From his arrest as a young boy to picking up arms and then shunning armed resistance, pro-independence leader and former militant commander Muhammed Yasin Malik has had more than an eventful political journey. In an interview with Saima Bhat he talks about his life and his upcoming autobiography.
Kashmir Life:You started your journey as an activist, then mobilized people to vote and eventually picked the gun and then shunned it. Tell us about this experience of your life.
Yasin Malik: During 1987 elections, a meeting was conducted by Muslim United Front that they wanted to participate in the elections so that they could pass a resolution in the assembly for the Kashmir problem. Our argument to them was ‘State won’t allow you to win, they said, we will take a chance’, after which they offered us seats but we rejected. There was no candidate from our side. We told them we’d support you.Their whole campaign was run by student’s organizations. Then result was out.Winners were declared losers and losers were declared winners and hundreds of our party members were arrested including me, Ashfaq, Javaid and Hamid. We were taken to Red 16 interrogation centre, where due to torture I got blood infection.I was shifted to hospital where doctors said my one heart valve had gotten affected,I was in hospital for 75 days and later spent rest of the year in prison.
When we were released,we realized that there is no space for non violent democratic movement.The concept of non violent movement was weaved by the Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi himself but the people, who claim Mahatma as the father of their nation did not show any kind of respect nor provided any space for our non-violent democratic movement. So we joined JKLF- whose founder was Amanullah Khan and Shaheed Mohammed Maqbool Bhat and the armed struggle, which ultimately brought the biggest revolution in Kashmir, started in late 1980’s. Then I was arrested in 1990 and spend four years in solitary confinement in different places like Delhi and Agra. But during this period, in 1992 I was shifted to AIIMS (All India Institute for Medical Sciences, Delhi) for open-heart surgery where one of my affected heart valves was replaced. While I was recovering at AIIMS, diplomats from different countries and Indian civil society approached me. They would ask: ‘Kashmiri people have no history of violence then why did we start an armed struggle?’ I explained to them my experience of being in the non-violent movement and finally their reply was ‘Kashmiri people are justified’.
Then in 1994 I was released and we declared unilateral ceasefire, most unpopular decision of that time. Even many of my own colleagues opposed me. more
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Divided In Exile
Born in 1936 in a middle class family at Kaw Mohalla, Khanyar in Srinagar, the poet’s life has been tumultuous and “unsettled”.
He is livingat Rawalpindi, Pakistan in a self-imposed exilewith his wife and four daughterswhile his other two daughters and two sons, all married, live in Srinagar. His another son, who was a militant, was killed in a inter-group clash and one had died a natural death in his childhood.
During his stay in Srinagar, Bhatserved many government departments. He also worked at Radio Kashmir but having “disagreements” with the establishment he resigned from that job and devoted his time exclusively to his writing.
The contemporary poets in Kashmir consider Mushtaq Kashmiri a“reformist with strong religious leanings.” His first book, Shore Mehshar (the clamor of the Judgement day) was published in June1970.He mostly writes in Kashmiri but also ocassionally in Urdu as well.Kashmiri’s writings include a huge collection on social issues written in the context of religion. He also writes about contemporary issues with many poems about turmoil and killings in Kashmir. more
He is livingat Rawalpindi, Pakistan in a self-imposed exilewith his wife and four daughterswhile his other two daughters and two sons, all married, live in Srinagar. His another son, who was a militant, was killed in a inter-group clash and one had died a natural death in his childhood.
During his stay in Srinagar, Bhatserved many government departments. He also worked at Radio Kashmir but having “disagreements” with the establishment he resigned from that job and devoted his time exclusively to his writing.
The contemporary poets in Kashmir consider Mushtaq Kashmiri a“reformist with strong religious leanings.” His first book, Shore Mehshar (the clamor of the Judgement day) was published in June1970.He mostly writes in Kashmiri but also ocassionally in Urdu as well.Kashmiri’s writings include a huge collection on social issues written in the context of religion. He also writes about contemporary issues with many poems about turmoil and killings in Kashmir. more
Monday, February 13, 2012
Dangerous Climb
Nisar Ahmad, 20, had an accident when the bike he was riding was hit by a truck on national highway near his home. That moment changed his life, for ever. He became immobilized for life.
“It happened for the first and the last time. I couldn’t see the pacing truck coming towards me. It was destined to happen,” says Nisar, who seems to have given up hope.
His father Abdul Rahim says, “We brought him to SKIMS Soura directly as his condition was very critical.”
He had loss of sensation and functioning of lower part of body. He was not able to move his limbs and was having difficulty in breathing. After preliminary investigations doctors found out that he had developed fracture and dislocation of upper spinal vertebrae.
A doctor treating Nisar said, “He was first stabilized and when his spinal cord injury was confirmed by CT and MRI scanning, he was put on cervical traction for immobilization of spine. The patient was taken for surgery where stabilization of spine with the help of prosthetic instrumental pallating was done”.
A spinal cord injury is a medical emergency requiring immediate treatment to reduce chances of irreparable loss. The time between the injury and treatment is a critical factor affecting the eventual outcome. Recovery of some movement or sensation within one week usually means the person has a good chance of recovering more function, although this may take six months or more. Losses that remain after six months are more likely to be permanent.
