B.RAMAN
Has Arundhati Roy, the well-known writer and social activist, committed the offence of sedition against the Indian State by her recent speeches and statements which have expressed sympathy and understanding for the separatist movement in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) ?
2. One of the important components of the offence of sedition is causing disaffection against the State. It is a fact that there is disaffection against the Indian State in some sections of the Muslim population of J&K for nearly four decades. It is this disaffection that led to the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Lahore in 1971, to the kidnapping and murder of an Indian diplomat in Birmingham UK in 1983 and to many acts of terrorism in J &K since 1989----directed against the security forces as well as innocent civilians.
3. The indigenous separatist groups in J&K indulged in not only sedition and terrorism against the Indian State, but also treason by seeking the help of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for their movement involving sedition and terrorism.
4. Wikipedia says as follows on sedition and treason: “Sedition is the stirring up of rebellion against the government in power. Treason is the violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or state, giving aid to enemies, or levying war against one's state. Sedition is encouraging one's fellow citizens to rebel against their state, whereas treason is actually betraying one's country by aiding and abetting another state.”
5.Arundhati Roy is not the originator or instigator of the acts of sedition, treason and terrorism indulged in by some elements in J&K. What she has done is to take note of the disaffection against the Indian State in J & K, draw the attention of the rest of India to the disaffection, analyse the causes for the disaffection such as alleged human rights violations and express her understanding and sympathy for those in J&K who have taken to arms against the Indian State.
6. The case against her from the point of view of sedition is a difficult one to decide. She is not one of the originators of the separatist movement. She is not an active participant in the movement. At the same time, by expressing her sympathy and understanding of the movement and its objective of freedom she has given moral support to the movement.
7. Should a person, who extends moral support to a movement involving sedition, treason and terrorism, be treated as an active participant or at least instigator of the movement and arrested and prosecuted under the laws relating to sedition?
8. It needs to be underlined that she has not tried to cause or spread disaffection against the State among the non-Kashmiri segments of the Indian population unless one treats her support to the Maoists as amounting to causing disaffection against the State among the tribals.
9.Should someone, who takes cognisance of the movement in J&K without having been one of the organisers of it and calls for action to address the causes of the movement, be treated on par with someone who is among the dramatis personae of the movement?
10. Acting against people like Arundhati Roy, who take what they look upon as a moral stand on such issues on the ground that their perceived moral stand adds to the existing disaffection against the State, would prove counter-productive and add to the difficulties already being faced by us in dealing with the situation in the State.
11. Her campaign against the State, however provocative, should be handled through counter-arguments which would carry conviction to public opinion in J&K and outside and not by arresting and prosecuting her.
12. We should avoid ham-handed action. ( 26-10-10)
(The writer is Additional Secretary ( retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and , presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
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8 comments:
Sir, in Maharashtra we have old tradition, that when you make a wish to God, & once it is fulfilled, in return you offer him cows or buffalows in return. They become property of God & are free to go anywhere & eat anywhere, no one bothers them & no one cares for them, they are otherwise irrelevant. We call them ‘Valu’ ‘Bhagwan ke naam pe chode huey Jaanwar’.
Arundhati Roy is one such ‘Valu’, who is other wise irrelevant. I request BJP not to make a hero out of that cartoon. That clown wishes to become Indian Liu Xiobao, don’t give her a chance. Let her do whatever she wishes to, you have better things to do guys. You are doing nothing wrong. Don’t fall in her trap.
Few months back, she had said let govt arrest her, she wont stop supporting Maoists & all that. She is trying desparately to be in media like; Rakhi Sawant does everything to be in lime light. You cant help it.
Really guys, leave her of her own. She is not worth it. Aise Bandar to aate jaate rahtey hain.
IMO Ms. Roy giving moral support is fine as long as she is talking facts and as you have written, we need strong counter arguments to convince people. I find this similar to the separation issue in sri lanka in LTTE days where most of the folks from TN are sympathetic towards LTTE and angry with Indian govt. for not helping.
However, we all know what happened there and I hope Indian govt. comes up with some combination of hard and soft strategies to completely win over the J&K people.
Ignoring her is the best thing to do....otherwise she will get what she had desired.
