Is Imposition of Shariah the Solution?

Islam in Kashmir was spread by the Peaceful missionary activities of the Sufis. The common masses were reeling under the dictatorship of exploitative kings and religious clergy. Most of them were illiterate peasants, who found in Islam the egalitarian social justice and equality for all. Hence over a period of time they accepted the alien creed as their faith. The important Sufi who is pioneer of Islam in Kashmir, was a Kubrawi Sufi, Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani, known to Kashmiris as Amir e Kabir, Shah e Hamdan and Ali e Thani. He proved to be a harbinger of Social and Economic revolution in Kashmir. To celebrate and pay tributes to his life and legacy, the Islamic Studies department of Kashmir University, named after him as Shah I Hamdan Institute of Islamic Studies, organized a Three Day International Seminar from 13-15 March, 2012. The seminar was titled as “Shah I Hamdan’s contribution to learning and society”. The department under the dynamic Directorship of eminent scholar, academic, writer and activist Prof Hamid Naseem Rafiabadi is progressing by leaps and bounds. This seminar was a part of the academic programmes undertaken by Prof. Rafiabadi.

I as a student of Political science was also invited to present a paper on the Political Thought of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani. I confined my paper with the study of his Political Thought as espoused in his famed work, “Zakhiratul Maluk”. My argument was that for a student and scholar of political science Hamdani appears as a moral theorist rather than a systematic political scientist in the book. In this book his personality manifests itself as a Sufi more than as a seasoned political realist. There is no discussion about the State Formation, Resource Allocation, Political Adjudication, Political Participation, Political Socialization, Political Culture, Political Development or Political System. Hamadani also appears least bothered about the form of government.

As a political treatise it fails to impress its readers, but here in lies its essence and virtues. Mir Syed Ali Hamadani is a Sufi belonging to Kubrawi order. All Sufis lay much emphasis on Tazkiya e Nafs (self purification), and each chapter of the book is a living testimony of this fact. He wants a Muslim ruler’s soul to be purified as he attains the reins of governance. The first four chapters of the book deal with faith, duties of a man, virtues and rights and duties towards parents, wives, husbands, children etc. Mir Syed Ali Hamadani’s style of writing is to draw lessons from Quran, Sunnah and lives of various righteous men, in order to create love for Allah, his creations and fear from his wrath and punishment for breaking his laws. The teachings and lessons as espoused in these chapters are essential for any human being to discipline himself as a God Fearing Muslim, who has purified hisNafs from the baser and lower beastly instincts of lust, greed and blind hedonism. When he has attained this purification, only then can he deliver the rights of his subjects and rule justly.

Then the ruler is supposed to Command good and Forbid evil. He is also supposed to be thankful and content at what Allah has bestowed on him. He should always be fearful about trampling the rights of his subjects. While carrying out the duties of governance he is faced with a lot of obstacles, impediments and problems which are to be dealt with patience, which is the divine tool. Lastly the evils of Anger and Arrogance are depicted alongwith virtues of humility and forgiveness towards his subjects.

This scheme of chapterization leaves the book open to debate whether it can be considered as a Political treatise or a charter on State craft? I concluded with the remarks that the book still remains relevant, as Hamdani wants the rulers to be noble men who have purified their souls from the baser instincts of lower self like greed, lust, thirst for power etc. If the rulers today attain thisTazkiya e Nafs (self purification) at first, then go for Power much of the vices emanating from Power will come to an end.

What drew flak from the audience, were my comments that “Islam’s ultimate aim isn’t capture of power, but the individual self purification (Tazkiya e Nafas) so that the person becomes a better human being, contributing towards the overall welfare of Society and humanity. These purified souls wouldn’t indulge in any beastly acts based on their lower instincts of self like lust, greed and hedonism. Wherever they go, they will prioritize and put before collective needs over their personal ones. In certain cases they will also sacrifice individual needs for collective ones. But are we as Muslims contributing to the collective good and welfare of humanity? The answer is a complete Big No; though their may be few individual efforts, but as a Muslim community we have failed to contribute towards the society positively. Even if Muslim parties come to power somewhere, they try to impose legal injunctions of Islam more vehemently than moral ones. The Muslims are suffering from moral waywardness all over the world, the Muslim states are the most corrupt and least democratic. These short comings need to be remedied at first rather than going for Shariah imposition. Also the imposition of Shariah as prevalent in various Muslim countries doesn’t solve the problem of poverty, environmental pollution, injustice, corruption and political instability”.

