{"id":3740,"date":"2018-08-11T09:26:06","date_gmt":"2018-08-11T03:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=3740"},"modified":"2018-08-11T09:28:43","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T03:58:43","slug":"article-370-and-hermeneutic-violence-prof-hameedahs-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/point-of-view\/article-370-and-hermeneutic-violence-prof-hameedahs-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Article 370 and Hermeneutic Violence- Prof Hameedah’s Take"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>

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Article 370 and Hermeneutic Violence<\/h1>\n

It’s oppression at all levels<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

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Prof Hameedah Nayeem <\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Over the\u00a0\u00a0 decades of Indian rule in J&K,\u00a0 Kashmiris\u00a0 have been\u00a0 subjected\u00a0 to physical and\u00a0 psychological violence at various levels. The most\u00a0 visible violence\u00a0 is the physical violence\u00a0 resorted to by the armed forces\u00a0 to establish forcible control\u00a0 over the populace. Another less visible violence is the\u00a0 ideological violence\u00a0 carried through a particular use of language\u00a0 which embodies\u00a0\u00a0 the statist\u00a0 dominant ideology\u00a0 like- Kashmir is\u00a0 the\u00a0 integral part of India\u00a0 which is repeated with rhythmic\u00a0 refrain day in and day out,\u00a0 freedom struggle as\u00a0 separatist\u00a0\u00a0 or\u00a0 secessionist\u00a0 movement and therefore\u00a0 fit to\u00a0 be denounced and crushed with\u00a0 brute force with\u00a0 almost a divine sanction, collaborators as mainstreamists\u00a0 because they are the custodians\u00a0 of colonial interests in Kashmir –\u00a0 all these terms are used\u00a0\u00a0 to\u00a0 lend currency\u00a0 to\u00a0\u00a0 Indian state\u2019s fictional perspective\u00a0 on Kashmir\u00a0 which\u00a0 is\u00a0 diametrically opposite\u00a0 to our perception\u00a0 of reality based\u00a0 on\u00a0 the historically authentic\u00a0\u00a0 and sacred\u00a0 facts about the yet- to be – decided political status of\u00a0 Kashmir.
\nTerms\u00a0 particularly `separatists, secessionists\u00a0 and\u2019 anti nationals\u2019\u00a0 are used pejoratively\u00a0 to ridicule\u00a0 our genuine and justified\u00a0 demands\u00a0 and thereby\u00a0 making the gullible among\u00a0 us ashamed of\u00a0 raising\u00a0 their\u00a0 voice\u00a0 in favour of\u00a0 their basic rights. This violence is experienced by those of\u00a0\u00a0 us who have an understanding\u00a0\u00a0 of how language is used\u00a0 to impose and enforce\u00a0 an ideology\u00a0 which is contradictory to our beliefs.<\/p>\n

