Constructing the enemy. By Faizaan Qayyum
NB: A thoughtful and humane piece, thanks are due to the author. I am constrained to say that its tone and content are in marked contrast to this piece by RSS demagogue Indresh, whose concept of a united India is based on militarism and conquest, as opposed to love and reconciliation. The best answer to those who combined communal hatred with slogans of Akhand Hindustan was given by Mahatma Gandhi in 1947 ‘There is nothing in common between me and those who want me to oppose Pakistan except that we are both opposed to the division of the country. There is a fundamental difference between their opposition and mine. How can love and enmity go together?’
But it is asking too much of pathological liars to expect them to be logical. Indresh says Kashmiris can go anywhere in India, when just a few weeks ago RSS fronts attacked innocent Kashmiri traders and students in Dehra Dun and elsewhere as if they are all responsible for Pulwama. We should all think about what we are doing to our own minds and consciences. DS
THEY claimed to have invaded the sovereign territory of an enemy country. They had dropped bombs, they said, and hit a terrorist camp that involved no military or civilian targets. In the days that followed, we retaliated: we intruded enemy-controlled territory, chose to strike near enemy targets, and took an enemy combatant prisoner after downing his fighter jet. No truth is more apparent than our enmity as modern nation states. Indeed, India and Pakistan have followed a largely cyclical process of escalation and de-escalation. Before nukes came into play, we went to full-scale war thrice. In the years since, we have had countless skirmishes. Most of these conflicts have stayed within areas internationally recognised as disputed, and therefore stopped short of the absolute destruction that all-out nuclear war can bring.
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But it is asking too much of pathological liars to expect them to be logical. Indresh says Kashmiris can go anywhere in India, when just a few weeks ago RSS fronts attacked innocent Kashmiri traders and students in Dehra Dun and elsewhere as if they are all responsible for Pulwama. We should all think about what we are doing to our own minds and consciences. DS
THEY claimed to have invaded the sovereign territory of an enemy country. They had dropped bombs, they said, and hit a terrorist camp that involved no military or civilian targets. In the days that followed, we retaliated: we intruded enemy-controlled territory, chose to strike near enemy targets, and took an enemy combatant prisoner after downing his fighter jet. No truth is more apparent than our enmity as modern nation states. Indeed, India and Pakistan have followed a largely cyclical process of escalation and de-escalation. Before nukes came into play, we went to full-scale war thrice. In the years since, we have had countless skirmishes. Most of these conflicts have stayed within areas internationally recognised as disputed, and therefore stopped short of the absolute destruction that all-out nuclear war can bring.
The creation of the
enemy is central to this story of hostilities and conflict. For this article, I
will focus on two elements of this enmity: the nation-state enmity, involving
India and Pakistan at the level of the state, and the communal enmity, rooted in
the two-nation theory and dependent on creating distinct Indian-Hindu and
Pakistani-Muslim communal identities. The Abhinandan saga and Fayyazul Hasan
Chohan’s frequent foot-in-mouth moments mean that both merit some serious
reflection... read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1469957
Ajai Sahni: Blind Escalation
A message and an appeal
RSS organisations in Dehradun force two colleges to say they won’t admit Kashmiris
A message and an appeal
RSS organisations in Dehradun force two colleges to say they won’t admit Kashmiris
