An Open Letter to Yasin Malik-by Madhu Kishwar(published in Outlook)

Dear Yasin,

The Dialogue on the Future of Jammu & Kashmir organized by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies gained enormously by your presence on November 7, 2009. We recognize that the overlap in timing meant you had to rush to Delhi after registering your attendance at a TADA court hearing in Jammu. I also appreciate the fact that despite provocative slogans against you by a group of Kashmiri Pandits opposed to your presence in the Dialogue, you sat through the meeting to the end and not only explained your politics but also made a public commitment to consider some of the solutions proposed at the meeting as a starting point for a wide spectrum dialogue for the resolution of the Kashmir problem.

However, your outbursts of anger, disappointment and your cynical comments directed at the civil society organizations of India seem to me so misplaced and misleading that they demand a public response; a lot of them were directed at Manushi and at me. Since they have been widely reported in the Kashmiri and Pakistani newspapers, hence my response is also through the media.

For those who do not know the background, let me summarize your grievances as stated in your presentation at the Dialogue. You said that you had given up the gun at the urging of civil society organizations in India, that you took to "Gandhian methods of struggle" due to our persuasion. However, despite your move to non-violent means of struggle, you feel "betrayed" by the human rights community in India for ostensibly failing to help you achieve your political ends. You also claimed that subsequent events and your failure in achieving "azadi" have convinced you that Gandhian methods do not work in today’s India. In your view, they worked only while the British ruled India because the British provided a supportive environment for non- violent struggles.

What proof do you offer for that conclusion? That Gandhi was not subjected to third degree torture by the British, nor was Gandhi killed in an encounter with the police! No responsible leader would provide this form of naive praise of the British. You cannot dismiss the brutalities of the British colonial regime so easily. You don’t have to go too far—just read the life story of Badshah Khan—Gandhi’s most valued colleague and the most inspiring satyagrahi of that period. The brutalities inflicted on the army of satyagrahis mobilized by Badshah Khan—popularly known as the Frontier Gandhi— would put to shame even the apartheid regime of South Africa. Lakhs and lakhs of non violent satyagrahis were tortured in British jails. Many innocents were murdered in cold blood. The manner in which unarmed women and children were massacred in Jallianwala Bagh by General Dyer was not an isolated example of British brutality. Hundreds of thousands of satyagrahis took deadly beatings without raising their hand even in self-defence during the Salt Satyagraha. The cruel treatment routinely meted out to the Indian peasantry in extracting unprecedented high revenue and confiscating their lands arbitrarily for failure to pay ruinous usurious revenue, not sparing them even during crop failures, led to millions dying in unprecedented man made famines and left many more millions destitute, malnourished and terrorized.

You claim to have taken to Gandhian methods and claim that the movement for "azadi" in Kashmir is non violent —all on the grounds that some years ago you gave up the gun. Dear friend Yasin, you gave up the gun after you were arrested and jailed, not while you were on the outside, fighting. You never gave up supporting and defending those who continued using the gun. In the November 7 meeting, you declared openly that you are proud of having been the first one to take up the gun for the cause of Kashmir. When a young Kashmiri Pandit commented: "You may have given up the gun but that does not mean Kashmiri Muslims gave up the gun. The Hizbul Mujahiddin is also comprised of Kashmiri youth." Your response was: Since the Indian government did not hand over "azadi" to the "non-violent" JKLF, and since human rights organizations in India failed to persuade the Indian government to do so, Hizbul Mujahaddin are justified in taking up the gun. Yasin bhai, a true commitment to non-violence should not be so conditional and fragile. Gandhi did not say: "Give India independence or else I will unleash terrorist brigades on you." That was Jinnah’s method, not Gandhi’s.
As one of many people committed to strengthening democracy and human rights in India, one of my mandates is to ensure that even those who take to terrorist means, are given fair treatment, due process, and a fair trial, and that innocents are not targeted by security forces while combating terrorism. Our primary task, however, is to try to prevail upon the Indian government that draconian laws should not be used to crush democratic dissent. I don’t think I have failed in being consistent about those issues. I have often done my best to intervene with the government of India to defend the Constitutional rights of you and your colleagues, even when I have strong differences with your political goals and means you make use of to achieve them.

For example, when you asked me to intervene on behalf of some of your colleagues held in detention centres who you claimed and seemed to me to be innocent, I did so without hesitation. I even succeeded on some occasions in helping get them released—your verbal assurance that they were not involved in any terrorist crimes was an important consideration in my efforts. Do you think you could get such relief for your colleagues if they had been arrested on account of suspected terrorist links in England—a nation you so ardently admire— or in the US—the country you had put most faith in to help you gain "Azadi"?

In the November 7 meeting, you expressed your annoyance over the fact that representatives from Ladakh, Jammu, Poonch, and Rajouri had been invited. You dismissed their presence with open contempt saying: " Is this a mohalla meeting that we have gathered all these people to discuss local affairs?" This attitude of assuming that it is only Kashmiri Muslims of the Valley— and that too of a certain political persuasion— who ought to have the right to determine the future of the entire state of J&K has created huge fault lines and murderously hostile camps in the State.
No one organization has the right to be the sole spokesperson of the Kashmiri people. The strong voices opposing your politics in Jammu, Ladakh and even within Kashmir have to be given their due importance.

While you expected human rights organizations in India to help you secure "Azadi"—you have allowed the concept to remain so fuzzy that I have not yet understood what concretely you mean by it. I have spent hours trying to persuade you to work out the concrete modalities of your plank of "Azadi" and explain to us how your Azadi will be any different from the bloody 1947 Partition of India. What will be the fate of minorities in your 'Azad' Kashmir? What happens to the rights of those in Kashmir, Jammu, Rajouri, Poonch, Leh and Kargil and those in the Valley who do not wish to secede from India and do not want to live in your mythical Azad Kashmir? I never got anything resembling an answer. It also makes me very uneasy that the JKLF does not even have a constitution, leave alone any democratic machinery for managing its affairs.

