Almost every topic today is political in nature: poverty, farmers, climate change, privatization, Refugees, War, Denial of Space for Dissent– we have diverse opinions about these topics – but if we do not consider the facts surrounding these topics, we cannot formulate and act on informed opinions based on truth, or as I write- we must testify our beliefs.
Fumbling, Sara, 50, wavers into an enormous pile of mud, darting her glance at this prodigious mound, searching perhaps, a lost memory, she runs, puts her hand into the mud and displays a book horse to a different lady- “This is my son’s only left memory, he died when he was 07 years old,” Sara says.
On July 01, 2018, the forces, blew up the concrete house of Sara, turning it into rough fragments of mud, stone, brick, concrete, and wood. “We do not build houses here, these are our dreams, and my dreams are lying there, scattered assorted with water and blood”. Her Husband, Sara says, was a blacksmith, Khurshid Ahmed, who saved money, nearly 33 years, and managed to build a concrete structure, a few months later, the house was blown into pieces. Khurshid has been languishing in Jail, accused of sheltering “Militants.
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The followers to “Rambo Mindset” (a fanatical narrative) tend to grow in numbers with time and their dominance on the cultural, social media narratives also escalates, these, though, are merely overlearned stories communicated through the mass media or other large social and cultural institutions and social networks, and a representation that functions as subtle mechanism of oppression and social control that shape cultural norms and personal beliefs.
Today, we are posed by an absolute commination of having “unnecessary” deaths, as an extremist narrative, braced and reinforced, takes prominence and a counter-narrative is being pushed to the back-burner. “Civilian Deaths in Kashmir” being succored with the catchline “Death for all stone-throwers, terrorist sympathizers” expresses the stereotypical representation in every day, sinister Affairs.
Ghulam Hassan Dar, 60, a resident of Turkwangam in Shopian, is inspecting the debris of a damaged house, it is his house, three houses were burnt to ashes, the inmates were accused of hiding Militants. “India, I see, is subjecting us to double reprisal, kill/ arrest us and then also burn our houses/ expose us to bare skies.” The Indian public, has to understand, Hassan feels, that we will always be bound as a social thread.
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“If a family member is mistaken, ideally we must not throw the one out, and the best part is, we cannot join hands with that family member’s enemy.”
These narratives “Why are you sheltering terrorists” operate as legitimizing myths that justify the maintenance of unequal inter-group relations and this dominant cultural narrative has exerted its influence through processes of psychological internalization that shape the self‐concept and social perceptions of both dominant and the minority groups. Contemporary scholarship has illustrated how dominant cultural narratives contribute to the marginalization of the subordinate groups and contribute to psychological problems such as the depreciation of cultural identities- these Encounter sites are civilian abodes.
The year 2018 has been one of the bloodiest years in a decade as at least 470 people were killed during the year. A total of 245 Militants, 150 civilians and 84 Government Force personnel were killed during the year. A total of at least 107 structures have received partial or been completely destroyed during 108 encounters that raged between Government Forces and Militants in the Kashmir valley during the last year.
Dominant cultural narratives about Kashmiri youth are commonly embedded within various forms of mass media and institutional discourse, typically invoking some aspect of a narrative that portrays the Kashmir youth as risk underachievers, who live in Paleolithic, uneducated families, and demonstrate inclination towards violence due to unemployment, under development.
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One needs to answer logical questions, “Why will one shelter a Militant when there are scarce chances of the inmate surviving safely? or Why has the Kashmiri youth taken a maximalist stance, risking their lives to save a Militant?”. These counter-narratives possibly will compel or necessitate performative strategies in order to resist or subvert their influence in the dominant narratives of Modern India.
There have been allegations of Loot, houses ransacked and many valuables missing after the encounters. Altaf Ahmed, a resident of South Kashmir’s Islamabad (Anantnag) township alleged that in October, the forces ‘rescued’ his family out of an encounter site. ” When we returned to our house, just after the encounter had ended, we found our lockers were broken and cash, gold items, and other valuables stolen. All our belongings had been ransacked”.
We need strategies to resist the dominant cultural narratives, such as the deconstruction of social myths and the telling of the counter‐narratives, re‐imagined narratives, and emphasize the need to resist the ‘ dominant narratives, but it can only happen, when we try to understand the ground realities rather than wanting the ground to stick to our notion-ed narratives.
A Story published on the Scroll quotes an Army official as saying, ” There are no idealistic rules in war, “Why do you bomb cities?” he asked. “Simply, to break the will of the people”. Various international conventions prohibit the “unnecessary destruction” of civilian property which include the Geneva Conventions to which India is a signatory.
According to official data, at least 5,368 shops, houses and other privately-owned structures in Kashmir suffered damage from 1989 to 2001. No such data is available for the last 17 years but the number can be reasonably estimated to have increased manifold.