Raman's analyses are more like a joke. The other day I was reading an article by Raman about how Obama needs to learn about the benign face of something called "Indian Islam". There is no such thing as "Indian Islam". Islam is as alien to India as is the concept of a crusade or jehad. Raman is publishing garbage in the name of Analysis.
it is scary to think about the caliber of India's intelligence officers after reading Raman's articles and views. His incompetence becomes very apparent in the silly logic that India's muslims are somehow different from muslims in lesser developed countries. Islam is like the cancer in India. We have to eliminate it to achieve progress. Doing so, we must not state openly that we are against islam. And we need strong leaders that will not bow to minority votebank politics, like the pseudosecular establishment in India does.
I hope the current day Intelligence officers have acquired more competence and analysis capabilities that put on display on this blog.
Mr. Chitrakut well said. Raman sir is really an idiot person. & I think its time for him to sit by your feet like good disciple & learn few good things about India & Indian faiths from you.
So for you Islam means just Jinnah, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Pakistan & others. isn’t it? You said ‘Islam is like the cancer in India.’ Yes sure! Just go n tell it to our former President APJ Abdul Kalam who has given his whole life for this country. Just Go to Nagpur & tell this to the old widow & family members of Hawildar Abdul Hamid, who got Param Vir Chakra posthumously for his role in 1965 war. They ll be really proud of your thoughts for their faith. You jerk; my blood was boiling when I went through your post. Grow up if possible. Shame on you!
You are sick.
Chitrakoot sounds like medieval European Bishops who conducted inquisition.
Quote "Islam is like the cancer in India. We have to eliminate it to achieve progress. Doing so, we must not state openly that we are against islam." Why? If you want to eliminate why you should be covert about it? Wolf in sheep-skin. You people are the real threat to the unity of this nation.
Mr ambi: The problem is not Indian Muslims, it is Islam. I have a lot of affection and love for Indian Muslims. They are people whose ancestors were at one time followers of Indian Beliefs (Hinduism, Buddhism, sikhism, jainism). Their contribution to nation building and nation development is always welcome and appreciated.
You have been reading too much Raman Strategic Terror analysis that you are unable to comprehend what I attempted to state in my post, and instead have tried to imply that I hate Indian Muslims. For your own sanity and well being, you should stay away from any news or analysis emanating from a "secular" source. It will undoubtedly be tainted with propaganda and destroy your intellect.
I like former president Kalam. But I do not think he represents Islam that wants to kill Indian civilization. Nor does the soldier Hawildar Abdul Hamid. Raman has sought to praise Indian Islam in his reports and has advised Obama to emulate the example of India. This is truely moronic. The US does not pander to minority vote banks like India does. They have systems where people who break laws get punished, no matter what their religion is. Can you say the same about India? Yet Raman whats the US to learn how to treat Muslims from secular Indians.
Do you think anybody in the US is going to care what he says after reading all the garbage he has published in his rediff columns? He has even bad-mouthed Gujrathi people in his articles sometime back. Mr ambi: people like you cannot think and have outsourced all analysis to experts like "secular" Raman. It is no wonder you are incapable of thinking rationally. I pity you.
Shiju Paul: I am an ordinary Indian, who believes in diversity, unlike the middle eastern religions of Islam and christianity, that teach their followers to hate non believers. Islam and christianity are like cancer to India. And history proves this. The europeans did not achieve the industrial revolution untill they had thrown out the church from interfering in all matters concerning administration of the nation. The islamic countries never did something like the separation of the church and state in europe. As a result the arabs are still backwards in most development metrics even today with no hope of ever catching up to the rest of the world today. You post reveals more of your ignorance than any knowledge of India or european inquisitions. Please learn about Indias history and appreciate Indian diversity before commenting on my posts again.
Mr. Chitrakut. Thanks for having pity on me. I really need it badly. Feels good when someone is there to care for you. You are truly genius. I made a big mistake by falling in argument with you. Bevkuf Jo thehra. I wanted to reply, but couldn’t, cause my low IQ brain couldn’t grasp those points. You said: The problem is not Indian Muslims, it is Islam. What that means? Do you mean to say Indian Muslims do not follow real Islam? What? Neverthe less. Bhaiyaaji, hamka maafi de diyo, jo aapke chakkar mein pada. Galti ho gayi. Dobara nahin hogi.
Oh & by the way, ‘you said: Do you think anybody in the US is going to care what he says after reading all the garbage he has published in his rediff columns?’ Well said sir ji, Americans are not fools like us. They have just rcvd explosives from yemen bound plane, so macho USA’s next mission is MISSION YEMEN. Then they ll rcv. Explosives from Indonesian bound flight. Then MISSION INDONESIA. Tana tana. ATTACKKKKKK. Then from……………………
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