Why on earth would human rights organizations help you partition Jammu & Kashmir in as senseless a manner as Jinnah did the entire subcontinent? Even for the November 7 Dialogue, I repeatedly requested you to give a concrete statement in writing on the form and content of Azadi. You said you don’t believe in putting things down in writing. Instead you preferred to talk about your personal trials and tribulations, how 600 of your JKLF cadres have been killed in encounters by security forces. Much as I mourn the loss of those lives, much as I deplore how our security forces sometimes lawlessly eliminate or brutalize those suspected of terrorism, Yasin bhai, you have to recognize that, unfair as it seems to you, those who live by the gun have to be prepared to be hunted down by the gun.
You say you are still proud of the fact that you took up the gun because without that the Kashmir issue would not have gained due attention. This is not how morally committed non-violent satyagrahis reason. That is not how those who draw inspiration from Gandhi should earn world attention. One does not become a satyagrahi by merely laying down arms, that too without ever expressing remorse for having unleashed a reign of terror and violence. A satyagrahi does not romanticize the power of the gun, especially when it has already caused havoc for millions.
To qualify being a satyagrahi also means:

Being an unconditional soldier of peace by actively opposing all forces of violence. Unfortunately, your love affair with the gun is not yet over, or else you would not claim to be proud of having been the first one to take up the gun as a means of furthering your politics; Even today, you do not condemn terrorist killings without reservations. Being committed to the path of Truth ( Satya) as a permanent seeker rather than as a self declared authority on Truth. A satyagrahi cannot be selective in choosing facts to suit his political arguments, which you often do. Being able to face unpalatable facts about one's own movement and an ability to take diverse view points and perspectives into account is vital for adhering to the path of Truth. A truth seeker does not indulge in mere partisan politics nor does he/she overstate his /her case, as you often do
Being able to keep one's anger under check and control so that it does not distort one's vision. A Satyagrahi does not demonize his/her opponents, nor does he/she hold malice and ill will towards others whose politics and vision are at variance from that of the satyagrahi. You seem to be in a permanent state of upset with people who do not agree with your politics.
It was a very revealing moment, Yasin, when you told me after one of your visits to Pakistan which I quote from memory:

"I have now realized the great difference between the human rights activists in India and Pakistan. The Indian activists mostly come from ordinary middle class families so they are small minded. The Pakistani human rights activists are mostly from aristocratic families—daughters of generals and wealthy land owning aristocrats. Therefore, they are large hearted and have a broader vision."

You have been understandably impressed by their pampering and hospitality extended to you. But you would do well to remember, many of them pamper you because you are a thorn in the flesh of the Indian establishment. They do not pamper their home grown secessionists--the Baluchis, the Pakhtoons and Sindhis, who wish to break away from Pakistan, as they do you.

You would also do well to remember that the aristocratic elite of Pakistan has done a poor job of defending their own democracy. They have also done a poor job of resisting the growing influence of the Taliban over their polity and civil society. Pakistan Administered Kashmir has a much poorer track record of democracy than the Kashmir you inhabit. The diverse ethnic groups and regions in Pakistan have far fewer rights than minority communities and regions have in India. No matter how well they treat you personally, the aristocratic elite of Pakistan are unlikely to deliver the "azadi" you are seeking.

Kashmiri society is being torn asunder by the conflicting ambitions of its leaders. As you well know, the mutual hostilities and suspicions of various Kashmiri leaders have even taken murderous forms. That is why it is vital to bridge these divides and important that diverse leaders come together to thrash out differences and explore common ground. Many of those who attended the November 7 meeting considered it an auspicious start of a new process whereby secessionist leaders who had never sat together on a common platform with mainstream political parties not only came together to seek out a consensually acceptable peaceful solution but also agreed to carry forward the debate around the concrete and innovative new Self Rule formula presented by the PDP.

Instead of expecting the human rights community in India to become your followers, instead of expecting them to fight your battles for you, it would be far better if you worked out a political platform that was more in consonance with their perspective. For all their limitations and humbler origins, the Indian middle classes which dominate democratic rights organizations in India have succeeded far better in keeping the authoritarian tendencies of their rulers under a measure of check and control. J& K has too many gun toting self appointed spokespersons of Kashmiri people. What it lacks is a vibrant community of people committed to strengthening human rights and democratic freedoms. Such voices have been marginalized or crushed by the gun in J&K. Reviving that tradition needs much greater courage and conviction than required for taking up the gun. I hope to see you occupy that space in the coming years.

With good wishes,

Madhu Kishwar,
Founder Editor, Manushi
Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
November 14, 2009

http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262922

Let us make Peace

Last eveing I received an SMS from a very close friend. This is how it read "We are born in Kashmir and we stayed there till 15 to 16 years of ur age-How can I believe in PK concept.Now we should work towards harmony between KM's and KP's...there is only one Kashmir".

I was so disturbed by this sudden outburst that despite my not wanting to engage in a discussion I called my friend. I asked him if it was a forward or was it his idea and emphatically he said, It is my idea and promised me to call me back in 20 mins. I waited all night for the call that never came. Maybe he forgot about it but this pronouncement made me re-visit that time of my life when Pandits were under a siege, when our speaking would have meant death or worse, when watching Ramayan was considered "anti-movement", when notices were pasted for us to leave, when mosques called for our annihilation, when our women were meant to be in Islamic Harems, when we were (to use Jagmohan’s phrase) frightened pigeons in a nest with a big cat wanting to gulp us.

I have neither been a votary nor a detractor of the idea or concept of Panun Kashmir but truth be told I have always found it as a perfect counterweight to the secessionists policy of Azad Kashmir. It has been till date the only political concept that Kashmiri Pandits have. In storms we cling to the last shreds of grass that root themselves and in a storm are we. Kashmiri Muslims have this abomination towards the concept and that’s what makes it worth its weight in Gold. Whether it is a utopia or an el-dorado is not to be debated in a time when dreams are all that we have. It may have hundreds of short comings. The leaders may have betrayed themselves and us by falling apart but the idea lives beyond people. Even when there is none of the A’s the idea will live because the age of the idea is far greater than the age of a mortal. There is no Einstein today but the theory of relatively is even more powerful and pronounced today than Einstein himself.

