News Kashmir Magazine

Farzana Mumtaz

The High Court’s direction to enforce the 83-year-old cow-slaughter ban has proven that the rightwing parties across India are at work and if mainstream regional parties are not able to amend the law in the forthcoming autumn session, the autumn of 2015 may witness the heat of the summer of 2010. Farzana Mumtaz reports

 

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian bicameral parliament, and former chief minister of Jammu Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad has said his party would bring a bill in the Legislative Assembly regarding the issue of beef ban.

Opposition National Conference (NC) has moved a bill in the Legislative Assembly to for the forthcoming autumn session seeking to decriminalize slaughter of cows and sale and consumption of beef in the State.

MLA Langate and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) chief, Engineer Abdul Rashid Sheikh has moved a Private Members Bill  to delete Section 298 A and B. He is also starting a signature campaign in all the districts of Kashmir to build social pressure against the ban on beef.

However, it remains to be seen whether the bill would be passed or not, whether the bill would be killed.

The HC’s decision calling for enforcing the 83-year-old cow-slaughter ban has proven that the rightwing parties across India including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and Bharataiy Janta Party (BJP) are at work against the minorities in the country and are interfering not only in their religious duties but also their food habits.

Meanwhile, the mainstream regional parties in Kashmir, which have taken a stand against the beef ban and stated that judiciary should not cross the red line, are trying to cool the tempers of the people of Kashmir by promising them that they would bring a bill against it and amend the law.

However, if they would not be able to amend the law in the forthcoming autumn session, the autumn of 2015 may witness the heat of the summer of 2010 when Kashmir witnessed a mass uprising.

The HC decision also forced people to go for a complete shutdown across Kashmir and prompted calls for mass cow slaughter on Eid-ul-Adha, the religious festival of Muslims.

In fact, the slaughter of cows has already started witnessing a surge with Hurriyat leaders including Asiya Andrabi and Shabir Ahmad Shah as well as pro-India politicians including Engineer Abdul Rashid Sheikh’s AIP conducting public slaughters of the bovine.

The verdict of the High Court calling for implementing the ban on the sale of beef seems to have taken the State back to the Mirwaiz Qazi Nisar incident of 1985.

Mirwaiz Qazi Nisar had defied Governor Jagmohan Malhotra’s imposition of ban on the slaughter of livestock on Janmashtmi, which paved a way for the creation of Ummat-e-Islamia that in turn cleared the decks for the formation of Muslim United Front (MUF).

And MUF’s participation in the 1987 ‘rigged’ polls culminated in the outbreak of militancy.

David Devadas, the author of ‘In Search of a Future: The Story of Kashmir’ said the ban on the slaughter of livestock on Janmashtami had set the stage for the creation of MUF, then their participation in 1987 polls and finally the outbreak of militancy.

Devdas posted on his Facebook page, “Jagmohan’s Janmashthami slaughter ban had helped set the stage for MUF. Ranbir Singh reinvented Hindu religiosity in the 1870s: Trikuta Devi became Vaishno Devi, Sanatan ways replaced the cult of Narasimha, and the pure veg' Khir Bhawani displaced Sharika Devi and Zaishta Devi. SK Sinha banned meat offerings to Zaishta Devi. Each of the three earnest gentlemen damagedintegration’ and harmony (sic).”

In another post, he wrote, “I wonder how opposition parties have received the court’s directions. Do any of them have a beef with it? or is any of them beefing up its support base? Do they see it as a meaty electoral issue? Will it help them out-flank the PDP – chop it to size, flay it perhaps, even make mincemeat of it? Have any of them ribbed the government on this (sic)?”

The High Court’s decision calling for implementing the ban on the sale of beef in Kashmir where people are voracious meat eaters seems to be something on which much thought was not given considering the razor-edge that Kashmir remains on.

The decision evoked strong protests particularly in the summer capital, Srinagar, where there is even aversion to consumption of beef and people usually take mutton.

The court direction came in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a Jammu resident, now the Deputy Advocate General of the State.

The slaughter of cows and other bovine animals was banned by the erstwhile Dogra rulers, a practice continued after 1947.

Qazi Yasir, the son of Mirwaiz Qazi Nisar and the incumbent Mirwaiz of south Kashmir, said, “Nobody should decide what I am going to have as my food unless I do not force others to have the same.”

Yasir was arrested with the government fearing he could trigger a similar kind of situation in south Kashmir that his father did three decades ago.

“India has perhaps forgotten that in 1985, our Chairman, Dr. Qazi Nisar defied their barbarism,” he said.

