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1947- Kashmir’s tug of war

The valley in the north is scenic and poetic and our illusion of Kashmir is sometimes a culmination of televised fiction and reality, but what Kashmir is today is a series of reflections of its historical affiliations, aspirations and allied decisions. The contemporary scenario conjures a need to trace this distressing journey of the favoured daughter caught in the centre of the ugliest divorce in history.

This trajectory begins as 1947 set a liberating and ominous undertone in the air, inviting a tumble of astounding events to Maharaja Hari Singh’s doorsteps. The Maharaja was one of the three rulers that still had a claw over their thrones-the other two being the Nawab of Junagadh and the Nizam of Hyderabad. The sullen king had his days cut out for him as the Indian Army, breathing that same air, would come marching into the Maharaja’s durbar giving him just enough time to make a quiet exit to Pakistan.

Just like many of us who crave the fresh breeze of the Valley, Mohammed Ali Jinnah planned a holiday to Kashmir. As for him, a state with over three quarters of the population being Muslim was destined to come and fall right into his lap. However, the Maharaja’s vision of Kashmir did not involve sitting on a tight rope while India and Pakistan tugged from both sides. He envisioned a Kashmir that thrived on its beauty, free from diplomatic headaches, giving Kashmiris their full right to bask in the abyssal depths of their velvet clad serenity surrounded by pride in their bounties.

The Maharaja’s rejection of Pakistan brought the craze of forbidden fruit in Jinnah’s eyes and hence awoke the volatile Pathan Tribesmen of the north-west frontier with the objective to tip the Maharaja over into annexation. Kashmiri intentions were never to be their own but instead to be engulfed in revisions and manipulations like over protective parents making your decisions for you.

The destructive tribesmen took eager revenge for the blind eye that the Maharaja had turned to the dilemma of accession which led to the Maharaja’s beseech to India as he saw himself being pushed into a circle of manipulations where neither side would let Kashmir retain its integrity.

Nehru’s role is one solely driven by emotions, some over simplifications and some bewilderment. In retrospect, his is a role that must be looked at more deeply on a separate page. On the 24th of October, Nehru attached special accession terms for Kashmir, an extension symbolising destiny’s turn in the Valley for many years to come.

As the leaves of Chinar brought contrast to despair turning from summer lime to spots of mauve, amber, yellow and blood red, a jubilant Menon poured himself a stiff drink on the evening of 26th October. “We have Kashmir. The bastard signed the act of accession. And now that we’ve got it, we’ll never let it go,” he proudly stated.

“A quarter of a century later, Kashmir’s disputed possession would remain the principal subject of discord between India and Pakistan, the one seemingly insurmountable barrier to their reconciliation,” a prediction by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre in 1976.

1947-Kashmir’s tug of war is the first part in a series of articles titled ‘Leaves of Chinar.’

Image credits: http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/date/2012/10/page/4/

Baani Kashyap

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Tripura, under a CPI(M) chief minister, Shri Manik Sarkar worked in cooperation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2015, to completely repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. This Article focuses on how two extreme binaries came together to resolve such a huge issue in the state, especially when this intellectual war between the Left and the Right is in continuum.

The North East has often been under reported in the news, throughout the mainland. The racism exerted by the media to reluctantly cover states with a majoritarian ethnic minority population, has enabled the mainland to disassociate itself from the issues of the North East. To integrate the North East into national policies, the NDA Government has specifically focused on implementing a development agenda at all levels of government. From integration drives by student unions much like DUSU to university level programmes like Gyanodaya have facilitated a discussion between the students.

Tripura, one of the gems of the North East has a State Government under the leadership of a left front chief minister, namely, Manik Sarkar. However through cooperation with the Home Minister at the centre, under the leadership of the Prime Minister backed by a BJP led NDA Government, AFSPA was repealed in May 2015. AFSPA, by law, can only be repealed if the Governor agrees to it. And in the case of Tripura, Manik Sarkar closely worked with the intelligence agencies to ensure that militancy was less, and provided a consolidated report to the Governor, who after consulting with the Prime Minister, repealed the controversial act from the state (from one police station to another, gradually).

After repealing the act, Prime Minister Modi, reportedly asked for a report on how Tripura repealed AFSPA from the Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar, who obliged. It is important to state that even political adversaries, who have extremely contrary views came together to relieve the people of Tripura from such a harsh law. 

Let us now take a closer look at AFSPA –

AFSPA has been one of the most controversial policies adopted by the central governments (across party lines) throughout the history of Independent India. With insurgencies fostered by remorse amongst the ethnic minorities, backward classes and people demanding a monopoly for a particular religion, the archaic act of parliament has often led to the protection of the Indian mainland at the cost of rampant human rights violations carried out by a number of army and paramilitary personnel. Although the number of jawans responsible for such acts is minuscule as compared to the full force deployed, the fact remains that the data for the number of prosecutions against the armed forces have also been shocking.

