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Kashmir remembers Rauf who took 32 bullets on chest
Exiled Journalist Mir Abdul Aziz Declared National Hero
Arshad Me’raj
(from greaterkashmir.com)
Srinagar, Nov 23: Abdur Rauf Wani is the heroic young man who took nearly 32 bullets fired from a light machine gun by a paramilitary trooper on his chest, saving scores of lives at Gaw Kadal, Srinagar on January 21, 1990 during a protest march in which 52 people were massacred.
Before he could slip into obscurity as a statistic of the ongoing struggle, the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) awarded him posthumously the annual Robert Thorpe Award. Besides, Khawaja Mir Abdul Aziz, an exiled Kashmiri journalist and resistance leader, was declared as one of the National Heroes of Kashmir.
To award Rauf and commemorate Mir Aziz, a function was organised at a local hotel here on Thursday.
Zulehuma Banday, sister of Rauf, received the award: a trophy and a shawl. In a tearful brief address, she thanked JKCCS for giving recognition to Rauf. She said, “The sacrifice of Rauf is for a bigger cause and Kashmiris have been sacrificing for the past hundreds of years; we should not forget those who sacrificed their lives for that bigger cause.”
Rauf, 24, did his schooling from prestigious Tyndale Biscoe School. As 18-year old boy in 1984 when Sikhs were massacred in Delhi and when riots erupted in the Valley, he jumped the window in second story of his home and saved the life of a labourer who was trying laces of his shoe and was shot at in his head. Rauf had responded to the cries of the labourer when people closed their doors and windows in wake of police firing, said his sister Zulehuma. Rauf was jailed for a month during 1987 for his support to Muslim United Front in the elections that were rigged in favor of National Conference.
On January 21, 1991, thousands of people took out a huge protest march against molestation of women by the troops in Chotta Bazaar locality by paramilitary CRPF troops. The then government headed by Governor Jagmohan allowed the march to proceed for nearly two kilometers, but when it reached Gaw Kadal, the peaceful protesters without any provocation were fired at indiscriminately by paramilitary troopers and police led by DSP Allah Baksh. Fifty-two people including women died and nearly 250 were wounded.
“Rauf rushed towards a trooper who was mowing down unarmed people with a light machine gun and faced the barrel, took all the bullets in the magazine,” said Zahir-ud-Din, one of the protesters and eyewitness of the massacre.
At the award giving ceremony many speakers said the government of India and the state government was projecting “collaborators of occupation” as the real heroes of Kashmir.
“They haven’t projected any person who offered resistance during the resistance movements and didn’t compromise,” said the JKCCS president Pervez Imroz. “The state has been honoring the brutal Dogra rulers who massacred the people of Kashmir; they have established Gulab Singh and Zorawar Singh chairs in Universities, but haven’t done anything for the unsung heroes of Kashmir.”
Imroz said, “The civil society was trying to bring out the lives of heroes from the oblivion and introduce them to the younger generation who don’t know anything about them.”
Peer Ghulam Rasool who deliberated on “Concept of National Hero” said the government of India and the state government have been projecting the collaborators as real heroes for the past 50 years.
“They have also been dehumanizing and denigrating people, like they did to Kabailis. Many of the people who were resisting against the rule of Dogra Maharaja and later the Indian rule and communal Indian parties have been clubbed together with Kabailis,” Rasool said. He said among the internationally renowned leftist thinker and writer Eqbal Ahmad was one of those who have been “denigrated” as Kabaili raiders.
Noted academician Dr Hamida Nayeem while speaking during the function said the enslaved nations have no histories, their histories are written by the occupation and colonial forces. “When a nation becomes free only then can it write its own history and decide who is the hero. Today’s hero can become tomorrow’s devil. During his early life, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah was a hero, but see how we look at him today,” Dr Hamida said.
She said the Kashmir history was being shaped by a huge dominating nation and there was clear demarcation between stooges and those people fighting for the rights of people. “The state machinery has manufactured and concocted our history,” Dr Hamida said, adding the Kashmiris have not been able to write their own history.
“We have produced great scholars and intellectuals who can be designated as national heroes,” she further said while referring to the names of Lallitaditya, Sheikh-ul-Alam (RA), Lalla Ded, Kalhana and others. Dr Hamida said, “Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah succeeded in weakening the autocratic set-up but committed historical and monumental blunders after which he was designated as the collaborator of India.” According to Dr Hamida, Maqbool Bhatt who challenged the Indian domination didn’t compromise despite being tortured severely. “Dr Aga Shahid Ali despite being an apolitical person had become an international hero and a symbol of Kashmir by writing about anguish of people of Kashmir in his book A country Without Post Office’.”
