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Jit endra Singh Chauhan

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4 hrs · Tharavad
659 people like this. D ercia Matuca likes
<Kashmir is Fucked, M ernika Nkuna Nkuna's
ikeL
post.
and the Kashmiris are (also) to be blamed for that.>
ational Children ScienceRuchika Agrawal likes
It was 22 March 2004. We were in the hostel kitchen, which was quite
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congress Biswa Kalyan Rath's post.

large, opening to the garden, and hence became our makeshift study
1k people like this.
room. The day was warm and sunny. There were three or four of us there.
ike
L Deepak Mercy Johnson
News arrived that the Palestinian and Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin has
likes Bodhi Commons's
been killed in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza. Our Palestinian friend Nadia, Indian Career Education alink
nd .

who was sitting near the door, facing the garden, broke into tears. “Yet Development Council ICEDC

1.3k people like this. Abhijit Jeetu commented

another Palestinian leader has been taken out.” He had a grand funeral in
ike on his own photo.
Gaza city attended by a huge number of people. The media was quick to
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paint various scenarios: massive mobilisation of Palestinians would start a

The Travelling Blues Ashish Moh an added a
new intifada, or it was the beginning of the end of Hamas. After 12 years, e e album My
700 people like this. n w photo to th
none of the prophecies came true. In between, Gaza has been pounded precious gorgeous didi's
ikeL

twice, yet Hamas continues to survive, and Palestine continues to be in a wedding by Divya Mohan

limbo.
and Ashish Mohan.

The sudden killing of Burhan Wani seems like a similar episode, though PEOPLE YOU MAY KNOW Sagar MSaee
lpaAll likes
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Wani was no Yassin. As expected the Kashmir Valley is simmering with Sunit Kum ar Pandit Monisha Mandava's photo.
anger and thousands attended Wani’s funeral. The Valley is shut, with 8 mutual friends
internet and mobile services suspended. The stone pelters are back on the dd riend
A F

streets. The soldiers are doing what are mandated to do: spray bullets.
dile Sri Krishna (chintu) Vinay Bhushan 4m
Mad dogs on both sides have gone mad and barking at each other. The
Po

4 mutual friends
Kashmiris have received the support of the Radical‑Left/Maoists in Indian
dd Fri end aroj Reddy Manda… 30m
mainland, which was also expected.
A
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The Maoists have expressed their “solidarity with Kashmiri people”, called
ahar Santra 7m
for “an end of the Indian occupation” and “for self‑determination.” The
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(UK) · English (US) · · ·

Maoists have no doubt that Kashmir is a homogenous Muslim space and
English ह ी

‫اردو‬ Vicky Dubey 16m

self‑determination will realise the “beautiful dream of Azadi.” They have
also wondered why there has been no parallel mobilisation in Indian
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eddeys
mainland, which “would have been the first necessary step for the
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emergence of a South Asia‑wide constellation of revolutionary acebook © 2016
generalisation.”
F
Misri a Ali 12m

As was the case with the aftermath of Yassin’s assassination, this tide in
 
ey Tellis 1m
Kashmir will also subside. What needs to be asked are: Where is politics in
Ashl

Kashmir? What is Kashmiri politics?

N eha Rane 1m
1. If Kashmiris and their sympathisers think that the critique of violence,
body‑counting and appeal to human rights will win their case, then they
aveen K. Jain 40m
are living in a fool’s paradise. Moral uprightness and militancy don’t go
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together. Even then, non‑violence and moral appeal are not enough—Tibet
GRO UP CONVERSATIONS
is a case in point. Self‑determination is a political demand, not politics as
such.
Insiy ah, Ankush, Lahar, 8 o…
2. What is Kashmiri nationalism? It seems that Kashmiris have graduated
from wanting to be a part of Pakistan to creating an Islamic state, the
Pakistani national flag has been replaced with the Quran. This fits perfectly

with the strategy of the Indian state: push the Kashmiris to become more
Islamic and religious, and finally they will land in the fold of Taliban‑Daesh‑

type Islamic orthodoxy. This would make Kashmiris a constituency of the

global jihadi transnationalism and they would be become pariah in the
international fora. No prominent and influential country will support the
Kashmiris, and without that support, India can continue to do what it is

doing in Kashmir.
3. By pivoting their politics around religion, Kashmiris have made a huge
mistake. This is where they differ from Bangladesh, Palestine and
Kurdistan, all of which have articulated a modern nationalism beyond the

narrow confines of religion. The Kashmiri nationalism becomes a religious

nationalism, and in this milieu, looks like an aberration and anti‑modern. It
could have been salvaged if the claim was one of ethnicity—which could
have created an inclusive politics, drawing in other religious groups. In that
sense, Kashmiri nationalism will find it very difficult to find takers in the
international arena: it is simply too old and dangerous nationalism to be
settled and accommodated in the world.

4. If Kashmiris turn out in such huge numbers at the funerals, why cannot
they mobilise into a movement? Where does that mobilisation vanish after
the funeral? Fear of military?—then there would have been no freedom
movement anywhere in the world. Perhaps many Muslims will be hurt if I
say that there is a problem with Muslim imaginary of politics. It seems that
death‑grief‑martyrdom is the only event, when Islam allows the creation of
temporary public spaces where men, women, children and old can
participate uninhibitedly. The figure of a grieving mother, daughter and
sister is a recurring image from Chechnya to Kashmir. The figure of
muscular and macho Muslim young man armed with the Kalashnikovs is
Turn on chat to see who's
also very common from Syria to Kashmir. The Abrahamic motif of father available.
sacrificing his son and preparing other sons to follow is often repeated,
even by Burhan Wani’s father. This is the double tragedy of Kashmir: The earch
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 Pakistani and Indian states pushing them into Islamism, and with militancy 4
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r pl
S umit H ome 1
e acing normal politics, masculinisation of politics becomes complete,
making it extremely patriarchal and misogynist.
endra Singh Chauhan
Jit

The more the economy is destroyed and it becomes informal, the more e ‑ Mera
lik s मेरा भारत महान

precarious will be the situation of women in Kashmir. Muslim politics, and Bharat Mahan's photo.

Kashmiri one in particular, needs to get out of the language of sacrifice‑

D ercia Matuca likes
grief‑martyrdom.
M ernika Nkuna Nkuna's
5. A few Kashmiris and their sympathisers in the Indian mainland think that post.

Kashmir is a case of social justice, and they are again mistaken. The goal
Ru chika Agrawal likes
of self‑determination and social justice are mutually exclusive: the former Bisw a Kalyan Rath's post.
wants to secede from a given society, and the latter finds a resolution in
the given society. This conflation is emblematic of the confusion of D eepak Mercy Johnson
Kashmiri politics.
e Bodhi Commons's
lik s
link.
6. It is clear that if you want your own nation‑state, you better make a
modernist claim. Politics will always be about mobilisation, based on A bhijit Jeetu commented
on his own photo.
mobilisation on the ground, in the streets. Funeral processions are not
enough.
Ashish Moh an added a
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n w photo to the album My
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