Aijaz Aryan Rather – The Kashmir Horizon

Gandhi’s India Today

Aijaz Aryan Rather — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 15:55:49 +0000

Today all across India protests are taking place against CAA, NPR, & NRC. Citizenship Act was enacted on 12 December 2019, since then there have been continuous protests, many lost their lives, hundreds injured & Thousands arrested. In recent incident at Jamia area of Delhi A man shoot at Anti-CAA rally, Shout ‘Jai Sri Ram, Ye Lo Azadi’ this happens around 30 January Martyrdom Anniversary of father of nation M.K Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi as world Knows him was shot by NathuRam Vinayak Godse, NathuRam Godse shot M.K Gandhi in the chest 3 times at point blank range in new Delhi on 30 January 1948. NathuRam Godse was an advocate of Hindu Nationalism; He dropped out of high school & became an activist with Hindu Nationalist Organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang-RSS & Hindu Mahasabha. This week India observed 72nd death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi & other politicians paid their tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. I on behalf of whole humanity will pay tribute by words from Pandit Jawahar lal Nehru’s speech ‘The light has gone out of our lives’ which was delivered on January 30 1948 following assassination of Mahatma Gandhi earlier that evening. Pandit Nehru remarked “The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere”. Away from politics & never ending debates, I want to analyze a common man’s simple question ‘Is today’s India what its founding father had dreamed of?’ as we all have been aware about Inclusivity & Acceptance being one of fundamentals to the powerful ideas that Mahatma Gandhi introduced to world. Present government led by Narendra Modi’s Citizenship Act discriminates Muslim Refugees on basis of their religion; there has been a well calculated confusion in place by IT cells, Media machinery, so-called analysts on prime time debates to confuse masses even politicians didn’t shame away from confusing people, PM in a rally says there are no detention centers in India, while home minister revealed to nation in parliament that there are operational detention centers in India. Mahatma Gandhi who said:”Truth & Non violence are my Gods” today in his India people are been deceived by their own politicians & media. Whom Pandit Nehru in his speech in the constituent assembly on February 2, 1948 called a ‘Madman’ and went on saying “A madman put an end to his (Gandhiji) life, for I can only call him mad who did it, and yet there has been enough of poison spread in this country during past years and months, and this poison has had an effect on people’s minds. We must face this poison, we must root out this poison, and we must face all perils that encompass us, and face them not madly or badly, but rather in the way that our beloved teacher taught us to face them”, Same Godse is hailed as patriot in today’s India by none other than elected representatives of people of India.
The power in a democracy resides with people and government must listen to people if they are democratically elected, as in democracy we say ‘Governments of people, by people, for people’ government should fulfill its democratic responsibilities.
A Member Parliament from ruling BJP Pragya Thakur referred Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin NathuRam Godse as “DeshBakhat” meaning Patriot during a debate in Lok Sabha (Lower House), BJP MPs like Ananthkumar Hegde & Nalinkumar Kateel had posted sympathetic tweets about Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin NathuRam Godse. There is undoubtedly a stark contradiction in attitude of Narendera Modi led BJP government & its professed veneration of Mahatma Gandhi. VD Savarkar a Hindutva ideologue, whom Narendera Modi has described as one of his heroes, had expressed contempt for Gandhiji’s ‘Perverse doctrine of non-violence and truth’ and claimed it was bound to destroy the power of country. PM Modi like many other BJP politicians was schooled as RSS pracharaks, in an intense dislike of Mahatma Gandhi, whose message of tolerance & pluralism was emphatically rejected as minority appeasement by sangh Parivar, and whose credo of non violence was seen as weakness unworthy of manly Hindus. Today we see openly in prime time debates people rejecting ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and advocating a hard line somewhat closer to RSS ideology but we have hope and we have to keep our hope alive in humanity and this hope is been strengthen by people of India who irrespective of their religion came out against discriminatory law & are still protesting across country & abroad. I hope these protests continue to practice Non-violence as they are and with the weapons of truth and unity win the battle against falsehood and communal divide. Why should people of Gandhi’s India fear discrimination on basis of Religion? Whole of India has rejected communal agenda and discrimination on basis of religion and have joined hands together to save Gandhi’s India and uphold the Mahatma Gandhi’s powerful ideas of Inclusivity and Acceptance and to continue spreading message of pluralism and tolerance. History bears witness that Governments that have time & again chosen to suppress & silence people’s voices have never succeeded, the oppressive measures will not stop people, whole world is condemning brutal tactics used by government to put an end to protests, instead we all would suggest government to engage into a meaningful dialogue with protestors and not force a law on to people using power. The power in a democracy resides with people and government must listen to people if they are democratically elected, as in democracy we say ‘Governments of people, by people, for people’ government should fulfill its democratic responsibilities.
( The author is a content writer and a social activist . Views are his own, aijazaryanrather@gmail.com)

Kashmiri Students: Sole Sufferers Of Conflict

Aijaz Aryan Rather — Sat, 13 Oct 2018 17:57:06 +0000

Let’s be humans instead of hypocrites and accept that in Kashmir there are no human rights for a common Kashmiri, & powerful upper class denies this fact just for sake of their interests from ruling regime. Students face most of the heat in the Kashmir from being interrogated; detained just for a mere doubt; prosecuted for speaking up; no freedom to express their opinions through student political forum. Students in Kashmir live in constant terror. The non availability of proper ways for expressing their views, & total denial from ruling regime, from state to center leads them to a state where few choose stones as a mean of expressing their anger, opinions, demands, and some choose Gun as way to fight oppressive, tyrannical ruling class. In early 1990’s it was said that militants are brainwashed illiterates, recently highly qualified Kashmiri youth have joined militant ranks alarming security agencies of India. People have come out during recent operations that were carried out against these newly young rebels of Kashmir. Remaining portion of students who just come under normal criteria mostly leave Kashmir for studies, but being Kashmiri was never going to let them live in peace there too. List of assaults on Kashmiri students is too long in India. Recently, what happened at Sharda University where a Kashmiri student was beaten by fellow Indian students there. Police has booked 350 Indian , Afghani students for rioting & related offences. Reports in Indian Express quoted a police official, who said that there was lack of cooperation from University & careless approach on matter led to this situation. In another separate incident at Rajpura, Punjab, two students namely Gazi Ahmad Malik studying in Diploma 3^rd semester & Mir Imran of 3^rd semester (LEET) at Aryans collage of Engineering, Nepra, were detained by authorities who claimed to be JK Intelligence. Later on the students were found to be innocent, and were in fact detained for some previous case related to someone else as claimed by College authorities. No one was informed about their detention, Imran was released within a day, & Gazi was taken to Kashmir for further investigation. When Mir Imran came to college his friends were shocked to see him as he was physically assaulted & due to which he still suffers from trauma. Every student is asking what was his crime?

Another angry student from Aryans College said that when Shikara app was launched Kashmiri students were heroes for Aryans College, now we are stopped to comment on detention of our fellow students, after news broke in What’s App group of college, admin stopped students to know further news of our friend’s whereabout as admin changed privacy of group. Well, college authorities here have acted well not letting to escalate situation further. This Student shared many problems that he & his friends face; recently he & his friend was travelling in auto, they were over charged by auto driver. According to him when he questioned auto driver about over charging he & his female friend received vicious behavior from the other end ,they preferred to pay extra fair than to end up in Sharda like incident where a student was beaten ruthlessly & no one acted because he was a Kashmiri. This all hate campaign against Kashmiris is going on in Indian media that claims to be nationalist, they my be nationalist but they are definitely anti Human & against Kashmiriyat. When people on TV channels debate on Kashmir they must first know what it is to be a Kashmiri & what one has to face being a Kashmiri in India. No matter what Indian media calls those Rebels & those who exchange stones with army for bullets & pellets they are considered Heroes by Local Kashmiris, they are followed by younger generation, praised by old, sung by womens in their local songs. In all this struggle, political drama, Free hand to Police & army; Human perspective is forgotten, Reports by various Human right organization likes of AMINESTY International clearly reflects the doings of Army & police in Kashmir. In Kashmir Young are embracing death with pride, old praising death, women sing happily death of a young man. Kashmiris seem not to be afraid of Death any more, death that terrifies all humans around globe, death that couldn’t be defeated by none.

