Strangulated Kashmir

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Nazima Parray

As the band started playing the very famous kashmiri sufi song in a new version an elderly lady started singing with them. Her voice was very melodious.  Although she was singing in a very low tone but she received my attention as I was sitting next to her at marriage party.  Tears were rolling down from her closed eyes. Unknowing about the people sitting around, she was busy in singing. Not able  to understand the reason behind her moist eyes I decided to intervene her. All of sudden the band changed the track and she opened her eyes. Afsoos duniya kayse na nuv samsar sethee. May his soul rest in peace she said, by now I became more intrigue to know what made her cry and moreover whose soul she wanted to rest in peace.  The enthralled voice of great legend Ammi Sufi gave ethereal and calming essence to these verses written by Rajab Hamid. The way he sings this sufi song is amazingly wonderful because he knew the essentiality of these lyrics. These young chaps can never feel quintessence of these verses how can they do justice to the highly sentimental lyrics of Rajab Hamid. She said actually these lines are composed by him only and he depicted the journey of life in this mortal world which is filled with vendetta, selfishness and greed. He started journey of man from his birth to death. Life is but a blink on the eye of death and it will try to contrive you to fall for it and till the time you understands only remorse will be left.  I became intrigue to know about this person who composed these heart wrenching lines. I decided to go Kashmir University’s kashmiri department to know about him.  To my surprise they don’t had any literature available related to him nor on any Kashmiri folklore, mysticism, sufisim, and not even on Kashmir itself. This thing  perforated my soul. The fact that  ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY has abundant literature available on Kashmir but our own Kashmir University is lagging behind reserving  their own literature. We are losing our folklore and literature to other states that should be present here in Kashmir. Kashmir is having 6000 years old history but who knows about that today. Albeit our own state government has taken initiative to introduce Kashmir language as one of the necessary subject in schools but we have very lesser number of teachers in Kashmir that can teach Kashmir language in schools. Till now not a single initiative has taken to introduce kashmiri history and geography in our school curriculum. The geographical distribution of our land is well known by the outsiders but does anyone among us know the beauty of our land. Do we know the attractiveness of low lying valleys like Tawi, Chenab, Poonch, Sind and Lidder valleys? Everyone knows about the picnic spots and forests but do they know anything about the herbs, minerals, and precious stones found abundantly there. Medicinal herbs like Balladona, Hyoseyamus, Digitalis, menthol artemisis, polygola, podophyllum, rabus and  trilliu grown in these forests. Industries like paper, joinery, sports goods, furniture, wood carving, herbal drugs, silk industry and manufacturing of agricultural implements and construction of railways sleepers depend on these forests. The valley of Kashmir is having many types of soils like Gurti (clay), Bahil (loam),  Sekil (sandy), Nambaal (peats), Surzamin, lemb, floating garden soils and karewa soil. The canals like  Martand canal (oldest canal in Kashmir), the shakful canal, the sharabkul canal, the laikul canal, the zainagir canal, the dadikul canal, the nur canal, the sumbal canal, the zarkul canal, the zainapur canal, the nandikul canal, the parimpur, the mahind, the awantipur, the kayal, the rishipora canal and the babal canal. The distribution of rocks and minerals lignite, limestone, copper, iron ore, gypsum, ochre, zinc and nickel, fuller earth, slate stone, graphite, sulphur and marble. If one will go through the history of Kashmir we see we are a peace loving people. It is our utmost duty to start  teaching education for peace in our curriculum ; if we go through the process of photosynthesis and we observe the  food chain every living creature follow the rule of nature and if by default this chain gets disturbed the whole process  will get imbalanced. To every action there is equal and opposite reaction this is famous Newton’s law known by everyone, if we make peace we will be at peace and if we initiate war we will end up destroying everything. This means we should inculcate peace in every subject in our schools. Moral education should be considered sacrosanct in every school. Morality will initiate sense of humanity which in turn will awaken spirituality and its spirituality that takes you from contemplation to completeness. If we pay attention to the syllabus for Kashmir administrative services we shall see one has to study the Indian polity rather than Kashmir polity. The designers of that syllabus did not feel necessary to include Kashmir polity in it. This is really a matter of concern that our own cultural academy kitab ghar exist only for the sake of culture. The fact is that a real treasure of Kashmir culture is not available there also. Our museums, libraries don’t have literature available on Kashmir. The irony of the things is being a Kashmir we don’t allow our children to speak in Kashmiri. Parents feel disgraced if their children speak in kashmiri in front of others.” According to Nelson Mandela the first black president of Africa, if you talk to a man in a language he has learned in school, it goes to his head. If you talk to him in a language that he has learned from his mother, it goes to his heart.”   According to psychologist 90% of personality development is seen is those children who’s speaks their mother language in their childhood. Then why don’t we encourage our children to talk in their mother language. Because of this dilemma our children are in confusion and chaos and with the result they are not able to speak any of the language in its proper way.  It’s a time to retrospect lest very soon our future generation shall be seen in state of serious identity crises. We should at least be answerable to their question. It’s a time to act lest our Kashmir will lose its identity and integrity by our own preposterousness of being called modernistic.

