Apostasy unveiled!

When teenager converted to be John Douglas

It was a chilly evening of January 2011. 16-year-old Imran (name changed) was walking down his colony lane, all alone, pensive, in this summer Capital. His was a typical scene of jilted teenage lover, whose affair with the girl of his age ended after three years of romance –mostly on mobile phone and Facebook –as the duo reached their class 10th.
Suddenly a friend of his appeared at the site and broke the lull by asking reasons for being gloomy. Imran couldn’t hide but spoke his heart out. His friend responded with a joyful remedy by offering him a phone number of a “pretty girl who loves spending time chatting with boys”. But there was a precondition that she attends call only in the night hours.

CALL OF HOPE
The number brought a new hope in the life of this lover-boy, mostly alone at his home, as his mother has passed away around a decade back while father is often out for business tours.
Imran was so tempted on getting the contact number that he straight rang her up that very moment. But the voice at the other end had the plea. “I am busy with my parents. Will call you later,” the sweet voice revealed and dropped the phone.
Imran kept waiting for the call. At around midnight the phone tinkled. At was she speaking prettily. The duo kept talking for over an hour till they realized that they could be friends.
The very next day, their date realized at a mall in this Himalayan region City. While Imran had hired an auto to reach the venue, the girl had come in her sedan.
Finding his new girlfriend driving car, inferiority complex hit the boy who hails from a middle-class family and he did what’s mostly typical of Bollywood flick. “I faked to have left my car at a workshop for some repairs,” he quips.

SEDUCING PARTY
The couple kept dating for a few days till finally the girl invited him for a party at a hotel. Excited, the 10th standard lover reached the venue well in time.
The girl had booked a room there. But to his surprise there were no other guests. The charming face opened her purse to take out two small red Vodka bottles and offered one to him, he says.
“Though I hesitated because of not having touched liquor all my life, as she insisted I started boozing with her,” Imran recaps. This date ended with the booze.
The next day, he received a call from the girl. But unlike the past, this time there was a shock. “She threatened me to come to the hotel at once or else my video of boozing will be uploaded on the Facebook… Scared, I rushed there only to find that she had really captured my video and was waiting to click the upload button on the laptop screen,” Imran recaps.
“I stopped her saying what she wanted,” he recaps adding she demanded to share physical intimacy with him.
“If you want to delete your video, have Vodka and listen to me…,” she told him. Imran says he had to meet her demands to get the video deleted. The tech-savvy, boy didn’t take any risks by deleting the video alone. Instead he formatted the hard disk meaning that entire data was lost.
But this date made him “confident” that he could have multiple girlfriends, he confides. And this confidence worked. “I started flirting with many girls apart from her.”
“But as girlfriends come at a heavy cost, I started running short of money,” says the boy.

NEED FOR MONEY
One Saturday Imran says he needed Rs 1,500 to date a girl. His father was away and so he banked on his friend, the guy who had given him the “pretty girl’s number.”
The friend, however, pleaded pocket money constraints. But after a few minutes, Imran received a call from the girl whose phone number his friend had offered. The seductress had a surprising revelation for the boy in need.
“Apart from offering to pay Rs 1,500, she said if I go to church, I’ll get lots of money,” he recaps. Imran says he refused the second option pleading how would it be possible for him to go there?
“Don’t worry I’ll take you there,” she said. The very next day, it was a Mass at a Church and she took him there.

PASTOR FACTOR
This was where Imran says he was introduced to Father Chander Manni Khanna aka Pastor CM Khanna "who asked me to join spiritual classes and took me as his son.” The Pastor, for now is a key accused in the alleged apostasy case and was arrested for some days by police.
The Pastor, Imran says, started calling him to his residence and even introduced him to a girl whom he claimed was his daughter. “She became my girlfriend and we would roam around in Khanna’s car,” he says.
The Pastor, as per the boy, would often invite him for lunch, breakfast or any other meals. “Once they cooked some meat which had been frozen in ice cubes. On finishing the lunch, I was told that it was swine meat,” he says adding he couldn’t think much about the forbidden meat because of being under the influence of liquor.
“Khanna and I would booze together at his home,” Imran alleged.
“Finally they both(Father and daughter) asked me to convert.”
“They even gave me some literature including the New Testaments to read,” Imran says.

THE CONVERSION
After a few weeks, the boy says, he got convinced. On the second Sunday of the bygone Ramazan, Imran says he was baptized along with three other boys adding after that 8, 28,28 and 30 people converted on the coming Sundays, respectively. By now Imran was given a new name: John Douglas.
On the night of Shab-e-Qadr in Ramazan, he says, the Pastor called him to his home for dinner. “After dinner, Khanna and I kept boozing beer till late at night.” Going home wasn’t any problem. “They would offer me their car to drive.”
Besides, the class 11th student says he was given a ATM card with ***(name with held) inscribed in it, and had some 64,000 Rs in the deposits.
“I got two Samsung Galaxy phones. One for myself and other for a new girlfriend, who later ditched me.”
After a few days, Imran’s mother came in his dream rebuking him that “born from womb of a Muslim mother why he wanted to die death of Non –Muslim?” “Her words irritated me and I abused her a lot,” the boy admits adding the next morning he called on the Pastor and revealed the dream before him.
“He told me it was all satanism adding that I should recite Bible at her grave.” Imran says he straight left for the graveyard and recited atleast 15 pages of the book there.
“I was so fascinated towards the religion that I would feel pride carrying the Testaments along even to school.” This was when some of his friends came to know about his conversion.
“They asked me to revert but I didn’t listen to them.”

