Shutdowns, processions, sit-ins, slogans, speeches, secessionist songs etc everything one could witness post 89 had actually happened between 1953 and 1975. It would not be inappropriate to say that whatever Hurriyat, except for militant outfits, did till 2008 was just a replay of PF movement.
Riyaz Masroor
Many years ago, a Kashmiri lawyer had to cut a sorry figure in a European capital where he was invited to speak on the human rights situation of J&K. It was fashionable those days to speak in ‘thousands’ and ‘lakhs’. Separatist leaders would say ‘thousands have been martyred’ without quoting figures. The lawyer followed suit and thus spoke to the learned audience: “Thousands have disappeared in Kashmir, most of them while in custody.” The participants were moved by the word ‘thousands’. At the end of the session, an HR activist approached the speaker with the request: “It’s really a grave issue, can you cite three examples so that I study the whole thing.” The lawyer, as per his own admission, had no handy references so he chose to avoid the query till next morning and forwarded three examples only after seeking them via phone from Kashmir. The lawyer returned home with his lifetime lesson: Shun rhetoric, gather realities. No wonder, the same lawyer is now Kashmir’s leading human rights defender.
In June 2008, when the Kashmiri separatists started the epic campaign against a government decision to transfer around 100 acres of land to a Hindu Shrine Board, Hurriyat Conference was reborn. Not just in the sense that it revived its lost contact with masses but in the sense that it started speaking on real issues harming Kashmiri interests. The campaign forced the government to revoke the order and the land title was restored. Bar Association and Hurriyat celebrated the revocation of order as a ‘victory for Kashmiris’. It was for the first time since 1989 that Hurriyat had opposed any government order , got it revoked through peaceful campaign and later celebrated the ‘victory’. And yes, the peaceful method cast moral isolation upon the authorities who would lob tear-smoke shells on unarmed civilians.
But for that unfortunate economic blocked forced on Kashmiris from Jammu, this small victory would have served a long way in reorganizing Kashmir’s rights movement into an orderly resistance. Nonetheless, 2008 marked a significant transition; the transition from violence to reconstruction, from rhetoric to creativity. In all these years, when had Geelani said India earns Rs 36000 Crores annually from Kashmir through taxes and food imports? When had Mirwaiz wondered over absence of water and power in rural Kashmir saying people pay taxes against no amenity? When had we experienced a different Geelani who wants to substantiate his claims of Indian occupation through figures? A Hurriyat (G) pamphlet, whose authenticity may be debatable, records the volume of land occupied by Indian army in different districts, it says more than 350,000 acres of land has been grabbed.
The issues which in yesteryears were a plain no-no for Hurriyat leaders have suddenly come alive for them. They are reacting to government decisions and processes – a decade ago such reactions were considered taboo. Hurriyat (all shades including JKLF) is increasingly becoming democratic in its conduct and response to the socio-political issues. For example, never had Hurriyat asked people to participate in a process directly controlled by New Delhi. In 2001, they called for outright boycott of census but are now urging people to stand up and be counted, though with a word of caution. It is definitely a welcome transition. By simply shutting our eyes whole world will not turn black.
It would be foolhardy to say that post 2008, Kashmiris began to hate militant violence as a means of resistance; they cannot unless the means of repression remain intact. But we cannot overlook the fact that the culture of peaceful and democratic resistance has taken root after 2008 uprising.
Many would agree that the post-89 resistance against Indian rule in J&K was clearly modeled after the legendary Tehreek Mahaz Rai Shumari (Plebiscite Front Movement). Whole architecture of Hurriyat politics could easily be gleaned from the 22-year PF movement that was spearheaded by many big names but actually inspired by then popular leader Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, who remained in jail for most of those two decades. Shutdowns, processions, sit-ins, slogans, speeches, secessionist songs etc everything one could witness post 89 had actually happened between 1953 and 1975. It would not be inappropriate to say that whatever Hurriyat, except for militant outfits, did till 2008 was just a replay of PF movement. Isn’t it a fact that while Sheikh would bask in the glory of rising popularity his detractor and then Prime Minister of J&K, Bakhshi Ghulam Muhammad was eroding the autonomous status of the state? For that matter, PF movement too was an abstract activity that kept people aloof from what was happening around them. Interestingly, if in past Sheikh’s PF movement had got consumed into rhetoric, now Hurriyat is trying to remodel itself over realities rather than rhetoric. The heightened alertness about census and the new recruitment law is a glaring proof of that. If Hurriyat has abandoned the ‘secondhand ideas’ and chosen to embark a new route of democracy and peace, shouldn’t one welcome it as a positive transition?
