Opinion

Mainstream extremism

The man who is setting the news agenda in India is flagman Masarat Alam, a Kashmiri separatist leader

Aakar Patel April 18, 2015

The writer is the editor and translator of Why I write: Essays by Saadat Hasan Manto, published by Westland in 2014. His book, India, Low Trust Society, will be published by Random House aakar.patel@tribune.com.pk

If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound? Serious question. The proper answer is — yes it does, but it is irrelevant because nobody is around to care. This question is an experiment on the nature of reality.

An experiment that is quite similar is unfolding in India in the form of a news story from Kashmir. The story, which has brought the entire country together in that spirit of unity and anger which constitutes our nationalism, may be described as: A man held a flag. It is not the flag we want people to hold but a different one. This is the biggest story in India at the moment.

‘Man held flag’ has become so important that it has totally overshadowed the other two big stories of the week. The prime minister’s triumphant return concluding a three-nation tour, from where he brought us back lots of gifts (including fighter planes) was one. Rahul Gandhi’s slightly more slinking return to work after 56 days of contemplation (did he ponder the question of the tree falling in the forest?) was the other.

But the man who is setting the news agenda in India is flagman Masarat Alam, a Kashmiri separatist who has been sent to jail for a few days again. He must be delighted at how easily he can drive a wedge between Kashmir’s ruling parties and how cheaply he can become a national story. Even the Congress, usually seen as a bunch of overly concessional softies, slapped its thighs and demanded retribution against Alam. India Today reported Digvijaya Singh as saying: “Under what section of the law has the Jammu and Kashmir government arrested Masarat Alam sahab? The government must tell us,” Singh said. “What they’ve said and done amounts to waging a war against the nation. They should be charged under the National Security Act,” he said.

Holding a flag amounts to waging war? How? From Singh’s wild, over-the-top and entirely excessive comments, India Today picked out the most important part and it was in its headline: “Congress leader calls Masarat Alam ‘sahab’.”

Yes, let it not be said that we are lacking in immaturity and stupidity in India. Our growth rates there are the highest in the world. Meanwhile, The Hindu reported that Alam denied doing this: “A day after being slapped with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for anti-national activities, the hardline Hurriyat leader came out with clarification saying he did not wave the Pakistani flag and should not be held responsible for that. ‘There was a welcome programme for Geelani. Some youth had (Pakistani) flags there. Why should I be held responsible for it?’ Mr Alam, who was released in April 2015 after being detained under the Public Safety Act for more than four years, said. ‘This is a general trend in the State and not one man’s doing. To hold one person responsible for it, I do not think is the right thing,’ he said.”

I think it says something about us that even a fundamentalist is sounding more reasonable than the mainstream in India. No matter, television has been at it for the last 48 hours and will continue to be on it till someone else figures out this game.

You see, we don’t seem to realise that we can gift someone credibility and authenticity so cheaply. Alam is today one of the undisputed leaders of Kashmir’s radicals. And all he had to do was to get someone to hold up a flag. He has accurately placed us and we can look forward to many more years of this from him.

After the World Cup final, I had written that during the match it was instructive to hear the words of Cricket Australia chairman Wally Edwards. He said: “To me the highlight (of the World Cup) has been the ethnic communities in Australia coming out to support their teams. The support of the Indian fans in Australia was unbelievable.” Then he spoke about “Bangladeshis coming out from all over Australia to cheer their team,” meaning Bangladesh.

I had written: “This is a civilised man in a civilised nation. Imagine the head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India saying that about Bangladeshis in India: The entire village would be out with its torches and pitchforks, Arnab Goswami at their head.”

Well, here we are.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2015.

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COMMENTS (12)

ictejff | 9 years ago | Reply This is a civilised man in a civilised nation. Imagine the head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India saying that about Bangladeshis in India: The entire village would be out with its torches and pitchforks, Arnab Goswami at their head.” --Why would Indian media be happy about illegal bangladeshis migrants supporting bangaldesh team? This is another stupid juvenile article which compares legally migrated south asian communities in different countries with illegal bangladeshis in India. Mr. Patel should have watched football match between India & Afghanistan that took place in new delhi where thousands of legal Afghanistani students were supporting their country(Afghanistan) and no one was out with torches & pitchforks. Pathetic journalism to say the least.

Rangoonwala | 9 years ago | Reply Is anyone surprised by what the author has so clearly demonstrated in triplicate? Hindustanis lack a cohesive policy on Bharati Occupied Kashmir. Why? Simple, they never had one. It takes brilliant minds, well, at least sharp focused intellects to generate, mold, develop a policy. Hindustanis, simply do not have these people. It is very easy to rile up 100 million hindus. Who, unfortunately can't even write their names, let alone make head or tail of what is being forced fed to them by the media. May the gods provide salvation to the great nation of Hindustan. May god Hanuman, himself, watch over the Hindustanis. May Ganesha shower them with something green. ET moderators please print. Praying for the salvation of eastern neighbors of Paks.

