This story first appeared in The Daily Star

In the last five years, 26,695 rape cases were reported, with a significant rise in the numbers each year, as cited by an IGP report submitted to the High Court in March 2021. Between January and October this year, 830 women were raped, 39 died after rape, and 175 women were murdered by their husbands (Ain O Salish Kendra). Yet, such data no longer seems to move us.

Is there a fatigue in society that includes the media regarding news about violence against women? Is it because the incidents reported are so frequent and similar that we have developed a kind of ennui on the subject?

Personally, I think the reasons are more complex than just the repetitiveness of these stories. I say personally because when I hear about a rape of a woman or a girl, or a suicide caused by rape or physical and mental abuse from an intimate partner, no matter how many times I have heard this story, I physically cringe inside – a reflex I think all women can relate to. I can imagine the fear, powerlessness, humiliation and physical pain.

I can fathom the continuous trauma after the fact that may stick all throughout life, colouring every aspect of it. I can foresee the possible effects such an experience may have on current or future relationships, the callous cruelty rendered by a merciless society. I also realise that what I feel in those fleeting moments may not even be a fraction of what a victim of sexual violence suffers. I also feel panic thinking it could have been me or someone I love.

All this I feel involuntarily, because I am a woman in an unapologetic man’s world.

I don’t think most of my male counterparts feel the same way, no matter how empathetic or righteous they are as human beings.

And that seems to answer, at least partially, why there is such apathy towards violence against women. It relates to the value attached to a female in society.

The value of a female is largely determined by what she can offer to her family and, consequently, to society. When she is a child, her value is practically zero; she may even have negative value, being a burden to her parents who have to ensure her future marriage. When she is an adolescent, she is again a headache because now her chastity is linked to the family’s honour and so needs to be protected, through stringent restrictions on her movement and independence, an early marriage being the perfect solution.

If she is single and working, her value depends on how much she is contributing to the family income to justify her unmarried status. When she is married, her value is related to the services she renders – her body for sex (with or without consent), her ability to cook and keep house, produce children, especially male heirs, take care of ailing parents and generally be completely submissive. Anything less will diminish her value considerably and may justify violence – which is a product of this patriarchal evaluation. Her rights as a human being, as an equal citizen and equal member of the family, remain buried in the heap of cultural and religious domination.

Thus, the position of women (and girls) in society, in the family, is directly linked to the probability of violence they may have to face. Their secondary status also determines how this violence will be seen by society at large, and this includes law enforcement, the courts and the media. When a rape survivor approaches the police, does she get the sensitivity and compassion that she needs? Very unlikely. In fact, chances are that if her rapist has enough power and money to pull strings, her case may not even be accepted by the police. Names of the prime accused may be dropped, and there will be coercion from the rapists’ side to settle out of court, to withdraw the case to avoid dire consequences or the case may fizzle out due to the inefficiency of the investigating officer. If it is a case sensationalised by social and mainstream media, she will undergo the violence of character assassination, even if she is dead.

The same is true for victims of domestic abuse, which includes marital rape, physical and mental abuse by the intimate partner or his family, as well as economic violence, which “involves making or attempting to make a person financially dependent by maintaining total control over financial resources, withholding access to money, and/or forbidding attendance at school or employment” (UN Women). Again, it’s her lowly place in society that allows these horrible crimes to be committed against her, because the power is tilted on the abuser’s side and violence is a form of control. Only if she dies as a result of the torture and if she is from a middle- or upper-class background will the media’s interest be sparked.

Can we change the status quo that endorses the premise that a woman is less in value than a man? Will we have a women’s development policy that will recognise their equal status as guaranteed by our constitution, including her equal rights to inheritance? Will our police, courts and laws treat women with the respect and support they are entitled to? Will the media report rape and other forms of violence diligently and sensitively?

Will the government enforce the prohibition of child marriage and dowry and scrap the special provision that legitimises underage marriage under “special circumstances”? Will the state ensure security for women in the streets and at home so they can thrive and be the drivers of the country’s progress they are meant to be? Can society discard the violation of rights of women and girls in the name of culture or religion?

Giving women their rightful place in society is a formidable challenge that we as an independent nation face today. Violence against women is a disease that can only be treated if society as a whole realises the enormity of it. The state must wake up to the fact that violence is disempowering not just for the women who are the direct victims of it, but for the entire nation – which cannot develop if half of its population is forcibly crippled.

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Amids so much of online hatred and as in various places Kashmiris are threatened there is a different picture in Kolkata .Though there are rumours but Kashmiris of Kolkata Say Kolkata is the safest place .

তাঁদের বক্তব্য, কলকাতার মানুষের সঙ্গে তাঁরা মিশছেন। কলকাতার বাসিন্দারাই তাঁদের অনলাইনে ছড়িয়ে যাওয়া গুজব সাবধান করে দিচ্ছেন।

কমলিকা সেনগুপ্ত: পুলওয়ামার সিআরপিএফ কনভয়ে জঙ্গি হামলার পর থেকে ক্ষোভে ফুঁসছে গোটা দেশ। পাকিস্তানের বিরুদ্ধে প্রতিশোধ নিতে মরিয়া সকলে। এই পরিস্থিতিতে কাশ্মীরিদের প্রতি বিরূপ মনোভাব দেখাচ্ছেন কেউ কেউ।

কাশ্মীর ও কাশ্মীরি বয়কটের ঘোষণা যেমন হয়েছে, তেমনই দেশের বেশ কয়েকটি জায়গায় আক্রান্ত হয়েছেন কাশ্মীরিরা। ফলে আতঙ্ক ছড়িয়েছে দেশজুড়ে।

কিন্তু এতে বিন্দুমাত্র চিন্তিত নন ফারুক আহমেদ ও জহউর আহমেদ। কারণ, তাঁরা দুজনেই মনে করেন বাংলাই সবচেয়ে নিরাপদ।

ফারুক কাশ্মীরের বুধগাঁওয়ের বাসিন্দা। তিনি গত ১০ বছর ধরে কলকাতায় রয়েছেন। আর জহউর আহমেদ শ্রীনগরের বাসিন্দা। তিনি কলকাতায় রয়েছেন গত ৩০ বছর ধরে। দুজনেই মহানগরে ব্যবসা করেন।