Mian Abdul Qayoom, President of Kashmir Bar Association, could not understand the nuances of this argument when this writer spoke to a seminar titled “Census and reservation bill – a bid to darken our future” organized by Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference on 22 May 2010. “I completely disagree,” he said and employed all his acumen to disprove the transition highlighted by this writer. Ironically, the lawyer who on his return from Europe had admitted a flaw and got down to work only to create a huge bank of realities was present in the seminar. It would, perhaps, take another session to make Mr. Qayoom understand that the transition does not necessarily mean from bad to good, it is also from good to better. Is there any harm in admitting that things have changed? Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky provides the answer: “Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.”
Feedback: riyaz.masroor@yahoo.com
Monday, May 24, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Mom Balpuri’s Cow and Demography Cry
Riyaz MasroorThe noisy Tuesday was virtually the first day of Durbar in Srinagar; Monday had gone into calm, hassle free reopening and gossip. Irked by the deafening sirens, gridlocks, flag cars and road barriers, I vomited out my anger before a friend who happens to be a police officer. “Why should large contingents escort even insignificant persons,” I asked angrily. “After all, who will take care of Mom Balpuri’s naughty cow?” the officer hurled a counter question.
The response baffled me. What the hell is some Balpuri’s cow to do with the mess the Durbar has brought out on Srinagar’s fast narrowing roads. But, as probed further, Mom Balpuri appeared a character portraying the Kashmir’s ruling class, and his cow a metaphor for the social liabilities of this class. Small wonder, these liabilities are being taken care at the cost of public convenience. Alas! Balpuri’s cow did not get enough care.
Ghulam Muhammad Ganaie was perhaps the only bet for National Conference in Budgam’s Khansahib constituency when it fought elections in 1996. He was the party’s block president and was more famous by his nick name Mom Balpuri, probably after his native village Balpur. Despite being a grass-root worker, this rustic, simpleton farmer would wonder why a bevy of gun-wielding Personal Security Officers (PSOs) would follow him like his shadow, though he later came to know that he was a ‘protected person’ after NC got the crown.
Mom Balpuri had a cow that he was very fond of. He would cherish even his cow’s naughty antics – it would cross over to neighbour’s paddy field, hit a kid or two or snap the rope and shove into some grocery shop. Youth of Balpur still remember how Mom Balpuri would struggle to prevent his pet from hurting others. After becoming the ‘protected person’ Mom Balpuri would chase the freaky cow while his PSOs would follow him, wielding guns. He would rebuff them to help him leash the cow by surrounding it rather than following him. “But how can we do that sir, we cannot move to your front, we have to be at your back and guard you.” This would put off Mom Balpuri because the cow would run even faster sensing not just Balpuri but several men with guns following it. This went on till 17 March 2001 when the assailants murdered Balpuri at his residence. His PSOs must be sad why they could not help him leash his cow, or save him from the assailants.
What Mom Balpuri in his pastorally honest sense would want his PSOs to do is being done by almost all the PSOs who are attached to VIPs and VVIPs. Then it was only the matter of comforting an ill-tamed cow, now it is about almost everything – rearing children, ferrying them to school, going shopping with the madam, mowing the garden, attending telephone calls, fixing meetings and much more.
From all ministers to lowbrow politicians, PSOs are flanking every individual who has something to do with the ruling regime. There are PSOs who go for extended leave, take vehicle from the ministerial staff and roam around in his home town, flaunting his false errrr real power across his neighbourhood. Who is paying for all this luxury? Masses.
Coming back to roads, Our VIPS travel with a false sense of being superior to the rest. Their well-guarded vehicles zoom through busy roads with frightening speed. Later in the afternoon, as I started to check the day’s happenings a citizen journalist came to me with a startling complaint.
“Please inform SP traffic that PRO of the Works Minister G M Suroori has left office with a PWD vehicle 9330 JK 02 L (Bolero). He is now enjoying in his village, patrol bills will be paid by the government,” he informed. I simply passed on the information to Police high ups, just to satisfy the citizen journalist, though I was sure the complaint will be junked. But I began wondering if the PRO was taking care of Suroori’s or his own ‘naughty cow’?
Mom Balpuri was not to blame when he saw himself in the security ring. The ruling regime wanted to leave an impression in the area that they have the ‘presence’. The PSOs would serve as an advert of POWER; people with smaller problems would be psychologically drawn to Mom Balpuri, considering the Police escort he had around him round the clock as an indication of POWER. The innocent old man, Mom Balpuri was isolated from his earthy lifestyle and squeezed into the new frame of POWER.
Fourteen years after the PSOs scared that naughty cow in Balpur, the VIP culture has spawned a new social class comprising everyone who is followed by a security van and flanked by gunmen. People belonging to this class believe they have the first right to move on the road. Policemen or Traffic Cops have no teeth to regulate their movement or discipline them.
Democracy, they say, is a great leveler. But here the democracy, believed to have returned in 1996, has further fragmented the life. There are people with LINKS to power. There are people with ACCESS to POWER. There are people with CHANNELS in bureaucracy and then there are people who have the BUSINESS with the POWERFUL. Masses are at the bottom of the pyramid.
