Countering the Separatist Mind-Set: An Analysis of ‘Eid-ul-Zuha 2011’

Author: TWI

As is the annual norm around Eid-ul-Zuha, the supporters of Mr Syed Ali Shah Geelani, leader Tehreek-e-Hurriyat and Chairman Hurriyat Conference (G), were found to be distributing a booklet containing his opinion on ‘India’s oppression of Kashmir’. This 37-page booklet, in Urdu, first surfaced in 2011 titled, ‘Eid-ul-Zua 2011’, and was released by the secessionist leader on 03 Nov 2011, a few days prior to the Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Zuha[1]. A severely abridged version is also routinely provided to tourists at the various hotspots in Kashmir. Ostensibly, the aim of the booklet was to allow a larger audience for his anti-India tirade. It is, and reads like, the text of a speech. With the authorities habitually disallowing him a public namaz on the festival, he stays confined to his Hyderpora house. Faced with the peril of his speechwriter’s effort being laid waste, perhaps a book-release was the sole available choice, which he exercised. The booklet serves as a good sample of Geelani’s thought-process and deserves a closer scrutiny.

Indian Response to Asymmetric Threats: The Case of Af-Pak

Author:  TWI

'India has unfortunately become the "sponge" that protects us all. India's very proximity to Pakistan, which has developed into the epicenter of global terrorism during the last thirty years, has resulted in New Delhi absorbing most of the blows unleashed by those terrorist groups that treat it as a common enemy along with Israel, the United States, and the West more generally...'[1]

- Ashley J Tellis

The above statement is an oft-quoted observation that captures the inability of India to respond effectively to the challenge of terrorism afflicting it with sickening regularity. To the layman, the nation, in the face of grave losses in life, material and reputation inexplicably refuses to acknowledge the strategic impact of the ever-growing irregular and hybrid threat that is engulfing regions of the world. India’s counter to the threats it faces can be labelled reactive at best, despite the aggressiveness associated in social media with the National Security Adviser[2] and the Prime Minister. The much touted cross-border raid against NSCN militants[3] is too little, too late; but a heart-warming event nevertheless. However, can India call Pakistan’s bluff on the West?