The Last Thing We Need

On the 2^nd of January, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia executed 47 prisoners convicted for different charges. One of those executed included Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a cleric from the Eastern Province region of Saudi Arabia. On the same day, Channel 4 published a video reporting protests against Sheikh al-Nimr's execution. Strangely enough, the video highlighted, of all places in the world, Kashmir as one of the places where people protested against the execution of Sheikh Nimr. It even ignored the protests, that too violent ones that happened in Iran. As a Kashmiri, I find this worrisome, if not dangerous already. We are seeing country after country in the Middle East struggling to come out of imported and imposed-sectarianism fueled wars which refuse to die, one of the reasons being the fighters owing allegiance to either side of the Persian Gulf. I don't think we can afford people getting divided on the same lines in Kashmir. Do we need anything else to worry about than the reasons a military occupation has given us? How does one justify taking sides in a struggle for regional hegemony between two countries, which do not give a hoot to our issues when we have our own struggles unattended!

I have been using social media for a pretty long time now. And, I feel, the current discourse on social media is more dangerous than ever. I fear if the language one gets to see people using online is an indication of intensity of the divide between communities, a disaster is staring at our face. The social media war is a sectarian war without weapons. When I call it a social media war it is not an exaggeration. All you have to do is to follow some accounts from Kashmir on twitter and you will be treated to a myriad of social media posts related to issues ranging from the death sentence issued to someone in Saudi or Iran and conspiracy theories explaining how Saudi or Iran is a friend of Israel, depending on whether you are following a Saudi-loyal or a Iran-loyal twitter account. I can't help but be appreciative of people who raise a voice against injustices around the world, but the raising of voice against injustices selectively is an injustice in itself. And this sectarian and ideological idea of justice and injustice, in which every voice raised is actually an attempt to prove one's point or to further an agenda is an idea where people killed unjustly are reduced ultimately to pawns who at best get a place on placards in the hands of angry protesters.

Muslims around the world do not have to necessarily take sides in this rat race, and neither should we assume that we have sides already taken because of the sect we belong to. Saudi Arabia and Iran are not the imams of Muslims around the world that we should follow whatever their governments decide. Their governments serve, at best, the interests of their own people and strive to maintain peace within their international boundaries, irrespective of the hell they might have let loose elsewhere. Everyone of us cannot, and need not, be an International Relations expert and post our angry and emotional views online. The way we write our posts and the meaning we intend to convey is may not be the same what the reader comprehends. So, in regard to such issues where a single post of mine can be shared to the world, I ask myself, is it not better to refrain from taking sides? It is not that I am asking myself to remain silent in the face of injustice, rather what I am asking myself is to show commitment to justice for the sake of justice and not for the sake for purifying the king's linen or the mullah's robe. There are enough sensible thinkers with presence on facebook who share their views on such issues. I think it makes sense to first make sense of what the wise are saying about current issues facing the world than to publish our expert opinions online solely based on sensational headlines.

In an column in a German news-website someone recently wrote, “An escalation in the long simmering conflict between the rival regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran is the last thing the region needs”. I would add something and say that fighting each other taking sides which we never took, and hence becoming pawns in someone else's fight(s), is the last thing we need in Kashmir!  

Is celebrating Pakistan team's loss in Srinagar sedition?

This past Sunday would be remembered for years, if not decades to come. It was a jam-packed stadium at Mirpur where India lost to Pakistan in a crucial cricket match thanks to the last over heroics of Shahid Afridi. It was à la Eid affair back home in Kashmir with celebrations starting just after Afridi’s last hit sailed across the boundary for a Six. I surprised my friends here at the university by sharing with them my happiness of India losing the match. Upon seeing me happy they expected India to have won the match. Back in India, more than 60 Kashmiri students of a University were suspended by the authorities and booked for ‘sedition’ for ‘celebrating’ the Indian team’s loss.  

In Kashmir, i studied at an institute which is unique for a college/university in Kashmir. The majority of the students in the institute were non-local, non-Kashmiri students. During the course of my studies there were many cricket matches we watched together in the common-hall of our institute. Among all of them, I remember three cricket matches which are significantly relevant in the present context.

In 2009, the ICC World Twenty20 Final was played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Lord’s. Pakistan won the match with, again, Shahid Afridi playing a major role. Indian students rooted for Sri Lanka in the match and Kashmiris cheered for Pakistani team. I decided to go home, watched the match at home partly because I did not want to hear the battle cries and hooting by fellow Indian students in case Pakistan lost the match. However, the Kashmiri students at the hostels after the match were ecstatic. Pakistan having won the match, Pakistani national song was played in hostels on full volume with only the joy of having won the match. An odd slogan here and there. "Meri jaan Pakistan".

Australia versus Pakistan. St. Lucia. ICC World Twenty20, 2010 - Semi-Final. At one point of time in the match Pakistan were cruising along with the match having set a huge target of 192 runs before the Australian team. With every falling wicket the joy in the Kashmiris watching the match was reaching new levels. Indians were silently watching the game and gradually leaving the common-hall. Just when Mike Hussey began pummelling Saeed Ajmal’s deliveries across the boundary the Indians felt a new lease of life. The last five balls bowled by Ajmal went for 23 runs and Hussey took Australia into the finals single-handedly. By the last over, only the mess-workers were in the common-hall with Kashmiris having retired themselves to the hostel rooms. While Hussey raised a storm at St. Lucia, Indians raised one in the Chenab hostel at NIT Srinagar. Slogans, MCs, BCs and celebrations. It was as if India had just won a war against Pakistan although the Indian team was knocked out earlier, having lost all of its matches in the knockout stage.

We did not damage college property just because the Indians celebrated Pakistan team’s loss, acting upon their sentiment. We did not demand their rustication, or suspension. We did not burn effigy of the Director because the Indian students had violated our sentiments by celebrating a Pakistani loss. Many of us were willing to battle it out verbally, or may be physically as well. But, restraint was the way. We would always ask ourselves, “If we fight, the news will go out and there will be problems for Kashmiris studying in India”.

India versus Pakistan. Mohali. ICC Cricket World Cup, 2011 – Semi-Final. This was The match. Special arrangements were being made, both, by the students as well as the college authorities. Students in hostels without internet did some self-made arrangements for watching the match while as the authorities decided to shut down the common-hall for the night. Just in case. Police was deployed in the campus. And India won the match, and went on to win the Final as well. Those who had stayed back in the hostel reported ecstatic celebrations with slogans and all. “Indiyaaaaaaa, Indiyaaaaaa”. Again there was no fight, there were no demands for suspension of students. Had there been some sort of equivalent of Hindutva parties in Kashmir, I think they might have demanded the same for the Indian students who celebrated the Pakistan team’s loss. But there are not any!