Flood 2014- A tale of unanswered questions

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In September 2014, the Kashmir region suffered disastrous floods across many of its districts caused by torrential rainfall and the floods were epic in nature as in History  of Kashmir they were one of the worst floods witnessed in Kashmir causing great damage in form  of tremendous economic loss and some human loss.

 

On September 7 and 8, in many parts of Srinagar’s neighbourhood, the water was about 12 feet (3.7 m) deep, submerging entire houses. Stranded residents left their homes to move in with friends or relatives in safer areas. In Srinagar , most of the city areas were submerged under water. The river Jhelum spilled over submerging Maisuma, Bemina Sonwar Bagh, Shivpora, Batwara, Pandrathan, LalChowk, Rajbagh, Jawahar Nagar, Gogji Bagh and Wazir Bagh neighbourhoods of city.

After one year, we are  not sure that what steps have been taken or what steps would be taken to prevent a reputation of deluge like 2014. The environmental concerns remain – Illegal constructions still mar Kashmir, Wetlands being destroyed by human greed and Government apathy continues, Green gold in form of forests being vandalized continues and above all conversion of prime tourist resorts into concrete jungles continues .Unfortunately post one year of floods there are many questions and very few answers .

 

The Flood raised many other   unanswered questions as to how almost all Srinagar was flooded in matter of just few days rain, Why did our entire drainage system collapse like pack of cards, why was government machinery absconding for so many days and why did entire communication system give-up and took days to recover. Victims continue to raise hue and cry over lack of help by the authorities especially with reference to letting them down on rehabilitation front.

 

Rehabilitating flood-victims-Govt fails to walk the talk

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Farzana Mumtaz

 

A year after Kashmir was hit by one of the most devastating floods of its history, flood-victims are yet to get rehabilitated and have received only peanuts in relief amount.

 

Middle-aged Muhammad Abdullah Mandoo was rendered homeless by September 2014 floods.

Now he lives in one of the 20 one-room temporary hutments that the government set up at Parimpora on the outskirts of the city for people rendered homeless by last year’s devastating floods.

The house of Mandoo, a resident of Bemina locality, caved in when floods water seeped into it and the family members had a close shave with death.

Since then, Mandoo and his six-member family have been living in a tin shed at Parimpora, unable to come to the grips of a homeless life. Mandoo has been awaiting government’s relief and rehabilitation package hoping to build back his house from the relief amount.

“So far, the government only gave us Rs 2300 in the form of cheques that is peanuts considering the fact that I had to vomit thousands of rupees only for clearing the rubble of my house,” he said.

Mandoo’s is not a rare case but a story of everyone whose house either collapsed or damaged in the devastating floods.

Most of the flood affected people complain that they have either received no relief amount from the government for their rehabilitation or received peanuts.

Presently 19 families live in those 20 hutments while one hutment was vacated after one of those 20 flood-affected families relocated back after building a new house.

Four-year-old Tyba, whose mother had passed after giving her birth, also lives in those hutments along with her three brothers and father Altaf Ahmad Gojri, who is the only government employee among the 19 families in the neighbourhood and works as a janitor with the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).

She stands outside her hutment and plays with other kids in the newly-formed neighbourhood not realizing that it is a temporary home for her.

Most of the people living in this neighbourhood are extremely poor and have acquired illegal power lines.

Gojri said he had pinned high hopes on the government but both the previous government as well as the incumbent one had left him disappointed.

“The government does not care for poor people like us,” he said. “Whether we have a house to live or not, it doesn’t matter to them.”

In September 2014, Kashmir was hit by one of the worst-ever floods of its history leaving 300 people dead and property worth billions of rupees damaged.

After the floods, the State government sent Rs 44,000 crore proposal to Government of India (GoI) for the rehabilitation of flood-affected people and traders.

Nine months after the floods, GoI finally announced a financial package but the assistance amount of Rs 1667 crore has left Kashmiris disappointed.

Political parties, civil society groups and trade bodies termed the GoI’s financial package as a “crude joke”.

Ruling Peoples Democratic Party’s own Member of Parliament, Tariq Hameed Karra asked his party to rethink about its alliance with the rightwing Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) for letting Kashmir and his party down although Finance Minister Haseeb Ahmad Drabu welcomed the package.

Trade bodies of Kashmir too tried to build pressure on PDP to end the coalition government with BJP as they felt the financial package was Jammu centric and had nothing for the flood-hit people and traders of Kashmir.

 

While Srinagar was worst-hit by last September floods, other places in south and north Kashmir were also impacted adversely.

Sonawari, which was reclaimed from the Wullar Lake and is one of the low-lying areas of north Kashmir, was badly affected by floods.

Ghulam Muhammad Dar of Shahtalpora, Sonawari is one of the flood victims whose 30 kanal paddy land was submerged in last year’s flood waters.

Father of four, Dar now struggles to feed the family.

