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 342 of 2019

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.

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

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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

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Communications dilemma:

1.5 million WhatsApp accounts have been deactivated in Kashmir b/c users that are inactive for 120 days are removed.

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

— Usman Tariq Chughtai (@UsmanTariqUSK) December 8, 2019

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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 341 of 2019

1933hrs:

Another day spent engaged with various aspects of the judiciary. 5 hours in total with lunch in between.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's propaganda offensive is working hard on preparing the ground for replicating what the Indians have visibly done since August the 5th. This is the best of what they produce, using the same decades old format:

Balley balley.......Saddar Sb khud mehmaan apney makaan me? Aur #Pakistaniyat #Kashmir ki Azaadi ki tehreek ka androona hissa? Phir, #Indians bhi kehte hain ke Kashmir un ka androona ma-amla hay. Ab dono itney andar ghus gaye hain to #Kashmiri phir kaha hain? https://t.co/xEk2TbUGoO

— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) December 7, 2019

A translation of the re-tweeted comment is in order:

Now then! The honourable president is a guest in his own house. While Pakistan-ism is an intrinsic part of Kashmir's freedom movement. Then the Indians also claim Kashmir to be their internal matter. Now that both have entered so deep (into this territory) then where do Kashmiris stand? 

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Keeping up with this daily routine is almost empowering:



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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 340 of 2019

1138hrs:

Yet to have breakfast as we have no money. We also need to shift to a newer accommodation which will work out cheaper and also provide us an opportunity to cook for ourselves. This will bring down our costs of eating out and hopefully a healthier diet will be attained, given the very low quality of cooking oil/ghee used in hotels throughout AJK and beyond.

We do have 80 (UK) pounds in the UK but we want to keep them there so that we can save up for 5,000 pounds worth of communications technology that we need on the ground here.

Various local co-citizens are being canvassed for public funding and we hope to receive something imminently. This is just another task we have on our hands apart from all the other functions we are performing for public interest here.

Late in the afternoon, we produced the following:



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I owned the domain maloomaat.net for many years until my then domain provider tried to take payment for other domains that I didn't need. Maloomaat means information in Arabic and Urdu. I also have a blogspot domain of the same name viz. maloomaat.blogspot.com This used to be a frequent activity for me to put questions to my co-citizens on a regular basis and assess public opinion from there. In 2011, this was the pre Whatsapp era. Many, if not most of my questions disturbed the Pakistani State and they tried very hard to use the local AJK authorities to prevent me from pursuing this line of activity. They failed of course and so did the Pakistani mono-narrative in AJK.

SMS Democracy was what I called it then and I decided to re-activate it today for the following question:

'Awaami Assembly' (People's Assembly) ko kaise bayan karengey AJK ke tanazur me? (How would you define it in the context of AJK?) 3 jumlo ki had tak. (in max. 3 sentences) Shukrya - (Thank you) 

Healthy feedback has been received and it is a pity that I still have many pending questions and feedback from 2011 that I still have yet to upload. That data is in another drive which is under repair.   

I also had an opportunity to read up on the following and learned to my horror that the origins of the London Bridge Attacker trace his family back to AJK, district Kotli and Kijlaani in tehsil Charoi to be precise. As a community and diaspora, we have much to address:

We, d citizens of #AJK & its diaspora - especially n d #UK - should be troubled by d fact that this indoctrinated terrorist originated from amongst us. Legally speaking, he wasn't a Pakistani as his forbears came 2 d UK from #JandK a territory not part of any other country.

— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) December 8, 2019

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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 339 of 2019

0900hrs:

I have realised that if I want to give more output in public interest and avert the inevitable onslaught on our identity and territory, I have to adapt myself and change a few habits. That's not easy when aged 47 but its got to be done.

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I've been following this movement for global activism on the environment for some time now and am astounded by their energy, organisation and dynamism. 

Here's an excerpt from their post:

"Since Monday 18th November more than five hundred people have taken part in the Global Hunger Strike. From Israel to India, Ecuador to Australia, New Zealand to the United Kingdom, we have all been united in our pain and our desperate desire for change. Following in the footsteps of great change-makers and peace-bringers such as Emmeline Pankhurst and Mahatma Gandhi, rebels have chosen to go hungry as a mark of their love for the Earth and all the life that it harbours."

Hunger strikers at the Dutch Parliament in The Hague, The Netherlands

  

Hunger strikers in the UK

I felt the following except to be most powerful:

Hunger striker Eric shares: “My anger has left me and all I’m left with is sadness. The hunger has not left as I imagined it would. It gnaws at my stomach all day and all night with a relentless ache. Yet my hunger for change propels me forward. My suffering is nothing compared to what’s already happening, and is non-existent compared to what our future holds. My beautiful nieces and nephews will have to scramble for their survival run and wonder how we got here.”

Paris, France. Indigenous Brazilians were in Paris to demonstrate against French institutions helping to finance destruction of the Amazon. They performed a protest dance outside the headquarters of the Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP).

Copenhagen, Denmark. XR Rebels in Denmark expose the naked truth about oil extraction in the North Sea at the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities.

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Local press coverage of our case continued with news yesterday's court verdict in our favour. 4 newspapers have covered it today:

Daily Kashmir Uzma - Muzaffarabad (Urdu) 

Front Page (1 of 2)

Front Page (2 of 2)

Page 3 Section 25 

Daily Siyasat - Muzaffarabad (Urdu)

Front Page

Page 3 Section 1 

Daily Kashmir Link - Muzaffarabad (Urdu)

Front Page

Page 7 Section 22

Jammu Kashmir Times has also entered the fray on our behalf:

Daily Jammu Kashmir Times - Muzaffarabad (Urdu)

Front Page

Page 3 Section 23

Other papers covered it too. We are trying to confirm and source them for the reader's benefit.

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It's useful to be consistent, if you are trying to mobilise the public for a People's Assembly:



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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 338 of 2019

1537hrs

We spent more than 5 hours at the courts today but we got an acquittal in 40 days. At the very least, unusual for the judiciary in AJK, from the date of arrest to acquittal.

We've managed a video update for each of the last 14 days here in Muzaffarabad, except the 2 Sundays in between:

(Update 07/12/19):

We managed to obtained a copy of the court's decision in our favour but it took us 4 days. Here it is courtesy Mahmood Ahmed Musafir:



In an attempt at greater clarity, here are the scanned papers of the judgement:

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

Of course, a translation into English is in order:



End of update.....

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Gems that the public of AJK should be conscious of:

Courtesy: Whatsapp

The image above is translated thus:

"Leadership or slavery is not dependent on power or the lack of it, it is dependent on your mental character."

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The Daily Kashmir Uzma remained vigilant on our case and reported on yesterday's proceedings in court:

Daily Kashmir Uzma - Muzaffarabad (Urdu)

Back Page

Page 3 Section 7

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Before the end of the day, an online news portal highlighted the court's decision in our favour in the following manner:



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