For me, however, it did not come as a surprise to see the bigoted reaction of the same Indians who studied with us at the same college in Kashmir for four years. One of them commented on the recent suspension of the Kashmiri students saying, “First step towards controlling anti nationals” and six others ‘liked’ this comment. Strangely, one of those who ‘liked’ this comment also lives to believe that Pakistan is all about hunger and bombs. To quote him,“Bahut pyaar karte hain kashmiri bhaiyon se... aise nahi jaane denge paakistan... bhookho marne, bombs me udne ke liye”. Well, UN testifies that poverty levels in India are alarmingly higher than in Pakistan.

It is like them saying to us, “I have a sentiment. It is called National Interest. I can abuse, arrest or kill in its name.”

“Thou shall not have a sentiment!”

Is it just a game? India versus Pakistan!

It is another of those days when a game of Cricket is not just a game. The game surpasses itself. It is not a war but there is a people who have seen all what it takes to call a people a war hardened people. It is not just a bowler delivering the ball and the batsman hitting it, it is about the heartbeat of an entire people skipping a beat with every delivery. It is not just about 11+2 players battling it out at a particular time on the field, it is about an entire nation with a history linked to both the teams' nations letting out their emotions to express their sentiment. It is not about who wins the match that is important, more important thing is who loses the match. And this is the thing which satisfies the, may i borrow the term, 'collective conscience' of my nation in a somewhat emoticomic way.

It is not just a cricket match, it is a India versus Pakistan cricket match and Kashmiris root for the Pakistan Cricket Team in such a match.

KunanPoshpora, GawKadal, Zakoora, Sopore, Pathribal, Machil, Chittisinghpora, Tufail Mattoo, Wamiq Farooq. Maqbool Butt. Afzal Guru. Curfew, Crackdown, Encounter (fake?), Rashtriya Rifles, CRPF. Occupation.

Cricket is followed back home like the Champions League, here, in Europe or like the NBA in the US, if we need a comparison. Some people even say, "Cricket is a religion and da da da player is its god!" This is just to tell what Cricket means to the people in South Asia - India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka.

When India wins a Cricket match it generates a wave of nationalism and nationalistic pride across the country.  When it wins against Pakistan all this is topped with an inexplicable happiness in the Indian fans, which may, in some cases, spill over into anti-Pakistan bigotry. On the other hand when India loses a cricket match, more importantly against Pakistan, Kashmiris see it as a perfect antidote which punctures this nationalistic pride of Indians. The same nationalistic pride of the same national interest which has served as a forever-young, collective conscience satisfying, blood-thirsty alibi to deny justice to Kashmiris for the past 67 years. 

The joy is inexplicable. Well, i am not going into he details on how Kashmiris forget everything on this day and become cricket experts/commentators! Or how it feels like a Curfew, or what a friend called Cricket Curfew, on this day!

It is not just about the joy of seeing India lose on the cricket field (read battleground) to Pakistan. It is about how a cricket match brings Kashmiris across the world together, cheering for one team to win. People may argue that it is just a game of cricket but for a Kashmiri, it is much more than just a game. It is an opportunity, howsoever insignificant for some, to see the back of the collective conscience of a particular nation.

P.S. If Pakistan loses the match, we have an antidote for that thing as well. "Tum jeeto ya haaro, suno, humein tumse pyaar hai!"

Noon Chai – A Sweet Beginning

First published on Samavar.

They say you have a perfect start to the day when you praise the Lord, see the sun rise, hear the birds singing the songs of the morn. But, in Kashmir, something else, inevitable and irreplaceable marks the ideal beginning of the day apart from these.

There is no morning without Noon Chai, there is no afternoon/evening without Noon Chai.

Noon Chai – usually marketed as Green Tea, the name seeming to be a misnomer as we always see it in a Pinkish Red hue – is the special salt tea which we, in Kashmir, have to have, religiously,  twice a day. In the morning, it serves as the breakfast along with Lawaas, Bakerkhaani, Kulcha or a Girda – all different varieties of Kashmiri bakery collectively known as Tsott.

In the afternoons, stretching into evening in the winters, preferably around 4 or 5 the hot steaming Noon Chai serves as a refresher even when temperatures soar upto 34. And if there are some hot and crispy Moinjgool handy, the experience of Noon Chai becomes ever more memorable.

The mystery or, more preferably, the mystique of the Noon Chai amazes me till date. Despite being salty, it is the pre-requisite for the sweetest of starts of any day for Kashmiris.

Noon Chai and Kashmiris have such strong a connection, or should I say Noon Chai is too tasty to ignore, that even pilgrims to Makkah and Madina take along at least some quantity of Noon Chai with them. So much so that students coming back from hostels or from outside Kashmir are first of all asked, “Did you have Noon Chai there?” Having Noon Chai is worth the long wait which precedes, while it is getting prepared, considering that it is preferred over the sweetest of the sweet beverages available at a particular time.

And Samavar! What better thing to prepare Noon Chai than a Samavar! I sometimes wonder the romantic cliché, “made for each other” fits perfectly for the combination of Samavar and Noon Chai, Kehwa being the other claimant to the duet, nevertheless, for a later time to discuss!

The Internet Sabbatical in Kashmir!

It is 2013 in Kashmir and Telegram is a thing of past in India as it is collaborating with Israel to introduce 5G technology; 2G Internet in Kashmir survives at the mercy of a man tweeting from the hills. In, India youth recharge their phones with SMS packs promising a thousand SMSs for 20 odd rupees. In Kashmir, during certain days (sort of Sabbath in biblical terms), people still have to travel some 50 odd miles away from home to check email on someone else’s broadband connection. Those who don’t travel have to reveal their best kept secret – passwords – to friends, cousins or in the worst case scenarios, to a stranger who owns a broadband café, on phone and have a ‘glimpse’ of their mail via phone. I wonder what we would call this. Telemail? Or Telegram again? But the login is not complete yet! In addition to the password, one needs an additional verification code, to be sent preferably on SMS, to have an access to the account. This, because one has been clever enough to have had this 2-step verification On for his account just to take control in situations like these. Yes, that God-forsaken SMS which stands exiled since the time Change was promised last time! So, one has to discontinue the Telemail call and wait for that verification code, kind enough of Google to send it by voice call.