Many among the audience strongly criticized me by stating that Shariah has all the solutions only the need is to get it imposed as soon as possible. They unlike Mir Sayyid Hamdani couldn’t understand the essence of Tazkiya e Nafs. It is an apathy that wherever Islamist parties come to power they seek to impose legal injunctions of Shariah more vehemently especially in case of women and minorities, than the core values of Quran which include, Justice (Adl), Compassion (Rahmah), Benevolence (Ehsan), Truth (Haq) and Wisdom (Hikmah). Instead they are more concerned about the lengths of Burqas of women and how to control their bodies. Also the laws of punishment are imposed as if Islamic Shariah is only about Hudud laws.

The claims of imposition of ‘Shariah’ in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran didn’t take us near to the Islamic and Quranic model of Social Justice and Non Discrimination. Instead we have the rule of elites, who justify their rule in the name of Islam. The laws are discriminatory towards women and minorities. While Islam and Quran debars any kind of discrimination in the name of religion and gender, but we find them evidently in case of Women in Saudi Arabia and Bahais in Iran. The problem still lies with the indifference of Muslims towards Tazkiya e Nafs and their romanticism with Political Islam. History is a witness to the fact that Islam has survived without Power Politics and will continue to thrive in future too. The peaceful spread of Islam in various parts of the world by the Sufis is a testimony about the fact that Islam doesn’t need political patronage for its spread.

Hence the need as has remained since time immemorial to produce the best human beings who are an epitome of humane qualities of selflessness, dedication, pluralism, tolerance, justice, love and peace. Despite our material progress and technological advancement, the need retains and political ethics as deliberated by Mir Syed Ali Hamadani are going to fulfill those.

 

 

Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir and can be reached atsikandarmushtaq@gmail.com

Is Mysticism the Way out? | Mushtaq Ul Haq

“Religion is community centric, comes to divide and kill people, but Mysticism is universal, unites people and teaches to love everybody”, retorted a professor to my question as to why the mysticism teaches love but the religious scriptures of each religion also contain the stories of punishments of previous nations which have gone astray as well as dire warnings for people not to rebel against God’s commandments, hence be a object of his wrath. Similar deliberations like this were a part of the 13 day Workshop on “Mystic Thought of Kashmir” held from 1-13 August, 2011 at UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute of Kashmir Studies(IKS), Kashmir University as a part of its programmes which it holds from time to time and I happened to be one of the participants of this Workshop. It was one of the most vibrant and academic workshops that I have ever encountered on mysticism with the only apparent flaw that the name Mystic Thought Of Kashmir gave an impression that only Kashmiri Mysticism was discussed, whereas the matter of fact is that Mysticism of all leading religions was discussed, which exposed the participants to various rich traditions of mysticism as espoused in different religions, for which the IKS and its Director M.H Zaffar alongwith Prof Gulshan Majeed must be congratulated.

In the present day world of corporate, capitalist, and casino culture, mysticism really is an endangered species as is religion which is fountainhead of mysticism. This fact was decried by various resource persons and speakers who made their presentations on various aspects of Mysticism, though very little was talked about Kashmiri Sufism or Rishism which is wrongly attributed as Kashmiriyat, and our indigenous Sufis and Rishis were least talked of, but surely next time the organizers would be cautious about the fact, because our own Sufis and Rishis like Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani, Mahbubul Alam, weren’t even touched by the learned scholars and speakers. But the presentations and scholarly deliberations on Hindu, Christian, Jewish and Islamic mysticism were really superb and I learnt a lot about these traditions. Also to add beauty to the workshop most of the speakers were practicing mystics because mysticism is to be least talked and read about, but its essence lies and opens up to the seeker through practice and experience, it makes the seeker more practical than theoretical arm chair thinker.

Rape of Kashmiri women | Book Review

Kashmir Mey Khawateen Ki Behurmati (Rape of Kashmiri Women)

Author: Shabnum Qayoom

Publisher: Waqar Publications, Srinagar, Kashmir

Year of Publication: 2010

Price: Rs 300 Pages: 320

Reviewed by Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander


Rape as a weapon of war has always been used by the occupational forces to demean, debase and finally destroy the social rubric of the enemy. In case of the secessionist tendency, the defiant population is tried to inculcate spirit of submissiveness and unconditional obedience by using various strategic tactics, and Rape is one of them. In every conflict rape has been used against the womenfolk of the other or enemy, in order to make them understand how weak and vulnerable they are and make a living testimony of their helplessness before the mighty institutions and a constant reminder not to side with the ‘other’ as the punishment awaits them in the form of rape of their womenfolk.

Women especially in the conservative, traditional, orthodox and Eastern societies are considered to be the repositories of honor; hence to humiliate, deflower, and dishonor them through rape is to humiliate the collective honor, masculinity and strength of the society. Even in the Western countries where the sexual freedom has landed the societies into sexual anarchy, rape is considered as a grave crime, and when its use as a weapon to humiliate an ethnic group, population, a nation or a society is the order of the day, it is considered as a crime against humanity, whose perpetuators must be dealt with a serious punishment.

