Cyberspace is new front for Kashmiri separatists - The National

Cyberspace is new front for Kashmiri separatists - The National

Floating palaces could sink into history - The National

Floating palaces could sink into history - The National

Simple weddings gain ground in Kashmir - The National

Simple weddings gain ground in Kashmir - The National

http://www.asianage.com/ideas/kashmir-many-views-pilgrims-progress-734

http://www.asianage.com/ideas/kashmir-many-views-pilgrims-progress-734

Excerpts of an interview that I gave to a New Delhi-based journalist recently :

Q: Do you think self-censorship is because of fear or because of the growth of an artist?

A: I think, in many cases, if not all, it is because of the growth of an artist. A stage comes in his/her professional life when he/she can make a distinction between right and wrong. When I say wrong, it may not be wrong as such but distribution of which will do harm than any good to people, the society and, on larger scale, the humanity.

Q: Is self-censorship good for an artist? How?

A: I’m a professional journalist. As such I would never like to write anything that would set out a riot. I’m just giving you an example; that in the sub-continental context. But I personally believe that on the issues where you need to educate people or change a mindset such as on Kashmir a journalist must put things on paper or report about them as they are. Nothing should be suppressed in the name of national interest. Worse is when some of us try to hide things from our readers, listeners or viewers because of personal likes or dislikes and even on the basis of one’s own political or religious beliefs. I’m saying that because I’ve seen it happening around. And that is criminal. It can’t be called self-censorship as the doers wish to believe it is.

Q: Do you think if you perform your art freely, government or groups will find it controversial?

A: Yes, in certain cases. Precisely, when it hurts or is seen as being harmful to someone’s interests; collective or individual. It becomes controversial mainly when it clashes with your political views; tells the people that you are wrong what you believe in or are doing. During the heyday of insurgency in Kashmir, I would be openly accused by the government, the security forces of being hand in glove with militants. On the other hand, various militant outfits would complain my reports don’t tell the truth fully, am not giving due coverage to what they are doing or may have done, etc. Then a stage came when all parties to the dispute began calling me biased in favour of their rivals. Why? Because I was trying to perform my art freely.

Q: How has censorship changed you?

A: It has not changed me as such but made me professionally more mature and more responsible.

Q: Have there been instances where you have self-censored your work?

A: Yes, there have been such instances there. In most of these it was rather being responsible. When Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated I received a phone call and the caller introduced himself as spokesperson of a Kashmiri militant outfit and claimed they had killed Rajiv Gandhi. I entered into an argument with the caller, asked him to establish his identity-that he was a genuine guy authorized to speak for that particular organisation. He failed to given convincing answers to the questions I asked him. Yet the story would have made headline on international level. Those days, I was working also for an international news agency. But I knew what it would mean for Kashmiris living or working in various parts of India if I only say that someone who claimed to be speaking on behalf of a Kashmiri militant outfit admitted to killing Rajiv Gandhi. I knew what had happened to Sikhs in Delhi and some other parts of India following Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was murdered by her Sikh bodyguards. I decided not to report what the caller had said and prepared myself to face the outfit’s ire. Later I learnt he was a fake guy. Now imagine what would have been the purpose of or motive behind his telling me what he actually said.

Q: Do you think it necessary?

A: Yes. It becomes necessary when something very critical is involved. I gave you instances why.

Q: Is absolute writing freedom possible? Where do you draw the line?

A: It is possible provided you are also ready to face the consequences. I won’t say where do I draw the line but my experience is in Indian media is; many editors and owners have drawn a line-a sort of Lakshman Rekha-on issues and regions such as Kashmir which they hardly do cross.

Q: How important is the right to offend to a literary culture. Is it necessary?

A: I don’t think I will be able to answer this question. That because it depends on the kind of situation you are caught in as an artist. You cross the bridge when you actually come to it.

And they wait for his mortal remains now.

YUSUF JAMEEL

SRINAGAR

Feb. 9, 2013: “Allah must have thought good for us. I’m optimistic,” Tabbasum, wife of Muhammad Afzal Guru, had said recently.

Speaking to this newspaper at Gurus’ ancestral house built of exposed burnt brick and timber and situated on the banks of River Jhelum at Jagir, a Sopore suburb, 55-km northwest of Srinagar, she had said that however conflicting reports about Guru’s providence pouring out of New Delhi turn her and other family members nervous from time to time. “Those who ask for immediate hanging of Afzal make us anxious. We know why they do that but they, perhaps, don’t realize how painful it is for us particularly our 12-year-old son Ghalib,” she had said.

“When something about his father appears in a newspaper and he hears about that from his schoolmates the first thing he asks for on returning home is to show him the publication. He also wishes to keep himself abreast of news about his father through Internet," she had said

Whenever he would find something discouraging he would look sad. "That makes me cry,” Tabbasum who works as a manager at a private nursing home in neighbouring Baramulla had said.  Some time ago, Ghalib after watching TV rushed to his mother to tell her Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan has “supported” his father’s situation. “He was excited saying SRK was the only person who spoke in support of his father in a discussion on TV,” his mother recalled.

“I earn sufficiently to keep ourselves going and meet the expenses on Ghalib’s education but Afzal’s absence makes life dark and incomplete.  I’m still learning to live without him. In fact, it is his (Afzal’s) prayers and my love and concern for our child that encourage me to live for them. I’m sure he will come back someday,” the 32-year-old Tabbasum had said.

Afzal is also her cousin and they tied in nuptial knot on November 1, 1998. It was an arranged marriage decided by the two families. Afzal was an MBBS student but had left his studies midway to “fight for the freedom of Kashmir.” The family would make no bones about his being a Pakistan-trained militant. Rather it feels “proud” about him being a “dedicated soldier” of Kashmir’s “freedom struggle”. 