The face of Indian army that a Mumbaikars or Delhiets see is different from that what a Kashmiri sees. Governments have failed to win hearts of Kashmiris. We have nothing except hope that peace will prevail in our father land Kashmir soon.

In history of mankind, it was only Imam Hussein (a) & his companions at Karbala that have defeated death & it seems Kashmiris are following Karbala in their struggle. Where Imam Hussein said “Death with dignity is better than a life of humiliation” that is why death does not terrorizes Kashmiris now any more. This year Kashmir continues to witness Burhan wani’s banners in Muharram Processions, Shias,who face a ban on Muharram processions through historical routes in heart of Srinagar & excuse by Government authorities given for this is that in route of Procession there are majority Sunni areas & it can lead to sectarian tensions.let us talk about 8th Muharram route that is from Shaheed Gunj through Jehangir chowk, Residency road, TRC road to Dal gate. Even a tourist can say that these routes are commercial & most patrolled by security agencies and are safest among all more over no sunni seems to have problem in Shia mourning & Sunnis too mourn Muharram in their own ways. Not even a follower of Yazid ibn Muawiyah would have that much guts to pelt a Shia Muslim in Kashmir. Every kashmiri asks one question when Amarnath Yatra is given so much freedom & security why not Shias? This explains hypocrisy of ruling class from Srinagar to Delhi.

Recently Government of India after 15 years introduced back CASO. Cordon and search is a military tactic to cordon off an area and search the premises for weapons or insurgents. It is one of the basic counter insurgency operations & with Reintroduction of CASO Locals recall old terror & sufferings, Youth, Students have always been biggest victim of undeclared war that is going on in Kashmir. Two types of cordon and search operations are cordon and knock and cordon and kick (or cordon and enter). Crackdown was the name given to search operations in early 1990s. It was a household name in Kashmir for almost one decade. During a crackdown all the male population was ordered to assemble in some open place and soldiers from Army, Border Security Force (BSF) or Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) would start house to house search to check presence of armed fighters / militants or weapons. People would be taken out for identification parades before the arrested or surrendered militants or Over Ground Workers (OWGs) of militants who would be kept inside military jeeps. They were called CATS. Kashmiris very rarely use a Kashmiri or Urdu word (Talashi) for crackdowns. After decline in militancy, the frequency of village, mohalla or town crackdowns also declined especially by the end of 1990. From last few years, Kashmir valley especially the villages in South Kashmir are again witnessing crackdowns. A new word CASO (Cordon and Search Operation) has been devised for these search operations. Which indicates situation in Kashmir have worsen and Government of India’s policy of iron first has failed completely Indian media may be hailing Modi Govt. but on ground this Govt. has alienated Kashmir more from rest of rest of India. The face of Indian army that a Mumbaikars or Delhiets see is different from that what a Kashmiri sees. Governments have failed to win hearts of Kashmiris. We have nothing except hope that peace will prevail in our father land Kashmir soon.

(The author a content writer and social activist contributes regularly for “Kashmir Horizon”. His views are personal)

Rapes And Molestations In India

Aijaz Aryan Rather — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 17:38:38 +0000

Surprising and intriguing it is getting for all of us to view the present mirror image of India. The incidents coming in public leave everyone astonish and queer.It needs an emotionless life to analyse the incidents of India.
Starting with the gang rape of goat no one in the world could believe this disgraceful and wrecked act. The incident happened in the northern state of India (Harayan). About eight person robbed a goat from her farm shed and then gang raped her ruthlessly and recklessly. After few hours the unfortunate goat left this unfortunate world. Following the incident police arrested the accused and registered FIR against them. Two among them were arrested on spot and for rest search is going on.
Coming to the next incident
A girl in greater Noida was raped by clergyman. If priests have lost their regulations in sacred destinations, how can one point his finger towards liquors or alcoholics? The tale does not stop here. An athlete player in Chennai found herself unsafe and left the games and India for the same reasons.
Rapes, molestations and sexual assaults have become a routine in India. Every hour in India spares with gang rapes, molestations and compelled sexual acts. The happenings of these incidents have awe strucked fear in the whole Country. Every girl rather every female gender living in India feels unsafe, uncomfortable and restless all the time. These happenings also pave obstructions and restrictions on to foreign folks for visiting India. These happenings have roamed India from the sovereign nation to the most fragile and feeble nation. Fragile in the sense because these crimes, murders and guilts and tragics are not meeting a solution for a long time now. Even if every rape sparks protests and triggers public anger then questions arises why do these happen again and again that too within less time. Or where does the fault lies. It can be attributed to
1.False and fake working of media
National media has touched the peak of stupidness and foolishness. They are engaged and entangled in highlighting the newes of politicans, businessmen, actors, sports players. Their services have become so costly and in other sense so fragile to reach and meet the happenings of below poverty line people. They are involved in masking the loots, robberies and corruptions of ministers. They are working like their paid organisations and services.
National media is regarded as a gun of country to tackle and highlight the nity gritty and damn squib changes in country. The National media is equivalent and synonymous with the heart of the human being to meet and reach the rough and smooth or positive or negative frameworks of country.
Next!
The accused after performing the act of rape is roaming freely and absconding from the scene in most of the cases. There are evidences on ground proposing the support of high standard people to these culprits. One comes from Kathua where a minor was ruthlessly first raped and then strangled to death. People protested against the incident but an MLA from BJP protested and demanded for guilts and release of these false outs from these culprits.
This is the significant and most remarkable version of theory responsible for continued and uninterrupted performance of rapes.
The people need to ponder on ground realities and sentiments. In fact everyone among us should implement and employ steps towards the reduction of these incidents. Every chap need to do it’s part like a responsible citizen of country. Every local or high organisation need to work collaboratively to tackle with these culprits and their gurus.
3.Mindset manifestation and ban on liquors.
It would have been better and imperative to introduce “Swach Bharat Brain Mission”rather then the program of Swach Bharat Mission. Whence the brain and mindset of people will get restored, everyone will feel the importance and values of different programs and services of country. For effective and efficient solutions to these incidents, ban and suspensions should be imposed on liquors. Nobody should be allowed to drink or sell alcohol.

(The author is a freelancer. His views are personal)

Rape: 4th most common crime In India

Aijaz Aryan Rather — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 18:19:11 +0000