“Abu! I still remember that Telegram which Dadaji had sent from Hajj during his second trip.” It read, “We are all well!” As Aabid put this question as well as the answer on the breakfast dastarkhwaan, his Ammi retorted, “Do you plan to send a similar one when you are abroad?” I don’t know whether Aabid’s mother asked this in sarcasm, with internet services standing shut or she was just being emotional. But it did redirect Aabid’s thoughts to the fact that he was expecting an important mail from the university regarding his arrival there and as well a mail from the embassy regarding his visa. “Now what?”, he thought because in this case he need not just check the mail, which he could do via a phone call, he needed to reply as well. At this moment he would have liked to use the same phrase for India which Aamir’s father in The Kite Runner used for the Russians.

Enforced disappearances and Kashmir have a very interesting relationship. There aren’t many places in the world where the term ‘enforced disappearance’ is used as mainstream as in Kashmir. People who spoke up, whose subversive activities threatened to disturb the law and order were to be silenced, hence the disappearances. Until recently it was limited to the physical disappearance of a person from the scene but now there is an added dimension to it – disappearance from the virtual world. All of a sudden, in the flow of emails, tweets, posts, messages, you disappear – without a trace. You cannot even check whether all the conversations had ended or not. The person at the other end simply has no idea what has become of his messages which are not getting any reply!

The blocking of mobile internet services at will by the state is yet another example of feed-and-choke mechanism of which we have become a regular victim. First we are made so much dependent on a particular commodity or service and then they choke us at will. Be it the supply line of public distribution commodities like rations, LPG, or Petrol or the export line of Kashmir’s horticultural produce both can be choked by a bunch of unscrupulous elements on the warmer side of the Banihal Tunnel anytime. And now mobile internet is the latest casualty. Ever since mobile internet was fully operationalized in Kashmir, in 2008, it has led to a decrease in the wired internet connections and rapid proliferation of mobile internet subscriptions. This, because people naturally opt to be wireless than be connected by a wire. So, now it becomes easy to block access to the majority of internet users.

Talking about the latest internet blockade. When internet services were blocked last time in Kashmir during curfew, they were fully operational in the Jammu region. But this time around, the region under curfew was Jammu and Kashmir became an undue casualty of internet blockade. The reason may as well be technical only but either way this points to the fact that we have been made dependent to such an extent that we don’t even have the freedom of accessing the most basic necessity of life in present day world – after Air, Water & Food – Internet!

14-08-13

Amarnath: How the state manufactures fear!

Pahalgam and Sonamarg areas of the Kashmir valley have been declared out of bounds for school excursions “In view of the ensuing Amarnath Yatra”. The timing of the ban imposed by school education department of Kashmir on school picnics to Pahalgam and Sonamarg is quite interesting. The ban comes in the backdrop of the warning of the Indian army about a possible militant attack on the yatra. While as the warning runs contrary to the tall claims of the security establishment in Kashmir that militancy has been, more or less eliminated, but it does serve the purpose of the state to manufacture fear and impose a sense of uncertainity among the people.

One of the important visible aims is to create fear psychosis among the natives as well as the yatris. This manufactured fear is aimed to give legitimacy to the presence of security forces across the length and breadth of Kashmir.  And as a result, all the debates regarding the repeal or partial withdrawal of draconian laws like AFSPA, Disturbed Area Act and Public Safety Act are stealthily laid to rest without much opposition. And the laws continue to be there. The yatra also means that Kashmiri policemen are coerced to be at the disposal of the pilgrims for two months. That their posting is coercive was evidenced by the recent hunger strike and protest by new recruits of the JKP undergoing training at the Ganderbal police training centre. The manufacture of threat is not a new thing in Kashmir. Back in 2012, a cooking gas cylinder blast in a vehicle carrying some tourists, in Islamabad, was initially reported as an grenade attack on yatris in the Indian national media. Similarly, when militants attacked a CRPF camp early this year in Bemina, one of the Indian TV channels went to the extent of falsely reporting it as an attack on a school run by the JK Police and further declared that 5 students died in the attack while as in reality the school was closed on that day and there were no civilian casualties.

One more aspect of this perceived threat is that it reaffirms the Islamic Extremism rhetoric which is often used to downplay the struggle of Kashmiris. It has been a convenient way all along to malign the Kashmiri struggle as being communal and this particular Hindu pilgrimage provides an opportunity for the state to turn the tide in favour of its own narrative. And we know, branding it as Islamic Extremism is the easiest way to turn any struggle of Muslims in any part of the world illegitimate. And Islamic Extremism having with its different shades and different definitions in different parts of the world, when linked with Kashmir, makes it easy for the world to forget the various human rights violations being meted out to Kashmiris on one pretext or the other.

Keeping in view the fact that this threat perception was well received by the central government notwithstanding the clear rejection at the state government level, a political angle cannot be avoided with general elections due next year. Congress may want to turn the tide completely in its favour eyeing the religious Hindu vote base, as if acting as the saviour of the beliefs of majority Hindu community given that Army has already invoked ‘Operation Shiva’ to ‘sanitize the hills around the route’! Furthermore, this decision as well points to the incompetence and irrelevance of the state government and that fact that the it is just an extension of the central government of India. It is just an instrument or interface between the decision maker (central government) and the executing body that is the army. The fact that there was no mention of any militant attack threat in the recent meeting of the Unified Headquarters headed by J&K Chief Minister makes it amply clear that this threat perception has been conceived at the centre only.

It is interesting to note here that even during the peak of the 2008 popular uprising which was sparked off by an issue related to the same Amarnath yatra, the yatra went off peacefully without any harm done to a single pilgrim. This leads to the conclusion that the only visible threat to peace is the state itself.

- - -

This write-up first appeared on PKKH.

NH1A

He did not board a bus, the distance was pretty short to board one. Pushing the rolling empty gas cylinder down the dusty pathway on the sidelines of the national highway – NH1A, with the gentle pushes of his feet, he was singing a song somewhat like, "rain rain come along, I just want to sing a song!". It was winter and the gas outlet had run out of supplies. At 9:30 in the morning, the winter sun was yet to shine and Aarif was witnessing the long cavalcade of the yellow colored Islamic University buses, going probably for their final exams for the year. This was a sight he witnessed every day idling at his uncle's kiryana shop near Pampore.

The morning rush hour at play,the triple laning of the two lane highway, by the over-eager drivers, had set in. During this time ambulances, school buses, staff buses, passenger buses or private cars move at the same pace – that of a snail! It always takes, not a policeman, but a convoy of army to set the things back in order.

