1357hrs:
Another day beginning with a zero balance. Thankfully we still had some figs and peanuts remaining from last night. After my morning walk between 9 and 1000hrs we also got our hotel manager to get us 2 cups of kahwa from a Pathan vendor.
This should be an opportune time to remind our readers and my co-citizens of AJK (and its diaspora) in particular as to what range of tasks I have to undertake in public interest on any given day:
I wrote the following on Day 26 of 2019 (January the 26th 2019):
My typical day is spent doing a combination of duties for the public:
1) Researching in the field as well as utilising online/offline mediums.
2) Assembling, analysing, categorising and protecting that information/data.
3) Assisting other activists in their public interest pursuits (Including citizens in GB, the Valley, Jammu and Ladakh).
4) Raising issues and engaging the AJK governing structure as well as regional and global institutions in a sequential manner till resolution.
5) Translating data/information as appropriate.
6) Strategising and improvising constantly according to the capacity of the public to digest activity conducted and information generated.
7) Preparing material for academic publication in foreign journals and global media.
8) Maintaining a public database with a view to preparing a genuine population census in AJK.
9) Sharing responsibility for the maintenance and well-being of my family.
10) Working on maintaining my physical and mental fitness to sustain my efforts.
11) Maintaining a vehicle, bicycle and tools of technology for the work at hand.
12) Raising funds directly from the public to carry out all the above.
I wrote the following on Day 26 of 2019 (January the 26th 2019):
My typical day is spent doing a combination of duties for the public:
1) Researching in the field as well as utilising online/offline mediums.
2) Assembling, analysing, categorising and protecting that information/data.
3) Assisting other activists in their public interest pursuits (Including citizens in GB, the Valley, Jammu and Ladakh).
4) Raising issues and engaging the AJK governing structure as well as regional and global institutions in a sequential manner till resolution.
5) Translating data/information as appropriate.
6) Strategising and improvising constantly according to the capacity of the public to digest activity conducted and information generated.
7) Preparing material for academic publication in foreign journals and global media.
8) Maintaining a public database with a view to preparing a genuine population census in AJK.
9) Sharing responsibility for the maintenance and well-being of my family.
10) Working on maintaining my physical and mental fitness to sustain my efforts.
11) Maintaining a vehicle, bicycle and tools of technology for the work at hand.
12) Raising funds directly from the public to carry out all the above.
End of what I wrote on Day 26 of this year....
Now, my workload is even heavier and will not get lighter in the foreseeable future.
- I now publish my daily diary with more real time content for the day including financial details.
- I now have a full time assistant who I'm investing time, effort and money on so that I can effectively distribute my workload in due course.
- I am now spending a lot more time in the capital of AJK as I narrow down our public interest targets to engaging the judiciary and assembly. This has increased my immediate overheads by almost 3 times what it used to be.
- I am also preparing for an AJK wide tour to seek out the 100 co-citizens who can make up the quorum for the anticipated People's Assembly, that aims to fill the void emerging out of the AJK Assembly's inability to legislate according to today's needs.
- Consequently, I am spending more time on a daily basis to generate public funds to realise the above objectives.
I also wish to share some preliminary notes on the People's Assembly document, that I aim to discuss with our public at large:
This is based on something I wrote on the 5th of December 2019 for someone in the UK. I request that it be shared with our co-citizens in the UK:
The State of Jammu & Kashmir is in Peril
A pro-active citizenry is required for a democratic, ethical, legal and peaceful transition to our de jure status of 1947. I hope you can contribute to public interest in AJK at this most critical juncture in our history.
We have also decided to proactively seek funds from our co-citizens at home and abroad in order to be prepared for the struggle ahead in advance and so that we may improvise strategy more efficiently.
In this spirit, we are pitching for public funds before the explanation rather than after, as we used to do in previous annual public documents.
This is not marketing strategy, this is existential.
Current daily expenditure on the ground in action-orientated research is 3,000 PK rupees (c. £15 a day) and we need £5,000 worth of communications technology from the UK.
As a conscientious citizen - as part of the AJK diaspora in the UK and aspiring for civility in the land of your ancestry - you can contribute anything from £1 to £100 in any one financial year.