তাঁদের কথায়, পুলওয়ামা হামলার পর থেকে তাঁরা চিন্তিত। তবে সেটা তাঁদের পরিবারের সদস্যদের জন্য। নিজেদের জন্য নয়। দেশের বিভিন্ন প্রান্তে কাশ্মীরিরা আক্রান্ত হলেও কলকাতা বাংলায় এমন ঘটনা ঘটবে না বলেই তাঁদের বিশ্বাস।

তাঁদের বক্তব্য, কলকাতার মানুষের সঙ্গে তাঁরা মিশছেন। কলকাতার বাসিন্দারাই তাঁদের অনলাইনে ছড়িয়ে যাওয়া গুজব সাবধান করে দিচ্ছেন।

সেই কারণেই তাঁরা বাংলাকে সবচেয়ে বেশি নিরাপদ বলে মনে করছেন। জহউরের কথায়, “বাংলা সবচেয়ে নিরাপদ জায়গা। এখানে কখনও আমাদের ভয় হবে না। অনেকে গুজব ছড়াচ্ছে। তাতে কান দেওয়ার দরকার নেই। হামলোগ ইস জাগা মে মেহফুজ হ্যায়।”

আর ফারুকের বক্তব্য, “বাংলাই তো এখন আমাদের বাড়ি। আমরা এখানেই সবাই মিলে ভালো থাকব।”

source: Zee News

A video released by the environmental activist a few days before he went missing from a train while travelling to Madurai from Chennai, S. Mugilan says the “shooting was well planned”.

Chennai: Two days after environmental activist S. Mugilan allegedly went missing from a train while travelling to Madurai from Chennai, the Madras high court has directed the Chennai police commissioner and the SPs of Villupuram and Kanchipuram to respond by February 22 to the habeas corpus petition filed by human rights defender and People’s Watch founder Henri Tiphagne.

Expressing his concern over the missing activist, Henri Tiphagne said, “The Villupuram police have denied arresting him in the court. In the backdrop of the Supreme Court judgment on Sterlite on Monday, we are really worried that Mugilan is in serious danger now.”

The Supreme Court had set aside the NGT order allowing Sterlilte to reopen on account of maintainability and had asked Sterlite to approach the high court.

Days before the judgment, on February 15, Mugilan had met journalists in Chennai to release a documentary – Koluthiyathu Yaar? Maraikkapatta Unmaigal (Who burnt it? The Hidden Truths).

In the video, he incriminates the Thoothukudi police of having orchestrated the shooting of anti-Sterlite protestors on May 22 last year. Putting together video clippings from various sources, Mugilan says the ‘shooting was well planned’ by the police and he accused IPS officers Shailesh Kumar Yadav and Kapil Kumar Saratkar of orchestrating it.

Hours later, after boarding a train to Madurai from Chennai, Mugilan went missing. His phone was reachable till 1.45 am on February 16, but since then, it has been switched off.

Mugilan has not reached Madurai as planned, and activists believe he may have been illegally detained by the police.

Meeting reporters at Thanjavur today, MDMK leader Vaiko expressed fear that Mugilan could havebeen  killed in an encounter or detained illegally. “The Tamil Nadu police and Sterlite administration should be held responsible” he said.

A picture showing a sniper shooting from atop a vehicle at the crowd on May 22, 2018. Credit: Twitter

Mugilan, an activist with the Tamil Nadu environmental protection movement, has been one of the most vociferous voices on environmental issues in the state. He has been in the forefront of various struggles, including against illegal sand quarrying, Koodankulam, for Cauvery river and Jallikattu. He has been facing over 15 cases including sedition.

Mugilan was arrested under 13 cases related to anti Koodankulam struggle in September 2017, shortly after he took part in a struggle against Sterlite in Thoothukudi. He was released in September 2018 after his lawyer obtained bails in all the cases.

Mugilan’s associates say there has been a precedent. “In March 2012, when he was struggling against Koodankulam plant, Mugilan he was illegally picked up by police for three days and then let off,” one said, asking not to be named.

Even at the press meet on February 15, Mugilan had voiced his fear that by releasing the video ‘evidence’, he was putting his life in danger.

In the 46-minute video, Mugilan seeks to establish that the ‘police’ had used a huge iron ladder to destroy two CCTV cameras prior to the shooting.

He says that Shailesh Kumar Yadav “had seen the iron ladder while inspecting, yet said nothing about it”. Mugilan also says the police had deliberately directed the protesting crowd towards the direction where there where now no CCTV cameras. Mugilan also seeks to establish that the protestors had not committed any arson, as had been claimed by administration as the reason for firing.

In the video, Mugilan also demands that the one-member commission to enquire into the shooting should file its interim report and that the autopsy reports of those killed in the shooting be released immediately. He has also demanded the arrests of the police officers concerned.

source: The Wire

Pulwama’s gory spectacle is haunting. The mangled wreckage of the bus, the strewn body pieces leave behind the tell-tale signs of the lives that existed seconds before the explosion, of the brutality of loss of lives that could have been avoided. Beyond the war and stated positions is a human tragedy that stands above everything else. What is it that was lost – soldiers, mostly from poor backgrounds, who were unsuspectingly being transported for duty, not in combatant positions, but left behind mourning families. Behind the gruesome killings is the 19-years-old suicide bomber whose one move snuffed out life from over 40 people in just one strike – a militant who should have been studying and not wielding the gun in the first place.

 
Then come the questions. Why did the incident happen? Who is responsible? Could it have been avoided? What is the remedy to prevent such incidents from happening in the future? There are micro level and macro level questions.
The immediate questions necessitate a thorough probe into the security lapses which appear glaring and these need to address all the questions including the manner in which a huge convoy was given road clearance, the gap between intelligence outputs and the security drill, the unchecked movement of the explosive laden SUV amidst such high security, the stockpiling of explosives including RDX by the militants. If infiltrations are claimed to be at zero-level amidst heavy snowfall, how were the explosives smuggled in whether from across the borders or via Lakhanpur? Were there internal leakages from the already existing explosives in the possession of security agencies or kept for use in development projects? Is there a possibility of militants producing their own explosives? Is there some level of complicity in all of this? These questions are as vital as pinning the blame on the perpetrators.