Another\u00a0 violence is the\u00a0 psychological\u00a0 violence inflicted on the natives of\u00a0 J&K\u00a0 by engineering\u00a0\u00a0 regional, racial, communal\u00a0 and\u00a0 sectarian divisions\u00a0 in the entire state which\u00a0 breed and beget\u00a0 violence and hatred.
\nAnd on top of it all, is the violence of hermeneutics , the violence\u00a0 inflicted on us through\u00a0 a\u00a0 particular interpretation of the basic relationship\u00a0 between India and Kashmir (whose\u00a0 legitimacy has been interrogated\u00a0 by people)\u00a0 encapsulated in Article 370 in the Indian constitution. In\u00a0\u00a0 reality, this interpretive or exegetic\u00a0 violence seeks to justify and legitimise\u00a0\u00a0 violence at other levels\u00a0 mentioned above. This brand of\u00a0 violence consists of\u00a0 distorted, fabricated and forcibly\u00a0 super-imposed interpretations\u00a0 of the genesis, life span\u00a0 and\u00a0 the\u00a0 redundancy of the article\u00a0 at present\u00a0 as\u00a0 if it had been\u00a0 introduced\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 arbitrarily and fortuitously and\u00a0 could be removed\u00a0 in the same manner\u00a0 without a whimper\u00a0 of protest\u00a0\u00a0 from\u00a0 those whose ethnic and political rights would be\u00a0 adversely\u00a0 affected\u00a0 by its removal\u00a0 before the final resolution of the Kashmir dispute. A lay person in Kashmir understands in unambiguous terms\u00a0 that Article 370 was\u00a0 sought to be introduced\u00a0 in the Indian constitution\u00a0 for an interim\u00a0 relationship of Kashmir\u00a0 with India\u00a0 till its political identity was determined\u00a0 by the exercise of the will of the people through\u00a0 referendum. Its full-fledged identity was kept in abeyance, so to say\u00a0\u00a0 or in a kind of suspended animation, by virtue of this article till the dispute about its\u00a0 political identity was resolved with Pakistan\u00a0 by a reference\u00a0 to the\u00a0\u00a0 people\u00a0 of Kashmir.
\nIts nature is\u00a0 not that\u00a0 of an engagement\u00a0\u00a0 soon to be\u00a0 formalised in marriage\u00a0 but of a tenuous thread\u00a0 of\u00a0 connect\u00a0 of a soon- to-be- divorced man and\u00a0 woman . It was meant to give\u00a0 Kashmir a temporary\u00a0 subsidiary identity by alignment\u00a0 till its political identity was defined and stabilized by the exercise of people\u2019s own will.
\nBut over the years and more so in recent\u00a0 times\u00a0 since Kashmiris\u00a0 have risen\u00a0 up in arms\u00a0 against Indian state\u2019s high-handedness,\u00a0 there have been sinister efforts\u00a0 by sponsored intellectuals, political parties\u00a0 and even native stooges\u00a0 to obfuscate Article 370 by giving weird, violent , wild and unwarranted\u00a0 interpretations\u00a0 of the genesis, nature , life span\u00a0 and the desirability\u00a0 of its abolition. This is done in total\u00a0\u00a0 disregard\u00a0 of the historicity, context, and the reasons for its inclusion\u00a0 in the Indian constitution.
\nAt a time when the matter was very hot\u00a0 internationally as the UN\u00a0 Security Council had just passed\u00a0 resolutions on Kashmir in 1948, 49 and 51, India\u00a0 as a nascent state\u00a0 could not\u00a0 afford to brush aside the world\u00a0 opinion\u00a0 and put its \u2018integral seal’ on Kashmir. Nehru\u2019s\u00a0 going\u00a0 against the tide of his party and in particular the home\u00a0 minister at the time, Sardar Patel\u00a0 and even the constituent Assembly\u00a0 and appointing Gopalaswamy as\u00a0 a minister without portfolio to override the opposition of Patel,\u00a0 sending him to the constituent Assembly to press for\u00a0 its inclusion in the constitution\u00a0 speaks volumes not so much of his affection for Sheikh Abdullah as\u00a0 of his concern for international opinion.\u00a0 It was neither his party nor\u00a0 the constituent Assembly\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 that\u00a0\u00a0 were\u00a0\u00a0 answerable to the UN security Council\u00a0 for any transgression or betrayal of the UN Resolutions\u00a0 but\u00a0 he\u00a0 himself\u00a0\u00a0 as the Prime Minister of India was accountable\u00a0 before the UN bodies. The stories of\u00a0 the dilution of\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 his\u00a0 stand at the death of Patel that\u00a0 this Article\u00a0 was included for the slow integration of the state with the country ,\u00a0 are not convincing and\u00a0 his statements to this effect\u00a0 seem\u00a0\u00a0 to be aimed at\u00a0 pleasing\u00a0 the gallery.
\nThere\u00a0\u00a0 seems\u00a0 to be\u00a0 nothing in the Article itself that\u00a0 provides for its slow erosion\u00a0\u00a0 or for its transitory nature as a guarantor of the special status of Kashmir within the Indian Union. Its\u00a0 temporary\u00a0 or transitional\u00a0 nature is linked with the\u00a0 yet-to-be arrived-at final resolution of Kashmir\u00a0 that could be any time\u00a0 in\u00a0 the near future and\u00a0\u00a0 not\u00a0\u00a0 independent of it\u00a0 . In other words,\u00a0 it could\u00a0 be removed, abrogated\u00a0 or cancelled only when\u00a0 Kashmir achieves its\u00a0 complete\u00a0 selfhood after having determined its political future. The RSS brigade et al that is spearheading\u00a0 the movement\u00a0 for its\u00a0 abrogation\u00a0 and complete\u00a0 integration\u00a0 of the state with the Indian Union, are totally ignorant\u00a0 or pretend to be ignorant of the facts\u00a0 surrounding its inclusion in the Indian\u00a0 constitution and subscribe to the\u00a0 jungle law or more appropriately\u00a0 to social Darwinism where every dream of destroying the\u00a0 other with\u00a0 might, is sought to be\u00a0 fulfilled. The\u00a0 so -called interpreters\u00a0 are reducing the said\u00a0 Article to the status of creative literature or art\u00a0 that can be interpreted the way\u00a0 it accords\u00a0 with\u00a0 one\u2019s\u00a0 innermost thoughts and feelings\u00a0 because creative language is more often than not dialogic, suggestive of poly-valency and plurality of signification and therefore lends itself to multiple interpretations\u00a0 even those that are mutually exclusive. That is not true of\u00a0\u00a0 legal\u00a0 language\u00a0 particularly\u00a0 the\u00a0 one\u00a0 that seeks to\u00a0 define the\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 terms of practical relations between the two parties, or countries or groups. The utmost care is taken to remove the slightest ambiguity so far as the world of praxis is concerned. I do not\u00a0 think\u00a0 that\u00a0 this\u00a0 Article is craftily – drafted as is opined by some legal experts. Rather its erosion is sought to be\u00a0\u00a0 effected\u00a0\u00a0 from outside, by the\u00a0 manipulated\u00a0\u00a0 and imposed stooge\u00a0 Governments\u00a0 in Kashmir whose concurrence\u00a0 could easily be\u00a0\u00a0 ensured\u00a0 in extending\u00a0 erosive central laws\u00a0 on Kashmir\u00a0 and whose easy\u00a0 concurrence\u00a0 on diluting\u00a0 the\u00a0 powers of the state\u00a0 by overriding some\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 sections\u00a0 of 370,\u00a0 has\u00a0\u00a0 already considerably\u00a0 disempowered\u00a0 Kashmiris politically.
\nThe last nail in the coffin of integrationists\u00a0 is not that it could be\u00a0 dissolved\u00a0\u00a0 only by\u00a0 a constituent Assembly which does not exist any longer\u00a0\u00a0 but that Article 1 of the Indian constitution which defines the territory of Indian Union,\u00a0\u00a0 is subservient\u00a0 to Article 370 in case of Kashmir\u00a0 besides other articles like 253, read with 246etc which provide for Kashmir\u2019s secession from Indian Union. Once\u00a0 Article 370 is taken away from the constitution,\u00a0 Article 1 will cease to be applicable\u00a0 to J&K\u00a0 state!\u00a0 In short ,\u00a0 the inclusion of Article 370 in the Indian constitution is the literal, legal and\u00a0\u00a0 symbolic\u00a0 acknowledgement\u00a0 of\u00a0 Kashmir\u2019s disputed nature\u00a0 and the provisional status of the relationship between the two in the overall scheme of things<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Originally Published in Greater Kashmir on January 2, 2014<\/p>\n