Over the past few weeks the voices of the harmony wallahs have become shriller and louder. There are statements like”If we have to live in Kashmir we need the goodwill of the majority community”. Taken Sir! But will someone please tell these Johnies that it was their goodwill that forced us to flee, will someone please emaciate the cupid about the goodwill that made them defecate on our deities and write graffiti’s like “Gulzar Bhagwan ki Jai Ho” in Batyar Mandir, will someone please tell them they had a house with a fountain near Rambagh that they no longer own because someone’s goodwill forced them to abandon and later sell it, will someone please tell them that onus of goodwill is the one of the majority. It isn’t the prerogative 0r either the power of the meek (read it weak or minority if you may like) to make peace. Have you ever heard a rat going to a lion and saying let us make peace? May be I am an idiot but I haven’t. Wouldn’t it be laughable if not out rightly preposterous to even believe that we can make peace with a people who have Islamicized themselves so much over the last two decades that they call us people who worship snakes and stones (Please read my dear Kashmiriyat wallahs-the columns in Greater Kashmir and these aren’t written by ignorant and illiterate but the informed and educated but unfortunately grossly Islamicized majority).

India is a secular nation not because the Muslims want it that way but because the majority of us are Hindus and we want it that way. Now can the Harmony Harbingers please name three Muslim Majority nations which are secular?

I am no one to stop anyone from engaging in Nalmot(embrace)with whomsoever they wish to but I will fail I don’t bark.

Sirs, for your information and benefit let me explain to you the Polity of Kashmir today. It starts from right(Islamic right I mean) and keeps going to a point where it reaches obscurantist ideology of Al-Qaeda and the likes.Does your wife wear Jeans? Oh that isn’t Islamic.Do you wash your left leg first while you bathe? That isn’t Islamic either.Privately they may admit that all this is a heap of shit but the hypocrisy of the society has reached a level where collective righteousness has become a virtue with the new Islamic Kashmir.

The space for a rational and reasoned debate has shrunk so much that whatever has to be accomplished has to be under the purview of Fiqh(Islamic Jurisprudence).

Undoubtedly there is no one Kashmir Sirs, if you wish to know there is one on the other side too, the one they(KM’s) want to merge with. Why don’t you start a process of talking to them as well? Sardar Qayoom Khan is a free man these days. He will be glad to accept your invitation. May be it gives you a chance to go to Sharda, a chance none of us got for obvious reasons of goodwill and harmony?

There was one Kashmir till 1334,till the day the Islamic zealots hadn’t breached our borders, hadn’t touched the pious soil of our motherland, hadn’t burnt our libararies, hadn’t dug out the Martand sun temple, hadn’t reduced to ruins Parihaspora, hadn’t built a Khanqah on the Kali temple.

There my dear friend is no one Kashmir now. Sad as it may be…

Take a plunge. Try feeding milk to the snakes…I wish you luck…In your success I shall be happy to retain my burnt house in Kanipora.

(The above article is written by Rashneek Kher.The views expressed are his own.He can be reached at rashneek@gmail.com)

Champions of "Sickularism"

Strange times,we are living in.The people whose entire polity is based on Hate as prescribed in their religious scriptures seem to be invoking "secularism". In India this term secular has been so badly abused that its synonmn seems to be subjugation of majoity Hindus at the hands of an monolithic vote bank of "peace loving,marginalised& scared Muslims".The policy of "secularism" has been experimented all over all India with great" Success" by the Limousine Liberals ,but nowhere has it been so pronounced and effective as it has been in J&K.It bears a name there,yes an indigenous name,a name whose etymology no one knows.It is called Kashmiriyat.So what exactly does it mean? Well to a lot of Indians which includes Congressmen,Half bred and Ill read Journalists,Bonhomiests and Page 3 people it means " a unique syncretic culture wherein Hindus and Muslims live like brothers as would they live in a Sooraj Barjatya movie".Well who doesnt love the concept of idealistic romance with mush,flowers,chocs,temples & mosques all in symbiotic and syncretic idylic vale.

The only problem with this is that the much hyped Kashmiriyat which people like Karan Thapar and etal invoke everytime is that it has been used as a convenient stick to beat the Hindus of Kashmir.I have often been told that there have been no riots in Kashmir.True,there havent been any.But doesn't it take two to riot.The Hindus of Kashmir have faced the ire of irate Islamists right from the day when the Muslims came to Kashmir.There are hundreds of instances from books of History to suggest that Hindus were forced to convert,their temples were desecrated and thus the real Kashmir was in a way converted to the present day" Islamist paradise "that it is.For those who want to delve deep into the Islamic Iconoclasm and the policy of establishing the rule of Deen may refer to this.As Anantnag beomes Islamabad,Hari Parvat becomes Kohe Maran,Shankaracharya Hill becomes Sulaiman Teng secularism thrives and Kashmiriyat lives on in the drawing rooms of our Limousine Liberals.

We may not have to travel too far in times to know how our Kashmiriyat Wadis stood like mute spectators while their Kashmiriyat was getting raped.At the onset of the Islamist insurgency in 1989 Muslims of the valley went berserk,the mosques became centres of spreading hate and venom,the secularists of today ie Yasin Malik,Mirwaiz Farooq(Omar's father) and the eternal rabble rouser the Geelani went on exhorting people in the name of religion.The very Yasin Malik who today behaves like the last apostle of Peace, went on killing Hindus.In less than three months,in Srinagar city alone,89 Pandits were selectively killed by JKLF of whose Yasin Malik is today the Chariman.The irate mobs shouted "Azzadi ka Matlab kya ...La Illah Illalah","Aesse Gache Kashir Batav Bagaer ti Batnev saan" meaning We want Kashmir without Pandit men but with Pandit women.As all this happened the Kasmiriyat Wadis in the rest of nation slept or went to Hibernation.Half a million souls became refugees and Secularism survived.