He lost his cattle and sold off those that he was able to save as there was no grass available for them to graze.

Dar’s fate is shared by other fruit growers in the area.

In Gund Jehangir, one of the low-lying villages of Sonawari, most of the apple orchards had submerged in flood waters.

“If we would have lost our houses, we could have recovered with sales of fruit from our orchards but we lost our orchards that are a source of our livelihood,” a fruit grower, Bashir Ahmad Lone said.

Lone said fruit growers in the area had invested in fruit trees for 20 years and now that they were reaping its benefits, everything was destroyed.

“We are broke and have bank loans and Kissan Credit Card loans,” he said.

Lone and other fruit growers in the area said they had approached the government for help and asked them to waive off the Kissan Credit Card loans but Finance Minister Haseeb Ahmad Drabu had put a cap of Rs 1 lakh on it.

“What about fruit growers who had taken loans more than Rs 1 lakh,” he said. “The government has failed to come to our rescue in any way.”

Another fruit grower of the area, Muhammad Ayub Dar said no one from the government had visited their village since September.

“Eighty percent orchards of the entire village are damaged,” Dar said. “This government came to power with the promise that they will bring relief for the flood victims but they have failed miserably.”

 

There is too much anger against the government for its failure to rehabilitate the flood-victims but flood hit people are all praise for voluntary organizations.

Muhammad Muzaffar, a resident of Jawahar Nagar, whose house collapsed in the floods, expressed gratitude to missionary Sikh groups who rescued him and many others of his locality.

“After my house collapsed, Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani provided me and others flood-hit people in this locality with Rs 10,000 each,” said Muzaffar, a retired banker who now run a shop and sells Kashmiri shawls.

Father of two girls, Muzaffar now lives on rent as he has failed to even clear the rubble of his collapsed house with the Rs 75,000 provided to him by the government as relief.

“I spent Rs 90,000 alone on clearing the rubble,” he said. “This government seems to be insensitive toward the problems of the common masses.”

The life of another inhabitant of Muzaffar’s locality Jasbir Kour was impacted severely by last year’s floods.

Restless like a bumble-bee, Kour says she get sleepless whenever it rains.

Jasbir who lives with her son Manmohan Singh and daughter-in-law Hardeep Kour is a widow of J S Rally.

Rally had built a house in the posh Jawahar Nagar locality 35 years ago, spending his life-long earnings not realizing it was a flood-prone area.

“Last year, water stayed in our house for a month,” she said. “All our household belongings collected over three-and-a-half decades were washed away.”

Jasbir’s son Manmohan and daughter-in-law Hardeep ran a boutique at home, which too was hit by floods.

“All our sewing machines and embroidery material was damaged,” Hardeep said. “Besides us, four people earned their source of livelihood from the boutique as I had hired two tailors and two mechanics.”

The family said they received paltry Rs 3800 from the government as relief.

“It is a mockery on part of the government as we had to spend Rs 80,000 on cleaning the house,” Hardeep said.

Her husband Manmohan is diabetic and was stuck in the attic for four days without medicine.

“The water stayed in our house for 28 days and the government failed to reach us,” Manmohan said. “An NGO from Ladakh saved my 21-year-old daughter and when I, and my wife were rescued, bodies were floating in our compound.”

He said no one from the government had come to monitor whether their house was safe to live in or not.

 

 

After the GoI announced Rs 1667 crore as financial assistance for the flood-hit Jammu Kashmir against the proposed Rs 44,000 crore, opposition NC called upon the government to convene a special session of the legislature for passing a unanimous resolution to seek proper rehabilitation package for the flood victims.

NC General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar termed the Rs 1667 crore rehabilitation package announced by New Delhi to the State as “mediocre”, “disgusting” and “insulting”.

“The State government should convene a special session of the legislature for having a proper debate on the rehabilitation package for the flood victims and pass a unanimous resolution for seeking more funds,” Sagar said.

Sagar appealed GoI to reconsider its decision of announcing a meager package for flood-hit people of Kashmir stating that it was sending a wrong message of how BJP and its allies like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were handling the Muslim-majority state.

 

 

The GoI’s financial assistance seems is being taken as a crude joke by the flood-hit people particularly those who were rendered homeless by the devastating floods.

Tariq Ahmad, another resident of Jawahar Nagar locality, owns a camping agency and is the sole bread winner of a nine-member family.

His house collapsed on September 7 and since then the family is homeless.

“Our house was quite old and we knew it would cave in due to flood waters,” Tariq said. “So we stayed in our neighbour’s house wherefrom we saw it collapse in front of our eyes.”

He said his family stayed in the neighbour’s house for 15 days and then spent the three harsh months of winter in a tin shed and finally shifted to a rented accommodation.

“My shop was also affected by floods and my business hit,” Tariq said. “As the government has failed to provide proper relief to flood-hit people like me, I have to take loan to buy new stocks.”

Like Tariq, a resident of Indira Nagar area Showkat Hussain, too is bitter with the government, both the previous government led by Omar Abdullah and the incumbent government led by Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.