 
The bomber was a Jaish-e-Mohammed operative which has base in Pakistan but is also a product of home-grown militancy. How much is the involvement of Pakistan’s agencies, if at all? Who were the master-minds and logistics accomplices and where were they operating from? These questions need to be resolved on basis of evidence and facts not by chest thumping and muscle flexing, which can only be momentarily comforting for the sense of hurt that the massive scale of killings invokes; but they end up obfuscating facts and hampering truth.

 
The deeper and more vital question is the continuing graph of militancy in the Valley and the additional strength it is gaining, as is evident from the Pulwama attack. The incident punctures the myth of a rosy picture off late being painted by the officials with claims of militancy being wiped out, which has been wrongly calculated on basis of number of militants killed without taking into account the new militants being born. Is the nation being mislead about low recruitment in militant groups or has the intelligence on this count failed? The ground situation today in the Valley is far more conducive for young boys to pick up arms than it was a year ago, despite the claims of the security agencies and the government. Whether the shocking Pulwama attack is an aberration or signals a new and decisive phase in Kashmir’s insurgency is too early to say, but it does reflect the strengthened roots of militant outfits in the Valley. Radicalisation of youth picks up energy from a continued muscular policy pursued without any full stops, and added to this repressive atmosphere is a huge baggage of exercise of democracy in breach, curbing of civil liberties and massive human rights excesses and above all a pending political dispute.

 
According to a news report, Aadil Ahmad, the suicide bomber, who picked up the gun less than a year ago, was primarily tormented by his own experience of harassment. “Once he was returning from school when he was detained by the police and asked to rub his nose on the ground. He felt it was very humiliating and would keep recalling the incident again and again,” according to Aadil’s father who said that “otherwise he had no inclination to become a militant”, as quoted by the report. Rewind to 2010 and the story is not dissimilar from Burhan Wani’s transition from a student to a militant. Many young men who joined militant ranks in recent years have done so as a reaction to the experiences of humiliation, harassment and human rights abuse with them or with people around them.

 
There is thus need for a deeper introspection on the Kashmir centric policies being employed now and those that have been pursued since years. Previous central governments since the last seven decades, particularly since the onset of insurgency, have resorted to managing the conflict by alternating brute military might with cosmetic political outreach. In a place that needed the important transition from conflict management to conflict resolution, the present government has followed the simple strategy of an all-out muscular policy, with the predominant echo of bullets and pellets, that has only ended up deepening the conflict. A course correction is one of the most vital necessity if attacks like Pulwama and mass-slaughter of security personnel have to be avoided.

 
Instead, the pre-dominant discourse ever since Pulwama attack is pushing not only Kashmir but the entire country into a much more dangerous vortex. The public outrage and collective pain is understandable but the response needs to be guided by rationale and pragmatic approach. The government and its loyalist media have focused on two basic things. One is the obsession with Pakistan bashing and making a show of efforts to diplomatically “isolate” the country. Second is the call for revengeful action built by whipping up frenzy. The first is inspired by sheer naivete of the global politics which is not shaped by moral questions but strategic interests. It would be foolish to gloss over the strategic worth of Pakistan, as compared to India, for the western powers. It would also be sheer hypocrisy to snub international powers for raking up human rights issue in Kashmir and at the same time garner international support on the question of terrorism. One can do all the chest thumping and muscle-flexing but blaring noises and sloganeering don’t create sound foundations of a good diplomatic offensive; that needs solid work through use of different channels. At best, with all these noises and despite having the high moral ground on terrorism, India may end up isolating and insulating itself from the world.

 
As for whipping up sentiments in favour of a revengeful backlash, it is a huge blunder on three counts. First, it hampers the image of the country internationally. Secondly, responsible and liberal democratic states are not expected to be guided by principles of vindictiveness in their policies and actions. Thirdly, the communal overtones and violence that such a sense of vindictiveness took in Jammu demonstrates the inherent dangers to the nation and its secular fabric posed by such echoes. Sadly, it wasn’t just irresponsible media and fringe politicians who spoke about avenging the attack but also some union ministers.

 
What India needs today is not a knee-jerk response, but one that is taken with a level head, with an open mind, by grappling with questions, some of which may seem pretty uncomfortable. Guided by a discourse that everybody but the government is wrong, we are not embarking on the journey of preventing further disasters like Pulwama, we are only camouflaging the existing failures. The conclusions on involvement of Pakistan can’t be based on emotions but on scrutiny of facts and evidence. In case there is sufficient evidence pointing to such a role, the wiser thing to do is not to turn the back on Pakistan but to launch a solid diplomatic offensive including through engagement to pressurize Pakistan into doing much more to crackdown on the terror modules operating there. Jaish has close liaison with Taliban. India has ‘unofficially’ been a part of the American backed and Russia initiated talks with Taliban. It cannot back dialogue in which Pakistan is also a part internationally but refuse to do so at the sub-continental level. There is also need to understand that for enduring peace, Kashmir issue requires a political resolution in which Pakistan again is a stake-holder. By repeating the past mistakes, there is a greater risk of perpetuating the conflict and bracing for more violence.

 
Precious lives of soldiers have been lost. Many more cannot be treated as cannon fodder and fed to satiate the blood-thirsting calls for revenge. By trying to convert soldiers into symbols of national pride, there is a convenient politics at play to dehumanize their existence. Pulwama, above all, is a human tragedy. Kashmir is turning into a dangerous battle-field where civilians and security force personnel are losing their lives on a daily basis and where suffocated young men are driven to the suicidal path of joining militant outfits. Where does this all end? If the soldiers have a responsibility to fight the borders and fight insurgents, it is the moral duty of the political powers to work for creating conditions where such violent situations can be avoided. The political powers cannot turn themselves into cheer-leaders for more bloodshed. How much more blood needs to be spilled before someone wakes up to the reality that the deeper malaise needs to be treated, not managed and certainly not exacerbated.

source: Kashmir Times

Please find here a communication dated 11 December 2018 issued to the Government of India jointly by the UN Special Rapporteurs on cultural rights; extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; the right to freedom of opinion and expression; violence against women; and the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice. The communication draws the government’s attention to threats, including death threats, against Ms. Swati Chaturvedi,  a journalist and columnist at NDTV and TheWire.in.

