Powerful Shahrukh Thanks Ranjit for sharing the post 2008/9/27 Ranjit Ranjit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> *On Being Muslim* > > *by* > > *Shahrukh Alam > *http://kafila.org/2008/09/26/on-being-muslim-shahrukh-alam/#more-790 > This afternoon, I saw on TV, the ticker advertising a Special Feature. The > programme was going to be aired later in the day and was called "Young, > Educated Killers". And for the next few seconds, I wondered who the title > might be referring to: not the 'encounter specialists', surely? The > economists who frame policies for the new, resurgent India, perhaps? People > on the National Disaster Management Commission, possibly? Or since it was of > topical interest, The Board of Directors for Lehman Brothers? Or even Patent > attorneys for multinational Pharmaceutical companies? But then the visuals > came on and I have to admit I was most embarrassed at having thought such > dark thoughts about the aforementioned good people. > Most inexplicable, my wonderment. It should have been obvious whom the > programme was about? Those Islamic Terrorists! Those inscrutable young > people who emerge from the darkened alleyways of Jamia, who hold diplomas > (and degrees), do unexciting, monotonous jobs by day and presumably plant > bombs in the evening. So what might have caused that moment of insanity > within me that I missed the obvious? Why was all logic abandoned, inverted? > Well, I am Muslim after all. Inversion of logic is a collective legacy, I > suppose. (I shall talk about that yet). There are many, many people, though, > who do not even have that excuse for exhibiting inverse logic. Thank you, > Lord for them. > > On another news bulletin, while expressing shock that the events of > September 19th should happen in the heart of South Delhi, the reporter said > that the events were indicative of the fact that terrorists were now hiding > in South Delhi, in such close proximity to very middle-class, normal > colonies. I presumed she meant Zakir Bagh or Gulmohar Avenue (that rather > posh address). But "… like New Friends Colony and Maharani Bagh", she > finished the sentence. I thought it was odd, then but now I feel that it was > very clever of her. She clearly felt that if one classifies colonies not in > terms of their physical closeness to the site of the encounter but in terms > of how the inhabitants generally look at the sequence of events, it was > likely that most people in Zakir Bagh and Gulmohar Avenue might have a > different view of things. Of course, they are shocked too (as is all of > Jamia), but for rather different reasons. > There are local and alternative narratives about the sequence of events. > Some people (wholly or even partially) believe in them. And for that reason > there are also alternative perceptions about violence and terror. There is > anger too at the perpetrators of such violence and terror, much like the > anger 'outside' at perpetrators of terror. There is hurt and disappointment > that no one has bothered to engage with them – not the Home Ministry, not > the babus nor the police and least of all, the media. Evidently, it is not > so easy to engage. It is never easy when there is a primary logic to things > and there is inverted logic to the same things. > Batla House (as all of Jamia) is a Muslim ghetto is the primary logic. It > houses radical Muslim youth who think nothing of bombing cities. Batla House > is violent. So it is, many would agree. Many would also argue that the > violence is implicit in its present form of existence: in the fact that > young Muslim professionals have found it impossible to rent houses on the > market in New Friends Colony, Maharani Bagh and elsewhere for years already. > Sometimes they do want to live outside of ghettoes. There is violence in the > affect a Jamia address on the resume might have on a potential employer. > Also, on the potential employee: professional types from Jamia choose to > become completely apolitical and have no opinion on any matter for fear that > it might give a wrong impression at work. > Many see violence in the branding of Jamia as a Muslim ghetto. It has > created a real-estate mafia in the area as Muslims migrate there for reasons > of security, familiarity and also because they are unable to find housing > elsewhere. Small plots of land are sold at astronomical prices. Illegal > constructions with no space between houses, minimal civic infrastructure, > high rents: all of this is violence. Yousuf Saeed told us about an illegal > interstate bus transport station just down the road from the site, where > buses from small towns in western UP, bring Muslim migrant to Delhi. They > get off – these urban migrants – with all their belongings and move into > small cramped flats. These flats sell dearly for property is very valuable > in any ghetto. > There is violence too in the power blocs. The real-estate holders, or those > leaders of the Muslims, who are expected to – and do- treat the community as > a monolith that requires no internal debate, activism