The HC’s diktat to strictly impose ban on the sale of beef has brought separatist leaders and religious leaders in Kashmir together who have termed it as an attempt of interference in religion by the rightwing Hindutva forces.

Justice Markandey Kathju, the former Chairman of the Press Council of India, who also served as a judge at the Supreme Court of India, had in the past reacted to a proposed ban on cow slaughter by posting on Facebook, “I am a Hindu, and I have eaten beef, and will again eat it. There is nothing wrong in beef eating. 90% of the world eats beef. Are they all sinners? And I refuse to believe that cow is sacred or our mother. How can an animal be a mother of a human being? That is why I say 90% Indians are idiots, Mr. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi included (sic).”

Devadas said that at the international level, the decade of eighties was a time of tremendous Islamism for the first time since the end of Caliphate in Turkey in the 1920s.

“After the Islamic revolution in Iran, there was a tremendous sentiment in Kashmir,” he said. “Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei and the Imam of Kabba visited Srinagar on the same day and as a mark of Shia-Sunni unity, La Sharqiya La Garbiya, Islamia, Islamia (No East, No West; Only Islamic, Only Islamic) slogans were raised,” he said.

Drawing parallels with what was happening in Kashmir in 1985 and today, Devadas said there was resentment among the youngsters then and there is resentment among the young Kashmiris today too.

“It led to the trajectories toward militancy of young men like Nayeem Khan and Shahid-ul-Islam by the late 1980s,” he said.

The renewed interest in Kashmir cow may have its roots in history though.

Mridu Rai in her book on Kashmir, ‘Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects’ writes: “While the Azaan was acknowledged to be crucial to Muslims, banning of cow slaughter was deemed by non-Muslim rulers as critical to their own dharma and so also to their sovereignty relying on its protection.”

In Maharaja Gulab Singh’s time, cow slaughter was punishable with life imprisonment while Maharaja Ranbir Singh ordered slitting a woman’s tongue for beating a cow that had torn some clothes she had hung out to dry.

In Jammu Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state of India, the recent announcement calling for implementing the ban on cow slaughter has evoked a widespread response among the Muslim community with most believing that the PDP-BJP-PC government led by Mufti Muhammad Sayeed was implementing the Hindutava agenda.

Some of them have reacted saying time was not far when Kashmir Muslims would be asked to drink cow urine as a growing cult of Hindu worshippers in India believe drinking fresh cow urine helps prevent cancer.

Others in Kashmir have responded saying Hindu India cannot cow down Muslim Kashmir.

 

 

Box

The Year of the Cow

This year, a cow, Kachir Gaaw (Brown Cow), daughter of Gura Dand (Red Bull) got an admission ticket issued by the Jammu Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examination (JKBOPEE) to appear in a Common Entrance Test for becoming a junior engineer.

The cow was allotted a seat at Government Degree College Bemina for writing the examination.

This year, the cow was responsible for deciding the fate of teachers (Rehbar-e-Taleems) in the High Court.

The court made a teacher write an essay on cow in Urdu language in an open court and ordered slapping a case against him when he failed, inviting strong observations from the judge who wanted “soulless” authorities to close down education “tuck shops”.

The direction came when Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar was hearing a petition challenging appointment of Muhammad Imran Khan as Rehbar-e-Taleem (teacher) in a school in south Kashmir.

This year, the cow was responsible for a pro-India politician Sajad Gani Lone not attending office for several days after making his debut as a minister in the Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janta Party-Peoples Conference alliance.

And this year, the High Court’s direction to enforce the 83-year-old cow-slaughter ban forced people to go for a complete shutdown across Kashmir and prompted calls for mass cow slaughter on Eid-ul-Adha, the religious festival of Muslims.

‘Year of the Cow’ by Jared Stone is a book regarding a story of a man, a cow, and a question: What am I eating?

After realizing he knew more about television on his wall than the food on his plate, Stone buys 420 pounds of beef directly from a rancher and embarks on an inspiring culinary adventure.

Year of the Cow protagonist meets the rancher who raised his cow and learns how to successfully pack a freezer with cow parts. He gets to know his bovine and delves into diets and eating habits, examining the ethnography of cattle, how previous generations ate, why environmentalists and real food aficionados were mad for grass-fed beef, why certain cuts of beef tend to end up on our plates while others don’t.

Just as the cow opens a new world to Stone, the recent controversy is likely to open the eyes of Kashmir Muslims to what the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang, Bhagrang Dal, Shiv Sena and BJP had in store for them.

With this controversy, people of Kashmir are likely to fall more in love with eating beef particularly the people living in Srinagar, who otherwise are averse to eating beef and prefer mutton.

