LADAKH RIOTS
In his article on "Riots in Ladakh" (Sept/Oct 1989), Siddiq Wahid makes two points. First, that it is the wicked foreigners who have planted the notion that Muslims are oppressing Buddhists in Ladakh; second, that the same foreigners have created the impression that to be Ladakhi is to be Buddliist, and that, therefore, there is no such tiling as a Muslim Ladakhi. Wahid´s citing of Franckc and Sncllgrovc, however, do not justify his somewhat excited conclusions. Wahid ignores certain facts both in the valley and outside. In the valley, the ethnic protests by Buddhists were rooted in at least two grievances: in not being given representation in the Kashmir Cabinet; and in not being allowed to pray in Buddhist shrines in areas where Muslims are in the majority. If ethnicity over-rides religion, the first poinl should have been taken up by non-Buddhist Ladakhis as well, and the second should simply not have arisen. Since Mr. Wahid works in Delhi, he cannot have missed the fact of the Partition in 1947 and the communal violence that took place in British India and continues to take place in the sub-continent.
Does he mean to tell us that Hindus and Muslims in India and Shias and Sunnis in Pakistan are not of the same ethnic stock, or that wicked foreigners are responsible for it all? Second, Wahid blames "intellectual colonisation," " development," even " compulsory education" – all of them good cliches, and therefore more emotive than factual. He is scathing about compulsory education which more often than not means, according to him, ´merely´ ,(a word he emphasises) the ability to read and write, preferably in English. Thus he hits out at several concepts: compulsory education, skill of leading and writing, and, of course, English.
One cannot but feel that Wahid himself has merely picked up the ability to read and write English. We should not scoff at the modest skills that literacy imparts; the literate citizen is dangerous because he ot she will not remain dumb for long. The feudal kings realised this, and so always denied education to their slaves and vassals. It would indeed be disastrous if the activist lobby were to lend them its unwitting support. As a woman, I am very glad to have the education and the opportunities that my grandmother was denied. So are the large numbers of the lower castes, Hindu and Muslim. The burgeoning of Dalit literature in India is a testimony to that. It is their sole passport to a tolerable life. Vasudka Dhagamwar New Delhi SPINY BABLER "In search of the Spiny Babler" (Nov/Dec 1989) was most interesting. Congratulations to Dr. Tej Kumar Shrestha for his efforts.