Vijay Hashia
The recent uproar in the Valley over Afzal Guru’s hanging raises question, why a terrorist with such a heinous act of secret plotting and having a nexus with terrorists to sunder the apostle of democracy, should have sympathy? One is also surprised over the rue expressed by Omar Abdullah. Extolling a terrorist or a sympathizer by revering him as icon, who has waged war against own state, is tantamount to treason.
These grouches by separatist elements are not new in the post independent era. Today, if a common Kashmiri feels alienated from the Indian union, is not because a terrorist is being killed or a sympathizer punished, but the political mistakes that have sullied the democracy by enforcing gun culture and fatwa fiats. In this milieu, separatists, who speak of different ideology, have become pawns in the hands of hard core terrorists.
Tahreek-e- nizam under Sharia law enforces rigid and narrowly defined command and control over the rights and privileges of its citizens. Zia, during his tenure as president, drifted from British secular democracy to this ideology in order to gain political legitimacy over Bhuttoo. He curbed the civil rights; did not allow freedom in the society; did not endorse equal treatment and blindly imposed a non-negotiable belief system on everyone. Since the fundamental forces in Pakistan were against the British style of secular laws, Zia established own fedral sharia with clipped benches. For example, the federal sharia declared rajm or stoning un-Islamic; but Zia declared rajm as Islamic. A referendum programme held in 1984 reported 98.5 voting in favour and the law included hadood, prohibition, adultery, blasphemy, prayer timings, reverence for fasting, zakat, riba, land reforms, qisas and diyat ordinances. He used this Islamization as a political process for meeting his own political gains but it gave rise to spread of fundamentalism, obscurantism, retrogression, inconsistency and instability. The secular political system broke down; terrorism erupted to spread its tentacles throughout the sub continent.
Kashmir, in comparison, where the democratic governments under the auspices of which people enjoyed freedom of their rights and privileges, respect and dignity, slew amidst own political chaos due to weak political leadership and rigging. Taking advantage of this situation, the fundamentalist forces in nexus with their counterparts, wallowed a covert war against India by mobilizing youth in the mosques under the influence of religion in mid 80s. Doubtless to say, for three and a half decades since independence, the successive democratic Governments under Bakshi, Sadiq and Sheikh Abdullah had a tough time with fundamentalist forces but were able to keep them at bay.
Historically, vicarious skirmish in the past over political, social, economic and religious issues, were ostensibly simmers against New Delhi and local Governments which were termed puppet regimes in the hands of Hindu controlled majority. Bandhs, curfews, arson and lootings were also visible during Moi Mukhadas turmoil, against Zia and Bhutto’s execution. Zia even called Kashmiri Muslims not the real but the decedent Hindus. Sporadic incidents were also visible on Bhat’s execution in 1984, India-Pak cricket and hockey events, abolishing of subsidies to economic reforms, American atrocities on Muslim world to religious blasphemies, shia- suni and sher -bakr clashes and recent paid stone pelting on security forces to Amarnath crises and Guru’s execution ahead of the other assassins. Though, Zia could not win the hearts of common Kashmiris but he was successful in sowing the seed of monstrous hulk through his ideology that in the mid 80s, when the political system in Kashmir turned topsy turvey due to economic crises, rampant corruption, unemployment and rigging under the leadership of Farooq Abdullah, Kashmir slowly and gradually slipped into gun culture supported by the fundamentalists.
Today, bemoaning over Guru’s execution is not a new plaint by the separatist elements as they have been clamouring over alienation from Indian union. It brings disrepute to democratic system for habouring terrorist’s ideology which is of killing and forcing common Kashmiri to adopting undemocratic system. There is no doubt; separatists within the state have become pawns in the hands of hard core terrorist organizations. Political leadership is weak both at the centre & the state. In this scenario, separatists have free hand, their clouts have spread throughout political, social and bureaucratic circles. They can easily get people killed, can travel to any foreign country on Indian passport, can share and mingle with terrorists for hatching new strategies to ripple India. In this collapsible system, several hard core terrorists, who have killed people have either been set free without punishment or if rehabilitated, roam at will. The recent simmers of anger over the execution of Afzal Guru conjures an old blend of grouches by separatists supported from across the border.
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