BLACK SUNDAY
And then came the Black Sunday. Imran says he was asked to attend a prayers at a place other than church.
“There were candles lit up all around and an empty glass was lying inside. As prayers went on someone brought a jug full of red liquid and poured it into the glass.”
When Imran asked what it was, he was told it was swine blood which they all had to drink.
“For a moment I couldn’t even think of touching but then in no time Khanna took some sips, next I drank it and after that many more including Khanna’s daughter did the same.”

CLOSE AIDE
Imran says he became a close aide of the Pastor and would even stay with them.
One day, as per the boy, Khanna’s daughter called him to his home in the afternoon, saying that she had installed a latest operating system on his new laptop.
When I reached there she asked me to distinguish between two videos of schoolchildren on the laptop.
He couldn’t find any difference. “Then she told me that in one of the videos, kids were leaving for Friday Prayers at Masjid while at some other school the children were playing,” he says adding that he was told the “schools which don’t allow kids to offer the congregational Friday Prayers were given financial support.”
In the meantime, Khanna walked in and said: “Your are my son and I’ll send you to California soon.”

RAGDA HINDRANCE
Imran says he replied that for that he would have to get a passport. But the boy says the June 2008 Radga played a spoilsport. “The concerned police station had listed me among the stone pelters so I couldn’t get police clearance for the passport.”
When Khanna came to know about the hindrance, he intervened asking “me to get six photographs.” “And the very next week, he showed me my passport adding that I would be leaving for California for further studies on November 15,” Imran says but adding in the same breath that the Pastor didn’t handover his passport to him.

HIS POWER
Imran says Khanna was “all powerful”. Two of his close aides(names with held) would carry guns and his daughter told me that “it was all because of the Father’s influence.”
“If you want we can give you AK 47 riffle licensed, she told me!”
Imran says one day he himself saw “Khanna’s influence doing a miracle”.
“I was driving his car under the influence of alcohol and happened to hit a person near Ram Bagh, a police man at once caught hold of my collar. But I asked him to let me make a call or he would have to repent,” the boy says.
Imran made the cop speak to Khanna and the very next moment he was released. “And you won’t believe I learnt that the man I hit was whisked away by police.”
In the meantime, one afternoon, Imran says he was shown small packets containing white powder like substance named “enjoyment packet.”
While others only smelled its quality, the boy says he was asked to taste one. “It was bitter but made me feel on the top of the world and I started consuming it often.”

SMELLING RAT
But somewhere in the hearts of his heart, Imran says one question would often strike his mind.
“Why will a person who treats me like his son make me booze, have illegal relationships and roam around like a freak… Will my own father ever offer me wine, money and sex?” the boy whose health has deteriorated due to frequent boozing and other “illegal acts”, argues.
These queries started to remain in the back of his mind, till a revelation made him think the other way. I came to know from one of the persons that my video of getting baptized was lying in the mobile phone of a cleric.
“This alerted me and I realised they were playing a dirty game with me and planned to teach them a lesson because by now I was feeling that my health had deteriorated as I couldn’t even stand properly.”

THE REVENGE
He came up with revenge at one of the baptizing ceremonies as the tech-savvy boy carried a spy cam along. The trick worked. He captured the footage, which subsequently leaked on the internet sites leaving the people including civil society members and clerics concerned.
At the Court of Grand Mufti Bashir-Ud –Din, Imran had confronted Khanna when the latter appeared before him for hearing. Initially Khanna, the clerics present at the Court said, had tried to refute the allegations but the moment Imran appeared, the Pastor was shocked and confessed his involvement. Khanna was subsequently arrested by police.
On Thursday while the Supreme Court of Islamic Shariat in Srinagar pronounced the Fatwa, two New Delhi based newspapers issued similar reports about Pastor Khanna and even his wife alleging that the family was involved in luring Muslim youth to Christianity through “unfair means”.

WHY REVERSION
But why did you revert? Some of his friends who knew about his activities had been after him that he should meet some Muslim clerics to know what Islam is. “I knew nothing more than Nimaz and recitation of first five paragraphs of Holy Quran which my mother had made me memorize before she died,” he admits.
Imran says luckily he happened to meet a senior cleric and founder of a Darul Uloom who looked at him with a smiling face.
“Son I have no burgers or pastries to offer other than this Chachwaru(local bread) and he subsequently told me about the basics of Islam which made me feel sorry of my deeds,” the boy admits adding that nobody forced him to revert but he did it out of his own.
Your story is exciting like a Bollywood flick? “Please don’t take it as excitement. It should make you worry. What if your own brother was at my place?" he rep lied to this correspondent.
With this Imran goes emotional requesting that “please to add my appeal in the story.”

