I AM A STONE PELTER

By: Imran Ghazi
Intelligentsia scorn me, to them I am a ruffian, and they refer to me as the lumpen proletariat. They are all learned scholars, poets, linguists, writers; they are mirror of our society. When I and my friends were slaughtered on the streets some Rahi lost his way in the commotion, and found himself in a hall were some Gyan Peeth award was given to him by someone whose hands were smeared with our dirty blood. He accepted the award with hands folded in benediction, feeling at last he has found his way not knowing Rahi has been lost in wilderness forever. When men of intellect stoop so low I do what I know best, yes I pelt stones in despair. I have one question for all you learned men .Do those Shawls of honour have smell of our blood and warmth of the breath of a dying stone pelter? By the way was it not the proletariat who brought a revolution,an old news paper I found with” Sulla Masala”talks about that. How many of you have heard the word sodomy ‘’Astagfirullah’’ cheap word from a cheap stone pelter,this is what some of my friends had to face in police station S.R.Gunj,in presence of S.H.O and the D.S.P,they were no Ram lal or Shyam lal,but musalman saeb. The whole episode was filmed on their mobile cameras, all this in the name of teaching us a lesson. Everything is fair in love and war, but I think there is a word in your civilised world that you call morality, is this punishment moral, ethical, is it human, perhaps new city police chief who is as his name suggests always awake will have the answer or it is during these trying times his conscience takes a nap. Did you ever condemn it even verbally in your hamams ,no never, for boys who were assaulted brutally were not your kids, they were the dirt of the street and deserved to be trampled under the repressive feet of the monsters in uniform. Yes I did what I know best, I pelted stones in solidarity with my friends, for I may be filth of the street but can not condone the bestiality. I and my fellow stone pelters are in our early teens, post 90 generation, we heard about revolution from our elders, we were not part of it, but are the products of revolution. Did not you choke the towns and cities of the valley in millions, in search of Azadi in early nineties? Who are lying in numerous martyrs graveyards across the valley. Were they not your sons, daughters, fathers, mothers and friends? Have you forgotten them or you suffer from selective amnesia, you remember them when it suits you and abuse them when you like. You made us aware of what revolution is during Ragda2008. Who was on the streets for Muzaffarabad march ,Pampore, TRC, it was you. You came out not in thousands but lakhs and that in spite of all the restrictions imposed by the government. Who coined the slogan ‘’Bharat ka tiranga ye Ragda’’. You led and we over enthusiastic teens followed you. Then god knows why you made a beeline to the polling booths during assembly elections. We learned the lesson of freedom from you, alas you forgot, but you taught us so well that yearning for freedom is not in our hearts but our soul. Why are you raising your eyebrows, why this frown on your face. You talk about alternate ways of protest, how many of you participated in the torch processions, signature campaigns, and candle light vigils. I bet if you are asked to clap thrice in your bedrooms as form of resistance to Indian occupation you will not, even that will be left to the petty stone pelters like us. When was the last time you did something for the freedom movement? Moot point is you are all hypocrites, yes a nation of hypocrites. You talk of sacrifices rendered during last twenty years, what is your active contribution. It is our raw courage, which you presume I buy from 2500 paid to me by some agency that acts as a fig leaf to cover your cowardice and hypocrisy. Come out of your hypocrisy, I am a cancer for your development, have balls to tell me the same on my face. Why do you take part in our funerals, why, leave our bodies without bath and a shroud to be devoured by vultures .Don’t you raise the slogan” Martyr your blood will bring revolution.” Never will our blood bring about a revolution for there are no seekers of revolution. We are stone pelters it is our fate to die like this in gutters, from gutters we emerge, in gutters we live and it is the gutter that embraces us when we die. You be at peace in your castles you masters of inaction, in Kashmiri we call you “na karnike seh”. Be men and come out openly in favour of status quo or pre 90 position. Who are you afraid of? The gun wielding elders are gone; they are all in the martyr’s graveyard sleeping blissfully. Why are you confusing the world, you don’t need freedom and you wont get it, until you deserve it. Your self interest has sucked you up, you are in a rat race for making green bucks, castles, cars, careers, path to freedom is not yours, and you have gone astray. You need a course correction. You need a Bakshi (ii) who will provide you Rabab ,Kabab, Sharab and Shabab, this is what you strive for and take my word you will achieve this and no power on earth can stop your march, for you are committed and wedded to this cause. Enough of arguments, after all I am a stone pelter I can not win an argument with you, for you are learned men. It is clear to me my countrymen that I am an impediment to your progress, it pains me, I don’t want you to be backward, I want you to prosper. What then is the solution? I can not stoop to your level nor can you rise to my level. Don’t you worry I have a solution. Let there be a role reversal for a day, you be the stone pelters and we the perennial stone pelters the target. I will gather all my friends at Eidgah and you stone us to death, we will take all your stones with a smile on our lips and a tear in our eyes, smile we will for your prosperity and tears will roll, for we won’t be there to see the smile on your lips when you achieve your prosperity. Having stoned us don’t you think you won, it is we who have won for once from masters of inaction you have become men of action, and did not we pelt stones all our lives just to make you act. One last request my countrymen, please do not make a graveyard for us, for you will make a ritual of visiting it every year along with our respected leaders , who will come separately, as they come to our funerals individually, strange not even our blood unites them. They say unity is possible only on principles, true how can blood of a stone pelter or chastity and honour of a common Kashmiri woman be a principle to unite on, and it must be some high principle. Even if you bury us don’t ever visit our graves for old habits don’t die we will rise from our graves and pelt stones on sight of a Hypocrite. Tell my mother I will miss her, for I had two Homes Street and her lap, and yes her lap was comforting but it was the street that was my calling. As everything in the hospital room is becoming hazy and death is waiting to embrace me, I remember a couplet by some Iqbal, I read on the back of an auto rickshaw of a fellow stone pelter. jis khak Ke Zameer Main ho Atish Chinar Mumkin Naheen Ki Sard Ho Woh khake Arjmund. Is it true my country………….

