Peace Watch » Archive
Is Urdu being driven out of the land it lends an identity to
Z.G. MUHAMMAD A few days back Syed Ali Geelani sent out an ‘SOS’- a distress signal not to the United Nations or Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), imploring for preventing human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir or sending succor for victims of violence but asking his own people to rise against systematic killing of Urdu – the official language of the state. His concern has been genuine. Even average person has started seeing a sinister design in publishing of forms for ration cards in English instead in Urdu by the Department of Consumers and Public Distribution Department. This department is one of very few departments were most of the official business is largely transacted in the state language- a language read and understood by overwhelming population across the state. Changing language … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Hurriyat Conference Battle Of Ideas
Hurriyat 3 What does this third chapter signify? Z.G. MUHAMMAD “‘Birth with a bang and death with a whimper’, since fifties has been most prominent attribute of our political organizations fighting for right to self-determination. Is it going to be the fate of the Hurriyat Conference also, this question bothered me a few days back, when this multi-party combine suffered yet another fragmentation and the third Hurriyat Conference was born. The first major crack in this multi-party combine took place in 2002. It caused a vertical division in this organization that despite inherent contradictions had remained together for about eleven years and fought some toughest political battles. The causes for this break up have been analyzed in this column in the past and these continue to be part of public memory to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
New White Paper on Article 370
The chapter 370 Z. G. MUHAMMAD It is a political naivety. To say debating Article 370 is being sucked into the ‘dominant discourse’ or falling in the RSS trap. On 25 December 2030, some best legal minds and constitution experts of Kashmir had gathered on a chilly day in a local hotel and dusted off this Article of hackneyed interpretations. During brainstorming deliberations it became evident that the Article under debate with all its historicity and dynamics does not strength the ‘dominant discourse’ but bolsters the ‘Kashmir narrative’- that many of us prefer to call as the peoples discourse. Mian Abdul Qayoom and Zafar Shah, two important legal wizards of Kashmir analyzing Article 370 along with other allied Articles, such as 307, 368 and 253 with all provisos attached to these convincingly made … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Of A Dream Merchant And His Goals
Of Dreams and Goals By Z. G. Muhammad It is not a political enemy’s dig at his arch-enemy. It is not an opponent’s last-ditch attempt to challenge political ideology of a leader. Calling a leader as ‘dream merchant’ is in fact an acknowledgment of his greatness- all great people dream high. I have no idea, what might have crossed the mind of the scion of the Abdullah family when he used this phrase for Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Nevertheless, he deserves kudos for naming the octogenarian leader, who has been on the political scene of Jammu and Kashmir for over fifty-five years as ‘dream merchant.’—it is the highest honor that could be bestowed on a leader. When, I read phrase ‘dream merchant’ in the screaming headlines, the famous speech of Martin Luther … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
Fetters on Scholarship. Why?
Z.G. Muhammad ‘Kashmir University has become an extension of the ‘state establishment. Moreover, academic freedom and genuine scholarship is the biggest causality.’ This lament has been finding an echo in most of the academic seminars held outside the campus. On 10 December 2014, when across the world people were observing the Human Rights Day and pledging to uphold all the thirty Articles contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in a seminar some scholars, researchers and students were raising their voice against denial of academic freedom in the Kashmir University. This seminar had been organized by a group of civil society to mark the historic day. Scholars mostly from social sciences and languages narrated stories after stories about their being coerced to change their findings and bringing them in line with … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Article 370 and UN Resolutions are “dove-tailed”
Punchline 370 and United Nations By Z. G. Muhammad Thank you Narendra Modi for sparking a debate on the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and its application to Jammu and Kashmir. There can be no debate on the Article, in isolation of the 1947 and the ‘accession story of Kashmir’. Your statement prompted some political leaders subscribing to the ‘finality of the accession of the state to Indian Union’ to look afresh on the article. You also made … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take