HIS APPEAL
“I want to inform all my brothers and sisters, kiths and kins, nears and dears that please don’t believe or trust a person who is unknown to you and don’t trust a girl blindly because I faced so much because of a girl and she intrigued me into drug addiction, illegal affairs, boozing and all sinful life,” he confesses.
“And don’t make friendship with someone who shows undue concern because I was misguided by my best friend. I request all parents to check that whether or not their wards attend to schools regularly and what all are their activities including talking on phone.”

THE MISSIONARY IRONY
Whenever news of any conversions pops up in Kashmir, fingers mostly point towards the Christian Missionary run schools. But like many other such cases, Imran was never a missionary school student.
In reality, it’s the missionary schools, which have produced some of the best people in the society. Valley’s head priest Mirwaiz Dr Umar Farooq, who is spearheading the campaign against apostasy, happens to be a Burn Hall alumni. On the other hand Ishfaaq Majeed Wani, one of the pioneers of the militancy and then Commander-in-Chief of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front was a Biscoe Boy while same is true for US trained pilot Nadeem Khateeb who ended up being a militant and was killed in an encounter in Doda area, a few years back much to the shock of his parents who were of the impression their son was working in US after completing his commercial pilot training there.
There are many more in the list of Missionary school alumni like National Conference President and Union Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, his Chief Minister son Omar Abdullah, former Chairman JK Bank Dr Haseeb Drabu, separatist leader Sajad Gani Lone and of course Masrat Alam, the most wanted man during 2010 Ragda. Daughters of Peoples Democratic Party President, Mehbooba Mufti happen to be Presentation Convent Higher Secondary School (PCHSS)Alumni.
Missionary schools like Tyndale Biscoe School, Burn Hall, PCHSS and Saint Joseph, for around a century, have been known for imparting best of the education as is evident from the versatility in their alumni and interest of almost everyone to get their wards admitted there.
Veteran separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani’s granddaughters study at PCHSS Raj Bagh while same is true for daughter of another senior leader Shabir Shah. Mirwaiz’a close aide, Advocate Shahid Ul Islam who did some interlocution between the Muslim clerics and the Missionary people over the apostasy issue is no exception to it. While Shahid and his siblings too had studied at missionary schools, same is true for his daughters. And he openly admits it.
In the yesteryears prior to eruption of militancy when wives of Army and Air-force officers mostly taught at the missionary schools like the Presentation Convent, these teachers would hold voluntary classes for children of economically backward families, after school hours.
“After school duty these teachers would voluntarily return from their homes in casuals and hold classes for the children of poor families in the school neighbourhood,” recaps a Raj Bagh resident.

BOTTOMLINE TRUST
Well, coming back to Imran and his reversion. A question on how he managed to capture the baptism video without being caught takes you by surprise. “Could you ascertain when I took your video on my mobile as you interviewed me,” he replies with a smile on his face as he showed this correspondent my interactive video.
“I no more trust any one so easily that’s why I captured you in my phone,” he adds as he slips down the chair due to his deteriorating health. He can’t sit properly and needs to lie down frequently. Medicos say drugs and drinking liquor like a fish have badly affected his health!

Earlier Published On Greater Kashmir

Graffiti: Expression Unadulterated

Guest Post By: Imran Muzaffar

The ‘Palestine-imitated’ ubiquitous form of expression – graffiti, which remained the mostpowerful tool of expression for messengers in the Indian Administered Kashmir to assure that their ‘freedom struggle’ memos are conveyed to public directly without any censorship, during the times of unrest and media gag, have now been either rubbed off completely from the walls of the different constructions of Valley or have been overwritten, distorting the ‘original’ messages used by Kashmiris as a means of resistance.

Graffiti writers of Kashmir, who wish to remain anonymous, say that they had used it as a form of true information sharing approach for their Kashmiri brethren, when they were deprived of every other medium.

Shakeel Ahmad, (name changed), a painter, has been scrawling Graffiti for the past eight years. He maintains that, they (Graffiti makers) were serving a duty to educate and inform their people in the times of ‘misleading and wrong information.’

“Mainstream media will never say a word of truth. In 2008 and 2010 when our brothers were falling to the bullets of security forces, people remained uninformed about the real stories. We used graffiti as an alternative channel to the mainstream media, to disseminate the true information, which often was kept back by the latter. Somehow we succeeded”, he says.

“The government is engaged with Graffiti rubbing drive, but it will hardly upset the sense of message. The matter of the fact is that, it is there and will remain ever”, Shakeel says.

Be it the teachers or students, parents or their children, there is no hesitation when it’s about expressing the undercurrents of resentment against the authority through the means of Graffiti. Women also take part when the circumstances demand.

“Everyone among us is a Graffiti writer”, says Rouf Ahmad (name Changed). This form of expression, according to him has been imitated from Gaza, Palestine. “We have imitated it from brave Palestinian brethren who, like us, are also fighting for a true cause”, he says.

In reaction to the rubbing Graffiti drive of authorities on the walls, in a sense to distort the message, they say that graffiti does not either breach the constitution or break any international law.

“There is nothing wrong in this form of protest. Why are they rubbing graffiti off the walls? They bear true messages. The frustration stares obvious in their (authorities) faces. Graffiti does not break any law; it lies under the purview of ‘freedom of expression’”, adds Rouf (name changed).