“I live in the cantonment area and Army did not come to my rescue,” Showkat said. “We were surrounded by water for 27 days.”

He was critical of the former chief minister saying that he had visited his residence at Gupkar 18 times and begged him to rescue people in the area.

“One of the security guards of Omar Abdullah broke the limb of my friend for being at his gate over and again,” Showkat said.

The condition of flood victims like Showkat, Mandoo, Gojri, Dar, Lone, Jasbir, Tariq, Muzaffar and others even after 10 months of the floods give an impression that while the government may have talked at length about their rehabilitation, it has failed to walk the talk.

Kashmir Epic Floods: When Humanity Triumphed, Fascism Died

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Rameez Makhdoomi

 

:Kashmir has been hit by worst floods in a century causing great damage to life and property. Mahatma Gandhi  had famously quoted — ‘You must not lose faith inhumanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.’ The ravaging floods in Kashmir have proven this quote not only right but humanity has emerged as clear winner with triumphing colors. Human hearts from all-over the world have come forward to heal the wounds of bruised souls irrespective of any barrier of religion, caste, creed or ideology. Local volunteers too have come together irrespective of community or religion to help each other in their time of need.

Within no time Payal Jagi, an eminent  and talented fashion designer based in Gurgaon (India)  felt the pain of flood hit victims of Kashmir and organized relief to affected people via Relief supplies for J&K (Gurgaon Group) and is ensuring its continuous disposal to affected people  via here team in Kashmir.

Sebastian, a 9 year old boy from United States of America , has raised $1100 for the flood affected victims of #Kashmir by selling lemonade on the streets of New York. Sebastian is supporting #BridgetoKashmir who are working to #RebuildKashmir.

 

On September 12 was another golden epitome  for humanity  , when Capital city Srinagar was under flood, an expecting mother from Western Indian state of Gujarat found home in a local mosque at Hyderpora to give birth to a baby daughter. Kiran, the newborn, was christened in the mosque by locals after the family from Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, insisted that their saviors should name their baby.

Interestingly, Neeta, wife of Kishore from Gujarat, was brought to Hyderpora Jamia Masjid in a critical condition by rescuers from Bemina, one of the worst-hit areas by the shocking flood.

One of the unsung heroes of the rescue operation in Kashmir  Sajad Mohiuddin Sheikh hailing from Sopore  proved his mettle for human values  . He had  been continuously rescuing labourers, tourists, locals  marooned in the floods, and traveled to  Delhi  within no time in one flooded evening to immediately buy boats and return to Srinagar the next morning to continue with the brave  rescue operations.

On the otherhand, we had corporate professionals leaving their homes to rescue people. Kashmir’s top telecom professionals like Ashraf Ramzan Baba ,Muzakir Jaleel  and Javaid Dar rescued innumerable people from flooded areas and gave untiring efforts to rescue marooned people.

Apart from individual stories, collective stories of humanity too emerged .WhenMaisuma, Rajbagh, Jawahirnagar  got completely inundated the unaffected areas like Soura, Lalbazar , Buchpora opened their homes and converted them into community centers. Brave boys of Athrout NGO zigzagged through the floodedstreets of Jawahar Nagar in boats to help stranded residents. Senior pro-freedom leader Mirwaiz Molvi Muhammad Umar Farooq led Awami Action Committee operated in trucks and rescued families from Gogji Bagh when portions of a scenic Amar Singh College drowned in more than  20 feet water, and Awami Action Committee continues to provide food to hungry and medicine to ailing.

Each unaffected area has been converted into a ‘Relief Committee” for flood hit people.

In short, the saga of humanity thrived and fascist tendencies died in epic Kashmirfloods.

(Article was published on 27th October 2014 issue.The writer can be reached at rameezh3@gmail.com).

Cultural Cracks

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Culture forms an integral part  of  life of a human being . It is the culture that makes human animal to a well defined human being . It regulates human’s conduct and prepares him or her for group life. It teaches  what type of food human should take and with what manners, how he or she  should cover oneself and behave with the fellows, how human should speak and influence the people, how human should co-operative and compete with other. Humans  have acquired these qualities required to live and social behavior even for complicated situations. Culture forms identity of human societies.

In our part of the world especially in Kashmir we have seen major components  of culture be it traditions, Language or Folk theatre all  have been badly ignored thus making us pay heavily as a society .  Language has been always been an defining Symbol of human societies. Language the single largest factor that has helped us in differentiating between societies and individuals of two different regions. A people’s language is part of their identity.  If the people lose their language, they have practically lost themselves. Urdu and English languages which are supposed to be our second languages but now since years, they have become our first language. Regrettably, nowadays in the majority Kashmiri homes, it is common to see parents communicating with their children in English or Urdu language. Some parents will in fact enforce communicating with their children in other languages other than their mother tongue. Our folk theatre too has declined and lack of cultural policy has  added to misery.

