Cellular services remain suspended in north Kashmir

UMER MAQBOOL
Srinagar, July 23: Residents of north Kashmir’s Varmul district are facing tremendous problems in absence of the cellular services, which were snapped last month following the killing of two youth in police action. Services of different companies, excluding state owned BSNL, were suspended on June 28, by the state government in several areas of Varmul on the directives of state police. Thousands of subscribers of Airtel, Aircel, Rcom, Tatas, Vodafone and Idea in Varmul, Sopur, Sangrama, Rafiabad and other adjoining areas have been running from pillar to post to know when their mobiles would start ringing again.

Unite and Give direction to the ongoing movement: Salah-ud-Din To Hurriyat

No need of indefinite strike
‘Stone Pelting A Means Of Resistance’
Srinagar, July 23: Justifying stone pelting as a means of resistance, the United Jihad Council chairman, Syed Salah-ud-Din Friday urged the pro-freedom leaders in Kashmir to unite and give direction to the ongoing movement. He said the “continuous” strike was not a solution to the Kashmir problem and the leadership must unite and unanimously think of a programme whereby “the struggle against India continues and people too don’t suffer.”In a telephonic interview with local news agency, KNS, Salah-ud-Din said, “At a place where India has stationed seven lakh troops who use brutal force against the peaceful protesters, hurling stones and firepots is the only way of resistance left with the people,” Salah-ud-Din said.He said it was unfortunate that the government of India and Jammu and Kashmir described even “stone pelting as terrorism.”He rejected India’s claim that Pakistan was behind stone-pelting in Kashmir.Salah-ud-Din said there was no need to go for continuous Hartals in Kashmir. “The way people have started the ongoing movement is worth appreciation. However, it needs a strategy and direction by the leadership so that people don’t suffer and the ongoing movement against India continues. The Hartal call can be given in a phased manner so that common man is not put to trouble and the education of children continues,” he said.The movement, he said, was not there for a day or two but a continuous one. “The agitation needs to be taken to the district level by calling for marches in the districts. However, work in other districts should be allowed when a march call is given in a particular district,” he said.He said the freedom movement in Kashmir was at a “critical juncture” and the ongoing movement proved that India had failed to break the people’s resolve in the past 62 years “despite using force.” “Today the freedom movement has seeped into the blood of 85 percent of Kashmirs, mostly youngsters, who are seen fighting for the cause on streets across the Valley. Already five lakh people have scarified their precious lives for the cause,” Salahud-Din said.He said neither the voices of Kashmiris can be silenced nor can their resolve be broken, come what may. “Kashmir has been turned into a garrison, an Army camp. Everywhere there is Army, police and CRPF who are busy cane-charging the peaceful protesters. But such tactics are not going to affect the people’s sentiment,” he said.He said the freedom movement in Kashmir belonged to the people of Kashmir, who have sacrificed their lives, property and honour for it. “The ongoing Quit Kashmir Movement is the goal of Kashmir freedom struggle. However, it is important to have a strategy, planning and direction at this juncture which is possible only when leaders shun their differences and unite,” Salah-ud-Din said. “The freedom struggle is alive and we need to put more life into it. And to make it happen, we have no option but to see a united leadership.”He said people should clarify their stand as to whether they want to be a part of the struggle or want education for their wards. “Sacrifices are important if freedom movement is to be taken to its logical conclusion,” he said. “And during the struggle, education sector can face some impact.”

What is azadi?

Maasid Sidiq

Azadi or Freedom is the long cherished dream of every person under oppression. Be it the case of Palestinians in Palestine, Kashmiris in Kashmir or Afghans in Afghanistan, all proclaim together when it is said to them as to what you people want.In Kashmir there are people of different colours, each rejoicing its own perception of Azadi and rejecting the other. Some people believe that Autonomy should be given; some are in favour of Self Rule, some in favour of Greater Autonomy while others want nothing more or less than Right to self Determination. If carefully examined, one will find that all these proposals are actually in favour of Kashmiri people, then why we witness huss and fuss all around.
A proper mechanism should be developed to make people understand the different ideologies and to chalk out the best definition and perception of Azadi .This post is dedicated to cover up these things, and we shall provide much basic, better and more comprehensive definition and perception of Azadi in the end. And it will also discuss the simple way to attain it. I don’t intend to criticize any perception here but to acquaint ourselves with the fact that some basic and fundamentals tools necessary to get real Azadi are missing. (Please note that our point of introspection is Indian administrated Kashmir)

