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The sea of mourners at the recent funeral of a Lashkar-e-Toiba militant killed by security forces in Anantnag of south Kashmir reemphasised what we have already known, but refuse to readily acknowledge: an ever-deepening divide that separates the people of the otherwise picturesque region from the rest of the country, including the rulers in Delhi.
The turnout at the funeral was also proof that with every 'success' registered by the security forces, we are not getting any closer to a resounding victory.
If anything, these 'successes' help in feeding local grievances and losing more 'hearts and minds'. Lives are being lost without any tangible gains. Kashmiris are bearing the brunt of the turmoil, but even India is bleeding, with casualties on both sides, including soldiers made to make the ultimate sacrifice. This utter hopelessness and cycle of violence have been allowed to fester for far too long.
Indeed, few disputes in the world have defied a solution for this long. North and South Korea have been at daggers drawn for decades, but following a summit between Kim Jong-un of the reclusive Pyongyang regime and US President Donald Trump, a thaw looks imminent. In between, disputes such as the ones in Northern Ireland and Bosnia have been thrashed out. Kashmir, unfortunately, is one of the two long-running disagreements stubbornly refusing a solution. The other is Gaza, at the heart of what seems to be an intractable standoff between Palestinians and Israelis.
Stalemates are energy-sapping and self-defeating, so it would surely serve all of us well if an agreeable solution to Kashmir is arrived at the soonest. It is easier said than done, but what's the harm in at least trying? If India is to prosper as a truly democratic nation, it cannot allow a sizeable section of its citizens—the Kashmiris—to live in perpetual disenchantment and despair. A breakthrough is the need of the hour.
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But what is more urgently needed is a concerted and conscious bid to move away from oft-repeated phrases such as 'Kashmiriyat' and 'healing touch', and arrive at some concrete measures. The delusional clichés of the past have failed to deliver and we find ourselves trapped in a situation where positions have only hardened on either side. The last remnants of goodwill have seemingly dissipated and been replaced by hate in both public discourse and prime-time TV. There are many among us who see any word of sympathy for the Kashmiris as an act of treachery and betrayal. There is distrust and suspicion on the other side too, with many hot-heads amid their ranks.
It is, therefore, time for a new initiative, a new narrative and new idioms to break the logjam, infuse hope among a populace who feel they have none, and allow a well-meaning government to seize the initiative. Arriving at a common ground and a consensus is a minefield with divergent views and diverse actors involved: ranging from Muslim Kashmiris and Kashmiri Pandits, to non-state actors and our bete noire Pakistan.
Every roadmap must necessarily begin with brainstorming and Outlook for one made the effort to gather people in a quiet Delhi hotel for an honest discussion. The panelists were drawn from diverse sections—the RSS, the National Conference, the PDP, the Hurriyat, the army and also thinkers from Kashmir who have a lot at stake in the way things pan out in the Valley. The Kashmir Roundtable we hosted was necessarily rich and partly rhetorical. But amid the din and disagreements, there were also suggestions that bore the early signs of what could someday emerge as a meeting point.
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Dialogue, we believe, is a must to solve a puzzle that many see mostly in terms of geopolitics and strategic affairs. For me though, it is a humanitarian tragedy that is at the core of the Kashmir issue, waiting for an urgent solution.
On June 28, eight people came together for an Outlook Roundtable on Kashmir in Delhi. RSS ideologue Seshadri Chari, former Northern Army Commander Lt Gen (retd) D.S. Hooda, three-time National Conference MLA Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, PDP leader Nayeema Mehjoor, advocate Abdul Majeed Banday, journalist Gowhar Geelani, scholar Basharat Ali and strategic expert Prof P. Stobdan participated in the discussion, which was moderated by TV anchor Barkha Dutt. The participants examined some of the fundamentals from their unique perspectives and sought to offer solutions. Excerpts:
Barkha: Hello and welcome to this Outlook Roundtable on Jammu and Kashmir. It's difficult to draw a set of agreements on Kashmir, but almost everybody agrees on one thing: in 29 years of insurgency in the Valley, things have perhaps never been as critical as now. Old formulas have failed. We need a new language to talk about Kashmir, less artificial barriers, less artificial labels of Us and Them. But it's become almost impossible to have an honest conversation: people are pushed to their ideological trenches. At this Roundtable, we attempt to change that. At the end of this conversation, we hope to reach a set of solutions—recommendations or suggestions we all agree on, coming from disparate backgrounds and points of view.
To my right is Seshadri Chari, writer and commentator. We have Gen Hooda, one of the wisest army officers I have known…he led the surgical strikes. Aga Mehdi is a young leader from a mainstream party—the National Conference. Journalist Gowhar Geelani, on my left, is an outspoken commentator. Abdul Majeed Banday, an advocate affiliated to the Kashmir Awareness group. And we have scholar Basharat Ali. The PDP's Nayeema Mehjoor will join us. Novelist Siddhartha Gigoo had to drop out at the last minute. I'll start by asking each speaker to talk about how the problem today is different from, say, a decade or two ago.
Lt Gen Hooda: Militancy was coming down, constantly, from 2001 to 2012-13. But popular anger, against whichever party was in power, wasted opportunities. That's spilling out today on the streets. The youth coming out, stone-pelting, local (militant) recruitment…have increased. It's morphed from a pure insurgency into something we will have to start thinking about.
Barkha: A police officer—I won't take his name—said to me 20 years ago that Islam was once a subset of azadi, and today azadi is a subset of Islam. Would you agree?
Lt Gen Hooda: People say there's radicalisation, but I'm not sure if it's religious or political. You see much more anger in the young ones. I'm not sure if it's got too much to do with religion, but, yes, there is radicalisation, there is anger.
Barkha: It's an important distinction. Hardening of positions would mean radicalisation. But you are calling it political, not Islamist. Seshadri Chari, would you agree?
Chari: No, we can't make it look so simple. There is nothing like (pure) political radicalisation. There's anger everywhere...on the streets of Delhi, even in the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, also in Tuticorin. We cannot discuss today's Kashmir without going into the past, the genesis of the problem, the details of those forces that want this issue to be kept alive. The most importance difference today is that the State responsible for the escalation of this problem, for the escalation of terror and radicalisation, has become more emboldened.
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Barkha: Which is Pakistan?
Chari: Yes, Pakistan.
Barkha: Aga Mehdi, as a young leader of a mainstream party in Kashmir, you are perhaps under pressure from both sides of the ideological divide. There are some things on which all national parties agree. But you also have to find a language that your own people can understand. What is the relevance today of mainstream Kashmiri parties that still swear allegiance to the Indian Constitution?
Aga: Their relevance is shrinking day by day. It would be fully misleading if anyone says the mainstream parties are as relevant as they were four years ago. New Delhi commits mistakes repeatedly and we have to pay for acts that are beyond us…. Omar Abdullah's government recommended that we revoke AFSPA. The then home minister, P. Chidambaram, was ready to revoke AFSPA, but our friends in the security forces and the army….
Barkha: His proposal was shot down by the rest of the Congress-led government. I want to make this clear: it's not only a Modi government policy.
Aga: The input of the security forces prevailed at the end of the day. It outweighed the wisdom of the home minister, who had the CM's confidence. The CM suggested we at least start from Srinagar and Budgam, comparatively better districts in law and order and militancy. One mistake, and they took the credibility away from the CM.
Barkha: Gen Hooda, why is AFSPA such a symbol? When Omar was CM and more than 100 boys were killed, the protesters were actually clashing with the CRPF and the police, not the army. It's intriguing: the army and AFSPA become symbols when actually most of the confrontation does not take place with the army.
Lt Gen Hooda: It's become a symbol, something to talk about. If AFSPA is withdrawn, the army can't operate. There's no legal basis for the army. So the issue is not whether we remove AFSPA or not, but whether the army has done its role in J&K, and now it's a purely law-and-order problem the police and the CRPF can deal with, so the army can withdraw? That's a decision for the government....
Look at Jammu's Reasi district, it's militancy-free. But when we recommended that we pull the army out from there, the locals, particularly the Bakarwals, said, "No, we feel a sense of security." The army provides a sense of security to some sections. Have we transited to a state where you can say, 'Let's pull out Rashtriya Rifles from Budgam, from South Kashmir, and let the police and the CRPF deal with it.' I don't think so.
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Barkha: Gowhar, there's a certain status quo response not just from all governments, but also from Kashmiri separatists. Have things changed?