Reflecting on this overall cultural decline, Nazima Parray, a Researcher states- “ Albeit our own state government has taken initiative to introduce Kashmir language as one of the necessary subject in schools but we have very lesser number of teachers in Kashmir that can teach Kashmir language in schools. Till now not a single initiative has taken to introduce kashmiri history and geography in our school curriculum. The geographical distribution of our land is well known by the outsiders but does anyone among us know the beauty of our land.

According to psychologist 90% of personality development is seen is those children who’s speaks their mother language in their childhood. Then why don’t we encourage our children to talk in their mother language. Because of this dilemma our children are in confusion and chaos and with the result they are not able to speak any of the language in its proper way.  It’s a time to retrospect lest very soon our future generation shall be seen in state of serious identity crises. We should at least be answerable to their question. It’s a time to act lest our Kashmir will lose its identity and integrity by our own preposterousness of being called modernistic.

Nazima adds –“our own cultural academy kitab ghar exist only for the sake of culture. The fact is that a real treasure of Kashmir culture is not available there also. Our museums, libraries don’t have literature available on Kashmir. Our famous  folk theatre  Bhand Pather, as a marker of our cultural diversity has been dying, thanks to successive Governments lack of interest and cold attitude of society towards this great cultural form. We are witnessing overall cultural decline which is sad for all of us.”

 

Minister of state for Information, Education & Culture J & K and senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party Priya Sethi in an exclusive interview with News Kashmir reflecting on this serious issue had stated –“It is a burning reality that we have neglected rich linguistic treasure of our state .On the otherhand in our state affluent manuscripts, historical monuments, and heritage symbols of our prosperous culture have also since long time  been ignored and faced apathy. Despite living in the era of Information Technology, it took us more than 10 years to repair Tagore hall and we have not modernized our cultural centres too. I have felt there  is a strong need  for framing a vibrant cultural policy that has a holistic policy matter in it to preserve the rich cultural heritage of all three regions of state viz. Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. We  recently  held active interactions with writers, poets and other literary and cultural personalities as their expert analysis means a lot in enriching and preserving our diverse and rich cultural heritage .”

As cultures differ, so does morals and ethical values. Aspiration or imitation of foreign cultures, moral, and ethical values is most welcome when they are positive but adopting them at cost of our own culture is disastrous.  Refurbishing  our folk theatre, giving due status and  respect to our native language, well defined cultural policy is need   of hour.

 

We are as strong as our weakest link : Yaquine Al-Haq Ahmad Sikander

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Activist, Author, Motivational Speaker and penning down his debut  book The True Purpose of Life at tender age of  17, Yaquine Al-Haq Ahmad Sikander is a personality  of sheer dynamism.

In an Exclusive Interview with The NewsKashmir Yaquine Al-Haq Ahmad Sikander talks to Rameez Makhdoomi.

 

 

A bit about yourself?

Well, I was born and raised here in Kashmir. I am the youngest of three siblings. My father is in the business of pharmaceuticals while my mother is a home maker and my parents are my greatest mentors. My eldest brother MushtaqUlHaq is a Political Scientist & Social Activist while the other one, RaiesUlHaq is an advocate in New Delhi and their support helped me achieve heights in my life. Under their tutelage and that of my parents, I acquired essential insights about life and everything else.In the fall of 2010, I went to pursue my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from International Islamic University Malaysia. I was very active in campus, lecturing and delivering workshops in Malaysia and abroad on Personal Development, Love and Spirituality which led to the formation of Inspire ME Global in early 2012. Right now, we shifted the Head Quarters of Inspire ME to Kashmir and I am full-time working to expand our operations here along with our team.

2 What is Inspire ME™ initiative all about?

I founded Inspire ME in early 2012. Before that I was very active in attending youth conferences and workshops and then I realized the need to form an organisation for Youth Empowerment that assists youth in realizing their optimal potential and help them in developing a vision for their lives. Inspire ME wants to provide a platform for talented youth to be the agents of change and social transformation. Right now Inspire ME HQ is based in Srinagar, Kashmir. We are registered as an Educational Trust under the name Inspire ME Foundation. We are also internationally active as Inspire ME Global in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and few other places. We conducts various workshops, programs, seminars, conferences, reading and discussion groups etc related to youth and other intellectual and social issues. We are being very warmly received by the youth of Kashmir and we already have a lot of success stories and I guess that’s what drives us to do more for Kashmir as we belong here and not many platforms are available to youth, despite of the enormous talent, in this part of the world.

3 How did the idea of writing your debut book The True Purpose of Life came at such early age?

Well, I am often asked this question. I published the book when I was 17 and wrote it when I was 16, immediately after passing my 10th class examinations. I used to think about serious existentialist questions unlike my peers and I felt the need to come up with a book that explains various perspectives on life meant for a serious teenage reader. I started writing and in a month it became a whole book which was initially rejected by 13 publishers due to my age but was finally accepted by a publication house based in New Delhi. Currently, I am revising it and the revised edition will hit the markets next year, being published from Malaysia.

