A calendar of odds and evens

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Daanish Bin Nabi

It was the evening of July 8, 2016, when newspapers received their biggest breaking news of the day – Burhan Wani, the most wanted Hizb-ul-Mujahidin militant who was on the run for months and years had been killed. In newspapers, this piece of information had to be confirmed and reconfirmed from different sources. Why, because it was unbelievable on July 8. On July 9, it was the reality, a different reality as Kashmir valley entered the dead-end. It happened too fast and caught the unprepared state by its jugular. Four months later with over 90 killed in street protests, thousands injured and jailed, longest continuous spell of curfews, shutdowns – that dead end is more than obvious. 

Besides the dead end, there are two words that seem to make sense to everyone. Everybody in Kashmir talks about it, but few dare to speak. One is the Protests Calendar given by unified separatist leadership and the other is the Exit Policy of the Hurriyat. Burhan Wani came close to becoming a strong symbol in Kashmir. But as time goes by with the simple turn of Calendar leafs, it looks like people have lost something valuable. In retrospect it gives birth to a thought – whether people are typically amnesic who cannot hold on to memories or what has happened beyond a timeline. The Calendar life is getting more and more absurd and the other thought – the Exit Policy – is becoming more a reality.                  

Calendar invention
The chief inventor of weekly protest calendars is in jail, the 40-year-old Hurriyat (G) leader Masarat Alam Bhat. He rose to the rank of leading 2010 uprising by issuing weekly protest calendars. Bhat is the close and trusted aide of Syed Ali Geelani. He was arrested on October 18, 2010. He was released on March 7, 2015 as a goodwill gesture by the new government but only to be re-arrested on April 17, the same year.

Calendar Planning
Does Calendar tactic work? It works to the extent of shutting down Kashmir and as proof that who is holding the strongest cards. It has become a creative exercise now with certain things fixed leaving room for some planning. It is fixed that before the end of one calendar, a new one for the week is announced. With the shutdown itinerary set, people have found ways to adjust their work and activities. In deal hours go for shopping, in shutdown period stay at home and be productive, fix walls, broken furniture, electricity, etc. Problems at home are fixed now: no sarcasm meant. It is just a bit of reality and to admit is holy.    
From government employees to security officers, from coteries of highest political echelons to common people, everyone keeps waiting for new protests calendars.
An interesting anecdote, I  was surprised when a Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) trooper posted in Maisuma area of Srinagar asked me on October 19 when was the new protest calendar coming. His words, “Woh kab aara hai jo logo ko bolta hai yahan chalo, wahan chalo? Kab dukaan kholo, aur kab nahi kholo? (When is it coming that instructs people to march here and there, when to open and shut shops)?”
Protest calendar is usually announced in evening. Within two hours it spreads like fire reaching all districts of Kashmir. It is updated by news outlets, circulated by journalist to friends who share it with their friends and so on. Another interesting thought – do families of politicians and political workers also wait like everyone else and plan as others do? It can make them very upset to observe that their lives are being controlled by... challengers.  
In newspaper office never call on a new protest calendar evening; because phones are busy as all kind of people are on line – to know what is in the new calendar.  
One of the best things so far as people seem to be considered is relaxation, the time when people believe all is normal. I have seen the rush in the relaxation hours and it is hard to believe that people have a strong sense of remorse. It is a reality that people think they have to like condemn themselves in shutdown hours and that relaxation means the purging hour.
Relaxation and traffic jam, they are like other inevitable realities. In relaxation all people appear rushing towards something, it looks important, and strangely it does not. To avoid jams, because human beings are naturally intelligent and figure out solutions, people start reaching places usually markets an hour before the relaxation hours.
Remember I mentioned that Burhan Wani was close to becoming a strong symbol in Kashmir. A quick journey through relaxation period and all seems lost. Amnesic, generally.   
But like there are unbridled people, there are people who stick to the plan. Shopkeepers who keep on waiting for the right minute to strike to open the shutters. One such person is
Muhammad Ahsan Malik, who owns a grocery shop. His words, “They (government forces) have killed our 100 boys. How can we do business when our children are getting killed and blinded by pellets? We have to follow Hurriyat and their protests calendars. If we don’t follow it, then it will be ‘Haram’ (illegal) to do business over 100 bodies.” Illegal, perhaps by some sense or belief of conscience.
Lal Chowk, the main business hub and Red Square of Kashmir with a connotation for being a political hub too, wears two colours a day. During the day, the square remains mostly calm and life remains out of gear. Come evenings, and to cover a distances of few meters, it takes more than half-an-hour.
Adil, who works at a showroom here – his words, “For the entire day, I remain at home and wait till 5 pm. We have lost business and many sales boys have lost jobs because of these hartals. But do we have any other choice then going for hartals? I don’t think so.”

Condemned, Free
A minister in PDP-BJP government called the Hurriyat chief Syed Ali Geelani a “condemned”man. Yet everyone from New Delhi to Kashmir is pleading the “condemned” man to give up these protest calendars, but to no avail. Delegations are sent, with the purpose to talk to the so-called “condemned” man and convince him to give up. And if one were to think on this basis who free men are, shouldn’t they be visible in Kashmir everywhere!  Who runs the show in Kashmir and where the credibility of political establishment lies is an open secret.
To admit reality is holy, because then no one has to lie or hide behind an excuse.

Published in Rising Kashmir on November 7, 2016


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