Gowhar: When you started, you talked about the need to find a new vocabulary. Who is a 'separatist' in Kashmir? And who is 'mainstream'? The mainstream leader here says the space for the mainstream is shrinking. So they are the separatists in the present circumstances, not the mainstream representing the dominant sentiment—77 per cent of the people wanted a solution outside the ambit of the Indian Constitution, according to a poll conducted for Outlook's first ever issue (in 1995). If you did the same poll now, you would probably get 97 per cent.
Barkha: That would be within the Valley....
Gowhar: New Delhi follows a policy of Ds: Deny there is a problem. Defend your territory. Defeat and Destroy the enemies. This mindset needs to change. The policy should be 2As and 2Rs. Acknowledge there is a problem. Accept that the people want a political solution. Respect that, and Resolve. Do not live in denial. It's the fourth generation of Kashmiris on the streets. Will people get pellets in their eyes just because somebody pays them Rs 500? Who are you kidding? We heard that demonetisation would end stone-pelting. So why is it happening now?
Third-party mediation is unacceptable. The four main parties in J&K—PDP, BJP, Congress and NC—should come together for an administrative council under the Governor. This is the first step towards a lasting solution. Anything is possible within the Indian Constitution.
Yes, India can have problems with Pakistan, and Pakistan can indeed fish in troubled waters. Pakistan supported the militancy in the early 1990s. But now you have SPOs, police personnel, decamping with their own rifles and joining Hizbul Mujahideen. You have young boys snatching rifles from the CRPF troopers and joining militant organisations. How can this be all about Pakistan and not the sentiment on the ground? We need to clear our heads about the 'problem' first. You say it's just the Valley's opinion. After the Outlook poll, there was the Chatham House survey, across both sides of the LoC—including Gilgit-Baltistan, Udhampur, Kathua...and Jammu is not only Jammu city and Kathua, but also Pir Panjal and Chenab valley. The survey found there's an overwhelming majority in both parts that wants a solution outside the ambit of the Indian Constitution.
Barkha: Conversations were always Kashmir-centric and you never really include other places—that's been one of the faultlines. But we do have to talk about them. Basharat, I often tell my Kashmiri friends, who abuse me with the same vitriol, that there's a denial on their side too. Take Shujaat Bukhari's assassination. He suffered what anybody who doesn't take a clear side in Kashmir suffers. Shujaat tried to be moderate, and he was killed. The police say they have traced the killers…two local boys and one Pakistani. They say there's a Lashkar link. Don't Kashmiris too have to get over this denialism? Anyone who talks for dialogue is indeed killed, from Abdul Gani Lone to Shujaat.
Basharat: Barkha, I'd go back to where you started. You said it's been 29 years since insurgency began. All conversations in Delhi about Kashmir begin from that point. As a sociologist, I want to take a step or two back and look at the larger picture. Nothing in society happens just like that. You don't decide to pick up the gun on the spur of the moment. There's a need to talk about the networks of social, political, religious and student organisations that existed before the insurgency. What were their conversations? What was their role? What were they asking? And what happened 29 years ago?
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Well, just like elections, insurgency is a manifestation of a collective will…there's a lot of academic work on this point. Voting or armed insurgency…both are a collective action at the end of the day.... You say we need a new language. That 'Kashmiriyat', 'alienation'…all that is old. The BJP has already provided that new language. In the past four years, the phrase 'collateral damage' has gone missing from the Kashmir conversation. Why? Because the BJP has made the lines very clear. Every stone-pelter, everybody on the street, everybody who goes out to protect insurgents…is deemed a terrorist, and as killable as an insurgent. The distinction here has been made by the BJP, which I find rather interesting because they have allowed the Kashmiri collective to concretise the Us-vs-Them definition. Where people are willing to die and kill….
Barkha: So you are saying the hardline language has had the opposite effect.
Basharat: Exactly. The Congress had the same approach. But when people were killed during Congress regimes, it was always passed off as collateral damage. That was denial of the agency of those people— as Gowhar said, nobody comes out on the street just like that, without a certain decision-making happening before it.
Barkha: But what about the other denialism? Many Kashmiri friends privately say they think the Lashkar killed Shujaat, but if they say this openly, they will be killed too.
Gowhar: People have indeed been killed by both state and non-state actors. Take Jalil Andrabi's case, which is parallel to Shujaat Bukhari's case. If we talk about Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq, let's also talk about Jalil Andrabi. Who killed Jalil Andrabi? Major Avtar Singh, who fled to California and shot himself dead too….
Basharat: What was Shujaat's moderation about? He wanted a dialogue, right? That's what the Hurriyat says too, except that they want India to recognise….
Barkha: Hurriyat's Abdul Gani Lone was assassinated. He was shot in front of my own eyes. His son, who was then a separatist, and is today a mainstream leader, said on camera to Syed Ali Shah Geelani, "I will not let you enter my house because the killers of my father live in Pakistan."
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Chari: The Us-vs-Them wasn't a creation of the BJP. Kashmir was one state, a Hindu state, a Muslim-dominated state ruled by a Hindu king. There was no Us-vs-Them then. When the Congress destabilised the Farooq Abdullah government, was it Us-vs-Them? The Congress was "us"? I'm not speaking here as a BJP person, I don't represent the BJP at all, neither here nor outside. But let me say clearly…every party, Congress, BJP, PDP, NC and all others, they've had their prescriptions, their own contribution to the problem, and can offer solutions too. The question is, how do you deal with the idea of separatism that emanates from this kind of situation? In the early 1950s, there was a huge agitation in Tamil Nadu, the state I come from, against the imposition of Hindi. There was a demand for a separate Tamil country. But now it's gone. In 1962, during the Chinese aggression, C.N. Annadurai publicly said this whole idea of a separate Tamil Nadu is all bogus. When I hear a Kashmiri talk about Kashmiriyat as something different, I ask, what about Tamiliyat, Marathiyat, Punjabiyat?
Barkha: This concretisation of Us-vs-Them...how did we come to this point where we make political or ideological differences so personal?
Chari: No, it's not that we cannot converse. But if you tell me, 'Look Mr Chari, you can come here, but these are the parameters within which you have to remain', then I don't think I should be coming here. Similarly, conversation takes place when there's someone independent of the sides to preside over it.
Policies of suppression, bilateralism and selectivism have failed. The basic issue must be recognised in its historical context and a political process started involving all the involved parties. Only then can we try to reach a point agreeable to all.
Barkha: We may have the first of our proposed suggestions there! Any interlocutor, for lack of another word, should ideally not be one of the protagonists. I don't mean they should not be Indian. I mean they should not be representing either the security agencies or the separatists. Is that your suggestion?
Chari: A third party will not be acceptable. If I ask you today, give me five names who you think would be fair to both sides....
Barkha: How did Atal Behari Vajpayee do it?
Chari: Someone like an Abdul Kalam, a Vajpayee...we are missing these people now.
Barkha: What's the difference between the Kashmir policy of Vajpayee and Modi?
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Chari: I don't think there's a great difference. The latter formed the BJP-PDP government. I was one of those not in favour of it, but in hindsight I think I was wrong and it should have continued. I think the officially given reasons are unacceptable. I am going on record to say this. In fact, I would have liked to see the four important parties in J&K—PDP, BJP, Congress and NC—come together for an administrative council under the Governor. That can be a first step. Everything is possible within the Constitution. That's the difference when Vajpayee was asked about the Constitution.
Barkha: He said, "Insaniyat ke daayre mein jo mumkin ho" (Whatever is possible within the ambit of humanity).
Chari: The Constitution is the representative of that insaniyat ka daayra.
Barkha: Now, Mr Banday, it's not that the Hurriyat has not had conversations with different governments before…with L.K. Advani, with Manmohan Singh. Even Hizbul Mujahideen militants have had conversations, at Nehru Guest House in Srinagar, no less. But today the fourth generation is questioning the Hurriyat. They ask why, for example, some of them still derive pensions from the State? Why do they take security? Mirwaiz Umer Farooq is protected by the J&K Police. And one of those police officers was lynched.
Banday: What has changed in the last 10 years is that alienation has increased. Somebody mentioned anger, but nobody talks about the basic issue. It has a historical background. It started in 1947. We must take the bull by the horns. The issue must be recognised in its context and a political process started involving all the involved parties. Only then can we try to reach a point agreeable to all. Three things have failed: bilateralism, the policy of suppression and selectivism.
Barkha: This is a difficult conversation because there's little everyone agrees on. All protagonists are guilty of selectivism. But one suggestion has come from Chari: forget 2019, forget BJP, PDP, NC, Congress…have a united government.
Chari: Alienation is a misunderstood term. In the past 16 years, the Centre has given grants amounting to 54 per cent of the state's revenue. If there's no development in spite of this, let all the parties that ruled J&K hang their heads in shame and not talk about alienation.
