Struggle for Azadi does not mean defiance alone; it is a complete way of life. A freedom fighter is fearless before tyranny. Yet he is God-fearing. While defying injustice he submits completely before the will of the God. He is a rebel and obedient at the same time. Seeking freedom from a mighty state has never been a leaner task; a freedom fighter needs to be emancipated, exceptional as well as enterprising. Is it fighting tyranny or becoming exceptionally exceptional, almost an invincible man? Sufferings can become trauma leading to destruction all around, as well as self-destruction. Or else pain internalized can set to fire deep desires, what we in Urdu call-- Junoon. 

In the materialistic world, cry of the soul may be ridiculed as idealism. But go and ask a Sufi, a writer, a poet, a painter, a scientist, and seeker of truth. Is it possible for Rumi to produce Mathnavi and spread pearls of wisdom, Shakespeare to bring out Othello--- Leonardo to paint Mona Lisa--- John Keats---Ode to Nightingale--- Albert Einstein to father the theory of ‘Space and Time’, and Buddha to seek truth without Ishiq and Junoon and to achieve what they achieved ultimately.  Junoon---deep passions ignite imaginations, ordinary are catapulted into extra-ordinary.  Prophets are blessed, no body else is born great, devotion, honesty and hard work makes ordinary mortals extra-ordinary human beings. Task is not necessarily to win the Azadi; it is to overcome the infirmities of mind. Control your mind, carve out your destiny, is not an idealist’s cry; history bears witness to this fact. All the revolutions and great human endeavors stand testimony to lesser mortal’s enormous achievements. Struggling people are not bestowed freedom in charity; they earn it through grit and determination.

Moreover struggle is not only to win freedom; it also encompasses the task of nation building. There can never be two opinions about the legitimacy of the cause. Intentions of the boys holding stone in their hands are not wrong; most of them are driven by deep sense of injustice. There only fault is that like their preceding generation which waged armed struggle, who believed that militancy is [The] movement, they too regard hurling stones--- is [The] only way of resistance. This is an erroneous belief. Resistance is not the whole movement; it is only part of the movement. A world renowned-- intellectual, writer, poet, media person, a scientist or for that matter a technocrat can also be part of resistance, he/she may serve better the cause of Azadi. Greatest inhibiting factor in the armed struggle was that cadres lacked vision as they were not even marginally educated.  Since boys joined militancy at a tender age, they cannot be blamed for not being well educated? Agreed, you cannot be an active militant and also pursue higher education. But are we not following the same beaten track again? With few exceptions, majority of the boys aiming a stone are not keen to acquire education? In 1989 there was disconnect between University and the movement, a reason for our failure, regrettably that fatal flaw, still persists.

We still do not believe that educational excellence can lead us to Azadi? Apparently, boys are paying heavy sacrifices; there is no sacrifice bigger than one’s life. Boys are not mercenaries; risking life is not a fun either. Turmoil on the streets is manifestation of deep anger. Defiance is essential part of the resistance; movement is much more than the defiance.  When the worst kind of repression was unleashed on the state and all the peaceful means of agitation are choked, it is obvious, boys will feel pushed towards the brink, and they may gravitate towards extremism. Mainstream defiance going underground suits best interests of the state, a calibrated and restrained response at the time of adversity is the real test of the character. State can never destroy people’s peaceful resistance, sooner or latter persistence of masses will make it to yield. Peaceful resistances will galvanize tremendous international opinion in favor of the resistance; it will haul the sate on burning coal. Moreover, peaceful resistance with the passage of time will create many moral dilemmas for the conscientious section of the population within India itself. In such a scenario, only option left for the state is to destroy the peaceful resistance; the easiest for it is to push movement towards violence. Boys despite all the provocations have not to lose their patience; they will have to continue the struggle peacefully. 

In January 2004, I was visiting Ahmedabad, in connection with a study sponsored by United States based Ford Foundation. (This study was an effort to understand prevailing Scio-political conditions of Muslims, with reference to India and Bangladesh) Since 1960’s Ahmedabad particularly and Gujarat generally has been the worst communal riots hit area in India, 2002 riots being the most horrible. It is a misnomer to describe the genocide of Muslims as communal riots as if two communities were after each other’s throat. Now it is established beyond an iota of doubt that what happened in February 2002 in Gujarat was a well planned pogrom, in which thousands of Muslims were killed. Naroda Gaon and Naroda Patiya in Ahmedabad were two such localities among many others, where ethnic cleansing was carried out with indemnity. In Naroda Gaon and Naroda Patiya alone more than four hundred innocents were killed and rest of the Muslim population was hounded out of their homes. Some papers then had described the burning of people in their homes as ‘mass incinerator’. 

The victims who escaped death very nearly, found shelter in Shah Alam camp. Even after two years these people were afraid to go back to their homes. For these terrified people, local community with the help of some NGO’s, had constructed 150 one room sets. In a morning during that visit I was huddled with 40-50 such families at their new location. I was their on a study tour, the meeting turned out to be a grief sharing exercise. Despite my restrain to maintain the objectivity, I was completely overwhelmed by the sufferings of these hapless victims; I do not know why we were able to connect with each other. I will never forget the scene, young widow with three or four year old son in her lap pleading--- “Kashmiri Bhai we do not want any help from you, please provide me a gun, I will prepare my son to fight to take revenge, and I will make him to follow Osama Chacha”. She did not say Osama bin Laden, I was amazed to hear her saying Osama Chacha.

In her hour of trial she was able to connect emotionally with Osama as one of her own, and I was taken a back seeing the depth of trauma and deep desire for revenge. While tears in our eyes, it proved very difficult to persuade her to give up idea of gun, only revenge occupied her mind. Aware of the horrible consequences of the gun back home, I was not ready to relent; I was able to garner a promise that she will not push her son on the path of violence.  I handed over her child my pen and tried to make her understand--- she needs empowerment in order to seek justice and not revenge, violence of the weak always serves the interests of the tyranny and the state.
          
Without disputing the legitimacy of armed struggle under international law, I have come to a conclusion; pen is mightier than the sword. Indeed it always has been, what is new in this some may argue? Looking at our psychology, presence of huge military machine enjoying near total impunity and international geopolitical conditions only a peaceful resistance serves our interests best. In a peaceful resistance educational excellence, is the real key to Azadi. Let us imagine: an American astronaut of Kashmiri origin speaking  from his space shuttle in space holding a dry Chinar leaf, dedicating his/her voyage to people of Kashmir; A Kashmiri doctor of medicine while accepting Noble prize referring to heroic struggle of Kashmiri masses; a Kashmiri software engineer based in Silicon Valley driven by sentiment of Azadi heading a multinational IT company; a Kashmiri filmmaker wining the best price in an international film festival for a documentary depicting Kashmiri sufferings or a book by a Kashmiri writer based on Kashmir  becoming the best seller in the world.  Effect will be electrifying; Kashmir dispute will surely become much talked about freedom struggle in the world.

The recognition and attention we could not receive in all these years of turmoil, a hundred of best Kashmiri achievers has the potential to win for Kashmir. Ten twenty bright Kashmiri students able to enroll themselves in the best universities of the world year after year eventually will fill the intellectual void. This is absolutely doable; it is not a far fetched dream. Desire for Azadi should fire the imagination; let us aim for excellence, key to our Azadi

(Feedback at firdoussyed@yahoo.com)

Lastupdate on : Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
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