Update on Fidayeen

As some of you may possibly be aware, a publisher recently saw fit to inflict a novel written by me on the world. This is called Fidayeen, and on 24^th January I was in Lucknow for the official release.

Here are a few pictures:

On the 21^st February, Fidayeen won the Best Fiction Award at Lit O Fest 2016, Mumbai. I wasn’t there in person, but here’s a picture anyway.   

Maybe the media will finally now take notice of the fact that I exist...but I won’t hold my breath.

Now, I didn’t write this article just to boast. Fidayeen operations – in which a small number of attackers infiltrate a military base or some other installation, and keep fighting till they’re overwhelmed – are, after a hiatus of several years, picking up in number once again in Kashmir. They’re highly effective in that they force the security forces to tie down troops in protecting their own bases, making it more difficult to control the cities and countryside.

This is important because, in today’s Hindunazistan, where majoritarian fascism is the way this government rolls, the people of Kashmir (who spent a decade slowly returning to a semblance of a modus vivendi with India) are once again being made to feel like barely tolerated foreign interlopers. Separatism, which was dying out, is picking up again. 

See, here’s the problem – you can, possibly, keep a people forcibly crushed down and subjugated by military force...for a while. But, unless you can actually convince the people that their best interests lie in accepting your rule in return for whatever quid pro quo you can provide, they’ll never be yours. You’ll always be an outside oppressor, holding them down with main force.

Well, so what? So this – sooner or later, something is going to happen which will make it impossible to hold them down any longer. It may be economic collapse, defeat in a war, famine or internal turmoil, or a combination thereof; but history shows definitely that all nations go through cycles, and, increasingly, as resources run out and global warming disrupts agriculture, these cycles can be expected to become more frequent and violent. Sooner or later, India will be unable to hold down Kashmir by force any longer.

At that point, what happens will depend on the attitude of the Kashmiris towards India. If India is interested in keeping the (part of the) province – for whatever reason – it had better be able to make the Kashmiris feel wanted. Otherwise, its loss is inevitable. And what will India do then? Flatten the mountains of Kashmir with nuclear weapons?

Yeah, right.

Of course, like all other advice, it’ll all fall on deaf ears.

They don’t call ‘em Hindunazis for nothing. 

Note: Fidayeen should be available on Amazon.com (as opposed to Amazon.in, where it already is) within the week.