Cover Story |
‘Islam is just a
facade for Pakistan’
We reproduce below excerpts from the website run by the Shabir
Shah-led Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, castigating Pakistan for using
the façade of a ‘jihad’ to impose its own agenda in the Valley The ruling elite and the military establishment of Pakistan is
paranoid about an independent Kashmir — and I really don’t understand why.
Pakistan talks about "self–determination" as long as it means Pakistan will be
able to gain. Pakistan is completely allergic to the "I" word. They have an
agenda to suppress, undermine, and prevent any organized movement that begins to
harness the natural aspirations of the people of Jammu & Kashmir for independent
Kashmir. Pakistan has backed groups that have a destructive approach to
the freedom struggle and have a distorted agenda which exploits the name of
Islam. In 1990, Pakistan realised that JKLF would not serve its selfish
interests so they went to the old habits they learnt from the CIA in the
Afghanistan war theatre — they backed multiple groups, most notoriously
Jamaat-e-Islami and Hizbul Mujahideen and encouraged them to wipe out the
pro–independence struggle while they fought India. The battle or "jihad"
waged by these groups was designed to create chaos and create desperation but it
never was disciplined, organized, strategic, or aimed to empower the common
people of Kashmir to stand up for themselves. Pakistan supported extremists with a Pakistani nationalistic
agenda in Kashmir. It must be understood that their agenda is separate from main
stream Islam and they only exploit the name of Islam for their political agenda.
As such they tried to create a desperation in the Kashmiri society and force a
communal revolt. There are reasons for this. An activist of Jamaat Islami once
explained that they must wipe out tourism and education in order to make the
common people desperate and ready for "revolution". I never understood why in Kashmir schools were burnt or why
blasts were placed in civilian, non–military zones. Why bridges were destroyed.
Why Kashmiri people were kidnapped. I know of people who would have sacrificed
everything for freedom who were kidnapped and told to pay so many lakhs of
rupees or give their son for their organisation or be killed. Why did this
happen? And why did this continue with full knowledge of the leadership of these
organisations? Its absolutely inexcusable. A Jamaat supporter once explained to me that sometimes you have
to force a people to wake up and realise what is best for them. He said without
jobs and education "jihad" will be the only avenue. These politicians
call this creation of chaos, this self–destruction "jihad"? I call it a
"facade". Do these organizations think you can call something "Islamic" and that
is enough? (T)hey manipulated and extorted. Their methods broke down
political and social institutions when what was needed was a strengthening of
these institutions so they might be utilised for the cause of freedom. What’s
more, these organizations directly targeted JKLF boys and then they fought even
among themselves. How could these organisations be expected to succeed with this
type of treachery and lack of morals? We have seen what was done to Kabul in the name of Islam — the
blood of Muslims was made to run through its streets at the hands of other
Muslims. Hekmatyar had a dispute with Prof. Rabbani and it resulted in the death
of thousands of Afghans. Mosques were destroyed. An entire city which survived
the evil Soviet onslaught was razed to the ground. This was a dispute between
two Jamaat Islami supporters. And both sides called it "jihad". What’s
more, the Taliban have taken their place, also in the name of Islam and also
with the backing of Pakistan. Tolerance is the epitome of Jammu and Kashmir and all the people
of the state of different faiths have, do, and will live in peace with each
other. And the communal flames of the last nine years have been ignited by
foreign hands and have nothing to do with Kashmiri actions. And if Islam is to
spread further in Jammu and Kashmir it will spread by example and by practice
and according to the will of Allah— just like it did when Islam first came to
Kashmir. The truth is the people of Kashmir are sincere Muslims – meaning
that they are also tolerant, positive, and caring human beings. There is a
profound love for Islam and the people of Kashmir embrace tolerance and
compassion towards all as part of their belief. Likewise, the people of Jammu
and Kashmir are not just Muslim. In fact a significant portion of the population
is Buddhist, Sikh, and Hindu. And Kashmiris have co–existed in a peaceful way
for centuries. Much to the dislike of Pakistan and pro–Pak groups, the majority
of Kashmiris want re–unification and independence. And they are going to have to
come to terms with this reality sooner or later. And no matter how much they
cloak their rhetoric in terms of "Islam" this fact is not going to disappear.
|