…and he faces the music
It was an incident that lasted a mere 5 seconds. The moment an assistant sub-inspector, Abdul Ahad Jan, threw a shoe at Chief Minister of the state, Omer Abdullah. Those 5 seconds have now been immortalized as the biggest slur on the history of Abdullah family.
To most of the Kashmiris it was just another embarrassing moment to add to the omer Administrations blunders and gaffes. And yes, another page in the joke-book of Kashmir has been added. Following Asif Ali Zardari, Chinese premier wen jiabo, the home minister P. Chidambaram and so on, Omer Abdullah is the latest personality to enter the bush club.
Now, based on the fact that Mr. Abdul Ahad used his shoe, one may ask what exactly was he trying to accomplish? Best case scenario, omer gets a black eye or a scoffed up nose. But bluntly, one could feel the police officer, along with millions across the Kashmir, care less at the effectiveness of his weapon of choice. It was the statement that spoke loudest.
Shoes are a weapon of the masses. Shoes, like stones and most other projectiles used by the masses, are not about defeating or causing physical damage to the enemy. It is a symbolic act, and one filled with anger.
That shoe was not just thrown at omer; it was thrown at all of those who have lost sight of the plight of Kashmiri people, and their broken promises that were made to them. It is a clear and simple message from the people to the captors that they are not welcome. And it is a message that their country and their media so arrogantly refuses to admit.
Even omer seems to have understood the gist of the message without the media's cultural or political interpretations.
When a shoe, goes flying in the direction of an important figure, you would expect a certain degree of outrage but not in this case. The aggression against Mr. Omer however, has generated amusement more than anything.
In the Twitter-sphere and on Facebook, this amusement has been shared by a greater number – with thousands of tweets, updates and photos expressing their desires to throw their very shoes – and other inanimate objects.
What a thousand stones could not accomplish, a single shoe did. The sub-inspector’s shoe did more harm than any stone. Asymmetric warfare, indeed.
I believe that the incident was far more pointed than being flipped off by a LET or ISI, and it was certainly more than an attempt to gain attention. Perhaps, if our CM was a compassionate person, he would examine what caused the outburst, rather than saying, "throw shoe’s, not stones.”
This incident has also provided vent to the volcano of mistrust and anger brewing against the state police for the past 2 months.
However no physical harm done as C.M.’s security agents jumped on the man, wrestled him to the floor and hustled him out of the venue. I worry for the shoe-thrower. There is every chance he will end up exactly where most other vocal dissidents end up in Kashmir. I think that perfectly summarizes how omer will be remembered the target of an angry shoe throwing Kashmiri hoisting a black flag and crying out loud-“we want freedom.”
Author (Mudasir) is a student of Masscom at University of Kashmir
Author (Mudasir) is a student of Masscom at University of Kashmir
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