4 Activist, Author, Motivational Speaker- Where from such versatility came?Is it imbibed in your nature?

Well, I believe rather than nature, it is the nurture part that helped most. It was the family support especially that of my parents paired with the inspiration which I derived from great authors and personal mentors that made me who I am.

5 How would you describe your leadership style?

My personal leadership style is transformational and democratic leadership comes in handy as well. Each member of Inspire ME is autonomous. We don’t believe in a strict hierarchy, rather each person is assigned a job which they are supposed to finish before deadline. Besides, each Inspire ME member gets time to work on new ideas and we help in their implementation. We believe that we are as strong as our weakest link. So the team cohesion must stay strong and we have trainings each week for the team to stay dynamic, active, productive and innovative.

6 What do you want to achieve in the next 5 years?

Well, actually a lot. Just wait and watch. With time, things and plans become clearer.

7 Is too much Social media making our youngsters lazy and unimpressive?

Definitely! Youngsters are living dual lives. One is the real life and the other one is a virtual life. Youth with low self-esteem find a safe-haven in social networks but excessive use of internet and social media leads to depression and isolation. We need to be active and become a generation of doers. Social media makes one passive. Instead of wasting time online, I would advise the youth to volunteer for social causes, learn a new language, play sports and do real things.

8 What are your hobbies and what inspires you to create a routine?

Well, my temperament is sanguine and as such I find it hard to stick with a routine. I am a very free-spirited person and I love reading books, solo travelling, mountain climbing, trekking, motivational speaking and interacting with youth. There are a number of things that inspire me. When I wake up each morning and think of how much is there to be done to make a difference, it drives me and keeps me inspired.

9 What is a piece of advice would you give to someone who is currently struggling in life?

Well, we all have our internal battles to fight and struggles to carry on. Maybe the struggle of other people is harder than ours. So always be kind and remember nothing stays forever. Believe in yourself and the collective mistakes we do is what becomes our life experience. Robert Frost said, “In three words I can sum up life – It Moves On.”

10 If you could be on TV show for a day, what show would you be on and why?

I would love to be on Oprah Winfrey’s show because I love her personal journey and it’s inspirational. If not, I would love an interview on BBC Hard Talk

Heating of LoC

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The heating of the India-Pakistan Line of Control with increased firing and targeting of civilians, has caused concern in all the voices of conscience in both the regions

As a matter of fact, the term Line of Control (LoC) refers to the military control line between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of the former princely state of Kashmir and Jammu—a line which, to this day, does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary but is the de facto border. Originally known as the Cease-fire Line, it was redesignated as the “Line of Control” following the Simla Agreement, which was signed on 3 July 1972. The part of the former princely state that is under Indian control is known as the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The two parts of the former princely state that are under Pakistani control are known as Gilgit–Baltistan and termed as Azad Kashmir (AJK) by Pakistan . Its northernmost point is known as the NJ9842.

The rising of tensions at Line of Control has always made people living in border areas of both sides of Jammu and Kashmir pay a very painful price in form of losing precious human lives, properties , devastation of agricultural produce and loss of academic knowledge to students living in these areas

With the increase in violence on Line of Control the Valley of Kashmir witnesses increased tensions and violence which makes lives of people miserable. The need of the hour is that both India and Pakistan calmly ponder over the situation and have some sort of reflection of human pain and solve their issues and conflicts in an amicable manner. Heating of LOC also entails a deadly blow to already stalled peace process and makes the initiation of talks even more difficult task. Time that both countries adopt path of wisdom and shun aggressive path of violence and normalising LOC in this regard can be a major step

The Draconian Act is No More

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Yasir Altaf Zargar

zargaryasir@gmail.com

The draconian act is no more. The supreme court of India few days back  gave its verdict to struck down Section 66A of the Information & Technology Act claiming it as unconstitutional. The Information Technology Act that made posting “offensive” comments or hatred posts online or electronically a crime punishable by jail for the period of three years.The court quashed the controversial act, saying the section violated the fundamental right to freedom of expression, under article 19(1) (a) of the Indian Constitution.It is 1st time in the history of India that they gave importance to “free speech” rather than the act.

What is Section 66A of IT act?

The Information Technology Act 2000 was amended in the year 2008. This amended act contains the much debated 66A section. It imposes punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service.

According to CIS-India.org, 66A applies to these cases:

Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device, —

(a) Any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or

(b) Any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will, persistently by making use of such computer resource or a communication device,

(c) Any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages shall be punishable with imprisonment for the period of three years or less and with fine.

Who Filed PIL And Why?

The first PIL on the issue was filed in 2012 by law student ShreyaSinghal, who sought amendment in section 66A of the act after two girls — ShaheenDhada and RinuShrinivasan — were arrested in Palghar in Thane district after one of them posted a comment on Facebook against the shutdown in Mumbai following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray’s death and the other ‘liked’ the post

In the wake of numerous complaints of harassment and arrests, the apex court had on May 16, 2013 issued an advisory that a person, accused of posting objectionable comments on social networking sites, cannot be arrested without police getting permission from senior officers like IG or DCP.After the apex court reserved its judgement in the matter on February 26 this year, another controversial case hogged the limelight for alleged misuse of section 66A in which a boy was arrested on March 18 for allegedly posting on Facebook objectionable comments against senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan.