She further said the academia was in the hands of dominant powers and that is why the Kashmir history wasn’t made the part of curriculum. “We are taught world history, Indian history, but our children know nothing about their own history.” She added that the politicians are misinterpreting the saints and poets of our valley.
Dr Sheikh Showkat Hussain, an academic, said the best way to remember heroes is not through awards but to carry forward the mission for which they tried and died. “Mir Khawaja Abdul Aziz proceeded against the tide and led a miserable life. He didn’t cash on his sacrifices, which has become a trend with present leaders,” he said. Dr Showkat said Pakistani authorities had jailed Mir Abdul Aziz for his critique of “erroneous Kashmir policies after the failure of Operation Gibraltar”. Mir Abdul Aziz and Ghulam Nabi Gilkar were each offered 35 acres of land in Islamabad after their release, but they declined saying that they have to go their homeland when the issue would be resolved.
Trade Union Centre leader Sampat Prakash while speaking on the occasion said, the trade union has played a pivotal role in the ongoing freedom struggle. “We have raised the Kashmir issue at various forums and recently at Indian Social Forum and had been able to highlight it as a disputed territory,” he further said. He said the state is involved in sponsoring the terrorism. “SOG personnel are targeting the tourists and the attempt on the life of High Court Bar Association (HCBA) chairman was also made by these personnel,” he further said. Noted civil rights activist from New Delhi, Gautam Naulakha while delivering his presidential address said, “The history of oppressed and occupied is not written by their own people but is provided by the occupiers and collaborators.”
“National heroes are needed during the struggle as they support and inspire the people during the movement when the chips are down,” he said, “51,288 militants were arrested and tortured; they are also the heroes whom we don’t know and they did not surrender. Only 3800 surrendered.” He said freedom movement was because of the people as they aspired for it.
Greater Kashmir Executive Editor Zahir-ud-Din while speaking on the occasion termed the January 21, 1990 incident as a turning point the history of freedom struggle. While quoting the then governor Jagmohan’s statement, Zahir-ud-Din said the Gaw Kadal massacre was a planned one. “The day Farooq Abdullah resigned, Jagmohan issued a statement saying ‘if any one tried to disturb law and order the card of peace will slip out of my hand’. After Jagmohan’s statement people were expecting that something bad was in the offing. The Gaw Kadal occurred after his statement and turned the struggle into mass movement,” he said adding that from that day the youngsters starting going across the Line of Control.
Zarief Ahmad Zarief, Dr Mubarik Ahmed and Dr Altaf Hussain also paid glowing tributes to Khawaja Abdul Aziz Mir and Rauf Wani for their bravery and valour.
Copyright and courtesy of Greater Kashmir. com [link]
Copyright concern? email: media.kashmir [at] gmail.com
Seventeen years of insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir have left a distinct mark not only on the region’s politics, but also on its social and cultural fabric.
By Anish Ahluwalia
BBC Hindi service, Srinagar
(from bbc.com)
And it is most noticeable in a slow, but gradual, change in the life of Kashmiri women as new trends are emerging.
Social scientists in the state capital, Srinagar, say the age at which women are getting married has undergone a significant change.
Until about a decade ago, most Kashmiri families would see their daughters married off before they turned 25. Now, this has stretched to as late as 35 years.
Insecurity
Syeda Afshana, who writes on women’s rights issues, blames it on financial uncertainty as well as political instability. “Tourism, the main revenue-earner in the region, has significantly declined in the last few years,” she says. “And the government has put a freeze on new recruitment in government departments and people are now only hired on a contractual basis. “Government jobs here are most coveted and this has created a tremendous financial insecurity in the community.”
Kashmiri women
Many Kashmiri women are now making education a priority. Also, during the long years of militancy, the Kashmir Valley has lost at least 60,000 people – most of them young men of marriageable age. “The loss of this particular group has added to the problem as most women now can’t find grooms,” says Ms Afshana. A resident of Srinagar’s Lal Chowk area tells me he is 42 years old. Two of his sisters, in their late 20s, are yet to be married. “My father is old so it’s now my responsibility to find suitable grooms for my sisters. Until I succeed, I cannot get married myself,” he says.