Jammu and Kashmir has been a hotbed, much like Manipur where women have come out in the open to oppose the law, claiming they had been raped and their husbands had been shot dead despite being innocent.
An RTI query made to the Ministry of Defence, Government of India had revealed that only one army man has been prosecuted in Jammu and Kashmir during a tenure of 22 years, against the 44 cases that were received for sanction of prosecution from 1990 to 2011. This meant sanction was not granted in almost 98 per cent of recommended cases (97.73 per cent). In all the cases of rights abuses the controversial AFSPA was invoked to shield the accused. 

This is a major tradeoff that needs to be dealt with. The security agencies need to work in a coalition with the government to ensure that the militancy reduces in these sectors, and only then can such a law be repealed.

If the centre and the states could come together, and gradually repeal the act from one district to another, in states like Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Assam, then we could soon see tremendous reduction in ‘seditious’ activities in these states. It is clearly important for the media to cover these issues extensively. It is also the responsibility of the Left and the Right to come together and work for the betterment of the society through constructive policies and not destructive ones.

Image Credits: www.nelive.in

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Ishaan Sengupta

The death of Mohammad Afzal Guru on 9th February 2013 caused an unprecedented stir within the different factions of the Indian society. A death sentence had been looming above his head ever since it was declared by a ‘Prevention of Terrorism Act’ court for his crucial role in the 2002 Parliament house attack. Eleven years later, the Kashmiri convict was sent to his death, opening a Pandora’s Box filled with debatable questions on the decision of ending his life.

Though most political parties are celebrating Afzal Guru’s death, the BJP further stating that it should have been done a lot earlier, a section of Kashmiris criticised the Indian government of discriminating against Kashmir and hurting its sentiments. When we look at death sentences issued in the past, notably that of Ajmal Kasab, most of the citizens didn’t bat an eyelid as the man who represented the monstrosity of 26/11 was taken to the gallows. However, what really gives one man, namely the president, to push aside pleas for clemency and condemn a man to his deathbed? One might blame it on public pressure, the chance to justify the deaths of millions, to hold up the pride of India and a multitude of other excuses. Afzal Guru’s death was riddled with controversy and protests, as he wasn’t even granted one last wish of seeing his family before his execution. On the other hand, we have a woman who was one of the masterminds behind Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination receiving life imprisonment instead of a death sentence, due to the mercy shown by India’s most influential woman, Sonia Gandhi. The death of convicts seems more like a political gamble rather than a true analysis of who deserves what form of punishment.

Drawing the line between what is considered ethical and what isn’t seems to be one of the toughest questions faced by this country. Despite the magnitude of the crime committed by Afzal Guru, jailers spoke of his pious nature and the change in his attitude as he spent his last few years in jail. A man well versed in both Hinduism and Islam, he claimed to have been dragged into the world of terrorism instead of willingly engaging in it. Before his demise, he said goodbye to his fellow inmates as he was taken away to be hanged. Comparing this behaviour to that of his past deeds, it is hard to draw the line between justice and mercy. Though the anger of the Kashmiri people and their representatives might be justified to an extent, while looking at the bigger picture one has to note that duty to the nation comes before showing sympathy to a man caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Maybe Afzal Guru deserved to live, or maybe his death is the wakeup call that India sorely needed. Either way, there is no real answer to what sort of crime really deserves capital punishment. At the end, we are all just pawns being played in a big political game.

Photo Credits: www.sify.com

Vishakha Darbha

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In another act of right-wing protestation, members of the ABVP and BSKS threatened to disrupt the screening of Jashn-e-Azadi, a documentary on Kashmir earlier this Thursday over its alleged delineation of a pro Kashmir independence sentiment. The screening was organised by the Delhi School of Economics’ Sociology department.

In previous incidents, Pune’s Symbiosis University cancelled the screening of the film after protests from the RSS-aligned Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. ABVP even protested the teaching of the Ramanujan text in 2008 by vandalizing the office of Prof. S.Z.H.Jafri, the then history department head. The Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena (BSKS), infamous for one of its members attacking Prashant Bhushan over his statement on Jammu and Kashmir, tweeted “Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena & other Nationalist’s Groups will stop today Sanjay Kak’s Jashn-e-Azadi (anti Army & pro Kashmir azadi movie) screening at Delhi School of Economics, DU(sic).”

Rohit Chahal, Pradesh Mantri of ABVP Delhi, who was incarcerated temporarily in 2008 for his involvement in the violence outside Prof. S.Z.H. Jafri’s office in protest of the teaching of the Ramanujan text said, “The permission for the movie screening was cancelled by the University, also Jashn-e-Azadi hasn’t even got clearance from the Censor Board, so how can they show it. The movie hurts regional sentiments, depicts the Army to be responsible for the tribulations in Kashmir”

Denying reports of any ABVP protesters barging into the screening and breaking the police cordon, he further went on to say, “The police allowed us to go in. There were ABVP members who were already inside and we peacefully protested in the campus. We would have anyway been permitted to go in as the screening was organised by the All India Students’ Association”