Barkha: Is it a failure of governance?
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Chari: Absolutely, the last opportunity that could probably be given is that (of a united government).
Barkha: Gen Hooda, you were there when Burhan Wani was killed and we saw the eruption of these faultlines. I remember you having to do what politicians should have been doing…a press conference where you said it's time for us to sit together and have a conversation. If anyone is anti-national, it's the politicians that have failed Kashmir. They send soldiers to die, to manage their problems. Soldiers carry the cross for failed politics in Kashmir.
Lt Gen Hooda: That's true. It's not a secret that the security situation has been brought under control a number of times, from where some kind of dialogue could have begun…. Chari's is an excellent idea. Unfortunately, I think people have lost faith in the political parties. That's why you see absolutely no outrage once the government has fallen. People are quite happy. It's a good opportunity if Governor's rule can bring some good governance.
Barkha: There was turmoil in the streets after Burhan was killed. And this happens to successive governments: every time there's a crisis, there's a paralysis of response. It's almost as if politicians forget to talk to people. And the most reasonable voices come more from the army! Gen Hooda, when you sat at that press conference and said let us all talk, did you not feel the irony? You were actually initiating a dialogue, an act that belonged to the political domain.
Lt Gen Hooda: Honestly, it was the right thing to do. Whatever you might say about the military—there's a lot of dehumanisation—we are clear about our role and responsibility. After Burhan's killing, everybody was encouraging it—the Hurriyat took great advantage of it. I thought it was the right thing to go and say, let everyone calm down.
Barkha: Nayeema, some people think the end of the alliance was a bad thing, that it was an illustration of statesmanship and should have been given more time. Now, what is the future for mainstream parties? Parties like yours spoke one language when in alliance with the Centre. Are you going back to your calls for self-rule now? Who will believe that language?
Nayeema: The PDP lost its credibility when it went into alliance with the BJP. Perhaps we hadn't done our homework on the psyche of our own people. We should have known what we were doing, what the repercussions would be. The experimentation done by the Indian government time and again has discredited mainstream politics in J&K. It has silenced important voices that had credibility in society and could have played a role in bringing people to a process. Yes, this was so since militancy erupted, but the confrontational attitude of the last 3-4 years has shrunk all the voices, including mainstream politicians. Because they couldn't speak to their people.
Accept the voice of Kashmir's elected representatives, else don't hold elections. Also, when Omar Abdullah as CM had proposed AFSPA's gradual removal, the Union home minister agreed, but the army shot it down. Let the security forces be directly accountable to the CM and the cabinet for each and every act.
Barkha: But look at the PDP's response when Burhan was killed. Mehbooba Mufti took no political ownership of the decision. (Former IGP, J&K) S.M. Sahai, who knows J&K like the back of his hand, was transferred out for saying the CM was aware of Burhan's killing. That's how politicians leave the forces to carry the cross for them.
Nayeema: There's a remote control in Delhi….
Chari: The first time the Modi government spoke to (anybody in Kashmir), it was former home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.… But this happens every time. Parties wonder, 'What happens to our constituency if we do this, will we be voted back to power?'
Barkha: So why can't we reach an agreement that Kashmir should not be a 2019 poll issue? If you make J&K a national campaign issue, won't competitive nationalism or competitive separatism destroy any space for a solution?
Chari: There's no provision in the Constitution for (controlling) election issues. We can only make a suggestion. Even if a political party officially accepts it, and individually competition starts peaking again, there's no point.
Banday: I think that's the crux. Ultimately, the fundamentals of the issue are ignored when parties make it an election issue, be it the BJP, the Congress, or the PDP.
Barkha: After Burhan was killed, I was in a Srinagar hospital...there was a 14/15-year-old schoolboy, injured in an eye by pellets, and I asked what made him go and march in support of Burhan? He said Burhan was a saviour of Islam. I asked, "Aap Islam ke liye march karne gaye thhe ya azaadi ke liye? (Did you march in support of Islam or freedom?)" He said, "Dono ke liye (for both)." But Burhan's videos, which were such a rage on social media, talk about a caliphate, right? Do separatists acknowledge this is a new concept in Kashmir, which was not there in 1989?
Gowhar: That's a very good question. Separatists will answer that separately. I want to analyse it. I see Kashmir purely as a political issue, but with ethno-religious undertones, much like Northern Ireland. For a Kashmiri, the ethnicity of being a Kashmiri, is very important, but there is also a Muslim aspiration.
Barkha: What about Kashmiri Pandits?
Gowhar: If you see a Kashmiri Muslim and a Kashmiri Pandit on a railway platform, they hug each other and ignore people from Delhi and Punjab, because Kashmiri ethnicity takes precedence there. Yes, there is a political divergence, but Kashmiri ethnicity is very strong. When you talk about radicalisation, I agree with Gen Hooda: there's political radicalisation, not necessarily religious radicalisation. But you can't ignore Modi's ascendency to power in May 2014 and the Hindutva narrative...there's a reaction to that. The more 'radical' India becomes, there will be more radicalisation on the streets of Kashmir because there's a political invasion.
Barkha: While you question Hindutva and reject it, why do you not with the same vigour reject this language that was in Zakir Musa's and Burhan's videos, which spoke an Islamist language not organic to J&K's history? Yet Kashmiris are not rejecting it in the way you are rejecting Hindutva.
Basharat: What do we mean by radicalisation when we say the youth of Kashmir have become radical? Do we mean the same thing when we say we need radical reforms in banking or radical reforms in higher education?
Barkha: Obviously not.
Basharat: So what is this radicalisation? It is a normal social phenomenon—it happens.
Barkha: What we mean here is the language of a religion...the orthodoxy of a religion.
Basharat: That language is one thing, what happens or unfolds in society is a different thing. Radicalisation in Kashmir is not a cause of the conflict; it's an effect of the conflict. The conflict did not emerge due to radicalisation. Rather, radicalisation emerged due to the conflict...it happens when parties that helm a struggle fail to achieve certain objectives. Then new parties come up, new players come up. That's why the young people of Kashmir are questioning the Hurriyat—because the Hurriyat has not been able to deliver its promises to the people.
Now, when we read reporters who were air-dropped in Kashmir in the 1990s, we were told radicalisation was happening due to the ideology of the Jamaat-e-Islami. And when we read the Kashmir experts write about the INSurgency in 2018, we see they say Kashmiris are being radicalised by the Salafi-Wahabi ideology. This shift has also to do with how the global Islamophobic industry is working.
Barkha: And the videos?
Basharat: Yes, you mention Zakir Musa. In my study I take up two militants, Zakir Musa and Manaan Wani. Who was Zakir Musa? A day before he joined militancy, he was a 'cool dude', a flamboyant youngster enjoying his life in Chandigarh....
Indian policy of 'deny', 'defend', 'defeat', and 'destroy' has to change to 'acknowledge', 'accept', 'respect' and 'resolve'. India should be open to third-party mediation and a Brexit-style referendum. Restore J&K's pre-1953 status (autonomy, nomenclature of PM etc), with India retaining control in only three areas: currency, communication and defence.
Barkha: An engineering student, with a PWD engineer father, a doctor brother....
Basharat: Exactly. How do we make sense of this? That an engineering student enjoying a very secular life in Chandigarh becomes a "radical" in religious terms...he is talking about caliphate, Islamic rule.
Barkha: But why are you not rejecting this language?
Basharat: I am not 'rejecting' it. See, I am a scholar. It's not my prerogative to reject or accept anything. I just examine it, try to understand and solve the problem. For me, the issue has a lot to do with where you derive your legitimacy from. When the Indian Army kills any Kashmiri, where does the legitimacy come from? It comes from AFSPA, for example; it comes from the idea of securing national interests, sovereignty or territorial integrity. When militants commit an act of violence, where does the legitimacy come from? When Zakir Musa kills somebody, what will legitimise that act?
Barkha: No Indian will accept this equivalence between a terror group and the Indian military....
Basharat: I'm not asking you to accept it. It's not an equivalence between sovereignty and religion.
Barkha: It's nothing to do with India. No country in the world would accept it.
Chari: It's all violence emanating entirely from the idea of Khilafat.
Basharat: Now, when we talk about development, Samuel Huntington wrote....
Barkha: Yes, there's a clash of civilisations here.
Basharat: But Clash of Civilisations is the worst of his works. The best of his works links development with conflict resolution. The point is, you can't stop radicalisation happening due to a political conflict by pumping in money.