That day when we left our home in the middle of the night secularism meant "death to Hindus".This still was just the beginning of my tryst with "sickularism".My mother wept bitterly as I read the news that our house in Bagat-i-Kanipora was torched.My father did not speak to anyone for more than month.We thought he had gone dumb.

Now, as Sajjad Lone gives in his sob story about baby milk not being available in Kashmir,I wish to ask him, Did you and your ilk and that includes your slain father bother to check whether we ever had anything to eat or hide ourselves under? My dear friend..Hatred begets more haterd.You are reaping what you have sown.You are lucky that GoI is with you.They are kiling Hindus so that you may get your dog food.

Everytime a terrorist attack happens,the liberals do not fail to tell us that this is a response to Babri Mosque demolition and Gujarat riots.May I ask them why is it the exclusive privelige of the Muslims alone to take revenge.For one Babri Mosque we have 600 temples desecrated in Kashmir.With my own eyes have I seen shit on the very God I used to offer milk and flowers every morning.We did not kill anyone in retailaition.We did not burst bombs in Muslim localities.We did not run campaigns of hate despite being the worst sufferers of "sickularism".

While I cannot stop anyone from sticking or being in love with anything,I will no longer remain a mute spectator to Islamic terrorism or their quest for turning Darul Harb to Darul Islam.Time has come to meet fire with fire.If they think they can bring the Indian Government on its knees by bringing a couple of thousand rabble rousers on the streets of Kashmir they have more than met their match on the Streets of Jammu.It is now or never.Let,death do us apart believers in Kashmiriyat live in their ill concieved and misunderstood Utopia.It is time to move on Comrades.

A letter to Aroon Purie from an anonymous Kashmiri Pandit

Dear Mr. Purie,

I know you are a busy person for whom every moment is very precious. I,therefore, seek to be excused for this intrusion. However, I am taking this liberty as I know you as one of the ardent believers in freedom of expression. I trust you will appreciate the compulsion behind addressing this communication to you. I also believe you will empathize me as the issue being raised below by me is a concern confronting the displaced KashmiriPandit community. It also raises a sensitive question of our treatment ofthe people who openly wage war against the continuity of India as a nation.

Mr. Purie, it can be stated, without any fear of contradiction, that IndiaToday has been instrumental in shaping the life of not only a whole generation but has significantly contributed towards what India istoday. Millionsof people in India have grown reading India Today and are indebted to it for shaping their intellect. As college students, many of my friends got hookedto the magazine for the temptation of seeing the special photograph of somebeautiful model that India Today initially published as a dedicated column.Latter on when the magazine decided to stop publishing the photograph, we found despite the missing attraction, the magazine had become an addiction.For most of us and hundreds of thousands of other Indians, this obsessionhas continued to remain an integral part of our lives. And I am really gladfor that and trust so will be all others who look forward to India Today fora weekly dose of information, entertainment and intellectual stimulation.
India Today readers have always looked at it as a load star, which guidesthe people by presenting dispassionate critiques of the unfolding events week after week. People also hold the India Today group in high esteem forits innovative forays in to music, publication, and electronic media and above all for its highly stimulating annual conclaves. Most of us have always admired India Today for consistently bringing together some of thesharpest brains and achievers who through their individual contributionshave made tremendous difference in the lives of millions of people.I need to compliment you once again for your vision of selecting some of theworld's great achievers for the forth coming India Today Conclave. Most ofthe selected panelists are truly visionaries with capabilities of affectingvery positive changes in the society through the execution of their dreams.However, your selection of Yaseen Malik as on of the youth icons who can make a difference is simply baffling. I am sure this name must have shocked a vast number of your admirers. I would reckon the selection of Yaseen Malik as one of the panelists represents either a great goof up at India today or the naivety of its selectors. In either case, this reflects poorly on the institution known for its untiring fairness, fearless objectivity and tireless crusades.I don't have access to the old copies of India Today pertaining to theperiod when militancy, extremism and fundamentalism raised their ugly heads in Kashmir. But I recall during those dark days in Kashmir when all layers of social and state apparatus seemed to be under subversion, it was onlyIndia Today which brought us a true picture of the happenings around us.Please visit some of the early 1990 issues of India Today and you will find buried under the pages some of the boldest voices of those days. Wasn't it India Today, which suggested, "Govt. of India should seriously consider cutting off water and electricity supplies to mosques and other institutionsin Kashmir that utilize their premises for launching anti-national activities?" And if you dig a little further in your archives, you willfind that much before Hizbul Mujahideen, All Umar, Jihadi Council, Harkat ulAnsaar, Al Qaeeda and many other dreadful militant organizations came into existence, JKLF had already wrought havoc in Kashmir and had even forced an entire Kashmiri Pandit population to flee their ancestral home land. I am sure India Today hasn't forgotten the connection between Yaseen Malik and JKLF.I know it is like showing candle to the sun, but I need to remind you about pending TADA cases against Malik. As an institution, which brought about a paradigm shift in the way Indians analyzed the socio-political events and as magazine that takes pride in tracking down its old covers whenever it does asimilar lead story, India Today can't have forgotten Malik's self admitted role in killing of four unarmed Indian Air Force personnel. It would also be aware of his role in Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping.In your introduction Malik has been described as championing the return ofdisplaced Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland. Nothing can be morepreposterous than this suggestion. I am sorry to state; India today has insulted the sensitivity of hundreds and thousands of displaced Kashmiri Pandits by crediting the man singularly responsible for their exodus as their sympathizer. Knowing the reputation of India Today in being strictly objective about its stories, I would have expected you to employ your own editorial principles while writing about Malik.I would once again credit you for assembling a group of real visionaries forthe forthcoming conclave. For them it is definitely an equal measure of honour to be addressing the conclave as the matter of prestige for you.
Given the amount of reputation and prestige enjoyed by India Today, yourparticipants would have blindly agreed to be the part of the event. By making them to share the stage with a person, who after Hitler, is perhapsthe biggest killer of humanity, India Today will be making the conclave all the more eventful for these modern day icons.Your distinguished guests are an admirable group of achievers, who have attained iconic stature through their principles, honesty and hard work.They are the real loadstars to who the future generations will look forinspiration, guidance and motivation. Posterity will remember them for theirimmense contribution towards humanity. They have excelled in theirrespective fields while playing the game fair and square. Al Gore, MukeshAmbani, Satguru Jagi, Sunil Mittal, Dr. Craig Venter and many others on your panel will be remembered by many generations for their contributions towardsmaking our world a better place to live in. These eminent people have alwayslet their concern for the society dictate their philosophy and actions. You have really pulled a coup by making these distinguished personalities share space with a person, who has exhibited a callous disregard for fellowcitizens by presiding over the forceful exodus of an entire community. And that too for the reasons of faith and religion.Mr. Purie, I don't occupy a pedestal from where I can demand your withdrawal of invitation to Yaseen Malik. I can only leave that to your discretion.But, I am sure my entire displaced Kashmiri Pandit community and majority ofIndians would feel insulted if Yaseen Malik is allowed to preach hishollowed principles and constructed ideology from the pedestals of the conclave. You may have your compulsions and external pressures in grantinghim such a privilege but please don't preach that Malik is concerned aboutthe return of Pandits to their homeland. Nothing can be more fallacious and derogatory than this.I feel the forthcoming India Today Conclave is test of credibility for yourinstitution. After all, it is you who has labeled a religious fundamentalist, a hardcore extremist and a perpetrator of genocide on an ethnic minority as a greatest leader. I don't understand if this is a weird joke or an indication of India Today's sense of judgment gone bizarre.Mr. Purie, as a patriotic Indian and as a small individual who has also contributed in making India Today what it is today, I demand an explanation.