Here they are! The long convoy of army vehicles, with Jabalpur Vehicle Factory inscribed at the front, coming down all the way from the Khrew cantonment, located on the slopes of Bathen – a picturesque mount located a few miles south-east of Srinagar, has begun to descend on the highway. The cantonment having rendered the peaks out of bounds for any trekking enthusiasts can well be cherished by those interested in shooting – the cantonment has a big shooting range and you can hear bullets all day – one could well confuse it with an encounter! Having passed down the road on both sides of which, as Beacon declared, 'world's best Saffron grows' they now join the jam charades on NH1A. The statutory man at the top of the army vehicle begins to wave the long bamboo stick at the civilian vehicles stuck in jam to make way for the imposing army and everyone, even an ambulance, has to oblige.

Just when Aarif's phone beeped he took it out and checked if he had received an SMS after ages. There wasn't any! In the meanwhile, the overtaking army vehicle was honking the horn behind him and in the melee; he pushed the cylinder the wrong way – onto the highway. Screeeech….the army driver applied the brakes and down came the brave!

~~~

"Why did you not retaliate? You could atleast have said something in defence. It was them who were overtaking the wrong way, driving in the rough, on the path meant for the pedestrains", asked Aarif's friend.

"Don't you know about AFSPA?", replied Aarif, nursing injuries!

They are alive!

May i share with you a story of a Shaheed!
Promise that you'll be all ears and pay heed!
It is a story of a Martyr!
from the killing fields of Kashmir!
He achieved martyrdom,
and was buried without a family!
A few weeks later,
some people heard,
people of a far off village,
that a person had been martyred!
They descended on the village,
where the martyr lay buried,
They asked to let them see him,
so it was ordered He be exhumed!
The pitched a tent around the grave,
when the police arrived.
Around the grave of the martyr,
the grave to be exhumed!
The policemen wore around masks,
covered their nose to avoid the stink.
Expecting the corpse to have decomposed,
to smell, to stink!
But, as soon as the grave was opened,
the men around were shocked!
The Martyr's body was as fresh,
the hairs of him unruffled!
The blood of the martyr was still there,
on the clothes which he had worn.
The martyr was alive (with Allah),
he was happy and not forlorn!

Kashmir: Airborne Photography

I wouldn't have uploaded these anywhere but the following news item made it, somewhat, obligatory! :)

Author Basharat Peer Stopped, Freed At Srinagar Airport

Curfewed Night author Basharat Peer and Contributing Editor of the Caravan magazine was stopped at Srinagar airport by police. He was on his way home from Delhi and was soon asked by airport police not to move out.

Basharat Peer told KL that he clicked a couple of photographs of the fascinating clouds somewhere between Jammu and Banihal. A co-passenger, who identified himself as a cop objected to it saying it compromises ‘national security’. It triggered an argument mid-air.

After the aircraft landed, unidentified co-passenger complained to the airport police. Peer was stopped for nearly half an hour. However, after the cops and airlines authorities saw the pictures that were shot by Peer midair, they said there was nothing objectionable and they allowed him to go home.

Photography on the airports is banned by law. But there is no such bar on photography midair.

The co-passenger was identified as P S Sandhu, an IGP in BSF, who was also flying to Srinagar in the Indigo aircraft.

The following are some, what we can call them, Peer'esque clicks!

Empathy! | that the dawn is near

was it a terrible nightmare,
or just a bad dream caught me in a snare,
or just a vision gave me quite a scare?

that when i walk along the road,
the oft travelled, the much loved road,
i feel a sense of loneliness spread manifold!

like the wildfire that spreads from peak to peak,
without a word said, leaving nothing about it to speak
the wilderness along the road, i want to cry and shriek!

does that person on the road, with a gun,
who seems to be forlorn, fate having had him spun and spun.
does he not have a family to have with them jest and fun?

does he not have a young boy at his home,
with whom he loves to play, his love for him an epitome.
does he not feel the boy he just shot dead, the sadness at his home?

does he not have a wife to look at, a home to long for,
when he is on a mission, ready to get killed and kill for.
does he not feel the widow whose loved one disappeared, with no crime to pay for?

all along the road, the wilderness instills in me, a fear,
i fear for me, myself and all others far and near.
will ever anybody say, declare with empathy, that the dawn is near?

Maktub - It is written!

With eyes set on the Zabarwan, Reyaz spotted that hot air balloon. Having been tempted to start the cross Dal sojourn from the Hazratbal Dargah just after the muezzin finished the call for prayer, to avoid losing customers, he felt a sort of guilt for not being able to join the congregational prayers. He would pray later after doing ablutions with the Dal water - which he doubted makes anyone pure or more impure! But, he had a family to feed!

Propelling the Shikara forward and ferrying tourists was the only means, nevertheless strenous, to earn a living - for himself, his wife who hadn't borne any children and his ailing mother who never approved of Zubeida - Reyaz's wife. For Reyaz, the life of the drivers of the Italian dredging machines and of the owners of the hot air balloon, was tempting as well as qaabil e rashq. They never have to exert much, work hard or/and haggle for the hundred odd rupees needed for the early morning lawasas, half kg Khyber milk packet and the vegetables for dinner. Besides, they can pray all the five prayers on their respective times.

He was lost in his thoughts - thinking about the ease of living that his contemporaries enjoyed - when the Shikara came to a halt, striking the concrete stepway near Centaur.

He sighed and said, "It is written!"

P.S. : Reyaz is illiterate & has never read 'The Alchemist'!

Cricket and Conflict!

Apart from having identical letters of the English alphabet at the beginning and the end, Cricket and Conflict have a lot in common. Or should I say they have had a very interesting relationship, here in Kashmir. We use almost identical terms for a cricket match and for a conflict situation. A batsman runs himself out while as a Surakhsa karmi runs out of ammunition. Others terms include fightback (by a losing side), encounter (between two teams), victim (of a bowler or a bullet/pellet/pepper gas), boundary (of a country or a stadium), score (of the runs or the injured), follow on (of the innings or of the ‘story’ by media). Owing to this interrelated lingo, I sometimes get confused whether I am reading the sports page or the front page of the newspaper. And I wonder, is it the ‘conflictisation’ of cricket or the ‘cricketisation’ of the conflict? I’ll go for the later!