A vital part of understanding a social problem, & to preventing it, is an understanding of what causes it. Today we are about to discuss something that has taken our society by storm & each passing day it is spreading like a deadly disease in human society. The word Rape has become now a common word in our daily news. Rape meaning a sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other form of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person’s consent. Rape is the fourth most common crime against women in India. According to Forbes report 2013 every 20 minutes a rape takes place in the world’s largest democracy. In the world’s super power America situations are more devastating every 98 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted & every 8 minutes, that victim is a child. Meanwhile, only 6 out of every 1,000 perpetrators will end up in prison. More than 5 rapes were reported daily in Delhi in 2017. This year till now many cases of rape made it to people through media & don’t know how many victims are still waiting for justice. Media coverage of sexual assaults may have increased but still there is a biased approach of this 5th pillar of democracy. Custodial rapes in conflict zones like Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, North east states are often ignored & are considered less credible to reporting in larger national interest. So balancing on reporting a rape can’t be ruled out.
Our Jammu Kashmir also is witnessing rise in crime against women, we have a long list of cases from infamous Gulzar Peer to Ajaz Sheikh who under disguise of faith healing Raped thousands of young boys in past two & half decade. We all read in news about Asifa, an 8 year old who was gang raped for days in a temple, 13 year old raped 9 year old in Uttar pardesh, A father gifted his daughter to his friends & latter joined to gang rape her & list can go on, A 21-month-old baby girl was raped by a 40-year-old man from her neighborhood in Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar area in may 2017, Recently a priest of Kapileshwar temple in bengaluru was paraded naked for serial molestation of women dovotees after repeated warnings when priest continued his inapproiate behavior people assaulted & paraded him naked as punishment.how low will human race go. These news are common for our society & most shocking is views of many politicians. Some blame mobile phones, some clothing; some politicians even justify saying it is normal. You may all have heard of Haryana, a state where they believe rapes happens because girl wears attractive clothes, use mobile, they have their own justification of rape. When will society seriously consider rape a growing disease & try to find its cure? Why governments are so helpless? Why judiciary seems to be blind, deaf & dumb on growing Rapes? Most important why human society is so silent? Why does rape exist and what causes it? What is it about our society that makes rape one of the fastest growing violent crimes in this country? Today it was Asifa, Geeta, tomorrow it can be your loved one don’t you feel urgency to stand up & defeat this growing mental sickness of portion of Male population of your society? It is time to stand up & find answers to question why Rapes are increasing with each passing day. What is going in mind of our young generation? What are reasons behind this growing rape mentality? We must understand the sociology of rape in order to effectively work towards the elimination of it. Incidence of rapes is determined by interplay of several factors: Economic, demographic, social, efficiency of the police and judicial systems, and exposure to mass media.
I believe that education is the primary culprit, as there is no solid way of providing our children and adults with the right form of ethical & sexual knowledge. Our education system is victim of confusion, no clear education policy clearly shows how governments have failed people time & again. We have a parallel three to Four system of education: Government run schools, Public schools, Missionary schools, & also many here just get their education from Religious ‘Darasgaah’ which may count another system of education, in this confusion of systems our society is growing confused & our youth is not getting equal opportunities & quality of education, Quality education is very important for a Nation to grow & develop. Our youth is facing lot of problems & society’s heedless, unthinking approach is killing our very own future generations. I would like to draw attention of our readers to few of such social evils which we don’t discuss but they exist in our very own surroundings.
Pornography is a serious problem. Pornography is the presentation or production of sexually explicit pictures, Writings or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual stimulation or arousal. There is no such thing as Pornography addiction. This is a fringe diagnosis. The “overuse” of Pornography is related to other psychiatric issues that may require treatment. Watching adult films alters brain similar to activity to drug addicts, Alcoholics. Both having sex & watching porn causes dopamine to be released in the part of the brain responsible for emotions & learning. Internet form of pornography has taken its flow in this 21st century. This form is readily available & easily accessible. Now a day’s children & teenagers are worst addict of pornography because of available in a click feature of internet. Internet pornography has added ten times to the problems & sufferings of the society as it was before the advent of internet. To save our youth we have to act only Laws on paper will not serve we must ensure that these materials must not fall in minors & I advocate a national consensus to ban such websites effectively. Government should take measures to act on war foot to counter this growing rape mentality. A mentality that looks at women as a prey to be hunted down. We have to being somewhere if we want to save our daughters & women from beasts in human form present in our society. At the same time we have to be strict with our laws on women crimes & Government of Jammu Kashmir must increase women police personnel as compared to today’s roll as it has been seen that a rape victim has hesitation in making a report to a Male police officer. Society has to change its thinking of treating a victim as a sinner it was never her fault, these lame excuses of dressing & other are symptoms of rotten social values which needs to be buried & there must be no mercy to a rapist who so ever he is once he attains legal age. Madhumita Padey, a Ph.D student at the criminology department of Anglia University in United Kingdom. She interviewed about 100 rapists in India for her doctoral. She says:” these rapists have the power to make you feel sorry for them. I would almost forget that these men have been convicted of raping a woman. In my experience a lot of these men don’t realize that what they have done is rape”. We have a long journey to ensure safety of our women safety better we begin today to be late like the cities Delhi etc where crime against women has become daily news.

(The author a freelance content writer writes frequently for “Kashmir Horizon”. His views are personal)