The reaction of the people more than anything is supposed to culminate in the slaughter of more cows than usual in Kashmir.

 

News Kashmir Exclusive

 

Unemployment occurs when people are without work and actively seeking work. The problem of unemployment is continuously ruining  the future of Kashmiri youth. Unemployment is characterized by chronic under-employment or disguised unemployment. Ground realities and  surveys suggest that the menace of unemployment among the educated youth in Jammu and Kashmir has touched new heights with lakhs of candidates applying for a few thousand posts advertised by recruitment agencies. There are many more frustrations of the unemployed, who daily face the task of competing with thousands of other people.

 

As per the last Economic Survey, when it comes to overall unemployment, Punjab (4.5 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (2.8 per cent), Delhi (2.7 per cent) and Haryana (2.6 per cent) are much better placed than Jammu and Kashmir. All-India figures for unemployment rate stand at only 2.6 per cent only.

Official figures have further revealed that unemployment rate for males in J&K was 3.6 per cent whereas that of females was 17.1 per cent which is far too high when compared to the neighboring states Punjab 11.7 per cent, Haryana 2.8 per cent, Delhi 2.8 per cent and Himachal Pradesh 2.5 per cent.

“The problem of unemployment amongst females is predominant in Jammu and Kashmir based on Usual Principal Status (UPS) as the gap between unemployment rate of females in J&K (17.1 per cent) and that of all India level (3.6 per cent) is huge”, says the report.

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Unfortunately, despite being the greatest vice, the suicide rate has increased alarmingly over the past few years in the Kashmir Valley and many see growing unemployment behind it  . Just a few decades back, Kashmir was among few places across the globe with very low suicide rates. Ironically, over the past two decades the graph of suicides has run north.

Critics maintain that successive governments have failed to tackle the alarming problem of unemployment while youth continues to be in dilemma. This sorry state of the affairs is the main cause of drug abuse, which drug-traffickers cash.

 

Essar Ahmad, an unemployed youth states – ” Despite high qualification unemployment has become fortune of majority as Government after Government has failed to create ample number of jobs to suffice the aspirations of job seekers.We also have a weak private and industrial scenario that makes getting job a hectic task and this adds to frustration and agony of unemployed youth like me.New Government had promised lot of jobs but so far very little has been offered .Meaningful job avenues should be created so that bane of unemployment does not mar us.”

One of the leading reasons behind soaring unemployment rate in the state of Jammu& Kashmir is the weak performance of public sector in our part of the world. Currently, the public sector of the state is in quiet   unhealthy shape. sometime back , out of the leading seventeen state corporations in Jammu and Kashmir, ten were running on total losses of Rs 1,876.72 crore, while seven were showing profit, according to the latest official figures. Ironically the PSUs of the Jammu & Kashmir state have properties worth billions of rupees at prime locations but still they are penniless and are not able to harness their rich potential so as to provide employment opportunities to youth.

 

The lack of quality vocational courses in the premier educational institutions of the Kashmir Valley is also adding to the unemployment problem of Kashmir. Even the top level universities of Kashmir lack proper vocational courses. The infrastructure related to vocational courses in the educational institutes of valley is also unimpressive.

 

 

Unemployment tackling demands holistic vision and it is the need of hour.

 

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.

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.

 

News Kashmir Exclusive

Latest controversial step of establishing Sanik colony is generating much heated debate and anguish in Kashmir.  According to reports, 173 kanals (21 acres) of land have been identified for the “Sainik Colony (soldiers colony), where serving and retired army personnel will be allotted plots. About 6,000 serving and retired soldiers have so far applied for plots at the colony, proposed on state land behind the Friends Enclave near the main gate of Srinagar Airport.

Both Mainstream as well as separatist are expressing angst against reported move of the J&K Government to establish Sainik colony for ex-service men from Army and other force personnel in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

Senior Hurriyat (M) leader Javaid Ahmad Mir, while taking to News Kashmir stated –“it is a ploy to destroy the unique demography and culture of Kashmir. The reason and logic of Kashmir will not allow establishment of Sanik Colony as it is a simply a fascist measure. In one or other way the oppressive state wants to further subjugate the masses of Kashmir by establishing such Sanik Colony. If god forbidden such steps would be taken by the support of current ruling dispensation the people of Kashmir will resist with tooth and nail. Since Kashmir is a disputed territory, any such steps will be against the International laws therefore world forums including United Nations are appealed to intervene in the matter.”

