MAsters of double-speak

[Guest dada_rocks]

http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front%5Fpage&file_name=story1%2Etxt&counter_img=1 Swapan Dasgupta For all the other undeniable benefits it has brought to the civilised world, the Internet has also become a handy instrument of the depraved and the fanatical. Earlier in the week, I chanced upon an offering by one Dr Abdul Ruff Colachal (this could well be a pseudonym) who claimed to be a research scholar at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. A Google search revealed that Colachal was apparently born in Tamil Nadu, had earlier taught in the University of Mysore and had been published in Kashmir Times. Writing on pro-separatist Kashmirwatch.com, this exalted "scholar" fulminated against the Indian media in colourful prose: "Indian media have successfully assisted the Indian rulers on payment-cum-favours basis by creating a large section of pseudo-patriotic forces imbibing vague sentimentalism and hollow emotionalism." To prove his assertion, he referred to the euphoria surrounding the gold medal won by Abhinav Bindra in Beijing. "When an Indian got a gold medal for shooting in Olympics, the Indian nation and its essentially anti-Muslim media highlighted it as the most important event of India since 1947 publishing his larger than size photographs. But shooting is the skill required for terrorist activities and Indians praising the medal for shooting have, in fact, exposed Indian mind-set for terrorist methods." What is significant about this innovative insight into the Indian mindset is not that it exists -- a lot of bloggers have equally original formulations - but that it is being disseminated by those in the forefront of the "freedom for Islam" movement that seems to be captivating the imagination of the Kashmir Valley. Maybe, we should not really be surprised. For the past two decades, separatist leaders in the Valley have perfected the art of double-speak. There is one language the Hurriyat Conference leadership, for example, reserves for gullible Indian TV presenters, conflict-resolution experts and Western diplomats. It is a language peppered with terms like empowerment, civil society and dual sovereignty; and it may even incorporate some of the disingenuous piffle the late Edward Said popularised for the Palestine victimhood industry. There is, however, another earthy side to separatism which is manifested when its leadership talks to fellow activists. The more extreme Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was an unlikely picture of obsequiousness to the Art of Living mediator. But read his unexpurgated version of the Amarnath Yatra to the 'faithful': "Indian Government... flooded Kashmir with yatris and tourists, purpose of this artificial pilgrimage tourism was to strengthen occupation and lay same type of claim to Kashmir as is made by Jews to the territory of Palestine. They also wanted to establish settlements within the occupied territory of Kashmir. For this purpose Amarnath Shrine Board was constituted. Kashmiris never had a problem with Yatra but once Yatra became a tool of strengthening occupation, Kashmiris got alarmed." Imagine if some ridiculous Togadia-like figure were to say that the Haj pilgrimage had become an instrument of terrorist indoctrination and must be stopped. Imagine if someone was to say that our congested airports could not cope with the traffic of Hajis any longer; and that building special Haj terminals would alter Indian identity. Or if some ecological wizard was to claim that excessive pilgrimage traffic to Saudi Arabia results in too much carbon emission and increases global warming? Let's say that these people wouldn't have been given the time of day by People Like Us. The agitation in the Kashmir Valley isn't really about Kashmiri identity or Geelani's quest for an elusive Kashmiriyat. It is a plain and simple secessionist movement based on the belief that a Muslim-majority region must have a separate Islamic State. It can no longer be detached from the bombings in Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP and Karnataka which are also about Islamist rejection of democracy and nationalism. In different ways, there is a twin assault on the unity and personality of India. The visible face presents itself in the Valley; the invisible enemy bombs our cities elsewhere. But, as the Gujarat Police revealed on Saturday, the impulses driving both currents are exactly the same.