Chari: There is a difference between, say, the fundamentals of science and fundamentalism in a religion. I do agree there's a change all over the world, a new phenomenon. While working for the UN in South Sudan, I came across the phrase 'Arabisation of Islam'. What's happening today is extreme Arabisation of Islam, especially in non-Arab countries like Pakistan. There are Pakistani scholars who try to project themselves as part of the Arab world. Even if the Arab world tells them, 'You are not part of the Arab world, you are not Arabs.' This Arabisation is affecting every place. India...Kashmir is no exception.
Barkha: Do you agree that Hindutva feeds a counter, an Islamist radicalisation in Kashmir?
Chari: Again, we're going back into clichés. What is Hindutva politics?
Basharat: What is Islamic radicalisation?
Chari: Islamic radicalisation is talking of the khilafat. Nobody here is talking about....
Basharat: Ram rajya, building a Ram temple?
Chari: Mahatma Gandhi spoke about Ram rajya. Was he a radical? Was he a Hindu fanatic?
Basharat: Think of politics as a spectrum, you place the Congress at one point, BJP at another.... I completely agree with you on what Gandhiji said about Ram rajya. In Discovery of India, Nehru said the religion of the nation is Hinduism. The BJP took it a step further...that's what radicalisation is all about. From the Hurriyat, the militants took it a step further, Zakir Musa took it a step further.
Chari: Combine all these words and say Kashmiriyat is equal to the establishment of a khilafat. That's when it becomes a problem.
Basharat: There's nothing called 'Kashmiriyat'. Barkha, you have been to Kashmir all these years, have you come across a Kashmiri equivalent of the word 'Kashmiriyat'? It's an empty signifier. For the BJP it's one thing, for the Congress it's another thing.
Chari: (to Gowhar) But you brought in Kashmiriyat. You spoke of the ethno-religious tones, and said the ethnic identity is Kashmiriyat. I don't agree.
Barkha: I think Kashmiriyat is a construct created to evade problems.... But Kashmiris over the years admit their society is changing. Haseeb Drabu was sacked (from the PDP) for saying the issue isn't just political, but also social. That there's a social compact in Kashmir that's breaking down. When the all-party delegation went to meet the Hurriyat unannounced and Syed Ali Shah Geelani shut the door, Drabu said Kashmiris don't do that..."our society is changing". Just like Delhi, is some moment of self-reflection needed by Kashmiri society too?
Gowhar: In the early 1990s, there was a party called Allah Tigers and a man named Air Marshal Noor Khan. They made an audacious attempt to impose a code of conduct...on how women should behave, what kind of dresses they should wear. Also, there was a ban on movie halls in Kashmir. But that was rejected by the majority of Kashmiris.
Loosely, on Kashmiriyat, I agree there's no Kashmiri word for it, but how we used that concept is...when I was growing up, I had a Pandit friend, Upendra uncle from Rainawari in downtown. Both our families would go together to a shrine, pray together, tie ritualistic threads together. That was the kind of Sufi influence Kashmir still enjoys. Why has it taken a beating? Yes, it is social. In India, people are being lynched on suspicions of eating beef. Is that not social?
India's decades-long pet tactics of money, muscle and 'mainstream' have failed miserably. You can't stop radicalisation due to a political conflict by pumping in money. The right to self-determination has to be recognised. India holds elections, but not what is essential for a solution—a referendum.
Barkha: Of course, but many people are calling it out. Where are you calling it out?
Gowhar: When DSP Ayub Pandith was lynched, there was an overwhelming reaction against it. Nobody condoned it, everyone condemned it. There was outrage on social media, from boys and girls. Similarly, there's so much criticism against Zakir Musa or the ISIS thing. People are calling it hooliganism. Kashmiri society is not accepting it. But why are these players becoming important? Because there's only stuntsmanship, no statesmanship. If there's no political intervention in Kashmir, such forces will become relevant.
Chari: He's made an important point. We're seeing a conscious attempt, and not only in Kashmir but all over, to suppress and if possible to erase the Sufi part of the faith. And introduce Salafism, Wahabism, whatever you want to call it. This kind of regressiveness is happening not only to Islam, it's happening to many other religions also.
Barkha: Nayeema, we've had two suggestions here. One, a united administration under the Governor as an interim measure. Can India's political parties bury petty differences for at least 8-9 months? Two, take the Kashmir issue out of election campaigns.
Nayeema: This united government...it's an idea I don't believe in. They're still trying to find people ready to form a government. And that's going to send another wrong message to the people. This regime toppling and Governor's rule has gone on for the past seven decades. I'm not in a position to give you a suggestion on what we should do, but at least, before elections and governments, give some breathing space to the people first. They are surrounded by thousands of armed personnel.
Barkha: And not by militants?
Nayeema: According to military estimates, we have a few hundred militants. Do you think 280 militants have so much influence that they are ruling the whole state of Jammu and Kashmir?
Chari: There was only one Veerappan! The army and the police of three states were after him.
Nayeema: That's exactly the problem with the establishment.
Barkha: Nayeema, your politics cannot change in five days of having left the BJP....
Gowhar: For me, the BJP and the PDP are a match made in heaven!
Calm on the streets must precede a solution. Disgruntled youth at the core of the agitation must be engaged and locals who joined militancy rehabilitated. Hold intra-state talks between Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh on development. Talks must include Delhi, J&K and Kashmiris, but certainly not Pakistan.
Barkha: More seriously, there's a globally accepted United Nations definition of what terrorism is.
Chari: No, the UN does not define what terrorism is. In fact, India has been demanding it.
Barkha: Every country will define its sovereignty. Musharraf and Manmohan Singh accepted there was a boundary within which you have to find a solution. That there's something that will never change...no redrawing of borders. So, if India and Pakistan de facto agree on that, what are the solutions within that? Aga, we've had an autonomy report of the NC, a self-rule report of the PDP...all that's become old. What next?
Aga: That's the problem...calling the autonomy report outdated, calling something else outdated...it's a grave mistake Delhi is committing every day. The autonomy report was passed by a two-thirds majority by your own representative assembly. Being a third-time legislator, I want to share my first-hand experience on how we feel. Finding a scapegoat in mainstream political parties in Kashmir is what has cost India Kashmir. Finding a scapegoat for its own failures. Kashmir is a mess created by the army.
Barkha: Your partner, the Congress, failed to accept the report. How is it the fault of the army?
Aga: For the past 30 years, whenever the army has chances to capture militants alive, they prefer to kill them because they get money for that?
Barkha: The army was sent out to clean a mess created by politicians. If elections were rigged, they were rigged from Delhi. If regimes were toppled, they were toppled from Delhi. If the autonomy report was rejected, it was rejected by your political partners. How is it the army's fault?
Aga: What happened in 2010? What was the cause of the summer unrest? The Machil fake encounter. Politicians did not conduct that encounter. Do you know the facts about Kunan Poshpora? Politicians did not do that. We have to pay for that. In Kashmir, we are symbols of New Delhi. In New Delhi, we are symbols of failure.
Barkha: Suggestions?
Aga: Accept the voice of the elected representatives, if you have faith in your own institutions. Otherwise, do not hold elections in Kashmir...call off this drama! If you only want to discredit them. Concrete suggestions? First and foremost, let the security forces be directly accountable to the chief minister and the cabinet for each and every act, which is not the case right now.
Barkha: Okay, now we have three suggestions.
Basharat: It's worth asking, why is it that both the mainstream parties in Kashmir blame India and the army?
Aga: I will call out radicalisation too. Pakistan is taking advantage of the opportunity New Delhi presents them on a platter. That does not make Pakistan less guilty. Of fostering radicalisation.
Look at the unfortunate sequence of events that occurred due to the mistakes of New Delhi. Till the 1980s, you had to face the voice of autonomy. Because you failed that voice, you had to then face the voice of 'freedom', or even 'Pakistan'. Because you failed even those moderate voices, now you have the likes of Zakir Musa. In the presence of Shujaat Bukhari, I once said this Zakir Musa might be the creation of security forces. I had this idea then. But now I find the voice of Zakir Musa finding relevance in Kashmir, and it's because we failed the moderate voices.
Barkha: Now please do summarise, everyone, and make three concrete suggestions.
Basharat: First, India has to recognise the role of the so-called mainstream in Kashmir. When the mainstream is telling you that the army or politicians are responsible, you have to understand why they are saying so. You have given them only the municipal role...to take care of roads, water, electricity.... That's it.
Banday: Let us not beat around the bush, let us recognise the basics and then address it. The Centre has never consistently talked, has never had the courage and the intent to carry it forward to a conclusion. Do start a dialogue process with Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. The process should be consistent, so that something emerges.