The people's opinion +
the people's resources =
the people's Assembly
We are designing that Assembly using field data collected since 2005.
This is public interest number 1 in AJK (and by legal and constitutional extension J & K of 1947) as our de facto AJK Assembly has acknowledged that it is unable to legislate on governance or the future of the territory.
We cannot give that responsibility to anyone else as we have been prone or forced to do for centuries.
While many of us are singularly focussed on a UN plebscite despite waiting in vain and without clear context for decades, it has become clear that the 5 most concerned countries in the world - in reference to J & K - are intent on permanently dividing us between them in the imminent future, in back-door diplomacy by metaphorically forcing an out-of-court settlement. Defying democracy, humanity and nature in the process.
It is our imperative and prerogative to clear any doubts about our aspirations and collective destiny in a civil manner.
If we - the aspiring citizens of Jammu & Kashmir - are not more pro-active than the rest of the world, we may lose our fundamental right to govern ourselves and access the resources in our own legally inherited collective territory.
That platform, forum, mechanism or process has to be designed organically and internally in AJK. This cannot be achieved by a government in exile.
This also means moving beyond 19th and 20th century conceptions of society, politics, revolution and change.
Governance and change are one and the same in the 21st century. You either deliver to the public or you don't. Be it an individual, social organisation, political (State) institution or political leadership.
We have evolved only to the extent of tribes, professions, organisations, sects, parties and alliances. We consider speeches, media statements, rallies, strikes, protests as the pinnacle of achievement. At most we want our voices heard and highlighted.
We still want others to fulfil what is our responsibility and concern. We still want others to exploit our collective inheritance so long as they personally benefit us.
We will need to take a leap forward in thinking. If we could evolve from no landline phone connection ever to 4G smartphones within a few years, we can also learn how to own and resolve our national question and requirements of governance. We have to convince each other before we can convince the world.
We need a People's Assembly which uses ground research on security, public opinion, economy and culture: with a representative strategy to fill the void in the AJK Legislative Assembly.
We do not aim to replace it. We wish to empower it and constitutionally equip it for today's challenges, using a creative and evolved democratic procedure, easily recognisable by any civilised nation.
Our struggle needs to be measureable and recognisable. It must not be ad-hoc, impulsive, reactionary and limited to simply raising awareness.
Not only must its mode be democratic, ethical, legal and peaceful: It should include political, research, economic and cultural solutions.
Our freedom depends on our ability to develop consensus, exercise ownership, display capability to manage our soil, water and waste along with the power to secure our territory from external interference.
We have to act carefully but considerably.
Both time and territory are our advantage. We must utilise them wisely.
....end of preliminary notes on Public Assembly document
......
There is yet more coverage of our recently concluded case by Kashmir Uzma. It appears that the mastermind of the needless arrest and subsequent torture by Muzaffarabad police of Mahmood Ahmed Musafir and myself was none other than public enemy number 1 DSP Riaz Mughal. Here's the story in Urdu:
......
Communications dilemma:
.......
Now, my workload is even heavier and will not get lighter in the foreseeable future.
- I now publish my daily diary with more real time content for the day including financial details.
- I now have a full time assistant who I'm investing time, effort and money on so that I can effectively distribute my workload in due course.
- I am now spending a lot more time in the capital of AJK as I narrow down our public interest targets to engaging the judiciary and assembly. This has increased my immediate overheads by almost 3 times what it used to be.
- I am also preparing for an AJK wide tour to seek out the 100 co-citizens who can make up the quorum for the anticipated People's Assembly, that aims to fill the void emerging out of the AJK Assembly's inability to legislate according to today's needs.
- Consequently, I am spending more time on a daily basis to generate public funds to realise the above objectives.
I also wish to share some preliminary notes on the People's Assembly document, that I aim to discuss with our public at large:
This is based on something I wrote on the 5th of December 2019 for someone in the UK. I request that it be shared with our co-citizens in the UK:
The State of Jammu & Kashmir is in Peril
A pro-active citizenry is required for a democratic, ethical, legal and peaceful transition to our de jure status of 1947. I hope you can contribute to public interest in AJK at this most critical juncture in our history.
