News Kashmir Magazine

‘Hind Swaraj’ is one of the finest works of M.K. Gandhi. The book, presented as a dialogue, is written in a very humble and lucid manner. An anthology of Gandhi’s evolved ideas, the book gives a broader perspective of his aspirations, visions, thoughts and apprehensions about various issues like colonialism, self-rule and modernity. It begins with an acknowledgement for the founding members of the congress and the native as well as foreign sympathiser’s, who supported Indian cause both in and outside India.This acknowledgment of the roots, in a way, provides the basis and grounding to Gandhi’s ideology. Taking it forward Gandhi continues by turning to a few instances in the history of Indian struggle for Independence and gives a perspective of how these instances proved better in awakening Indians against the British Raj. One of the important points that Gandhi makes here is the ‘positivity’a ‘discontent’ may lead to.
‘Hind Swaraj’has been written with a liberatory essence. Gandhi while defining ‘swaraj’ went beyond the conventional trends of that time. For him ‘swaraj’ is beyond the ‘absence of foreign rulers’, rather it means ‘learning to rule our own selves’, something that can be achieved only when we don’t let ourselves to be enslaved either by the ‘colonialism’ or by ‘modernity’. Gandhi critiqued colonialism and modernity, to liberate not just Indians but the entire mankind, as for him these are certainly contradictory to the essence of being humans.In a way, Gandhi being a visionary, could see colonialism being embedded in modernity, to maintain the control and dominations by the British, something that can be regarded as relevant in the contemporary times, particularly with reference to the growing technological influence upon the social and religious fabric of the society.
Gandhi being an ardent supporter of the philosophy of self-reliance for self-development, wrote ‘Hind Swaraj’ with the purpose to educate his countrymen, to make them feel empowered by taking pride in their civilisation, which according to him is ‘real’ as against the ‘false’ civilisation of Europe. He aimed their civilisational values to take over their ego and fight against the injustice with honour and peace. Hence, Gandhi presented ‘Hind Swaraj’, based upon the philosophy of non-violent ways of fighting against the injustice, as providing a better and more productive alternative way of achieving ‘swaraj’.
Although being a text to empower the subaltern, ‘Hind Swaraj’ falls into criticism in certain ways, like the neglect of ‘untouchables’, one of the grave concerns of subaltern in India.‘Hind Swaraj’is also critiqued for its use of some derogatory words for women, like ‘sterile’ to counter the unproductiveness of the then British parliament. With the extended critique of ‘modernity’, by particular reference to certain aspects of it, the book is sometimes categorised as a radical text. However, whatever the concerns of the author remained for critiquing modernity to this extent, ‘Hind Swaraj’ is and shall remain a credible and soul-full text upon resistance to subjugation.

Written in 1909 Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule   by Mohandas K. Gandhi still holds its  own important place in the struggle  of India against imperialism and has message for humanity as well.

The moral, civilized message of Hind Swaraj by Gandhi Ji is worth appreciable and as a book it serves as a good role model for revolutionaries seeking to maintain their own optimism and civilization while fighting with imperialist. These lines which I will quote are quiet moving-“India can fight like Italy only when she has arms. You have not considered this problem at all. The English are splendidly armed; that does not frighten me, but it is clear that, to pit ourselves against them in arms, thousands of Indians must be armed. If such a thing be possible, how many years will it take? Moreover, to arm India on a large scale is to Europeanize it. Then her condition will be just as pitiable as that of Europe. This means, in short, that India must accept European civilization, and if that is that we want, the best thing is that we have among us those who are so well trained in that civilization. We will then fight for a few rights, will get what we can and do pass our days. But the fact is that the Indian nation will not adopt arms, and it is well that it does not.”

These beautiful lines gives us idea to maintain sanity even during revolution.

In quiet emphatic manner, Gandhi Ji has  also very well argued very well that India will never be free unless it rejects Western civilization itself. In the entire text he is deeply critical of western civilization, claiming, “India is being ground down, not under the English heel, but under that of modern civilization.” He speaks about civilization not just in relation to India, though. He also argues that “Western civilization is such that one has only to be patient and it will be self destroyed.” It is a profound repudiation. Not only is western civilization unhealthy for India, but western civilization is by its own virtue unhealthy. As Gandhi Ji  puts it, some “want English rule without the Englishman … that is to say, [they] would make India English. And when it becomes English, it will be called not Hindustan but Englishtan. This is not the Swaraj I want.”

In nutshell, GANDHI’s Hind Swaraj (HS) is surely a foundational text for any understanding of the man and his great mission.

Overall, I enjoyed reading of Hind Swaraj as book and the lessons drawn from this small but effective book are definitely inspiring.

Reviewed by Rameez Makhdoomi

Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule is a book written by Mohandas K. Gandhi in 1909. In it he expresses his views on Swaraj, modern civilization, mechanisation etc. Even after 106 years of its history as a book Hind Swaraj  has lot  of relevance especially at a time when violence is ripping apart many societies and negative impacts  of western civilization are being discussed in many areas.