Growing Feminism & Its Consequences

Aijaz Aryan Rather — Sat, 14 Apr 2018 20:57:34 +0000

These days we can notice the ‘Khatoon-I-Mashrik’ women of east on streets demanding women equal rights. When you take a look at India, Pakistan or Iran recently all these countries faced protests, where girls & womens came on street demanding what they call FREEDOM, Azadii from Head Scarf, Azadi to wear jeans, Azadi just to do anything, slogans like “meri marzi meri Jeans”(delhi,India), “Mera jisam meri Azadi”(Islamabad,Pakistan) were raised by protestors. Playcards displayed messages like “ye char deewari,Chardar Gali-sadi lash ko Mubarak”, “My body is not your battleground”(women holding ply card in Islamabad, Pakistan)
These people term it as ‘Feminism’ . when you type word feminism in Google you get this: Advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men.in this definition it seems nothing wrong, but when you really understand it & come across Extremist Feminism which is like a far right group you see the destruction it brings to human society by challenging its basic fundamentals.
Kashmir a society which is opening up our womens are on roads driving, our daughters are on roads with Scotties, our womens have freedom, we have first women Chief Minister of state but our society is still termed as “patriarchy” meaning a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it. The feminist movements always fan the insecurities of the patriarchal stakeholders of society. Recently, the third annual ‘Girls on Bikes’ rally that took place in Pakistan. Unfortunately, the reaction on it by misogynists was no different. ‘Girls on Bike’ rally is a part of feminist movement organized by ‘Girls at Dhabas’. The rallies were held in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. This rally was an attempt to claim the public space for women. It was an assertion of female’s right to public spaces through cycling and occupying the road of major cities. However, not everyone viewed it as a productive step. Many people took to social media to express their disappointment and many in support of it.
We say that Jammu Kashmir is a state where women get the liberty, but I’m sorry to say I don’t feel the liberty in this state and particularly when it comes to driving. It’s a male dominant field where women drivers are not treated properly. Huge problem which women face when driving is the dirty looks of the opposite sex, the moment they see a lady driving, male drivers try to bring their cars too close and pass indecent comments or in some cases start following. All these things just make the other person confused and can lead into serious damage like accidents. . It’s high time that men should realize this that women drivers must be given the same respect which they deserve while being behind the wheel. We must come in support of our womens give them equal rights. Islam has given more rights to womens than any other ideology. Then why womens of muslim societies are on streets? Their rights have not been given to them we must accept it. Our society is “Patriarchy” but womens which are also part of our society must know their value & rights. No society can stand without contribution of its womens. Humanity stands today because of these pairs we call “Married Couple”. What if we start challenging this basic unit of human race? Well I need nothing to prove just take a look at western society where from idea of “my body not your battleground” came. In America average age of virginity loss for girls is 17.2 & for boys 16.9. Every 2 minutes there is a sexual assault in America, on an average, there are 321,500 victims (age 12 or older) of rape & sexual assault each year in the United states alone only with many cases going unreported. Yet we are talking about rape (Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person’s consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability or is below the legal age of consent. The term rape is sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault.) then there is consensual sex (Consensual sexual activity happens when each partner willingly chooses to participate.) this kind of sex is no more a crime in modern liberal societies. Live in relationships are legalized, young couples are having illicit relationships in todays world. Our Kashmir is no stranger to any of these problems, Scandal after scandal, Rapes are growing & now we see Rape been used as weapon to terrorize community like in case of Asifa a minor raped in Hindu Temple of Kathua District of jammu Kashmir & People come in support of Rapist there because victim is from different community & findings are even more shocking, this rape was pre Planned & one of accused rapist was invited from Meerut university to rapnce a Bakarwal girl. Sedated with anti-anxiety drug, raped for several days & killed by her rapists, destruction of evidence by two police man, finally charge sheet was filled amid fierce resistance by goons & gangs of Pro-rapist people. Asifa awaits justice. We don’t say Feminism, liberalism is a cause of these problems & crimes but they are not solution either. Some where a feminist approach will not help our society to be a better place so will not Male dictatorship. Islam is a religion of peace & diginity of women in islam is high. It was islam the first ideology that defined rights of a women when she was given non, today our womens need to understand their rights given to them in islam & deman them within the framework of society. No one opposes protests but the demands should be reasonable & justified. I suggest womens of my society to be original, be fashionable, be modern, according to your culture not copying some one else. Why leggies better fashion than shalwar? Who certified it? Come on let’s accept we are giving up our freedom to & with these protest we are speeding up the process of being mentally a slave of some ideology which we don’t understand at all.
In recent past there were controlled protests in Iran where collage girl took off his headscarf protesting Hijab law of Iran. In Iran it is mandatory to cover your head. These protests turned out to be controlled, funded & openly supported by west. Estern media gave that one girl so much coverage that it turned blind eye from millions of other womens rallying in support of hijab law in Iran. When this propaganda failed then came a video showing few womens burning hijab & these womens were said to be from Indonesia, Iraq, few other middle countries, oppose this propaganda womens came with “Hijab my choice” movement on internet millions uploaded Hijab videos & pics.
Why does west want that our womens should give up Hijab? Why is hijab a thorn in our enemies eye? The Great revolutionary leader Imam Khomeini (R.A) has said:”Enemy fears more our women’s Hijab than our martyr’s blood” If women knew how men perceive them when they look at them,they would have covered themselves with iron armor. It is an old war tactic used from centuries where enemy first weakens opponents & then attacks & enjoys an easy win. Enemy wants to break our social structure from inside by fooling us by slogans like freedom & women empowerment, for god sake what empowerment is there in wearing jeans? What has burning hijab to do with equality? What a Bikini has to do with freedom? During recent Iranian Protests Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, marked the day with sharply worded tweets skewering Western countries for the immodesty of their women and trumpeting the virtues of the headscarf, or hijab.
“By promoting modest dress (#hijab), #Islam has blocked the path which would lead women to such a deviant lifestyle,”Imam Khamenei tweeted in English. “Iranian women today, declare their . . . independence and export it to the world while preserving their #hijab.” Today there are womens who achieved greatly while wearing Hijab. I present example of none other than Ilhan omar who became first Somali-American legislator winning Minnesota house of representatives seat, Ibtihaj Muhammad first women don the hijab & compete for USA in Rio Olympics & won her first medal. Nadiya Hussain(UK), Rahaf Khatib Runner wearing hijab, list is long many islamic countries have women teams performing wearing hijab.
Women are naturally vain and want to be admired. Contemporary feminism teaches them to want to be admired both for traditionally feminine traits such as beauty and motherliness and for traditionally masculine traits such as professional accomplishment and financial independence and success. Women come to believe that if they are perfect in all possible areas, they will be admired in all these areas, and then they will be happy. Men are naturally sensual and want a physically easy life with their physical desires satisfied with little trouble. Contemporary feminism teaches them that if they have a perfect woman, they can have it all, too. The woman who is perfect in every way will satisfy her husband’s physical desires, make sure the kids are taken care of somehow (or make sure there are no kids), and take the financial stress and pressure off of her husband by making plenty of money on her own. Since reality does not usually work out this way, both men and women raised with feminist ideology find themselves unhappy.
Nicolas Davidson author of book-“The failure of feminism” writes “The Feminist Era is over,” Davidson declares. “Organized political feminism speaks neither for women nor for progress; it increasingly reflects the views of an embittered minority which has long since forfeited the respect of the ‘transitional’ generation of its parents and has now lost the pulse of the rising generation.”
Michael Levin, a professor of philosophy at the City University of New York, Levin is hardly as sanguine as Davidson that feminism is a spent ideology. He argues instead that it has been all too insidiously successful, and is likely to remain so for a long time, largely because it has captured the courts, the government bureaucracies, the educational system from kindergarten through graduate school, and the major philanthropic foundations, which distribute millions of dollars to fund “women’s rights” projects
The ways in which courts and governments implement the feminist agenda—trying to fit the two sexes into the same Procrustean bed, as it were—has produced a laundry list of discordances that is hilarious when it is not horrifying. In the new, sex-integrated military forces, most female soldiers simply do not have the strength to meet the minimum tests routinely required of men: lifting standard-size 90-pound boxes of ammunition, throwing a grenade far and accurately enough.
The worst violations against human nature occur in the “nonsexist classrooms” of the elementary grades: textbooks cannot use the words “housewife” or “mother,” and teachers are instructed to break up the single-sex social groupings that all children find natural.
Levin is not entirely without hope for the human species, even in the world feminism has created, for he believes that human nature—particularly the abiding desire of women for husbands, children, and families, no matter what they say in public—will out. “Feminists may be beyond rational persuasion, and will continue to proclaim their errors with complete assurance,” he writes. “But they are, in the end, asking women to make them unattractive to men and to forgo love and children. Feminism will be forgotten, commanding only the loyalty of barren women whose genetic lines are running to extinction.”
Our society has to collectively take decisions & remember collective means participation of womens of our society their rights must not be snatched if we do so then it will lead to rebellion & that will be a doomsday for our society. We see a disastrous ideological catastrophe that terms Lawlessness as liberalism, Prostitution as Feminist freedom, that does not believe in institution of marriage, that wants to change meaning of human relations, that advocates need based relation, well there are lot of problems but one solution that we all sit together & find what is wrong & where we are mistaking. Once we started thinking on our problems instead of denying them, the solutions to those problems will follow.

( The author a freelance content writer writes frequently for “Kashmir Horizon”. His views are personal)

Violence against woman in Pakistan

Aijaz Aryan Rather — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 18:10:15 +0000