 

Ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently  stated that not a single non-local soldier working or retired from Indian Army would be allowed to settle in ‘Sanik Colony’ reportedly coming up at Humhama in the outskirts of Srinagar city. “If ever a colony will come up, only those soldiers and ex-servicemen will settle there who will be the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir. It will be totally against the spirit of special status of Jammu and Kashmir if any non-local soldier will be allowed to settle their permanently,” the PDP spokesperson Dr Mehboob Beigh told CNS.

 

Civil society is also aghast  over the move .Mohammad Yasin Malik, a prominent Human rights activist while speaking to News Kashmir on the proposed setting of Sanik Colony stated – ” The moves like Sanik Colony seem nothing but steps aimed at colonization of Kashmir .We will with full tooth and nail oppose this move as this is an act of aggression against our nativity and our sensibilities .All efforts are being made to increase the suffocation and pain  of Kashmir but let us affirm that we the people  of Kashmir will never allow such step of aggression to take pragmatic shape.

 

 

Meanwhie, Hurriyat (G) Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani while terming the attitude of the Mufti government on this sensitive issue as ambiguous and suspicious stated  that the Indian defense minister Manohar Parrikar had said that he had sent directions to the state government in Srinagar on July 16 for taking appropriate action in the allotment of the state land to the former Indian army personals but Mufti Sayeed government is still to say anything about that order and nor has he refuted or supported it.

 

Geelani stated-“Mufti should clear the stand of the state government on this sensitive issue before the general public that are they going to accept this unconstitutional order of the Indian defense minister or will they this time protect the state constitution. Permanent settlement of former Indian army personals on this land is an attempt to harm the special status and disputed nature of Jammu & Kashmir and the people of the state will not allow any such plan to succeed.”

Political temperatures are definitely running high over the setting of Sanik Colony in Kashmir.

 

 

Farzana Mumtaz

 

Gurdaspur, Udhampur attacks imply battlefield shift. The recent attacks in Gurdaspur and Udhampur hint at a new turn in Kashmir militancy as the enemy of troops is changing the battlefield. Farzana Mumtaz reports. The twin attacks carried by militants in Udhmapur district of Jammu and Kashmir state and Gurdaspur area of the neighbouring Punjab state point at the new turn militancy is taking.

As the militant numbers in Kashmir are dipping, militant groups seem to have realized the importance of shifting the battlefield from the Valley to the Hindu-dominated districts of the State and the Indian mainland. They are now trying to wage a war not on the streets they know and not among the people they consider their own but in the “enemy territory”.

Mohammad Naved, a militant who was captured in Udhampur on Wednesday after he and another militant attacked a convoy of the paramilitary Border Security Force, said the four-member Lashkar-e-Taiba module of which they were a part had managed to escape after a police team intercepted it in Pulwama district of south Kashmir on July 23.

Naved told interrogators that he had been in India since May 27 and had “enough local support”. He said had been in constant touch with Abu Dujana, the number two in the LeT hierarchy.

From a LeT hideout at Khrew in south Kashmir, where they spent 40 days, the militants had left for Pulwama on a small truck on July 23 and were intercepted. Naved told interrogators that most of the LeT leadership had visited the hideout in Khrew during the holy month of Ramadhan.

According to the interrogation report, Naved started his journey from his launching pad at Halan in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan administered Kashmir on May 27, along with Noman, who was killed on Wednesday, and Okasha and Mohammad Bhai.

The report revealed that Naved had reached the Line of Control in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on June 2 and had cut the fence to enter this side of Kashmir.

The report revealed that the group then switched on a GPS device to find their way and walked 18 km to reach near the Baba Rishi shrine in Tangmarg locality on June 7, where they met a local guide.

It stated two days later, they were received by another local guide. After being in Kashmir, Naved’s surfacing in Udhampur points out a clear change in strategy of the militant groups operating in Jammu Kashmir.

Reaching Udhampur from Tangmarg while carrying arms and ammunition is an almost impossible task but for militants to take such a journey seems evidence enough that the new directive for the militant groups is to wage a war against the “enemy in the enemy territory”.

 

Udhampur is one of the three districts with a substantial Hindu population and it seems that the high command of the militant groups have given them a directive to “fight the battle” in the areas where the casualties, even if caused to the civilians, are of the non-Muslims so that the “armed movement” in Kashmir does not lose support among the Muslim population of Kashmir and Muslims of Chenab Valley, Pir Panjal range and Kargil.

Naved was captured alive and become the only second militant to be captured alive since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

 

He was captured shortly after he and his companion killed two BSF men and wounded nearly a dozen troopers by ambushing a convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Udhampur.

 

Pertinently, police officers said Naved was from Bahawalpur in Pakistan.