Pertinently, we need to remember while reading Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj that it takes the form of a dialogue between two characters, The Reader and The Editor. The Reader essentially serves as the typical Indian countryman whom Gandhi would have been addressing with Hind Swaraj.

The book deserves praise on several paradigms- First for recognizing the role of ancestors in any righteous movement , for every noble cause like cow protection seeking cooperation of otherside, for Hind Swaraj’s commitment not to meet brutality with brutality.

In Kashmir, as we are very well aware that for urge of Swaraj many lives have been lost and people are fed up with both state and non state violence. Hind Swaraj gives a moral and sane view what Swaraj should look like. As Gandhiji argues that ‘Home Rule is Self Rule’. He argues that it is not enough for the British to leave only for Indians to adopt a British-styled society. As he puts it, some “want English rule without the Englishman … that is to say, [they] would make India English. And when it becomes English, it will be called not Hindustan but Englishtan. This is not the Swaraj I want.”

In a world of ours were violence as an active  means to seek justice or vent out anger has given rise to many brutal and inhuman outfits the idea of adopting  passive resistance and self reliance by Gandhi stands tall .

As,Gandhi argues that use of violence is counter-productive; instead, he believes, “The force of love and pity is infinitely greater than the force of arms. There is harm in the exercise of brute force, never in that of pity.” This is indispensable point articulated throughout Hind Swaraj.

Mahatma Gandhi reasons that Swadeshi (self-reliance) be exercised by Indians, meaning the refusal of all trade and dealings with the British. He addresses the English when he states, “If you do not concede our demand, we shall be no longer your petitioners. You can govern us only so long as we remain the governed; we shall no longer have any dealings with you.” Gandhi makes an intriguing argument here: if the British want India for trade, remove trade from the equation.

 

However,  according to my opinion there is also critical side to Hind Swaraj.  Gandhi Ji while attacking doctors in the book seems to overhyping the realities and linking the diseases to just overeating and greed of soul and  calling their intervention somewhat fatal. Gandhi seems to be unacquainted of diseases and ailments that are caused not because of overeating but by pathogens and parasites. He also deliberately doesn’t talk about two great medical interventions, vaccination and pasteurization that saved millions of lives in the times that Gandhi lived in. And lawyers too are analyzed in the book from slightly narrow vision.

On holistic paradigm, I was impressed a lot by humane and lofty  ethical message of Hind Swaraj.

 

 

Bani Umer

 

 

When three year old Syrian child came washed up dead on a beach in Turkey, globally media broadcasted it  and every newspaper published the news on its front page.

Even the Netizens, Twitter and Facebook users, changed their profile pictures to the widely circulated photograph of dead Aylan. On twitter millions of tweets with the hash tag #AylanKurdi went viral soon after the  news of Aylan Kurdi’s demise came via innumerable news outlets .

 

Worldwide media showed their anger and hatred for Monarchical and dictatorial  king Bashar Al Assad.

Now let me welcome you to the valley of cries and shrieks, where every eye is moist and every heart bleeds. On 19th September, Kashmir- so called paradise on earth lost a budding flower in its early stage just like the Syrian Aylan Kurdi.

Burhaan Bashir a 3 year old kid from Sopore Kashmir , instead of toys and chocolates received the bullets when he was in the lap of his father Bashir Ahmed Bhat, a former militant.

On Friday evening, September 18 the father- son duo received a rain of bullets from unknown gunman outside their house at Sagipora village of Spore area. Bashir died on the spot while Burhan, the Aylan Kurdi of Kashmir, succumbed to his wounds in the hospital the following morning. When people received his tender weightless body, they failed to control tears , because as it is said that smallest coffins are always heavy. A pain of gloom descended over entire Kashmir.

The question arises here -what was the crime of Kashmiri Aylan Kurdi Burhan? Isn’t it that he is Kashmiri and Muslim?

For Kashmiri people Burhaan is the Alyan Kurdi ,but for so called servers of humanity he may be a rebel/terrorist , just like the kids of Palestine and Syria.

Burhaan’s Cold blooded murder no doubt attracted the sympathy of many organizations like Hurriyat, ,JKLF , Jamat-i-Islami etc. They condemned the killing of Innocent Burhaan .

But now our leaders should think beyond the condemnation and Hartals. This is unfortunate that our Alyaan Kurdi did not received much attention as compared to Syrian Aylan across the Globe.

I do not know the reason behind this. But I hope Muslims and especially Humans across the Globe will raise their voices against the cold bloodied murder of Burhaan.

Also, whosoever the criminals are, “Here you may hide ,but on the day of Judgment the kid will definitely raise his voice against you and that day you will be naked.” As always, the Government will fail to bring justice to the mother of Burhaan and widow of Bashir Ahmed,  as they have miserably failed in the past.

 

The writer Bani Umar is Studying at Amar Singh college Srinagar and can be reached at baniumer@gmail.com.

The relationship between trust and money is very complex to understand especially in international relations, for the time being it appears that Modi’s visit has strengthened the bilateral relations.