All through my life, I have been watching boys (and men) play cricket on link roads and the inter-district roads throughout Kashmir on the conflict days. And conflict days are those when people wear the conflict on their sleeves rather than keeping it in their hearts – the days of Curfew, Hartals and other related ingredients of the conflict! So much so that a friend of mine wonders, “given the frequency of hartals and curfews in Kashmir it should have produced a lot of world class cricketers by now!” True that because when we play cricket on a metalled road (or that with potholes!) we can learn cricket better than anyone else. Such a ‘pitch’ has all those ingredients which usually pose a problem to Indian cricketers/players. Their batsmen can’t score on hard and bouncy surface. Their bowlers can’t take wickets on such surfaces. So, such ‘pitches’ or roads do qualify as a moment to think over, for the Indian ‘team’ – be it a cricket match at the WACA pitch in Australia or one of those pitched battles in the by lanes of Kashmir! 

Usually, it is a cricket match which decides which way of the conflict you stand, in Kashmir. As it happened, a goodwill General sensed the nabz of Kashmiris right and came up with an idea.  This goodwill army man delved on the idea of Premier Leauge-ising the Kashmiri Cricket. Hence, the Kashmir Cricket League was born. As a result this goodwill General, who happened to have a well receptive Muslim name, was seen more in Cricket grounds, cultural programs and flagging off wattan ki saer programs than in war room meetings!  It was supposed to be an attempt to bring the Kashmiri youth to the ‘mainstream’ – as if they were flowing in some wrong stream of Jehlum (towards Pakistan?)! It was an attempt to take the youth off the roads – where they were either engaged in cricket or stone-bullet (or stone-pellet) chor-police! Well, it did have a good result – Parvez Rasool, who played for the Anantnag Arsenals in the Kashmir Premier League went on to play for India A, BCCI President’s XI and also played alongside Yuvraj Singh for North Zone in Deodhar Trophy. And according to some ‘sources’ he may be ‘fast-tracked’ into the Indian team! This – apparently to cricketise the loci standi of the youth about the conflict!

But, there are always some repercussions to devious ideas. Only recently there was a ‘fightback’ from the apparently losing side – they claimed 5 wickets in quick succession before valiantly running themselves out! They even had a hashtag on twitter for this fightback - #KashmirFightsBack – as if it really were a test match going on.  Hence, television diarrhoeics like Goswami were forced to follow on (on the story!). As I said Cricket and Conflict have a very interesting relationship here.

Now, the goodwill Generals may well be ruing the fact that they inculcated the spirit of cricket in the jawans (jawans = youth, or otherwise!) so much so that they see a cricketer in everyone with a kit bag and a track-suit. In the process they even forget to save their own wickets!

Or, who knows, maybe they are staring at an innings defeat!

This write-up first appeared in the March 19 2013 edition of Kashmir Reader.

Kab waqt hamara woh aayega... | Urdu

Kab waqt hamara woh aayega, 
Jab takht giraye'n jayenge! 

Jab rang laye lahu shaheedoo'n ka, 
Jab qubool ho aahe'n maoo'n ki! 

Jab satta ke galiyaroo'n se boo aaye insaaf ki, 
Jab Hakim ke darbaar se loogu'n ko insaaf mile! 

Jab maaoo'n ko insaaf miley, 
Jab behnoo'n ko izzat miley! 

Jab bevaoo'n ko hum-dilli mile, 
Jab yateemoo'n ko shafqat mile! 

Jab kisi ke naam par na ho kahein par khoon-rezi, 
Jab kisi ke khoon ka na ho koi insaan pyasaa! 

Kab waqt hamara woh aayega, 
Jab takht giraye'n jayenge!

Courage it takes...

Courage it takes to live under oppression,

Courage it takes to live under occupation,

Courage it takes to stand against tyranny,

Courage it takes to stand for the oppressed,

Courage it takes to see the funeral of a son,

Courage it takes to see the cold gleam of a father,

Courage it takes to attend the funeral without a tear,

Courage it takes to say, "My son is a blessed martyr",

Courage it takes to bear the tears of a mother,

Courage it takes to bear the sobs of a sister,

Courage it takes to get killed without a word being told,

Courage it takes to see injustice, but still with a hope,

Courage it takes to even see in the eyes of the martyrs,

Courage it will take to even remember the martyrs!

"Aes te tcha Zaelim?" - Are we too, oppressors?

It is one of those rare Fridays when nothing bloody happened in Pakistan, only a few people died in Syria (not enough to get 'featured' in news) and none of the newspapers published anything about the continuing plight of the Rohingya!

Irfan and Faizan have just deboarded the school bus and are strolling back to their respective home a few metres away from the bus-stop! As they pass by the Martyr's graveyard;

Irfan: "How many graves are there in Shaheed Mazaar?".

Faizan: "I dont know but two graves are empty! We are getting late for Jumah Namaaz!"

Faizan: "We have a cricket match at 3 O'clock. I'll meet you after Namaaz. When do you complete it, ours gets completed by 2:30".

Irfan: "I'll be back from Imambara by then! I'll meet you at the ground!"

Nowhatta Greens Vs Rainawari Stars

Rainawari Stars win the toss and elect to bat first. They go on to score 134 for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs.

Nowhatta Greens need 135 to win. Faizan will write down the score on that SS Scorebook with his Reynoldspen. The batting order has already been written, on the scorebook. Mohammad Irfan will come in at No. 7 and Faizan Ali, being an allrounder, will follow in at No. 8. Faizan stations himself at the square leg position near the umpire and scribbles the runs on the scorebook. Irfan sits besides Faizan amid a lowly protest by the players of the Rainawari Stars  who insist that the Scorer  should sit there alone!

Five overs have passed and Rainawari Stars players ask for the scores. Faizan announces, "27 for 2"!

Faizan: "Do you know? It is Pulwama Chalo on Monday."

Irfan: "I know. These oppressors have killed another young man!"

Faizan: "Yem che saeeri Zaelim!" (They are all oppressors!)

Irfan: "Khudai karin Raham!" (May Allah have mercy!)

Faizan: "Irfan, Do you know? Pakistan won the T-20 match vs South Africa! Hafeez scored 92 runs before getting run-out!"

Irfan: "I dont get to watch cricket these days, at home. Abu always watches Geo News, Al Jazeera, Press TV. I couldn't even watch the WWE Royal Rumble on Thursday!"

Faizan: "Natte kus chu wutchaan. Be chus wutchaan score espncricinfo peath!" (You think i watched the whole match? I check the scores from Cricinfo only!)

Irfan: "So, you too are fed up with the news, like me? Somewhere, it is the genocide of one community and somewhere else, it is of the other!"

Faizan: "God knows what is in store. Every Friday we have to see news from Pakistan with ever increasing numbers of killings."

Irfan: "And then there is war in Syria as well. People are dying in thousands there!"

Faizan: "Preth kunni jai che sirf Musalmaan maraan! Khabar yem Zaelim koune maraan kanh?" (Everywhere it is Muslims who are getting killed. Why doesn't anyone among the oppressors die?)

Irfan: "Aes te tchi  naa Zaelim! Yemis ne insaan sund aar yeyi temis wanov zaelimie" (We are oppressors too! One who has no compassion for fellow human being IS an oppressor!)

Faizan: "Aes te tcha Zaelim?" (Are we too, oppressors?)

Down and Dusted - HOPE!

Irfan: "Faizan! We require 76 to win in just 10 overs. It is very difficult!"

Faizan: "Get your pads on. We just need to understand each other while batting and running between the wickets. See how we lost 2 quick wickets to run-outs only due misunderstanding."

