1452hrs:
After a great endurance test yesterday whereby we (my assistant and I) had almost nothing to eat or drink from morning till almost 2100hrs (9pm), we are now in the clear after a blitz of contacting co-citizens at home and abroad. Our daily diary publishing structure is also almost up to date after a couple of weeks of grappling with various items scattered all over our offline space.
.....
For the past many weeks I have been meaning to pay tribute to a distinguished but alas late professor Richard Bonney, whom I should and could have associated with but didn't, in the later years of his 70 year existence on this earth.
My acquaintance with the late professor began soon after he quoted me and in particular my then recent article in Rising Kashmir, in a round-table Kashmir Conference at the House of Lords in May 2011.
From CBMs to OBMs
He then took the initiative of critiquing the OBM (Ownership-Building-Measures) concept I had introduced. Details of this are also in the hyperlink above.
We had a good long conversation over Skype soon after and he was very keen to academically collaborate with me in reference to my work on AJK in particular and J & K in general. He also mentioned that the European Social Fund project on the origins of the modern state was led by him and he would be keen to include me (and my work) in it.
Professor Richard was also quite emotional about wanting to make amends for the ills emerging out of British colonialism, in what he described as his own modest way. At the time (2011) and until 2017 (in the year that he sadly died) I had been strictly and exclusively engaged with just the citizens of J & K (and AJK in particular). At the time, I felt that I needed to just communicate with my own people as they were my subject matter, it is they who I was trying to convince to exclusively fund me, support me and protect me. Ultimately it would be they who would be equipped to resolve our collective dilemma without external interference, which I have always felt to be the bane (poison) that killed our identity and subsequent right to exist on our own terms.
I was conscious that Professor Bonney was a notable academic and also had his heart in the right place. However, I was so engrossed with my own people that I didn't reciprocate the professor's warm initiatives and since 2017 in particular when he died, I live to deeply regret my choice.
I was still fortunate to communicate with him just months before he died. It was touching of him to reply to me - via dictation to his wife Margaret - while in a hospitable bed and suffering from incurable cancer.
Here is what I wrote to him via email:
Inward while time flies
Tanveer Ahmed
3 Mar 2017, 02:14
to Richard
Dear Rev/Professor
I have felt very disturbed of late since I heard of your illness. I pray to the Almighty that he return your health and keep you going for much longer than you can imagine or feel.
I say this as a person who has experienced loss of extremely valuable people in these past few years - who through my negligence or miscalculation of priority - were not given the due attention that their intellect and knowledge of history deserved.
Particularly since 2011, my passion for addressing the stalemate otherwise generally described as the J & K issue has increasingly led me to look for answers from within the territory of AJK. Though this has provided much clarity on the direction ahead, the opportunity cost has been tragic too.
Just as I rue the missed opportunities of interacting more vigorously with the outside world - personally as well as professionally - I eagerly hope that with the publication of my impending 'public opinion' survey report on AJK, I can resume meaningful contact.
Please accept my apologies for not communicating more frequently in the past few years. It has been my loss and it hurts.
More importantly, I pray that you recover and give me the opportunity of learning from a critical friend.
God Bless you sir
End of my email....
I don't want to copy all of his reply as it could be disrespectful of the privacy that one deserves from a private conversation. There are but 2 sentences that can be deemed to be relevant to public interest:
"I would be very pleased to see your document, the 'public opinion' survey report on AJK. Please do not be overly concerned about the relative lack of communication between us - you are a long way away, and have been working very hard on something which is dear to my heart."
The University of Leicester announced the news of his demise thus.
Some days later The Guardian wrote an obituary on the late but very dear professor.
He will be remembered for many academic accomplishments but I will remember him more for what could have been, if only I had used my time more wisely.
I'll finish with a link to a review of a book he co-authored with an Indian and Pakistani on the prospects for peace between the 2 foes, using the perspectives of retired Indian and Pakistani military leaders.
Rest in peace sir.
........
I can relate to this:
.......
Got in some reading today:
.........
After a traditional Sunday break from uploading a daily video update Monday is here:
.....
It is interesting and possibly timely that Al Jazeera is doing a week of shows - on AJ Stream - on colonialism. This was my opening salvo:
......
After a great endurance test yesterday whereby we (my assistant and I) had almost nothing to eat or drink from morning till almost 2100hrs (9pm), we are now in the clear after a blitz of contacting co-citizens at home and abroad. Our daily diary publishing structure is also almost up to date after a couple of weeks of grappling with various items scattered all over our offline space.
.....
