BOOK REVIEW

“Shabistan- e- Wajood”
(The Ordeal of a Journalist)

Author= Maqbool Sahil

Publisher= Meezan Publishers, Srinagar Kashmir
Year of Publication= 2009
Price= Rs 350 Pages= 355

Jail Life is altogether a different world where only the supposed guilty are
confined for punishment. The word Punishment seems harsh to the State
and Establishment, as they brag and boast that Jail Term is only
Reformation Period in the life of those who have gone astray from the
right path thus posing a threat to the Peace, Harmony and Unity prevalent
in the society. In any conflict zone, the role of jail becomes indispensable
as number of distracted and youth gone astray boom up thus in need of
reformation and guiding light towards the right track; prison provides the
Ideal Place to bring these disgruntled youth to the road of Salvation as
described in the Gospel of State.

Kashmir since the partition of subcontinent has remained a thorn in flesh

of Indian Polity and dissidents, disgruntled and dissatisfied have always
found Prison at beck and call but since the last twenty two years when the
mass armed Intifada was initiated the prisons became lively, vibrant and
necessary for imparting the Gospel of State to these distracted souls. As

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 continues the norm alongwith the guilty innocents are also crushed in the
system of justice because Law is blind.

The present book under review is the ordeal of an “Innocent Person” who
suffered as an outcome of Rivalry and callous attitude of Justice System.
The author is well known journalist, poet and short story writer of
Kashmir Valley who was made to spent more than three and a half years
in different prisons and interrogation centers of Jammu and Kashmir.
This book brings about various facets of Sahil’s life, from his childhood
to education, education to career, career to marriage, but the subject
matter of the book revolves around the issue of his arrest, his
interrogation, days in prison, trial, freedom alongwith excerpts of his
vibrant, inspiring and dedicated journalistic life.

Majority of Kashmiris have the experience of Interrogation and Jail life

especially the separatist leaders though only the towering among them
Syed Ali Shah Geelani has came out with four tomes of his prison diaries
Rudad-e-Qafas(2 Volumes), Maqtal Sey Wapsi(Return from Gallows)
and Bharat Key Istimarey Harbey Kralagund Sey Jodhpur Tak but others
have failed to document the same, even Sheikh Abdullah and his
compatriots Mirza Afzal Beg and Maulana Masoodi too have failed on
this account. Other lesser known mortals who are mostly illiterate can’t
thus be held guilty, though before Sahil published his prison ordeal,
another Journalist Iftikhar Geelani had published his experiences in Tihar
jail titled as My Days in Prison.

Sahil was charged with being an ISI agent, who used to acquaint with
army and government because as a journalist he used to cover their
functions and allegedly passed on the information to his mentors i.e ISI.
The description of life in prison and interrogation centers is hair raising
and a reader can’t believe that even in this age of Human dignity, respect
and honour such inhuman practices are carried out. Though Sahil was
well known to the high echelons of Power as well as Police Officials but
this acquaintance proved to him of no help in easing his interrogation or
reducing jail term because he says that Centre enjoys supremacy in case
of Kashmir instead of State.

To retain one’s mental balance is very crucial and difficult task when one
is in jail because the moment a person enters its premises the convict
guilty or innocent becomes target of Senior Jail mates and administrators
who pressurize him in every manner and for outside world, friends,
relatives, neighbors and acquaintances he becomes an outcaste to be
shunned, though these ‘well wishers’ never loose any opportunity to

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 usurp the property in cash and kind as well as harass the family of the
convict. Sahil is much angry at the conscience keepers of Society i.e
Journalists, the fraternity to which he belongs for not voicing their
concern about his unjust arrest and trail. Instead they accepted the State
version humbly as Gospel truth.

The life in Jails especially Kathua, Aphala Jail Jammu (where no rules
are followed and convicts kept as Cattle) are described, as well as the
stories of many other convicts who have been falsely implicated and
many of them on the pretext of renegades who work hand in glove with
army and police, or in the process of revenge by enemies in which
innocents become scapegoats.

The mutual bickering, politics and exploitation in Jail has been

thoroughly discussed. How the undue profits are earned on the basic
necessities required by inmates of jail, how Police and jail officers accept
bribes to grant concessions and how they cash the helplessness of inmates
into surplus profits, and how the Hindutva goons in collaboration with
Jail authorities make the life of Kashmiri Prisoners a virtual Hell, and
how these communal elements are nourished and supported by those at
the helm of affairs.

The Justice Process and Trial too couldn’t escape the vigilant and critical
eye of Sahil who witnesses how the Police and other security agencies
delay to send the accompanying squad to take the convicts to court
proceedings and in this process the court dates get extended and Justice
delayed. Sahil who was slapped with notorious Public Safety Act(PSA)
four times and eventually quashed by the court same number of times
witnesses a contrast in its application in the two regions of J&K i.e
Jammu and Kashmir, whereas in Kashmir PSA is mostly quashed in
courts but in Jammu any appeal for quashing PSA is rejected and convict
has to spend two or more than two years in jail.

Whereas Sahil is critical of the Jail authorities or Justice system, he is not

too biased or communal so as to not acknowledge the services, good
character and humane qualities of some of the Police Officials, staff and
inmates, though he seems to criticize the lack of discipline and self
abnegation among some convicted ‘freedom Fighters’ as well as their
leaders and torch bearers of this movement who have forsaken them and
let them rot inside the prisons instead of taking care of their families and
coming to meet them and asking them about their affairs, though the
‘leaders’ never forsake any opportunity to credit themselves as the
inheritors of Martyrs Legacy.

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 This book is a must for understanding what went wrong with our Justice
and Reformation System as well as to understand a State’s wrath on a
conscience keeper of society, who utilized his time, opportunity and
solace which jail offered him so well that he came out with seven books
in this brief period of time thus proving a source of inspiration and a role
model to be emulated by those who think and believe that jail life can’t be
productive. Alongwith his own prolific outpourings he helped other
separatist Ghulam Ahmad Mir to compile his reminiscences of life from
being an army man to secessionist titled as Meiney Kashmir Jalte Huwe
Dekha(I have Witnessed Kashmir Burning).

This book also throws light on various epochs, events and personalities
related with the armed struggle and offers a political, social and
diplomatic insight into various facets of the armed struggle which till now
have remained in oblivion.

****
Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is Writer-Activist and presently
student of Masters Program of Political Science at Kashmir University
and can be reached at sikandarmushtaq@gmail.com

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