or independent access > to the state and the laws. They take upon themselves the role of mediators > between the state and community. There are also those local gangsters, on > convivial terms with the police, and keeping a friendly eye on the affairs > of the community, until the time that they are gunned down to account for > some crime somewhere. There is violence in the indifference of the > University towards the local community at Jamia, in the absence of any > intervention at the local level. In the meanwhile, piles of garbage lie > undisturbed in the Batla House market area. Stony-faced men and burqa-clad > women sit along the road asking for help. > There is still more violence to contend with. The further branding of the > Muslim ghetto as a refuge for terrorists leads to a sense of being hounded > amongst its people. There have been indiscriminate arrests in the area. Some > of them may have happened for good reasons but the manner in which arrests > are made (or raids and interrogations conducted) may also seem violent to > some. There is aggression and also irresponsiveness to any queries about > reasons for the arrest. (I suppose it is much the same everywhere). Students > from Azamgarh- the place where the accused (and the dead) come from – have > left en masse. They make for easy targets for the police, they say. They may > or may not return to University. > It has been alienating - the way the media has described Batla House (and > Jamia). News reports (often on the same page of a newspaper) variously > described the boy shot dead as 'Sajid', 'Sajjad' and 'Shahid'. "Can't they > even tell between two Muslim names? Is it all the same to them?" someone > said. The delivery boys at the New Friends Colony community centre never did > like to venture into Jamia, anyway. It is quite unsafe for them, apparently. > Who has been violating whom, I wonder? > Terrorism (n): when Muslims cause bombs to go off in public places killing > innocent people is how one commonly understands the idea. At Batla House, > they use two other definitions and ask some questions: terrorism is a) the > use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political > purposes b) the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or > terrorization. Citing these definitions they ask why it is that the > vandalization and demolition of churches and the murder of Christians is not > terrorism? A mass exodus of students from Azamgarh and a general paranoia in > the area – a feeling of terror amongst Muslim youth that they may be picked > up for questioning (or 'encountered') at any time and no one will ask any > questions of the police if they only proclaim that the dead were > 'terrorists' has followed from the events of September 19th. Why is the > creation of such circumstances not terrorism? They answer their own > questions. In the last two cases, terror does not reach/affect most people > and so they do not recognize it. They only recognize and underline (and > fight) violence that affects them. For the residents of Batla House, at the > moment, these circumstances of terror are more real, immediate and constant. > The terror of bomb blasts is intermittent. So again, how does one engage > such logic? > The papers carried a report of a statement by the police where they > described how the accused had celebrated the killings after the bombs went > off. The same paper had carried, some time ago, an account of what an > 'encounter specialist' did after he came home post-encounters. There isn't > all that much difference, really. Violence is quite similar – primary or > inverted. > Anger at such violence is similar too. There is anger at the perpetrators > of bomb blasts – acute anger. And there is anger also at other kinds of > violence, the burning of Churches, for instance. There is dismay at the > apparent breakdown of trust between the state and the community. "They told > the media before they told us in the neighbourhood" is a commonly heard > grievance. The police had not notified the families of the dead. They heard > the news on TV. > The lack of trust is so deep-rooted that the seemingly parallel worlds are > not even interested in the other's narratives (or grievances). One is either > here or there. But I think that the fruit-seller outside the main Qabristan > at Batla House negotiated them beautifully. He was selling bananas to the > posse of policemen stationed there to keep the peace and also to the > pre-iftaar shoppers. He turned to the first group and said " Well done, > Sahib. You have cleaned out the muck." He then turned towards the other > group and muttered conspiratorially "Saale! They are a bad omen. God knows > how many more they will kill before they get out of here." > I have not learnt to traverse the parallel worlds myself. I only managed to > say under my breath: "Kambakht! Must be an informer!" > Shahrukh Alam > The Patna Collective > > > -- > Ranjit > > > > -- Bobby Kunhu http://community.eldis.org/myshkin/Blog/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