The present book under review by the seasoned journalist and historian Shabnum Qayoom deals with the Rapes of Kashmiri women by the Indian army since the inception of armed struggle in the early 1990s though no survey has been carried out to determine the exact number of rapes committed. The book was previously published from Pakistan in 1991 and after a span of two decades has again been published with important additions from Srinagar. The reverend author initiates the saga of agonies since the day Jagmohan a fascist and communal minded person was pronounced as the Governor of the Valley. He was the governor when the armed insurgency initiated and National Front coalition was ruling at the centre. Jagmohan first of all drove a wedge between the Pandit minority and Muslim majority of the State by rendering Pandits as refugees, and befooled them that their migration to Jammu was temporary, when the State of affairs would return to normal they would be rehabilitated again in the Valley, but they still are living as refugees in various migrant camps of Jammu. In this book the sinister designs of communal Pandit leaders have been unveiled by a Pandit himself and how the State had vowed to undertake genocide of youth by mass killings and change the demography of the Valley.

Pandits are now realizing their mistake, but now it is too late and they have even burned their boats, as most of them have even disposed off their properties, hence very bleak are their chances of return. RSS, BJP, Shiv Sena and many other Hindutva fascist communal organizations encouraged the exodus of Pandits and genocide of Muslims, and Jagmohan was removed after the massacre at the funeral of Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq on 21st may, 1990 and replaced by Ex Chief Research and Analysis Wing(RAW) Girish Chander Saxena, who promulgated Disturbed Areas Act(DAA) on 5th July 1990, and in the coming months many more acts like AFSPA,TADA, PSA too were invoked to punish the defiant population.

Kashmir Addicted: On path of Destruction | Ibrahim Wani

High Way to Destruction

Kashmir is losing a generation to drugs, with medicinal opiates being the most abused substances to get a high. Social stigmatization is keeping many from seeking professional help to overcome the problem. Ibrahim Wani reports in KashmirLife Magazine.(www.kashmirlife.net)

When his parents found out, it was already too late. At 15, Q had been a drug addict for three years already. It came as a pure shock to them. He had everything – education in a top private school, access to every facility, no monetary problem, and yet he had come to this. Both the parents are employed, the father, a gazetted officer and mother, a school teacher. They would not have known at all if Q had not taken 26 tablets of Spasmoproxyvon – an addictive pain killer. The next day he did not wake up in the morning.

Miraculously, he still had a pulse and his parents rushed him to the hospital. The parents came to know of the addiction only at the hospital. The doctors washed his stomach, and when he was stable again, recommended him to the drug de-addiction centre in PCR. When his treatment started, everyone was baffled by what he revealed. “We just could not believe what he was saying,” says a counsellor from an NGO who met him during treatment, “Everything which could have gone wrong had gone wrong and it remained hidden from everyone else. No one in his family knew anything.”

Q had started smoking at 13. “We were a group of 14 friends, of almost the same age except two, who were above 23,” he said. It was these two who had introduced drugs into the group. Smoking was just the beginning.

“First I only smoked,” he said, “then I was lured to other things.”Correctional fluids were the first things he tried. Fumes of Toluene, the diluting agent, commonly called the thinner, would continue being his addiction for a long time, since it was easily available. He would easily get the fluid from the stationer outside his school. He was not the only one in the school using the substance. At that time he was in 7th class. “The stationer would charge big amounts for the eraser fluid. I have even paid 300 rupees for the thinner bottle. Normally, the bottle sells for just 28 rupees along with the white fluid bottle,” says Q. Since it is easily available the use is widespread. Q further reveals that they used to apply the thinner on their neck ties, and kept smelling it during class. “No one knew what we were doing. You must have seen a number of school students at bus stops or outside schools doing the same. All this is done openly and no one has a hint about it,” he adds.

Then a time came when the fluid had no effect on Q. He shifted to codeine-based cough syrups also called corex – an addictive cough syrup. Experts say that codeine addiction is very high in Kashmir, with some estimating that more than 6000 codeine bottles are sold every day in the valley. What started from half a bottle at a time, kept on increasing. “At one time I took seven bottles one after other,” says Q, who was in 8th class by this time.

“But soon I went on to other things,” he adds. He also tried Iodex and boot polish, which too are easily available. “These substances are applied to bread, and then eaten,” he reveals. New people would join the group and then introduce new ideas and ways. “Once we applied Fevicol to polythene, and then burned it. We inhaled the smoke and smoked the urn along with cigarettes,” he says.