Writing on the wall being vivid and uncensored, another Graffiti writer says that their focus also remains at tourists and outsiders who might understand their sufferings. “We write them directly our true state of affairs without any hidden discourse. We write from our hearts our true messages. We tell them stories in one line so that they may understand our pain and agony”, says Mohammad Waseem (name changed).

Waseem says that he has no fear of being caught or booked, for writing on the walls gives him internal satisfaction. “I do not fear anybody. I do my duty. I tell truth to my people”. He articulates.

The Sher-e-Khaas of Srinagar City - Nowhatta and its nearby area - Hawal, during the summer unrests of 2008 and 2010, were most popular in graffiti writing, with every wall being painted or sprayed with one-liners.

An amateur graffiti writer in Nowhatta says that he had a deep hatred against those who had killed his friends. “My writing on the walls was resentment against those who mercilessly killed my innocent friends”, says Ishfaq (name changed), a class 11 student.

“Their distorting of messages does not bother us. They are actually insulted by these kinds of writings as they are open. I will write again till our suppressors are brought to book,” he says.

The clique of graffiti writers have even tried to convey the message of resistance to high-profile people, who visit the valley to observe the situation at different times.

“The walls from Airport side are full of messages which are for those high profile people who visit the valley in order to understand problems and aspirations of people here”, says Wahid Gul (name changed), an artist, adding that he will never stop writing on the walls.

Taking a look back at the history of movements, where graffiti had been one of the influential tools of expression, a professor of English says that graffiti has played a significant role in framing and at times changing public opinion.

“We use graffiti in teaching people about the facets of life. It may be a word of resentment or any message which has a vast impact. Students use it for social awareness. University federations across India extensively use graffiti to inform students about the important issues,” says Dr. Mohammad Aslam, professor of English.

He says that it is difficult to rub graffiti and suppress the message it gives. “Nobody can rub the hidden part of graffiti. Even a rubbed graffiti speaks a tale. It makes people curious to understanding that some significant and resentful messages are hidden behind the rubbing stokes”, Says Mohammad Aslam.

A tourist from Rajasthan, who had been on a visit to enjoy picturesque Valley, says that he can perceive the trauma and judge emotions of Kashmiris through writings on the wall. “It is vivid and clear from their writings that they are in a conflict. They speak their heart out”, says Santosh Raina, a software engineer.

Graffiti, according to a research scholar, is a common man’s writing which he writes in order to transform true messages to others in an alternative away, through a different medium which is accessible to all. “It is just an anonymous person’s expression who just writes his state of mind to inform others or for that matter teach them. Its main aim being motivating people”, says a journalism researcher on Graffiti, Arif Bashir.

This new clan of supposedly free writers say that they shall continue with the writings till they properly inform people about the truth. “As this form of writing is purely legal and without censorship, we will never stop informing people about the pros and cons of struggle and peoples’ sufferings. The most unproblematic of the things is that graffiti does not go against any constitution”, says Shakeel.

Who Wants Autonomy?

Guest Post By: Zahir-u-Din

Kashmir is a place where `separatrism' still sells. Even senior Congress leaders have admitted this harsh reality. The mainstream parties in the state have to pursue a `separatist’ agenda in Kashmir because it sells here

Who wants autonomy in Jammu Kashmir? The people of Jammu hate it, Ladakh has already got it and in Kashmir it is a non-Issue. And, is New Delhi interested in restoring autonomy to the state?

History is witness to the fact that the Jammu people hated autonomy. They launched an agitation seeking Eak Nishaan, Eak Pradan and Eak Vidaan (One flag, one prime minister and one legislature).

The Bhartaya Janata Party (BJP) and Panthers Party (PP) MLAs registered strong protest on March 17 this year over intended change of nomenclature of the top posts in the state. They warned against any compromise on the unity and integrity of the country. There is no denying the fact that the National Conference believes that autonomy was the best solution to the vexed problem. How to achieve the goal? Can it be granted by the prime minister and his cabinet? According to constitutional experts, the government has to go to the Parliament and amend the constitution, or re-induct the omitted articles that spoke about autonomy of the state. This also is not possible. The government lacks the numbers required for passing such amendments. The opposition shall oppose such move tooth and nail for obvious reasons.

There is no denying the fact that the population of Jammu division is heterogeneous. A good number of people identify with the Valley. To put it plainly they are interested in Azadi and not autonomy.

The people of Ladakh stand for total merger with India. Of course some voices of dissent have been heard here and there in the cold desert but such feeble voices hardly make any difference. They want to get rid of what they call Kashmir hegemony. The civic body created a political storm in the state by adapting a new symbol and abandoning the use of state flag. While the commoner in Kashmir and Jammu remained indifferent to the issue, the main opposition party of the state, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took a serious note of the development. The PDP president, Mahbooba Mufti said it was an act to dilute the special status of the state. "Any act aimed at diluting our special status shall be vehemently opposed", she said. Political circles equated it to the beginning of trifurcation of the state. "The LAHDC has taken a decision which the Legislative Assembly cannot afford to take", said a Srinagar based lawyer. The chief minister, however, played cool. "The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) is as good as a municipality and like Srinagar Municipality it has a right to have its own logo and flag. The chief minister further said that he was watching the developments. "I am watching the developments. A final decision shall be taken after ascertaining the facts", he said. The chief minister’s `casual’ comments evoked some sarcastic remarks.