In Kashmir’s traditionally conservative Muslim society, a lot of stigma is attached to having an unmarried daughter of marriageable age and most families do not want to talk about it. But single women in their late 20s and 30s have now become a visible group. In Kashmir University, I met several single women in this age group, pursuing higher studies.
Changing roles
Many young women, speaking on condition of anonymity, say men now prefer to marry working women. And women with permanent jobs have an edge over others in the marriage market too. As a result, many women are going in for higher education to be able to better qualify for jobs. But then sometimes highly-educated women in well-paying jobs deliberately delay marriage until they find a suitable match. “Every woman wants to marry Mr Perfect,” says Saima Farhad, editor of Kashmir’s only women’s magazine, She.”Her wish list is long – the man should be good looking, highly educated, someone who enjoys high social status and who can provide for her financially,” says Ms Farhad.
In the absence of development schemes in the state and the high unemployment rate among Kashmiri men, that is a tall order. In Kashmiri society where marriages are almost always arranged by parents, women do not have the option of marrying outside the community.
Kashmir
Syeda Afshana says women now have a greater say.
But women are no longer taking the plunge just because their parents ask them to. Afsana Rashid, a Srinagar-based journalist, says the role of women in Kashmiri society has changed dramatically over the years. “A large number of men died or disappeared during the insurgency and that has changed the role of women at home. They are forced to assume greater responsibility. They have to assume the role of bread-winners for the family.” Ms Afshana says that’s perhaps not a bad thing after all as it gives women a greater say in decision-making. “Society is changing very fast. Financial and social compulsions have forced women to play a greater role in decision-making both within and outside their homes.
“Their voice is being heard loud and clear and the political system cannot ignore it any more,” she says. And this change is already visible – whether on the streets of Srinagar where it is common for women now to participate in demonstrations or breaking into the traditionally male-dominated political system.
Political leader Mehbooba Mufti and Asiya Andrabi, head of separatist women’s organisation Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Daughters of the Faith), are examples that women’s voices in the region are being heard loud and clear.
Copyright and courtesy of BBC. com [link]
Copyright concern? email: media.kashmir [at] gmail.com
Deadly drains choke Dal Lake
LAWDA refuses funds to UEED
Arif Shafi Wani
(from greaterkashmir.com)
Srinagar, Nov 10: While Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) receives crores of rupees for conservation of the Dal lake, it has not provided any funds from last three years to the Urban Environment Engineering Department (UEED), which it has entrusted the job of construction of sewerage system around the lake.
Result: sewage of Dal peripheries will continue to flow into the lake, speeding up its deterioration. Moreover, the messy state of affairs in LAWDA is such that the people at the helm of its affairs did not even consider the recommendations of its own officers for release of funds to UEED.
In early 1990s, UEED was the nodal agency for sewerage and sewage treatment for the lake. It formulated a scheme for sewerage, its treatment and disposal on peripheral area of the lake, which was technically cleared by Ministry of Urban Development at an estimated cost of Rs 84.60 lakhs.
The project, scheduled to be completed by 2001 with funding by LAWDA could not be completed as it did not match project outlays and shortage of funds resulted in time and cost run-over.
In 2000, LAWDA formulated another DPR through Alternative Hydro Energy Centre, University of Roorke titled “ Conservation and Management Plan for Dal-Nagin lake” which was estimated at Rs 269.45 crore.
Stories from Dal
Arif Shafi Wani interacts with the boatmen who recall some interesting encounters with the tourists from the time of their grandfathers
(from greaterkashmir.com)
Symphor, a Britisher visited the valley after 45 years in 1950s and found that his friend Subhan Wangnoo, a houseboat owner with whom he had stayed during his earlier visit had died. He insisted on visiting his grave and on reaching there immediately called a stone carver and engraved on the Subhana’s tombstone “Symphor had come”.
Muhammad Ashraf Wangnoo, grandson of Subhan Wangnoo, narrates the incident sitting on his houseboat while the deep lake below spreads out sombrously in the approaching dusk.
Over the centuries, Dal has attracted people from far and wide. And behind them they have left memories with the boatmen who hosted them on the lake. However, the tourists who have left most impress are the Britishers. In the eighteenth century, the state was favourite haunt of the English tourists. They are credited with introducing houseboats in the valley and modifying these for their own convenience.