Q tried everything he could lay his hands on, and whatever was supplied and taught to him by the group. Soon he graduated to hardcore drugs like cannabis, brown sugar and heroin. “Supply was easy because everyone in our group was part of some other group. It was like a network,” he says. But the supply dried up for Q, because the family shifted to a new residence, where he could not get in contact with the group often. “A friend who lived nearby was my only persistent source then,” he says, “and he mostly had access to medicinal opiods.”

Medicinal opiods are drugs sold through pharmacists, which become addictive in high dosages, even though the function is primarily medical. At one time he even used the fortwin injection (pentazocine lactate) -an injection meant to relieve labour pain. Even though most of these drugs are prescription drugs, they are sold openly in the market and are sold to anyone who is ready to pay. “To pay for the drugs I sold my mobile phones, even stole money,” he says.

In school his grades dropped, and from a student who secured distinctions, he became below average. He just managed to pass. “During all this his parents hardly cared,” says the counsellor from the NGO, “they would be busy with their work, and hardly paid him any attention. He wanted some sort of attention from the parents and not just a private school education.” Once when his uncle had caught him smoking, his parents had come down heavily upon him, so much so that he had received a good thrashing and he had fled home for a day. But next day he had returned and promised not to smoke again. “Even at that time he befooled the parents. They should have tried to talk instead of beating him, and tried to understand and talk to him,” adds the counsellor.

Two months after the beating, Q was in hospital with drug overdose. Now he is undergoing treatment. The parents too have been counselled. “It is then often the behaviour which the addict faces in home which determines what would be his state, would he be okay, or go into a relapse.” The counsellor says that in many cases parents start blaming each other, and this often leads to discord in the family. “This in turn makes life much more difficult for the addict who is trying to become normal again,” he adds. According to Dr Wiqar, who has worked with the drug de-addiction centre in PCR as a medical officer, 60-70 percent of the cases who come to the centre are those who are in the age group of 15 to 25. “Most of them are school or college going students,” he says. Dr Muzaffar, clinical psychologist at the same facility says that a number of cases are from the elite schools in Srinagar. “Some of them are even admitted in the centre,” he says.

Tragic stories of addiction

The story of 22-year-old M is tragic. At 20, he had to leave college after his father died, and left his family no source of livelihood. He was left with no choice but to start earning as he had to care for an ailing mother and a younger brother. Luckily, he found a business partner. Both of them pooled together their savings and headed to Goa to start a business of Kashmiri handicrafts. The business clicked and he started making good money, most of which he sent back to his family. The money paid for the medical expenses of the mother and education of the brother. But for M, away from family, the work was very hectic.

Long working hours started taking its toll on him, and he started falling into depression. His partner took him to a dance club. Here M struck a friendship with a girl. M would come again and again to meet the girl in the club. They became intimate. As the girl would drink, he too started drinking. After trying different liquors, he graduated to drugs as the girl was an addict.

Initially the addiction did not affect him much, but soon it became impossible for him to control the urge. “I started taking alcohol and drugs even during my work hours,” says M. The business started getting affected. Soon he was not in a situation to even be at the shop, and they started turning up losses. The partnership broke, and M did not have any money left. He called home and asked for money saying that the business needed some investment.

His mother, who had no money to send, called a family friend who was also settled in Goa. The friend went to visit M, but found him in a different state. He gave him some money for the journey back to Kashmir, and made sure he would do it. On his return, the family was shocked. “I saw what my addiction did to them. I tried to leave drugs but I could not. It was too difficult,” he says. The withdrawal symptoms were too harsh to bear. He craved for drugs he took in Goa like brown sugar, but the cost was too high. “Instead I started taking medicinal opiods,” says M.

The mother decided to send the other brother to work, even though he had just passed his 12th class exam. He was sent to Delhi to earn. The family had no other option. But this would be more tragic. After he reached Delhi, he went missing. Ten days later they were informed that he had died under mysterious conditions. M went to collect his body. Every one blamed M for the death. He went from bad to worse, and started taking more and more drugs. His condition became very unstable and he had to be admitted to the hospital. From there he was referred to the PCR drug de-addiction centre. Now M is undergoing treatment and the family friend who had helped him to return to the valley, is helping him to stand on his feet again. But the relapse rate is more than 30 percent.

“Most of the patients who come to the centre are able to recover, but in some cases there is a relapse, when stress conditions recur or continue,” says Dr Wiqar. Dr Muzaffar agrees. He remembers three cases where patients relapsed and ultimately died. “The dead body of one of the three was found in an auto (rickshaw). He died of drug overdose. He was just in early twenties,” he says. The addict had run away from the centre without completing the treatment. “In one other case, a person became completely fit, married and even had children,” says the doctor. The patient was in early thirties. “But due to some problem in the family he could not control it, took an overdose and died,” he says. He had once been selected to train with the Indian Hockey team.