 

“I am from Pakistan and my partner was killed in the firing but I escaped. Had I been killed, it would have been Allah’s doing. There is fun in doing this … I came to kill Hindus,” the suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, Naved who was wearing a dark blue shirt and brown trousers said.

 

Naved, 16, said has two brothers and a sister and one of his two brothers is a lecturer while the other runs a hosiery business.

Naved became the second Pakistani militant to be captured alive during an operation after Ajmal Kasab, the 26/11 attacker who was subsequently convicted and hanged to death for the carnage in Mumbai that left 166 people dead.

An officer said the two Pakistani militants hiding in a maize field along the highway hurled grenades and fired at the convoy when it reached Samroli near Udhampur, about 85 km from Jammu, on way to Srinagar.

He said as the BSF personnel fired back, Naved fled toward a village in the hills and took three civilians hostage in a school.

One of the hostages, Rakesh Kumar, said they misled the armed militant when he asked them to take him to a safe place.

 

Another hostage, Vikramjit Singh, said the militant was hungry.

“So we stopped. There we got together, forced him to the ground and unarmed him. He pleaded ‘mujhe mat pakdo, mujhe mat pakdo (Don’t catch me, don’t catch me)’ when we pinned him down and took away his AK-47.”

As he was brought down from the mountainous village bound by ropes, Naved looked hassled but smiled when he answered questions from journalists.

“My partner and I came to India through the jungles about 12 days ago … We ran out ration in three days. I was very hungry,” he said, before troops hooded his face and took him away.

The ambush was worrying for troops as it followed the July 27 attack in Punjab’s Gurdaspur that left seven people dead.

The attack was a first on the Jammu-Udhampur stretch of the highway in over a decade.Earlier, militants stormed a police station in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district killing seven people and wounding 10 others.

 

The militant attack came weeks after prime ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif met in Russia and agreed that top security officers from the two countries would meet to discuss counter-terrorism strategy.

 

The 11-hour siege in Punjab ended after troops and police surrounded the building in Dinanagar town and killed three militants.

The area’s Superintendent of Police, Baljit Singh, was among those killed, apart from three policemen and three civilians.

 

“All ordnance factory marks and numbers on the AK-47s had been erased and so were the marks on the grenade canisters,” a top security official said. “There is nothing to trace the weapons to China or Pakistan. The attack appears to have been planned in great detail so that Pakistan can claim total deniability as no communication was exchanged.”

Two GPS devices found on the bodies were sent to a forensic laboratory to trace the infiltration route, but no identity documents, food, SIM cards or medicines were recovered.

 

“All we have is three bodies who were on a suicide mission,” the official said. “Our assessment is that they infiltrated across the international border in Punjab and could belong to the LeT as the modus operandi is similar to the (2013) Hiranagar attack in Jammu.” With the Udhampur attack, the militants shifted the battlefield to Hindu heartland of Jammu region and with Gurdaspur attacks, the militant groups had already made it clear to New Delhi that “enemy is at the gates”.

 

 

News Kashmir Excusive

Quality Healthcare facility is need of every human. Health care is one aspect that is direly craving for attention in Jammu and Kashmir State. With the sanctioning of All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)  by the Government of India in Kashmir one had hoped that worries of masses with reference to healthcare in the state would be somewhat eased but as it has turned developments  even in this regard  have taken an ugly shape. Dirty politics and politics loaded with electoral and communal gains is being displayed .State unit of BJP and other right wing Hindutva Parties  with other Jammu based parties  have generated lot of needless hue and cry over the issue of their demand of  the setting of AIIMS in Jammu region.

Valleyites have stated that on account of turmoil Jammu region has over the past few decades got lion’s share out of the developmental packages.

Syed Tajamul Imran, a writer states – “Even if Jammu desires or needs an AIMS; it is very much needed by the people of mountainous Pirpanjal and Chenab divisions of Jammu region,  but demanding such mega facility  for Jammu City or adjacent areas seems only a display of vested and selfish politics. When the need in our part of the world is to brainstorm collectively for betterment of basic facilities like quality healthcare, unfortunately fanatic tendencies seem to occupy the center stage.”

Sane voices are also state that a  place wherein even construction of mega super facility hospital generates controversy, agitation and communal polarization speaks volumes about the maturity of politicians of that part and AIMS controversy bears testimony to the fact that Jammu and Kashmir politicians are more guided by selfish interests rather than collective humane dynamism .