Gowhar: I think in this age of anger, there is tolerance for radical ideas. As a mature democracy, India should agree to third-party mediation much like the Northern Ireland conflict. If a Good Friday Agreement can work in Northern Ireland, why not in Kashmir? Second, take Brexit, or Scotland. That can be done in Kashmir too, with Pakistan on board.
And third, New Delhi must stop investing in three families—the Muftis, the Lones and the Abdullahs—and also stop using Kashmir as a laboratory for experiments like Hindutva or secularism or the idea of India.
Nayeema: The dialogue should start in Kashmir, with Jammu and Ladakh, much before going to Pakistan or any other agency, because there's a lot of mistrust among the three regions. We should go for an internal dialogue. The PDP-BJP alliance was to bring all three regions together, but it has gone otherwise. And then, with the Hurriyat as well—with those senior voices that are being ignored, I don't know why.
The pre-requisite for any solution is a profound change of perception on the ground. A talks process should start; it would pick up pace later. Also, there should be economic development sans corruption.
Barkha: Silenced voices like Shujaat's...
Nayeema: There are so many sane voices like Shujaat, ready to contribute. The other important thing is that women have been ignored throughout these dialogues. They should be part of the dialogue process.
Aga: Don't expect mainstream parties to represent New Delhi in Kashmir. Instead, respect the representation of Kashmir in New Delhi. At least let the governments of Kashmir be autonomous in their action.
Barkha: You mean, give them even more authority?
Aga: Yes, let security forces report to them, let the forces be accountable to governments. And start the dialogue immediately, with Kashmiris across the board, and with Pakistan. Otherwise, we will have more and more of the likes of Zakir Musa.
Prof Stobdan: We should not be looking at 'solving' the problem. We should look at managing the problem. Solving the Kashmir issue would require a policy, which I don't think the country has. But managing a problem only requires certain skills. Maybe the previous generation had better skills than the current one. For example, last year there was an opportunity to make a Kashmiri, probably Farooq Abdullah, the Vice President of India. That could have bought some kind of space and time, some peace...at least for five years.
From my perspective, as a Ladakhi, this is the land of my God. Buddha was born here, hence I cannot leave this nation. Azadi is a Kashmir problem, it is not our problem. We neither accept it nor reject it.
Basharat: Patriarchy is not a woman's problem; it is a man's problem! Racism is never a black man's problem; it is a white man's problem.Caste discrimination is not a Dalit's problem, it is a Brahmin problem.
Lt Gen Hooda: Let's be modest, start with small steps. The first thing is to get a sense of security among Kashmiris. Everybody talks about the army being oppressive...well, voices are also silent because they are scared of the militants. Unless the State can provide some sense of security, the next step cannot be taken.
You have to bring some calm to the streets. People looking from outside Kashmir see these daily incidents, they ask, 'Why are you talking with these people?' That puts pressure on the government. Those images have to go away. In that sense, the ceasefire was a good thing.
She (Nayeema) talked about an intra-state dialogue. That's critical. I've seen divisions between Jammu and Kashmir actually becoming much sharper. I don't know if we can start discussing self-rule, autonomy and all (as of now).
Scale back security in towns; revoke AFSPA; gradually evolve a platform for peace through dialogue; involve Pakistan after initial progress in talks.
Barkha: Would you have extended the ceasefire, if it was your decision?
Lt Gen Hooda: I think it could have gone on for some more time. Security could still be provided to the Amarnath yatra. To me, the killings of (soldier) Aurangzeb and Shujaat was meant to trigger a breakdown of the ceasefire, and that's exactly what they did. We should not have fallen into the trap.
Also, let's be practical. I don't think India-Pakistan should not talk, but to expect Pakistan to provide solutions that bring calm to the streets of Kashmir is to live in a fool's paradise. They want the situation to simmer.
And please don't keep demonising the army for everything. Today, among all the security forces, perhaps the Kashmiri's best friend is the army. The police is under the state government's control, and 90 per cent of all civilian killings are done by the police.
Chari: The elephant in the room is Pakistan. Gen Hooda is right. If you think Pakistan will find the solution, we are barking up the wrong tree. We have walked into this trap, this narrative that New Delhi's relationship with J&K and the India-Pakistan relationship are two sides of the same coin. It is not. Dialogue with Pakistan is a different thing. Talk to their elected representatives if the non-state actors and military behave; otherwise talk to them in the language they understand. Period. Don't mix these two issues.
Gowhar: Let's stop this selective quoting of the UN too. If the UN designates some militant organisations as terrorist organisations, Delhi will quote the UN because it suits its own narrative. But when a UN report recognises Kashmir's right to self-determination, Delhi will reject it.
Chari: We have heard so much about a 'political solution'. Tell me, what better political solution can there be other than elections? Elections are a political solution.
Basharat: A plebiscite, too, is an election.
Chari: Every individual can choose a party of his or her choice. Somebody likes the PDP; fine, vote for it. Somebody likes the BJP; vote for it. The maximum number of representatives for the Congress is from Ladakh, I think. Dialogue, talks, ideas...let everything come through the ballot box.
Barkha: I think we have to close this conversation. It was a very difficult one. What we can say is that at least we spoke, and mostly we didn't shout. Our suggestions have ranged from the practical to the philosophical. Thank you to everybody who took part.
Transcribed by Bhumika Kohli and Malavika Kodiyath


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How to Register for Summer School
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Classes with insufficient enrollment will be cancelled. The summer school office will phone or email those who requested a course that is being cancelled. The target time for this information is early May. If a class is cancelled, ETHS will refund both tuition and registration fees.Notification of Course EnrollmentThe Summer School Office will provide confirmation about course enrollment as follows:
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New to the blog? A short definition of speculative fiction:Speculative fiction is an umbrella term that covers spectacular and imaginative fiction such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, urban fantasy, paranormal, slipstream, superheroes, alternate history, post-apocalyptic, and apocalyptic.
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A semi-current list of what I'm reading:
The Demi-Monde: Winter - Rod Rees
Empire State - Adam Christopher
Forgiven - Jana Oliver
Miscellaneous short stories and novellas
Monthly Archives: April 2012
Coming Soon! May 2012 novels that have caught my interest
I can't believe it's May already. Where did Spring go? So! May. May means two books I'm very, very curious about are being released soon. Hooray for new books! The Killing Moon N.K. Jemisin Fantasy May 1, 2012 Orbit ISBN: 9780356500768 … Continue reading
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Book review: Cairo by G. Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker
Cairo G. Willow Wilson, writer M.K. Perker, artist Urban fantasy November 2007 Vertigo Comics ISBN: 978-1-4012-1734-1 Format: Trade paperback accquired: purchased The blurb, from the back of the book: A stolen hookah, a spiritual underworld, and a genie on the … Continue reading
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Book Review: Road to Hell by Krista Ball
When does practicality win out over ideals? What does it take to break someone who is strong, principled, and a true believer in what is right and wrong? What are your personal morals and ethics worth? Continue reading
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Project Title: Love Yourself. Accept Yourself. Trust Yourself.
Duration: 0:34:18
Date: March 5th, 2018
[Recording starts 0:00:00]
Susie: Hey guys hello Max and I are here from our villa in Greece or Tuscany or whatever that is.
Max: Wall papered street here. It's pretty obvious.
Susie: Good to laugh. Yeah it's only see like the wrinkled over there it's pretty funny.
Max: Well I said no fun though spectra 00:25.
Susie: Anyway I've been noticing hey Cynthia I've been noticing some of you talking about loving yourself or you know accepting who you are and just this morning I had a conversation with max about that for myself. So I wanted to come share about loving yourself accepting yourself just how you are because you know it's always a relevant topic and some of us aren't very good at it. So we want to kind of make a distinction between complacency accepting yourself the way you are just because you accept yourself the way you are doesn't mean that you are lazy or complacent or you don't look at your shadow. That's not what this is about. So we want to talk about what it really is about.
Max: Yeah.
Susie: By the way we're almost done with our 40 days of self-love in the creation temple Facebook group but you are welcome to join that group any time and look back at the previous posts you can get some ideas about how to love yourself and accept yourself. So what is self-acceptance?
Max: So self-acceptance is I suppose it's a form of allowing whatever you're experiencing in this moment to be as it is not not having this resistance or rejection to like you know like if you have if you have like self-defeating thoughts be like okay that's part of an expression of myself and so having that space of being willing to understand yourself being willing to hear yourself being allowing of your self-expression and not having to to suppress or defeat what you what you see is negative or bad right. And then from there from that space of compassion understanding then making a choice and how to move forward and how to grow and how to change.
Susie: So self-acceptance involves compassion.
Max: Yes.
Susie: Well okay just do that wonderful 02:46 that's good.