Irfan: "You are right. We just need a partnership to win."

Faizan comes to the crease with Greens still needing 56 to win from 7 overs, with 6 wickets down. Armed with his BSM bat which he has bought last spring from Sangam, he walks upto Irfan at the non-strikers end and says, "We shall overcome. We just need a partnership! We just need to understand each other. We just need to tolerate the mistakes and correct each other in a sensible way!"

"After 19 overs, Nowhatta Greens are 128 for the loss of six wickets. Mohammad Irfan is on strike, playing on 29 and Faizan Ali is batting on 24", the scorer announces.

Irfan misses the first two balls and takes a single on the 3rd ball.

Faizan hits a six on the 4th ball and the Greens win, with Mohammad Irfan and Faizan Ali contributing 30 runs each.

Picture © Getty Images
P.S: Isn't a game of cricket a lesson for us. Isn't tolerance and mutual understanding need of the hour? Can't we just consider each other as humans, if not anything else? Or do we waste the whole life killing each other while as the enemies make partnerships to win over us!

“We live in a wrong place”

“Uncle, I have deactivated both my accounts, Facebook as well as Twitter!”, said Tassaduq to his uncle on phone. This was after he was told by his parents and uncle not to indulge too much in discussions on social networks, these days! Tassaduq wasn’t sad as, in any case, he won’t be using it for the next few days as internet access is blocked. Well, he had called his two friends to deactivate his two accounts!

“Beta! We live in a wrong place”, lamented his uncle. “We all know what is happening isn’t justice but what, at all, can we do? Our generation has seen it all for the past 40 years!”

“Even Basharat Saeb, your youngest Uncle, despite being a Police Officer  felt restless when he heard the news, on phone, at midnight that police had been deputed all over the valley! He too feels his pain and said that it was grave injustice. But what, at all, can he do? We are all in solidarity with the family.”, adds his mother!

************

Tassaduq was very fond of reading and writing Op-Eds for newspapers. It had been five days since he had read one. Earlier, his newspaper vendor would never accede to his demand of fetching him a National newspaper as he was the only one to demand so — the newspaper vendors fetch a particular newspaper only when there are at least 10 sure shot buyers! As a result, he would view the internet version of the National newspapers. It had been five days since he had read an Op-Ed in a National newspaper!

So here it was, his 8 year old cousin came to his room with a newspaper in hand. “Where did it come from? Who brought it in curfew?”, Tassaduq asked his cousin. He replied, “I don’t know who brought it here but tell me the Kashmiri translation of the news written on the newspaper!" He added, “  heard at the Kandurwaan (bakery) that one another man has been hanged after Afzal Gooer”! (A rumour it was!) Yes, he didn’t say ‘Guru’; not because he was being obedient to Baba Ramdev who said "calling him 'Guru' is an insult to real gurus and saints"! But it is a commonplace farce in our society that we can’t even pronounce the names of those whom we consider heroes, properly. The other day, it was a Hurriyat man in the Mosque who repeatedly said “Afzal Gooer” while extolling his sacrifice from the pulpit.

************

Aamir is an orphan who lost his father in the heydays of the Armed Struggle in the late nineties. Practically, with no source of income apart from the Aanganwadi center which is housed in their shanty single story house, his family barely makes ends meet. He passed the Secondary School Examination, recently, with Distinction and enrolled in a coaching institute for Pre-Medical coaching. It has been a week since he last attended his classes at the coaching institute. And yes, they don’t pay back for any missed classes!

Tassaduq always keeps asking him about studies, advising & guiding him when necessary. In fact, it was on his advice only that Aamir enrolled in a local coaching institute than going to Srinagar for coaching. This time when Tassaduq asked Aamir about studies, he replied, “It has been a week now and there isn’t any surety when will the classes resume. If you could tutor me in Physics for some days, rest I’ll do myself!” And thus started Tassaduq’s teaching career!

************

The situation in cities and in villages is a case of distinct contrast these days. People in cities virtually live under Z-security cover with a policeman or two allotted to each gate. The only difference between a politician with Z-security and the common man, here, is that the latter can't venture out of his home! On the other hand people in villages, except that they can’t visit the main town market, seem to see very less difference. The elderly sit by the roadside discussing vague issues apart from lamenting the fate of 'that poor fellow who lost his youth in jail'!

Boys play cricket on the deserted link roads and keep some space on the side for that one-off car that may pass by.When that one-off car/lorry approaches, the cricket match doesn’t stop! Boys keep playing & sometimes play with death too, when there is a mismatch; with balls (read Stones) on one side and bazookas on the other. The match doesn’t stop and the sentiment doesn’t stop. The sentiment doesn’t stop and the resistance doesn’t stop. Resistance never stops and injustice never seems to stop, sadly!

************

Meanwhile, Tassaduq accidentally clicked on the Twitter bookmark in the Speed-dial of his web browser while he was checking availability of hall-ticket for his exam as soon as Internet was restored! As a result he was back on Twitter, albeit accidentally.

He now tweets under a pseudonym!

************

P.S: All the characters are fictional but the narrative is factual!

The sky is no longer blue!

I don't know why? But, i can see, today
even the waters of Chenab have turned Red!
Is it a reminder of a silent rhapsody,
or the tears of mothers or the martyr's Blood!

The sky is no longer blue, has turned Red,
as it is a telling sign with a saying from folklore!
That the sign of a murder, or spilled blood,
is the sky turning red, bringing the crime to fore!

The green tunnel is no longer Green,
autumn has gone, so has the winter!
Heralding hope of restoring some sheen,
in the valley of wolves and the wicked hunter!

  

Resetting the Discourse!

“Goodness will continue to be with my Ummah until they begin debating matters which don’t concern them.” Prophet Muhammad (SallAllahu Alaihe Wassalam)

The last few weeks have been quite tumultuous as far as we, Muslims, are concerned. First it was the Kamal Haasan spy thriller flick Vishwaroopam which created quite a furore in the restive Indian Muslim community. Reportedly, the movie contains sequences which enhance the existing negative stereotype regarding Islam and Muslims which potrays a systematic relationship between Global Terrorism and Islam. The release of the movie got delayed in India, thanks due to some ‘Muslim groups’ and hence, media houses got the cannon fodder for their Newshours for a few days! Almost simultaneously, we witnessed the second coming of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children in the form of Deepa Mehta’s movie. Seemingly, this movie had nothing Satanic in it. But there had to be something else to distract the common Muslims and make them feel good about politicians as their messiahs. Rushdie came to India for the premier of the movie and was not allowed to do so; he was hounded out of Kolkata just after he landed at the airport. And the ruling political party was quick to lay claim for being the saviour of the Muslims with statements like, “But for her, there could have been communal tension…People like Rushdie should be kept away,” referring to the efforts of the head of the state government in keeping Rushdie away.