Britishers, according to the boat people, taught them ettiquetes of hospitality and importance of discipline. “ They also taught us the value of hardwork, cleanliness and honesty, which are the keys to our success for over a century now” said 115-year old Haji Ghulam Ahmad Budoo of Dal Lake who is still wearing a watch gifted by a British tourist, Kathleen Raymond in 1911.
He proudly shows the dog-eared and moth-eaten visitor’s book which has Raymond’s penned-down remarks for him. “ We found him very willing, obliging and industrious during my stay in his Houseboat while camping in the Lidder valley”, notes the Britisher in the book.
Having been fortunate enough to live through his four generations, Haji spends most of time now in prayers. Pressing his memory hard he recalled some interesting encounters with the tourists in his youth. “ I used to ferry them from Srinagar to Varmul and back on a Doonga (houseboat). They used to maintain good hygiene and even bathed in harsh winter” recalled Haji.
Family members and relatives tease the old man by demanding the silver plated watch, gifted by a “meem Sahib”.
Thousands Protest Killing of Driver ‘BY ARMY’
He died in militant ambush: Officials
Shabir Ibn Yusuf
(from greaterkashmir.com)
Rawacha (Varmul), Nov 11: Troops of 32 Rashtriya Rifles killed a driver here in cold blood on Friday evening, alleged the villagers here, who staged a massive demonstration Saturday. The protesters said the Army’s claim that the driver was killed in a militant ambush was a “cock and bull story.”
The fellow drivers of the deceased driver at Dangiwacha Sumo Taxi Stand fearing reprisal from the army said they would speak on condition of anonymity. They said the slain driver Bashir Ahmad Khan, 35, son of Ghulam Ahmad of Rawacha, a father of five kids, was asked by the troops of 32 RR at Dangiwacha Taxi Stand on Friday evening to hire out his Sumo vehicle. They said he refused to ferry the troops in his vehicle and had a heated argument with them. However, he relented under pressure and drove the troops in his vehicle, which he had purchased only two weeks back, they said. In the evening army handed over the body of the driver to his family. He had several bullet marks in the neck. Early Saturday morning, the army forced the villagers to bury the driver, the protesters said.
The Defence spokesman Lt Col A K Mathur said the driver got killed “when militants ambushed the vehicle in Rawacha village,” the native village of the driver.
The villagers said they heard two or three gunshots, and there was no gunfight between the army and militants, as claimed by the army. “Isn’t it surprising that only the driver got killed and all the soldiers escaped unscathed in the militant ambush as claimed by army. There are no bullet marks on the vehicle and only its screens are broken. They have killed him in cold-blood and they always weave cock and bull stories to justify murders,” said a protester, Muhammad Shaban.
“I was anxious when he didn’t return till 8 in the evening. I though he might be on a long trip. I didn’t know my world has been shattered; who would feed my children,” said Shamima, wife of the driver.
Thousands of people marched from Rawacha to Dangiwacha shouting slogans against the army and the state government, and in favour of militants. The protesters belonged to Dangiwacha, Batpora, Ruchama, Wadipora, Bakpora, and many other adjoining villages. They blocked Srinagar-Handwara highway at Dangiwacha for five hours.
“How long would the troops kill us? We will not tolerate all this,” said Fayaz, a protester. “He was killed in cold-blood because he told them on their faces that he would not hire out his car.”
Taking a dig at Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Hafiza, 37, a housewife said, “Azad said custodial killings would not be tolerated and I thought no one will be killed in custody like my brother who was killed by the army in custody; please tell Azad to stop killing of innocent Kashmiris.”
The protests were dispersed after one Deputy Superintendent told them district magistrate wants to meet them regarding the incident. “Yes I pacified the mob and asked them to meet the District Magistrate; they have many complaints against Army,” the Dy SP Stanzin Losal told Greater Kashmir.
Senior Superintendent of Police Varmul Viplav Kumar told Greater Kashmir that the driver was killed “in ambush, but still we have started investigation into the incident. The army had hired the Sumo for operational purpose. While on their way militants fired at the vehicle hitting the driver. He lost control over the vehicle and skidded off the road, and the vehicle turned on its side.”
The deputy commissioner Varmul Baseer Khan said, “The SDM Sopur would probe the incident and submit his report in 20 days.”
Copyright and courtesy of Greater Kashmir. com [link]
Copyright concern? email: media.kashmir [at] gmail.com