Among Girls Too

She was among the toppers in her class. B, a student of an elite missionary school for girls in Srinagar which often tops merit lists in secondary school examinations, started with a cigarette puff.“I was just trying it for fun,” says B who is a daughter to a top notch businessman from Kashmir. The family owns handicrafts showrooms in Srinagar as well as Delhi.

The first time she smoked, she was 14 years of age and a student of 8th standard. “Some of my friends took it secretly, and it became a curiosity for me. So I asked for a cigarette from them and then tried it,” she says. But cigarettes did not catch up much with her. What would follow would leave a lasting effect on her life. “I went to a school friend’s house for a night. We had to prepare some notes,” she says. It was midsummer and the temperature was high. “My friend offered me can of beer, and said that it would refresh me,” she says. Initially she was hesitant, but her friend started taunting her. “I was not able to control it when she said that I was a ‘kiddo’. I took it,” she says.

She liked the taste and the feel it gave her. Soon they started visiting each other’s houses regularly. The friend arranged beer from a contact at Boulevard and a shop in Rajbagh paying much higher than the market rate. But it remained limited to beer for some time. The next step for her came when she visited Delhi along with her parents during winter holidays. Her friend told her about the easy availability of beverages in the metro and suggested her to taste alcohol.

One day when her parents had to go on a party, B took a servant girl into confidence and gave her money to get drinks. She gave her a big reward when she brought bottle. When she took the drink the first time, she passed out and would not wake up for more than 10 hours. She had locked the room from inside. When her parents returned from the party, they thought that she was already asleep and did not disturb her till morning. Over the course of B’s stay in Delhi, the servant girl earned much more than what she would have earned in a year.

When she came back, she teamed up again with her friend. Beer was replaced by ‘more thrilling’ alcoholic drinks arranged by her freind’s ‘contact’. The drinks would reach them in cold drinks bottles. But at the time of exams, when she needed the drinks most, the supply dried up. The friend cited various difficulties in procuring. But B was adamant.

“I would pay anything,” said B but in vain. Instead the friend offered a powder, and said that this would relax her a bit. The powder was brown sugar. When she took the drug, she would remain unconscious for hours. As a result her studies suffered. Her parents thought that she was unwell, and felt that she needs medical attention. But she resisted. When the results of her exams came out she had just scored 60 percent marks, a far cry from the above 90 percent she secured normally. Her teachers were worried, and contacted the parents. But they thought that her marks were low because of her “illness”.

Now in her tenth class, she would try to study, but she found it hard. Her addiction kept growing. One night when the parents thought that she would be studying late, the mother brought her tea after dinner. But she found that she was a bit drowsy. She said that she would take the tea herself and the mother should go to sleep. The mother left. But out of concern the mother visited her again an hour later. What she found shocked her. “I found that she was sleeping on the study table itself, with her head on the book,” she says. The cup of tea was at the same place she had kept, and was still full. But mother saw some powdery substance which had fallen down. Alarmed she called the father. When he saw it, he knew what it was.

Demystifying Kashmir | By Sahar Habib Ghazi | DAWN.COM

STANFORD: “This may be charged, it may be difficult; this is a controversial and emotional issue for many people, but our intention is to have a civil discussion. I hope you will all approach it with that amount of civility,” said Thomas Blom Hansen, Director of the Center for South Asia as he opened a two-day symposium that attempted to demystify the most militarised place in the world; “Grounding Kashmir” brought South Asian scholars from around the globe to Stanford University.

“Our aim is to go beyond the narrow confines of (Indian and Pakistani) nationalistic discourse,” said Nosheen Ali one of the organisers of the event. “There is a physical line of control, but there is also an intellectual line of control.”

The panel of speakers was dominated by Indian academics, who collectively portrayed a scathing critique of “fraudulent uneasy peace,” “humanitarianism used to subjugate,” and, “heavy militarisation” by the Indian state in Jammu and Kashmir.

Author of Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights and the History of Kashmir, Dr. Mridu Rai’s paper on “Folding Kashmir into Indian Imagination” attempted to take on the prevalence of “one narrative” in Indian society, a narrative dominated by the state line. Rai argued, “Kashmir should not be claimed through maps.”

Pakistani Historian Ayesha Jalal also echoed Rai’s assertion. “It is not about religion, it has been made about religion by Pakistan and India.” Dr Jalal, who is currently a visiting professor at Tufts University, outlined her fascinating research that traces back the Kashmir and Punjab nexus, from 1931 to present-day. She showed how opinions have transformed in Punjab from wanting Kashmir to be a part of Pakistan, to wanting Kashmiris to decide their own fate.