Malala Yousafzai recently underwent Skull reconstruction surgery and is recovering well in a London hospital, as per reports. And back in India, media tried to create its own version of Malala(s) albeit Music Malalas. Some self-righteous users posted some comments on a facebook page about a Music band, touted as the first ever all-Girls Music Band from Kashmir. It has remained a mystery so far as to why would the band related post appear on a vague facebook page when their last ‘show’ took place not less than 40 days ago? Some of these comments which were touted as rape threats were actually ‘predictions’ by those who posted them as to what would happen in future as indicated by the lingo used in the comments. That these were not threats but ‘concern’ shown by those commenting is evident from the words used in those comments. Words like “raped & thrown into the Tawi river” in those comments don’t signify threats emanating from Kashmir but delineate the effect of Shopian like incidents on the psyche of the people. I may, in no way be deemed supportive of those who posted those comments. While the news channels were adjusting their taste buds after sensing a ‘story’ from a Kashmir, the news that the self-styled Grand Mufti of Jammu & Kashmir had issued a ‘fatwa’ which deemed the acts of the band un-Islamic were telecasted.

While the ‘story’ was ‘developing’ on the news channels, a common Kashmiri began to feel, what one of my friends called emptiness/void in leadership – this time religious leadership. “And hypocrisy fills in such voids pretty easily”, remarked my friend. While some of us took the position as demanded by religion i.e. It is un-Islamic. But, in doing so, we feigned to the inability of ours to equally condemn other people who have been and still are involved in the Kashmiri Music Industry! Most of the people among remaining people took the position that the Band should continue. In doing so, they ignored that, religious principles were being toyed with. But, both these groups were unanimous in the cause that this issue should not be be potrayed as the so called ‘Talibanisation’ of the Kashmiri society. (The term ‘Talibanisation’ being used in relative sense!). But there was even a fringe group among us who tried to give this issue a touch of “Misogyny & Patriarchy” ignoring the presence of huge number of female singers active in Kashmir! In the midst of all this it was the three girls who were at the receiving end from all sides.

In all this we saw, as a common feature, Muslims debating with each other on matters which would never be DEBATED in the normal discourse. I think we are meant to be the ones who would show humanity the purpose of life. On the contrary, our present discourse revolves around DEBATES about matters which are too obvious to merit one – in fact just a reminder would just do fine! And in the midst of all this the normal discourse has been overtaken by people who claim to be Muslims and present a morphed version of Islam to the world, in the process trying to weaken the very basis of the pristine glory of Islam.

When I started writing this piece, I was faced with the problem of giving a title to this write up and the two choices were – Resetting the Discourse & Reclaiming the Discourse. Do we need to Reclaim the Discourse from people who have taken it over or do we just need to Reset our Discourse in accordance to our purpose of life? I settled for ‘Resetting the Discourse’ as Quran says, “When truth and falsehood face each other, falsehood perishes as it is, by its nature, bound to perish”. 

A collective shame!

Heated debates, countless proposals and no solutions in sight. I guess we can sum up the current happenings regarding violence against women with this! It is a sad thing that until the fire reaches one’s own locality the person is always reluctant to act. And now, when the spill over effects of the incidents occurring elsewhere in India are becoming more and more explicit here, in Kashmir, we ought to put our heads down in shame and introspect. Is it always necessary that only after an innocent girl/woman is murdered or is attempted to be murdered we begin to think about the solutions or even the problem in the first place? Nevertheless, if we take the necessary steps now to ensure that such incidents don’t recur, what better could be the tribute to the victims or the survivors of such acts.

            Parents form the bedrock of every person’s upbringing and have a very important role in maintaining the societal order. With respect to our immediate society it is good to see that there is some sort of parental regulation when it comes to social affairs of children, in majority of the cases. But, I think, in many cases parents tend to discriminate between a male and a female child with respect to regulation. Parents who have all along, since infancy of their children, been there for the good of their children have it as a right as well as duty to regulate what the boy or the girl; is doing with equal measure for both. With respect to this, the parental regulation must be equally applied to boys as is in place, in majority of the cases with the girls. The bigger picture being that it is not only the cases of eve-teasing or violence against women but drug abuse, hit and runs and revenge killings also need to stop. The cases of the likes of Tabinda Gani, Romana Javed, Atif Mudabir, and Kaleem Qadri are still fresh in the collective memory of our society. And now the recent case of acid-attack on a school teacher and the gut wrenching incident in Shopian explicitly point towards the ill effects of this Khanemoul syndrome in the Kashmiri society!

            Moving towards the larger Indian context; Until recently someone called by the, strange it may seem, name Honey Singh was gleefully accepted in the society and was touted as a Rap sensation. People felt proud and were seen bragging about having attended his concerts and used to sing his songs with reverence to that of a national anthem. And again, it took a shameful act for people to realise that something was inherently wrong in what Honey Singh sang. Now he is demonised, his parties and concerts are cancelled. Rightly so and I appreciate this. But the point to be looked at here is that why don’t people corner all the other people who are sailing in similar, if not the same boat. Why can’t we censure the media campaigns of different brands which explicitly portray women as intellectually poor emotionless commodities? A case in example is the TV commercial of the world’s largest telecom provider. In this ad you have a young boy bragging about connections with different girls at a time with a typical phrase, “Karishma ko phone lagana that Kareena ko lag gaya”! And there are ads which are even worse! And if anyone dismisses this argument saying that censorship is not a viable option then we can’t stop (or even blame) Honey Singh either. Let me declare that I have never been his fan or even listened to his filth even once lest I be taken as pleading for him!

