{"id":1529,"date":"2013-06-25T10:25:46","date_gmt":"2013-06-25T04:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=1529"},"modified":"2013-06-25T15:34:50","modified_gmt":"2013-06-25T10:04:50","slug":"of-spin-doctors-machiavellians-and-kashmir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/editors-take\/of-spin-doctors-machiavellians-and-kashmir\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Spin-doctors, Machiavellians and Kashmir"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

By<\/p>\n

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

Spin-doctors have a field day in Kashmir. Summer 2013, belongs to them. The phrase, first used by New York Times in its editorial is now part of \u00a0\u00a0global political jargon. \u00a0According to New York Times columnist, William Safari \u2018spin\u2019 is \u2018deliberate shading of news perception.\u2019 Moreover, for decades the spin-doctors have been playing the role of \u2018putting slants on information when it is presented to public or in press.\u2019<\/p>\n

The spin-doctors have been there through out history, as someone has rightly said the first spin-doctor was the Serpent in the Bible for convincing Adam and Eve that Apples were next big thing. In modern political lexicon, they are called PR pundits but their role in many situations is to put an \u2018optimistic face\u2019 in worsening situation. The spin-doctors coin euphemisms, as we know the Bush administration \u2018under the rubric of national security created many of them\u2019 as American scholar Elena Mihas puts it, \u2018war on terror\u2019 became a pervasive euphemism on militant Islam. The invasion and occupation of Iraq was called liberation\u2019.\u00a0 Occupations of countries were named as \u2018change of regime\u2019.\u00a0 To deny human rights as guaranteed under international law, the prisoners of war \u00a0\u00a0continue to be called as \u2018unlawful combatant\u2019 or \u2018enemy combatants\u2019. \u00a0Looking back in 1947, we have also seen coinage of euphemism\u00a0 by\u00a0 the National Conference. General Secretary of the party Molvi Mohammad Syed Masoodi\u00a0 called the air sorties carrying Indian soldiers as \u00a0\u00a0e \u2018tayraan ababil\u2019 \u2013 the word from the Holy Quran referring to an important event in the history of Islam. Sheikh Abdullah played upon this word to justify his support for landing of troops in Kashmir on 27 October 1947.<\/p>\n

In our situation, during peace times when there is ample political space, the role of spin-doctors becomes more significant.\u00a0\u00a0 They do not just include professional consultants, PR pundits but\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018academia-NGO\u2019, \u201cprofessors\u201d, \u2018media-men\u2019, former bureaucrats and politicians. Like Siberian, cranes that visit Kashmir wetlands during winters many of these spin-doctors in good numbers make it to Srinagar during summers. Arriving here with full orchestra not only to influence public perceptions on common issues but with their gunny bags of euphemisms, like \u2018healing touch\u2019. \u2018deeper-alienation\u2019, \u2018zero tolerance\u2019, \u2018within confines of humanity\u2019, \u2018federal models of shared sovereignty\u2019 and \u2018political engagement\u2019 they work to change the \u2018fundamental political narrative\u2019 of the land. Living to the reputation of propagandists some of these spin-doctors work overtime in\u00a0 twisting and contorting \u00a0the historical realties \u00a0\u00a0to \u00a0create \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018confusion\u2019 in public mind in general and youth in particular. \u00a0Many \u201cNGO-academia\u2019 with students as their \u2018target audiences\u2019 operate from the campuses. Some of them with cooperation of university administrations and teachers have been able to get a foothold on the campuses.<\/p>\n

Not only some \u2018politico-academia-NGO\u2019s\u2019 \u00a0\u00a0believe that they can defeat urges and aspirations of people\u00a0 by\u00a0 weaving cobwebs of \u00a0confusion around the legitimacy of the Kashmir movement\u00a0\u00a0 but even some old guards within the Congress subscribe to this belief. An old-time Congress party leader, Makhan Lal Fotedar\u00a0 now settled in New Delhi for over last fifty years has been making to headlines for past few days by distorting and contorting history with a design to create confusion.\u00a0 On June 18, in statement that made a banner lead, he termed the Indira-Abdullah agreement of 1975 as an attestation of Jammu and Kashmir\u2019s \u201cultimate accession with Union of India.\u201dOn June 21, in exclusive interview with this newspaper he made only one points worth noting \u00a0\u00a0that the statement made by former Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram that Kashmir was a \u201cunique problem and it needed a unique solution\u201d and appointment of interlocutors GOI in the wake 2010 agitation \u00a0\u00a0was a just\u00a0 \u201cdamage controlling exercise.\u201d \u00a0The former Congress Minister has very subtly suggested that GOI has no regard for blood of Kashmiris. And with his statement meant for dampening the morale of the people \u00a0\u00a0he further discredited\u00a0 the GOI \u00a0in the eyes of common people in Kashmir.<\/p>\n

