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Separatists use social media to counter curbs | The Asian Age

Separatists use social media to counter curbs | The Asian Age: A Kashmiri saying goes �As the fisherman casts a net the fish discover how to jump over it�. ...


'Hanzan wahroav zaal, gadav heche wott'a'

A Kashmiri saying goes ‘As the fisherman casts a net the fish discover how to jump over it’. Ostensibly taking cue from it, key Kashmiri separatist leaders, who often face official curbs such as transitory or drawn out house arrests or incarceration in police stations and other detention centres depending on urgency of situation on the ground, take to the Internet to reach out the people with their messages. Facebook and Twitter.com are largely used by them to spread their word.       

Mufti Muhammad Sayeed flaunted one-liners like, “Democracy is battle of ideas”, and “bandook se na goli se, baat bane gi boli se” (Neither through the gun nor the bullet, the matter will have to be resolved through dialogue) and promised Kashmiri separatists a political space to vent their spleen. His daughter Mehbooba Mufti pledged to carry the legacy forward when she stepped in his shoes and became the first woman chief minister of restive Himalayan state earlier this year.

But soon deviating from its ‘Democracy is battle of ideas’ promise, the PDP-BJP government began a crackdown on select key separatists leaders including Muhammad Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Omar Abdullah, a former Chief Minister and leader of opposition National Conference (NC), accused Ms. Mufti of personally and directly supervising the selective crackdown on separatist. “The same Mehbooba Mufti who advocated political engagement and dialogue with Hurriyat leaders is now supervising a selective crackdown on those separatist leaders who are more open and stinging in their criticism of her policies and U-turns,” he alleged. He also said, “It was PDP that assured the separatists a ‘Battle of
Ideas’ where they would be free to advocate their views in a democratic and free manner. Today she has gone from that self-righteous moral pedestal to the role of personally directing arrests and using almost three decade old cases to send separatist leaders to jail”.

While in confinement, these leaders or their aides on their behalf take to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.com to counter act the official curbs and reach out to the people and deliver messages. 

They also use the Internet to send their statements and other petitions to the world leaders like the US President, Barack Obama, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) and various human rights groups and, both at home and abroad, prominent political parties and, of course, journalists and media organisations.

As the government tightened restrictions on the Mirwaiz, Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and chairman of his faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference alliance earlier this month, he took to micro-blogging site Twitter.com to complain “Barred again by "champions of democracy" from offering Friday prayers. Force, intimidation and coercion policy of the state”. In another tweet, he announced “Govt can’t scuttle our voice by arrests & detentions. Hurriyat will continue to oppose anti Kashmir policies & designs.” While
under house arrest at his Srinagar residence, the Mirwaiz in yet another tweet asked people to reach the City’s historic Grand Mosque for holding protests. He said, “Not allowed to offer Friday prayers at Jama Masjid today. Detentions, house arrests won't frighten us...protests at Jama Masjid today”. Yet another tweet from him said, “After caging all the pro- freedom leadership in the name of ‘peace’, PDP-BJP govt of Mehbooba Mufti now trying to gag media as well. What a shame!”

The Mirwaiz who is among Kashmir’s new generation of Internet savvy politicians who have taken their political struggle to cyberspace uses Twitter.com to draw the world’s attention towards what he alleges is the “serious” human rights situation in the  State and to reiterate the demand of self-determination for its people. Reads one of his recent tweets, “Reject BJP @nsitharaman statement "Kashmiris not a party". Even if India-Pakistan reach
agreement-won't be acceptable to us unless Kashmiris are on board.”

Yasin Malik is also on Twitter.com but he usually uses Facebook to deliver his messages. Mr. Malik, who is the chairman of pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has faced frequent detentions by police in past couple of months amid his pro-active efforts to strike ‘issue-based unity’ in the separatist camp. Last week, he was taken into custody by police while on way to the residence of senior separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani who himself is under house arrest for past several months. He was subsequently sent to Srinagar Central Jail but the JKLF was quick to place his message on Facebook, “Now the shamelessness of so-called rulers has touched a new low as they have chosen to ban even personal meeting between two people. By imposing ban on mutual meetings, so-called saffronised rulers have expressed their animosity against democratic and civilized behaviours,” the message read.