"Yes, Srinagar Municipality has its own symbol but it does not take political decisions", said an agitated University teacher. According to him, the Srinagar and Jammu municipalities are even scared of poisoning the stray dogs. The Srinagar Municipality had procured poison worth Rs 15 lakh a few years ago but it could not be administered to the canines for fear of the animal rights defenders. Almost seven months have passed since the LAHDC adapted the new symbol. The chief minister has not taken any action. According to informed sources, the chief minister does not want to add to his woes by annoying the Leh people at this juncture. The State flag, it may be mentioned, has been evoking heated discussions for the past few years. While LAHDC has taken the bold decision, the people of Jammu have always resented the state flag. They want Eak Nishaan, Eak Pradhan and Eak Vidhaan.

Restoring autonomy, political experts believe, is simply impossible for New Delhi at this point of time. According to them, "Jammu Kashmir is a very sensitive issue. The gullible people in India believe that Jammu Kashmir binds them to the Indian union. Therefore, developments in the state are viewed with extreme caution and interest. Scores of states in India are up in arms against New Delhi. Some demand absolute sovereignty and some are unhappy with the system. Granting autonomy to Jammu Kashmir, therefore, will have a serious bearing on government of India. It may end up in a change in the pattern of governance. Is India prepared for a federal system of governance? This perhaps is the reason that the BJP government did not consider National Conference’s autonomy document."

And in contemporary Kashmir, it is a non-issue. Barring a few National Conference leaders nobody is interested in autonomy in Kashmir. It (Kashmir) is a place where `separatrism' still sells. Even senior Congress leaders have admitted this harsh reality. The pro-Indian parties have to pursue a `separatist’ agenda in Kashmir because `separatism’ sells in Kashmir. This is a harsh reality and the pro-Indian groups have understood it.

On May 10 last year, veteran Congress leader, Ghulam Rasool Kar while addressing a convention at Sopore made a landmark statement. He said: "Every Kashmiri is emotionally attached to Pakistan whether they are in Congress or National Conference", he said. He also said that every heart in Kashmir (including his) beats for Pakistan.
Kar made this statement as senior Congress leaders watched helplessly. He urged the Congress leadership to accept this harsh reality. "Congress should have cordial relations with Pakistan. The party must strive for resolution of all disputes with Pakistan especially the dispute on Kashmir", he suggested.

He also urged the government of India to start a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan. He said: "I am an Indian but I am pained to see Pakistan in trouble. When a Pakistani gets killed in a bomb blast, my eyes get moistened automatically. This is how every Kashmiri feels."

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been accused of nurturing `separatist’ tendencies from the very beginning. The PDP Chief Mahbooba Mufti emerged more `separatist’ than the `separatists’ at times.
The National Conference also played the separatist card last year. Unnerved by the agitation, the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah caused a political storm in the subcontinent by challenging the totality of accession during his address in the Legislative Assembly.

Omar was accused of failure to deliver. Even New Delhi talked about `trust deficit’ and `governance deficit’. During the agitation, a harsh reality dawned on Omar Abdullah. ` You have to pursue a separatist agenda in Kashmir’. And that is exactly what Omar did.

He is the first Chief Minister who rejected totality of accession on the floor of the house. He even went to the extent of saying that Jammu Kashmir was an issue with international dimensions. "Jammu Kashmir has not merged into India. The accession is temporary and conditional", he said.

Community First "Falahudarien"

Baramulla’s unique charitable organization has made a name for itself. Inam Ul Haq reports on the men behind the mission.

On a chilly afternoon in 1999, perhaps around the beginning of Chilaikalaan, a few likeminded friends from Baramulla, distressed by ‘social evils and degrading values’ met in a dilapidated room to find a way out.

These ten men in their mid 20s decided to provide moral and religious teachings to young men and women of their town. But soon, they realized that only “preaching” isn’t enough.

“There are widows with small kids with no means to feed them. How can we preach morality when people have empty stomachs? These people get forced into different kind of evils and wrongdoings. So we decided to contribute from our own pockets and help them first,” said Suhail Ahmad Kar.

These thoughts eventually led Kar and his friends to form The Idarah Falahudarien with the aim to build an ideal Islamic society – honest and charactered – in Baramulla.

“Our community has appreciated us for this small effort of ours, and youth have especially been volunteering themselves for this benevolent cause,” said Kar, who is a founding member of the organization and a government employee by profession.

With more than 200 volunteers, Falahudarien now distributes more than 5 million rupees per year to the needy and destitute of Baramulla town.

Presently, Falahudarien is providing financial assistance to more than 250 families per month; helping unemployed youth setup their own income generating units and provide basic housing facilities for the houseless families of the town. The organisation also generates awareness about the menace of drug addiction and provides helping hand to the poor parents in marrying their daughters.