Max: Yes I mean because compassion is all about understanding why different parts of yourself act out the way they do right. So.
Susie: And you know I wanted to talk about this also because some of you are you know you've had hard lives or you've you've had trauma we've all had trauma you've had trauma that still you know active within your cellular memory maybe you're young and you haven't like quite come into yourself and really accepted who you are or maybe you're you know a very sensitive being like me and you have trouble with that or maybe you're older and all your life you have hated yourself or felt guilty or never really fully accepted yourself and so wanted to kind of break it down so that you could really come into that space of loving acceptance of yourself and that compassion bringing compassion I like that. Yeah.
Max: Yeah. So you wanted to talk about certain distinction.
Susie: Right. So allowing what is occurring in the moment and allowing whether it's you know something internal or something that you're seeing external. Acceptance doesn't mean that you are you know that you sit back and you're complacent with it. Acceptance means that you find a space within yourself it's like you're finding that peace within yourself where you are loving yourself you're loving what is in the moment instead of trying to change it. Maybe it serves a purpose. Maybe that challenge or mastery opportunity as I like to call it is there for a reason. And so accepting it doesn't mean that you are you know just resigned to it but it does mean that you allow it to unfold and even work with it.
Max: Right so it's a difference between resisting the thing that maybe you're wanting to be different or wanting to be more clear in yourself rather the other way of navigating is to collaborate with it right. To see you know why it is the way it is and what it needs to to have to be okay with change right. For that part of yourself to be okay with change yeah.
Susie: Yeah. So we share the example this morning.
Max: All right. Yeah.
Susie: So I was having this long conversation with max. It was kind of coaching me on trusting myself and so I'm experiencing in my body my body is very sensitive it processes everything it processes every energy it processes the universe you know I just I feel everything in my body and on the one hand that's really cool because it you know it's a skill that I have when I'm working with clients to to be able to feel deeply whatever they're feeling things that they you know that I need to bring to their attention that are in their shadow that they may not recognize. On the other hand for me it's sometimes very challenging because my body's like you know kind of reactive all the time to everything and you know I'm always asking for ease and grace ease and grace and then I was like I was like well what if what if this makes me stronger and I don't actually want ease and grace. And what if this isn't about we thought the issue that I was working with was about trusting myself but what it came down to is actually accepting my body the way it is accepting how it functions accepting its sensitivity accepting the messages it gives me and and honouring that and it's just as soon as I figured that out it was like oh this is about just loving myself and accepting myself the way I am. And and trusting myself because I'm trusting that my body is doing what it needs to do for me. I'm trusting that I'm listening to my body's messages and I take inspired action to you know change something if something needs to be changed. Yeah and that's a very loving thing to do when you can trust yourself when you can accept yourself. So my I'm just sharing an example you may have a situation where you know maybe a client's beating you up and it's like you know there maybe there trigger triggering you and you're not sure like is this something I need to look at or do I just need to accept myself and trust myself that I'm doing the right thing or you know maybe you're having an issue with a family member and you don't quite know how to accept the situation and again it doesn't mean that you just you know go into complacency and throw your hands up in the air like well this is just the way it is you know. There's always something you can do in the situation to become more of a mastery with those opportunities that come in your way.
Max: I guess another perspective of it could be like where where someone's expressing something that is you know constrictive and suppressive you know either in their to their own selves or to others and having acceptance of that expression is not the same as how would you say giving so giving it power right and so.
Susie: That's a good one.
Max: Right and so the so there's this you know expression you know an example would be a parent abusing a child right. That happens quite often right. And so you allow that expression being that the parent is acting out and the child is you know they're participating with whatever the soul chose in that situation and you still show up in your power you know. What do you do you feel inspiration to share advice or assistance for for them to grow to change or do you not feel that inspiration and still not give power to what that person is expressing and let that pull your energy down right. So there's the difference between accepting and allowing each and their expression but there's there's a difference between that and giving it power right and letting that be sort of like running the show. So it's.
Susie: It's a rough example man.
Max: Right so it's allowing it's allowing your your expression and their expression to show up as equals right. And asnd participating in that you know that co-creation if you are inspired if you are resonant with that expression.
Susie: So this is good for empaths right because we're all the time feeling other people's energy and other people's emotion and if we're not clear about what which energy is ours we can very easily kind of be like dragged along by the emotions and energies of others.
Max: Because in that example right a lot of people feel like very like well I need to step in right that idea. But that can become a pattern itself and you can fall into what is like the the hero pattern or the rescue pattern where you try and solve all the problems and so that's sort of how how that can get out of balance as well. And so to always check in is this what resonates with my my inspiration of what I'm wanting to participate in and for some people's it's yes and for some people it's no and and not to judge yourself if it is no right. You like you know that's playing out and you know trusting again this is trust that all will unfold in in divine order in resonance right. And that each will have what they need to move forward and grow and so only checking in with where your part is in that in the whole.
Susie: And that's you know and this goes probably back to a different video. But that's where it's important to know what is your energy and what is the energy of other that's not you. Because when you can make that distinction as an empath then you can say oh that's their expression. I don't need to be affected by what they're expressing. I can stay centered within my own energy and I can accept myself in the process because a lot of times for empaths this self-love self-acceptance self-trust thing gets convoluted by the energies they're feeling around them. Like it might not even be you that you know when you're feeling the energy of distrust or you're feeling the energy of non-acceptance that might not even be your energy. So again in another video but important to understand that that can be part of what you may be feeling in the moment.
Max: And so plays into accepting that that can't happen that does happen and also a practice to go with that is holding space for yourself right. Allowing allowing yourself to have space. Another form of acceptance another form of allowing. Saying it's it's okay to add space for yourself.
Susie: Exactly. This is and this is another thing I was thinking about too is accepting yourself where you are in the process. So if you are an empath and you haven't mastered being with your own energy to accept yourself like hey I'm not there yet. If there's something that like you know like your end goal or you know where you could be and you're not there yet to accept yourself where you are in the process. I remember one of my you know 5d brothers was sharing something with me and like saying how I should be doing it or could be doing it and I said yes and I'm not yet integrated with the step that comes before that and I accept that within myself that that's where I am right now on this moment but it was actually really powerful for me to do that instead of beating myself up and be like yeah I should be doing that. Like no I'm not there yet you know I'm still integrating this this step that goes before that so accepting where you are in the journey accepting you where you are in the process especially this messages for those of you who are maybe newly awakening or you know you've been on the journey for a while and things have been really challenging because you are deeply sensitive or whatever. Accepting where you are in your spiritual journey and you know trusting. Trusting yourself in that and loving yourself as you go through the journey because you know you are where you are and you can and it doesn't mean again that you sit back and you're just like oh well this is the best I can do. Like no there's always more inner work that you can do on yourself to propel yourself forward to the next step.
Max: So what what is it whenever someone has this idea of a certain ways things should be it should.
Susie: Should is not acceptance.
Max: It should like a source not acceptance right it should like a form of some some form of invalidating what someone's a either yourself or like.
Susie: It's a way of invalidating the experience and validating who you are even that's something man I I work with that a lot actually because I know who I am and I know where I'm going and clearly I'm not there yet and so that's something that's something I process a lot actually is.
Max: Should.
Susie: Should yeah I should be like much further along than where I am I talk with my mentor about this all he's probably tired of hearing it from me. I should be you know like 10 years ahead of where you or whatever and it's just you know that's not how life works. Like you could only do so much from your end right you can't you can't control everything else you can't control the timing you can't orchestrate all the other moving pieces that need to come into alignment. Like it's amazing where I am if I look back on my whole life and what I've accomplished it's really amazing. And instead of saying I should be much further along than I am I can just you know be grateful and accept myself this is where I am this is I've come a long long way it's pretty amazing.
Max: Accepting your journey accepting where you are on the journey.
Susie: Trusting myself yeah. So I haven't seen any questions you know been kind of looking at the comments limit I haven't seen any questions you guys have any questions about this topic so flow self-trust self-acceptance. Any questions. If not we'll probably end the video but thank you for me and listening me max.
Max: Well thank you. Yeah.