He also said that the move to prevent him from meeting the octogenarian leader “proves it beyond any doubt how much the rulers and other authorities fear the unity among resistance leaders”. Mr. Malik announced “these oppressive measures can’t deter us from pursuing the path of truth and freedom and history bears witness to the fact that tolerating these atrocities and bans has been our way of life from past many years.”

Several other separatist leaders like Islamic Students League chief Shakeel Bakshi also spend hours in blogging, responding to online users and updating their Facebook pages or tweet. They maintain the Internet has been an effective tool in both updating Kashmiris home and abroad about the situation in the State and spreading their word especially when under house arrest or facing other official curbs.

Some of the separatist parties have their own Facebook pages and websites which are updated regularly. 

Pandit Jia Lal Chowdhury (Jee Chowdhury)ry)

One of the greatest and illustrious sons of the soil who lived graciously

Good to see a piece on Pandit Jia Lal Chowdhury, a leading advocate of his time, in today's 'Kashmiri Uzma'. 

http://epaper.kashmiruzma.net/Details.aspx…

Written by our friend and colleague Zahir Din , the latest in his 'Gumshoda Sitare' series, in the end, says it is not known how and where Jia Lalji spent the last days of his life nor is it clear when and where did he pass away.

Just to say, Jia Lalji was our neighbour at Raze Kadal (Sokalipora). The Chowdhuries had a couple of huge houses on a vast piece of land on the western bank of Nallah Maar, just in front of the Mirwaiz Manzil. A part of the land known as 'Ba'ta Bagh' had virtually been abandoned by the Chowdhuries and we used to play there. We lived in a modest dwelling just across Nallah Maar at the tail end of Saifuddin Pora (western side) and facing ‘Ba’ta Bagh’ and Moulvi Masjid.

Jia Lalji was the father of renowned physician Dr. K.L. Chowdhury who lives in Roop Nagar area of Jammu for the past over two and a half decades. The eldest among the six siblings is Chaman Lal Chowdhury who graduated from London in mid 1960s and worked as a Civil and Environmental Engineer in the UK where he lives presently. The next eldest is Robinder (Robin) Chowdhury, who was in his childhood known to neighbours and friends as Bushan. He lives in Australia where he had been an academic for more than 30 years and is now an Emeritus Professor. Dr. Kundan Chowdhury is third in line and next is a daughter- Dr. Vijay Chowdhury, a specialist (obstetrics) who served for many years as a specialist (obstetrics) in Srinagar including as Medical College staff now lives in Delhi. Youngest son Dr. Surrinder Chowdhury, who graduated from REC ,Srinagar, and did his PhD in electronics in Liverpool, lives and works in Silicon Valley, California, and youngest daughter  Dr. Usha Chowdhury (Kaul), a graduate of Srinagar Government Medical College, has been  for many years a paediatrician working in Buffalo, New York State.

One of the Senior Chowdhury's cousins was Shamboo Nath Chowdhury who was a clerk in judicial department and presently lives in Gurgaon. All the Chowdhuries had shifted from Raze Kadal to various areas of Srinagar in 1960s and 1970s. The sole Pandit family headed by one Raj Nath, an agent of Jia Lalji, and which lived in one of the houses within the premises and stayed put even after the outbreak of insurgency, also left Raze Kadal and subsequently migrated out of the Valley in 1990s. Even Raj Nath's family would be known to many people as 'Chowdhuries' because of their close proximity to Jia Lalji.

Jia Lalji had shifted to S.P.College Lane (Barbar Shah) from Raze Kadal in 1963. He practiced law at the J&K High Court until about four months of his death in 1989 at the age of 76. He was suffering from bronchogenic carcinomas (lung cancer) and was taken to the USA for advanced treatment but to no avail. After returning home and a couple of months before the end came, he visited the court premises to bid goodbye to his former colleagues-lawyers, judges, judicial officers, petition-writers, etc. Among his agents was Gulla Gurkoo, often referred to as Gulla Choudhary- of Budhgeer, Ali Kadal. After Jia Lalji’s demise, among those who visited his Srinagar house to offer condolences was Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq. This happened few months before the Mirwaiz fell to the bullets of the assassins at his Nigeen residence on May 21, 1990.