The Indira- Abdullah Accord, that was an agreement between an individual and Prime Minister of India for facilitating change of guard in the state has gone into the footnotes of Kashmir history. Here the point of debate is not how and why this agreement was executed and if it was comparable to Jawaharlal Nehru\u00a0 appointing Abdullah as Emergency Administrator in 1947 for consolidating foothold of Indian army in Kashmir. If the Abdullah agreement of 1975 was, attestation of Jammu and Kashmir\u2019s \u201cultimate accession with Union of India\u201d is the poser. \u00a0\u00a0The statement made by the Congress leader who called shots during Indira Gandhi regime throws up a big question. If in the eyes of Congress leadership, the \u00a0\u00a0\u201caccession of Jammu and Kashmir\u201d on 25 February 1975 continued to be \u201ctemporary\u201d, thus calling for an attestation by an individual or a political party. Looking at it other way round the Congress leaders believed that the ratification of \u201caccession\u201d by the State Constituent Assembly in 1957 was not legal \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0without attestation by Sheikh Abdullah.<\/p>\n

To understand, how the Indira- Abdullah agreement was of no consequence with regard to final settlement of Jammu and Kashmir there is need for revisiting the history.\u00a0 On January 31, October 1947, Nehru in a letter to Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liquate Ali Khan assured that Kashmir Accession was accepted on condition that once law and order was restored in Jammu and Kashmir a referendum will be held to enable the people to decide which of the two dominions- India or Pakistan they want to join. \u00a0In November 2, broadcast from All India \u00a0Radio Nehru repeated the commitment. In the White Paper published by GOI, on Indian States in 1950, after the Constitution of India had come in to force, the accession of J &K was described as temporary subject to a referendum. Eleven days after arrest of Sheikh Abdullah, India and Pakistan Prime Minister met. On 20 August 1953, Jawaharlal Nehru in a joint communiqu\u00e9 with Prime Minister of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Bogra agreed for fair and impartial plebiscite in Kashmir.<\/p>\n

Jawaharlal Nehru, for four years continued with his policy of one-step forward and two-step backward policy on Kashmir for four years. In 1956, \u00a0\u00a0backtracking \u00a0from his international agreement on holding a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, he asked the State Constituent Assembly to ratify the \u201ctemporary\u201d accession. In 1957 when the State Constituent Assembly, in a dithering mood that is evident from Syed Mir Qasim\u2019s speech of 25 January 1957, ratified the accession, the United Nations Security Council in its resolution No 122(1957) dated 24 January 1957, out rightly rejected the action of the State Constituent Assembly. It also reaffirmed its earlier resolutions \u00a0\u00a0the final disposition of the State will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations.<\/p>\n

If the action of the State Constituent Assembly could not affect the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir in the eyes of international community, it is na\u00efve to say Indira-Abdullah has put \u00a0\u00a0a final seal on accession. These are just Machiavellian tactics to confuse people, discourage them and defeat their political aspirations.<\/p>\n

Published in Greater Kashmir on 24-6-2013<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0
\nBy
\nZ. G. Muhammad
\nSpin-doctors have a field day in Kashmir. Summer 2013, belongs to them. The phrase, first used by New York Times in its editorial is now part of \u00a0\u00a0global political jargon. \u00a0According to New York Times columnist, William Safari \u2018spin\u2019 is \u2018deliberate shading of news perception.\u2019 Moreover, for decades the spin-doctors have been playing the role of \u2018putting slants on information when it is presented to public or in press.\u2019
\nThe spin-doctors have been there through out history, as someone has rightly said the first spin-doctor was the Serpent in the Bible for convincing Adam and Eve that Apples were next big thing. In modern political lexicon, they are called PR pundits but their role in many situations is to put an \u2018optimistic face\u2019 in worsening situation. The spin-doctors coin euphemisms, as we know the Bush administration \u2018under the rubric of national security created many of them\u2019 as American scholar …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[166,165,8,75,54,163,164],"class_list":["post-1529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-take","tag-1957-un-resolutions","tag-india-in-kashmir","tag-kashmir","tag-sheikh-abdullah","tag-syed-ali-geelani","tag-z-g-muhamamd","tag-zgm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529"}],"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=1529"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1531,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529\/revisions\/1531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}