance between us," Fatima said, adding that the Kashmiri detainees are the special targets of the jail authorities. Many of Kashmiri detainees have been under trials for many years without even a hope of getting a trial at all, she added.
"In addition to the physical abuse is the verbal humiliation heaped on the detainees and prisoners in the high-risk cells. The majority of the men are Muslims and the jail authorities vent their prejudices and hatred without any hesitation. The atrocities of the jail authorities is best seen when they do not allow the detainees to offer Namaz. They seem to derive infinite pleasure from preventing the detainees from praying," quoting her husband Fatima narrated.
It is pertinent to mention that so far nobody has approached Fatima for any kind of help. There is no private counsel for Khan at Delhi and Fatima was not in a position to offer any help to her frail, ailing, and helpless husband. "Once I approached an advocate in Srinagar. He demanded Rs 50,000 for filing a petition in the court," said Fatima, who runs her family on charity and alms.
12 years down the line, letter from both sides have been a communication link between Khan and his family. "Since my husband faces backache, once he wrote that jail authorities are denying any medical help, saying that there was no provision for medical facility for Kahsmiri militants. Khan was also told to pay Rs 5000 if he wanted to see any doctor. I begged and collected Rs 5,000 and send it to him, which facilitated his medical check up," Fatima, the resident of Delhi said.
She added that she had never thought that one day she would have to face such ordeal that too immediately after her marriage with Khan in Delhi. "I can not describe my husband. He is very gently, honest and upright. This is why my father liked him and arranged our marriage," Fatima, whose father has died a few years back, added.
When asked that had she met any of the political leaders in valley for her husband's release, Fatima said, that once she tried to approach former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, but it could not materialize instead she met his secretary who showed his helplessness in helping her out.
"This secretary told me that he could not help her out as there was no place left in central jail Srinagar where her husband could be lodged," she said. "Since I have no money and my husband is ill for many days now I appeal to state government to bring him back from Tihar jail. I have no money to follow his case in Delhi,"she appealed. Like Fatima, there were about a dozen women displaying pictures of their loved ones who are languishing in different jails of the country.
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