Jia Lalji’s illustrious son Dr. Kundan Lal Chowdhury and the most well known among his offspring back home is a medical graduate (M.B.B.S.) from Punjab University and postgraduate (MD) from Delhi University. He did fellowship in Neurology from London. He started his career as a faculty member in Government Medical College, Srinagar, as a clinician, teacher and researcher, rose to become a Professor, and pioneered in Neurology as a subspecialty in the Medical College.

Following shifting to Jammu in 1990, he started a charitable hospital, the Shriya Bhat Mission Hospital and Research Center, which provides free multi-specialty consultation and treatment to the poor and indigent patients and conducts medical camps, surveys and research. He is engaged in multifarious activities as a medical professional, social activist, journalist, poet and writer, essayist and reviewer and is author of several books

A portion of the Chowdhuries’ property at Sokali Pora, Raze Kadal is now owned by a Muslim trader of Srinagar and the remaining part of it was acquired by the government for road-widening a couple of decades ago.

P.S.: Why should the performance and other activities of Jia Lalji’s offspring be of any interest in a piece on him? Just to say, a person will prosper or ruin due to his/her own deeds. He/she has to select what he/she wants. If you are good and helpful to the people particularly to the needy it is not just your good nature which everyone immediately thinks of when they speak of you- that even after you have gone- but your children can also benefit from your deeds. As we say in Kashmir, your next seven generations will reap fruits from the prayers the beneficiaries of your good actions and demeanour may have made for you. Equally important is; good parenting and positive interventions in early childhood can work best as it evidently did in the case of Jia Lalji’s family. 

http://epaper.kashmiruzma.net/Details.aspx…

'Zero Bridge' adds to Srinagar's charm



http://onlineepaper.asianage.com/articledetailpage.aspx?id=5691519

Now, �footie' is �her' green valley | The Asian Age

Now, �footie' is �her' green valley | The Asian Age: On a late peak summer afternoon in 2007, Nadiya Nighat walked into the sprawling lawns of ...





http://www.deccanchronicle.com/sunday-chronicle/headliners/260616/now-footie-is-her-green-valley.html

'Na Pir Anzus, Na Pir Manzus'  


The supporters of Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq clashed with those of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah in downtown Srinagar on 'Martyrs' Day' (July 13). We, journalists, went to cover it and also the rally that was subsequently held beside the 'Mazaar-e-Shohda' at Khawaja Bazaar and addressed by the Mirwaiz. 

In the evening, a similar rally that of the National Conference (NC) was being held at the venue and was to be addressed by the Sheikh and others. On seeing us sitting in a corner of the dais, a NC activist yelled "Ye'em hehar (I beg a pardon) aeassi subus homiss seeth. Waen chhi yete'h balaye lagmith." Being young and new to the profession, I angrily looked towards him but senior journalist (Late) JN Sathu asked to ignore him. 'Ma sun ath, wot'ch bronth kun,' came the counselling. Smiles on the faces of the Sheikh and other NC leaders. That should sum up the role we scribes do play although there are exceptions there. You have good, honest and professional people here and you have bad, dishonest and unprofessional too. Even worse.

A Page From My Diary

Sardarji jokes

1974: I was a student at Srinagar’s Sri Pratap Higher Secondary School and had gone to Delhi on a combined study and pleasure trip. While returning home, I boarded a ‘chalo’ coach of a Jammu-bound train. On board and sitting next to me on a side lower berth was an elderly Sikh; his long white and unfastened beard hanging down his wrinkled face. Soon the coach became crowded and when it left Delhi’s old railway station it had already turned cramped. Seeing a lady standing near us, the old man gave up his seat to her. After stopping at a few of stations en route, the remaining passengers could have more legroom and feel less cramped. Sardarji got his seat back but soon surrendered it to a woman as the coach became crowded again at Panipat. He repeated the gesture of respect and courtesy twice more before getting down at a station in Punjab. On one such occasion, getting motivated rather feeling embarrassed, I offered up my seat to Sardarji as he got up to surrender his own to a woman. He, however, declined saying, “You may remain seated. It gives me pleasure.”
A few years after this inspirational experience, I had another one during a visit to Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk area. After returning from the main prayer hall, I found a Sikh gentleman polishing my shoes in the shoe-stand area. The reporter in me couldn’t resist asking him who he was. He turned out to be one of the top industrialists from Punjab (we continue to be in touch with each other since). He said cleaning shoes of the worshippers gives him “great pleasure” and “humbling experience” he can’t have any other way.
Post-September 2014 floods back home, I saw Sikh volunteers and philanthropists from Jammu, Punjab and some other parts of India deeply moved and intensely and whole-heartedly involved in relief work. I’ve the experiences of and am witness to the Sikhs being busy in charity and humanitarian works elsewhere.
When the situation demands, Sikhs are some of the most gracious, bighearted and gregarious people on the planet. They are also one of the hardest working prosperous and diversified communities in the world. And people still crack jokes to make fun of them. I hate this pastime.