Susie: I hope that by watching this that you can truly look within yourself and ask yourself you know are there any parts of myself that I'm not accepting am I for example are there aspects of my life that I'm not accepting are there shadow aspects that I'm trying to push away or not accepting. It goes both ways right sometimes we're just as you know reluctant to integrate our light as we are our shadow. So ask yourself are there any parts of myself that I'm not accepting and and give it an honest inquiry because what it will show you if there are parts of yourself that you're not accepting it will show you what you can work with next. Because yeah I see the question so if when you ask yourself that question it will show you what you have to work with next because there's always more okay. So what do you do if you're feeling impatient with your process? Well for me a great practice is gratitude and acknowledging and honouring myself how far I've come and what I have done. So looking looking back this is where looking at your past can be healthy I believe. Looking back and saying oh yeah I've done this I completed that project I helped that person I you know it used to be this kind of person and now and this person look at your progress look at what you have accomplished and achieved. And yes continue to hold that vision of who you know that you are. Continue to to honour yourself by holding the vision of who you are and instead of you know beating yourself up for not being where you think you should be be grateful to yourself for what you have done okay. So what if you're feeling inadequate because you're not moving fast enough. Yeah yeah. Same answer. Use that as your fuel that feeling of being inadequate that feeling of not moving fast enough. That feeling in your body you know you feel the angst of that you feel the frustration or the anger or whatever that feeling or emotion is that comes up when you feel inadequate because you're not moving fast enough that is your fuel that is what propels you to move forward. And so instead of allowing instead of allowing yourself to get frustrated frustrated and actually hold yourself back use that emotion and channel that emotional energy to propel yourself forward. And then you actually might start moving faster than than you feel where before. What would you like to say?
Max: So that can turn into just forcing it harder in the act of frustration so.
Susie: When I say challenge and use it yeah I'm not talking about forcing. Yeah it's like harness harness their motion instead of letting it be an emotional leak or an energy leak. Harness the emotion of feeling inadequate and put it in your heart and use it to fuel yourself.
Max: And and so here's the question what what is adequacy. What is that?
Susie: Yeah exactly.
Max: Adequacy is that should thing again this is a judgment of work right. If you know if you're experiencing what you're experiencing and you're choosing what you're choosing and you feel that you're in integrity but you will feel that there has not been enough change or it's it's out of balance in some way in that manner it's this lack of acceptance in some way of where you are with with your process right and so how do I say that it's you can't be any further than you already are because you already are where you are and so there there isn't a difference to be held in wait. Because it's it already is as it is. And so you're essentially just throwing yourself into these sort of waited states these states of bringing your energy down but but that doesn't actually serve the process of moving forward right. So it's.
Susie: That's that's that frustration thing that I mentioned. Like when you allow yourself to become frustrated that's when the energy starts to turn in on itself.
Max: Right so it's it's accepting how you are in this moment how your situation is in this moment and from that point choosing and standing in your choice standing in your knowing trusting yourself and I'm moving from that point and not having it be about the point where you're at is is lesser or not good enough or any of that yeah because the first step of it is to accept it as it is and then move from there. And so.
Susie: You're perfect the way you are by the way. This is something I wanted to say at the very beginning actually that's your perfect the perfect you're perfect the way you are. And again it doesn't mean that you don't look at your shadow that you don't work with integrating more light but to to know like at your core you're actually pretty perfect now someone wanted to us to address unconditional self-love versus conditional love. And there was another question coming up where does the idea of unworthiness come from okay so we'll get to that one. Okay so conditional self-love versus unconditional.
Max: Okay.
Susie: What can we say about that to me it's pretty self-explanatory because if you have if you have conditional self-love you're putting your conditions on it. Like I love myself when or I love myself more if or I love myself if that person reflects it back to me that that I'm worthy of love. You know those conditions that we put on love or self-love when you when you truly love yourself without condition you're simply honouring yourself.
Max: When when the when love is not seen as a condition but rather a.
Susie: You mean an outcome?
Max: Right when it's not seen as like an action or or an engagement but rather the very foundation of what you are the very substance.
Susie: Yes yes yes. Good good good.
Max: Right and so before anything even happens you're already before you choose something you've already and so.
Susie: Love isn't the reward love isn't the outcome.
Max: Love is the very substance of what you are and so you radiate right.
Susie: You just are love.
Max: Right you radiate that to whatever degree wherever you are with that and that's that's the foundation of it. So so love isn't something you find it's something you emanate is something you are it's it's your substance.
Susie: Oh I love it yes thank you for that reminder yes love it okay. Now I have to scroll back and find that other question because someone is asking about okay. Where does this idea of unworthiness come from how have you cleared that belief in yourselves. And I'm guessing that's the end of the question because that's all I can see. So if there's more sure if you could write the second question again that we got it think it. So where does it come from you know it's it's part of the program of this matrix it's part of the patterning that's been this is my belief that's been placed upon us to have us be in that energy of unworthiness to have us accept and allow that we're unworthy you know obviously just like we're loved we're worthy. That's inherently we're worthy that's who we are. So those ideas where do they come from years and years and years and thousands of years of patterning and programming on this planet.
Max: It's basic it's it's experiences of internalizing you know trauma internalizing rejection internalizing you know.
Susie: Not knowing any different.
Max: Mistakes or or what what you would perceive as you were intending one thing and something else happened. So so the thing you intended to good ended up being bad and so you aren't worthy of being good because you've made you know mistakes or things that you find out of balance. And so.
Susie: It's kind like accepting the pattern. Perpetuating it.
Max: Right and so and so part of part of moving past is accepting mistakes. Accepting those growing pains of learning how to navigate life in this limited experience right. It went sideways.
Susie: Yeah it happened. Someone asked to join and then I don't know how to fix the screen. Is there anything else you want to say about that?
Max: And and so this accepting of.
Susie: Worthiness.
Max: Worthiness. Yes. So accepting of your your nature as as divinity right accepting of your origin accepting of in that state yes you are perfect in all knowing and all seeing in all being and in this state it's more limited. So accepting that this limited state isn't you know it isn't an identical reflection of all your qualities but it is something you've come down to intimately experience and so not letting that experience have power over your true essence over your true being right. And so that that comes back to giving power and and the acceptance allowing space it all goes together both certainly internally and externally yeah.
Susie: And so the second part of that question was have I cleared that within myself and come into my full worth and I would say honestly I have not. For the most part you know generally in my day-to-day life and you know my experience I feel worthy I feel valuable. But I think there are probably still some shadow aspects of me that I haven't yet come into my wholeness or my fullness that are still there where there might be some beliefs or a limitations around my worth yeah. How about you?
Max: Myself?
Susie: Yeah.
Max: I feel fully worthy.
Susie: Okay okay so how have you cleared sorry I have to go like this because comments are sideways. How how have you cleared that belief in yourself. I'm truly coming to write 28:44.
Max: It's you know it's a process it's a it's a practice a lot of it has been simply verbal expression and like proclaiming it like proclaiming yeah proclaiming it's true and standing in that that knowing and so there is a certain degree of like you have to experience yourself actually being in that space to know it to believe it and and so in part of that you know with certainly expressing to you is expressing to my friend and and you know just being of that knowing of that worth of that and and it's it's within that experience of the expression of it that that I truly hear myself I guess that's part of it is hearing yourself. And and be in that space of proclaiming your worth. Proclaiming your your value. Proclaiming your your right and yourfreedom and your power and and your knowing and your truth. Just proclaiming it and feel it if you observe yourself feel yourself in that moment of expression. And so that's definitely a very direct way to address that that belief is and and so if you if you hear if you hear hesitancy if you hear like okay like you hear that you know and look into what what you're feeling there and so it's in the expression itself that surfaces anything that that's stifling that that works.
Susie: Right but how do you actually feel worthy if you're if you're not feeling worthy?
Max: How do you feel worthy if you're not feeling worthy.
Susie: Yeah like how do you get to that space of knowing your worth knowing your value if you're not actually feeling it.
Max: Lots of practice and a process. So in part I guess I guess you would have a journey first of well what things are do you consider in integrity to your worth. Integrity to your value integrity to your nature in your in your expression in your choice right. What are you what are you choosing that is in alignment with with that that value of your true self. And so if there's if it's a short list be like okay so look at your choices and look at what you're choosing and why you're choosing you're like and ask yourself can you be more aligned with your truth and your your value inherent in that truth right. More and more.
Susie: Yeah for me it's been a process actually of releasing all of those things all of the belief systems all of the programs and patterns you know and really seeing who I am to know that I'm valuable to know my worth. It wasn't actually like trying to to like come into my worth it was a process of clearing away everything that's not that. So that I could feel my worth more sure I hope that helps.
Male: So so I guess in a way letting go and realizing what what is not you.
Susie: Yeah exactly yeah.
Max: So the patterns the programs the imprints the implants the traumas the you know however many different ways you want to express it the things that aren't really of your true nature. They're just things that you've picked up along the journey.