The world may seems to have excelled in science, technology & other fields but humans don’t understand why day by day occurrence and re-occurrence of crimes are throwing bigger challenges to both the society and as well as the government. Time & again human society faces urgent need to reform to isolate & eradicate evil forces from society. All hearts in pain, eyes full of tears, everyone feeling they couldn’t do much for Zainab! Recently in neighbouring Pakistan, Zainab who was just 8 years old was raped & murdered brutally, since then country is in a state of shock, with social media flooded with messages of solidarity with Zainab’s family and anger at the provincial govt of Punjab. Zainab disappeared last week while returning from a Qurani study centre to her aunt’s house; her body was found in a pile of garbage on Tuesday near her home in Kasur in Pakistan’s Punjab province. She was the eighth child found raped and murdered in Kasur during the last one year, according to a police official anonymously quoted by news agencies.
In the city of Kasur, people are protesting lack of progress in finding those responsible for the kidnapping, rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab Ansari. At least two people have died during violent clashes between police and protesters.
In August 2015, Kasur came to the world’s attention via a child abuse and extortion scandal involving at least 280 children who were filmed while being sexually abused by a gang of men. The men then blackmailed the children’s parents by threatening to release the videos. The scandal sparked countrywide condemnation and anger against authorities.
Pakistani rights activists say they had put forward a number of suggestions to the government after the 2015 child abuse scandal in Kasur, but authorities haven’t implemented them. Finding Zainab’s killers must be an important priority for authorities, especially as in this case it seems that this is not a lone incident in this area and other children are at risk,” activist Maria to a local daily. She added that Sadly, after initial media hype and response to rape and child abuse cases by state authorities, people forget about them. There is no long-term redressal of the issue and it is treated more as an anomaly rather than a widespread problem that needs to be tackled at various levels and through sustained effort.
Four women were raped every day in the country throughout 2014, says WAR report(War Against Rape), accounting for the incidents taking place across Pakistan. Last year also witnessed a 49 per cent increase in the reporting of sexual assault cases as compared to 2013. A total of 1,582 cases were reported across the country in 2014 as compared to 772 in 2013. In 2014, 3,508 children were sexually abused while in 2013, the total number was 3,002. Around 67 per cent of these cases were reported from rural areas while the most vulnerable age bracket was of children between 11 to 15 years of age.
On November 21, 2015, in Rawalpindi, 24-year-old Tahmina Kausar, a student of Quaid-i-Azam University’s Department of Defence and Strategic Studies and a Central Superior Services (CSS) aspirant was raped and killed by her Facebook friend Umair Makki. The Facebook friend wanted to marry her but on her refusal, he raped and killed her, throwing her down from the third storey of a building. In Taxila Punjab, a 13-year-old Halima Sadia was raped and made five months pregnant by her relative Ashfaq. Similar tragedies occur in our society recurrently.
In September 2015, Safia Bibi, a deaf and dumb Christian woman, was raped at gunpoint in her house in village Gonda Ganda Singh Wala near Kasur. Her rapist has been granted bail because she could not produce evidence of her rape.
In fact, rapes are so common (and typically unreported), that the perpetrators in Pakistan are rarely ever arrested, much less held over for trial, convicted and jailed.
Perhaps the Rape case of Mukhtar Mai, the illiterate village woman in Punjab Pakistan who endured a brutal sexual assault by up to 14 men in 2002, survived, sought justice through the courts and became a symbol of the country’s complete disregard for the fairer sex.
Almost all of her rapists were ultimately acquitted after a lengthy series of trials that went all the way up to the Pakistani Supreme Court nine years later. (The other defendant was sent away for life.)
In Mai’s case, her rape was ordered by the jirga (a council of elders in another village) after her brother had offended members of a rival clan.
Her ordeal attracted enormous attention from Pakistani politicians and celebrities as well as from foreign countries, but her application to leave the country was denied on accusations that she would “use” her tragedy to become “wealthy” in the West.
Mukhtar Mai remains in her native village, living in fear of reprisals over her extraordinarily courageous stand. Regrettably, a mammoth number of such incidents take place owing to multiple factors and are not reported for various reasons in our society. Even though, the fact is that rape is a serious crime punishable by death, yet frequency of rape incidents is persisting in Pakistan due to dysfunctional mechanism of law enforcement. The judicial system and police infrastructure, due to complicated legal requirements, have not been playing the expected role and have not produced fruitful results to control this vicious crime. As a result, the perpetrators have been damaging innocent lives, tarnishing their social status and ruining their honour in the society without any fear of punishment. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), an incident of rape occurs every two hours and an innocent victim is gang-raped every four to eight days. The reports are serious blot on the Islamic society of Pakistan.
Pakistan even though making changes in the law enforcement forces have a long way to go.
In Pakistan as per Zulfiqar Ali vs. The State, 2012 YLR 847 Federal Shariah Court
judgement if the perpetrator of rape is unmarried, the punishment will be lower, when compared to a rape by a married man. India has no such “ protection ” for rapists based on their marital status. This makes Indian women understand that it is not OK to get raped, period !! and they will register the case. With these kind of rules, Pakistani women are made to believe from an younger age that it is a lesser crime or normal, when raped by a “ needy ” man !!! .
Adultery and rape are very closely defined in Pakistani Islamic law. When Rape is an offence adultery and extramarital sex are also a crimes punishable under Hudood Ordinances. Thus the rape victim will have to prove without any reasonable doubt that she is not an adulterous in court to get a conviction. If she fails to do so she will be imprisoned, in effect for getting raped!!! .Existence of such laws prevented Pakistani women from reporting rapes for decades after independence, Even with amended laws, 21st century Pakistani women is as vulnerable as before and still afraid to file rape cases.
Women have to face discernment and fierceness on a daily basis due to the cultural and religious norms that Pakistani society embraces. In fact, a number of laws have been recognized by a few courts in their judgments as a form of domestic violence. The relevant provisions of law are varied and wide but all contain elements of domestic violence or can be interpreted to include domestic violence, as has been done so internationally. Violence can be criminal and comprises physical assault (hitting, pushing, shoving, etc.), sexual abuse (unsolicited or forced sexual activity), and nuisance. Although emotive, mental and monetary abuse are not criminal behaviors, they are forms of abuse and can lead to criminal violence.
Discerning on this concern is to following the path towards modification and wholeness. We all deserve to feel “like full human beings” in our lives, professional and private. We all deserve to live a happy life. Some intrinsic factors within people, extrinsic factors, the socio-economic-political and cultural system of Pakistan and the influences of surrounding countries acts as determinants of violence against women and provides useful insights towards the understanding of the violence. A milieu of cultural change may be commenced to bring forth improvements in women’s lives.

(The author a pass out of Government Polytechnic College Srinagar is regularly contributing for the Edit Page of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views of the author are exclusively his own)

Nationalism and Nationalist

Aijaz Aryan Rather — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 20:41:40 +0000

Nationalism and Nationalist, The words that are now a days most often in news. He is nationalist. He talks against anchor so he is Anti National,you may have often come across such comments in today’s Mass media.Politicians use the issue of Nationalism to come to power. So what actually is Nationalism?
Definition of nationalism loyalty and devotion to a nation; one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups.In other words, the strong belief that the interests of a particular nation-state are of primary importance. Also, the belief that a people who share a common language, history, and culture should constitute an independent nation, free of foreign domination. Although the emergence of the nation into political consciousness is often placed in the nineteenth century, attempts by political leaders to craft new national identities, with their dynasty at the center, have been identified as early as the late Roman Empire . The Barbarian rulers of the successor states crafted these new identities on the basis of descent of the ruler from ancient noble families, a shared descent of a single people with common language, custom, and religious identity, and a definition in law of the rights and responsibilities of members of the new nation.
Till now you may have got clear idea of Nationalism, so let me then move on to my topic of the day “Toxic Nationalism” yes dear readers that is reality in our society today like anything else you may see around. Toxic means poisonous. You may have heard of poisonous substances that cause death or injuries and also toxic people, yeah toxic people. Toxic is a group of people who are rude and can’t be nice . They are not true to people around them. They need an attitude check. Their personalities are so unappealing its make the people around them suffer and turn rude as well. Beware of toxics around. Like substance & people there are Toxic ideologies which create thousands of toxic people to make hell of this beautiful world.
Nationalism is alive and thriving in India and Russia as well. India’s navy and air force are in the process of becoming among the world’s largest. Throughout most of history, India and China had little to do with each other, separated as they were by the Himalayas. But the collapse of distance by way of technology has created a new strategic geography for two big nations. Now Indian space satellites monitor Chinese military installations, even as Chinese fighter jets in Tibet have the possibility of including India within their arc of operations. This rivalry has further refined and invigorated nationalism in both countries.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin’s nationalism is a large factor in his high popularity.
Fascists are not about to regain power anywhere on the Continent, but the age of deepening European integration is likely behind us. Get ready to see more nasty and thoroughly frightening political groupings like Greece’s Golden Dawn emerge across the Continent. We truly are in a battle between two epic forces: Those of integration based on civil society and human rights, and those of exclusion based on race, blood and radicalized faith.
Recently travelling to India i met lot of people who doesn’t like to listen any criticism of present government and we have seen incidents where you can face great danger to life if you expressed your opinion about any sensitive issue like KASHMIR, same will be your treatment if you criticised present P.M or famous feudal of India that all know are very icons of Nationalism. But where are these icons when a common man in U.P Ikhlaq is killed for allegedly eating beef? Why do they not rally for safety of women in India? Why in those cases their “Neta-giri” is satisfied by press release?
If you take a cursory glance at the television commercials of the day, many things – motorbikes, cement, cooking oil, building tiles, etc. – are often sold in the name of and by using the face of the army, to stir nationalist emotions in people to gain maximum profit, “Capitalist world” we live in today where Sometimes, the desperation to use the imagery is so strong that the product-makers try to forge connections where none exist.a new emerging giant of ayurveda-based company is using the face of its current founder – a spiritual guru known for revolutionising yoga in India. These figures use their personalities as an ideological statement. Their images give particular meanings to the words they speak and produce particular discourses.
When the nation becomes a medium to sell a product, then the whole idea of the nation becomes subservient to the vicious circle of capitalism. This creates a facade of wants by creating an illusion of incompleteness, scarcity and need. It also reinforces the material basis of emotions like nationalism by defining them in their exteriority and their tangible manifestation.This all has turned Nationalism into a product that is sold in the market. I would quote Avinash Pandey, Political Commentator (India) He says in his article:
Very idea of nationalism is based on exclusivity, difference and ‘other’ing. It cannot survive without an other, often an inimical one, and therefore invents one if there is none. Sadly, it has to keep inventing them to survive, to keep the idea afloat! Think of it, what would be on the mind of an ordinary person, or an ordinary family, or even a community- their own immediate surroundings, their own well being or an abstract called “nationalism”- unless, off course, there is a threat, an attack or whatever, real, imagined or pure propagandized (oh those people are stealing ‘our’ jobs, mates). If the ‘nationalism’ gets contained in harmless mothering- like in sports, it operates as a fine instrument of order in society. When it gets appropriated by a crooked person/political party, it becomes toxic and starts bleeding the nation itself.
Indian Nationalism is standing at that stage! It has gone very very toxic! I would leave you with few Questions. Has this Toxic Nationalism united us or divided? Can’t we save our human race above all these cultures, languages, race? Is Nationalism a step towards civilized society or not? I’m not against any of your nationalistic ideology but you must take responsibility of it’s consequences.