Separatists are crying hoarse that the eight percent reservation in government jobs for scheduled caste candidates would affect the state’s demography. The chief minister has reassured them that it was not the case. But the fact is the demography has long changed. The VIPs are eating into the social space of the masses that are now worse than the underclass of a totalitarian state. A Kashmiri threatening another Kashmiris’ social identity, no hartaal for this please!
First published in Rising Kashmir 8 May 2011 (Feedback at riyaz.masroor@yahoo.com)
The response baffled me. What the hell is some Balpuri’s cow to do with the mess the Durbar has brought out on Srinagar’s fast narrowing roads. But, as probed further, Mom Balpuri appeared a character portraying the Kashmir’s ruling class, and his cow a metaphor for the social liabilities of this class. Small wonder, these liabilities are being taken care at the cost of public convenience. Alas! Balpuri’s cow did not get enough care.
Ghulam Muhammad Ganaie was perhaps the only bet for National Conference in Budgam’s Khansahib constituency when it fought elections in 1996. He was the party’s block president and was more famous by his nick name Mom Balpuri, probably after his native village Balpur. Despite being a grass-root worker, this rustic, simpleton farmer would wonder why a bevy of gun-wielding Personal Security Officers (PSOs) would follow him like his shadow, though he later came to know that he was a ‘protected person’ after NC got the crown.
Mom Balpuri had a cow that he was very fond of. He would cherish even his cow’s naughty antics – it would cross over to neighbour’s paddy field, hit a kid or two or snap the rope and shove into some grocery shop. Youth of Balpur still remember how Mom Balpuri would struggle to prevent his pet from hurting others. After becoming the ‘protected person’ Mom Balpuri would chase the freaky cow while his PSOs would follow him, wielding guns. He would rebuff them to help him leash the cow by surrounding it rather than following him. “But how can we do that sir, we cannot move to your front, we have to be at your back and guard you.” This would put off Mom Balpuri because the cow would run even faster sensing not just Balpuri but several men with guns following it. This went on till 17 March 2001 when the assailants murdered Balpuri at his residence. His PSOs must be sad why they could not help him leash his cow, or save him from the assailants.
What Mom Balpuri in his pastorally honest sense would want his PSOs to do is being done by almost all the PSOs who are attached to VIPs and VVIPs. Then it was only the matter of comforting an ill-tamed cow, now it is about almost everything – rearing children, ferrying them to school, going shopping with the madam, mowing the garden, attending telephone calls, fixing meetings and much more.
From all ministers to lowbrow politicians, PSOs are flanking every individual who has something to do with the ruling regime. There are PSOs who go for extended leave, take vehicle from the ministerial staff and roam around in his home town, flaunting his false errrr real power across his neighbourhood. Who is paying for all this luxury? Masses.
Coming back to roads, Our VIPS travel with a false sense of being superior to the rest. Their well-guarded vehicles zoom through busy roads with frightening speed. Later in the afternoon, as I started to check the day’s happenings a citizen journalist came to me with a startling complaint.
“Please inform SP traffic that PRO of the Works Minister G M Suroori has left office with a PWD vehicle 9330 JK 02 L (Bolero). He is now enjoying in his village, patrol bills will be paid by the government,” he informed. I simply passed on the information to Police high ups, just to satisfy the citizen journalist, though I was sure the complaint will be junked. But I began wondering if the PRO was taking care of Suroori’s or his own ‘naughty cow’?
Mom Balpuri was not to blame when he saw himself in the security ring. The ruling regime wanted to leave an impression in the area that they have the ‘presence’. The PSOs would serve as an advert of POWER; people with smaller problems would be psychologically drawn to Mom Balpuri, considering the Police escort he had around him round the clock as an indication of POWER. The innocent old man, Mom Balpuri was isolated from his earthy lifestyle and squeezed into the new frame of POWER.
Fourteen years after the PSOs scared that naughty cow in Balpur, the VIP culture has spawned a new social class comprising everyone who is followed by a security van and flanked by gunmen. People belonging to this class believe they have the first right to move on the road. Policemen or Traffic Cops have no teeth to regulate their movement or discipline them.
Democracy, they say, is a great leveler. But here the democracy, believed to have returned in 1996, has further fragmented the life. There are people with LINKS to power. There are people with ACCESS to POWER. There are people with CHANNELS in bureaucracy and then there are people who have the BUSINESS with the POWERFUL. Masses are at the bottom of the pyramid.
Separatists are crying hoarse that the eight percent reservation in government jobs for scheduled caste candidates would affect the state’s demography. The chief minister has reassured them that it was not the case. But the fact is the demography has long changed. The VIPs are eating into the social space of the masses that are now worse than the underclass of a totalitarian state. A Kashmiri threatening another Kashmiris’ social identity, no hartaal for this please!
First published in Rising Kashmir 8 May 2011 (Feedback at riyaz.masroor@yahoo.com)
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