Aijaz Ahmed Guru, Afzal’s brother, said “I know him so well, better than his wife. He is a brother and has been a friend too. His love for his people is infinite. He is worried about their future and would often express himself before me and other friends. He wanted to see Kashmir liberated from foreign occupation and was prepared to sacrifice his life for the cause. I know that for certain.”

Asked if he felt Afzal was implicated in the Parliament attack case and that any link between him and the terrorists was only tenuous as some people insist, Aijaz had said, “Let us think what prosecution said is true. Also, to accept he was involved in the incident or he was not is immaterial now.  As far as I know he is a Pakistan-trained mujahid who had devoted his life for the cause of freedom. If that was not the case, then he would not have relinquished his studies midway and joined the militants’ ranks.”

Tabbasum had wished and prayed the President commuted Afzal’s death sentence to life imprisonment. “After every nimaz and other times also I pray to Allah that a decision that comes out is good for us. I seek His blessings for Afzal.” Yet the fact that his mercy petition remained undecided for so long was “agonising” for the entire family, Aijaz had said. Their mother, Aisha, died in last week of September, 2012. “Doctors said she died of gastric stomach cancer but we know what the real cause off her illness was,” Tabbasum had said.

 

The family had also said it had no love last for politicians who throng their place or/ and issue statements in support of Afzal whenever he is in news. “Apart from statements they have done nothing. No real legal aid for Afzal has come from any side. But we take everything in our stride. We don’t complain nor would you find us lamenting in public because we have no political ambition. We are simple people, work hard to earn our livelihood and thank God for the good and bad things that happen in our lives,” Aijaz had asserted.

He denied Afzal, the militant, had ever surrendered before the BSF in Kashmir in late 1990s. “He had brought two guns from Pakistan. One of them actually meant for another boy had been concealed in sand on the riverbank. Since the security forces would frequently raid our place and ask for the weapon I retrieved the gun and took it to the BSF and handed it over to them against proper receipt on behalf of Afzal.” The rumour had it ‘Afzal has along with his weapon surrendered before the BSF’.       

LoC skirmishes: India unlikely to accept UNMOGIP role

YUSUF JAMEEL SRINAGAR Jan. 9: If Pakistan’s offer that the recent combats along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir may be investigated by the United Nations Military Observers’ Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) is conceded by New Delhi, the 39-member group will, at least, undergo some toil after years of seclusion actually forced by it (India). It will also restore its legitimacy fully as India has sought to keep it at arm's length ever since the 'Ceasefire Line' in Kashmir was re-designated as the "Line of Control" following the Simla Agreement of 1972. Hence, it is unlikely that India will even agree to give any kind of consideration to the Pakistani suggestion of involving the UNMOGIP into any kind of probe into the alleged, and since refuted, ceasefire violations and intrusions along the de facto border by either side. After the UN Security Council enforced ceasefire between India and Pakistan in Kashmir in January 1949, the two countries signed Karachi Agreement in March 1951 and established a ceasefire line to be supervised by observers. The same year, after the termination of the UNCIP, the Security Council passed a resolution (91-1951) under which UNMOGIP was established to observe and report violations of ceasefire. However, after the signing of the Simla pact, India and Pakistan disagree on UNMOGIP’s mandate in Kashmir. India argues that the mandate of UNMOGIP has lapsed after Simla agreement because it was specifically established to observe ceasefire according to Karachi Agreement, the assertion questioned by Pakistan. The military authorities of the neighbouring country have continued to lodge complaints about alleged ceasefire violations along the LoC with UNMOGIP. On the other hand, India has lodged no such complaints with it since January 1972 and has restricted the military observers on its side of the de facto border yet have continued to provide accommodation, security, transport and other facilities to UNMOGIP. However, the UN Secretary General’s office maintains that the UNMOGIP should continue to function because no resolution has been passed to terminate it. If India moves such a resolution in the UN Security Council, directly or through an ally member, it would only bring the issue of Kashmir back to the limelight at International level which India will never want to, say the Kashmir watchers. Nevertheless, the LoC only refers to the military control line between India and Pakistan in Kashmir and does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary but is the de facto border. However, voices are being raised both in India and Pakistan and at International level to make it a permanent border between the two countries. India has constructed a 12-feet high double-row of fencing and concertina wire along a 550 km portion of the 740 km long LoC which is electrified and connected to a network of motion sensors, thermal imaging devices, lighting systems and alarms in order to discourage infiltration from across the de facto border. Indian army says that it has, in fact, reduced by eighty percent the number of militants and other “undesirable elements” who cross into its side of the LoC to carry out subversive activities. Islamabad has resented the construction of the barrier, saying it violates both bilateral accords and relevant UN Security Council resolutions. At present, the UNMOGIP has 39 military observers drawn from Chile, Croatia, Finland, Italy, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sweden, Thailand and Uruguay, 25 international civilian personnel and 48 local civilian staff. It operates from Srinagar in summer and Rawalpindi in winter but has regional offices at various places across Jammu and Kashmir including Jammu, Poonch, Muzaffarabad and Mirpur and the costs which are US $21,084,900 (2012-13) are met directly under the UN regular budget. Meanwhile, the UNMOGIP has received an official complaint from the Pakistan army and will conduct a probe into the ceasefire violations on the LoC. "Regarding the January 6 alleged incident, the UNMOGIP has received an official complaint from the Pakistan army and will conduct an investigation as soon as possible in accordance with its mandate," Martin Nesirky, spokesman for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, was quoted as saying at a press briefing in New York.