(The author a pass out of Government Polytechnic College Srinagar is regularly contributing for the Edit Page of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views of the author are exclusively his own)
Threats posed by global warming

Failed attempts of conquering Kashmir

Aijaz Aryan Rather — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 19:25:05 +0000

Kashmir has a long history of being conquered but Kashmir rises again & again after each & every battle. During the 11th century, Mahmud of Ghazni made two attempts to conquer Kashmir. However, both his campaigns failed because he could not siege the fortress at Lohkot. Rinchana, a Tibetan Buddhist refugee in Kashmir, established himself as the ruler after Zulju.Rinchana’s conversion to Islam is a subject of Kashmiri folklore. He was persuaded to accept Islam by his minister Shah Mir , probably for political reasons. Islam had penetrated into countries outside Kashmir and in absence of the support from Hindus, who were in a majority, Rinchana needed the support of the Kashmiri Muslims. Shah Mir’s coup on Rinchana’s successor secured Muslim rule and the rule of his dynasty in Kashmir.In the 14th century, Islam gradually became the dominant religion in Kashmir. Islamic preacher Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani, who is traditionally revered by Hindus as Nund Rishi.
Mughal general Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat , a member of ruling family in Kashgar , invaded Kashmir in c. 1540 CE on behalf of emperor Humayun . Persecution of Shias , Shafi’is and Sufis and instigation by Suri kings led to a revolt which overthrew Dughlat’s rule in Kashmir.
Kashmir did not witness direct Mughal rule till the reign of Mughal padshah (emperor) Akbar the Great , who visited the valley himself in 1589 CE. The kashmir was ruled by Yousuf Shah chak, He was successor of his father Ali Shah Chak and ruled Kashmir from 1579 to 1586 AD. The Hindu Chaks coming from Gurez converted mostly to the Shia sect of Islam . They were formidable fighters of huge structure and soundly defeated the great Mughal Emperor Akbar twice and that too with a much smaller army. Some disgrunted Kashmiri nobles were often pushing Akbar to annex Kashmir. Eventually, Akbar invited Yousuf Shah Chak to Delhi for talks and by treachery arrested Yousuf for the rest of his life. It is narrated that Habba Khatoon , Yousuf’s love interest and a well known poetess of Kashmir, had opposed Yousuf’s travel to Delhi, for she sensed Akbar’s offer as a bait. She later made mentions of this in her writings. Chaks originally were
Dards residents of Gilgit Huza area. They successfully resisted the attempts of Babur and Himayun to annex Kashmir.
After two attempts,the mighty Mughal army was defeated twice by defiant Kashmiris. Finally Akbar resorted to cheating and offered friendship to the Kashmir King Yusuf Shah Chak.
Chak was advised by his ministers and especially by his queen against going to Delhi. But he went ahead saying bloodshed had subjected his people to inconvenience and sufferings. Akbar arrested him and jailed him in Bihar. The king died in prison and was buried there.
Kashmir fate was sealed on October 16, 1586, when Mughal army invaded the independent country of Kashmir. Kashmir’s last independent ruler Yaqub Shah Chak couldn’t hold back the onslaught of Mughals under the command of Qasim Khan. However, it was not because of Kashmiris being cowards, as they had thwarted many attempts of warriors like Mahmud of Ghaznavi, but due to the cunning internal conflicts, which still makes this battle go on indecisively.
Those who couldn’t bear their motherland under foreign rule took up arms as at that there was no scope of political solution. Mughals came down heavily against these insurgents. Yaqub Shah Chek was arrested and finished off in exile, just like his father Yusuf Shah Chek.
The Mughal conquered Kashmir and added it in 1586 to his Afghan province Kabul Subah, but Shah Jahan carved it out as a separate subah (imperial top-level province), with seat at Srinagar.
In 1819, the Kashmir valley passed from the control of the Durrani Empire of Afghanistan , and four centuries of Muslim rule under the Mughals and the
Afghans, to the conquering armies of the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh of Punjab . As the Kashmiris had suffered under the Afghans, they initially welcomed the new Sikh rulers. However, the Sikh governors turned out to be hard taskmasters.Earlier, in 1780, after the death of Ranjit Deo, the Raja of Jammu, the kingdom of Jammu (to the south of the Kashmir valley) was also captured by the Sikhs and afterwards, until 1846, became a tributary to the Sikh power. Ranjit Deo’s grandnephew, Gulab Singh , subsequently sought service at the court of Ranjit Singh, distinguished himself in later campaigns, especially the annexation of the Kashmir valley, and, for his services, was appointed governor of Jammu in 1820. With the help of his officer, Zorawar Singh , Gulab Singh soon captured for the Sikhs the lands of Ladakh and Baltistan to the east and north-east, respectively, of Jammu.
In 1845, the First Anglo-Sikh War broke out, and Gulab Singh “contrived to hold himself aloof till thebattle of Sobraon (1846), when he appeared as a useful mediator and the trusted advisor of Sir Henry Lawrence. Two treaties were concluded. By the first the State of Lahore ( i.e. West Punjab ) handed over to the British, as equivalent for ( rupees ) ten million of indemnity, the hill countries between Beas and Indus ; by the second [67] the British made over to Gulab Singh for ( Rupees ) 7.5 million all the hilly or mountainous country situated to the east of Indus and west of Ravi ” ( i.e. the Vale of Kashmir).The
Treaty of Amritsar freed Gulab Singh from obligations towards the Sikhs and made him the Maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu (as it was then called) was constituted between 1820 and 1858 and was “somewhat artificial in composition and it did not develop a fully coherent identity, partly as a result of its disparate origins and partly as a result of the autocratic rule which it experienced on the fringes of Empire.”It combined disparate regions, religions, and ethnicities: to the east, Ladakh was ethnically and culturally Tibetan and its inhabitants practised Buddhism; to the south, Jammu had a mixed population of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs; in the heavily populated central Kashmir valley, the population was overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, however, there was also a small but influential Hindu minority, the Kashmiri brahmins or pandits ; to the northeast, sparsely populated Baltistan had a population ethnically related to Ladakh, but which practised Shi’a Islam ; to the north, also sparsely populated, Gilgit Agency , was an area of diverse, mostly Shi’a groups; and, to the west, Punch was Muslim, but of different ethnicity than the Kashmir valley.

When people call it 18 or a 60-year-old problem or say just 80,000 persons had laid their lives for it, they are making a gross injustice to millions of those who sacrificed their lives for the just cause during more than four centuries of foreign rule. The Indian people must be taught History and especially some Indian news anchors who keep crying on Kashmiris.