UN Communication – Swati Chaturvedi

आप दिल्ली, मुबंई या देश के किसी भी कोने में हो कल से “कश्मीरियों हाय हाय, खून का बदला खून से लेगे” जैसे नारे लगाते लोगों के झुंड से आपका सामना ज़रूर हुआ होगा। कश्मीरियों को हमने बड़ी आसानी से देशद्रोही बना दिया है, देशभर से कश्मीरी स्टूडेंट्स, व्यापारियों पर हमले की खबरें आनी शुरू हो चुकी हैं। अगर आप कश्मीरियों के पक्ष में कुछ बोल या लिख रहे हैं तो आप भी देशद्रोही और आतंकवादी करार दिए जाएंगे।

अभी तक तो कश्मीरी अपने कश्मीर में असुरक्षित और सहमे हुए थे मगर अब पूरे देश में उनके लिए डर का माहौल बना दिया गया है। वजह, सीआरपीएफ के जवानों की मौत का बदला लोग सारे कश्मीरियों को मार-काट कर लेना चाहते हैं। माफी चाहूंगी ऐसे शब्दों का इस्तेमाल करने के लिए मगर मौजूदा हालात ऐसे ही हैं।

जेएनयू स्टूडेंट यूनियन के जेनरल सेक्रेटरी ऐजाज़ अहमद (जो एक कश्मीरी हैं) का कहना है, “पूरे कश्मीरी स्टूडेंट्स में डर का माहौल है, कोई कमरे से भी बाहर नहीं आ रहा है। उनके परिवार वाले बुरी तरह से डरे हुए हैं। जेएनयू में स्थिति थोड़ी ठीक है, यहां पर किसी को कुछ बोला नहीं गया है लेकिन फिर भी यहां भी लोग डरे हुए हैं। जो लोग किराये पर घर लेकर रह रहे हैं उनकी स्थिति तो और भी बुरी है। उनसे कमरे खाली करवाए जा रहे हैं। सोसाइटी में लोग कश्मीरियों से घर खाली करवाने के लिए मीटिंग कर रहे हैं।”

खुलेआम यह कहा जा रहा है कि सीआरपीएफ के जवानों की मौत के ज़िम्मेदार पूरे कश्मीरी हैं, वे आतंकवाद के समर्थक हैं। इस सिलसिले में बात करते हुए कश्मीर के एक सीनियर जर्नलिस्ट ने नाम ना बताने की शर्त पर बताया कि श्रीनगर के लाल चौक पर बिना शक नारेबाज़ी हुई है और मैं वहां मौजूद भी था। वहां लश्कर के समर्थन में नारेबाज़ी हुई है, ज़ाकिर मूसा के समर्थन में नारेबाज़ी हुई है, गो इंडिया, गो बैक के नारे लगाए गए लेकिन इन सबके साथ सच्चाई यह भी है कि उन प्रदर्शनकारियों की संख्या बहुत कम थी। वे लोग 20-25 की संख्या में थे। अब इस 20-25 लोगों के आधार पर पूरे कश्मीरियों को गलत नहीं ठहराया जा सकता है। (पत्रकार ने उस प्रदर्शन की वीडियो भी बनाई है लेकिन कश्मीर में इंटरनेट की स्थिति ठीक नहीं होने की वजह से हमें अभी वह वीडियो नहीं मिल सका है।)

वह पत्रकार बताते हैं कि देशभर में कश्मीरियों को जिस तरह परेशान किया जा रहा है, उसके विरोध में रविवार को ट्रेड यूनियन की तरफ से कश्मीर बंद किया गया था लेकिन इस बंद के दौरान जो प्रदर्शन हुए वे काफी शांतिपूर्ण थे। यह प्रदर्शन पूरी तरह से कश्मीरियों पर हो रहे अत्याचार के खिलाफ था।

जम्मू में कश्मीरियों के खिलाफ माहौल

दो दिनों से जम्मू में कश्मीरियों के खिलाफ माहौल बना हुआ है। मुसलमानों की संपत्ति को नुकसान पहुंचाया जा रहा है। इन सबको देखकर जम्मू में फिलहाल कर्फ्यू लगा हुआ है। जम्मू में उन इलाकों में विरोध प्रदर्शन ज़्यादा देखने को मिल रहे हैं, जहां कश्मीरी लोगों की संख्या ज़्यादा है।

कश्मीरी इकोनॉमिक अलायंस के चेयरमैन मोहम्मद यासिन खान ने YKA से बात करते हुए कहा,

यहां 100 के करीब गाड़ियां जलाई गईं, लोगों को तंग किया जा रहा है, उन्हें घर से बाहर नहीं आने दिया जा रहा है। हमारी मांग है कि अगर इन सभी चीज़ों को नहीं रोका गया तो कश्मीर में जम्मू से बिजनेस को बैन कर दिया जाएगा, हम जम्मू के अलावा हिंदुस्तान की बाकि रियासतों से ही सिर्फ बिजनेस करेंगे।

मोहम्मद यासिन का कहना है कि यह एक सियासी मसला है। यह दो मुल्कों के बीच की लड़ाई है और इसमें जम्मू-कश्मीर के लोग पीसे जा रहे हैं। कश्मीरियों को लेकर एक परसेपशन बना हुआ है हिंदुस्तान में कि ये आंतकवादी हैं मगर ऐसा कुछ नहीं है। हम किसी की भी जान चली जाए उसके खिलाफ हैं, यह कश्मीर का बच्चा-बच्चा जानता है। गांधी जी ने कहा था कि मुझे रौशनी की किरण कश्मीर से दिखाई दे रही थी, यह भी तो सच्चाई है, इस चीज़ को भी तो आप माने। कश्मीर के लोग भी दंगा फसाद पसंद नहीं करते हैं।

अब सोचने वाली बात यह है कि वर्तमान में माहौल ऐसा क्यों बना है, यह सारी चीज़ें क्यों हो रही हैं, इसे कैसे ठीक किया जाए उसपर बात होनी चाहिए। कश्मीर में राष्ट्रपति शासन चल रहा है, जब तक कोई सरकार नहीं बनेगी कैसे बाते होगी?

यासिन ने आगे यह भी बताया,

हमारा यही कहना है कि जो भी कुछ हुआ है उसको लेकर सरकार फैसला ले, सिविलियंस को कोई अधिकार नहीं कि वे मारधार करें। अगर हुकूमत इस मसले पर कुछ कर रही है तो उनको किसी निष्कर्ष पर आने दीजिए। आप आम लोगों को क्यों सज़ा दे रहे हैं। ऐसा नहीं है कि आप किसी को भी मार सकते हैं, हमारे बच्चे वहां पढ़ रहे हैं। हमारा बिज़नेस जम्मू-कश्मीर से बाहर भी है, उसका क्या होगा?