To begin with we put forth different prevailing perceptions about Azadi

.1. Common perception about Azadi :Azadi means safety, security, prosperity, growth in each sector of society and like to a commoner. A commoner has nothing to do as to who runs the state, he doesn’t give the slightest of concern as to who his PM, CM, president, DC, DM etc is. What he wants is Roti, Kapda and Makan (Bread, clothes and shelter). If he is a Kashmiri, he doesn’t wander to know as to whether his land is or should be under Indian rule, Pakistani or independent. He simply wants a regular cash inflow, genuine work in order to sustain, good education for his children, his family’s safety, security and prosperity.

2. Azadi for Intellectuals These people more or less hold the same perception of Azadi as that of a commoner however this class has spent a part of their life mugging in the classrooms, attending the boring lectures of the teachers, getting up early and going to school/College/University, preparing assignments and all, their perception is a little different. They want their people, their land/country to know them; self actualization is what they need in addition to what common man wants. Let society know that so and so is a PhD, let he be given the right to speech and express himself, let he be given the right to form groups, NGOs etc.

3. Azadi from Oppressor:This is an intelligent class, they have a broader sense of Azadi and don’t merely want hanky panky things like business growth, development of roads, public security at the very onset. Their main motto is to get rid of the oppressor, they won’t care even if they have to sacrifice one thousand, ten thousand or hundred thousand lives for that, they are all ready for it, for it is strongly believed here that the oppressors have killed their kith and kin in the past and they won’t let their blood go waste. The oppressor, they believe, has disturbed the peace and atmosphere in the society, brought in corruption and mistrust, hence the root cause of all problems is the oppressor itself and unless they are removed from the society the real peace is not ever going to prevail at all. Establishment of new malls and shopping centres is not a prime objective for them but to get rid of the oppressor come hell or high water. The people having the first two perceptions are normally dormant, but the third group is an active one, therefore it is more important that the topic is discussed. And now we have to analyse as to whether we should put a full stop here and declare their perception to be true and final or add to it something or subtract from it something. We put forth following points in this regard: Suppose that tomorrow we attain the ‘Right to self Determination’. A plebiscite is held and the result is that Kashmiris want to be free. Now Kashmir is literally free. From what? From the India state, so is this Azadi? Kashmir will still be one of the most corrupt states; the people here will still be lazy and coward at heart. Jealousy, hatred, backbiting will still be prominent. Are we Azad then? We are entitled today to close shops early, and we have good reason to justify that. But who stops us from starting early, why don’t educational institutes, business establishments, shops etc start the daily work early in the morning. If today we begin at 10:00 am why don’t we make it 6:00 in the morning (in summers) if we really care about the way we lose by closing up early. No one stops us from starting up early, does anyone? The ground reality is that we don’t want to work, we are lazy people, and this laziness will remain even after we get the literal ‘independence’. People may think that these are just the moral and like problems and can be tackled easily anytime. But how can we believe them. Those who are not serious in changing their own behaviour at the very onset, how are they going to change their land and make it free?

Roads to Azadi

A strong movement for Azadi does not begin with force at the very beginning, rather it begins with some serious homework and ground preparation.It begins with changing ourselves first. How many organisations, active organisations do we have here in Kashmir who strive to impart the education, true morals, real ethics, correct knowledge of the Book (the Holy Quran) and the Sunnah and like to the common people of Kashmir. How many of us (students) spend more time in studying books than chatting with our friends on Facebook. How many intellectuals have dedicated their lives for cause of common Kashmiri. If Azadi is going to come then it will come through these people but Alas! We are short of these real warriors. Azadi is not a one man show that we have a good leader and he is leading us good, make right speeches at right times.... It is rather something attributed and closely linked to each and every commoner of the state.Azadi is a spirit within those who dream of it, this spirit is reflected in each and every work they do. So, a fighter for Azadi would be good student in the class, a good trader, a good teacher, a good manager, a good employee and a good employer. By ‘good’ we don’t necessarily mean that he would be a topper of his class in the student’s case or a millionaire in case of a trader but hardworking, honest, modest and dedicated person. A person who cannot do justice to his work and his own cause, how can we expect him to be just, true and honest when it comes to fighting for Azadi. A real freedom fighter is a warrior within.Therefore before we get the physical Azadi, we must get spiritual Azadi. For we don’t know how long will it take for the Kashmir dispute to solve, that is, we don’t know when we are going to get the physical Azadi, but the spiritual one we can get right now. It is simple. Be true and sincere in your approach, honest in your dealings and dedicated towards your job. Do righteous deed, abstain from all evils. Isn’t it simple? Yes as long as we really want an end and full stop to all oppression and conflict.