Regards,

YASIN MALIK AND THE INDIA TODAY CONCLAVE

It wouldn’t be the first or the last time in the history of mankind that a killer is freed or elevated to a position which in all likelihood he doesn’t deserve. The crowd has sometimes chosen to free Barbaras and instead crucify Jesus. It has been us the”Ashraf-ul-makhlooq” who chose to stone Hallaj to death.

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So when India Today decided to invite Yasin Malik as a speaker in one of their sessions titled "Youth Forum - If I Could Change The World” they were only following what fellow human beings in done in the past. What however shocked me was this description (http://conclave.digitaltoday.in/2008/speakersprofile.html#mailik) wherein they mentioned nothing of his pending TADA cases some indeed as shocking as kidnapping the then Union Home Minister’s daughter (which he has himself admitted to, read here, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/484093.cms ) , or killing 4 unarmed air-force officials. When someone recently asked him about the killings of 4 unarmed air-force officers who were waiting to board a bus, he blurted almost nonchalantly” The IAF personnel were not innocent victims. They were the agents of the 'enemy'.

(read here, http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/dec/13blood1.htm)

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So was it fair to kill these personnel Mr.Malik? The answer in all likelihood meant YES.

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Yet once again when a respected columnist and someone who runs an online periodical asked him this ,” I find it strange, because it was your organization JKLF that killed most of the innocent Kashmiri Pandits and yet the blame goes to the so-called fundamentalists.” he had no answer. What then prompted INDIA TODAY to call his so called movement a secular one?

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When quizzed” But you are responsible for such killings as Chief Commander?
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Malik’s answer was :No I am not… and I don’t want to talk about it further
(http://kashmiraffairs.org/shibli%20interview%20yasin%20malik.html)

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Praveen Swami, writes in his column titled” J&K: Veils and Daggers – The Perils of India’s Secret Search for Peace “What did surprise observers was the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s choice of chief guest: the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader, Mohammad Yasin Malik. Ever since the JKLF renounced ‘armed struggle’ a decade ago, after its decimation at the hands of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Malik has repeatedly asserted on more than one occasion that he is committed to the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. Malik has also claimed the JKLF’s struggle is ‘secular’, despite its past involvement in attacks on the Kashmiri Pandit community, while the Lashkar-e-Taiba makes no secret of its loathing for Hindus, Jews and other ‘unbelievers’.( http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/sair/Archives/4_31.htm)

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Now if INDIA TODAY would have cared to know a little more about its “Youth Icon” they would have known that the man on board is a remorseless killer and a kidnapper who doesn’t mind sharing space with the most fanatic organisations like Lashkar.I am at my wits end trying to read what could have prompted INDIA TODAY to invite such a man to their conclave.Could it be that Yasin Malik a former terrorist and a dreaded man even now, may have a vision for India.Doesn’t his vision flow from the power of the AK-47 that he first brought to Kashmir.How could a multicultural Indian ethos draw its vision from a man whose entire philosophy has been based on hate.It was he and I remember vividly, when he shouted “Azadi Ka Matlab kya…and his followers responded La-illah Illalah”.If this is his vision for India I can only say”Ya Allah mujhe nijaat aise vision se ya maut de” and I am sure Yasin Malik is still capable of giving me death as he done to my fellow Kashmiri brethren in the past.