 

On the otherhand the commoners in Kashmir are also questioning the move of demanding AIIMS in Jammu. Manzoor Ahmad, a  student states – “If the agitators demanding would have been so sincere they should have been asking for AIIMS in health facility starved Chenab or Pirpanjal region but their intentions are to look for setting AIIMS in already health facility rich Jammu. Even the protest and agitation carried out for setting AIIMS in Jammu was by no means what we call civillised as it involved lot of coercive tactics. Demand for AIIMS in Jammu city or areas near it seems also visionless as if we look on the issue from geographical paradigms  Jammu is just 650 kms far from the AIIMS Dehli  but the other parts of the state are more the 1000 Kms far from the Dehli AIMS.”

 

Why the demand looks all the more political and selfish in nature is answered by the fact that If we  focus on results of last  elections the BJP got 25 seats from Jammu and PDP from Kashmir got 28 seats but the political analysts believe that it is actually the win of Jammu  that propelled BJP and others to seek AIIMS for Jammu also as the  Government was formed for the benefits and choice of Jammu more than that of Kashmir.

After much ado about nothing, On the assurance of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India in which the state government has been advised to identify pieces of land measuring approximately 200 acres of each in both Jammu and Srinagar keeping in view to expediting the process of establishment of AIIMS in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the members of AIIMS Coordination Committee (ACC) have temporarily suspended their Jammu bandh call .

Amid all this the optimism of setting up maiden institutes of prestigious AIIMS has been tremendously overshadowed by the selfish, communal and regional politics played over this critical issue.

News Kashmir Exclusive

With the threat of another floods looming large in Kashmir valley this season the biggest question, that is talk of town is that how Valley of Kashmir has been literally converted into a flood zone with even normal rains that too in month of March which is a no-flood month.  .

Pertinently, the answer does not seem simple as the overall environmental scenario is quiet awful as Valley of Kashmir has  lost several precious environmental resources. Over the past few decades, Kashmir  lost a majority of wetlands and lakes. The phenomenon of deforestation has increased. Illegal encroachments have worsened the matters.

Painfully Enough,  by display of the selfish attitude by masses and successive inefficient governments , Kashmir has  lent a great blow to its  natural resources and as a result today according to experts the calamities like floods are thus becoming a normality.

According to many environmental watchers, Wetlands destruction is one of the main reason behind recurring Kashmir floods as wetlands form an vital part of our ecosystem. Wetlands perform multiple function as they  can decrease flooding , remove pollutants from water , recharge groundwater, protect shorelines, provide habitat for wildlife , and perform other various important functions.

 

Beautiful Valley of Kashmir is bestowed with large number of impressive wetlands like HAIGAM RAKH, MIRGUND WETLAND, SHALBUGWETLAND:

The Wetland International(NetherLands)  an International organization and authority on wetlands describe in their report the worth of wetlands of Kashmir as under,” The Kashmir Valley with an average elevation of 1600 amsl is dotted with wetlands, which play an enormous role in maintaining the hydrological regimes of the entire valley. There are varied assessments on the extent of wetlands within the valley owing to difference in interpretation of definition of wetlands. The present assessments ranging from 236.5 sq km (Space Application Center, 1998) – 256 sq km ( NationalWetland Inventory, Salim Ali Center for Ornithology, 2001) , are significantly underestimated considering the comprehensive definition of wetlands on hydrological basis. But destruction of these wetlands has lead to environmental havoc.

Commenting on this abject reality, Junaid Khan, an activist states – “ The recent flood disaster in kashmir is undeniably a result of extreme rainfall. But this is not entire story. The loss of forests, wide spread illegal construction on agriculture land and earth/filling of water bodies has decreased water retention and increased flash floods and landslides (Due to deforestation ) across the state. As a result, heavy rainfall may turn into disastrous flooding with in hours. Destruction o wetlands has worsened the matters for us. The illegal encroachments and construction in Dal and other lakes causes water level to ris and lakes cant bear the continuous spell of rain and same water overflows causing  fear and destruction. More than 30% of wetlands in kashmir valley have been encroached upon or severally damaged. The construction there is mainly due to commercial activities. Take example of of biggest lake “wular” It has once spread across 20000 hectares, it now remains restricted to 2400 hectares.

 

According to expert opinion , Dal Lake, Anchar Lake, Manasbal and Wular Lake are some of the larger wetlands of the basin. Extensive marshes have been also formed in lower areas through catchment drainages, particularly between Srinagar and Sopore Rakh Asham, Naugam, Malgam, are some of the major marshes of the valley, but unfortunately  a big portion of which has been drained and reclaimed for agriculture and settlement”.

