Niloofar Qureshi
With every passing day the situation in Kashmir is deteriorating. Unfortunately, instead of using their influence to restrain the youth, the separatist leadership is openly encouraging young and impressionable Kashmiris to indulge in violence. And the tragedy is that our leaders seem to be having no reservations in using religion for this purpose. Though it may sound preposterous but this is not an unfounded allegation. What else explains Hurriyat (G) chairman SAS Geelani saying that We should resist as per our capabilities and those who pick up arms are better than others; they don’t need our certificate as Allah has given them certificate?
The UJC chief has gone a step further by saying that the Kashmir movement was Islamised from day one and admits that Why do you think an educated young man who has a bright future otherwise is willing to die? Azadi is not his objective. He is into militancy because he knows that if he dies for a noble cause he would become a martyr as per Islam. We tell him that he would get into real life after his death and he would get peace.And while such inducement may be attracting many to pick up the gun, I leave it on the reader to decide whether using such an approach has religious sanction and is doing so morally correct.
The problem with using religion for sanctifying violence is that there are no boundaries and Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has demonstrated how even the most perverse interpretation of religious texts attracts followers in droves. Thus while Geelani sahib and the HM supremo justify their call to the youth for participating in the Kashmir struggle as part of their religious duty, head of Ghazwat-ul-Hind (Al Qaidas Kashmir cell) Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Zakir Musa is also using religion for asking the youth to fight for establishing a caliphate in Kashmir saying that the aim of Kashmiris should be fighting to impose Shariat and not resolving the Kashmir issue by calling it a political struggle.
While the HM sees Musa as an Indian agent, the Ghazwat-ul-Hind (GuH) chief claims that Pakistan back-stabbed the jihad-e-Kashmir and has even threatened to behead separatist leaders! The irony is that despite totally divergent objectives, both the HM and GuH seem to be attracting youth in large numbers and has caused an ideological division within Kashmiri society. This is a very dangerous development and if not eradicated immediately can have very serious adverse effects such as fanning sectarianism and promoting fundamentalism. And though our leaders have dismissed the Al Qaida, IS and Taliban threat in Kashmir as sheer propaganda that New Delhi is churning out to malign the freedom struggle in Kashmir, denial of GuH’s existence in Kashmir will not make this looming danger disappear by itself!
We have before us the example of Pakistan where in the eighties Islamic teachings were intentionally misinterpreted by Washington for attracting ‘mujahideen’ from all over the world to come and fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Though Washington’s plan worked very well, it created ideal conditions for the mushrooming of innumerable fundamentalist terrorist groups that have today become a major threat to world peace. Let’s not forget that there are many such fundamentalist groups that arent quite happy with the pluralistic nature of society in Kashmir and would do everything they can for imposing their extreme beliefs on us. And that’s the reason why sanctioning violence in the name of religion becomes a very dangerous and self-destructive proposition.
Though the UJC chief may believe that the Indian security forces can be driven out from Kashmir by freedom fighters, but logical analysis outrightly rules out this possibility. Even Geelani sahib has observed that the armed struggle wont serve its purpose unless and until it is well coordinated. It needs support of a country which could provide supply of weapons, resources and training camps which we don’t have. It also needs ideologically perfect youth. It needs strategy. Moreover, one needs to realise that the world doesn’t approve the use of violence anymore. And since Pakistan is under close scrutiny for supporting militant groups, freedom fighters in Kashmir cannot expect Islamabad to do what Washington did for the ‘mujahideen’ in Afghanistan!
Kashmir is today seen as more as a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan. Kashmir issue is fast on its way to being looked upon as a communal issue. Thus, while there is no need for us to be apologetic about being Muslims, but to link the K issue with religion is completely unwarranted as it tends to convey a very wrong impression. There is no dispute that the Kashmir issue can only be resolved with help of the international community and so if we want international support then we can’t afford to do and say things that gives the world an impression that we are a communal lot!
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