Kashmir Images :: Are hartals really the solution?
Zeenat Zeeshan Fazil
Life is frozen here. Nothing moves and nothing intends to move. Educational institutions, government sector, private sector – everything and anything is crippled for the last one month forcing ordinary people to question - Is hartal the only weapon we have available or can we look beyond hartal?
And the most vital question is - With this hartal politics whom are we punishing? A street vendor, daily wagers or our own school going children? Incidentally there is no evidence of strikes in Muslim history. Neither there is any vital correlation between strikes and victorious liberation movements across the world. Striking work emerged as a communist concept where the daily waged worker would inflict economic costs on the capitalist owners. But in case of Kashmir, it is vice-versa. Here strikes inflict loses on the striking people themselves – economic, academic and social loses.
Aren’t the separatist groups, who call strikes, mindful of the poor people who earn their livelihood on daily basis and have to feed their families in the evening. Their poor families must be starving during these hartal days. How helpless patients feel when they are unable to reach to the hospital and many of them even have lost their lives. But, is any body bothered?
Recently, fetus of the two women, (one traveling from Khag in central Kashmir and another from Kupwara to Srinagar) died in their wombs as they couldn’t reach maternity hospital on time. The ambulances being stopped at various places both by protestors and police led to the death of the fetus in the wombs itself.
Who is responsible for their death? Undoubtedly those who call for strikes and those who don’t allow even ambulances to move (they include both stone-pelters and security forces).
Who can compensate the death of the babies to these mothers who in 9 months of pregnancy must have woven lakhs of dreams around the expected new arrivals?
One may not question the genuineness of the protests. Kashmir is an issue and needs to be resolved and all the actors involved need to work in this direction. But at the same time, all the conscientious citizens should be alarmed to see young boys from 7-19 years pelting stones on roads. It is dangerous for the healthy growth of our younger generation.
Leading sociologist of the Valley Prof. B. A. Dabla believes that it’s the failure of the leadership here that has made young boys to come on the roads. He also believes that these young boys (most of whom are economically backwards)are not clear about their aim.
“No doubt stone pelting is one of the forms of agitation but it is going to have bad impact on their psychological and sociological development,” warns Prof. Dabla.
The unabated hartals have played havoc with Valley’s economy. As per Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir President, Shakeel Qalander, “we are losing Rs 100 crore per day which means so far we have incurred loss of around Rs 3000 crores in this very month. These figures further indicate that we are already nearing economic collapse.”
Last week, in order to get medicines for my ailing mom, I went to one of the chemist shops at Karan Nagar area of down town locality, just to get view of the chemist about the hartal calls. I asked him how he feels about these strike calls.
The chemist while citing an incident told me, “Today one of the customers whose son was suffering of some serious ailment asked me to give all the medicines written over prescription, that I gave, and when I (chemist) asked him (customer) to pay his bill of Rs 400. His (customers) reply to me( chemist) was “I have not earned even a single penny due to these strikes, but yes when I will have, will give you and left the shop without paying”.
Such is the plight of poor people who are not rich like our leaders who sitting idle at their homes can afford to shop on Sundays.
The worst hit has been the education sector. Lakhs of students, who study in government as well as private schools, are confined to homes.
Recently, there was the statement from the DeM Chief, Asiaya Andrabi asking parents not to send their children to their schools and if they sent them (children), parents themselves were responsible if something untoward happened to them (kids).
And then Massarat Alam of Hurriyat (G) suggested people to make arrangements for making their kids study at homes. Alam’s statement indicated that the groups which are issuing hartal calendar are in no move mood to allow schools function.
What will happen to our future generation whom we are not allowing to go to schools? Are we aiming at raising an army of illiterate and uneducated people and push the entire society into the abyss of ignorance?
Students need to be provided peaceful atmospheres in which they could study so that both at national and international level they (students) could project the plight of their motherland. Living in IT world, we can use other means of communication for protests that includes social networking sites, pen down strikes in the offices for an hour or so. Wearing black badges during work is a best way to protest.
No nation can achieve freedom when it is weak and strikes make Kashmir weaker. If Kashmir aspires for freedom, it needs to be economically independent. But are we really economically self dependent? By calling unwanted strikes our economical dependence on India increases more and more.
If we could have achieved freedom by constantly shunning away from work for a year, still it wouldn’t have been a bad bargain. But, would India leave Kashmir, because of strikes? In fact Indian government must be feeling happy when patient can’t go to hospital, Kashmiri children do not go to school, and the daily waged lose their daily wages.
One can’t deny human rights violations in Kashmir by armed forces. The need of an hour is to develop an alternative strategy to protest against the human rights violation.
Leadership in Kashmir is in desperate need of new policy. Protests, unwanted shut downs and human sacrifices are not the real solution of this grave problem.
People during Amaranth land row also were exhausted with hartal politics which at that time even was accepted by Syed Ali Geelani himself when on October 6, 2008 strike call was taken back. Even that time Geelani sahib himself agreed that farmers have to reap the harvest, students have to go to schools, employee’s needs to go to their work and marriages had to be solemnized.
