Brig Anil Gupta
Of late while reading the Kashmiri media both print and social one feels that there is a deliberate plan on which they are working duly backed by a certain section of Lutyens'media? It is an attempt at changing the existing narrative and portraying Jammu and its people as hard-liners and communal while projecting the Kashmiris as secular and tolerant. Even, ourtwitterati ex-Chief Minister of the state has spared no effort through his tweets and retweets to add his pearls of wisdom to the changed narrative. “This gets messier and messier. What was until recently the fringe is now the mainstream & feels completely emboldened to do as it damn well pleases,” reads one of his numerous tweets. The entire media in Kashmir is up in arms against the lawyers ofKathua for agitating against the Crime Branch presenting the Challan in “Rassana Case.” What the lawyers did is also condemnable but they were not shielding the accused, as is being portrayed, but demanding a CBI enquiry. A CBI enquiry is the demand by the majority, but the Kashmiri media has given a communal twist to the entire episode by projecting it as an attempt to prevent prosecution of the accused. Crime is a crime and should be treated as such without politicising or communalising it.
It all began with some ‘judgemental' statements issued by a few political leaders, even before the investigation began, accusing the locals of carrying out the crime. The locals became suspicious and demanded inquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) instead by the state police. They continue to insist that the enquiry so far has been lopsided and are not satisfied with the enquiry. They insist on a CBI enquiry so that the real culprit is punished and innocents are not harassed, tortured or framed. The Gurugram murder case of a young boy is fresh in their mind where the local police had charged the driver of the school bus for the crime but a later enquiry by CBI revealed that he was innocent.
In such a scenario, how can one be sure who the actual perpetrators of the heinous crime are? Such crimes are against humanity and are unpardonable. But using such acts to create a communal divide is highly objectionable and condemnable particularly when it comes from those who are responsible for ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs and now boast of being a monolith society. Even Mirwaiz Farooq after one of the Friday prayers threatened of a mass agitation if the justice is not done in “Rassana Case.” But there was not much notice taken by the Kashmiri media when a few days later a Muslim girl was raped by a Maulvi in a Madarssa in Nagrota. Rape is rape but why such double standards, when it does not suit their narrative.
Similarly, in the Shopian Case of 2009, the same people in Kashmiri media rejected both the Special Investigation Team and CBI's report declaring the death of Neelofer and Asiya due to drowning,claiming them to be government agencies,because it did not suit their narrative of blaming the local army unit for their rape and murder. Today, they have an objection to the demand of the locals for an enquiry by CBI, because locals have no faith in the SIT of Crime Branch, just because it suits their changed narrative of communalising the entire issue.The then CM of the state is on record to have admitted that the Shopiancase was mishandled by the SIT. Even the present CM as leader of opposition then demanded a CBI enquiry because it did not trust JKP? How all of a sudden the crime branch now has become a holy cow and the CM is unwilling to concede the demand of the locals for a CBI enquiry. Unlike Shopian, the findings of the CBI will be honoured and will not leave any doubt in any body's mind. A fair demand of the locals and support for the same by the civil society is being projected by the valley based media as communally motivated.Now that the Challan has been presented hope they will let the due legal process take place. Some murmurs are being heard demanding that trial be moved out.
Even in the Rohangiyas case, the Kashmiri civil society and media are in unison while blaming the people of Jammu for asking their ouster just because they are Muslim. A clever attempt at communalising a matter of national security. Are the Bangladeshis and Malaysians non-Muslim? Why did Malaysia deny them entry into their country? Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali told his national parliament in June last year that Rohangiya Muslims will pose a threat to the national security in future. He also blamed them for harming Bangladesh in many ways including socio-economic, political and environmental aspects. Even the government of India in a bluntly worded affidavit in the Supreme Court has confirmed, “Rohangiyas are threat to national security and hence it warrants deportation of them from India.” All intelligence agencies have warned the government that they are vulnerable to be recruited by terror groups. The national and international media has reported their presence in terrorist camps in Karachi, Cox Bazar and Rakhine. Closer home they have been convicted for human and drug trafficking. The needle of suspicion points at them while investigating the suicide terror attack on Sunjuwan Military Camp near Jammu. Yet through a calibrated design they are being projected as “innocent people” who had come all the way (from Bangladesh to Jammu) for earning their livelihood! When questioned as to why they are not being settled in Kashmir, there is no justifiable answer. But no effort is spared to blame Jammu for being communal in demanding their ouster.
