Peace Watch » Archive
Ceasefire violations and United Nation
PUNCHLINE Slaphappy UN Secretary General Z.G. Muhammad If skirmishes along the Line of Control (LOC) nee the Cease Fire Line (CFL) and working boundary between India and Pakistan, escalate to war- conventional or nuclear, Who will be responsible for these wars? My answer to this question without mincing words, would be: the UN Secretary General. My outright answer is rooted in history of its failure in accomplishing its mandated objectives in Jammu and Kashmir and assuring lasting … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
Heightened War Of Nerves – India and Pakistan
Fireworks for Obama? Z.G. Muhammad The war of nerves has become cardinal guideline for relations between India and Pakistan. It has not paid in the Past. It is not going to pay now. It is not going to pay in future also. Immediately, after their birth as independent dominions the two countries got embroiled in the dispute over future of the Jammu and Kashmir. After landing of Indian troops at 9 A.M on October 27, 1947 at Srinagar, battle in Kashmir between India Pakistan started – it continued for twenty months. The actual fighting came to an end after military representatives of India and Pakistan under auspices of the Truce Sub-Committee of United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan signed the Cease-Fire Line Agreement on 29 July 1949. This agreement had come … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Louder Message of 2014 Assembly Elections of Jammu and Kashmir
Latent Dynamics of 2014 Elections The emerging scenario augurs renewal of debate on Kashmir at international level Punchline Z.G. MUHAMMAD Smaller Default Larger Did “democracy – nee elections” triumph over the “sentiment” – the sentiment that has been emphatically resounding in Jammu and Kashmir for the past eighty four years. It is a big question. That will answer itself as time ticks on. The discourses and ‘noises’ orchestrated by the corporate electronic media about everything going to be hunky-dory on political front in the state after the elections have often proved to be soap bubbles. ‘Elections are a panacea’ for the political uncertainty is a cliché-ridden discourse that has been resonating in the state since 1950, when elections were held for the State Constituent Assembly. Most of the New Delhi based newspapers had projected the 1951 … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Kashmir Elections An Engima?
Punchline Post-Poll Discourses Z. G. Muhammad It has been a masterstroke. Conjuring the discourses during the 2002 elections de-linking the electoral process from the main political narrative of the state has been job of a master strategist. Mantra of Bijli, Sadak and Pani blended with façade of “soft-separatism” worked a laser beam that not only sliced the Hurriyat but almost subdued and muffled its political discourses. Ironically, some of the leaders and activist were caught up in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
2014 Assembly Elections and Discourses Thereafter
PUNCHLINE Z.G. MUHAMMAD Curtains will slide on 2014 assembly election on December 29. Two to three days after the results a new team of ministers will strut across the corridors of the grey concrete building- supposed symbol of power and authority in the state. Like all previously held elections in the state this elections will also be relegated to the footnotes of the Kashmir history. Majority of those elected like their predecessors will not be mentioned even in the footnotes. Nevertheless, this election has sparked some new debates that will continue for some time to be a tug of war between the ‘dominant discourse’ and ‘peoples discourse.’ For the Kashmir narrative, change of guard in the state or which of the ‘accessionist’ parties wins majority is of no consequences. Some highly optimistic friends … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Indian Corporate Media and Kashmir Election- Setting An Agenda
PUNCHLINE Z.G. MUHAMMAD Psephology is not my cup of tea. So, unlike some of my friends, I have no predictions to make about the results of the ongoing Assembly elections in the state. I have no idea, if the ‘faded-green’ outsmarts the ‘scarlet-red’ or the scarlet-red beats the saffron or the saffron outmanoeuvres both the green and the red. Two phases of the five the phased elections are over. The official figures maintain that the voter turnout in these phases have been unprecedented. The assertions may be true or untrue. I am not to contest these figures. I am not bothered which party had an edge in these phases. It is the debates on the corporate television channels about the voter turnout that set me thinking. These debates continue to dominate these … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Success Of SAARC DOVETAILED TO KASHMIR?
SAARC survival can be assured once India and Pakistan end their acrimony Punchline Z.G. MUHAMMAD The words of political astuteness hardly die. In complex political situations, these spontaneously start ringing up in the minds of political observers, commentators and historians. Historian Ramachandra Guha, starts chapter titled ‘A Valley Bloody And Beautiful’ of his magnum opus ‘India After Gandhi- the history of worlds largest democracy’ with a quote from Jawaharlal Nehru and ends it up with four quotes from … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take