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Showing posts with label Kathua. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kathua. Show all posts

Friday, 15 April 2022

Daily Diary (DD) - Day 105 of 2022

0102hrs:

Day 15 - District (Kotli) wide tour as part of Internal Political Process - AJK

Updated stats of completed interviews of tribal politicians/political workers: 37 of 60 

(After 3 day break) 

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Is traction visible?

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Our discussion with Quayyum Raja in Pahaari on Babu Singh, former minister in Indian-controlled J & K Assembly and modern revolutionary of Kathua in Jammu division, the southernmost district in JKA:


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Sunday, 10 April 2022

Daily Diary (DD) - Day 100 of 2022

1757hrs:

Day 13 - District (Kotli) wide tour as part of Internal Political Process - AJK

Updated stats of completed interviews of tribal politicians/political workers: 33 of 60 

Note: Have proceeded beyond the 50% threshold....

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Our people are so frightened of each other's propensity to sell themselves short.

That has been our history, it is our present but we cannot afford for it to be our future, under any circumstances whatsoever.

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It's always heartening to see locals take the initiative:

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Later in the evening we ventured out to Kajrullah on the outskirts of Khuiratta to meet veteran freedom fighter Quayyum Raja: 


Subjects discussed in this detailed conversation were:

1) An internal political process in AJK
2) Babu Singh of Kathua, Jammu and his mysterious disappearance amidst an apparent Indian sting operation and a demand for him to be given an opportunity to present his version of developments in public.
3) The role of Britain and its colonial legacy.
4) Remedies and our role as the public of JKA as sovereign entity, both at home and in the diaspora (particularly the UK).

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Tuesday, 15 March 2022

Daily Diary (DD) - Day 74 of 2022

2351hrs:

5 nights in Kotli jail. An 81 hour hunger strike. Released a few hours ago. Plenty of strategic food for thought. 

Struggle till freedom comes.

By default.



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On the very next day after my arrest, the following letter was sent out to the prime minister of AJK and copied to the leader of the opposition Latif Akbar as well as the Pakistani High Commissioner in London:

 

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4 days of enforced absence from the blogosphere, after almost 4 months of uninterrupted daily activity. 

Many thanks to all those thousands of co-citizens who played their part, from all over the world:



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This audio message was vital and crucial:


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Art and politics:


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Furthermore,

 

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Our future:


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To the bludgeoned spirit of 11 year old Kanwal Matloob....We will not rest till your rapist(s) and butcher(s) are not punished:

 

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Media intervention was crucial too:


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Good pointers:


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Ditto:

 

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Impressive wording and imagery:

 

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Solidarity has always been from the deepest south of AJK to the remotest north of AJK. Here's a latter example from the Neelam Valley:


 

Other important links to activism in AJK on my behalf, while I was incarcerated:

Nikyaal:



Another example from Nikyaal:



Yet another example from Nikyaal:



Solidarity and concern from the United States of America:



Solidarity and concern from the United Kingdom:



Further examples of solidarity from the UK:



Solidarity and concern from Kathua and Jammu too:


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It is always re-assuring to know that our public resorts to high alert mode as soon as I am ever detained: 

10 March 2022


Tags in English:


A day later (11 March 2022):

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Incarceration also deprived me of strategic work on Gilgit Baltistan:


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Sunday, 5 December 2021

Daily Diary (DD) - Day 339 of 2021

2216hrs:

I'm totally immersed in some work in reference to the 'missing historical links of Sharda'.......

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I did want to visit the home of the slain Kanwal Matloob today but the above cited work kept me up all night. Rain was also a factor. I do understand that many people have converged there after yesterday's protest by women at Sandal Chowk. 

We also understand that the father of 6 year old Zainab Ansari, namely Amin Ansari (whose daughter was raped in Kasur, Pakistan in 2018 leading to a vociferous campaign for justice ensuing in that country, which culminated in the culprit's hanging soon after) has also visited in a moving gesture of solidarity. 

We also remember Asifa Bano - also in 2018 - but on this occasion across the LOC in our own territory. She was 8 years old and hailed from a Gujjar/Bakarwaal (nomadic shepherds) family of Kathua. Despite vicious attempts to derail due process by powerful quarters, heightened media attention and vigilance brought about a trial after 3 months. A further 14 months later, on 10 June 2019, six of the seven defendants were convicted and one acquitted. Three convicts were given life imprisonment and the other three 5 years.   

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Saturday, 18 May 2019

Daily Diary (DD) - Day 138 of 2019

2158hrs:

A writer should never play the fool with idleness.......

Therefore, let's retrace our steps once again and try to work out what went wrong in 1947:



Note: That is Kathua district South of Jammu in J & K.

98 year old Muhammad Siddique narrates his understanding of the events of 1947, when he was 26 years old. His family eventually had no choice but to flee across the border to the newly created Pakistan. He still resides in the city of Faisalabad, Pakistan.

I have noted 3 main parts of the conversation that need attention today:

1) @ 12:27

We heard Pakistan was being made but the Maharajah Hari Singh wanted to keep his population intact - That is, for Hindus and Muslims to continue co-existing where they were and refrain from migration. He even took forceful measures to maintain this policy.

2) @ 21:08

Sheikh Abdullah (as head of emergency administration) also insisted that Hindus and Muslims of Jammu should not separate. Further, he (the Sheikh) clarified that we are neither going to become a part of India or a part of Pakistan. We would remain a separate (political) entity. The Maharajah and Sheikh Abdullah seemed to have some mutual understanding on this point.

3) @ 26:48

Not a day passes when Muhammad Siddique does not remember his hometown (Beeru Chak in J & K). He remembers it as a fabulous country where everybody would care for each other and that included Hindus. He doesn't understand what suddenly happened that destroyed everything.

Now, if you read the white Urdu text with a blue background in the top left-hand corner of the embedded video, it translates as:

Migration from district Kathua Jammu Kashmir to Pakistan
An eye-witness account of Hari Singh's false pretensions and oppression of Muslims

There are always at least two ways of interpreting historical narratives. One way is to re-emphasise the difference and hatred of the 'other'. So, in this case a conclusion can be drawn that a Hindu ruler oppressed his Muslim subjects and this video is evidence of that. Hence, making Pakistan was a great idea because it provided a safe haven for Muslims.

The other way of interpreting this video is to try and learn what went wrong so we can avoid separating large populations of people, just because they belong to a different religion from the majority. Why did such events happen so suddenly and spontaneously?

I think the answer lies in the divide and rule policies of the British empire and unfortunately most writers tend to gloss over this aspect by taking an overt 'Muslim' or 'Hindu' stance, thereby blaming each other through vicious propaganda for decades on end. Meanwhile, the British obtained safe passage from the fire they created and have subsequently enjoyed immunity from all responsibility thereafter.

Hence, my pursuit of trying to understand the British attitude to an emerging neutral sovereign State of Jammu & Kashmir in the 1940's.

What steps did they take to forestall it?

Why did they drag the aspirations of both the autocrat and his subjects under the bus named India and Pakistan?     

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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 278 of 2026

1239hrs: Day 123 had a rhythm to it and a pattern. Most of AJK (including most of its entry points from the State of Pakistan) have been shu...