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Is the sacred thread of secularism in India so fragile that it would have broken had Yasin Malik not been invited to this conclave. Let us for arguments’ sake accept that Yasin Malik has indeed given up us rogue ways and is now following the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi. Does it mean that we are condone his sins of past? Are we to simply press the delete button on and forget his sinful,ferocious and perverse past? Should there be no retribution for his sins? If Sanjay Dutt is to imprisoned time and again for having a Kalishnikov are we to simply accept that Yasin Malik is above the law. Don’t we all know it was he who brought guns and thus violence to Kashmir? Despite all his acrobatics he remains but a killer, an ordinary criminal on street.
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There is no doubt that the government has been lax on its part in dealing with criminals like him. There still isn’t a charge-sheet for either his involvement in killings of IAF officers or for kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed. Even if he has changed sides now, as we are made to believe, isn’t the government trying to buy peace at a very high price. Sorry maybe I have lost plot but how different is the INDIA TODAY group from our sick government. How could it not read and know what this man’s past and even his present. When a local newspaper called Chattan wrote against him, he had them threatened and even their office destroyed. Murtaza Shibli writes in his description of him that,” He is known for his bad language - he swears and smokes regularly despite a heart condition”. Wouldn’t it be funny to say the least that in his fit of anger (probably a dirty baggage of his militant past, when he could get angry and kill people at will) he assaults Aditya Mittal or Preity Zinta much like he did to a much older and almost venerable Abdul Ghani Butt in a Hurriyat meeting.

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I am appealing through this blog to the INDIA TODAY group to re-consider its decision to invite a remorseless killer, kidnapper and a terrorist to its conclave. His presence at their conclave would only blemish their spotless reputation as a responsible media house. It is also my humble request to the other speakers to raise their voice and refuse to share dais with a hardened criminal and a terrorist.

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If anyone still has any doubts about his past,here is the BBC Hard Talk video,which leaves nothing to imagination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa9CvVV2HXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEFXXGWFIiw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzAWMOyn7IQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pMOHbv_uTc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIn3FXZNCZg

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In anticipation of sanity !

Also Read : The agents of the 'enemy'

Catch 22 at Jantar Mantar

Chinkara gazelle or Kashmiri Hindu? by Lalit Kaul(Rediff.com)

(http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/dec/19guest.htm)

December 19, 2007A Chinkara gazelle is killed in Rajasthan in 1998. The alleged killer, actor Salman Khan, is charged and the prosecution is under process.
Many Kashmiri Pandits are killed in Jammu and Kashmir [Images] in the late 1980s and 1990s. The killers, who have admitted the killings, roam free and have not even been charged yet.
Anything wrong with this picture?
Not if you ask the ministry of home affairs (Kashmir division), government of India.
Using the privilege available under the Right to Information Act, Kashmiri Hindu youth filed a petition (click here to see the petition) to get the status of the pending cases against Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate.
Bitta Karate started his terror career as a Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front member. During the early days of terrorism in the Kashmir valley, he killed many innocent Kashmiri Hindus.
After waiting for two weeks, these youth got a reply from the director and central public information officer at the ministry of home affairs (Kashmir division), government of India (click here to see the official response).
The following was the stock response:
'...The information you have asked for is not available in the Kashmir Division of Ministry of Home Affairs...'
Not only are terrorists not charged and prosecuted, but the Kashmir division of the ministry of home affairs actually claims not to have any records about these killers and killings.
Am I convinced? Hell, No! Should you be convinced? Hell, No!
This ministry of home affairs has a separate Kashmir division within its ministry and it does not have any information about these merciless killers? Who is fooling whom?
Bitta Karate admitted the to the killings in a television interview. Please click here to see for yourself.
Common people like me have access to these videos and transcripts but the Kashmir division of the ministry of home affairs does not. What a shame!
Bitta Karate spent many years in Indian jails but was eventually released by a TADA court on bail on October 23, 2006. While granting bail, the presiding officer of the TADA court, N D Wani, observed that the court was aware of the fact that the allegations leveled against Bitta Karate are of a serious nature and could carry punishments of death or life imprisonment. The fact is that the prosecution (read the government of Jammu & Kashmir and India) has shown total disinterest in arguing the case, which is in complete violation of Article 21 of the Constitution.
And now Bitta Karate, who admitted killing scores of Kashmiri Hindus, is not only roaming free but is now playing the role of a politician on the Kashmir political scene. It is not inconceivable that there soon might be a day when he will become a state minister in the government of J&K, maybe even chief minister.
Do you feel it is okay for government agencies to let these terrorists roam free and be more concerned about Chinkara gazelles? Please do not get me wrong. I don't have anything against Chinkara gazelles and I do not advocate the killing of these endangered animals. But if I am ever given a choice between saving a human being and a Chinkara gazelle, you know what my choice will be. So where are the government's priorities?
How come terrorists are not being prosecuted as per the laws of the land? What is preventing the law enforcement agencies from implementing the laws and putting these killers behind bars so that they cannot harm any more innocent civilians? Isn't providing security to its citizens the first and foremost responsibility of any government? Am I missing something here?
While pseudo-secular human rights activists continue to scream about the Gujarat riots and clamour for face time on Indian 'progressive' media outlets, they have their lips sealed and pens dry about the horrendous ethnic cleansing of 400,000+ Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir.
I guess gone are the days when journalists used to stand up against injustice and fight for the rights of ALL human beings, irrespective of the religion they belonged to. These days, it seems they get their stories handed over to them by their politician masters who only care about their kursi and 'votes' that get them that kursi. After all, it is a kissa kursi ka.
All I can say is that if there is life after death, I wish to be reborn as a Chinkara gazelle. At least, I will be assured that I am protected by the Indian Wildlife Act and wildlife activists who will fight for my survival.

Lalit Koul is the editor and publisher of Kashmir Herald, an online news journal available at http://www.kashmirherald.com/. He can be reached at editor@kashmirherald.com

Pandits criticise Rights Panel - The Asian Age

New Delhi, Dec. 9: "Roots in Kashmir", a youth group from Kashmir, held a protest rally on the occasion of International Human Rights Day here on Sunday to bring to light the alleged injustice perpetrated on Kashmiri pandits.