Congress asks J-K Govt. to crack down corruption, non-functioning bureaucracy

New Delhi, July 22 : The Congress Committee on Kashmir has asked the Jammu and Kashmir Government to crack down on corruption and non-functioning of a part of the bureaucracy.The Committee, which met here on Wednesday under the leadership of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, reviewed the performance of the State's coalition Government, of which the party is a constituent.It has been reported that the meeting laid emphasis on district and tehsil-level contact with the people.Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and senior Congress leaders Saifuddin Soz, Karan Singh and Ahmed Patel attended the meeting.Earlier on July 17, Omar Abdullah met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and apprised him about the deliberations of the recently held all-party meeting in Srinagar and briefed him about the law and order situation in the State and the steps being taken to bring back normalcy in the Valley.The issues relating to creation of adequate jobs for the youths of the State were also discussed.Abdullah insisted on the need for more measures to stop inflow of funds to protesters and implementing better crowd-control techniques.He also discussed the issue of Army deployment in Srinagar.The meeting came after days of violence in the Valley caused by clashes between protesters and security forces.

Police arrest over 1,000 youths in Kashmir in three weeks

Srinagar, July 21 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, police arrested more than 1,000 persons including teenagers in the Valley during past three weeks and booked several of them under the draconian law, Public Safety Act (PSA). In a major operation to quell the ongoing protests against killings of civilians by Indian police and paramilitary troopers, authorities have started the process to book majority of the arrested youth and teenagers under the PSA. “In past three weeks, police have made random arrests across the city just to frighten the people. Some youth have been released on bail but most of them are still under arrest,” the inhabitants of Nowhatta in Srinagar said. They said in most of the cases, the police have been asking the parents to produce their children in the respective police stations. “In this way scores of youth have been arrested. They are innocent, said the parents of arrested youth. “We have learnt that two youth who were arrested from Gojwara in Srinagar here have been booked under PSA and shifted to Hiranagar and Udhampur jails. We don’t know their identity and are worried about our wards,” they added. Over 100 youth including one Atif Hassan were arrested and several of them were booked under PSA in Islamabad, Pulwama, Sopore and Baramulla areas. Advocate Mir Shafaqat Hussain said that the authorities were misusing the PSA. “About 500-600 persons including minors have been arrested during past three weeks in the Valley and dozens have been booked under PSA.