Falahudarien, a social and welfare organisation, has a different modus operandi, which is not just providing money or one time support to a destitute family. Idarah does not even run an orphanage, rather it provides need based support, said Fayaz Ahmad Mir, president of the organisation. It has a wing of Mawneen (supporters). Each Mawin, assigned to a Mohallah, goes to each needy family, discuss with them and assess the need of the every month and provide help accordingly.

“It is a sustained effort. We help orphans or poor children for their complete schooling even until they reach university level,” said Mir. “Their tuition fees, books, uniform or any other expenditure is provided until they need it. We have some students who qualified state competitive exams, NET (National Eligibility Test) and JRF (Junior Research Fellowship).”

Some of the students whom Idarah supported are now working at good positions and are now giving back to the organisation. “They volunteer, and some have even become monthly contributors, making Idarah feel proud,” said Mir.

The organisation has laid down strict principles for raising funds and utilising them. “We do not accept any aid from government, NGO or any other body,” said Zahoor Ahmad Dar, who heads the social work wing. “Our all income is based on the donations of the people of the town who want to help the poor and needy. But all the expenses needed on managing the office, its rent and other expenses related to office and volunteers is paid by the volunteers from their own pocket and not a single penny from donors money is spend on that. No office bearer is paid all people work on voluntary basis.”

To maintain the transparency and accountability, organisation audits the accounts by a charted accountant every year. Besides all the monthly income and expenditure are put on the organisation’s website: www.falahudarian.org.

Though describing Falahudarien as an Islamic center, Mir said, the help provided is purely on humanitarian basis without taking religion into consideration. “We help any person of the town in the need, whether he be a Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or a Christian. And we do not have any missionary motives,” he added.

To eradicate the menace of drug addiction, Falahudarien is holding regular awareness campaigns. Identifies drug addicts and provide them counselling. “We have registered more than 400 drug addicts. We provide them counselling and medicine and take them to district de-addiction center. At least100 people have left using drugs with our help,” said a volunteer, Iqbal Hafiz Ganai, who is doing his Ph.D. at SKUAST.

Ganai said that organisation also organises blood donation camps, provides career counselling to students and conducts general knowledge test every year. Besides a yearly Seerat conference, Falahudarien conduct many conferences to discuss modern day problems and issues. It also publishes a bi-monthly magazine, Tazkeer, to impart moral and religious education among youngsters.

The next goal for the organisation is to establish a state of art Islamic Research Center to conduct research on complicated issues in Islam surfaced due to modernity and technology. Land for that has been already acquired and construction of the building is going on.

Earlier Published On : Kashmir Life

Two New Indian Army Camps In The Offing In Occupied Kashmir

In occupied Kashmir, in contravention to the growing demand of troops withdrawal, the Indian army is planning to set up two more camps at over 800 kanals of land in the Islamabad district.

The residents of the district said that the Indian army camps would be established at 896 kanals of land, transferred to Indian army by the authorities in 1980s. One such camp will be set up near Nowshehra village of the district, they added.

Residents of Mahind, Nowshehra and Hatigam in Bijbehara areas said that the puppet regime had transferred more than 800 kanals of land to the Indian army, which was in the process of setting up a huge cantonment there.

“Army could be seen carrying out different exercises onthe land including digging underground bunkers and erecting signage”, they maintained.

The administration is allowing the Indian army to set up new camps in rural areas that too at the cost of fragile forest land,” said a local. “We own the orchards and the agricultural land in the area where the camp is being set up. So if the camp is established we will not be able to move to our orchards and that will be rendered useless,” said the locals.

The Indian army is also trying to occupy even the proprietary land for setting up of a camp in the area.

Confirming the transfer of 896 kanals of land to the Indian army in the area a top revenue official posted in the area said, “Yes the army is setting up a big camp in the area”.

Why Kashmir is Important to Me?

(The statement of Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai which was issued at the Alexandria Court House, Virginia)

The Kashmir issue is simply this: the people of a large territory which is not part of any existing sovereign state were assured by the entire international community represented by the United States that they would be enabled to decide their future by a free vote. Until now, this assurance has not been honored.
I, as an American of Kashmiri origin am profoundly grateful to the Administration for upholding the position of principle which the United States has sustained throughout the existence of the contentious issue relating to the status of Kashmir.

When the Kashmir dispute erupted in 1947-1948, the United States championed the stand that the future status of Kashmir must be determined by the will of the people of the territory and that their wishes must be ascertained through an impartial plebiscite under the supervision and control of the United Nations. The U.S. was a principle sponsor of the resolution # 47 which was adopted by the Security Council on April 21, 1948 and which was based on that unchallenged principle. It was also upheld equally by both India and Pakistan when the Kashmir dispute was brought before the Security Council in 1948. The commitment of the U.S. was indicated by a personal appeal made by President Harry Truman that differences over demilitarization be submitted to arbitration by the Plebiscite Administrator, a distinguished American war hero: Admiral Chester Nimitz.

It was most gratifying for Kashmiri American community when President George W. Bush (Republican) said on February 22, 2006 that the United States supports a solution of Kashmir dispute acceptable not only to India and Pakistan but also to “citizens of Kashmir.” It was equally gratifying for us when President Barack Obama said on October 30, 2008, “We should probably try to facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and try to resolve the Kashmir crisis so that they can stay focused not on India, but on the situation with those militants.’