If then why not now?
Zeenat Zeeshan Fazil
Life is frozen here. Nothing moves and nothing intends to move. Educational institutions, government sector, private sector – everything and anything is crippled for the last one month forcing ordinary people to question - Is hartal the only weapon we have available or can we look beyond hartal?
And the most vital question is - With this hartal politics whom are we punishing? A street vendor, daily wagers or our own school going children? Incidentally there is no evidence of strikes in Muslim history. Neither there is any vital correlation between strikes and victorious liberation movements across the world. Striking work emerged as a communist concept where the daily waged worker would inflict economic costs on the capitalist owners. But in case of Kashmir, it is vice-versa. Here strikes inflict loses on the striking people themselves – economic, academic and social loses.
Aren’t the separatist groups, who call strikes, mindful of the poor people who earn their livelihood on daily basis and have to feed their families in the evening. Their poor families must be starving during these hartal days. How helpless patients feel when they are unable to reach to the hospital and many of them even have lost their lives. But, is any body bothered?
Recently, fetus of the two women, (one traveling from Khag in central Kashmir and another from Kupwara to Srinagar) died in their wombs as they couldn’t reach maternity hospital on time. The ambulances being stopped at various places both by protestors and police led to the death of the fetus in the wombs itself.
Who is responsible for their death? Undoubtedly those who call for strikes and those who don’t allow even ambulances to move (they include both stone-pelters and security forces).
Who can compensate the death of the babies to these mothers who in 9 months of pregnancy must have woven lakhs of dreams around the expected new arrivals?
One may not question the genuineness of the protests. Kashmir is an issue and needs to be resolved and all the actors involved need to work in this direction. But at the same time, all the conscientious citizens should be alarmed to see young boys from 7-19 years pelting stones on roads. It is dangerous for the healthy growth of our younger generation.
Leading sociologist of the Valley Prof. B. A. Dabla believes that it’s the failure of the leadership here that has made young boys to come on the roads. He also believes that these young boys (most of whom are economically backwards)are not clear about their aim.
“No doubt stone pelting is one of the forms of agitation but it is going to have bad impact on their psychological and sociological development,” warns Prof. Dabla.
The unabated hartals have played havoc with Valley’s economy. As per Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir President, Shakeel Qalander, “we are losing Rs 100 crore per day which means so far we have incurred loss of around Rs 3000 crores in this very month. These figures further indicate that we are already nearing economic collapse.”
Last week, in order to get medicines for my ailing mom, I went to one of the chemist shops at Karan Nagar area of down town locality, just to get view of the chemist about the hartal calls. I asked him how he feels about these strike calls.
The chemist while citing an incident told me, “Today one of the customers whose son was suffering of some serious ailment asked me to give all the medicines written over prescription, that I gave, and when I (chemist) asked him (customer) to pay his bill of Rs 400. His (customers) reply to me( chemist) was “I have not earned even a single penny due to these strikes, but yes when I will have, will give you and left the shop without paying”.
Such is the plight of poor people who are not rich like our leaders who sitting idle at their homes can afford to shop on Sundays.
The worst hit has been the education sector. Lakhs of students, who study in government as well as private schools, are confined to homes.
Recently, there was the statement from the DeM Chief, Asiaya Andrabi asking parents not to send their children to their schools and if they sent them (children), parents themselves were responsible if something untoward happened to them (kids).
And then Massarat Alam of Hurriyat (G) suggested people to make arrangements for making their kids study at homes. Alam’s statement indicated that the groups which are issuing hartal calendar are in no move mood to allow schools function.
What will happen to our future generation whom we are not allowing to go to schools? Are we aiming at raising an army of illiterate and uneducated people and push the entire society into the abyss of ignorance?
Students need to be provided peaceful atmospheres in which they could study so that both at national and international level they (students) could project the plight of their motherland. Living in IT world, we can use other means of communication for protests that includes social networking sites, pen down strikes in the offices for an hour or so. Wearing black badges during work is a best way to protest.
No nation can achieve freedom when it is weak and strikes make Kashmir weaker. If Kashmir aspires for freedom, it needs to be economically independent. But are we really economically self dependent? By calling unwanted strikes our economical dependence on India increases more and more.
If we could have achieved freedom by constantly shunning away from work for a year, still it wouldn’t have been a bad bargain. But, would India leave Kashmir, because of strikes? In fact Indian government must be feeling happy when patient can’t go to hospital, Kashmiri children do not go to school, and the daily waged lose their daily wages.
One can’t deny human rights violations in Kashmir by armed forces. The need of an hour is to develop an alternative strategy to protest against the human rights violation.
Leadership in Kashmir is in desperate need of new policy. Protests, unwanted shut downs and human sacrifices are not the real solution of this grave problem.
People during Amaranth land row also were exhausted with hartal politics which at that time even was accepted by Syed Ali Geelani himself when on October 6, 2008 strike call was taken back. Even that time Geelani sahib himself agreed that farmers have to reap the harvest, students have to go to schools, employee’s needs to go to their work and marriages had to be solemnized.
If then why not now?