Ironically, tensions that were foreseen in the opening speech did not breakout between Pakistanis and Indians on the stage or in the crowd, but between members of the audience from the Hindu-Pundit Diaspora who seemed very upset by the work of the speakers. After Dr. Suvir Kaul, from the University of Pennsylvania, finished answering a question about his paper– which outlined what he called, “fraudulent, uneasy peace” and how the Indian state continues to colonise the Kashmiri people – one man shouted from the back, “300 rupees they pay those boys to throw stones.” The speakers were accused of being “separatists” and under-representing the cause of the Hindu-Pundits. “I myself am a Pundit!” replied Kaul. “You want a tolerant India, I want a tolerant India; a search for that tolerant Indian space will begin and end in Kashmir”

Tribute to Maqbool Bhat

Roshni Ka Shaheed e Awwal (First Martyr for the Light) Father of Kashmiri Nation Shaheed Mohammad Maqbool Bhat From Birth To Gallows

Compiled by Mohammad Hussain Altaf

Publisher= Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Maqbool Manzil, Srinagar Kashmir.

Year of Publication= Not Mentioned

Price= Rs 120                                               Pages= 260 urdu+65 english+11 coloured

Kashmiris have been fighting for their basic rights for many centuries now, and during all these centuries of struggle countless people have dedicated and sacrificed their lives for keeping the resistance aflame but most of these resistance forces have died as unsung heroes and their sacrifices for the cause are still in oblivion. The writers, intellectuals(if any) and historians of Kashmir are the culprits of this gross negligence as they have not done justice to their profession by documenting nothing about these great sons of soil. Even in the contemporary times none has tried to research, locate and document about their lives and work. Even the big stalwarts among them like Mohammad Maqbool Bhat who was hanged in Tihar Jail on 11 February, 1984 is a victim of this apathy as nothing substantial is available on his life, thought, ideology and political activities.

Mohammad Hussain Altaf, a Political Activist of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) rather than any historian or political analyst has tried to fill this void by compiling the letters, press statements, interviews, writings, press conferences and speeches of Mohammad Maqbool Bhat in a book titled Roshni Ka Shaheed e Awwal, before him another political activist and leader of JKLF(R) Tahir Mir penned down a small booklet on the life of Maqbool Bhat entitled as Maqbool Bhat Trehgam Sey Tihar Tak (Maqbool Bhat from Trehgam to Tihar), but that wasn’t so comprehensive as the present book under review is. Mohammad Hussain Altaf in his Preface to the collection writes that “The reality and facts about the lives and works of the genuine leaders and torch bearers of any nation are either distorted or hidden. This job is undertaken so that the nation would be kept away from its struggle and goal and to keep its people in perpetual sense of inferiority complex”.

Kashmir Burns Again | Mushtaq Ul Haq

The inception of the year 2010 was marked with killing of Inayat Khan by CRPF personnel & these killings continued with the death of teenagers like Zahid Farooq & Wamiq Farooq at the hands of paramilitary troopers & Kashmir police. On June 11 Tufail Ahmad Mattoo was murdered in cold blood by police by aiming a tear gas shell at his head which alongwith the Fake Encounter killings of three innocent youth at Machil, Kupwara in May proved to be the last straw on the camel’s back and whole kashmir erupted as never before, with youth taking a lead in the indigenous protests and separatist leadership forced to chalk out some strategy which they did with the announcement of “Quit Kashmir Movement” on 24 June, 2010. With that initiated a never ending vicious circle of death, maim, torture and killing spree by the armed forces and kashmir police. The separatists began to issue unique calendars of Hartals and protests which people follow in letter and spirit with the result whole life and governance in kashmir being crippled for the past three months with death toll crossing hundred, there is no indication of the protests being abated or the killings being stopped with the people ready to offer even more sacrifices for what they perceive as Aazadi from Indian occupation.

Kashmir Feeds India | Amir Ashai Writes

To all those, who think INDIA FEEDS KASHMIRIS!

1) 30% of the present Indian hydroelectricity is produced in Kashmir....

2) 7 out of the 11 hydroelectric projects announced by NHPC are......located in Kashmir accounting to 60% of the total electricity projects. ...

3) NHPC in rest of the Indian States works on 50:50 sharing basis...i.e. 50% of the electricity goes to the state and 50% is given to NHPC for the investment they put.... But in Kashmir the equation changes....Only 12% is given to Kashmir as a royalty and 88% is taken away by NHPC & supplied to the northern grid of INDIA via Punjab to DELHI, HARYANA, etc...

4) Incidently, Peak hour requirement of Electricity in Kashmir is 2000 Megawatts.... Not able to fulfill it, the government of J&K has to buy electricity worth 3600 crores annually from the same northern grid to which it supplies its produced electricity....