Today, Kashmir is a living proof that it is not going to compromise, far less abandon, its demand for Azaadi (independence) which is its birthright and for which it has paid a price in blood and suffering which has not been exacted from any other people of the South Asian subcontinent. Compared to the sacrifice Kashmir has had to endure, India and Pakistan themselves gained their freedom through a highly civilized process.

The scale of the popular backing for Kashmiri resistance can be judged from the established fact that virtually all the citizenry of Srinagar (Capital city of Kashmir) - men, women and children - came out multiple times on the streets to lodge a non-violent protest against the continuance of alien occupation. The fact that they presented petitions at the office of the United Nations Military Observers Group shows the essentially peaceful nature of the aims of the uprising and its trust in justice under international law. At times the number of people in these peaceful processions exceeded 1 million. India has tried to portray the uprising as the work of terrorists or fanatics. Terrorists do not compose an entire population, including women and children; fanatics do not look to the United Nations to achieve pacific, and rational settlement.

That is a most poignant truth. But even more bitterly ironical is the contrast between the complex and decades-long agony the Kashmir issue has caused to Kashmiris, to Pakistan and to India itself and the simple, rational measures that would be needed for its solution. No sleight of hand is required, no subtle concepts are to be deployed, and no ingenious deal needs to be struck between an Indian and a Pakistani leader with the endorsement of the more pliable Kashmiri figures. The time for subterfuges is gone. All that is needed is going back --- yes, going back --- to the point of agreement which historically existed beyond doubt between India and Pakistan and jointly resolving to retrieve it with such modifications as are necessitated by the passage of time.

That point of agreement was one of inescapable principle- -- that the future status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir shall be decided by the will of the people of the State as impartially ascertained in conditions free from coercion. The two elements of a peaceful settlement thus were, first, the demilitarization of the State (i.e. the withdrawal of the forces of both India and Pakistan) and a plebiscite supervised by the United Nations.

Between India’s insistence that a settlement must be “within the four corners of the Indian constitution” and Pakistan’s demand that it must be based on the international agreement embodied in the UN Security Council resolutions, there cannot be a meeting point which the two governments can find by themselves. Neither can disentangle itself from the massive under growth of the dispute. There needs to be a third way which neither admits nor challenges any claim or proposition on the question of sovereignty over Kashmir nor on the desirability or otherwise of the partition or reunification of the State. Both these questions need to be set aside if the dispute is to be put on the road to a settlement.

There is nothing in the United Nations plan that is incompatible with pluralism. We do not wish to foreclose any of the three possible options for the people: independence, accession to Pakistan or accession to India. We refuse to believe that fairness is an impractical proposition.

Its object should be not to answer what is the correct or best solution of the Kashmir problem but how that solution can be arrived at. In other words, it should by itself neither promote nor preclude any rational settlement of the dispute, be it accession to India or Pakistan or independence. Rather than seek to impose a settlement on Kashmir, it should engage the peoples of each region of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir to work out a settlement themselves without any external constraint.

I am equally proud of Kashmiri pluralism. The term fundamentalism is quite inapplicable to Kashmiri society. One of the proud distinctions of Kashmir has been the sustained tradition of tolerance, amity, good will and friendship between the members of different religious and cultural communities. It has a long tradition of moderation and non-violence. Its culture does not generate extremism and fundamentalism. Kashmir conflict was never a fight between Hindus and Muslims. It was never a struggle between theocracy and secularism. It has always been about the destiny and future of 17 million people of Kashmir, be they Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs or Buddhists.

The Policy Of Kashmiri American Council

After the uprising in Kashmir in 1989, a group of Kashmiri Americans established the Kashmiri American Council (KAC) in Washington in 1990. The primary objective of KAC was simply to raise the consciousness of the international community toward the issue of Kashmir; and to seek the understanding of the United States to help achieve the right of self-determination which was guaranteed to the people of Kashmir under the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The U.S. has, since the adoption of the UN resolutions in 1948, always held the position that Kashmir is a disputed territory; that it is not an integral part of either India or Pakistan; and that India and Pakistan should resolve the issue, taking into account the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kashmir. Therefore, there was no need to influence U.S. foreign policy which has always been consistent with the goals of the Kashmiri people. However, we felt that there was a need to educate and encourage policy makers to take concrete steps to help achieve this goal.

Who I Represent

Kashmiri American Council and I have always tried to represent the sentiments of the people of Kashmir, irrespective of the religious background and cultural affiliations. Sometimes it meant to state the hard facts which people in the halls of power in New Delhi or Islamabad might not always find agreeable. But unfortunately facts are facts and ignoring them would not have done justice not only to people of Kashmir but to the people of both India and Pakistan. This fact can be understood from an article of mine which was published in Washington Times on January 18, 2004, when I was analyzing various possibilities that could lead us to a just settlement of Kashmiri issue. I wrote, under the title, "The taproot of South Asian turbulence,” (an article particularly harsh to the sensitivities of both the Indian government and the government of Pakistan.) "Finding a solution to the stalemate over self-determination in Kashmir, however, is vastly more complex than articulating the problem. Some in India profit from Kashmir's tumults. They appeal to extreme Hindu nationalists who insist on Muslim inferiority and envision India as an expanding sun in the South Asian universe. Likewise, some in Pakistan gain by keeping Kashmir unresolved. It distracts attention from Pakistan's enormous domestic faults, and provides indigenous militants with an outlet unthreatening to [its own] government."

