FJ Kashmir

 inam ul rehman Book: Rumours of spring: A girlhood in Kashmir Author: Farah Bashir Publisher: HarperCollins     “On the deserted streets of my neighbourhood, in the presence of so many military bunkers and the gaze of the unknown men inside them,” writes Farah Bashir, in her refreshing memoir, ‘ Rumours of Spring ’ “I suddenly became aware of my body and its contours. (I) felt naked. I tried to fold into the school bag clutched in front of me.” It resulted a perennial hunch in her back, the author says.    “Rumours of spring” is an intriguing title, already a novel of the same name has been published in the late 80s. It is a title that does justice because there is no spring ahead only the rumour of it.    Bobeh epitomises Kashmir of yore   Farah crafts her memoir around Bobeh, her grandmother epitomises the Kashmir that stood for syncretism until 1994, that is where she ends her book. The year 1994 marked the secular, independence seeking the J...

Book: The plague upon us Author: Shabir Ahmad Mir Publisher: Hatchette India     inam ul rehman     Anyone familiar with the writing as a craft, not as a talent, will vouch that writing is spine bending work. You give up your cherished things for the craft of writing. But what matters for all writers is how public receives their product.     “The plague upon us”, a debut novel of Shabir Ahmad Mir, is a complex story of Kashmiri characters. It is as complex as the Kashmir situation is in itself. An average reader has to have his attention span stretched to understand this book. It is a thinking man’s book where the author lets his readers to form their own opinions, and judge the characters on their own experiences.     Set in the 90s when Kashmir saw massive armed uprising against the Indian state , all the characters in the book go through many transformations. Be it Oubaid ­–the narrator of stories­– an intriguing person who goes thro...

inam ul rehman  We are a strange race in Kashmir . Constructing houses is our first priority. But we design our roofs, and ramps for the vehicles in such a way that we make sure that rainwater, snow should fall on the road because road belongs to the public. We eat number of things then dump their wrappers on the road. We are so proud of it that in the morning, instead of doing walk, we take the garbage of our houses and throw it on the roadside and then swagger as if we have conquered the Mt Everest . We don’t care because the road belongs to the public. Whatever is public it is the responsibility of the government to fix it. Isn’t it how we think?    So goes our argument. Because over the years we have learnt that only two persons are responsible for all the mess that we are in: God, and government.   The snow that accumulates during winters in our backyards we push that out on the roads. All our neighbours, shopkeepers compete in this. In civilised nations people...

  Every year it pockets more than Rs 50 lakh , but does not answer where it spends it!   inam ul rehman    Many of you must have seen Bollywood movies where gangsters , policemen demand “ hafta ”. It is a “protection” money that every businessman from a billionaire to roadside vendor has to pay for smooth functioning of his/her business. This  “hafta”  money is never accountable to the people, and is demanded according to whims of the gang leader.    The University of Kashmir has a few employees’ unions . One of them, and the largest, is the Kashmir University ministerial staff association , known as KUMSA . Now, don’t ask me why the word “ministerial” is put here. I became a permanent employee (permanence has a great value in government service) 6 years ago, but came to know recently that a sum of Rs 255, is deducted every month from the salaries of all non-teaching employees, including me. And this is done without our consent. Although the pl...

  Book: Kashmir : Rage and Reason Author: Gowhar Geelani Publisher: Rupa Publication Pages: 288   inam ul rehman The “Rage and Reason”, Gowhar Geelani, believes is because of the Indian state policies toward Kashmir ! Paradoxically he cites an example of a mechanical engineer, Maseehullah , working in Jalandar Punjab , joining militant ranks. It was Maseehullah’s study of Islam that prompted him to join the call of, what he believed, jihad.    The author here, like a skilled politician, spins the narrative, and writes that the protest of 2008 against the grant of land to the Amarnath shrine board made many to think that it was an attempt to change the demography, and it was this event which forced Maseehullah! Although the latter’s father clearly states that it was Islam which made him to pick the gun against the state. Even his father supports that the land belongs to Allah, and His laws should govern people here.    In fact, throughout the book author ne...

inam ul Rehman   It has been 30 years since the Kashmiris picked up gun against the Indian system . If someone says nothing has changed then he must be put into a mental asylum. What hasn’t changed is that the Kashmiris fight to redraw the boundary continues.   So, what has the Kashmiri leadership, pro-resistance intellectuals learned in the past 30 years about the Indian state? Apparently, nothing. From trying to physically evict India from Kashmir, the Kashmiri leadership, and pro-resistance intellectuals are now trying to shame the Indian state into submission! No state in the world can be shamed into submission, especially when it comes to secession .   Sadly, there has been no concerted effort to understand the Indian state. No Tehreeki intellectual writes on the Indian state. How does it work? What galvanises it?what riles it?what holds it together?what are its underbellies?what makes it to fear?what will make India to give up its claim on Kashmir? What keeps it u...