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Gopeet | 9 years ago | Reply Here we are again. With the author exposing the lack of wherewithal, commonsense that gauges a nation's maturity or ability to deal with events in a rational manner. India Simply lacks this.That can be accredited to the fact that India is unable to govern itself. Just take the last 1400 years,..ruled by Muslims who brought civilization to India. Or the British who rammed down another foreign civilization in India's throat. How were the Indians faring before Muslim conquest 1400 years ago?....Don't ask.

Milind | 9 years ago | Reply @Goan Patriot - Are you sure you're talking about Hindus and not Catholics/Church? Because they got this virus in the first place through their Inquisitions.. No wonder they're not trusted anywhere, especially in Muslim countries.

Zalim Adam | 9 years ago | Reply @Shekhar: Can't speak for Pakistan as I'm not from there. In any case, the plebiscite is still sought out by the international community (I suggest you do your homework). Why are North Indians so afraid of holding one?

Shekhar | 9 years ago | Reply @Zalim Adam I think the world has accepted the fact that there is going to be no plebiscite. Pakistan needs to accept this, internalise this and lay this fact as a bedrock for future engagement. @Goan Patriot LOL! You might want to check this out. Addtionally, I'm sure you'll find dozens of cases better than Goa's to highlight separatism in India. 'Manipuri Patriot' would do much better. Nothing's going to work though my friend. The map's not gonna change!

Goan Patriot | 9 years ago | Reply @Roy Raden: You summed up Indian policy neatly: create a religious problem where there isn’t one, then say Hindus are being oppressed – then walk in and destroy the indigenous peoples while encouraging native Hindus from India to settle there. The same strategy was used in Goa.

Zalim Adam | 9 years ago | Reply @Roy Raden:If Kashmiris are so intent to remain with India (and perhaps they are), then hold the plebiscite. But we both know that India will refuse to hold it, and you know exactly why.

Roy Raden | 9 years ago | Reply @Zalim Adam: Good reasoning, however one flaw in your argument, the Kashmiri people have blood of innocent Pandits on their hands, they have seen the chaos that is an everyday sight in Pakistan in India, there was a UN survey quite recently which is yet to published which found prima-facie evidence that the genocide committed by the Kashmiris have changed their mindset, previously before the genocide your aforementioned argument was the typical response of a Kashmiri, however after killing 200,000 Kashmiri Pandits, they understood their crime and also acknowledged the folly of armed resistance. Today you do not see the kind of mobilisation that was seen in the 90s separatist rallies, all previously separatist organisation have joined the main-stream parities and hold constitutional posts. The reasons sighted by most of these reformed parties including the recent election victor PDP cited that the genocide scarred them as it did for every Kashmiri, the neighbours who were Pandits were dragged across the street, their daughter raped and burnt. This changed them as it would change may who experienced this kind of horror. Today less than a handful of separatist have relevance but most of them have dwindling acceptability in the polity.

Roy Raden | 9 years ago | Reply You compare some cricket fans to the graveness of Kashmir. That in my humble opinion is lack of discriminatory faculties, you cannot compare weight with time, it is simply impossible. Kashmir has a context of 1990 where the muslims in the valley wiped out the hindu pandit population. Today there is not even 100 hindu folks in Kashmir. This was started as a result of bad governance policies that afflicted by the Congress regime, which led to unemployment and underdevelopment. Hence the context was quite rational response of feeling disenfranchised, however was misused by the rebels to paint a religious picture that led to the genocide of more than 200,000 mostly hindu pandits dead. Today after the genocide, the same leaders who caused it are requesting the pandit population to return, however when not a single convict named in the FIR has been prosecuted there is genuine feeling trepidation amongst the people who left Kashmir, those who have returned are in double digit numbers according to a recent survey, today by raising the Pakistani flag and shouting secessionist slogans, this is a eery reminder to many in India of the days of the untold genocide, also the security forces who died in thousands bringing the valley from the anxious and alarmed state as it was in 90s where open Sharia courts with beheadings and stone pelting used to take place to a democratic set up with the previous election with 60 percent turnout are watching helplessly the reversal of the same by these miscreants. Your country is a living example of failed state where religion is defined in your constitution, you understand that secularism and a rule of law is the only way for every country including the autonomous state of Kashmir, without which a similar genocide may brew between the Shia and Sunni population due to the introduction of ISIS in recent months.

Anjaan | 9 years ago | Reply A totally absurd comparison between cricket fans of Indian origin waving Australian flags in support of the Australian cricket team ... and a pro-Pakistan Kashmiri Muslim separatist challenging the Indian laws by openly supporting Pakistan right here on Indian soil ... !!

Zalim Adam | 9 years ago | Reply Both India and Pakistan are complicit in the misery of the Kashmiri people. Indians know that the Kashmiris have no love for India and this is why they ignore the Kashmir plebiscite on the grounds that Pakistan remove militants first. Pakistan doesn't want to sincerely resolve the issue through the plebiscite either, which is why they keep militants in Kashmir, giving India an excuse to ignore it. Pakistan's stance is similar to that of the Israelis, who are terrified of declining levels of Palestinian terrorism since that would force them to the negotiating table, which is something Israelis wish to avoid.

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