कश्मीर के सीनियर पत्रकार खुर्शिद वानी बताते हैं कि जम्मू में बुरी स्थिति बनी हुई है, कश्मीरियों के खिलाफ माहौल बनाया जा रहा है, किसी को बाहर निकलने नहीं दिया जा रहा है, तो अभी उसका रिएक्शन कश्मीर में होना नैचुरल है। कश्मीर में इंटरनेट स्पीड भी डाउन कर दी गई है कि कश्मीरी देख भी नहीं पाएं कि बाहर क्या हो रहा है। कश्मीरियों को अनअवेयर किया जा रहा है। इसे एक सेट मैनर में जानबूझकर किया जा रहा है।

अगर इस तरह से स्थिति चलती रही तो कश्मीर में हालात और भी बुरे हो सकते हैं। हालांकि आज कल लोग डरे, सहमे हुए हैं। जिन लोगों ने खुद वायलेंस देखा है, उनको यह दर्द महसूस होता है, जब सीआरपीएफ और आर्मी के लोग मरते हैं तो कश्मीरियों को भी दर्द होता है।

सीआरपीएफ के जवानों की मौत से हर कश्मीरी भी दुखी है

ऐजाज़ का कहना है कि कश्मीरियों ने भी सीआरपीएफ जवानों की मौत की निंदा की है,  कश्मीरी किसी भी दहशत की घटना के सपोर्ट में नहीं हैं। किसी की भी जान जाए कश्मीरियों को भी दुख होता है कि एक इंसान मर गया है लेकिन यह क्या तरीका कि आप इसके लिए कश्मीरियों से बदला लें? उनपर हमला किया जाए? ज़बरदस्ती यह कहा जाए कि कश्मीरी हिंदुस्तान का हिस्सा नहीं हैं।

मीडिया में वॉर मूवमेंट हो रहा है, उन्हें रिवेंज चाहिए लेकिन रिवेंज किससे चाहिए? अच्छे से पहल करके इस बात का हल निकाला जाना चाहिए लेकिन यहां लोगों को बस रिवेंज चाहिए, कश्मीरियों से रिवेंज।

ऐजाज़ बताते हैं कि कश्मीरी युवा अपने भविष्य को लेकर बहुत चिंतित हैं, उन्हें भविष्य खतरे में दिख रहा है कि वे कहां जाएंगे। कहां पर नौकरियां मिलेंगी? ना ही कश्मीर में स्थिति ठीक है और ना ही अब कश्मीर के बाहर ही कश्मीरियों के लिए सकारात्मक माहौल है।

ऐजाज़ बताते हैं कि कश्मीर में शिक्षा की स्थिति ठीक नहीं है। तकनीकी शैक्षणिक संस्थान नहीं हैं, इस वजह से कश्मीरी युवाओं को पढ़ाई के लिए बाहर आना पड़ता है, जैसे कि देश के अन्य क्षेत्रों से लोग बाहर निकलते हैं लेकिन देश में हमारे खिलाफ अगर ऐसा माहौल बनाया जाएगा तो हमारे भविष्य का क्या होगा?

किन परिस्थितियों से गुज़रता है हर एक कश्मीरी

जो स्टीरियोटाइप लोगों ने कश्मीरियों को लेकर दिमाग में बना रखी है कि कश्मीरी देशद्रोही होते हैं उन्हें उसे तोड़ना होगा। कश्मीर में भी आप जैसे लोग ही रहते हैं, कोई आत्मा नहीं रहती है, हमारे भी इमोशन हैं। जिनके बच्चे हैं, वे खुद उस तनाव में 40 साल से फंसे हुए हैं। कश्मीरी कश्मीर में भी वैसे ही रहना चाहते हैं जैसे दिल्ली में लोग रहते हैं। आप किसी चीज़ को वायलेंस से कंट्रोल करेंगे वह सही नहीं है।

कश्मीरनामा किताब के लेखक अशोक कुमार पांडये ने अपने फेसबुक वॉल पर लिखा है, “उनके माँ-बाप उन्हें आतंकवाद की आग से बचाकर नागरिक बनाने के लिए भेजते हैं कश्मीर से बाहर पढ़ने। तुम उन्हें मार पीटकर वापस कश्मीर भेज रहे हो भारत के प्रति ऐसा गुस्सा पैदा करके कि कल वे हथियार ना भी उठाएं तो मन में एक कड़वा एहसास उम्र भर रहेगा। तुम चाहते हो यह हो ताकि तुम लगातार उनके खिलाफ नफरत फैला सको। एक दिन आएगा जब तुम्हारी इन्हीं हरकतों की वजह से वहां जाने में टूरिस्ट भी डरेगा। तुम यही चाहते हो। कश्मीर को भारत से पूरी तरह काट देना।

तुम देश से प्यार नहीं करते। तुम यहां नफरत की खेती करना चाहते हो। तुम्हें शहीदों की मौत का कोई अफसोस नहीं। तुम बस उनकी लाशों पर नृत्य करते चील-कौवों से हो। तुम्हें ना आज की चिंता है ना कल की। तुम जैसों ने ही कश्मीर से लेकर उत्तर पूर्व तक के लोगों को गैर बना दिया।” (इस पोस्ट को फेसबुक ने हटा दिया है)

वहीं, कश्मीर से हालिया यात्रा करके आईं एक युवा पत्रकार कश्मीर की स्थिति पर बात करते हुए बोलती हैं, “कश्मीर के बच्चे ऐसे माहौल में बड़े हुए हैं, जहां उन्होंने सिर्फ खून खराबा देखा है। वे एक वॉर ज़ोन में रह रहे हैं, कश्मीर के बच्चों को चिल्ड्रेन ऑफ वॉर कहना गलत नहीं होगा।

हीबा का केस ही ले लीजिए, वह सिर्फ 18 महीने की है लेकिन जब वह बड़ी हो जाएगी तो उसके दिमाग में क्या चलेगा, मेरी गलती क्या थी, उसका भाई शहादत पूछेगा कि मेरी बहन की गलती क्या थी?