Nisar has become completely bed-ridden with immobilized lower body. Nisar is a 2nd year BSc student. more
“It happened for the first and the last time. I couldn’t see the pacing truck coming towards me. It was destined to happen,” says Nisar, who seems to have given up hope.
His father Abdul Rahim says, “We brought him to SKIMS Soura directly as his condition was very critical.”
He had loss of sensation and functioning of lower part of body. He was not able to move his limbs and was having difficulty in breathing. After preliminary investigations doctors found out that he had developed fracture and dislocation of upper spinal vertebrae.
A doctor treating Nisar said, “He was first stabilized and when his spinal cord injury was confirmed by CT and MRI scanning, he was put on cervical traction for immobilization of spine. The patient was taken for surgery where stabilization of spine with the help of prosthetic instrumental pallating was done”.A spinal cord injury is a medical emergency requiring immediate treatment to reduce chances of irreparable loss. The time between the injury and treatment is a critical factor affecting the eventual outcome. Recovery of some movement or sensation within one week usually means the person has a good chance of recovering more function, although this may take six months or more. Losses that remain after six months are more likely to be permanent.
Nisar has become completely bed-ridden with immobilized lower body. Nisar is a 2nd year BSc student. more
Monday, February 6, 2012
Holding Hands
Some young minds of Nawakadal area in downtown Srinagar wanted to do something to help the needy. They started a charitable organization Athrout and tried to go beyond the tokenism of local mohalla committees.
They had just entered their teenage, some of them were not even born, when armed insurgency broke out in Kashmir. Still they were aware that the number of widows and impoverished was increasing. They wished to contribute to the society. The five or six of them gathered in the Darasgah (where Quran is taught) of the local Masjid, to come up with some idea. They wanted to save lives. “One who saves a single life is as if he saved the whole humanity”: they were taught at the Darasgah.
Athrout was started in 2006. Initially, they used to contribute money themselves as all of them were in some employment. The chairman, an Imam in the Masjid recalls that in 2006 he was giving a Eid sermon exhorting the people to pay the Sadkai-Fitr (Eid donation). “The people showed interest and paid their pending Sadkai-Fitr,” Imam of the masjid Bashir Ahmad Nadwi said. The money was distributed among the poor.
The members’ contribution continued to grow as many others joined in.
“Other people were showing interest and we found that many people were in need in our society because years of conflict had pushed many families into poverty,” he said, adding, “Some families could not even afford a single meal, how can they pay for medicine”.
They started counselling the elders, and youngsters, about religious binding on Muslims to pay their Zakaat and the Prophet’s (SAW) practice and teachings about helping the needy.
Imam Bashir Ahmad, a scholar from Nadwat-ul-uloom Islamic University, Lucknow is a businessman and all of the elder members of Athrout are working in private and government sectors. But they spare time in the evenings and on Sundays for social work.
Abdul Majeed, accountant of Athrout, says, “When we started providing help to people, we received cases of kidney failures, cancer patients and other serious ailments and we realized how such ‘deadly’ diseases have become burden on those families who cannot afford costly medicines and then we started a clinic where we are providing free consultations and free medicines”.
They hold free clinics on Sundays where volunteer doctors- physicians, pediatrician and gynecologists, see patients without charging any fee. Some medical representatives are also associated with Athrout. more
They had just entered their teenage, some of them were not even born, when armed insurgency broke out in Kashmir. Still they were aware that the number of widows and impoverished was increasing. They wished to contribute to the society. The five or six of them gathered in the Darasgah (where Quran is taught) of the local Masjid, to come up with some idea. They wanted to save lives. “One who saves a single life is as if he saved the whole humanity”: they were taught at the Darasgah.
Athrout was started in 2006. Initially, they used to contribute money themselves as all of them were in some employment. The chairman, an Imam in the Masjid recalls that in 2006 he was giving a Eid sermon exhorting the people to pay the Sadkai-Fitr (Eid donation). “The people showed interest and paid their pending Sadkai-Fitr,” Imam of the masjid Bashir Ahmad Nadwi said. The money was distributed among the poor.
The members’ contribution continued to grow as many others joined in.
“Other people were showing interest and we found that many people were in need in our society because years of conflict had pushed many families into poverty,” he said, adding, “Some families could not even afford a single meal, how can they pay for medicine”.
They started counselling the elders, and youngsters, about religious binding on Muslims to pay their Zakaat and the Prophet’s (SAW) practice and teachings about helping the needy.
Imam Bashir Ahmad, a scholar from Nadwat-ul-uloom Islamic University, Lucknow is a businessman and all of the elder members of Athrout are working in private and government sectors. But they spare time in the evenings and on Sundays for social work. Abdul Majeed, accountant of Athrout, says, “When we started providing help to people, we received cases of kidney failures, cancer patients and other serious ailments and we realized how such ‘deadly’ diseases have become burden on those families who cannot afford costly medicines and then we started a clinic where we are providing free consultations and free medicines”.
They hold free clinics on Sundays where volunteer doctors- physicians, pediatrician and gynecologists, see patients without charging any fee. Some medical representatives are also associated with Athrout. more
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