 

 

Shahnawaz Gul                                      

 

Research Scholar

Department of Political Science

University of Kashmir  

sgnengroo@gmail.com           

             In his Independence Day speech the wsay Prime Minister Modi was figuring the money accumulated from small endeavors gives us a clear cut idea that how Modi looks more like a shopkeeper in his domestic policies. At a foreign policy front Modi’s visit to the UAE could be looked from the similar context. Modi realized the importance of the theocratic Muslim country and subsequently becoming the first Indian Prime Minister in thirty four years after Indira Gandhi to Visit UAE.

              The significant factors which materialized the Indian Prime Ministers out of queue visit to UAE are- the presence of humongous Indian community living in UAE, bilateral cooperation in Energy, Trade, Security and Investment. One more factor why it is comfortable for India to forge the robust relations with UAE is that in comparison to rest of the Gulf monarchy UAE is religiously less conservative and open society.

           What forced Indian Prime minister to visit ICAD Residential Labour Camp in Abu Dhabi to see the living conditions of the workers that too long after thirty four years? Indian community in UAE constitutes a whopping 30% of UAEs population and  constitute $10 billion that is 20% of Indian total remittances. That way Indian expatriate community share a big contribution in the development of India back home.

            Modi visited famous Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi which is looked upon by people with diverse perspectives both in UAE and in India. Modi with Hindu nationalist tag visiting grand Mosque symbolically is going to be a special movement for Indian community living in UAE majority of them are Muslims from south India. As it is said that every foreign visit is loaded with elements of its domestic constituency. This time Bihar state assembly elections are considered as an objective behind visiting grand mosque to lure the Muslim majority in the state of Bihar. Bihar assembly elections are turning into a battle of pride for Modi’s BJP. Although many people are opposing this view and are simply seeing this as a cultural event to visit grand mosque.

         Ahead of the visit, Modi in an interview said that the UAE was a valued partner and the extent of bilateral ties indicate the vibrant relations the nations enjoy. This can be mulled from the fact that for the UAE, India is its second largest trading partner. The UAE is India’s third largest trading partner. UAE companies have a long history although with varied experience in working in India.

Modi tried and got a considerable success to enhance cooperation in energy and trade and reached out to investors to hardsell India as an attractive business destination. This was reflected from the fact that Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has announced to invest 450 lakh crore Indian rupees in India. For Modi it is not only money but trust of UAE government which he has been able to won. The relationship between trust and money is very complex to understand especially in international relations, for the time being it seems that Modi’s visit has strengthened the bilateral relations.

Security has been another potential area of cooperation between India and UAE, both the countries have already entered into treaties and agreements on extradition, mutual legal assistance in criminal and civil matters, combating trafficking in narcotics, and information cooperation apart from maritime interaction. There are some areas were both UAE and India could bilaterally cooperate in combating terrorism. Modi retreats in Dubai speech that both the governments condemn terrorism in the strongest terms in all its forms and manifestations. He also revealed that the UAE has supported India’s stand on pursuing a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that has been pending for a while. With the emergence of the IS as a global threat, the security and strategic dimensions of the relationship have become more pronounced. Both countries have been in conflict with Islamist militants, and the Joint statement undertook to increase cooperation in counter-terrorism operations and intelligence sharing.

Economic and commercial cooperation is a prominent factor in bilateral relationship between the two countries. India-UAE trade valued has gone up to around USD 60 billion. It has set a target of increasing bilateral trade by 60 percent in the next five years and pledged cooperation in developing and launching satellites, as well as peaceful uses of nuclear energy. A joint statement by the two governments said the UAE would help India develop strategic petroleum reserves in addition to its upstream and downstream petroleum sectors.

In an attempt to fulfill the dream of make in India.One of the most significant take away of the bilateral engagement is that the India and the UAE  will set up a multi-billion dollar fund to invest in Indian infrastructure projects and cooperate in producing military equipment, space technology and nuclear energy. Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyan Jaishankar said that the fund will aim to raise $75 billion to build railways, ports, roads and other projects in India.

As for as defense cooperation is concerned the preparation was already going on between the officials of the two governments The first meeting of Joint Committee on Security Matters had taken place in March, 2013. With the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation, a Joint Defense Cooperation Committee (JDCC) was established. The JDCC provides a platform for regular exchange of dialogue in the defense sector. Modi has been able to motivate the UAE  governments to cooperate in manufacture of defense equipment in India.

Modi ended his historic visit with a Madison like address to a mammoth gathering of almost 50,000 Indian Diaspora. The highlight of the speech was to convince people that India has transformed to a ‘New India’ from last one year where Dialogue, Democracy, Accommodation, Conflict Resolution and Humanitarian approach prevails he supported this argument with examples like Naga peace agreement, Bangladesh land swap, Relief  to Nepal and water aid to Maldives and care for Sri Lankan Jaffna.

At optical and theoretical level Modi’s UAE visit has done well. But the real success of visit could only be judged when all measure taken and discussed are operational on ground.

 

 

 

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.

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).

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 1^st 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.

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!