Conflict renders money useless in Kashmir | Bilal Hussain

The unending unrest in Kashmir has rendered the currency worthless as it couldn’t serve the very purpose of money. The currency here during these tough times couldn’t be used to procure essential commodities, medical services, transportation and many other vitals for survival as there are no takers for it at this point of time due to continuing curfew and protests. Baring few days market places in the valley remained closed for over three months now.

The currency, a tool used for means of exchange, a standard unity to measure value and a means to store wealth, officially coined or stamped metal currency; a form or denomination of coin or paper money. However, factually during conflict times like the one Kashmir at present is witnessing since past three months, it serves almost none of these purposes. All it can do here is to make lockers, purses and pockets heavier.

Kashmir Conflict | Genesis n Interpretation

Violence in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has resulted in the loss of many lives and the displacement of many families. The ‘Kashmir Issue‘ is always seen as a major issue between India and Pakistan. But the political situation in the State has many dimensions. Jammu and Kashmir comprises three social and political regions: Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

The heart of the Kashmir region is the Kashmir valley; the people are Kashmiri speaking and mostly Muslim with a small Kashmiri speaking Hindu minority. Jammu region is a mix of foothills and plains, of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs and speakers of various languages. The Ladakh region is mountainous, has very little population which is equally divided between Buddhists and Muslims. The “Kashmir Problem” is not just a dispute between India and Pakistan. This issue has external and internal dimensions. It involves the issue of Kashmiri identity known as Kashmiriyat and the aspirations of the people of J&K for political autonomy.

A Morning | Experienced by Kashmiri

“Don’t you dare take your f~~~~~~ car out through the gate or I’ll shoot you”, shouted the CRPF man through the slit of our gate. It was an ideal morning straight out from the pages of a novel the breeze was cool , the sun was out but it promised warmth instead of heat. The heat had already been surrendered to the advent of September. I had risen early. My feet had taken me straight to the bathroom for a bath that I wouldn’t need. After a breakfast that consisted of nothing but salt tea and leftover pieces of bread from the never-had Eid celebrations. It was a strange combination-this tea, it was rosy and almost shiny when you looked at it but it was salty to taste. How representative of the place it belongs to. The only thing that bothered me on such a beautiful morning was the morning itself , mornings herald days and the last three months had taught me to love the morning but fear the day. As I sat with a china cup in my hand my gaze wandered out of the window towards the skyline. High above the surrounding structures stood a minaret , a minaret of no or inconsequential beauty. No azan was sounded from it. But it was still built. The minaret belongs to the mosque , the mosque built over the resting place of Sheikh Dawood Sahib aka ‘Batamaal Saeb’ . A saint of the highest order whom a poet praised thus:

POLICE PEOPLE RELATIONS

The word Police now has become synonymous with Terror, Torture, Corruption, Killings and Intimidation. The once sacred word which upheld the notion of human rights, rule of law and protected life and property is now a much hated word in the Valley. During past they were the enforcers of whims of kings and emperors and now of the State. They were always atrocious on poor kashmiris be it the Dogra soldiers and now the State Police and its various agencies.

Since the partition of the subcontinent and valley’s alignment with India, Police and its agencies always played dubious role which made them infamous and hated in the eyes of masses. From 1947-1953 Police was used to silence and torture the dissent, who wanted either independence or accession to Pakistan. From 1953 the tables turned and yesterday’s rulers were today’s paupers and traitors and police aligned to those at the helm of affairs. Qadir Ganderbali and his Peace Brigade still sends shivers down the spine of dissident Political Activists. After that others from Ganderbali took the reins and continued to torture and heap atrocities especially on political dissidents.

Text of 1949 UN Resolution Calling for Referendum on Kashmir | Archive Series

Pakistan was carved out of India in 1947 as the Muslim counterweight to India's Hindu population. Predominantly Muslim Kashmir to the north of both countries was divided between them, with India dominating two-thirds of the region and Pakistan one third. A Muslim-led revolt against the Hindu ruler triggered a build-up of Indian troops and an attempt by India to annex the whole In 1948, India attempted to annex the whole region, provoking a war with Pakistan. The United Nations brokered a cease-fire in 1949, and a five-member commission made up of Argentina, Belgium, Columbia, Czechoslovakia and the United States drew up a resolution calling for a referendum to decide Kashmir's future. The full text of the resolution, which India never allowed to be implemented, follows.

Resolution of the Commission of January 5, 1949

The United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan, Having received from the Governments of India and Pakistan, in communications dated 23 December and 25 December 1948, respectively, their acceptance of the following principles which are supplementary to the Commission's Resolution of 13 August 1948:

India Grabs Kashmir - Archive article from Time Magazine 1957

Monday, Feb. 04, 1957

KASHMIR: India Grabs It

For the better part of two days last week. India's gaunt, silver-maned V. K. Krishna Menon waved his arms, flashed his eyes and showered the U.N. Security Council with words. When the torrent finally petered out, the exhausted Menon held the alltime U.N. record for a single speech—7 hours 48 minutes. It was a performance worthy of a Southern Senator, and had a purpose familiar to any Southern filibusterer hoping to frustrate the majority will. Menon was out to stall Security Council proceedings while India's moralizing Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru completed India's illegal annexation of most of the strategic state of Kashmir.

