Hurriyat reaction about terror-money, stone-pelting is women empowerment, and right of protest, shielding terrorists and accusing fighting forces against Jihadi terrorism are hallmark of Kashmiriyat! (2)
The reaction of Hurriyat leaders against the media: After India Today aired a special investigative report where Hurriyat’s Provincial President (Geelani Faction) Naeem Khan was caught on camera admitting Pakistan is funding the violence in Kashmir Valley, India Today reporters were threatened[1]. After the video went on air, Naeem Khan came to India Today office in Srinagar and threatened India Today reporters[2]. He also asked them to take down the story and drop the expose. The Hurriyat also issued a notice to “Times Now” asking for damages, as the channel was carrying on debate and coverage over the issue with eminent panelists. JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik said on 19-05-2017 [Friday] that he would quit politics if media proved he had assets anywhere[3]. He also said he filed a police complaint against a New Delhi-based female journalist for allegedly barging into his bedroom without permission and appointment[4]. The sudden reaction against the media is intriguing, because, they are denying their anti-Indian and pro-Pakistan intentions and their continued role in instigating the violence in the valley sffecting the normal life of the people.
The son of Peer Abdul Rashid of Aloochi Bagh issued legal notice to Times-Now: The Mumbai based channel “Times-now”, according to the lawyer Advocate Amir Masoodi has disgraced his father Peer Abdul Rashid of Aloochi Bagh who he claimed has been trolled by netizens on social media for his alleged involvement in money laundering (Hawala)[5]. “My father no doubt is the senior leader of Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani but that does not mean the channel in order to increase its TRP will defame him without any proof or evidence,” advocate Amir Masoodi told ‘CNS’. He claimed that his family including his sisters and mother are being humiliated for his father’s alleged involvement in money laundering as was claimed by Times Now during live debate on News Hour on May 6 at 9pm [11-05-2017]. “I have filed a defamation case against Managing Editor of the channel, Navika Kumar for defaming my father, let them prove in the court of law what they had alleged during debate. My question to the party is as to how they labeled my father as ISI agent and counted him in the list of money launders,” Masoodi added[6].
Peer Abdul Rashid of Aloochi Bagh has definitely no other role to play – can all Indians believe?: Amir Masoodi while criticizing the channel for allegedly tarnishing the image of the people of great repute said such allegations need to be proved and if not they should be prosecuted as per the law. He said the allegations leveled against his father in live program are derogatory in nature and as such caused tremendous mental agony to his family. “I want to make it very much clear that if the allegations leveled against my father proved right he must be punished according to the law and in case the same proved wrong then I have no option than to approach the Apex Court,” he said. “You showed a piece of paper and claimed that it is a kind of leaked intelligence sharing in which some names were mentioned having links with Pakistani premier intelligence agency ISI for money laundering to Hurriyat Conference,” reads the legal notice. Notice further reads that “now saying all this you and your channel are liable for prosecution under defamation laws by which you would be liable to compensate for tarnishing his image for cheap TRP of your program.” So, Peer Abdul Rashid of Aloochi Bagh has definitely no other role to play – can all Indians believe?
Kashmiri Women as Stone Pelters: It Is Not Just Anti-Militarism, It’s About Empowerment![7]: Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal[8] write-up on this issue makes one shocked as she tried to reduce to a woman issue suppressing the facts of terrorism, jihadi bred-killings and that of other women suffered nore than that of the ones described by her. The excerpts are as follows: “…..If in 2016, pellet shot and blinded Insha Malik was the most haunting image of Kashmir, in 2017 the summer has begun with the defining images of women and girls joining the men in pelting stones on security forces and police. On the face of it, it’s a giant leap. ………Afshan Ashique, a 21 year old football coach, was among the women who pelted stones. According to a news report, she did not intend to. It was only while she was moving, along with her team of 20 girls, towards the playground when stone pelting started. A cop mistaking them for stone pelters, began slapping one of the girls, the report adding, provoking Afshan and her team to pelt stones…….. In 1989-90, women vehemently opposed the burqa diktat that right wing organizations like Dukhtaran-e-Millat imposed, despite incidents of throwing paint to embarrass women who refused to cover their face and an alleged case of acid throwing. Some women however chose to adopt the burqa as a way of life. The diktat did not last long but peak militancy period carved new roles for women in the Valley…….”. It is surprising that she could not see or notice any other thing, while discuss this issue!
