{"id":1275,"date":"2012-11-26T08:47:31","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T03:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=1275"},"modified":"2012-11-29T10:44:17","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T05:14:17","slug":"of-charasmatic-leadership-from-nila-nag-to-syed-ali-shah-geelani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/editors-take\/of-charasmatic-leadership-from-nila-nag-to-syed-ali-shah-geelani\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Ahad’s New Book- A Good Read"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>

Dr. Ahad’s book is an important read for students of history<\/h1>\n

<\/h3>\n

Z.G. MUHAMMAD<\/h4>\n
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 <\/p>\n

\"kashmir\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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It takes courage to tell the truth. In our situation, where \u201cleaders\u201d\u00a0 believe that they are the Zeus\u2019 in their own right and their hanger-on\u2019s make them believe that they are infallible demigods, \u201cintellectual go-betweens\u201d and \u201cmanufactured-elites\u201d are engaged in strengthening the \u2018dominant discourse\u201d telling truth is like walking over double edged sword.\u00a0\u00a0 Dr. Abdul Ahad, with his new book \u201cKashmir: Triumph and Tragedies\u201d published by Gulshan Books, Srinagar has done the same- he is\u00a0\u00a0 fearlessly treading on sharp razors by challenging the \u201cmanufactured narratives.\u201d
\nThe book spreading over 294 pages has nine chapters, preface, prologue, epilogue and appendix. More than one way the book is encyclopedic in as much in exploring some virgin chapters of our history and exposing grey areas of contemporary Kashmir politics. The author, in writing this book has adopted methodology of writing research papers, starting with an abstract, followed by an exposition of the problem and then debating it threadbare. One could say that it is compendium of research papers, but with subtlety, he has blended these papers thus giving a holistic picture of the Kashmir narrative. Entrenched in history, it is a political commentary distinctively authors own.
\nIn mid nineties efforts were made to change Kashmir narrative and synchronize it with what Antonio Gramsci calls as \u201cdominant ideology\u201d and \u201ccultural hegemony\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To the political lexicon of Kashmir a new, word \u2018Kashmiryat\u2019 was added. This word has no etymology.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the entire gamut of Kashmiri literature, there are no traces of this word. From Lal Ded to Dina Nath Nadim, from Sheikh-ul-Alam to Ahad Zaragar and from Ali Muhammad Lone to Akhtar Mohiudin no Kashmiri poet or writer has used the word.\u00a0 Historically, this word, at no point of time has been part of Kashmir\u2019s political discourse. Some writers out of share naivety have been attributing the coinage of the word to Sheikh Abdullah. Taking a dig at what he terms as \u201cjobbing historians\u201d and \u201csurrogate academics\u201d,\u00a0\u00a0 Dr. Ahad\u00a0 writes, \u201c Though intellectually shallow these strategies are too engaging to plague the young minds \u2018jingoistically\u2019 and lure them into the bandwagon of Kashmiryat, a borrowed conceptual model now used as conciliatory device to push the youth into quagmire of illusions and\u00a0 deviate their attention from real burning issue of Kashmir dispute.\u201d
\nIn\u00a0\u00a0 chapter Kashmir, Kashmiris and Kashmiryat giving the genealogy of the word, he has deconstructed the official narrative. Slogans, which had enabled Sheikh Abdullah to float on the crest of popularity for five decades, had lost all their sheen after his death pushing the National Conference into a quandary.\u00a0 The post 1975, slogan Izzat-oo-abroo-ka-muqqam in place of rai shumari, plebiscite\u00a0\u00a0 had lost all its appeal and vibrancy. The party has lost all its buoyancy.\u00a0 Death was knocking at its door but for New Delhi through it\u2019s off and on pinpricks making it relevant.
\nFarooq Abdullah\u2019s triumph at hustings had not gone well with the Congress leadership. To understand the emerging scenario the party in 1983 had invited a cross section of intelligentsia to Srinagar Club on the banks of river Jhelum. The discussions had revolved around \u2018how Kashmir identity was rendered \u2018impotent, ineffective and imbecile resulting in destroying\u00a0 its historical character.\u2019 New Delhi\u2019s machinations had enraged Farooq and made him spew venom against India and made him say whole of Kashmir would one day hug crescent and green flag.\u201d The author writes someone amongst the invitees had immediately reported it to Mrs. Gandhi.\u00a0 And she remarked:
\nFarooq tiflani harkatoo say baz nahi aatta hai.
\nThese remarks were repeatedly broadcast from All India Radio.
\nThe word Kashmiryat\u00a0 in 1983, was in fact one word substitution for Kashmiri nationalism- it symbolized that Kashmiris were the \u2018real masters of their destiny\u2019, \u2018a \u201cpropellant\u201d forces that could drive them towards \u201cazadi\u201d and not a synonym for what commonly is projected as syncretism of faith, a sort of\u00a0\u00a0 Dina-allahi\u00a0\u00a0 by some academia. In a reference, the author points an accusing finger at Kashmir University and at its Institute Of Kashmir Studies for \u201cfishing whatever material required to build up what suits the hidden agenda of their clients and atoot ang singers.\u201d
\nHighly caustic about \u201cacademia\u201d having \u2018hidden agenda\u2019 of theirs to spoil pleasantness of Kashmir ethos the book exposes the role played by some \u2018academicians\u2019 and how their activities are detrimental Kashmir\u2019s social ethos.
\nIt is an agonized tale told in good prose. The author sounds elegist in writing, \u201cwe may be consumed as a nation to leave nothing behind but ugly reprehensible reminiscences as our historical legacy.\u201d Truthfully, the book discusses how lack of foresight of leaders had contributed in perpetuating Kashmir tragedy. Calling the leaders as neem hakeem, he sees a revolt against them in offing that \u2018shall be too devastating that it will burst like a volcano\u2019. Looking for charismatic leadership, he alludes to many important leaders of the land from Nila Nag to Sheikh-u-Alam and Mir Saiyed Ali Hamadani.\u00a0 Hailing Kashmir chroniclers of the yore the books dwells in detail on the negative role played by the some contemporary historians.
\nOn the question of identity, the book is a treatise.\u00a0 While writing in\u00a0 depth about, how the three great religions of the world shaped the social ethos of the land and how Islam \u201caugmented\u201d Kashmir personality the authors see \u201cShah-e-Hamadan\u00a0 as great facilitator of Kashmir transition to Islam and the principle architect of its Muslim identity\u201d. In Chapter Islamic Stock and Augmentation of Kashmir Personality, he writes that the Sufis and saints, through Islam initially reached Kashmir lacked strategic thinking and experience evolve a line of action that could bring about a tangible change and they failed to popularize it the way Shah-i-Hamdan did- he made it religion of masses.\u2019
\nOn the question of accession of accession of the State with Indian Union, for author having access to many important classified documents is more iconoclastic than Alastair Lamb\u2019s Disputed Legacy, thus calling a separate\u00a0\u00a0 a detailed discussion.
\nThe book is important read for both scholars and common students of Kashmir history.<\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Ahad’s book is an important read for students of history<\/p>\n

Z.G. MUHAMMAD<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\nIt takes courage to tell the truth. In our situation, where \u201cleaders\u201d\u00a0 believe that they are the Zeus\u2019 in their own right and their hanger-on\u2019s make them believe that they are infallible demigods, \u201cintellectual go-betweens\u201d and \u201cmanufactured-elites\u201d are engaged in strengthening the \u2018dominant discourse\u201d telling truth is like walking over double edged sword.\u00a0\u00a0 Dr. Abdul Ahad, with his new book \u201cKashmir: Triumph and Tragedies\u201d published by Gulshan Books, Srinagar has done the same- he is\u00a0\u00a0 fearlessly treading on sharp razors by challenging the \u201cmanufactured narratives.\u201d
\nThe book spreading over 294 pages has nine chapters, preface, prologue, epilogue and appendix. More than one way the book is encyclopedic in as much in exploring some virgin chapters of our history and exposing grey areas of contemporary Kashmir politics. The author, in writing this book has adopted methodology of writing research papers, starting …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[127,15,126,109,8],"class_list":["post-1275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-take","tag-book-kashmir","tag-book-srinagar-review","tag-dr-ahad","tag-hurriyat-conference","tag-kashmir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1275"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1277,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions\/1277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}