{"id":3107,"date":"2017-06-05T09:26:26","date_gmt":"2017-06-05T03:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=3107"},"modified":"2017-06-05T09:27:35","modified_gmt":"2017-06-05T03:57:35","slug":"youth-the-protagonists-of-kashmir-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/editors-take\/youth-the-protagonists-of-kashmir-struggle\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth: The Protagonists Of Kashmir Struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

PUNCHLINE<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

OURS IS A YOUTH MOVEMENT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

It is old tactics much tried in the past but failed. Conjuring alternative narratives and churning out one after another \u2018hegemonic discourse\u2019 are old\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Machiavellian strategies for weaving confusions around genuine political struggles for derailing and defeating them. \u00a0The\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018hegemonic discourse\u2019 do not help in the resolution of the problems but in perpetuating them. Instead of recognizing the harsher realities of the Kashmir Dispute that has bedeviled India-Pakistan relations and caused wars between them, New Delhi has right from in 1948 used all its energies for inventing alternative narratives and \u2018dominant discourses.’<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On November 1, 1947, four days after troops airlifted from New Delhi landed at Srinagar airport, the first Governor-General of India Lord Mountbatten traveled to Pakistan for meeting his counterpart M.A. Jinnah. Mountbatten carried with him a proposal from his cabinet for holding a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir under the supervision of the United Nations. Jinnah, pleading that it would be long drawn process instead suggested holding a referendum in the state under the control of the two Governor-Generals. Turning down Jinnah\u2019s proposal, New Delhi chose to knock the doors of the United Nations, Security Council. In its complaint besides mentioning that Pakistan was supporting the \u201cinvader tribesmen\u201d had also stated that as soon as normal conditions are rest\"\"<\/a>ored, the plebiscite will be held under international auspices for deciding future of the State. The complaint produced one after another resolution from the UNSC for holding plebiscite in the state. Nevertheless, once New Delhi found that these resolutions were not in line with its expectation, it started conjuring alternative discourses aimed at disconnecting people of the State from these developments.\u00a0 Mrs. Indira Gandhi, daughter of \u00a0Prime Minister Nehru, was first to pilot this \u2018dominant discourse. In a letter to his father from Srinagar in 1948, she wrote that \u2018people in Kashmir are concerned about food grains and selling off their handicrafts goods only. They \u00a0are not bothered about any political solution.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

This letter in fact provided grist to the \u2018hegemonic discourse\u2019 that in the early fifties reached to a high pitch.\u00a0\"\"<\/a> The subsidy on food grains, arranging mega pageants of football and wrestling matches and celebrating the \u2018festivals of Kashmir\u2019 with pomposity for promoting tourism were a significant manifestation of this \u2018dominant discourse.\u2019 These narratives were used for stifling the people’s \u00a0voice and pinning down those articulating the popular sentiment.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the wake of the Holy Relic Movement, the balloon of the\u00a0 Sasta-Chawal<\/em> \u00a0(cheap rice) and Jashan-i-Kashmir<\/em> discourse got fully deflated and \u00a0\u00a0replaced by the sweet sounding dominant discourses viz ending of gunda-raj<\/em> (hoodlum\u2019s rule) \u00a0\u00a0and the \u2018policy of liberalization.’ In propagating these dominant discourses, the Communists were in the forefront. But, the 1965 student uprising devoured these State Discourses and once again brought popular sentiment to pre-eminence.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the post-1975 scenario to see the people\u2019s narrative drowned in the cacophony of the hegemonic discourse a vague alternative narrative \u201cAzat-Abroo Ka Muqam\u201d –place of \u00a0\u00a0dignity and honor<\/strong> was popularized by the political party in power. Despite the resistance leadership in 1977 almost entirely jumping over the Janta Party the spark of the \u2018popular sentiment\u2019 survived in the bosoms of the new generation and off and on found expression in various youth protests- and in a big way in 1989.<\/span><\/p>\n

