Education for PeaceNation for Peace

J&K’s Education & Skill Development: Air Commodore Hilal Ahmad Rather: Reaching for the sky literally and figuratively

Hilal Ahmad Rather, who hails from south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, had manifested the desire to reach the sky way back in ’88 when he was commissioned in Indian Air Force (IAF) as a fighter pilot.

Cesar Pelli once said, “The desire to reach the sky runs very deep in the human psyche.” That was a motivational saying intended to inspire people to set and accomplish high goals, but  Pelli took it literally and built some of the tallest buildings in the world as an architect.

Some Kashmiris have also literally reached for the sky in recent years by giving their ambitions wings and have become commercial pilots. They include Sami Ara Surury, Kaneez Fatima, Iram Habib, Ayesha Aziz, Captain Tanvi Raina.

J&K’s Education & Skill Development: Air Commodore Hilal Ahmad Rather: Reaching for the sky literally and figurativelyBut Hilal Ahmad Rather, who comes from the Anantnag district of south Kashmir, had expressed a desire to enter the sky back in ’88 when he was commissioned as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF). In 1993 he became the flight lieutenant, in 2004 the wing commander, in 2016 the group captain and in 2019 the Air Commodore. Hilal Ahmad Rather, a Vayu Sena Medal recipient and Vishisht Seva Medal has a record of 3,000 accident-free hours of flying on Mirage-2000, MIG-21 and Kiran aircraft.

He is presently India’s Air Attaché to France and became the country’s first pilot to see off the batch of Rafale jets from France to India on July 27. Hilal Ahmad Rather, he played a crucial role in the early delivery of the Rafales. He was previously associated with the weaponization of the Rafale jets according to the Indian requirements.

Hilal Ahmad Rather is certainly the man of the moment but there are many others like him in Kashmir whose achievements and success stories have not been discovered to this day. The achievements of Hilal Ahmad Rather would have been overlooked too, but the war-like situation with China along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh and the controversy surrounding the Rafale deal created the conditions for his notability as he became an “incidental beneficiary” of the widespread admiration.

Taking cue from the success story of Air Commodore Hilal Ahmad Rather

Air Commodore Hilal Ahmad Rather’s success story provides a great opportunity to set a precedent for recognising and highlighting Kashmir’s success stories so that all those accomplished Kashmiris, whose accomplishments are inspiring yet unheard of, are introduced to their fellow citizens. Unfortunately, the tumultuous situation in Kashmir remains a perfect reason for the national media to highlight and even synthetically magnify the popularity of a handful of Kashmiris and this contributes to the whole community’s ‘othering’ and ‘demonization.’ A certain political class in Kashmir waxes lyrics to further its political ambitions and that of its handlers.

The people who deserve public attention in such a situation are never able to grab it. It should be noted that the information entering the public domain is closely controlled to create a desired effect, and both New Delhi and Islamabad have played this game for their benefit. So, though singing praises for the militants fits Pakistan – for it ensures a constant stream of radicalised Kashmiri youth willing to lay down their lives at their (Pakistan’s) prodding and for their cause – demonizing the same people in mainland India makes for a handy tool to paint the entire Kashmiri community in “political green” to encourage and justify their “othering.”

Although hours of prime time discussions are devoted to talking about the likes of Burhan Wani, Zakir Musa, Reyaz Naikoo or, for that matter, their patrons in the political circles – the likes of Syed Ali Shah Geelani – absolutely no, or even at best, only a drizzle of information reaches the general public about the Kashmiri accomplishers, residing in India and outside. It should be noted further that there are a good number of Kashmiris who have risen to dizzying heights of success through the sheer grit of their hard work and determination.

Some Kashmiris have done exceptionally well in the corporate world in mainland India, in central services such as the IAS, IPS, IFS, IBS, in newspapers, IT, and so many other diverse fields. In Europe, the Americas, China, Japan, and Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and around the globe, many Kashmiris have exceptional achievements under their belts, but their storeys remain unheard – perhaps because they don’t translate into media rating points and don’t make a political statement for the varied actors in Kashmir’s political amphitheater.

What the mainstream media, and even governments, need to understand is that political narratives (and beliefs) are not (and cannot be) changed by conducting propaganda campaigns but by showcasing the achievements of those who have rejected the path of violence they recognised to lead only to victimhood, and accepted the path of success as a deliberate option.

What if India’s next cricket captain is from Kashmir? What if somebody from Kashmir makes it to football in the European Premier League? One can go on and on, counting such possibilities and their positive impact on Kashmiri’s psyche but to make them a reality, the government has to create an enabling atmosphere in Kashmir, and do some handholding of the talent pool of the Valley to channelize it constructively to bring about a positive change.

The Initiative for Competition Promotion in Jammu and Kashmir (ICPJK), a trust engaged in the preparation of students for civil service exams, has already made a start. Established under the patronage of A G Mir (IPS, currently the law and order of J&K’s ADGP), ICPJK has trained hundreds of civil service students since its inception in 2008; more than 200 of its trainees have already trained at the IAS and KAS, including, of course, Dr. Shah Faesal, who finished IAS in 2010.

Conclusion:

While Rafale introduced Air Commodore Hilal Ahmad Rather to the popular imagination of the young population of the Kashmir, this opportunity awaits a build-up and can not be wasted. Let the government try and invest some careful thinking in channelling the Kashmiri youth’s energy and potential.

Now is the time to welcome them, to hone their abilities. Believe it or not, every second person in Kashmir has the potential to become a fighter pilot, a world-class scientist, an outstanding academic, a brilliant doctor, a creative engineer, an outstanding sportsman, a skilled worker, and so on. All government needs to do is create favorable conditions for this potential to grow.

From some news agency

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