Daily Diary (DD) - Day 268 of 2022

1054hrs:

Day 112 at Maqbool Bhat Shaheed Square - Dadyaal.

0826hrs

My punctuality deficit has increased to 45 minutes. I'm late yet again! A serious re-think is needed over my daily routine. There is obviously something missing somewhere.

Punctuality percentage: 63 days on time or early of 112 = 56% punctual.

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Day 13 on JKTV's Twitter Space delivers the topic of 'Population Census', which comes under the rubric of 'Governance' as a priority:

Set a reminder for my upcoming Space! https://t.co/161InMceEq
We have entered a new golden age 4 humanity. We now have d ability 2 create with freedom s never apparent B4 while equipped with information never s abundant B4#Governance#DigitalAge#DataManagement#PopulationCensus

— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) September 25, 2022

Associated reference:

We did say that the Pakistani State and most of its people are either uncomfortable or sceptical with the concept of 'research'. Here's an example from former Guardian correspondent Riazat Butt, whose family originates from Kotli, I am led to understand:

Link

Space Count (That is: How many people have engaged so far): 83 (updated at 0117hrs on 30/09/2022) 

Average space count (13 days so far): 92

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Some notes in reference to where Pakistan stands in comparison to the rest of the world are in order, courtesy instant information provided by Chacha Google:

Despite being the:

5th largest country in terms of population

35th in land mass and possessing the

6th largest military

Pakistan is:

138th in overall prosperity index rankings

153rd in economic freedom

160th in per capita rank (nominal) and 140th (PPP)

154th in quality & accessibility of healthcare and

99th in education expenditure

I've always maintained that Pakistan is more an enemy unto itself than any other country can be to it. It is also not a coincidence that Pakistan cries 'foul' over conspiracy theories by others over it, possibly or rather probably more than any other country. 

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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 343 of 2019

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.

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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 

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.

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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

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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:
Guilty Men of The Two-Nation Theory: A Hindutva Project Borrowed By Jinnah https://t.co/0uKjSwYqUk

— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) December 9, 2019

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After a traditional Sunday break from uploading a daily video update Monday is here:



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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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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 317 of 2019

1522hrs:

I picked up some sort of flu virus on Saturday and till today, have yet to recover.  

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Many thanks to Younis Taryaby Sahaab for his hospitality and advice yesterday:



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I wonder if there could be similar measures adopted for J & K? After all, this is also in the list of British political legacies:

UK ministers threaten sanctions on Hong Kong officials https://t.co/XyDDx6bMIu

— The Guardian (@guardian) November 13, 2019

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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 316 of 2019

1542hrs:

Hot in pursuit........fuel on the go.......in very unexpected ways at times.......living with faith in good outcomes........is living life to the full for me. Not everyone in my close circle is always enjoying it though......our work requires a cool temperament and long term view of economy. Where abundance would require a high level of skill to manage and to maintain social output.

The above would be cryptic to the unacquainted.

I missed posting yesterday even though if I were determined enough I could have avoided it. Afterwards, it felt like I lost my guard for a while and could prove dangerous for public interest.

I need to get as much thoughts out, in an orderly categorised manner....as soon as possible and not play the fool with death!

The following is what I wrote last night, in the absence of appropriate technology to post but before that, here's a lesson close to me:



Change in the 21st century should be measured by the quality of delivery in governance. Without independent public policy 73 years have proved what a disaster AJK is. Without security, research work on public policy in AJK is highly vulnerable, as I found to my cost when my house was raided on the 24th of October. We - AJK Public Agency - need 10 young and 10 old aspiring citizens of the territory (2 from each district) to devote their life and live it to the full in pursuit of our natural disposition: free, sovereign, neutral and equipped.

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Tuesday - 12/11/19

Missed my daily diary for the 11th..such is my access to technology at times...still creating too much content in the field...not enough uploading or management of that content.

The data management lag gets wider with each passing hour..

An encyclopedia of governance....is what the following domain should provide:

ajkpublic.agency

Need .ajk (TLD - top-level-domain)

Also need to shift from personal platform to public platform in virtual space.

4 immediate action-oriented research topics.....in conformity with grand structure improvised on the ground in AJK since 2009:

Security - local IG
Research - Population Census
Finance - Taxation
Culture - Re-open Mandirs & Gurdwaras

Developing a model of governance from the ground up, from within, using local resources and consensus as legislation. 