P.S.: Societies throughout history have each had their share of bad, unlawful and out-of-control people.

Big hearts, small hearts

We were meeting face-to-face for the first time. As my editor emerged of the arrival lounge at the Srinagar airport, I offered to carry his bag. He responded by saying ‘Don’t be stupid. We are equals’. A year or so later, while I was sitting in the solitary guest chair in front of my news editor’s desk, the editor arrived to discuss some issue with him. I offered my chair to him but he declined asking ‘Didn’t I tell you we are equals?’

A colleague wanted to join a British newspaper as one of its India correspondents. Our editor rang up his counterpart in London, strongly recommending him for the assignment. I too wanted to earn a few extra bucks and asked my editor if he could suggest some foreign publication I may work for simultaneously. He gladly did it and even spoke to a friend in Jeddah asking him to help me.

In October 1993, I quit The Telegraph (Calcutta) to join The Asian Age. The parting was quiet and friendly. Not only that, my previous employer told me ‘you can come back any time if you wish to’. Not so long ago, a colleague quit the organization we were working at to join another newspaper as it offered him a better package. He, however, didn’t like his new job and returned in less than one month. He was received back only with open arms by the employers and his colleagues at the newspaper. There are several other such instances which I’ve come across and wherein editors showed benevolence towards their juniors and employers at news organizations too were but big-hearted. With present and past employees/ colleagues alike! However, we mostly lack such munificence back home.

All these anecdotes were called to mind after being to the release of the annual issue of Belaag Sahafat at a glittering ceremony held in Srinagar a day ago. Come-on! Ours is a different profession and we have to behave differently with one another-with love, caring, sharing, passionate benevolence and togetherness. The Creator has bestowed us with beautiful hearts. Let us make them as big as an ocean too.

Changes in traditional building styles of mosques, shrines transform Kashmir's architectural landscape

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/151005/lifestyle-travel/article/changes-traditional-building-styles-mosques-shrines-transform

YUSUF JAMEEL

SRINAGAR

Oct. 5: Kashmir is the land of saints and Sufis, brimming with monuments that represent its diverse cultural heritage. There are numerous shrines and other places of worship in the picturesque Valley which enjoy reverence and allegiance of people professing different faiths and which add grandeur to its architectural landscape.

Most of the shrines and other places of worship are traditionally built in the typically pagoda style, reminiscent of Buddhist influence. However, the design and construction of mosques, shrines and other places of worship which came up in the Muslim majority Valley in recent years have been built on the pattern of Islamic architecture overshadowing the pagoda and other typically indigenous styles of edifice.

Buddhism, followed by a vast section of population in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, has its origin in the Valley where it was preached and disseminated by the Kashmiri scholars in its earlier days but is generally believed to have become dominant in the time of Emperor Ashoka. It soon spread to Ladakh.

Apart from Buddhist, Persian, Mughal and Sikh influences are also discernible on Kashmir’s architectural landscape. The use of wood and its conversion, stylization in combination with rocks, stones and tiles into elements of building technology as well as craft forms are typical of this style. This indigenous style of architecture has also contributed a distinct stream of woodwork known as Khatamband or mosaic of beautiful geometric patterns joined together to create an aesthetic effect used for embellishing mainly the interiors.

However, the ‘shooting flute spires’ on most old shrines and major mosques in the Valley is mainly similar to Buddhist and other architectural styles in shrines the world over. Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid or Grand Mosque and nearby Khankah-e-Moulla are among the major places of Muslim worship which can be called truly Kashmiri as these are built in the traditional pagoda style, reflecting the real and authentic spirit of beauty of the place.