            In the season of cricketing fever one can’t but bring it into context as well. A cricket match was, in the not-so-distant past, the only thing besides news bulletins which one could easily watch with family. But as Harsha Bhogle, the Chemical Engineer turned Cricket commentator says, “With a simple, beautiful, nice family game, all of a sudden you saw this thing happening (– glitz, glamour and cheerleaders!)”. While Harsha was specifically talking about IPL and went on to elaborate only the positives which the corporate invasion has brought into cricket, I think its negatives merit a mention. Apart from the indecent advertisements which pop up during the play itself and the advertisements interspersed between the overs you even have top notch cricketers participating in ads which supposedly teach you how to stalk a girl! And one has to keep the remote control in hand to switch between channels to avoid them lewd TVCs. I guess, this is but ludicrous!

            I would like to end with a few lines on the optimistic note. Keeping in mind that people have begun recognizing the ill effects of the Rap/Pop culture and lewd advertisements on the psyche of the populace, it won’t be a farfetched argument if I say that regulation is the way forward. And with demands for harsher punishments for the perpetrators of crimes against women getting shriller day by day, I just hope that the year 2013 witnesses a appreciable decrease in such incidents and the culprits are brought to justice. Hope! 

You can follow the author on Twitter @TavseefMairaj or like the blog on Facebook !

Of Politics, Genocide & Solidarity!

“Where should we go after the last frontiers?

Where should the birds fly after the last sky?

Where should the plants sleep after the last breath of air?

The earth is closing on us, pushing us through the last passage,

and we tear off our limbs to pass through.”

-         Mahmoud Darwish

These few lines by Mahmoud Darwish, who was regarded as the Palestinian National Poet in Exile, aptly give an idea about the tragedy of the Palestinian nation. While as for Muslims in rest of the World the Hijri New Year Day heralded hope for a peaceful year ahead, these people were greeted with rockets and missiles (manufactured from the American tax-payer’s money!) on the very first day of the New Year. While as people in most parts of the world are voicing their concern in unison and criticising the offensive (read Massacre), the oppressor seems unfazed whosoever the critic be.

The present continual massacre of civilians in the Gaza strip traces back its root to the cold-blooded killing of a young Palestinian boy while he was playing football by the Israeli defence forces. After this, three more boys were killed in not much different circumstances. Hamas Military fired crude rockets (which hardly make a hole through concrete) in protest/retaliation. Then Israel assassinated Ahmed al-Jaabari (the Hamas military head) who was also the chief broker in negotiations for a lasting ceasefire. Being involved in such negotiations, he was under protection of a no-assassination pact with Israel at the time of assassination. And Hamas had to retaliate (any sane organisation would do that!) giving Israel a pretext for full scale offensive (read Massacre)!

In the midst of all this, one may have expected the much revered world body, the UN, to take effective measures to stop bloodshed. But this time as well, as on all previous occassions, the all-weather friend US ensured that even a weak UN doesn’t harm Israel’s interests. The US has so far vetoed not less than 42 UNSC resolutions (upto 2011) related to Palestine alone! This means, while all other members (non-Permanent ones included) of the UNSC favoured a resolution against Israel, US with its Veto Power ensured that the resolution wasn’t passed. With Russia openly accusing the US of filibustering the issue during UN Security Council deliberations, any immediate action against Israel seems a distant dream. Move over to Syria where Genocide is underway under the Assad regime, Russia and China leave no stone unturned to thwart any UNSC measure against Syria!

This reduces the role of UN to that of just a soap which cleanses dirt from one’s hands, in this case it absolves (cleanses) Israel of all the crimes by not taking any decisive action apart from issuing ‘warnings’! And even if the UNSC does pass any resolutions Israel has had an eventful history of ignoring these, having so far violated most of the 102 resolutions passed by different US bodies like UN Security Council, UN General Assembly and UNRWA. While as the war on Iraq was based on the moral high ground that it had breached a UNSC resolution, and talks about war on Iran are being revolved around the same thing, Israel still has the distinction of being the country which has violated the highest number of UN Security Council Resolutions!

          While condemning the Israeli massacre of the Palestinian people in Gaza without mincing any words, one should keep in mind that we can’t blame the entire Jewish community of the world for the sins committed by Zionists in Israel. There is a pretty sizeable fraction of genuinely humane people among the Jews who unequivocally condemn Israel’s Fascist and Supremacist actions. I have seen on social networks that, in the process of condemnation, we go on to the extent of praising (and thanking) Hitler for exterminating the Jews of Europe during the Holocaust. By doing so, We, Muslims lose a large constituency of people all around the world who would, otherwise, support the Palestinian cause. I have myself seen people (on social networks, of course!) arguing that Muslims have no moral ground to condemn the Israeli onslaught as long as they are happy with the Jewish Holocaust! We are not a legacy-orphan nation, we have inherited the legacy of great Humans & Statesmen like Tariq bin Ziyad, Omar bin Abdul Azeez & Salahudeen Ayyubi among others in addition to the Prophetic legacy of the Noble Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and His companions. Where does the need to patronise Hitler arise?

Another interesting fact here is that Bal Thackeray, the recently dead Ideologue of the Shiv Sena was a big fan of Hitler himself and patronised him. While Muslims take Thackeray as a sworn enemy for his tacit role in the anti-Muslim riots and all, the patronising of Hitler by Muslims seems by any means short-sightedness and narrow-mindedness. After all the friend of an ‘enemy’ doesn’t make a friend at all! And by any means, an oppressed nation fits better empathising or sympathising with another oppressed nation and not in being sadistic in other nations’ sufferings. 

"…it was painful to listen to people who have suffered so much themselves, mock others who suffer, in different ways, but no less intensely under the same oppressor. In that slogan I saw the seeds of how easily victims can become perpetrators", writes Arundhati Roy in her book ‘Listening To Grasshoppers’ commenting on the action of Kashmiri protestors taunting the India’s poor with slogans like “Bhooka Nanga Hindustaan”!

In the present case, maybe the oppressor is not the same but their (Hitler's & Israel's) ideology is same - Fascist & Supremacist!