The explosion of the pent-up sentiment after 1989, prompted the State to whip up new sets of alternative narratives. \u00a0For propagating these through various \u2018think tanks,’ \u2018interlocutors\u2019 and media \u00a0lots of investments were made. To the long list of the alternative discourses, a new one was added in the during 2016. \u00a0That the political movement in the state is \u201crudderless and leaderless\u201d and the young generation on the streets does not recognize the \u201cjoint resistance leadership, and this leadership stands \u201cchallenged.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0It is the \u201cfaceless young generation\u201d that is calling the shots, and the Government of India cannot talk to the \u2018faceless youth.\u201d\u00a0 During past one year, this discourse has often been repeated by visiting teams or delegations from New Delhi.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sadly, none of them is aware that through its long history the political struggle in the state has been founded and led by the youth \u2013 of course, some\"Mirrwaiz<\/a>\"\"<\/a> turned gray in their fight for the cause \u00a0they espoused as young men.\u00a0 In 1896, at the age of 18 Allama Iqbal joined\u00a0 Anjuman-I-Kashmiri Mussalmanan-I- Lahore founded by expatriate Kashmiris in Punjab for articulating the cause of Kashmir.\u00a0 \u00a0In 1922, Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas a student at the age of 18 founded the Young Men\u2019s Muslim Association and led a successful struggle against the Swami Sharadnand\u2019s Shudhi movement in Jammu. In 1924 at the age of thirty Molvi Mohammad Yusuf Shah led the Khilafat Movement in Kashmir. \u00a0Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah at the age of twenty-six co-founded the Reading Room Party. In October 1932, on the founding of the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah at the age of 27 was \"\"<\/a>elected its president and Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas at the age of 28 as its General Secretary. Most of the leaders of the Muslim Conference were fresh graduates and post-graduates in their twenties. In the early forties with the birth of Kashmir Student Federation renamed later on as the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Students Federation student movement struck its roots in the State. Mr. Ahmedullah Rania was elected its President and K. H. Khurshid as its General Secretary. Khurshid, later on, was President of AJK.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0So holds true about the contemporary \u201cresistance leadership\u201d of the State. Most of them joined the movement in their youth. In 1949, at the age of 20 Syed Ali Shah Syed Ali Shah Geelani also started his political activism and in 1962, at the age of 33 suffered first long imprisonment. That also holds true about Mohammad Yasin Malik, he shot into prominence as firebrand student activist in his late teens and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq earned the distinction of being the youngest Chairman of then Joint All Parties Hurriyat Conference.<\/span><\/p>\n

History, of Kashmir Struggle, thus demolishes the new found dominant discourse that joint leadership has become \u201cirrelevant\u201d and new generation is \u2018faceless.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Published in Greater Kashmir on 5-6-17<\/span><\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0
\nPUNCHLINE
\nOURS IS A YOUTH MOVEMENT
\nBy
\nZ.G. Muhammad
\n 
\nIt is old tactics much tried in the past but failed. Conjuring alternative narratives and churning out one after another \u2018hegemonic discourse\u2019 are old\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Machiavellian strategies for weaving confusions around genuine political struggles for derailing and defeating them. \u00a0The\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018hegemonic discourse\u2019 do not help in the resolution of the problems but in perpetuating them. Instead of recognizing the harsher realities of the Kashmir Dispute that has bedeviled India-Pakistan relations and caused wars between them, New Delhi has right from in 1948 used all its energies for inventing alternative narratives and \u2018dominant discourses.’
\nOn November 1, 1947, four days after troops airlifted from New Delhi landed at Srinagar airport, the first Governor-General of India Lord Mountbatten traveled to Pakistan for meeting his counterpart M.A. Jinnah. Mountbatten carried with him a proposal from his cabinet for holding a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir under the supervision …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-take"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3107"}],"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=3107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3109,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3107\/revisions\/3109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}