Yet the division of roofs as different from a steady circumambulation flow of the roof around the central structure, as seen in most pagoda style of layering, and the exquisite style and the combination of word carving and Papier-mâché, the matchless ornamental cornices and corbels, cresting and crockets-and absence of any inlay work-is indeed unique. Like these, many other mosques, hospices and shrines across the Valley have one or more domes under the layered pagoda style structure.

The Valley also has few monuments which give an excellent representation of a typical Shahmiri style of architectural brilliance yet to be seen elsewhere in South Asia. The main such structure is Srinagar’s Budshah Tomb, the octagonal dome constructed in 1465 AD over the grave of famous Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin Budshah’s mother. It has been laid down with bricks and hence is a brick structure antonymous to the traditional wooden architecture found in the Valley. The tomb has also unique blue tiles embedded in the brick masonry that give this domed structure a distinctive look.

But the traditional architectural style has been followed in the construction of only few mosques and shrines that came up during the past three decades. One of these is the mausoleum of Kashmir’s patron saint Sheikh Nooruddin Wali in the town of Charar-e-Sharief which was along with nearby Khankah or hospice and surrounding settlement razed to ground during a prolonged fire fight between holed up militants and Army in May 1995. The mausoleum has since been rebuilt in grandeur yet retaining its original architectural style.

Another is the shrine of Pir Dastageer in Srinagar’s Khanyar locality. Originally built in 1767 in honour and memory of the 11^thcentury Sunni saint Sheikh Syed Abd al-Qadir Jeelani who is buried in Baghdad, Iraq, the shrine which had several resemblances with Khankah-e-Moulla and Charar-e-Sharief mausoleum was along with adjacent Khankah gutted in a devastating fire on June 24, 2012. These too have also been restored “on the basis of their original structural characteristic” and are, once again, donning ceiling made of Khatamband woodwork and stained glass windows, Chandeliers, magnificent ‘Dubs’ or Jharokas, the trellis work or Pinjarkaari in wood on the windows.

This assimilation of ancient Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Central Asian, particularly Uzbek, Tajik, Turkmen and local traditions is also witnessed in the construction of some other places of Muslim worship in the Valley. But many recently constructed mosques have been built mainly on the pattern of completely Islamic architecture, giving a new look to the Valley’s architectural landscaping. Yet while the exterior design and construction do break away from traditional style, the interiors adhere to typical woodwork and Papier-mâché adaptation.

The tone for turning away from the traditional style was set by Kashmir’s legendary leader Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah who as head of the Muslim Auquaf Trust started the construction work on a new shrine at Hazratbal in Srinagar to house the holy relic believed to be a hair from the beard of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad (saw). The work on this single domed and single minaret white marble shrine started in 1968 and was completed in 1979. It is said that the then Governor of the State had voiced his reservations over the Sheikh’s choice. Hazratbal was until recently the only domed mosque in the Valley. 

World's 500 influential Muslims; Mufti Akhtar Raza, Moulana Madani, Mirwaiz Umar,Asaduddin Owaisi make to the top

http://www.asianage.com/india/two-indians-50-influential-muslims-list-930

YUSUF JAMEEL

SRINAGAR

Oct. 4: A Jordan-based Islamic research centre has put two Indians Mufti Muhammad Akhtar Raza Khan Qadiri Al-Azhari and Moulana Mahmood Madani among the top 50 influential Muslims of the world.

Mufti Al-Azhari is the great grandson of Ahmed Raza Khan who founded the Barelwi movement in the India and the present leader of the Barelwi Muslims. Moulana Madani is the leader and executive member of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind. 

Some others who figure in the list of top 50 are Jordan’s King Abdullah II ibn Al-Hussein, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Al-Azhar University’s Grand Imam Prof. Dr. Sheikh Ahmed Muhammad Al-Tayyeb, Egypt’s military ruler Abdel Fatteh Al-Sisi, Oman’s ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al-Said, President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas and Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hasan Nasrallah.