Every citizen must be equipped with the power to influence legislation, by direct democracy if public interest is so adjudged.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has been here for 73 years without documentation and stands in the way of our legal, democratic, ethical and peaceful battle with India. 

As long as Pakistan remains in control of AJK the longer the delay in our battle with India over 48% of J & K. We are at the most critical juncture of our history, yet we are also in the digital age which leaves little room for ambiguity and which has proved to be Pakistan's most effective weapon to date.

Even more than religious sentiment.

If the status quo in AJK persists...Pakistan will soon start spinning the security narrative in a direction which will see our safety in integrating ourselves within a province of Pakistan.

This will also rule us out of fighting a genuinely legal battle with India.

The trap of Indo-Pak bilateralism on J & K must end.

We want transparency and ownership over our dilemma, not back-door diplomacy by others.

In the words of the AJK PM at a function held for British Parliamentarians at Westminster Hall, ”We the citizens of Jammu & Kashmir want conflict resolution, not conflict management.”

By the way:
What is Pakistan's current annual financial expenditure on AJK and what is its income?

If Allah gives me life and health..I will have completed much more than a doctorate in each of:

1) National Question / Security / Water / Geography
2) Governance / Constitution / Data Management / Education 
3) Finance / Taxation / Banking / Tourism
4) Culture / Social Cohesion / History / Health

by 2022

I'm also still dreaming of the AJK football team travelling to Qatar to take part in the FIFA World Cup in the winter of that year.

End of dream.....back to reality.......

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The following tweet confirms that the unresolved sovereign status of Jammu & Kashmir is going to affect the UK's general election on December the 12th, like nothing hitherto:

Laut ke buddhu ghar ko aaye....but it's too late now @UKLabour u should have been wiser!!!!!
Kashmir: Labour shifts policy after backlash by Indian-heritage voters https://t.co/pVZUR1dSM7

— Poonam Joshi (@PoonamJoshi_) November 13, 2019

Indeed, the following video discussion is a real show of intent at influencing the UK Elections, from an Indian point of view:



Now, in the UK how many voters are there of:

Indian origin - c. 700,000 in my estimate
J & K origin -  c. 400,000 in my estimate 

Given that those of Pakistani origin are inconveniently sandwiched between the 2 origins above and also given that some of J & K origin may side with India or Pakistan, the stakes of the 3 competing narratives on J & K will not be easily fathomable. This dilemma (for us as JKians without State agency) is compounded further by the fact that the UK has designed a structure which immunises itself from repercussions by insisting on Indo-Pak bilateralism as a conflict resolution mechanism.

We still need to define those of Pakistani origin, as distinct from those of J & K origin.

Pakistani origin - 150,000 in my estimate

I wonder if anybody could help me in trying to get a more accurate estimate of UK voters corresponding to the 3 origins above? 

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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 223 of 2019

1052hrs:

Making some headway now..........almost ready to shift to top gear.

Today is a Sunday and also Eid in the UK.

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There remains no doubt that India's seemingly unilateral move on the 5th of this month has ignited an unprecedented levels of protests within the UK, AJK and many cities throughout the world. We may even have a list for you soon!

Meanwhile, here's another message for the UK parliament:

Kashmir tensions spill over to Britain’s Pakistani and Indian communities https://t.co/GpsziElzFK - My comment: Well, they needn't. The #UKParliament should take its share of responsibility in this avoidable dispute.

— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) August 11, 2019

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The leader of the political party that divided India in 1947 through an act of the British parliament, tweeted on the situation in Kashmir today:

I think #UKParliament has a far more significant role 2 play. Pls refer 2 Hansard n 5th July 1947. Ur party was n power thn. N d words f d late political history professor & poet Nazir Anjum, "If #India & #Pakistan came into being via IIA, Y do u put UN resolutions n front f us?" https://t.co/gg8P6RxlXI

— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) August 11, 2019

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Returning to the venues of protests for Kashmir throughout the world since the 5th of August, here's an attempt to list them:

- Multiple protests throughout each of the 10 districts of AJK
- Multiple protests throughout the UK. There is even one being prepared for Trafalgar Square on the 15th of August.
- Washington (D.C.) - USA
- Toronto - Canada
- Tehran - Iran
- Dhaka - Bangladesh
- Sydney - Australia
- Brussels - Belgium
- Delhi - India
- Lahore - Pakistan
- Paris - France
- Dallas (Texas) - USA

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