Despite being in a majority the Muslims were made to suffer severe oppression under Hindu rule in the form of high taxes, unpaid forced labor and discriminatory laws.In 1857 for the first time Kashmiris didn’t celebrate Eid ul Azha, as it was the year when Gulab Singh had died and there was a total ban on killing of any animal. Another dreaded punishment used in Dogra era to thwart any possible uprising was that of fleecing a Kashmiri thought to be against administration. Prostitution was also legalised during this time.
Many Kashmiri Muslims migrated from the Valley to Punjab due to famine and policies of Dogra rulers. The Muslim peasantry was vast, impoverished and ruled by a Hindu elite. The Muslim peasants lacked education, awareness of rights and were chronically in debt to landlords and moneylenders,and did not organize politically until the 1930s.
Ranbir Singh’s grandson Hari Singh , who had ascended the throne of Kashmir in 1925, was the reigning monarch in 1947 at the conclusion of British rule of the subcontinent and the subsequent partition of the British Indian Empire into the newly independent Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan . An internal revolt began in the Poonch region against oppressive taxation by the Maharaja. In August, Maharaja’s forces fired upon demonstrations in favour of Kashmir joining Pakistan, burned whole villages and massacred innocent people. The Poonch rebels declared an independent government of “Azad” Kashmir on 24 October. Rulers of Princely States were encouraged to accede their States to either Dominion – India or Pakistan, taking into account factors such as geographical contiguity and the wishes of their people. In 1947, Kashmir’s population was “77% Muslim and 20% Hindu”. To postpone making a hurried decision, the Maharaja signed a standstill agreement with Pakistan, which ensured continuity of trade, travel, communication, and similar services between the two. Such an agreement was pending with India. Following huge riots in Jammu, in October 1947, Pashtuns from Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province recruited by the Poonch rebels, invaded Kashmir , along with the Poonch rebels, allegedly incensed by the atrocities against fellow Muslims in Poonch and Jammu.
Before going to date when India entered Kashmir here are few :
April 1944: Sheikh Abdullah proposed a Naya Kashmir (New Kashmir) programme to the Maharaja, calling for a constitutional monarchy. [14]
1944: Mohammad Ali Jinnah visited Kashmir during the summer, supporting the Muslim Conference in preference to the National Conference
June 1946: Representatives of the Muslim Conference met Jinnah in Karachi and were told to capitalise on the failure of Sheikh Abdullah to unseat the Maharaja.
July 1946: The Muslim Conference complained that Prime Minister Ram Chandra Kak was oppressing Muslims. [15]
July 1946: The Maharaja declared that Kashmiris would decide their own destiny without outside interference.
November 1946: The British Resident in Kashmir observed that the Maharaja and Prime Minister Ram Chandra Kak intended to stay away from the Indian Union (the proposed independent Dominion, prior to the partition decision). The reason cited was “antagonism… displayed by a Congress Central Government” towards Kashmir.
January 1947: Elections were held for the State’s legislative assembly. The National Conference boycotted the elections, and the Muslim Conference won 16 of the 21 Muslim seats.
19 June 1947: Lord Mountbatten visited Kashmir for 5 days to persuade the Maharaja to accede to India or Pakistan. The Maharaja showed reluctance.
11 July 1947: Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared that if Kashmir opted for independence, Pakistan would have friendly relations with it. Liaquat Ali Khan endorsed this position.

In a letter sent to Maharaja Hari Singh on 27 October 1947, the then Governor-General of India, Lord Mountbatten accepted the accession with a remark, “it is my Government’s wish that as soon as law and order have been restored in Jammu and Kashmir and her soil cleared of the invader the question of the State’s accession should be settled by a reference to the people.”Lord Mountbatten’s remark and the offer made by the Government of India to conduct a plebiscite or referendum to determine the future status of Kashmir led to a dispute between India and Pakistan regarding the legality of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India. India claims that the accession is unconditional and final while Pakistan maintains that the accession is fraudulent.
When people call it 18 or a 60-year-old problem or say just 80,000 persons had laid their lives for it, they are making a gross injustice to millions of those who sacrificed their lives for the just cause during more than four centuries of foreign rule. The Indian people must be taught History and especially some Indian news anchors who keep crying on Kashmiris.

(The author a pass out of Government Polytechnic College Srinagar is regularly contributing for the Edit Page of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views of the author are exclusively his own)

Hate mongering & Communal Politics

Aijaz Aryan Rather — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 19:04:21 +0000

The Taj Mahal- the name is enough about this wounderful Archetictural Maravel,symbol of love and History. The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1631, to be built in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal ,a Persian princess.The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”. Described by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore as “the tear-drop on the cheek of time”, it is regarded by many as the best example of Mughal architecture and a symbol of India’s rich history. The Taj Mahal attracts 7–8 million visitors a year. In 2007, it was declared a winner of the New7Wonders of the World (2000–2007) initiative.
The Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world, has found itself at the centre of a political controversy. It all started after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that Taj Mahal “did not reflect Indian culture” Then,The Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department releases a booklet titled ‘ Uttar Pradesh Paryatan – Apaar Sambhavnaayein ‘ (Uttar Pradesh Tourism – Limitless Possibilities), featuring most of the cultural and heritage sites in the state. However, it has no mention of Taj Mahal, one of the seven ‘wonders of the world’.Adding to this ugly poltical row Sangeet Som, a controversial lawmaker of the ruling BJP, said the monument was built by “traitors” and is a “blot on Indian culture”.
“Many people were worried that the Taj Mahal was removed from the list of historical places in the UP tourism booklet. What history are we talking about? The man who built Taj Mahal imprisoned his father. He wanted to massacre Hindus. If this is history, then it is very unfortunate and we will change this history, I guarantee you” Mr Som said at a rally in Meerut.
It seems that instead of emphasising the Hindu origins of Muslim monuments and staking a claim over them, the new RSS(The Sangh parivar)strategy is to belittle their importance and denounce them so as to denigrate Muslims by suspecting their ‘Indian-ness’.Never before have its leaders acknowledged the Muslim identity of historical monuments like the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Qutub Minar or Jama Masjid.
However, generations of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadre have been brought up on the theories of one Purushottam Nagesh Oak, a self-styled historian who had founded the Institute for Rewriting Indian History in 1964. Among other things, Oak claimed that the Arabian Peninsula was part of the Indian empire of King Vikramaditya and Kaaba was originally a Hindu temple. He wrote many books of which Some Blunders of Indian Historical Research became very popular. In this book, he claimed the Qutub Minar was, in fact, an astronomical observation tower called Vishnu Dhwaj or Vishnu Stambh and that the Red Fort was a palace built by a Hindu ruler. He summed up the crux of his historical vision in these words: “All medieval mosques and tombs in India are conquered and misused Hindu palaces and temples. Thus, Mohammad Ghaus’s tomb in Gwalior, Salim Chisti’s mausoleum in Fatehpur Sikri, Nizamuddin’s qabar in Delhi, Moinuddin Chishti’s makbara in Ajmer are all erstwhile Hindu buildings lost to Muslim conquest and use.” It is not difficult to see a correlation between this approach and the one that resulted in the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya.
However, such claims end up making the Hindutva forces a laughing stock in the eyes of the world because they are too preposterous to deserve serious academic consideration. Even a passionate Hindutva-loving writer like Koenraad Elst
has described such claims as being “fanciful and totally unfounded”. This can be clearly seen that Sangeet Som didn’t know difference between ShahJahan & Aurengzeb,he didn’t exactly know who builted what. The RSS-BJP once banned by Sardar Patel seems to be claiming him to be one of them which again is fooling the people, As history documents how Sardar Patel rejected the application of Golwerkar to remove ban on RSS.

If likes of Tipu Sultan,haider Ali,Shahjahan are traitors then Muslims of India need to think about position, value in society. Someone has to ask politicians to stop Hate mongering,War mongering & Communal Politics.