For the past many weeks I have been meaning to pay tribute to a distinguished but alas late professor Richard Bonney, whom I should and could have associated with but didn't, in the later years of his 70 year existence on this earth.
 |
| Courtesy: University of Leicester |
From CBMs to OBMs
He then took the initiative of critiquing the OBM (Ownership-Building-Measures) concept I had introduced. Details of this are also in the hyperlink above.
We had a good long conversation over Skype soon after and he was very keen to academically collaborate with me in reference to my work on AJK in particular and J & K in general. He also mentioned that the European Social Fund project on the origins of the modern state was led by him and he would be keen to include me (and my work) in it.
Professor Richard was also quite emotional about wanting to make amends for the ills emerging out of British colonialism, in what he described as his own modest way. At the time (2011) and until 2017 (in the year that he sadly died) I had been strictly and exclusively engaged with just the citizens of J & K (and AJK in particular). At the time, I felt that I needed to just communicate with my own people as they were my subject matter, it is they who I was trying to convince to exclusively fund me, support me and protect me. Ultimately it would be they who would be equipped to resolve our collective dilemma without external interference, which I have always felt to be the bane (poison) that killed our identity and subsequent right to exist on our own terms.
I was conscious that Professor Bonney was a notable academic and also had his heart in the right place. However, I was so engrossed with my own people that I didn't reciprocate the professor's warm initiatives and since 2017 in particular when he died, I live to deeply regret my choice.
I was still fortunate to communicate with him just months before he died. It was touching of him to reply to me - via dictation to his wife Margaret - while in a hospitable bed and suffering from incurable cancer.
Here is what I wrote to him via email:
Inward while time flies
Tanveer Ahmed
3 Mar 2017, 02:14
to Richard
Dear Rev/Professor
I have felt very disturbed of late since I heard of your illness. I pray to the Almighty that he return your health and keep you going for much longer than you can imagine or feel.
I say this as a person who has experienced loss of extremely valuable people in these past few years - who through my negligence or miscalculation of priority - were not given the due attention that their intellect and knowledge of history deserved.
Particularly since 2011, my passion for addressing the stalemate otherwise generally described as the J & K issue has increasingly led me to look for answers from within the territory of AJK. Though this has provided much clarity on the direction ahead, the opportunity cost has been tragic too.
Just as I rue the missed opportunities of interacting more vigorously with the outside world - personally as well as professionally - I eagerly hope that with the publication of my impending 'public opinion' survey report on AJK, I can resume meaningful contact.
Please accept my apologies for not communicating more frequently in the past few years. It has been my loss and it hurts.
More importantly, I pray that you recover and give me the opportunity of learning from a critical friend.
God Bless you sir
End of my email....
I don't want to copy all of his reply as it could be disrespectful of the privacy that one deserves from a private conversation. There are but 2 sentences that can be deemed to be relevant to public interest:
"I would be very pleased to see your document, the 'public opinion' survey report on AJK. Please do not be overly concerned about the relative lack of communication between us - you are a long way away, and have been working very hard on something which is dear to my heart."
The University of Leicester announced the news of his demise thus.
Some days later The Guardian wrote an obituary on the late but very dear professor.
He will be remembered for many academic accomplishments but I will remember him more for what could have been, if only I had used my time more wisely.
I'll finish with a link to a review of a book he co-authored with an Indian and Pakistani on the prospects for peace between the 2 foes, using the perspectives of retired Indian and Pakistani military leaders.
Rest in peace sir.
........
I can relate to this:
Journalists in Kashmir are taking up manual labor jobs due to the internet ban over 4 months.This Kashmir Life story by Umar Khurshid is a reminder of how little we have done for ppl from Kashmir to get to tell their stories. The ones parachute reporters will never find.#Kashmir pic.twitter.com/48vTKDnP5O— جپسی🍁 (@Gipsi0) December 9, 2019
.......
Got in some reading today:
One can notice the British Empire's footprints if they read between the lines of this brilliant piece of research:— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) December 9, 2019
Guilty Men of The Two-Nation Theory: A Hindutva Project Borrowed By Jinnah https://t.co/0uKjSwYqUk
.........
After a traditional Sunday break from uploading a daily video update Monday is here:
.....
It is interesting and possibly timely that Al Jazeera is doing a week of shows - on AJ Stream - on colonialism. This was my opening salvo:
#BritishColonialism continues 2 shape the lives of > a bn people n the Indian subcontinent including #JandK , certainly from a structural governance point of view. There has been almost zero political evolution here & the UK 2day continues 2 shrug off its share of responsibility.— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) December 9, 2019
......
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