ادھورے خواب

رومل // کوئی یہ سوچ بھی نہیں سکتا تھا کہ صرف ایک ماہ قبل بنر ورمل کی رہنے والی مسعودہ کو جس ارمان سے والدین اور رشتہ داروں نے دلہن کے لباس میں گھر سے رخصت کیا تھا اسی مسعودہ کا دلہا فیاض احمد اسے عمر بھر جاگنے کی سزا دےکر خودسو جائے گا۔ ابھی لوگ اور رشتہ دار مسعودہ اور فیاض احمد کو شادی کی مبارک دینے میں ہی مصروف تھے کہ فورسز اہلکاروں نے سوموار کو احتجاج کر رہے مظاہروں پر گولیاں چلا ئیں جس کی زد میںآکر26سالہ فیاض احمد جان بحق ہوا۔اس روز فیاض احمد معمول کے مطابق اپنے کام سے گھر لوٹ رہا تھا کہ پرامن مظاہرین فیضان احمد کی لاش لے کر ضلع ترقیاتی کمشنرکے دفتر کی طرف پیش قدمی کر رہے تھے اور ااہلکاروں نے جلوس پر گولیاں چلائی جس کے نتیجے میں فیاض کی موت واقعہ ہو ئی ۔ یہ بات قابل ذکر ہے کہ فیضان احمد تین روز قبل دریائے جہلم میں پولیس سے بچنے کےلئے کودگیا تھا اور جب بسیار تلاش کے بعدنیوی کے غوطہ خوروں کی فیضان کی لاش برآمد کی تومقامی سراپا احتجاج بن گئی ۔فیاض احمد کی شادی محض ایک ماہ قبل ہوئی تھی اور اب مختلف رشتہ داروں کی دعوتوں کا سلسلہ شروع ہو نے ہی والا تھا کہ اُنہیں ہلاک کیاگیا۔26سالہ دُلہا کچھ عرصہ قبل ہی مزدوری کرنے لگا تھا حالانکہ وہ اس سے قبل ایک ہوٹل میں بطور ویٹر کام کر رہا تھا۔ سوموار کی صبح جب فیاض اپنے گھر سے نکلا تو اس نے اپنے بیمار سسرسے کہا کہ جہاں وہ پہلے کام کرتا تھا وہاں اُس کی کچھ رقم ہے اور وہاں سے یہ رقم لانے کےلئے جارہا ہے تاکہ سرینگر میں کسی ڈاکٹر کے پاس تمہیں لیا جائے تاہم یہ وعدہ وہ پورا نہ کرسکا۔اُس کے سسر رحمت اللہ شاہ نے بتایا کہ فیاض نے مجھے یہ وعدہ کیا تھا کہ وہ اسے سرینگر کسی اچھے ڈاکٹر کے پاس لے جائے گا اور پرانے مالک کے پاس اس کے تین ہزار روپے تھے لیکن اُسے یہ نہیں پتہ تھا کہ انہی پیسوں سے اُس کا کفن خریدا جائے گا۔رحمت اللہ کا پورا کنبہ فیاض کی جدائی پر سکتے میں آچکا ہے۔ رحمت اللہ کا اپنا کوئی بیٹا نہیں اور اس نے فیاض کوگھرجمائی بنایا تھااور فیاض نے اپنے سسرسے ایسا رویہ اختیار کیا تھا جیسے وہ اس کا اپنا بیٹا تھا۔ رحمت اللہ کا کہنا ہے کہ فیاض طبیعت کا نرم تھا اور مذہب کےساتھ اس کی گہری وابستگی تھی تاہم موت کے ظالم پنجوں نے اُسے ہم سے چھین لیا۔فیاض کی والدہ اس قدر سکتے میں آگئی ہے کہ وہ کوئی بھی لفظ بول نہیں سکتی۔ کیونکہ گذشتہ چند برسوں کے دوران یہ اس کے لئے یہ دوسرا واقعہ ہے۔ اس کا ایک اور بیٹا دریائے جہلم میں نہانے کے دوران ڈوب گیا تھا اور اب اس کا دوسرا بیٹا بھی اس سے چھن گیا ہے۔ اگرچہ فیاض کنڈی ورمل کے دنموہ علاقے سے تعلق رکھتا تھا لیکن اس کی موت کی جگہ ورمل متعین ہوئی تھی اور آخری سفر بنر میں ختم ہوا۔

