Uncouth orders

Zia Darakshan

The failure to resolve the mysterious mystery should be left on time

Sensationalism has had always a rife market in Kashmir. Rumour mongering is such a great business that it can make a donkey look like a king and a king look like a donkey. Sensationalism and rumor-mongering holds key components of our habitual lifestyle. One can’t digest food unless there is some hot, spicy pep ingredient in ones talks. This time it’s an uncouth  “orders”  which is being widely circulated on  social media causing panic and chaos in the minds of the general public that something big is on the cards for the Kashmiris. These uncouth “orders” reveal that something nasty is being cooked by the central govt, ready to be served to Kashmiris on 15th August – the Independence day.

The large circulation of these  “orders” indicates the possible deterioration of law and order problem in coming days. The factual information, based on these orders has stirred the sleep of a commoner. Every day there is a new “order” and then the denial of the government follows, calling it a fake order. In fact, in one of the orders people have been advised to stock their ration and park their vehicles in garages.

Let’s trip down to our memory lanes of the nineties. Those who were not born in nineties or were kids might find it amusing. The  90s was the most turbulent era of the valley and so were the rumors that surfaced off and on .One of tales goes like this: A poor woman who was tortured and thrown out from her home took to jungles and prayed there for many years. She was finally blessed with the spiritual powers .She developed a unique therapy of curing sick and destitute people. A raw bread soaked in sour water, closed in a container  for seven days would increase the count of rotis  .This sour water had to be consumed by the family members  on  Fridays right after Zuhr prayers .God knows what was the logic behind this scientific trick that would fool even the educated and ignited minds easily. The family would drink this so called  holy  sour liquid without a question about the authenticity of its origin .

The next in the row was a witch. It was said that the witch or daen would insert her long nails in human body and kill  the person. As per the claim  , the daen would grow taller and taller due to her magical powers ,often nab its victims by  long hand inserted through window panes . She would appear from anywhere and vanish . These fooling tricks occupied headlines although for a short period  however ,created panic among people to this level that many families relocated from less populated areas to densely populated areas or even left villages  to live in city .

The millennium saw braid chopping as the most sensational event of the year. We lost countless braids yet the miscreant never got nabbed .Panic left people confined to their homes..

The common pattern observed  in  these sensational episodes  is that they have always remained mystery and nobody has ever taken the onus of such sensational rumors, be it govt or any other  agency.

Likewise nobody is ready to take the onus of these  disowned  “orders” doing rounds on social media. Even the governor though after days of silence ,refuted issuance of such orders .It seems our hon’ble governor assisted by a counsel of six jewels ,carrying an experience of  Special Tactics expertise for war zone areas have proved wrong choices, unlike  the  ‘Akbar the great’ ,and his counsel of nine jewels ,who counted on wisdom and knowledge as the most suitable skills  for the competent jobs .

The failure to resolve the mysterious mystery should be left on time ,since when all else fails ,we hold election and assassinate  previous governments rather than check our uncouth loyalties.