Had it been true that I was being dictated by someone from New Delhi or Islamabad, then it would not have been easy for me to publish my article in Boston Globe on January 5, 2002, "Kashmir Rights Cannot Be Denied," I wrote, "There are suggestions in some quarters that the United Nations should broker a deal on Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Kashmiris wish to stress that their land is not real estate that can be parceled out between two [non-resident] disputants but the home of nation with a history far more compact and coherent than India's and far longer than Pakistan's. No settlement of their status will hold unless it is explicitly based on the principles of self-determination and erases the so-called line of control, which is in reality the line of conflict. "

Likewise it would not have been easy to question the involvement of India and Pakistan in the talks to resolve the Kashmir issue. I wrote in The Quarterly Magazine About the Developing World published by the National Peace Corps Association in its August through October 1998 issue, Volume 11, number 4, entitled "Colony Kashmir, a Voice for independence." I said, "I wish to emphasize the point that as the dispute involves three parties-- India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir -- who are the most directly affected. Any attempt to strike a deal between two without the association of the third, will fail to yield a credible settlement. The contemporary history of South Asia is abundantly clear that bilateral efforts have never met with success."

In that same article, I also stated, "but we believe that India and Pakistan cannot by themselves reach a settlement over Kashmir without associating the genuine Kashmiri leadership--All Parties Hurriyet Conference--with the negotiations. It would be performing Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark."

My approach has been consistent and there was absolutely no reason for me to do otherwise, and that is to inform the world powers that India and Pakistan by themselves are not able to resolve the issue of Kashmir. They have tried over decades but failed. That's why in an article called "The New Clinton Doctrine" which I published in July 1997, I wrote: "But the Kashmir problem should not be viewed as a territorial dispute between these two countries. The reality is that it is first and foremost a problem that involves the life and future of the thirteen million people of Kashmir-- a people with a historical identity, a distinct individuality and the same aspirations for freedom as that of any other people on earth."

The most important constituency which we have to address is not United States, not Pakistan, not elsewhere, but India itself. Meeting with Indian officials was fundamental to my strategy in communicating with New Delhi to find the means by which we as Kashmiri Americans could contribute to peace in that part of the world and in resolving the crisis in Kashmir. During the past twenty years, I along with Ambassador Yusuf Buch, former Senior Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General and late Dr. Ayub Thuker, President, World Kashmir Freedom Movement, have met with various Indian Cabinet Ministers, belonging to the administrations of Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister Atel Behari Vajpayee and current Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. And during the past eleven years, I also met with four different officials at the Indian embassy who succeeded each other periodically and introduced me to the new incoming official before leaving for a new post.

It has always been my habit to keep the channel of communication open to the Indian embassy. I have met with the officials of Indian embassy in Washington since 1999, sometimes monthly, sometimes bi-monthly. From March 2006 onward we met monthly and at times twice a month. Whenever we had a seminar or a conference on Kashmir I would invite the Indian ambassador to speak. I had a habit of exchanging information and establishing the details in advance with an official of the embassy, and then a final copy of the invitation for the ambassador would be given to the official, whom I usually met at a public cafeteria. An Indian official called me either on July 18 or July 19, 2011, the day I was arrested. He left a voicemail that we must meet, which I heard ten days later after my release.

I have made personal mistakes that I deeply regret and I feel great sorrow for that, but I have never compromised our goals of independence and self-determination for the Kashmiri people and our commitment to peaceful negotiations between India, Pakistan and the leadership of the Kashmiri people. My own passion for the plight of Kashmir is clearly nothing unique. As a child of Kashmir, born and raised in this environment myself, I am just one of the hundreds of thousands of youth who, through no fault or choice of their own, have become directly or indirectly involved and deeply and passionately motivated to do something positive for their country, however insignificant in the context of global affairs, to make a difference. A country can be destroyed but a nation cannot be defeated. Our own independence from this tyranny is the song in our heart, the poetry on our lips, and the vision that solidly unites us. It is the bedrock of our determination to continue unrelentingly to seek justice and truth for the people of Kashmir, despite our seeming powerlessness in the face of this occupation. Our hope is in our unity, in our love for one another as a people, as a nation, and as a divine spirit that pervades our history as a people with a unique cultural identity regardless of race, religion or creed, and our lasting belief that we cannot be denied our birth right to self-determination.

Conclusion

Win-win solutions are further important because they safeguard against prospective bitterness or humiliation that are the fuel of new conflict. If one party to a solution feels exploited or unfairly treated, then national sentiments to undo the settlement will naturally swell. We must not belittle, embarrass, or humiliate any party. Every participant should be treated with dignity and humanity. Charity, not the triumphal, should be the earmark of the negotiating enterprise. Also, we should not sacrifice the good on the altar of the perfect. Compromises are the staple of conflict resolution. To achieve some good is worthwhile even though not all good is achieved.