Several other Indians have also been mentioned among the remaining 450 most influential Muslims of the world in the 7^th annual issue of ‘The Muslim 500-the World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims’ released by Amman-based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC) recently. They are; Dr. Zakir Naik, Alama Zia Al-Mustafa, Moulana Wahiduddin Khan, Rabey Hasani Nadvi, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Sheikh Abobacker Ahmed, Syed Ibrahimul Khaled Al-Bukhari, Moulana Sheikh Ali Noorid, Asaduddin Owaisi, Moulana Qamaruzaman Azmi, Arsad Madni, Syed Amin Mian Qadir, Bohra leader Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin and Sheikh Shuab Thika.

Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and chairman of his faction of Hurriyat Conference alliance Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Asaduddin Owaisi are the only two prominent Muslim politicians from India who figure in the list of remaining 450. In the art and culture category, Bollywood actors Shabana Azmi and Amir Khan and music director and composer Allah-Rakha  Rahman (A.R.Rahman) have also been  mentioned as being influential Muslims of the world.

The RISSC survey says it focused on any person who has the power, be it spiritual, cultural, political, ideological, financial or otherwise to make a change that will have a significant impact-positive or negative- on the Muslim world. In the obituary section, the report pays tribute to former President APJ Abdul Kalam after placing him in ‘science and technology’ category.  

Cow slaughter ban inflames regional, religious tension in J

Cow slaughter ban inflames regional, religious tension in J

Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’ rally near LoC seeks to send message of brotherhood across | The Asian Age

Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’ rally near LoC seeks to send message of brotherhood across | The Asian Age

Interview With Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chief Muslim Cleric Of Indian-Administered Kashmir and chairman of a faction of Hurriyat Conference, - Eurasia Review

Interview With Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chief Muslim Cleric Of Indian-Administered Kashmir and chairman of a faction of Hurriyat Conference, - Eurasia Review

http://180dfo.com/2014/02/the-worlds-top-investigative-journalists-16-who-matter-india-yusuf-jameel/

For Local Consumption

Kashmir's legendary leader Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah was once asked why does he speak differently on same issues in Srinagar, Jammu and Delhi. He quipped, "For local consumption only'. It is not just his National Conference and its present leadership which are living up to the legacy but other political parties of the Himalayan state too seem to be following the 'principle' in letter and spirit, mainly on contentious issues. The NC government uses every strong means through police and other law enforcing agencies to ensure the voice of dissent doesn't reach the Srinagar headquarters of the United Nations Military Observers' Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). But on July 16, its senior leader and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah uncle Sheikh Mustafa Kamal led a group of party activists to the UNMOGIP office to present a memorandum against the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza strip. That a day after Opposition PDP activists and supporters had marched along the streets of Srinagar to show solidarity with the Palestinians. It is different the Group officials refused to accept the NC memorandum on the plea their domain is Kashmir, not Gaza. The BJP too has played to the gallery. On a day when its government in Delhi refused to have any discussion on the Gaza situation in Parliament saying it could affect India's diplomatic ties with both Israel and Palestine, the party (BJP) workers were yelling 'Down with Israel' while marching along the streets of Srinagar. "We can't tolerate or remain silent spectators to the massacre of innocent Palestinians," vowed a senior local party leader as the BJP procession culminated into a rally at City's Mushtaq Press Enclave.   

For those who wish to take a second wife: Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (RA) wed twice. From the first wife he had no children. He married second time with a widow who brought with herself a daughter. Hence the Moulana had no biological son or real daughter of his own. Once, a murid brought two melons, identical in color and size, for him. The Moulana asked for a paring knife and when he had it he cut both melons in half in half and asked his nephew and secretary Moulana Shabbir Ali to give half piece of each melon to his one wife and the remaining two pieces (from the two fruits) to the second one. One of the disciples present asked him "But Moulana you could have sent one melon each to your wives instead. Why did you choose to cut them half in half?" The Moulana replied Islam does not allow any discrimination between the wives or between their children. What if they (melons) tasted different". No sermon intended, just for your information.