We have also decided to proactively seek funds from our co-citizens at home and abroad in order to be prepared for the struggle ahead in advance and so that we may improvise strategy more efficiently.
In this spirit, we are pitching for public funds before the explanation rather than after, as we used to do in previous annual public documents.
This is not marketing strategy, this is existential.
Current daily expenditure on the ground in action-orientated research is 3,000 PK rupees (c. £15 a day) and we need £5,000 worth of communications technology from the UK.
As a conscientious citizen - as part of the AJK diaspora in the UK and aspiring for civility in the land of your ancestry - you can contribute anything from £1 to £100 in any one financial year.
The people's opinion +
the people's resources =
the people's Assembly
We are designing that Assembly using field data collected since 2005.
This is public interest number 1 in AJK (and by legal and constitutional extension J & K of 1947) as our de facto AJK Assembly has acknowledged that it is unable to legislate on governance or the future of the territory.
We cannot give that responsibility to anyone else as we have been prone or forced to do for centuries.
While many of us are singularly focussed on a UN plebscite despite waiting in vain and without clear context for decades, it has become clear that the 5 most concerned countries in the world - in reference to J & K - are intent on permanently dividing us between them in the imminent future, in back-door diplomacy by metaphorically forcing an out-of-court settlement. Defying democracy, humanity and nature in the process.
It is our imperative and prerogative to clear any doubts about our aspirations and collective destiny in a civil manner.
If we - the aspiring citizens of Jammu & Kashmir - are not more pro-active than the rest of the world, we may lose our fundamental right to govern ourselves and access the resources in our own legally inherited collective territory.
That platform, forum, mechanism or process has to be designed organically and internally in AJK. This cannot be achieved by a government in exile.
This also means moving beyond 19th and 20th century conceptions of society, politics, revolution and change.
Governance and change are one and the same in the 21st century. You either deliver to the public or you don't. Be it an individual, social organisation, political (State) institution or political leadership.
We have evolved only to the extent of tribes, professions, organisations, sects, parties and alliances. We consider speeches, media statements, rallies, strikes, protests as the pinnacle of achievement. At most we want our voices heard and highlighted.
We still want others to fulfil what is our responsibility and concern. We still want others to exploit our collective inheritance so long as they personally benefit us.
We will need to take a leap forward in thinking. If we could evolve from no landline phone connection ever to 4G smartphones within a few years, we can also learn how to own and resolve our national question and requirements of governance. We have to convince each other before we can convince the world.
We need a People's Assembly which uses ground research on security, public opinion, economy and culture: with a representative strategy to fill the void in the AJK Legislative Assembly.
We do not aim to replace it. We wish to empower it and constitutionally equip it for today's challenges, using a creative and evolved democratic procedure, easily recognisable by any civilised nation.
Our struggle needs to be measureable and recognisable. It must not be ad-hoc, impulsive, reactionary and limited to simply raising awareness.
Not only must its mode be democratic, ethical, legal and peaceful: It should include political, research, economic and cultural solutions.
Our freedom depends on our ability to develop consensus, exercise ownership, display capability to manage our soil, water and waste along with the power to secure our territory from external interference.
We have to act carefully but considerably.
Both time and territory are our advantage. We must utilise them wisely.
....end of preliminary notes on Public Assembly document
......
There is yet more coverage of our recently concluded case by Kashmir Uzma. It appears that the mastermind of the needless arrest and subsequent torture by Muzaffarabad police of Mahmood Ahmed Musafir and myself was none other than public enemy number 1 DSP Riaz Mughal. Here's the story in Urdu:
 |
| Daily Kashmir Uzma - Muzaffarabad (Urdu) |
 |
| Front Page |
 |
| Page 3 Section 33 |
 |
| Continued |
......
Communications dilemma:
1.5 million WhatsApp accounts have been deactivated in Kashmir b/c users that are inactive for 120 days are removed.— Usman Tariq Chughtai (@UsmanTariqUSK) December 8, 2019
Take a moment, search Twitter & see how painful it is for Kashmiris to see their loved ones disappear from family chats that are years old https://t.co/lTEHIb0vPc
.......