The draconian act invades internet freedom. It arbitrarily, excessively and disproportionately invades the right of free speech.This act was misused by bureaucrats and politicians to suppress their enemies in a legal way. In the past few years, the provision has been invoked to make several arrests. On behalf of the victims, several petitions were moved in the Supreme Court, and these were heard at length by the court.

As we all know India is diverse nation, though freedom of free speech is in its main fundamental principles. Every person has his own right to express his views verbally or non- verbally. A person has right of free speech, and can comment his views regarding any person on internet or by using any electronic mean. Although there are many acts which can lead to blocking  of those websites which post abusive content or any offensive comment. Arresting people on giving their personal views or comments will increase hate among masses towards government and may lead to civil war against government.

If the act was not taken down, the dream of making digital media will be amystery for BJP government. To make India digitalise with modern internet technologies; every person has right to express his views in or against it. Every person can give his personal verdict for any minister or any bureaucrat, can post joke and can make cartoons all it comes under person’s personal views. Those who are in power must be tolerant and liberal towards criticism.The draconian acts needs to be taken down to save India from abrogating freedom of speech as the act in question struck down had occupied freedom of speech.

After the Supreme Court’s verdict, each and every person on social networking portals thanked ShreyaSinghal for filing PIL. Now any person can post his views, on electronic and social portal,can raise their voice for any politician who is harassing people with his power without any fear of getting arrest. For this reason or another, people are likely to shout “ShreyaZindabad” or “Freedom of speech Zindabad”.

About Author:-

YasirAltafZargaris a Security Analyst from Srinagar and the first Kashmiri to be acknowledgedbyGoogle, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, Nokia,Adobe, and Apple.He Tweets as @zargaryasir.

The Broken Hoof: the flood horror that never goes away!

Posted on by Editor

By Syeda Mehak Zubair

(mehakzubair@gmail.com)

It’s been a while, since Kashmir was hit by the wrath of river Jehlum but the loss is still immense, the pain still exists and the trauma is still so fresh in our minds.

Even now I recall the tragedy which befell on the people of the valley and it fills me with horror. It must have been day 5 or day 6 of the flood when I visited Bemina, Tengpora for the first time. Houses were still inundated, cars submerged and people who were owners of multi storied houses just five days back, were striving to survive in tents on the divider. They were literally in the middle of the road.

It was  these streets, that bore witness to this massive destitution that my attention was caught by a limping horse, he had a broken hoof. It was completely displaced and tilted upwards. The horse was trying to cross the road assumingly look for grass to sustain.

This horse was limping, he was right there, he was in unbearable pain, and he had lost the ability to fend for himself. Nature had stuck him with its fury in a way that left him shelter less and he was right there on the road, he was in unbearable pain. His big eyes filled with sorrow and the black leather of his body covered with mud .The mud that that the soaring water of Jehlum had bought with it. The mud laden horse had lost its pride and its home. He was in the middle of the road, right in front of the eyes, but no one cared!

This pain of his broken hoof seemed in so many ways similar to the loss that Kashmiris felt. Thousands became shelter less overnight but their pain, their unbearable pain did not seem to bother the authorities at all. People, who clearly had lost the ability to fend for themselves, were left to their own fate. O, of course there came the magnificent relief truck, sorry A relief truck came, which threw biscuits on the road and people were left with no option but to fetch them. It does not take a genius to figure out what the share of the old, the weak and ill would have been.

Was it too much too expect that somebody from the authorities would put in efforts of making a line or keeping a local constable to check the crowd to ensure fair distribution ,as much as could be realistically expected. All that I could see in this place which had echoed the misfortune that fell on the valley ,was a relief camp board with a couple of empty chairs and a small tent set up by local volunteers who were trying their best but were clearly under equipped to do so.

I saw young boys fighting, physically pushing each other for a bottle of water, this was no playground tussle it was a battle for survival. But why did it have to come to this? Even if we keep aside the spoilt brat excuses on the lack and failure of rescue efforts from the state government machinery, why on earth did they lag behind so pathetically in the relief efforts? If it weren’t for the locals who took upon themselves the herculean task ofrelief, people who had somehow managed to swim, crawl, limp to safety with broken hopes from the trauma of seeing all they had being washed away ,would have starved to death. Many would have died because of the lack of life saving medicines.

The next day I requested a friend who was working as a volunteer to see whatever help could be provided to the people of this area .He identified around 10 tents and approximately 70 people, he and his friends tried to provide basic amenities to these people but there were so many more who were in an equally if not in a more dire state.

 

It wasn’t something that could have been managed by few volunteers, it required proper administration, and dare I say the assistance of the elected representatives. Hope kept coming in the form of local volunteers and help groups, sun’s heat dewatered some of the streets and lanes and things are better now.