Why Kashmir Burns?

By Smita Singh

10 August, 2010
Hard News

For Kashmiris the story of dissent and its repercussions has always been the same, perhaps it is time for us to listen.

I was 13 in March 1991 when I reached Kashmir. My father was posted as part of the Army’s Corps of Signals. I looked out as our convoy crawled through the empty streets of Srinagar, silent but for the graffiti screaming from a wall here, a poster there -‘Indian Dogs Go Away’, ‘We Want Freedom’, ‘Hizbul Mujahidin Zindabad’, some incomprehensible scrawls in Urdu following us until we entered the cantonment. Bunglows and beautiful lawns, tree lined pavements and the olive green of the uniforms- comforting, familiar and welcome. The images of the ghost town receded, but not for long.

I PROTEST

The streets of Kashmir  Valley are not the only places burning with angry protests over the civilian killings. The rage has also spilled over into the virtual world where youngsters are venting their pent up sentiments.

Youngsters aged 15-25 are using their personal or community internet pages to express their anger against what they see as human rights abuses. Social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, YouTube and many such web platforms have turned into a new battleground for the angry young generation of the valley.

With nearly 50 people dying in less than seven weeks - most of them in firing by security forces - many such voices are proliferating on the internet.

"I Protest", a community page created by an unknown user, has over 3,000 members -- Kashmiris as well as non-Kashmiris. It is described as "a campaign for international awareness against human rights abuse in Indian Kashmir.”

Mirwaiz writes to Ban Ki Moon [UN]

Excellency,
India has declared an open war in Kashmir. There is blood of innocent children and teenagers spilled on the streets of Kashmir who are being shot dead for demanding the implementation of the solemn pledge made to them by the worl...d community that they would be allowed to decide their future. The entire population is swelling the streets to protest which the Indian state is crushing by using lethal force and other repressive measures - curfew, mass detention… In less than two months over 45 protesters mostly children and teenagers have been mercilessly killed, and the killing spree continues. Such is the height of oppression by the “biggest democracy on earth”, that we are even denied the time and space to mourn our dead. The situation is getting worse and uglier by the day for the hapless people of the valley and can only become disastrous for them unless the U.N. intervenes and fulfills its moral and legal obligation towards the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

RAGE IN YOUTH

youth icon

After many days of undeclared curfews, hartals and severe restrictions on the movement of people, it was a day of freedom on 27th July, 2010. I as usual had to go for a bit of shopping as well as to observe the mood of people and overhear their conversations which revolved round the issue of Aazadi. I was in a bus back to home with a small child of 3-4 years old as my companion besides me on the seat with a new toy gun in his hand, as is my nature I socialized with the child and enquired what for he had got the gun? I was surprised and awe stuck when he confided to me that he will kill the military man with the same. I was born in late 1980’s when the armed insurgency initiated and grew up in the gun culture and these things were no surprise for my generation who now are in the prime of their youth, but those who are born after 2005 when the militancy had reclined I couldn’t make it out for them. As soon as I pondered deeper I could make it out that the sentiment of violence, enemy, resistance and resentment had been transferred to the new generation of toddlers, infants and children who grew up with mobiles, internet and electronic gadgets in their hands and cartoon shows and movies but the daily atrocities, the conversations of elders and the hated figure of an alien soldier present at every nook and corner of each alley plus the over politicized environment, has led to the promiscuous political puberty of the new generation.

BATAMALLOO MARTYR

8 YEAR OLD SAMEER

I have heard they killed one more

Beat him up till he was sore

As usual, he was innocent

Though his death is recent

He was a promising child

But Fate drove him wild

As alleged he was a Stone Pelter

Running away from the pangs of Dark Devils helter skelter

HARTALS n KASHMIR!

Protest Calender Have you Ever Seen One?

More than one month has passed to the hartals and curfews (declared or undeclared) and the busy, occupied and hustle- bustle of life now seems to be a distant dream, God only knows when the situation will return to the normal? Since the inception of armed insurgency in the valley, hartals and curfews have been a norm the former issued by the separatists to condemn the State atrocities as well as to depict their strength and grip on masses and to judge the level of obedience of the masses while as the latter being clamped down by the State and enforced by its numerous security agencies to keep the dissent and resentment at bay and in between the two the common innocent masses keep suffering for the reasons they don’t know, or are too naïve to understand the same or just fate made them a part of the same.