BJP ruled Rajasthan where the state government has decreed that history textbooks will henceforth show Maharana Pratap as the victor in the battle of Haldighati, even though that happens to be a flagrant travesty of history. The demonisation of Aurangzeb has been followed by the vilification of all Muslim rulers and rejection of their contributions – even contributions of those like Jahangir and Shah Jahan. In Gujrat ‘Bal-Narender’ praising Narendera Modi is already taught to kids in schools, Our Kashmir Govt. Feels Habba Khatoon is no more inspirational & deleted her chapter that also when we are having our ist women-CM.The ‘Razia Sultana of Kashmir-HABBA KHATOON lives in hearts of Kashmiries,No one can forget her She lives eternity through her Folk-Poetry. In short, history has become a servile handmaiden of politics.
Now,it is upto people to protect history. Politicians have started to communalise history also. BJP spokespersons often uses the term “Muslim invaders” we don’t want to waste our precious time in teaching History to likes of Sangeet Som but will mention some historic battles to clear the point to my readers that battles were forght for poltical reasons not because that region has different faith then their. It is a false propaganda against islam that they invaded other countries,lands like mercineries to force islam on them. Following are mentions from Indian sub-continent:
•The Maratha invasions of Bengal: The Marathas invaded Bengal six times from August 1741 to May 1751. Nawab Alivardi Khan succeeded in resisting all the invasions, however, the frequent Maratha invasions caused great destruction in Bengal and Orissa , resulting in heavy civilian casualties and widespread economic losses.
•The Siege of Trichinopoly took place in early 1741 during an extended series of conflicts between the Nawab of Arcot and the Maratha Empire for control over parts of what is now southern India. Raghuji Bhonsle ‘s Maratha army successfully starved out the town, compelling the surrender of Chanda Sahib on 26 March 1741.
•In 1791, the Marathas, under the command of Raghunath Rao Patwardhan invaded the Mysore district of Bednur. Here, they proceeded to sack the Sringeri monastery. Attacking temples during war wasn’t exactly unusual (for example, the Maratha attack on the Tirupati shrine in 1759 is little remembered). But this was no ordinary place of worship. It had been founded a thousand years before by the father of Hindu Advaita philosophy, Adi Shankaracharya. The Marathas stripped the monastery of its considerable wealth, killed many Brahmins and desecrated the idol of the temple’s presiding deity, the goddess Sharada.
After the attack, the Swamy, who fled the sack, wrote urgently to Tipu Sultan (The Lion of Mysore) asking for his help in deconsecrating the idol of Sharada. Tipu replied back angrily, writing in Sanskrit, “People do evil smiling but will suffer the penalty in torments of agony.” The Sultan paid for reconstruction of whole monestry, made monetary arrangements for the consecration of the Goddess and also sent along his token gifts for the idol. Today same Tipu Sultan is called as traitor? If likes of Tipu Sultan,haider Ali,Shahjahan are traitors then Muslims of India need to think about position, value in society. Someone has to ask politicians to stop Hate mongering,War mongering & Communal Politics.

(The author a pass out of Government Polytechnic College Srinagar is regularly contributing for the Edit Page of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views of the author are exclusively his own)

Why Madin Sahib Shrine is locked?

Aijaz Aryan Rather — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 20:05:11 +0000

Madin Sahib, Zadibal, Srinagar, is a 15th century monument known as ‘Madin Sahib’ named after the tomb and mosque of Sayyid Muhammad Madani who came to India with Timur in 1398 and moved to Kashmir during the reign of Sultan Sikandar Butshikan (1389–1413 CE). He initially stayed in Rainawari after becoming a disciple of Syed Mohammad Hamadani. He later on moved close to Badshah’s Capital Nowshahar, where Budshah built him the Khankhah. He died on 11 Rajab 849 (13 October 1445). Khwaja Baha-Ud-Din (Ganj-Bakhash) lead his funeral prayer.
The monument of Madin sahib comprises of a Mosque and a Tomb. Madin Sahib Masjid was built by Sultan Zain-ul-Abideen (Budshah) in 1448. He named it after his teacher Syed Mohammad Madani, who is also buried to the left of the Masjid.
Syed Mohammad Madani became Madin Saeb for Kashmiris. Madin Sahib’s ( ﻣﺪﯾﻦ ﺻﺎْﺏ ) neighborhoods close to it are Bagh-e-Ali Mardan Khan and Shahudaa (Martyers) Mohallah,Today known as Mohallah Syed Afzal (After a renowed personality Syed Afzal Shah Jalali).The shrine has been closed to visitor from a long time now.
On asking an elderly man the reason of this closure I was narrated the old tale. Somewhere in 1980s, news spread in Srinagar that a miracle had been witnessed at the shrine of Madeen Sahib. People were saying a lot about it. It was heard that the mausoleum’s outer wall was dripping blood. Shias as well as Sunnis started gathering at the place. They did see something. Some said, the spot on the wall seemed liked someone had focused the beam from a laser pointer, a device which were in vogue back then as a source of amusement and harassment. Soon the rioting and violence started. When the violence was over, the mausoleum had been shut for public access.
In 1905, archaeological surveyor W. H. Nicholls (1865-1949), during his pioneering study of Muslim architecture in Kashmir, was the first to notice the uniqueness of the art of this building among all the Muslim monuments in India. Although the architecture and its beauty was documented only in 1905, the place Zadibal is in fact mentioned in one of the earliest western travelogues. Godfrey Thomas Vigne who visited Kashmir in 1835 mentions in his book that Zadibal witnessed rioting in the year 1830 when the place was inhabited by Persian traders. The trigger was Muharram procession (something still now allowed in Srinagar. And the note by Englishman Vigne puts the blame on Shias. A piece of writing that still can be used to incite violence). In the aftermath of the rioting, the Persians who were mainly into Shawl trade and numbered about 200-300, left Kashmir for Iran.

The people of Srinagar and far off places who have spiritual connection to the shrine of Madin Sahib are demanding the Govt. to open the closed shrine to public. It’s care taking body is now Archeological department so therefore no one has right to dispute.

The place again witnessed rioting in 1872. In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war between France and Germany lead to the decline in Shawl business. The Shia of Srinagar were primarily into paper mache and shawl business. In fact, one of the richest man in the city then was a Shia named Mirza Muhammad Ali. On 19th September 1872, on the Urs (death anniversary) of Madin Sahib, Sunnis gathered at the place, and so did Shias. Claims over the right to own the place were exchanged. Soon, a wave of violence was unleashed that lasted about three days. In the madness, the ancient monument was damaged in fire that raged all over Zadibal. In fact much of Srinagar was in flames.
The violence of 1872 is recorded in report published in a Munich based paper, where it is titled ‘The Grauel in Kajhmir’ (The horror in Kashmir). In an interesting observation, the report also mentions that Shia women and children were given refuge in Pandit households. (For refrence: Allgemeine Zeitung Munich).
More than hundred years later, in 1983, just when the work on renovation of the shrine had started, the place again suffered rioting. June 1983 was going to be the year for state assembly election. It is not hard to follow that in this part of the world, political rivalries eventually lead to sectarian and religious violence. All it needs is a trigger. The violence started around June 14th, and after raging for around three days, left around 700 injured and many shops and houses, and a mosque – burnt. A more lasting impact of the riot was that the Astaan of Madin Sahib went behind locks, out of bound of common man who might be just interested in art and architecture. And it has been like that ever since.
It is looked over by Archelogical survey of India as it is one of the few pre-Mughal monuments in Kashmir; it is of Sultanate period, which makes it a very important site. The people of Srinagar and far off places who have spiritual connection to the shrine of Madin Sahib are demanding the Govt. to open the closed shrine to public. It’s care taking body is now Archeological department so therefore no one has right to dispute. Govt. must act to reopen spiritual shrine of Madin sahib. The locals have brought issue into notice of concerned MLA already. We can hope that soon Madin saheb will witness gathering of devotees from all sects n religions. We also request tourism department to do more and bring tourists to see Shrine, it is one of a main potential places of pilgrimage tourism.

(The author a pass out of Government Polytechnic College Srinagar is regularly contributing for the Edit Page of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views of the author are exclusively his own)