But this is now, back then when there was urgent and pressing need to nurse the wounds and save the handicapped hopes; the people who should have come forward were completely oblivious.

 

Although I visit this place quite often, it seemed like a place I had never seen before. The marsh lands I saw every time used to be filled with tress and surrounded by houses, they now seemed like a deep water body that had claimed its place so well, it seemed to have owned it forever.

There were boats and the water accumulation, it did not appear to be just stagnated water, it seemed to have a life of its own, it was calm and I say with astonishment it seemed friendly like it wasn’t even remotely responsible for the loss of life, property, cattle and a sense of safety. Had this black steed not be standing there, in such agony, the wrath of the water that made him handicapped would have been impossible to fathom.

It seemed to be subtly mocking the inhabitants for the lack of empathy and lack of concern the people who were supposed to care had shown. It was making fun of how they had completely been abandoned. It put on a face, so serene that it made it almost impossible to believe that it was what is responsible for breaking the hoof!

 

 

Why We Need To Write?

Posted on by Editor

Sheikh Meelad

 

People write for a variety of reasons. For some, it is a career; for others, a hobby. Some write because it helps them to sort out their feelings. Some have a story to tell. And some write because nothing in the world makes them happier.

Have you ever really thought about it? I don’t mean the surface reasons. I mean, what is it about writing that you love? What makes you shake off the disappointment of rejection letters and want to start again? Why are some of us so sure that we were meant to write and others avoid it like the plague?

Before talking about people, let me introduce my perspective towards writing. I write because my passion demands me so. The passion in my heart and soul need to come out, so writing is the only way that I can do this. Passion is what makes a writer. If you do not have passion for what you are doing, well, you won’t be able to write. I write because I want someone to feel something. I write from my experiences, hoping that someone might learn something, feel happy or even enjoy sadness.

Aside from the fact that writing is an inescapable part of everyday life, there are many good reasons you should make a good session of writing part of your daily routine, even if it’s just a few hundred words. You don’t have to be a pro to reap the benefits of creating the written word. Writing can have enormous positive benefits in your life and let me name some of them.

Writing can be therapeutic. It can be a way to vent all the pent-up frustrations burdening your mind into a far less volatile form, paper (or screen). You can address your anger, fear, worry and stress without bludgeoning the person who embodies those emotions for you with a paperweight.

Writing can serve as a form of cathartic stress relief where you finally get to say what you can’t say out loud, in real life. Just don’t let your vented feelings get into the wrong hands, or you may end up paying some pretty hefty blackmail cash. A daily writing habit gives you regular time to sweep your mind for forgotten tasks and ideas that have been fermenting in the back of your head without your knowledge. It allows you to take the unordered thoughts floating around your head like lost puppies in zero gravity, and turn them into ordered plans and actions.

Another benefit of writing every day is, even in a stream-of-consciousness, unedited format will maintain and gradually improve your writing skills, and since dealing with the written word is a fundamental part of daily modern life, there’s nothing bad about that.

Get away from the constant low-quality input and output systems of day-to-day life, such as meaningless small-talk and weather conversations, text messaging, Twitter, checking the mailbox, and most email and many websites. You receive and create barrages of useless distractions that don’t help you or the people you know; sitting down to write lets you get away from it all. It’s important to keep the noise to a minimum so you can focus on creating and receiving strong material, things that are really worth reading and writing.

Part of the reason so many people do not get what they want in life is because they do not know what they want from it. Certainly not the main reason that people don’t get what they want, but in so many cases it is the obstacle. How can you get what you want or achieve your dreams if you’re not 100% clear on what they are?

Writing each day gives you time to think carefully and reflect on what you want to achieve the most, and develop a clearer, achievable image and plan for that result.

In a fast-paced society it’s easy to forget things like what you believe in and what you’re doing this (whatever this may be) for. Letting words flow out of your brain unedited can introduce you to a part of yourself you’d been censoring from yourself to cope with everyday life. Why did you start down the path you’re currently on? This is an important question whether you consider your current path to have begun on the weekend, or a decade ago. Discontentment, disillusionment, and unhappiness often come from forgetting why we’re doing something (or, on a different track, not having a good reason for living a certain way) and it is important to keep those simple reasons at the forefront of your mind or you run the risk of letting your life become a series of boring, menial actions. It’s not only important to remind yourself of your motives for your current actions; it’s important to monitor your actions to see if they align with your life goals so that you can change them. Sometimes, the only way to keep such a close monitor on your actions and goals is to write about them every day.

One of the most instrumental changes in my life has been writing every single day. For many years I was a writer who didn’t write that regularly. It was always on the back of my mind to write, but I didn’t find the time. But now, I tend to write every day. I think for people like us (Kashmiris) who have suffered their share of traumatic experiences, Writing can help us carve those experiences into words. In this way, this could be something meaningful for our next generations to come. Do write, do it every day!

(The writer can be reached at Sheikhmeelad@gmail.com )