In Kashmir, YouTube generation defines new struggle

SRINAGAR — For six weeks, in scenes reminiscent of Palestinian intifadas, hundreds of young Kashmiris like 17-year-old Amjad Khan have taken to the streets to pelt stones at Indian security forces. Government forces have struggled to contain the outpouring of anger triggered by the killing of a schoolboy by police in early June. Protests began in the main city Srinagar and have spread widely. The unrest marks a new phase in resistance to Indian rule in the disputed territory, some observers believe, revealing the deep frustration of the new generation in the 12-million-strong mostly Muslim local population. In the violence, in which security forces are accused of killing 17 young locals, others see a danger of radicalisation in a region that was beginning to emerge from an insurgency that has claimed an estimated 47,000 lives. "I have taken to stone-throwing to show my anger, my hatred at the present state of affairs," says the softly spoken Khan (name changed), as he stands in one of Srinagar's narrow back streets.
The son of a government employee father, who disapproves of his behaviour, Khan is dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt and has his hair gelled in a style familiar from Indian Bollywood films. He says he is not a particularly devout Muslim and attends Friday prayers only to be able to join the regular protests that take place afterwards, denouncing Indian rule in the territory.
Born during the insurgency like most of the under-20 protestors -- tech-savvy Internet users who are harnessing Facebook and YouTube to highlight their struggle -- he has known nothing but violence and turmoil in Kashmir. "Why should this problem linger on if so many other problems have been resolved?" he asks. When the subcontinent was divided in 1947, Kashmir's Hindu leader opted to take his mainly Muslim subjects into Hindu-majority India rather than Pakistan and the two nuclear-armed neighbours have since fought two wars over the territory. Kashmir is divided into Indian and Pakistani-controlled regions, with both countries claiming the territory in full.
For two decades from 1989, a violent anti-India insurgency raged in the Indian part, making it one of the most dangerous places on the planet in the mid-1990s. But the intensity of the attacks has waned significantly in recent years, widely attributed to the start of peace talks between India and Pakistan in 2004. Before the latest wave of unrest, there was talk of major troop withdrawals and revival of the region's main economic activity, tourism.-- Delhi gropes for a response --
The government in New Delhi has tried to paint the protests as the work of shadowy Pakistani extremists, but many local leaders believe the underlying reason is despair among the young generation about their prospects. There are over 400,000 unemployed young people across the state and decades of on-off political dialogue about the status of the disputed territory have yielded few rewards and no end to the deadlock. Some pro-India parties call for autonomy for the region, moderate separatists seek independence and hardliners continue to campaign for a merger with Pakistan. "The single largest factor today is that people don't see the light at the end of the dark tunnel they were hoping to see," the state's chief minister, Omar Abdullah, admitted on Indian news channel NDTV earlier this month. "Until we resolve it politically we will always have problems." A wave of street protests, which observers date back to mid-2008 when the state government attempted to transfer a piece of land to a revered Hindu shrine, reveal this frustration. Indian army chief General V.K. Singh said last month that the battle against anti-India insurgents had been more or less won, but people needed to feel that progress was being made to improve their lives. "Militarily, we have brought the overall internal security situation in Jammu and Kashmir under control. Now, the need is to handle things politically," he told the Times of India in an interview. He added that he felt "a great requirement for political initiatives that take all people together."
In New Delhi, Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram has pushed the notion that the protests are being orchestrated by militant groups and Pakistan. He has sanctioned a crackdown, with the army out on the streets, text messages banned to disrupt communication between protestors and strict curfews in place across most of the region. He has also pointed the finger at the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba militant group, which India blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead. Others have suggested the protestors are being paid by hardline separatists -- a theory that has been widely challenged, even among pro-India politicians in Kashmir. "Linking the genuine anger and anguish among people with terrorism is nothing short of an assault on their self respect and dignity," said former chief minister Mufti Sayeed of the pro-India People's Democratic Party. Mehboob Beigh, who is close to chief minister Abdullah and advocates autonomy in the region, agrees. Political alienation of Kashmiris is the larger issue," he said. "Our youth want to be heard. New Delhi should listen to them with compassion and sincerity or we may soon see another cycle of violence." So far, the young men on the streets are gunless rebels. Their weapons of choice are stones and the Internet, with social networking site Facebook and video-sharing platform YouTube key parts of their struggle.
"Facebook and YouTube have provided us a platform to convey our aspirations and frustrations to the world," says Showket Ahmed, 24, who captures events on his mobile phone camera and later uploads them on Facebook. But former militant commander Javed Mir warns that New Delhi's hardline response could turn today's frustrated stone-throwers into new recruits for the severely weakened insurgency. "Before the launch of the insurgency, I and my friends used to indulge in stone-pelting with the aim of highlighting the Kashmir issue, but we failed," said Mir, now a separatist campaigner. "Finally we took to guns and succeeded in bringing Kashmir out of the cold storage. If present protests are ignored, these young men may be forced to follow our path."