REACTIVE RESISTANCE

By: Imran Ghazi

“To every action there is equal and opposite reaction.”God knows how many students of physics have understood the essence of Newton’s third law of motion but resistance leadership in Kashmir has imbibed the spirit of this law so much that their entire politics has become reactive in nature. Resistance camp needs to understand the law has universal applicability while dealing with the inanimate objects of the physical world, not in the polity which deals with human beings and their aspirations. It is altogether a different matter if inanimate objects and human beings are one and the same thing for resistance leadership. The events that have unfolded in the recent past stand witness to the reactive nature of resistance politics. The verdict against the Lajpat Nagar blast accused is a case in point. Once the verdict delivering death sentence to the accused was out we had everyone from the resistance camp expressing dismay, even suggesting that it was a political verdict delivered by the Indian judiciary, Strikes were called and Kashmir was on boil again. We as a nation do not dispute the stand taken by resistance camp, given our experiences with Indian judiciary, it is not the first time we have been witness to miscarriage of justice. We have been witness to the judicial murder of Martyr Maqbool Butt, Afzal Guru has been consigned to the death cell not because merit of the case demands so but to appease the conscious of a Nation. The point of contention is the Trial in Lajpat Nagar case was going on for last 14 years what was resistance camp doing all along, we suppose not sleeping. Were the accused provided any legal aid? Had Bar association constituted a team of lawyers to plead for the accused? Or resistance camp has faith in Indian politico-legal system, as a means of delivering justice, if that is the case then it is better to call for winding up proceedings of Resistance Inc. For all these 14 years the Lajpat Nagar accused suffered silently and alone like hundreds of other prisoners who have been languishing in Indian jails, forgotten and forsaken by one and all. Men who sacrificed their today for the people who are so engrossed in their today that they care a damn about their tomorrow. It is surprising that in spite of time gap of almost 15 days between the day the accused were convicted and the day sentence was delivered, apart from a token strike on the day of conviction, there was no political activity that would have created pressure on GOI and would have reflected in the sentence awarded to the accused. We are afflicted so much with the reactive syndrome that we waited for the verdict to be announced. If Kashmir had to be on boil, it had to be prior to delivering of verdict by the court that would have been the case if resistance camp was proactive but alas they are reactive. If we analyse the cycle of systematic violence unleashed by the Indian state in Kashmir and our response as a nation, it falls in the same Action-Reaction Trap. The Indian security apparatus is the manifestation of the Indian State in Kashmir and reflects the policy of the State which is repressive and exploitative in nature. It is but natural that human rights will be the first casualty in such a setup. They kill we protest, they torture we lament, they abuse we are offended, they rape we are enraged, in between we wait silently for them to re enact the drama of death and orgy. For last twenty years we have not been able to break this systematic cycle of repression as we have failed in coming up with a systemic response to systemic repression. Ragda 2008 was a watershed event in our resistance movement, showed lot of promise at the outset, eventually fizzled out and culminated with beelines of voters at pooling booths. The reason for failure of Ragda 2008 was that in spirit it was not a proactive movement but in reaction to the land transfer decision to Shri Amarnath Board, while the contours of Yatra were being changed from a religious pilgrimage to a colonial expedition we chose to be oblivious. We announced Muzaffarabad chalo in reaction to blockade of national highway, it dawned on us that Rawalpindi is our Mandi, only when our children were suffering due to shortage of baby food. Why during 20 years we could not visualise Rawalpinidi as an alternative market. The moment land transfer was revoked and blockade removed the Ragda 2008 found its place in the series of debacles of resistance movement. We can still salvage the movement, if Resistance camp commits itself to a proactive politics. It is time to shape the dynamics rather than be swept away by the changing dynamics of politics in Kashmir. Resistance camp needs to get its act together, instead of quibbling over trivialities it is time to internalise and institutionalise the movement. If they fail to do so they would be searching for jargon and jugglery of words to act as fig leaf to hide their failure five years down the line when next elections are scheduled in Kashmir.

