Daily Diary (DD) - Day 334 of 2019

1135hrs:

Another day in court where arguments for the defence and prosecution were to be heard. However, the Qazi (judge in Islamic terminology) despite giving a date yesterday - for today - was absent. We will now return to his court on the 3rd of December (this coming Tuesday).

As reiterated on Facebook:



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We are continuing to receive coverage in the local Urdu press. In more than one publication now:

Daily Kashmir Uzma - Muzaffarabad (Urdu)

Back Page (1 of 2)

Back Page (2 of 2)

Page 3 Section 19

The Daily Siyasat also gave us coverage:

Daily Siyasat - Muzaffarabad (Urdu)

Front Page

These are positive indications from a public interest point of view. One, most local newspapers concentrate on acting as commercial advertising space for the Pakistani narrative, local politicians and for overall bolstering of perceptions for the imposed governance set-up, laced with rhetoric. Secondly, they charge people for publicity as advertising revenue doesn't quite fulfil the needs of the employees or the owners of the newspapers. The structure is such that media is sucked into the black hole of power and corruption. 

Giving coverage to public interest and on their own initiative - without payment or enticement - can be considered to be a positive step for civil society in AJK. Especially, if it remains consistent and sustains itself.

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With the deluge of information and analysis on virtually every topic of consequence available via social media on a daily basis, one has to fend off the temptation to delve into matters that have no direct impact on the State of Jammu & Kashmir's (re)formation project. However, the following is one such video that I felt compelled to watch for its bold initiative in examining China's role in East Turkistan or what China insists on calling 'Xinjiang'. What our people in the various parts of J & K endure is still on a scale a few notches below what China is evidently doing there but the pattern of repression is very similar:



Now, I would like to point out that we (the aspiring citizens of J & K) have bones to pick with each of the 5 following countries that are preventing us from naturally progressing as a nation State viz. China, India, Pakistan, UK and USA. We maintain our aspiration to remain neutral in principle. We are not highlighting China's crimes against humanity because we want to show USA in a good light etc. 

We are concerned that the country with which we share our longest border; remains engaged in forcibly integrating those areas which are geographically on its periphery and are not part of the mainstream Han Chinese population viz. Tibet and Xinjiang. As these areas are conterminous with us and thus have huge stakes for China especially given their keenness to expand their OBOR (One Belt One Road) project through our territory (via GB in particular), compounded by the fact that China has no democratic tradition puts a very serious dilemma in front of us. 

While we are engaged in avenues of activating global civil society in mature democracies such as UK and USA and while India and Pakistan are still struggling with nationhood in their own realms we see no such avenue to address China's stance on Jammu & Kashmir.

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