P.S. : P.S. : “But if you fear that you willl not be able to deal justly (with your wives), then (marry) only one…(Al-Quran: Surah al-Nisa, 3)

Kashmir: Arrest of Yusuf Jameel puts army under uncomfortable scrutiny : INDIASCOPE - India Today

Kashmir: Arrest of Yusuf Jameel puts army under uncomfortable scrutiny : INDIASCOPE - India Today

Geelani release: Opp. smells ploy http://epaper.asianage.com/PUBLICATIONS/ASIAN/AAGE/2013/11/05/ArticleHtmls/Geelani-release-Opp-smells-ploy-05112013004038.shtml?Mode=1

YUSUF JAMEEL

SRINAGAR

Oct. 4: Syed Ali Shah Geelani was released from a 235-day-old home confinement last week when the police contingent deployed outside his Srinagar residence was withdrawn and a makeshift security camp to enforce ‘house arrest’ orders on him disappeared all night. The octogenarian leader is currently touring various parts of Kashmir Valley to reconnect with the people with his long-standing viewpoint “elections held under the framework of Indian Constitution aren’t and can’t be substitute to the promised right to self-determination.”

The campaign was picked up from his hometown Sopore on last Friday, an auspicious day for Muslims, and apparently with the purpose of making his perspective stronger and leave no illusion in anybody’s mind he also chose to visit the family of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru, hanged in Tihar jail earlier this year, and reiterated “India may delay freedom to the people of Kashmir but can’t deny it.” He was even sure of the delay being only “fleeting” and pledged this in front of Guru’s teenage son Ghalib.

While Geelani is out and seizing his ostensible freedom to convince more and more people on “futility of elections” mantra, a new political controversy surrounding his ‘release’ has set off in Jammu and Kashmir, bringing various mainstream political parties and leaders nose to nose. Several opposition politicians have openly accused the ruling National Conference-Congress coalition of “manipulating” Geelani’s release to keep voters away from polling booths. “He has been released only to ensure he reaches out the people with his election boycott call as they know it for sure that he will find many takers,” alleged Abdur Rashid Kabuli, former MP who is part of a recently launched ‘Third Front’ in Jammu and Kashmir comprising communist parties and some regional groups to fight the forthcoming State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections “collectively and coherently.”

Kabuli is concerned that a low turnout will only facilitate “vote chori” and “it is anybody’s guess who will do it or benefit from it.” He said, “It has happened in the past and it may happen again.” Some other political parties also have questioned timing of ending Geelani’s home confinement and said it could be a ploy. There has been no reaction to the criticism by the government nor has it, so far, given explanation as to why it suddenly decided to release the separatist leader and allow him to move from place to place with his election boycott diktat.

Some officials, however, privately say that keeping Geelani under house arrest for so long was only inviting severe criticism from human rights groups within the country and abroad and recently several newspapers having international sway also wrote about it. Also, the J&K High Court had recently reserved verdict on a contempt plea filed by Geelani seeking action against the authorities for non-compliance of court directions on his house arrest. The government’s counsel had informed the Court that the Srinagar District Magistrate had passed a fresh order on April 20 against Geelani under Section 144 and pleaded that police deployed outside his residence he “is meant for his protection.”

Nevertheless, what has mystified local watchers is; some ruling coalition politicians including senior NC leader and minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Ali Muhammad Sagar, who would until recently denounce Geelani and every action that he would take, publicly acknowledged his leadership “qualities” and even called him a “mass leader”. While Kabuli has urged Geelani to reconsider his poll boycott call, Moulvi Abbas Ansari, a senior separatist leader from the so-called moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, has hoped his “freedom” would not be transitory and that he would not leave any room for maneuvering by anybody.  All said, Geelani is pulling huge crowds wherever he goes but will the people oblige him also when the elections to the State Assembly and Parliament (sometime next year) are held or the separatists’ poll boycott call will once again fall short or evoke encouraging response only in few cities and towns as did happen on several occasions in the past is to be seen than speculated.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Monday Geelani's release was not a political but administrative decision. "Geelani was released after administration took pros and cons into account and finally decided to release him.” He added that the past record shows wherever Geelani addresses people, violence breaks out there. “Despite the negative past record, the administration let him go,” he said. He also said, "People are the ultimate source of authority and it is the people who can judge the best.” 

He, however, hastened to add, "Geelani remains in lime light during disturbance and everyone that time feels and thinks the he is the leader of people. As peace prevails, people forget him." Before Abdullah same is the case with mainstream leaders. "People forget them during disruption of peace but revolve around them in the times of peace.”