<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Article 370 and Hermeneutic Violence
\nIt’s oppression at all levels<\/p>\n

Prof Hameedah Nayeem <\/p>\n

Over the\u00a0\u00a0 decades of Indian rule in J&K,\u00a0 Kashmiris\u00a0 have been\u00a0 subjected\u00a0 to physical and\u00a0 psychological violence at various levels. The most\u00a0 visible violence\u00a0 is the physical violence\u00a0 resorted to by the armed forces\u00a0 to establish forcible control\u00a0 over the populace. Another less visible violence is the\u00a0 ideological violence\u00a0 carried through a particular use of language\u00a0 which embodies\u00a0\u00a0 the statist\u00a0 dominant ideology\u00a0 like- Kashmir is\u00a0 the\u00a0 integral part of India\u00a0 which is repeated with rhythmic\u00a0 refrain day in and day out,\u00a0 freedom struggle as\u00a0 separatist\u00a0\u00a0 or\u00a0 secessionist\u00a0 movement and therefore\u00a0 fit to\u00a0 be denounced and crushed with\u00a0 brute force with\u00a0 almost a divine sanction, collaborators as mainstreamists\u00a0 because they are the custodians\u00a0 of colonial interests in Kashmir –\u00a0 all these terms are used\u00a0\u00a0 to\u00a0 lend currency\u00a0 to\u00a0\u00a0 Indian state\u2019s fictional perspective\u00a0 on Kashmir\u00a0 which\u00a0 is\u00a0 diametrically opposite\u00a0 to our …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-point-of-view"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3740"}],"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=3740"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3743,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3740\/revisions\/3743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}