The activists marched from Jantar Mantar to Shaheed B.K. Ganjoo Park at Gole Market. The protesters also paid obeisance at the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, signifying the importance of the martyrdom given by Guru Teg Bahadur for the pandit community. "Roots in Kashmir" has condemned the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for not coming to the rescue of the Kashmiri pandits. "It has been 14 years since the formation of NHRC but it has completely failed to address the grievances of the Pandit community, which is living in its 18th year of exile from its homeland," said Roots in Kashmir media coordinator Aditya Raj Kaul.

To escape persecution, more than 500,000 Kashmiri pandits had to leave their homes in the Valley and out of that, more than 50,000 are still languishing in uninhabitable refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi. "The NHRC has ceased to exist for us. We have submitted memorandums, fought cases and even met all senior bureaucrats and officials to appraise them of the situation but no results till date," said Ms Neeru Kaul, an activist from the group.
"It continues to work as a biased forum," she added.

Roots in Kashmir is also unhappy with the Indian government over the issue of terrorism. "In spite of cases of serious nature pending against terrorists, they roam free, but Pandits continue to live a life of refugees in their own land," Mr Aditya Raj Kaul said.

Roots in Kashmir chief coordinator Amal Magazine said, "The international recognition of our issues is the result of the struggle launched by the Pandit group during the last 17 years of exile. Roots in Kashmir holds that terror has become a pan-India phenomenon now with global linkages and the group endeavours to bring to light the real culprits and murderers of innocent Kashmiris."

POLITICS OF APOLOGY-by KAMAL HAK

(An old cartoon from the India Today)

Recently our lost homeland has been a buzz with news of different nature. The national media has been replete with the stories about Kashmiri Pandits reopening their temples and other places of worship after nearly eighteen years. These news stories also empathetically highlight the cooperation extended by the local Muslims in organizing the prayers and hawans at the previously abandoned temples. This is also fact that now more and more displaced Kashmiri Pandits find themselves mustering enough courage for taking a brief sojourn to their roots. Also, despite what the local media in Kashmir may project, Kashmiri Muslims at their individual levels are renewing their contacts with the displaced community. On their return from a brief visit to the valley many displaced Kashmiri Pandits speak about the discernable change of heart in the local Muslims. Some even suggest the preparedness of the local Muslims for apologizing to the displaced Pandits for the injustice committed against them.

A few months back some sort of brouhaha was created when the erstwhile spokesperson of All Party Hurriat Conference, Saleem Geelani, offered apologies to displaced Kashmiri Pandits on behalf of Kashmiri Muslims during a seminar organized by Roots in Kashmir in Jammu. Many agencies, with vested interests, and including some Kashmiri Pandits lose no time in branding these incidents as the indications of changing times in Kashmir. It may also be true that the times have indeed changed in Kashmir. But, does it necessarily mean the conditions have become so much conducive for the return of displaced Pandits that these demand a complete about turn of the very fundamentals that have driven and sustained the community’s struggle in exile.

One question that needs to be debated and understood is if these individual expressions of remorse carry any meaning? Alternatively, one also needs to ask a question if any institutionalized apology by the Kashmiri Muslims would tantamount to atonement of their sins. Displaced Kashmiri Pandits will have to be carefully guarded in responding to these hollow apologies, which will increase in numbers in the times to come. They need ask themselves a question which Marina Warner a renowned novelist and critic raised some time back, “Is apology today’s new political enthusiasm?”

This is also a fact that there is nothing new in the recent apologies made by certain Kashmiri Muslims. Various influential Kashmiri Muslim individuals and leaders have in past publicly apologized to the displaced Pandits in public. Only difference being that earlier the recipients didn’t see any significant in these otiose pronouncements. The process of offering apologies to displaced Pandits, perhaps, started in the year 1999, when during course of a huge international conference at The Hague, the Hurriat delegation offered to publicly apologize for the crimes committed against the Pandit. Panun Kashmir delegation attending the conference didn’t attach any significance to that and thought the gesture was only dictated by political expediency.

Some years later, the late Ashok Kak assembled a galaxy of Kashmiri Separatist leaders including Shabbir Shah and Omar Farooq in a first ever post 1990, across the table interaction with displaced Pandits. The proceedings of that meeting went on the expected lines with the Pandits vociferously expressing their anger and the Muslims trying to strike reconciliatory notes. The general sentiments of the Kashmiri Muslim leadership at that time also were overwhelmingly apologetic.

Nothing significant emerged from the said meeting as, perhaps, the reconciliatory tones were more a produce of head than the genuine outpouring of the heart. The deceit, cunningness and the rabid fundamentalist mindset behind their extirpation also might have heavily weighed in the minds of the Pandit participants, who dismissed the developments as part of a politics.

Some time later, in the year 2005, an interaction was held, in Motel Ashok Jammu, between groups of Kashmiri Muslim leaders with displaced Kashmiri Pandit representatives which included Dr. K.L. Chowdhury, a senior Panun Kashmir leader. It was during this meeting that a former militant and then mainstream politician Babbar Badr expressed his guilt, neglect and repentance for the sorry state of displaced community. It was around same time when during a seminar on Kashmir held in Jammu University, Babbar Badr, on his own and Kashmiri Muslims’ behalf sought hand folded forgiveness from Panun Kashmir Convener, Dr. Agnishekhar.

Apology as an instrument of reconciliation has become an important tool internationally. There seems to be an unprecedented rush to offer apologies in the belief of creating benchmarks for acknowledging the wrongs took place. Whether, such apologies can become harbingers of progress towards restoring the mutual trust between the warring societies is, however, debatable. In the aftermath of Virginia (USA) legislators voting unanimously, early this year, to express profound regrets over Old Dominion’s role in promoting slavery, Senator Henry L. Marsh 111 expressed that he foresaw “no true progress in this country until we get a reconciliation and honest dialogue about race and slavery.” The same applies to politics of Kashmiri Muslim apologies as well, as no bridges can ever be built without an honest and dispassionate admission of conspiracy that forced an exodus of three hundred and fifty thousand ethnic aborigines from Kashmir.