कश्मीर से माता-पिता अपने बच्चों को बाहर शिक्षा और रोज़गार से ज़्यादा इस बात की वजह से भेज रहे हैं कि उनके बच्चे उस माहौल से दूर रहें, आतंकवाद से दूर रहें। उनकी पहली वजह यह नहीं रहती है कि उनका बच्चा पढ़ लिखकर नौकरी कर ले, उनकी वजह यह रहती है कि अगर मेरा बच्चा यहां रहेगा तो उसके साथ कुछ हो सकता है, वह गलत रास्ता पकड़े, मिलिटेंट बने इससे बेहतर है वह बाहर जाए।”

इसलिए ज़रूरी है कि कश्मीरियों को लेकर अपना परशेप्शन बनाने से पहले हम वहां की परिस्थितियों को समझे, उनके लिए देश में कैसा माहौल है उसे जाने, बस घर बैठे हम उनके विरोधी ना हो जाएं।

source: Youth Ki Awaaz

दोपहर होते-होते पटना की हवा भी नफरत की आग में जल रही थी। ठीक शाम 8 बजे मैं जब बोरिंग रोड चौराहे से गुज़र रही थी तब कुछ जाहिल लौंडे सड़कों पर तिरंगा लिए पाकिस्तान #$*& के नारे लगा रहे थे।

ऐसे ही मवाली पटना स्टेशन के पास लह्सा मार्केट में लगे कश्मीरियों की दुकानों को लूट रहे थे, उन्हें पीट रहे थे। पटना के सब्ज़ी बाग और पटना सिटी के इलाके में भी यही नारे लगाए जा रहे थे। मुसलमानों के खिलाफ गंदी-गंदी गलियां दी जा रही थीं।

मैं बस हैरान थी और यह सब देखकर अपने ही शहर को पहचान नहीं पा रही थी। इस शहर में रहते हुए 40 साल से ज़्यादा हो गए हैं। शहर को बदलते, टूटते और बिखरते हुए देखा है। इस शहर ने बहुत से दुःख झेला है। हर बार यहां की साझी विरासत और साझी संस्कृति इसे दुखों से बाहर ले आती थी।

हमारे शहर की सबसे हसीन शाम और सुबह इसलिए थी कि हमारे भीतर सारे रंग घुले-मिले रहते हैं मगर आज मन परेशान है यह देखकर कि जम्मू-कश्मीर के पुलवामा में हुए आतंकी हमले में मारे गए हमारे 42 जवानों की राख ठंडी भी नहीं हुई है कि इसे भुनाने की कोशिश हो रही है।

खास समुदाय के खिलाफ नफरत और हिंसा फैलाई जा रही है। यह सब बहुत सुनियोजित तरीके से हो रहा है। क्या यह संयोग है कि पूरे बिहार में एक ही तरह के नारे लगाए जा रहे हैं? गालियां भी एक ही तरह की दी जा रही है।

 

कोई यह सवाल नहीं पूछ रहा है कि हमारी सुरक्षा व्यवस्था में क्या चूक हुई? खुफियां एजेंसियों को इस हमले का अंदेशा था फिर भी जवानों की जान क्यों दांव पर लगाए गए?

 

मीडिया में लीक हुई चिट्ठी से यह साफ है कि 8 फरवरी को इस सिलसिले में एक अलर्ट जारी करते हुए कहा गया था कि जम्मू कश्मीर में आतंकवादी आईडी के ज़रिये सुरक्षा बलों के काफिले पर हमला कर सकते हैं। फिर भी उनकी सुरक्षा में क्यों चूक हुई?

 

सरकार के पास ना तो इन सवालों के जवाब और ना ही आतंकवादियों पर गंभीर विचार करने की ताकत है। अगर ऐसा होता तो आज यह उन्मादी सड़कों पर नंगा नाच नहीं कर रहे होते।

हम सब जानते हैं कि पाकिस्तान खुद आंतकवाद को झेल रहा है। यह भी सच है कश्मीर की समस्या को हवा देने में भी उसका हाथ है लेकिन क्या हम इस बात से इंकार कर सकते हैं कि कश्मीर की समस्या के प्रजनन-पोषण में हमारा हाथ नहीं है?

 

यह सब एक गहरी बीमारी के लक्षण हैं और इस बीमारी का समाधान नफरत नहीं है। ऐसे मौके पर सवाल तो उठाना ही होगा। मैं जानती हूं सवाल करने वालों पर इस देश में कभी भी हिंसक घटनाएं घटित हो सकती हैं लेकिन अगर हम डर कर चुप हो गए तो हम सब का अंत निश्चित है।

 

अखबार, रेडियो और टीवी पर जिस तरह उकसाने वाले बयान दिए जा रहे हैं, जिस तरह की हिंसा और नफरत परोसी जा रही है, इसके पीछे की राजनीति को भी जानना होगा। हमारी इसी नफरत और दरार का इस्तेमाल आज तक होता रहा है।

 

किसी भी दरार के पास आग लगाने पर प्रचंड मात्र में राजनितिक उर्जा फूटती है, जिसका इस्तेमाल नफरत की राजनीति के लिए किया जाता है। मेरे शहर की खास बात यह है कि यहां आज भी नफरत से ज़्यादा मोहब्बत करने वाले लोग हैं।

 

हम जानते हैं कि हमारी दुनिया दोष रहीत नहीं है फिर भी मुझे अपने इस घायल और दागदार दुनिया से प्यार है। मैं जानती हूं कि आज भी यहां नफरत के खिलाफ मोहब्बत के लिए जान देने वाले लोग हैं।

 

मुझे अपने शहर की इस ढीली-ढाली बेतरतीबी से प्यार है। यहां ज़िंदा सपनों के साथ ज़िंदा लोग बसते हैं। हमारे पटना को नकली देश भक्त नहीं चाहिए।

 

हम अपनी दुश्मनी अपने दुश्मन की माँ, बेटी के साथ बलात्कार कर नहीं निकालेंगे। जब सड़कों पर मवाली लौंडे उत्पात मचा रहे थे, ठीक उसी समय मोहब्बत के रंग में रंगे लोग सड़कों पर निकल कर यह कह रहे थे कि हम नफरत के खिलाफ प्रेम के पक्ष में खड़े हैं।

Data cited by HRD ministry shows professor-level posts for reserved candidates will cease to exist in 21 central universities.

