How Mufti can stop Kashmir from going the Pakistan way
The dust is settling down in Jammu and Kashmir, at least for the time being, close on the heels of the controversial actions of the powers that be. Some say that India compromised on national pride and security due to some of its recent actions while others say it was part of a deft strategy. And then there is a whole lot of opinion about Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, the J&K chief minister, swaying between the pull of what he felt was political correctness - dubbed by most outside Kashmir as his pro-separatist stance - and the push of keeping the coalition with the BJP going.
But for me the time has come for Mufti to take the political decision of his life. Does he want Kashmir to go the Pakistan way, where Muslims are killing Muslims over different interpretations of Islam? The killing fields of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP), north Punjab and even Afghanistan - where suicide bombers surface from nowhere - are, after all, not very far from Kashmir geographically. Srinagar to Peshawar would take just 30 minutes by air. By road, the distance is just 296km. On the one hand, the distance from Srinagar to Islamabad in Pakistan is only 162km; the scene of the 2007 Lal Masjid attack by then Pakistan President Pervez Musharaf, which triggered the birth of Tehreek-E-Taliban or Pakistani Taliban.
In fact, the Himalayas just take a different name - Hindukush - as the mountain range extends in the direction of Afghanistan. The distance by road from Srinagar to Kabul, the bigger killing field, is not much either- just 519km. Does Mufti want to take Kashmiris close to the killings fields of Pakistan, NWFP and Afghanistan? Who is suffering more misery today – India or Pakistan? Does Mufti think his pro-separatist and pro-Pakistan line will end violence in Kashmir and the misery of his people?
The Peshawar school attack is a classic example. In the initial stage of the terrorist attacks in Pakistan more than a decade ago, the ultra-Wahabis targeted only the Shias and the dargah-worshipping Barelvis (dargah worship or Guru Puja is considered as "Shirk or anti-Islam" and a Hindu import by Deoband-Tabligh and Ahle Hadis and other Wahabi group tanzims), sparing the Wahabi tanzim followers. However, in the Peshawar attack, no such distinction was made. Amongst the 142 children killed were both non-Wahabis and Wahabis. It was just a revenge on Pakistani Army, plain and simple. The killers were not concerned about who they were attacking - children or people of their own religion. They just wanted to avenge Pakistan's anti-terror operations in NWFP. Clearly, the genie is out of the bottle and is uncontrollable for Pakistan.
Would Kashmiris be happy under the shadow of such a Pakistan?
Mufti has to do three things if he is to rewrite Kashmir’s history. He has to cultivate a rare vision, taking lessons from history, show unparalleled courage and do the most important yet simple thing – follow in the footsteps or blueprint of the greatest Sultan of Kashmir, Zainul Abidin (1420-1470), better known as Kashmir’s Akbar. The ruler put aside the cruelty of his anti-Hindu father Sikandar (who persecuted Kashmiri Pandits) and brought back the Pandits who had fled the Valley. He used the talent of the returned Pandits for the benefit of the state, and to take it to new frontiers of glory it had not seen in many years. Abidin put a stop to destruction of temples and killing of cows to cultivate a sense of confidence amongst the Pandits. Not just that, he turned his court into one of the greatest patrons of art and culture. He also took strong measures against the corrupt and the exploiters in the system, and even ensured that the food prices never went out of hand so that food was affordable for the poor. Abidin was a strong and just ruler.
Today, Kashmir is indeed at the crossroads. Over 65 per cent Kashmiris voted in the recent Assembly polls against the Hurriyat’s call for a poll boycott. The voting percentage, even in the Valley, was in a majority - proving that most of the Kashmiris were not with Pakistan, but their fate was being brokered by the minority pro-Pakistan lobby, almost at gun point. History provides the right lessons.
Jamat-e-Islami, led by Ali Shah Geelani, is at the forefront of the Pakistan movement in the Valley. The founder of Jamat-e-Islami was Maulana Abul A'la Maududi, the greatest scholar on political and social interpretation of Wahabi brand of Islam in over 100 years. He opposed the Pakistan theory as he was against a territorial nation and believed that Allah’s call was to bring entire humanity on the true path of Islam, and that territorial nationalism had no place in it.
Significantly, despite opposing Pakistan, the Aurangabad-born Maududi shifted to Pakistan once it was born. He started the Islamisation of Pakistan soon after his migration by opposing the thoughts of Jinnah. His call to action against the minority Ahmadiyya Muslims started the anti-Ahmadiyya riots, in the early 50s, in Pakistan.
The roots of the rabid Islamisation of Pakistan today, where Muslims don’t even tolerate fellow Muslims, are traced by many to the Islamisation drive undertaken by Maududi soon after Pakistan’s birth. In a very controversial interview given in the 1950s, Maududi said: “Since Muslims wanted Pakistan and had got it, he had no objection to Hindu India treating the Muslims left there as untouchables.”
It is rulers with great vision who make history. The Mughal emperor Akbar had a long history of Hindu persecution behind him, but he turned a new chapter by ending that persecution and integrating Hindus in the power structure. Perhaps that was the reason why the Mughal dynasty ruled for the longest period in Indian history, compared to other Muslim dynasties. It was the same with Zainul Abidin and Kashmir.
For a Kashmir at the crossroads, it has to be a choice between Maududi’s Islam, which entails bloody returns and disintegration in the name of puritanical Islam, or Zainul Abidin’s Islam - that promises integration with peace, happiness and prosperity for all Muslims as well as non-Muslims.
Mufti has a golden opportunity. There is a government in Delhi, which is strong yet willing to walk that extra mile with Mufti provided he has the urge to change Kashmir’s history. It would mean setting a clear-cut goal and then taking strong steps to meet it.
Releasing Masarat Alam won't work. Talking boldly and logically to the people of Kashmir, sidestepping the hawks and power brokers, can.