There are also inherent dangers associated with the act of apologies as these can be effectively used to block the chances of a conflict free future. John Torpey in “The Entrepreneurs of Memory” strongly asks if the world wide concern with public apology represents a turning of society’s face towards the past and on that closes the possibility of imagining a better future. He further asks, “Isn’t there a danger that struggling to redress history will become a substitute for working a better future?” Marina Warner even goes to the length of suggesting, “Too many crimes have been committed in the name of future for us to rise to the call of apology.”

In response to the powerful presentation made by the Dr. Agnishekhar at the Prime Minister’s 1st Round Table Conference on Kashmir, Mufti Mohd. Sayed made a telling statement of the times by saying, “I am ashamed at what was done to Pandits. It is a national shame and ‘Hum iske liye sharminda hai.’ Mufti Sayed may have tried to score points then but one can’t be but be amused at his worthless statement. Those who get impressed by these apologies must understand the politics behind the same and should not forget that there was no succor for displaced Pandits in Mufti’s healing touch policy. Having been a union home minister and also a chief minister, Mufti can’t have been ignorant about no justice being possible without reparation. Nahla Valji commenting upon the proceedings of Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa rightly argues that, “reconciliation is ultimately linked to reparation and implies that without the later one can find neither justice nor closure.” In case of Kashmiri Pandits reparation can only be the recognition of their claim over a separate homeland in Kashmir.

Speaking at a seminar held last year during Summit of the Powerless, Omar Adullah strongly advocated setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Kashmir on the similar lines as was done in post apartheid South Africa. True, the South African endeavor apparently seemed to have succeeded in its mission; however, recent reports have exposed some glaring omissions, which raise serious questions on the sincerity of purpose behind the whole process. Considering the inherent prejudice that Kashmiri Muslims have historically nurtured against the Pandits, will any commission be able to truthfully serve its terms of reference? Moreover, will the prevailing political and social dispensation in Kashmir ever allow setting up of honest and just terms of reference for any commission, which seeks dispense justice to the displaced community?

As mentioned earlier, Kashmiri Muslims will continue apologizing to the Pandits. The central question here is what that apology will actually indicate or achieve? Last year, during a two day seminar, Kashmir Imbroglio: Perspective, held in India Peace Center, Nagpur, Hurriat delegation led by their then spokesperson Saleem Geelani profusely expressed their regrets and sorry for whatever was inflicted upon the Pandits. Saleem Geelani even went to the extent of seeking forgiveness from the Panun Kashmir delegation comprising of Dr. Agnishekhar and Ramesh Manvati. The idea of an apology will definitely have an emotional appeal to many Pandits. But, what needs to be understood is that politics of symbolism must be isolated from the politics of substance, and then only the justice can be delivered.

The apologies from the very people who are the perpetrators of worst crimes against the humanity will only be symbolic and dictated by sheer political expediency. The apologies carry no weight or conviction as these are backed by a constructed mind set which welcomes the displaced persons as tourists and conspires against their permanent return. A testimony at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission stated, “We won’t say these perpetrators give us their money but they must give us some thing to show they are sorry.” Kashmiri Muslims can’t return lost seventeen years to the displaced Pandits but they need to give them some thing to show they are sorry. Kashmiri Pandits would be satisfied with a small portion of land on which they can give shape to their dreams and aspirations.

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Kamal Hak is a political analyst and a columnist. He as well is a senior leader of Panun Kashmir. Hak resides in Noida and can be contacted at kamalhak[@]gmail.com

Screening at Center for Media Studies-Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

We were over cautious this time around,we did not post the screening venue and date on our blog prior to the screening.We are aware that a lot of "Champions of Free Speech" are out with their arsenal ready to pounce upon and scuttle any of our screenings.We are scared of them,I must admit.Who wouldnt be!With the communists forming the core of our government even the PM has to eat the humble pie time and again.The seventh most powerful woman on the globe has to bow to the nuissance called Communists.We are small fries after all.So we were tight lipped until it would happen.

It was the turn of MMM Students(Master in Mass Media ) at the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University to see what this nation has turned a blind eye to.Most of the students were well informed about Kashmir and the plight of Kashmiri Pandits but the magnitude of the plight had still to dawned on them.What equally surprised them was the apathy of the Government.Bitta Karate roaming free was something that a lot of the viewers were very uncomfortable with.

The movie screening prompted a discussion session wherein students aired their views and asked questions.While most questions centered around Kashmiri Pandit exodus and their plight there were questions about the role of armed forces,human rights violations and rights of Kashmiri Muslims.

We could only share our knowledge and pesrpective on the various questions,issues,frenzy and expression of freedom.

As one left the auditorium one was left with more questions than answers.But then that is how vexed the Kashmir issue is.It is and will be RIK's endeavour to take the issue to the audiences and then let them decide for themselves as to how they view the Kashmiri Pandit exodus and their present plight.

RIK would like to thank Arunabh Sen and Pawan Atri for their help in making the screening successful.Screening pics ....we apologise for the poor quality of the pictures.We did not take any cameras with us because we werent very sure till the last minute that these"Champions of Free Speech" would not have used their CONTACTS for blocking our screening.

Successful Screening at IIMC

A screening of our presentations,video's and interview of the terrorist Bitta Karate was conducted at the Indian Institue of Mass Communication in New Delhi. An audience of 50 mass communication masters students gathered with much interest to see the woes and plight of this displaced community. We thank Mr. Sunil Bhat, a student of prestigious IIMC who through his tireless efforts conducted this screening single handedly.

In words of Sunil; he sums the entire event as follows: "After the screening was over we (students) engaged in a disscussion on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits. Everybody was moved by seeing the K.Ps. living as refugees in their own country. Many of them raised their voices against Bitta Karate."

He continues further, "Some of the students got emotional and said that the K.Ps. have been subjected to genocide. They further said that the psuedo-secularism in the country is responsible for the present plight of K.Ps. "

Few pictures from the IIMC Screening...