Susie: Yeah and honestly doing my inner work doing that work has really boosted my my value my you know I never had like severe self-esteem issues or anything like that but it really boosted my sense of my value and worth. Because I built this really strong muscle to do my inner work to to clear away the stuff that's not me and it feels good it feels good to have strengthened that it feels good to have built that muscle within myself and I'm gonna answer this question too she was asking if I am always motivated to do my work and yeah it's a little off topic but that's okay because I really like this question. Yeah um pretty much yeah and max I think can attest to that because he's around coaching me through its humble 33:31 a lot of the times. So I'm I'm pretty much always a gamer for it you know because I because I have realized how important it is how good it feels to come out on the other side how much it contributes to the collective when I clear something and within myself and create a template for someone else. Like that that feels good to me. So it's not always fun to do the inner work but I'm pretty much always motivated to do it. Because.
Max: Because you feel.
Susie: Because that's me yeah because I feel yeah. Because it's who I am.
Max: So there's some people that that don't feel or that are clouded in their feelings and they just see it as as trudging through all this stuff that they don't want to look at so.
Susie: Because they're not doing anything with it. They're not actually changing themselves right or theirs how would you say there's there's people that will try to do the right thing but not actually address what they're doing and why they're choosing like they they're doing what they think they should do but they're not.
Susie: But they're not being led by their heart or by inspiration.
Max: Not really integrating why like what is the what is the fulfilling part of that within the self of doing what resonates. Right. And so that that comes back to finding truly what what resonates in your heart to express an experience. And so and if it's if it's you know if it goes against social norms if it goes against you know sometimes I can be a bit of a journey to be like okay I'm.
Susie: To accept yourself.
Max: I'm feeling what I'm feeling yes and everyone says all of these other things should be but that's you know everyone is is individual in their path and journey and in that way we all play different roles. And to accept that we're all different.
Susie: Yes that comes back to accepting you for who you are the way that you are. Your your body or emotional feel how you're wired your constitution everything just accepting all of that about yourself and using turning those into strengths using those to your benefit. Like having a sensitive body can be annoying sometimes but on the other hand it's a really powerful strength when I'm in service. So like we you all have that you know I'm just using my personal example but we all have those things that on one hand it can be a pain in the butt but on the other hand if you take the positive side of it can be something really powerful that you use for your benefit or the benefit of those you serve. So accepting all parts of yourself it's a beautiful thing.
Male: I guess an analogy an illustrative analogy would be not wanting to take out the trash and it piles up and up and up but the benefit of taking out the trash. That's been piling up and up and up. It's something that can be uncomfortable but once is done there's a much cleaner and clearer space.
Susie: Yes let's talk it about shadow work.
Max: But that's the a very direct sort of analogy is you know it's it's kind of gross to handle an icky 37:05 and you don't really want but but as you know you step up you move through it and when it's all cleaned you have a much cleaner home a much cleaner vessel right.
Susie: You wash your hands afterwards.
Max: You're free of it you know being on the back of your mind like yeah it's it's.
Susie: Yeah take out the trash oh shoot I'll suppose take out the trash yesterday. It's like once you do it it's like ah ha another space to grieve.
Max: And and and so you're free from a lot of you know if it's if it's an issue with with some family drama like to address you know why why is constantly on your shoulders while you're taking stress about it why while while it's bringing down you know so it's like it affects a quality of life a lot.
Susie: Yes absolutely.
Max: And to clear these things is to be free of that and have a better quality of life for yourself so there is a very like you know addressing it has benefit pretty directly.
Susie: Yeah so again some acceptance does not mean that you you know don't look at it and push it under the rug. It absolutely means that you address anything that comes up.
Max: The acceptance part is picking up the trash not saying that the trash is I accept the trash and it's such a great thing that's gonna stay here. The acceptance part is actually picking up and look I'm accepting it I'm holding it and I'm gonna do.
Susie: Like I am accepting it it needs to go out.
Max: And I'm gonna do something with it alright. So that there's the illustration of acceptance.
Susie: That's so cute I love it.
Max: You have to accept it you have to pick you up and then you can move it.
Susie: Alright guys I whink we are gonna wrap up now. Really appreciate you being with us today if you have any questions after you know if you're watching the replay or whatever you can put those in the comments. Lots of love you guys. See you in the next video. Oh if you want help with some of this stuff you can schedule a session I'm here for that.
Max: Oh that's good.
Susie: So yeah you don't have to do it by yourself. All right. Love you guys.
[Soundtrack begins 0:39:12]
Susie experienced her Spiritual Awakening on December 13th, 2004. Since that time, she has developed into a Spiritual Guide and Transformation Coach, teaching others how to do what she has done in her own life. Are you going through a spiritual awakening? You may enjoy relating the stories of other like you: Awakening Journeys: The Sacred Emerges
If you want support for your path of spiritual awakening, join The Creation Temple® as a Master Creator. The Creation Temple®
OR get a 1:1 session with Susie: https://susiebeiler.com/services


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In 2008, I was struck by a comment at the Where 2.0 Conference in San Jose: "Location is a killer context." We're still beginning to understand how we can use this new context to build better applications. With the rise of location-based social networking services like Foursquare, the idea of "where you are" at a particular point in time has attracted much attention. But a far richer context exists and is readily available to developers. The collection of places an individual has visited provides insight into the personality and preferences of the individual.
In the past 15 years, we've seen the rise of incredibly effective "recommendation engines" on Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, and other sites. Given the products, movies, and music you're interested in, it's possible to provide the user with a recommendation of other items they will like. The same applies to location-based contexts. Using the places you go it's possible to inform a user to other places they will enjoy and, in turn, what kind of person they are.
Imagine this scenario: it's Saturday night and you'd like to get a drink with your friends at a nearby bar. With location-based services, it's easy enough to use any number of mobile apps and determine what watering holes are nearby. Depending on the app, you also might be able to view the ratings for the nearby bars. But that doesn't guarantee you'd personally enjoy any of these unfamiliar establishments – the location of the bars is certainly valuable, as is the opinion of other individuals who have visited the bar. But a critical piece of information is ignored in these mobile, location-based apps: what kind of places you've been in the past and what that says about you.
It's possible to come up with an algorithm that looks at the places you've visited and other people have visited and come up with a decent suggestion of a new location to visit. That's a classic recommendation-engine algorithm. We can take a shortcut, though, using already-existing tools: the Foursquare API, which provides a history of where the user has been recently, and the SpotRank API, which contains information about the popularity of a geographical area at particular times. By combining SpotRank with the locations the user has visited in the past, we can easily determine how often the individual visits places that are highly trafficked and popular relative to other places in that metropolitan area. Among many other uses, this provides an incredibly rich context to applications that find nearby restaurants and bars. For instance, when the user checks-in to a bar or restaurant, is that location getting busier or is it slowing down? During peak times, is the individual likely to retreat to quiet neighborhood haunts or mingle with the masses downtown? The previous places the user has visited combined with the relative popularity of these locations at a particular time gives us valuable information about an individual's nightlife preferences. We can use this information to make better suggestions.
We're just at the beginning of coming up with interesting applications that use location-based data. However, we have reached the point where existing mobile applications can begin to provide an even richer context than "you are here." It's particularly important to look intelligently at information related to where we've been. In the example above, it provides us with previously unknown information about the user than can be used to build richer location-based applications.
Clay Smith is a software engineer for Thomson Reuters based in Chicago. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 2009 after studying Computer Science and Geography and is particularly interested in how location-based applications can enrich and enhance the user experience on the web and mobile devices. In his free time, he can often be found kayaking on Lake Michigan or barbecuing.
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This training has developed the tools necessary for some of our design staff to start their own respected design companies, including:
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Take the 1:5:10:365 challenge: Do one thing – for 5 to 10 minutes – 365 days a year to make our home and planet environment better.
1:5:10:343 EcoTip: You can use Heating Degree Day information for your area to compare the climate from year to year.
Additional Information:
To find the Heating Degree Days for your area
- Go to the National Weather Services data posting for your area. It can be located at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/organization.php?loc=interstitialskip
- This next part can be a little tricky. You want to find past data. Generally you will Click on the monitoring station nearest to you and look for Past Climate Data. To get to mine – I had to go to the "Past 3 Days" page which then provided a link to "Climate – Local Historical Data". What you want is the National Weather Service – monthly report (NWS F-6). It should go back at least six years.
- Pick the month and year of interest. There should be six columns on the form, the first is the day of the month, followed by: the day's maximum temperature, the day's minimum temperature, the day's average temperature, the difference from the day's normal temperature, the heating degree days (HDD) and the cooling degree days (CDD). At the bottom of the page under the HDD column should be the total HDD for the month.
- By comparing the HDD for the same month for different years you can learn how the climate has compared for your area.
- Tomorrow's post will be about calculating (and understanding) the current HDD.
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