 

Hilal Alvi, An environmental watcher states – “ Wetlands have immense importance as they function as natural sponges that trap and slowly release surface water, rain, snowmelt, groundwater and flood waters. Trees, root mats, and other wetland vegetation also slow the speed of flood waters and distribute them more slowly over the floodplain. This combined water storage an braking action lowers flood heights and reduces erosion. We  need to remember that  Wetlands within and downstream of urban areas are particularly valuable, counteracting the greatly increased rate and volume of surface- water runoff from pavement and buildings. The holding capacity of wetlands helps control floods and prevents water logging of crops. Preserving and restoring wetlands

But currently the Wetlands in Kashmir are facing multi-dimensional threats “Taken as a whole, it is estimated that the aggregate value of services generated by wetlands throughout the world is $4.9 trillion per year (Costanza et al. 1997). Wetlands are integral part of environment. Wetlands are an important part of Kashmir environment but they have been continuously   facing many  problems including siltation, eutrophication and unabated encroachments of agricultural land. Natural and artificial fertilizers extensively used on adjacent agricultural lands enter the wetland resulting greatly in increased  rate of eutrophication and threatening wetlands. Steps should be taken to save our valuable wetlands from looming disasters than only we can safeguard overselves from calamities like floods .”

Illegal Encroachments over the past few decades have become a norm in Kashmir and have lent death blow to the fragile environmental zones and aggravated the situation further. While on one hand these illegal encroachments have choked rivers and flood channels on the otherhand, rational voices are also worried that Large scale encroachment of Wullar, Hokera & Narkara Wetlands for residential colonies is also posing a danger to migratory birds.

Overwhelming opinion on ground is that Wetland Destruction, Illegal Encroachments are undoubtedly triggering Kashmir floods.

News Kashmir Exclusive

The Valley of Kashmir’s already fragile education system has been hit hard by the political turmoil, natural disasters, lack of quality infrastructure in past few decades and students have been hit hard by all this.

 

What has been the prominent defining challenge amidst all this turbulence is the debate revolving whether the November- December session is best or the March- April session with reference to the timing of examinations of Kashmiri students. Viewpoints, narratives, arguments have all been differing with some favouring maintaining the November Session while others favouring March session.

Pertinently, a Cabinet decision in 2014 by the then state government had made it clear that examinations shall be held in March  and stated “ It is a binding on all education institutions operating in the state and those violating the orders will be dealt as per law.”

The said cabinet order had made it amply clear that academic session will start from March and exams will also be held in the same month. The November session has been deferred to March and it will continue to remain so in future, the said order had maintained.

 

What decision will the new government take on academic calendar will it be November session or March session remains to be seen but a debate on subject is on between social circles .

While reflecting on this debate whether November session or March Session is suited, Sheikh Sameer, An Academician states – “J&K state has distinct geographical features. People have adjusted their lifestyle according to unique climatic conditions. The summer and winter activities in every sphere of life follow the somewhat different calendar of J&K people. The March session had been in practice earlier but unfortunately as it is generally believed it was changed to appease bureaucrats. It is because of bureaucratic intervention and hegemony that such system evolved for worse. November session has many disadvantages, problems that are endemic. On the other hand the advantages of March session are many. The academic session at present starts in March and ends in September (with regard to teaching-learning). As such there are only seven months of teaching-learning period. While as shifting of annual exams permanently to March session will increase the teaching-learning period. Academic year will start from April and end in November stretching the duration from seven to eight months thereby increasing the period by one month. Students can better prepare for examinations in the two months, that is from December to January. The examinations may start in mid February when severe cold is accorded ‘farewell’ and the climate starts becoming suitably warm. In winter vacation students often waste a lot of time in unnecessary home work instead of exam preparations. In this technology age students should not be allowed to wait too long for preparation and declaration of results. By March if both exams and results are over, academic session would begin as early as April. With the prospective change of the examination session from November to March many problems will get settled on their own (structurally). Let all stake holders have firm approach to make this a permanent change. Let exams be always held in March and the final class pass outs join professional and academic courses afresh without wasting any time.”

 

Ubaid Zaragar, a student states – “In  March this year the weather was not stable which created havoc for board authorities to conduct exam on due dates. The questions were continuously arising will this (March session) continue or not. Although I think the exams should be conducted in March which will be helpful for both the 10^th and 12^th class students. As we all know in winters, people in Kashmir usually stay inside and most of them waste their time, either in playing cricket or in snow fighting. March session, to several students, has come as a great solution for deriving out maximum benefits from an idle phase. It will surely give them a chance to develop the habits of self-studying, reading novels, history which, otherwise, is not possible. March session will benefit students from rural areas as well. Normally, autumn is a season for harvesting in Kashmir. Most of the students living in rural areas remain busy with the crop harvest. Ironically, most of the examinations are held during the same period of the year. If the examinations are postponed until March, these hardworking students from villages will get ample time to prepare and thus will prosper both economically as well as academically.