The fact is that Jammu is a melting pot of cultures that has churned out a very tolerant society. It is famous for giving shelter to all irrespective of caste, colour or creed. Jammu is known world over for its bouquet of languages, synthesis of faiths, and synergy of ideologies and confluence of different cultures. Nowhere in the country has a tolerant civil society existed as in Jammu. The people of Jammu have welcome even the Kashmiri Muslims whenever they felt threatened in Kashmir. Kashmiri students in thousands are studying in various educational institutions of Jammu. It is also known as a home for refugees. Be it the POJK or Chhamb refugees, West Pakistan refugees, displaced KashmiriPandits, internally displaced people from remote and far-flung areas of Jammu province and aspirational migrants from all parts of the state; they all form part of the social milieu in Jammu. Not very long ago, Mehbooba Mufti, state's Chief Minister lauded the people of Jammu for their big-heart and said, “People of Jammu bravely welcomed and offered shelter to Kashmiri Pandits when they migrated from Kashmir and they also opened their arms to embrace Muslims when they moved to Jammu for better education during last two years.” She also said that the Kashmiri youth “depressed” due to conflict “breathe open air” when they come to Jammu. She further said, “Jammu has displayed a sign of secularism all these years where people of different religious backgrounds live together in peace and harmony.” In the same breath she warned, “There are some vested elements hell-bent on disturbing the peace and harming the communal chord of the place.” Does this warning have some connection with the vicious campaign launched by those vested elements from across the PirPanjal to paint Jammu as communal and intolerant?
Let's now look across the PirPanjal to see who actually is “Black”? The Kashmir politics from the beginning have been communal right from the days of the forming of Reading Room Party wherein religious places were used for political congregations as well. From day one their brand of politics has been politico-religious. Quit Kashmir movement was a manifestation of communal politics. “Exclusivity” has been the hall mark of the civil society in Kashmir Valley. After assuming absolute power through deceitful ouster of the Maharaja, no effort was spared to promote the interests of Kashmiri speaking Muslims at the cost of others. Introduction of Article 370 in the Constitution of India and its further strengthening through Delhi agreement and article 35A is a manifestation of two-nation theory in its different avatar. Subsequent attempts to create a Greater Kashmir by religious grouping of Jammu province was aimed at marginalising the Hindus. The names of towns and cities were changed, even famous Hindu shrines were given Arabic names. The Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs were forced to leave their home and hearth and flee to other partsof the country. Sufiism was gradually eased out and replaced by radical Wahhabism. All signs of secularism and tolerance have been eliminated but for a few because of the presence of security forces. The leaders of the political party who are now calling us non-secular and intolerant chose not to include the word “secularism” in the preamble of the state Constitution when it was inserted in the Constitution of India in 1976. Whenever, Hindus tried to assert for even their genuine rights, the bogey of communalism was raised by the same very elements who are once again trying to paint us black. The bogey of Hindu fundamentalism is raised to preserve the Kashmiri hegemony.
The Amar Nath Land Row of 2008 is a classic example of the mind-set of these manipulators who portray themselves as well –wishers of Kashmiris but in fact are their worst enemies because they have only exploited them as pawns for their power-games and vote bank politics. Return of Kashmiri Pandits, Citizenship to West Pakistan refugees, Delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies based on census 2011, establishment of Sainik colonies for ex-servicemen of the state, safety of migrant employees are a few other examples of their manipulative agenda. Whether it is a social, political, national security or law and order issue, if it threatens Kashmiri hegemony, attempt is made to communalise the issue followed by threats of a mass agitation.
But why the attempt is being made to change the narrative? Majority of the people of Jammu & Kashmir want to live in harmony and peace. Jammu is the place from where the arc of happiness is emerging. A common Kashmiri feels very comfortable in Jammu. The people of Jammu want this arc to spread further north and engulf Kashmir. Somehow, it does not suit the agenda of power brokers and manipulators who do not want the Kashmir cauldron to extinguish but keep it burning. To drive a permanent wedge through a religious divide between the two regions suits their agenda. I leave it to the readers to judge if the effort of Kashmiri media in changing the well – established narrative is justified? A look at the mirror will be sufficient to assess the truth.
(The author is a Jammu based political commentator, columnist, security and strategic analyst. The views expressed in the article are entirely personal. He can be contacted at anil5457@gmail.com)
