Inviting all for an evening of talk by Nandita Haksar, a journalist, writer, Human Rights Lawyer as she addresses a topic titled "Muslims are coming", a subject she dealt in two of her books.
About the Topic: There are several books called Muslims are coming; the tile reflects both the tragedy and irony of the growing Islamophobia and the so called War on Terror. There is also a 2012 documentary called Muslims are coming by Muslim American stand up comedians to counter growing number of attacks on Muslims. It begins with a montage of things politicians in the USA have said about Muslims. They could have been Indian politicians in the present government.
The arguments offered by Western writers about the root causes of terrorism range from blaming Islam as a religion; locating it in Muslim sexual frustration (Martin Amis) to tracing the root cause to the doctrine of fanaticism (Tony Blair) ; the criminalization of certain Muslim ideologies such as Salafi to an analysis based on dividing Muslims into moderate and extremists.
The political fact is, as one of the comedians pointed out: Muslims have become the new “enemy” after the collapse of the Soviet Union; and till the Americans discover another enemy they shall continue to be looked upon as such.
The strange thing is that Muslims, millions of them were members of the Communist party or communist sympathizers. The Indonesian Communist party was the biggest party outside of the Soviet Union; and the party had a strong presence in Kashmir. The West had a big hand in destroying these parties and also in supporting the Muslim radicals. In the usual narratives about Kashmir this part of the history does not get discussed very often.
Haksar Says "I have tried to trace the history of Kashmir from the time of the cold war to the American sponsored War on Terror with two questions in mind: what was the role of the communists in Kashmir? And can we learn something from knowing the history of the communist parties in the Valley? The concern behind the questions is the growing gap between Hindu and Muslim communities in Kashmir and within the rest of the country. I have traced the tortured history of Kashmiri nationalism through the lives of two men: Sampat Prakash, a Kashmiri Pandit and Communist trade union leader who became active in politics during the Cold War years, and Mohammad Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri Muslim who became active in the early days of the Kashmir insurgency. The ideas and deeds of many other individuals and groups are woven into this twin account of how Kashmiri nationalists are caught in the web of international intrigue, as they negotiate the rivalries between the old and new superpowers and also the competing nationalisms of India and Pakistan, which invariably translate into Hindu-Muslim antagonism."
The predicament of Kashmirs was expressed by a poet in 1940s “From all sides I am assaulted The English, the Indians, the Afghans, the Pakistanis To whom should I complain, to whom should I tell my fate? Capitalists, tyrants, oppressors, and friends, all want me To become their accomplices With whom should I agree, with whom should I disagree? To whom should I complain, to whom should I tell my fate? These words have relevance far beyond the borders of Kashmir Valley…. ~ extracts from the book.
GUEST's PROFILE Nandita Haksar was a journalist before her involvement in the women's rights movement forced her to take to law. For the past three decades she has worked as a human rights lawyer, campaigner and writer. She has set many precedents in human rights and refugees law. She has taken up cases in the courts in India as well as appearing before international courts and committees. She has evolved and taught courses on human rights in various universities.
Haksar's publications include: Ego and other Poems (1972) Demystification of Law for Women (1986); the book has been translated into regional languages and extensively used by women's groups for spreading legal literacy; Nagaland File: A Question of Human Rights; (the co-edited book which first exposed the human rights violations being committed by the Indian security forces in the North East of India); Framing Geelani, Hanging Afzal: Patriotism in the Time of Terror (2007) in which she writes about her experience of defending two Kashmiri Muslims accused of attacking the Indian Parliament, and Rogue Agent: How India's Military Intelligence Betrayed the Burmese Resistance (2009) in which she exposed the RAW, Indian’s external intelligence agency ; The Judgement That Never Came: Army Rule in North East India (with Sebastian Hongray, 2011); ABC of Naga Culture and Civilization (2011) which has been taught in schools for Naga children and; Across the Chicken Neck: Travels in North East India (2013); The Many Faces of Kashmiri Nationalism: from Cold War to the present Times (2015) and Framed as a Terrorist (with Mohammad Aamir Khan) (2016). She was awarded a Degree of LL.D. (Honoris Causa) from NALSAR in 2015 in recognition of her work in the field of human rights.
All are welcome.