For the Apologists of Kashmiriat:Lalit k kaul
For the Apologists of Kashmiriat Lalit
K Kaul
Kashmiriat is much propagated word; while
the politicians and their respective political outfits, in using it, have
political axes to grind, the Valley populace – predominantly Muslim- don't miss
a chance to glorify “Kashmiriat” at the drop of a hat, only to whitewash their
politics starting 1971 that led to cleansing the Valley of her aboriginals –
the Pandits. If it is proposed that the Muslims too are aboriginals, it will
erupt into a volcanic eruption kind of a situation because everything that
preceded onset of Islam in Kashmir was “Jahaliyat" and what's outside of
the Holy Quran is “Jahaliyat" too. The claim is that civilization dawned
upon Kashmir only after “Sufis” “peacefully” established Islamic rule in the
Valley and Moguls/Afghans entrenched it that much more “peacefully” by ways “civilized
and human”. It doesn't matter how much this narrative is in contravention of
the historical facts as documented by historians, both Muslims and non-
Muslims, because it has been embedded into their conscience.
The Political Kashmiriat:
Ironically it was the “communal" BJP’s
national leadership that tossed this word “Kashmiriat" into political
domain. To project Mufti Mohammad Syed as a symbol of “Kashmiriat" “Insaaniyat”
and “Jamooriat” was to accord sanctity to his crimes against the Pandits starting
1986 and culminating into overseeing of their forced exodus as Home Minister of
India under the “secular" leadership of Sri V P Singh- the then Prime Minister.
Only in the hope that he and his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, would help the then central
government led by Sri A B Vajpayee to internally resolve Kashmir imbroglio by
interacting with gun wielding men with whom the father-daughter duo had cozy
relationship. Mufti Mohammad Syed was encouraged to form his own political
outfit, the PDP, and then was well supported by the central agencies in
facilitating election campaign in very highly militancy infested areas that led
to PDP forming its first government in the erstwhile state of J&K. But
then, Mufti being Mufti didn't oblige the then Home Minister, Sri L K Advani,
with any useful mediation with the gun wielding two-legged specie. What BJP
ended up achieving was to bring a rabidly communal and anti national element
into center stage of Kashmir politics, even while he remained sympathizer of
anti India outfits in J&K.
Perhaps the BJP leadership didn't know
that “Kashmiriat” had been unequivocally defined by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah when
he floated Muslim Conference to fight what he termed as oppressive rule of Hari
Singh. So, “Kashmiriat” was defined to protect and procure Muslim interests and
that continued to be the spirit of Kashmir politics only to culminate into
forced exodus of Pandits from the Valley.
Post 19th January, 1990, as per
estimates some 30,000 Pandits remained in the Valley only to be reduced to 3 to
4 thousand in two decades thereafter by engineering mass murders of Pandits using”
innovative” methods (of Naxals), before Modi government played yet another
farce on the Pandits by what has come to be known as PM's package. The targeted
killings of non locals ensured that “Kashmiriat” remained Muslim centric.
The Social Kashmiriat:
The apologists of “Kashmiriat”, howsoever
well intended, have a field day in proclaiming to the outside world “What
Kashmiriat is all about". So, when Muslims in neighborhood facilitate taking
a dead body of a Pandit to cremation ground, because there are no Pandits to be
found to help the grieved family, one sees lot many FB posts, Tweets and Media
coverage singing praises of Kashmiriat! I thought that was the Tragedy of
unparalleled stature because it glorified an act which, in normal conditions,
is not even noticed; much less glorified.
The “Kashmiriat” rises to dizzy heights
when Pandit women welcome the Muslims back into their homes, having performed
Haj. It also finds lot of circulation in social media and newsprint coverage. But
Muslims don’t greet the Amarnath yatra returnees because it is deemed as Kufr. Again,
“Kashmiriat” is Muslim centric.
When a member of literally extinct specie
in Kashmir is found in Nikah of a Muslim it is trumpeted as “Kashmiriat".
But, no apologist of “Kashmiriat” talks
about “Kashmiriat” of Yasin Malik, Bitta Karatae and their ilk including that
of their newly found “Bub" – Sri SAS Geelani. The “Kashmiriat” of Yasin
Malik and his ilk is well documented as also the public statement of SAS
Geelani that the Pandits are not welcome in Kashmir.
The narrative handed down over the generation
next of the Muslims that Pandits left on their own to defame their ‘Hum Kya Chahtae
Azadi" movement and their aim of establishing “Nizam e Mustafa”. This is
another face of “Kashmiriat” that promotes living in denial mode and it has
been achieved with resounding success.
Yet another face of “Kashmiriat” is that on
reminding them of the barbarism inflicted upon the Pandit men, women, boys and
girls under the banner of their religion; the reminder is labeled as
“communal" act as “it disturbs communal harmony" of the day!
So, whatever numbers are remaining in the
Valley, so long as such Pandits find ways to survive in an Islamist society,
the “Kashmiriat” is ever blooming, even while such of those who continued to
stay on find it difficult to continue hereon.
The Religious Kashmiriat:
All well documented. The countless number
of Hindu shrines and temples vandalized and destroyed. The Sun Temple named as
“Shaitani Gufa" and all kinds of indecent, derogatory and uncivilized
comments made on Shiv Ling without having any understanding of the Phallic form
of Shiv. The “symbol of Kashmiriat”, Mufti Mohammad Syed has to his credit and
that of his followers’ innumerous feats of temple destructions.
The Economic Kashmiriat:
Economics is the basis of life; its
importance in human lives transcends all religious faiths. The “Kashmiriat”
does not allow a non-Muslim or non- Muslim organization to have a toe-hold in the
Valley.
On 26 May 2008,
the GOI and the state government of
J&K reached an agreement to transfer 99 acres (0.40 km2) of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) in the
main Kashmir
Valley to set up
temporary shelters and facilities for Hindu pilgrims. This caused a controversy, with
demonstrations from the Kashmir valley against the land transfer and protests
from the Jammu region supporting it. The
largest demonstration saw more than 500,000 protesters at a single rally, among
the largest in Kashmir's history.
As the Kashmiri
protests grew wider and more violent, the PDP said that it would withdraw
support to the INC led state government if it did not revoke the land transfer
agreement. The land transfer was revoked.
The above is a
clear cut case of communal/anti Hindu based politics, one may say; but more
than that, that incident thoroughly exposes the True nature of “Kashmiriat” in
that it is Muslim centric and doesn't entertain any non-Muslim interests. If
the land was to be acquired for a Mazaar, a Mosque or Haj pilgrims, Gulam Nabi
Azad wouldn't have had to resign.
The Final Nail
in the Coffin of “Kashmiriat”:
It was sometime in November 2010 that I
was requested by Dul Hasti Hydro Power Plant to help them resolve some problems
in regard to certain equipment and also give design tips for the equipment. It
was a three day exercise. At the end of the schedule, while I was exiting the
campus I realized that somebody was following me. I looked back and was greeted
by this young engineer who turned out to be a Kashmiri Muslim. He asked me if I
was a Kashmiri Pandit and I replied that I was. Then he said that before seeing
me while attending my design lectures, he had never seen a Kashmiri Pandit and
had only heard about them in conversations amongst his elders! I gave him a
smile and he reciprocated. That sums up the much touted “Kashmiriat”.
Therefore, for all the apologists of
“Kashmiriat” I have a suggestion:
Dear Kashmiri Muslims, just move on &
don't fool Indians outside J&K about this farce known as “Kashmiriat”.
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