NEW DELHI: The Centre, faced with political pressure on the university quota row, has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court packing it with 13 pages of data to show how the apex court’s January order will work “against the interest of SCs/STs”, amount to “grave miscarriage of justice and will jeopardise the rights of SCs/STs & OBCs”.

The Union Human Resource Development (HRD)  ministry has submitted, in its petition filed last week , that the total SC/ST/OBC representation is expected to come down by more than half ––from 2,663 seats to 1,241 in a year if the new faculty quota system is implemented.

The 31 annexures attached to the Centre’s petition provides data collected from 21 Central Universities to show the impact of changing the reservation formula as directed by courts.

source: Economic Times

The committee, which has set a deadline for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to appear before it, could have aimed to do much more than just enabling right-wing voices.

Round one of the bout between the parliamentary panel on information technology, led by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, and representatives of Twitter ended as expected – with an extension. The committee asked Twitter’s global CEO, Jack Dorsey to appear before it on February 25 to answer to charges of a ‘liberal’ bias that drowns out right-wing voices.

In an age of nanosecond attention spans, it allows the controversy to stay in the news cycle as the BJP rallies its supporters – ironically, on Twitter – to its cause.

Twitter has just 350 million active users globally, a fraction of Facebook’s nearly 2.5 billion. It begs the question of why the commitee decided to go after a platform that is perhaps the lowest in the hierarchy of usage and profit across the social media landscape. The answer lies not in its numbers, but in politics.

For its size, Twitter punches well above its weight. Its user base seems much more publicly engaged on issues that dominate the news cycle. Global leaders – presidents and prime ministers, celebrities and strongmen alike – tweet directly to users, and sometimes to each other, bypassing the entire ecosystem of official communications, press conferences and statements in the mass news-media.

Tweets make news and often set the agenda for nightly debates on TV in under 280 characters. Twitter’s ability to influence news agendas and mobilise support or dissent (whichever way you look at it), despite its size, is globally formidable.

During the 2014 general election, the social media space in India was dominated by the BJP. Its leaders, including Narendra Modi, had a first-mover advantage – occupying larger-than-life online personas and wielding great influence. Today, a savvier political opposition has caught up and Twitter’s jurisdiction is wide open. Ahead of a volatile, polarised election campaign being fought aggressively online, every byte of space, every character in a tweet, is now fair game.

The right-wing ecosystem of users ‘proud to be followed by PM Modi’, who spent the last five years making a cottage industry out of misinformation and hate, have now levied a charge of bias against Twitter. Stranger still that Twitter’s management can be summoned in election season, on the basis of a complaint by motley BJP supporters, themselves often accused of increasing the platform’s toxicity.

The summons is a leaf directly out of Donald Trump’s playbook. In the months before the US mid-term elections in November 2018, White House officials had to distance themselves from a leaked draft executive order calling on federal agencies to investigate social media companies for ‘online platform bias’ after several statements by President Trump accusing Twitter and Google specifically.

Prime Minister Modi and his party, on the other hand, have thrived on the chimera of social media popularity, even welcoming Dorsey to the PM’s residence in Delhi last year – all in the midst of the US right-wing’s growing outrage against Twitter.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Credit: Reuters

Parliamentary committees have subpoena powers. Undoubtedly, those summoned should respect the dignity of India’s parliament and appear. Given Twitter’s statement, rebutting the charges and repeating what Dorsey said last year – that Twitter acts against behaviour, not ideology – the controversy shows no signs of dying down. The parliamentary committee has dug in its heels too, insisting that Dorsey and not his Indian team appear before it. In fact, the goal-posts are already shifting, from simply platform bias to respect for the Indian parliament.

Platforms have a responsibility for the health of conversations and debate on their sites. But that responsibility has proven to be a tightrope walk between freedom of expression and censorship. Last year, India watched as raging storms around misinformation, abuse and privacy violation enveloped Facebook, while New Delhi also took on Facebook’s messaging product, WhatsApp, and hauled its management over the coals for the platform’s unchecked ability to amplify dangerous rumours.

That move was triggered by the lynching of a tech worker in Karnataka on suspicions of child abduction. The alarm over the spread of fake news, forcing WhatsApp to take steps was welcome. Whether those steps have been effective or not is debatable, what is clear as day, however, is the lack of the government’s response to several lynching deaths of Muslims by mobs of cow vigilantes between 2014 and last year.

Stakeholders around the world – governments, tech companies and civil society – are struggling to find ways to build accountability regarding abuse, violent speech, discrimination and fake news on social media.

Plenty of questions have to be answered to achieve this. What is the platform’s responsibility to take down content when they see their own standards violated? How loosely are those standards defined? How do human beings conditioned to behave with civility and dignity, especially in public become the keyboard monsters we see online? What does the ability to be anonymous do to human behaviour?

These are all valid questions. But the committee’s ham-handed decision – to not tackle the underlying problems – is disappointing. With a larger vision, it could have done so much more, much earlier in its term, instead of just defending questionable  voices in the service of a heated election campaign.

If anything, the framing of the summons has proved the right-wing’s own bias. Any formal diktat by the committee will only set a dangerous precedent for constitutional restrictions to free speech – problematic for all, irrespective of ideology. Most likely, this episode may just prove a needless distraction as we as a society urgently search for a balance between proximity and civility.

source: The Wire

Facing hostility from Hindutva groups and the Indian government, some of them have been forced to seek the relative safety of Bangladesh.

On January 18, at least 31 Rohingya refugees from Jammu were arrestedin the no man’s land between India and Bangladesh by the Border Security Force and handed over to the Tripura police. For four days, they had been trapped between the border fences of the two countries, with neither willing to accept them as refugees.

Six years earlier, they had left their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine stateas the country’s military launched an offensive against Rohingya villages. They had made the long journey from the eastern border to Jammu city, finding work and shelter. Now they were fleeing again, bound for Bangladesh. Threats from the local people and the government’s changing attitude had made Jammu a hostile place, they said.

They were not the first. Aamir Hussain, chairman of the Rohingya Refugee Committee, said of the 1,350 registered Rohingya families four months ago, only around 1,000 were still in Jammu. Last year, some of them shifted to Hyderabad and Kolkata, but many returned, unable to find jobs, Hussain added.

“It is impossible to go back to Rakhine and face the kind of oppression we were facing unless the government in Myanmar is willing to give us our due rights as equal citizens,” he said.