Ubaid Zargar adds – “Another reason where I support is when we pass graduation level exams in January, we need to pause our self while waiting in getting admission inside Kashmir or outside. Then after a long they too follow the March session procedure which in fact devastates our several months. The irony in it is these months get wasted which in fact as per calculations waste the whole year.

 

The conduct of exams in winter is a very difficult job for authorities as well as students because of the weather conditions prevailing here. The government should make it compulsory, as its kick start was not so good. They should stick to the decision to conduct exams in March every year as it is advantageous.”

 

On the otherhand, there are many opposing voices too who state November session should e maintained.

Arshid Ahmad, a parent stated – “ Examination session or the academic session should e not changed to March as this will make our students, teachers lethargic. We all know we have a long winter in Kashmir and in this day and age preparing for exams is not such big deal. Making March Session a permanent feature will come with a great hazard that on overall terms winter vacations will not be utilized and these long months of vacation will not prove productive and can make our students lose touch and elegance. So we should not change to March Session as it can lead to total wastage of long intervals of Winter Vacation in Kashmir.”

Without doubt an interesting debate is on whether to have March Session or November session for our academics and policy makers should take all pros and cons into consideration before taking final call.

News Kashmir Exclusive

 

In a landmark development, Section  66A of the Information Technology Act is unconstitutional in its entirety, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday stroking   down a “draconian” provision that had led to the arrests of many people for posting content deemed to be “allegedly objectionable” on the Internet.

“It is clear that Section 66A arbitrarily, excessively and disproportionately invades the right of free speech and upsets the balance between such right and the reasonable restrictions that may be imposed on such right,” said a Bench of Justices J. Chelameswar and Rohinton F. Nariman. The definition of offences under the provision was “open-ended and undefined”, it said.

While on otherside, the Bench also turned down a plea to strike down sections 69A and 79 of the Act, which deal with the procedure and safeguards for blocking certain websites and exemption from liability of intermediaries in certain cases, respectively. In the said judgment, the court said the liberty of thought and expression was a cardinal value of paramount significance under the Constitution.

 

 

It is worth mentioning here that in number  of the cases slapped against persons for posting offensive views on social network sites, the police had invariably invoked Sections 153 and 505 of the IPC along with Section 66A of I-T Act, which is a bailable offence.

Valleyites especially netizens are happy over abolishing of Section 66 A as they feel it grants them more freedom and more liberty to express their dissent.

Faizaan Bhat, an enthusiastic Netizen stated – “We have seen what happened in previous agitations  in Kashmir how many youth were arrested just by posting against Government. Supreme court  of India  took a great decision of scrapping it as this section was against right to freedom of speech n democrac, but we need to be civilized and sane on online mediums and write  rationally and  logically. This landmark decision also proves that India can never be turned into another China and freedom o speech here has lot of value ”

As a matter of fact, The petitioners in this historical case included Shreya Singhal, Common Cause, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Dilip Kumar Tulsidas, the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, Mouthshut.Com, Tasleema Nasrin, Manoj Oswal, the Internet and Mobile Association of India and Anoop M.K

 

While talking exclusively to News Kashmir Magazine, Yasir Altaf Zargar, a Security Analyst stated – “This draconian act invaded 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 led block of those websites which post abusive content or any offensive comment. Arresting people on giving their personal views or comments will increase heartedness among masses towards government and may lead to civil war against government.”

 

 

 

Many experts state that we should not still be over joyous as it is the invoking of additional IPC sections which had allowed the police to arrest the persons for offensive posts.

Pertinently, Section 153 and 153A provides for registration of a case against a person who gives a statement either in writing or orally that incites communal riots or provokes communal tension and enmity between communities. IT is punishable with imprisonment from 6 months to one year with fine. Section 505 punishes persons who spread rumor through their statement to cause public disorder with an imprisonment up to 3 years.

Pertinently, Section 66A was not part of the original I-T Act enacted during NDA government in 2000. The UPA government had amended the Act in 2009 and brought Section 66A into force October 27, 2009. At that time Veerappa Moily was the law minister and A Raja was the minister for information technology. Kapil Sibal succeeded Raja as I-T minister.

On the other hand , Sunil Abraham, the executive director of the Center for Internet & Society, which is based in Bangalore, called the decision “amazing.”
“It is in continuation of a great tradition in India: that of apex courts consistently, over the years, protecting the citizens of India from violations of human rights,” he said.

India is considered by some to be one of the world’s most freewheeling democracies, and the decision to strike down 66 A has been welcomed by one and all.