Secularism And Kashmir

“Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, Controls people, Deludes people.”

                                                                                                     ― Carlespie Mary Alice McKinney

                             For long Indians have been fleeced by incestuous club of politicians and bootlicking media celebrities in the name of secularism , the excessively abused word in political circles that has unfortunately lost its meaning today . We have been duped in the name of secular credentials of politicians and made to believe in the hollow slogans of secularism while the facts on ground paints a completely different picture . The case in point is the sworn jingles perpetrated on Kashmiriyat , a word with secular connotation ,sung by politicians to appease increasingly aggressive Islamic forces prevalent in Kashmir and to hush up the nationalist forces . Its been a common practice of consecutive governments at center and state to stifle the painful voices of Kashmiri Hindus at the expense of buying peace from  radicals . Media has also worked relentlessly to project the perception among masses about peace loving ,noble souls of Kashmir who are being trampled by nationalists .

                                    India is a deeply spiritual and religious society with people from all religions coexisting for centuries . Since partition India confronted numerous religious flare ups but overall its a tolerant society,despite most religious traditions producing extremist movement whose members believe that their faith and value system is superior still the authority of state remained intact . This we are made to believe is because of the seeds of secularism that we as a people have successfully neutralized challenges . I have problem with this narrative , its true that the secularism like democracy is very well entrenched here and generally people have faith in democracy but there is a twist in this tale. Truth of the matter is, state authority is under consistent threat at places with sizeable minority which is in a hyphenated state of violence towards administration i.e the peace and stability is directly proportional to demography of place . In plain words, state authority hinges on the religious mix of the population , the greater the majority the more the stability . In places with more minorities has faced major administrative challenges and Kashmir is a striking example of it.

                                The virtual endless violence perpetrated by Muslim mobs or terrorists in Kashmir has been handled with kid glove by successive governments . Terrorist apologists in and out of government have started to display the mob violence by Muslims as genuine grievance against the country. Conspiracy theories interwoven with smear campaigns are propagated to justify the violence of lynching mob as aspirations of all in Kashmir . Out of work journalists ,politicians and dubious characters have also furthered this propaganda to destabilize and undermine the sovereignty of India for their vested interests. Not withstanding the historical accession of Kashmir, new dimensions are added to a simple problem of law and order by politicians and vested interests with ulterior objectives.

 .                              At the heart of the Kashmir problem is the Muslim radicalism. The majority of population in Kashmir valley is Muslim that refuses to identity with the pluralist , democratic society of India . Their diatribe against other religious minorities of Kashmir by Muslim population is conveniently forgotten by the apologists , while brushing the security forces and nationalists as villains . The repeated attacks on religious minorities that culminated in the mass exodus of Hindus from valley in 1990 and repeated humiliations meted out to this miserable minority is testimony of nefarious ideology of Muslim radicals . The venomous propaganda and subsequent attacks on minorities points towards their thinking “to preserve Kashmir for Muslims only ” with no space for other religions . Due to the ethnic cleansing overnight religious minority population were evicted from valley and forced to become refugees in India .

                                People with dubious credentials have successfully created a smokescreen where radical Islamic terrorism is painted as political problem . To make matters worse , even terrorists are donning the attire of politicians and preaching in Kashmir . The songs on Kashmiriyat are hogwash to maim nationalists while hoodwink the gullible by identifying secularism and Kashmiriyat as two sides of the same coin. The enemies of India are fully aware of the psychological aspect of fighting a proxy war by which one controls the thinking process of enemy thus making him redundant to stand for his cause no matter how justifiable he is. This is a psychological war which is fought relentlessly by the self obsessed secular intelligentsia of all shades against India.

                                Firstly, the state of J&K has acceded to India with Muslims in Kashmir valley , Hindus ,Sikhs in Jammu and Buddhist in Leh-Ladakh population and negotiating it or carving a particular area out of India on any pretext is blasphemous. Secondly , its a myth that whole Muslim population of valley has affinity towards Pakistan and wants to merge with them .There’s an open defiance by Shias, Bakherwals, Gujjars etc among Muslims against aligning with Sunni vociferous community on merging with Pakistan as these communities are considered heretics and persecuted blatantly in Pakistan . The regular supply of money and abatement from Pakistan with men and material on ideological ground has fueled violence . With over 20,000 madrasas, mostly unregulated by the government, Pakistan already has a mass base of terrorists who after graduating from these madrasas have filled the ranks of terrorist groups .

                               The ethnic cleansing of Hindus and demand for imposition of Sharia isn’t a political problem that can be resolved through dialogue and appeasement . The recent audio clip of terrorist Moosa where he openly instigate to wage jihad against infidels testifies the true intentions of Muslim majority Kashmiris. The smokescreen created by Hurriyat and other political establishment operating in Kashmir and intellectual morons around India have created a bluff , a ploy to hoodwink naive Indians to seducing in a trap of Secularism aka Kashmiriyat while consolidating the hold of Islamists over general population of Kashmir . The incestuous intelligentsia of India who have been caught trapped by Pakistani spooks like Fai ( https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/the-man-behind-pakistani-spy-agencys-plot-to-influence-washington/246000/ ) have yet to be pragmatic and learn lessons while adjust to the newer ground realities before next time opening their mouth and sermonizing India on the perils of peace and secularism .