News of the arrests at the Bangladesh border has deterred some refugees from embarking on similar journeys. Many, though, are willing to risk the uncertainty.

Finding refuge

Thousands of Rohingya fleeing persecution by the Myanmar militaryarrived in Jammu from 2007 to 2015. They spread out to 22 locations across the city, including Narwal, Bhatindi, Channi Himmat, Bhagwati Nagar. They have built refugee camps on rented land, crammed with makeshift tenements.

Until some years ago, they thought Jammu was a safe haven. People were friendly, even if the weather was a little harsh. Wages were higher than in other cities. With poor educational qualifications, the best jobs they could get were in the unorganised labour sector, or as petty scrap dealers and ragpickers. The luckier ones found work in factories and business enterprises. Some gradually set up makeshift shops near their settlements, selling vegetables, groceries, clothes. Some run tea stalls.

But just as the community was starting to find its bearings in Jammu, insecurity crept in.

Strangers in the night

The proud owner of a tea stall at the Bhatindi refugee camp was barely nine when he fled his home in Rakhine. “I had to give up my studies after I came and work hard like my father to sustain the family,” he said. “Earlier, I was working for somebody else, now I have my own business. Things are better but there is a nagging sense of fear and uncertainty. How long shall we be able to continue like this? Will we have to flee again?”

This is the only home he knows. Memories of his childhood in Myanmar are shot with panic, filled with images of Rohingya villagers being taken away or interrogated by the military.

“We don’t face similar problems here but now…,” he trailed off as another young man from the Bhatindi camp chimed in. “Some people here have started saying that we should be thrown out, that we are involved in bad activities, that we are terrorists,” said the young man, who works as a daily wage labourer.

He said he is never able to sleep peacefully. Two years ago, a Rohingya camp in Narwal, on the outskirts of Jammu city, was ravaged by a fire. Eight people were reportedly killed, three of them charred so completely that only a few remnants of bone were left for the body count.

The fire coincided with anti-Rohingya campaigns led by Hindutva groups. It triggered “sabotage” theories that gained ground after another fire broke out in a Rohingya camp in Bhagwati Nagar.

Four months ago, the labourer recalled, mysterious people gathered around their colony. When the Rohingya residents went out to confront them, they found the visitors had left behind a gallon of oil. “The incident was reported to the police but there has never been an investigation,” he said.

Under the saffron banner

Campaigns against Rohingya refugees in Jammu started in 2008, during the Amarnath land agitation. They were revived after 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power at the Centre and became a coalition partner in the state government. In the last three years, several political groups, media outlets and even the Jammu Chamber of Commerce have openly called for the Rohingya to be driven out.

Propaganda and rumours have fanned xenophobia, with the Rohingya blamed by default for various crimes. Last year, two Rohingya men were arrested on charges of cow slaughter. Hindutva groups defending those accused of raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl in Kathua district began blaming the Rohingya for the crime, even though the refugees are in Jammu city, a good 50 km away. In February 2018, a militant attack on the Sunjuwan Army camp, which lies close to some of the refugee clusters, set off the rumour mills again.

But police officials maintain there are no cases linking Rohingya refugees with terror activities in Jammu. “There are perhaps some petty cases of theft and drug abuse against a couple of them,” said a top police officer who did not want to be identified.

Tejinder Singh, senior superintendent of police, Jammu, ruled out Rohingya involvement in terrorism cases. But he was unable to give a rough estimate of the number of Rohingya involved in criminal cases or facing arrest. “Please, give me in writing the details you want, I will see,” he said.

Biometric identification

Lately, the introduction of biometric identification for the Rohingya has triggered fresh anxieties. Giving out personal details in officials forms and biometric data would be a precursor to forced deportation, they fear. In October 2018, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, announcing the government’s decision to deport all Rohingya refugees, said states had been asked to identify the Rohingya and collect their biometric details. The Centre would send their biometric details to the Myanmar government, he added. A month later, Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik said the biometrics of the Rohingya living in Jammu would be collected by January 2019 and sent to the Centre.

The data is being collected by the Jammu deputy commissioner’s office. According to the deputy commissioner, work was in progress and the Centre had set no deadline so far. Asked if refugees were reluctant to be profiled, he said, “We have our ways and we are doing our job.” He refused to comment on the purpose of the biometric profiling or the anxieties the process was causing.

Hussain said the deputy commissioner’s staff are escorted by the police as they conduct the exercise, “without a proper order”. “Why are these biometrics being collected and all our personal data taken?” many Rohingya refugees asked. “Already, when we got our UN cards, similar data was collated.”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has registered and issued identity cards to 16,500 Rohingya to protect them from harassment and arbitrary arrest.

Shafi Alam, a cleric who runs a small madrassa for very young children at the Rohingya cluster in Narwal, explained, “One needs to understand that, owing to our individual and collective experiences in Myanmar and thereafter, fear is deeply ingrained in our psyche. We faced the ruthless power of the state and took the treacherous route over the difficult mountains into India via Bangladesh [some came by sea]. We set up temporary homes here, found time getting jobs and even before we could begin to settle down in our ramshackle shabby homes, we are grappling with the threat of being deported.”

Deportation begins

The sense of threat was reinforced by the Indian government’s decision to deport seven Rohingya from Assam in October. They had been arrested in 2012 in Silchar on charges of illegal entry. In August 2018, the government announced plans to deport “illegal foreign nationals”, including an estimated 40,000 Rohingya, even those registered with the United Nations refugee agency. The government contended that all Rohingya could be subject to deportation, regardless of their registration status or international norms.

Hussain said most of the 15-odd Rohingya lodged in Jammu’s jails were arrested for illegal border crossing. “When they were arrested, they had already applied for refugee status at the UNHCR,” he added. “But they have not been released after they received their valid cards.”

Alam laments that Rohingya families have spent all their earnings to fight court cases. “In eight of these cases,” he said, “within minutes of the release, they were rearrested in fresh cases.”

But the larger worry now is whether the UN registration is valid or they can still be deported.

Still, Alam felt, the Rohingya community was thankful to Indians for their show of humanity, “barring some voices who want us out for their politics”. He sighed and continued, “If we had such an example of humanity and democracy in Burma, we’d never have left home.”

This is the first part of a two-part series on Rohingya refugees in Jammu.

Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal is executive editor, Kashmir Times.

source: Scroll.in