It is empowerment for Kshmir women to pelt stones and shield the terrorists[9]: Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal continued, “….. This activism in the last 27 years of history of insurgency has by and large been shaped around their domestic roles as mothers, sisters, daughters and wives – in invoking or discouraging the men and boys in their families to pick up the gun and join ranks of militants, in acting as shields for the men during raids and cordons and in seeking justice for the men of the family killed, tortured of disappeared in custody…… This female assertion was more a part of domestic activism, inspired by the concerns of safety, security and oppression of their family members, especially men; not about their own safety and their own aspirations…… Even in cases of sexual assault and rapes, the patriarchal nature of protests that sought to bracket rapes within the paradigm of honour or stigmatized the victim, the women has been largely invisible. However, there has been an evolutionary trajectory of women’s involvement in public and political spheres that leads to the present day image of school and college girls pelting stones……. Signs of marginal change were already visible though in very passive forms. The accused in Shopian rapes and murders were men in uniform as opposed to the Tabinda Gani rape case of 2006, where the accused were four poor labourers, two of them Kashmiri natives. ……In the last one decade, an increasing number of women have begun donning the head scarves and hijabs, which were otherwise unknown in the Valley……. While some of them are inspired by religion or peer pressures, many young girls admit that it was a conscious assertion of their different identity, making head scarves a symbol of the resistance against the oppression of another identity. …….. The fire is ignited. After a college girl was injured during the street protests, it inspired many more to come out, giving this assertion a new booster shot……”
The apologia Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal for “Burhan Wani and beyond”[10]: About “Burhan Wani”, her writing has been more apologetic than reality, as he suppressed the facts conveniently worrying about the rights of the terrorists and their supporters, forgeting the killed and suffered victims of such terror. Her abstract has been as follows: “The anger of the Kashmiri people in the face of the Indian establishment’s endeavour to smother their legitimate political aspirations is understandable. Since 2008, attempts by civilians to organise themselves peacefully against their oppression or even for their day-to-day needs, including water, electricity and jobs, have been met with brute force, even murders. Post 2010, Kashmir has moved in circles from periods of unrest to calm and then back to unrest. Burhan Wani’s death was just a small spark that was needed to break the pretence of normalcy thrust on its people. The government should realise that the stone pelters on the streets are neither Pakistanis nor paid agents. Kashmir, today, needs an open-minded political intervention that is unconditional”. Note, she coolly asserts that “The government should realise that the stone pelters on the streets are neither Pakistanis nor paid agents”, then, how these educated elite could safeguard the interests of the government? She does not bother about the Hindus who have been driven out, killed, women raped etc., but, continue to write only about other things. It is intriguing to note why and how they make to think in that way, because, the simple reading of their articles make others to realize that they have been writing in that way only with ingrained ideology, as they always suppress the facts of the other side.
© Vedaprakash
20-05-2017
[1] India today, India Today reporters threatened after expose on Hurriyat leaders getting funds from Pakistan,Edited by Nikhil Agarwal, New Delhi, May 16, 2017 | UPDATED 23:55 IST.
[2] http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-today-reporters-threatened-after-expose-on-hurriyat-leaders-getting-funds-from-pakistan/1/955613.html
[3] Greater Kashmir, Will quit politics if media proves I have assets: Malik, Abid Bashir
Srinagar, Publish Date: May 20 2017 12:09AM | Updated Date: May 20 2017 12:09AM.
[4] http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/front-page/will-quit-politics-if-media-proves-i-have-assets-malik/249821.html
[5] Kashmir Observer, Srinagar resident drags ‘Times Now’ to court, OBSERVER NEWS SERVICE• MAY 12, 2017
[6] https://kashmirobserver.net/2017/city-news/srinagar-resident-drags-times-now-court-17799
[7] Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal, Kashmiri Women as Stone Pelters: It Is Not Just Anti-Militarism, It’s About Empowerment!, Thursday, April 27,2017.
[8] Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal is the Executive Editor Kashmir Times and is a peace activist involved in campaigns for justice for human rights violation victims in Kashmir as well as India-Pakistan friendship. She also writes stories for children and adults.
https://www.facebook.com/anuradha.bhasin
[9] http://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/NewsDetail/index/1/10538/Kashmiri-Women-as-Stone-Pelters-It-Is-Not-Just-Anti-Militarism-Its-About-Empowerment
Indology 