KINGDOM OF SATAN ON EARTH

By: IMRAN GHAZI

It was unanimously decided to arrange the meeting in the deep sea on a warship. Still there was a glitch no Muslim country had a warship that could hang out in the deep seas, Pakistan hired one from U.S.A, and the Muslim world met Satan on a hired ship. Satan offered Muslims return to their glory in lieu of their open support. Satan Said” I will destroy the Christians and the Jews, and you will rule this world”. Muslims conferred and a young Kurd announced the decision to Satan” Satan do you remember in the last century you fooled us in the name of nationalism, we followed you and dismembered the Khilafat, from that day our slide started and continues to this day. We were a single unit then and now are a divided lot, we won’t follow you again. Even if you destroy Christians and Jews our problems will persist for we are our own enemies, we have nothing to do with you, we are in search of a Saladin who will unite us and take us to new glory.” Satan was exhausted and preparing to tender an unqualified apology .Just then a trusted aide rushed in to announce that he had found a race who can side with Satan. He started to explain” There is a place in the Himalayas called Kashmir, people there are living in misery since centuries, they are afflicted with poverty, disease and hunger and are desperate for deliverance, we can use there desperation to our advantage. They have struggled hard to come out of misery but the moment their deliverance is round the corner they deviate from the path of struggle hence their continued misery. I have recruited an able local to prepare the ground for our work and we must rush before it is late.”Satanic delegation rushed to Srinagar the Capital and almost crash landed. Local aide Abil joo welcomed them, Satan urged him to arrange a meeting with Kashmiri leadership. Abil joo smiled and said” we don’t have a leadership”. Satanic delegation was surprised to hear this, then how can we be assured of your support. Abil joo had a plan accordingly a public meeting was called on Friday to be addressed by Satan. Word went around Satan had come to change the destiny of Kashmir for better. On the appointed day there was a sea of people, whole Kashmir assembled on the banks of Dal Lake. Satan rose to address the gathering” I have come to give you deliverance from your miserable life, you will drink from fresh springs, stars will enlighten your dark homes and alleys, Kashmir will be Switzerland of Asia and Srinagar the Venice of East, only you have to support me. There was a buzz in the crowd. I will ban all virtues and vice will be obligatory. Drinking, gambling will be promoted, prostitution legalised…there was pandemonium in the crowd Satan grew pale with fear ,his brow perspired ,sensing trouble Abil joo rose and said” This a critical moment in our history, let us not loose our nerve. Satan has been sent by God Almighty to liberate our body and soul, he is our prayers answered. Holding the divine order Satan had with him he said “If we support Satan as per the divine order in my hand we will be spared of retribution in this world, as far as day of judgement is concerned we will seek forgiveness from God and he is merciful. We are already afflicted with vice, now that vice will be obligatory, we can always plead with God that it was not our fault but the dictate of the ruler. This is a golden opportunity lets grab it with both hands.”There was a buzz in the crowd, just then someone shouted ZAROOR(We will),and there was only one voice to be heard ZAROOR. Satan was over joyed and preparing to convey to God that he was ready to prove his representative character. Angels conveyed the development to the God Almighty and a single line statement was issued” One who creates only knows what he has created .Due to unavoidable circumstances the Elections to Prove representative character of Satan are postponed till further orders .”Same was posted on the notice board of the celestial secretariat. Satan arrived only to read the notice, and he left smiling. what if he had lost the chance to prove his representative character on earth, taking advantage of desperation of Kashmir’s he had found his kingdom on earth.