What I can write is nothing but a recollection of an impression. And if I were to be honest, even this impression is not mine. It’s borrowed. And I share it with countless others. Open your windows and you can smell it. It’s blowing in the wind.
But no perspective is superfluous, as long as it is unique, and more importantly, interesting. Since I can’t care for the uninterested, and I have no means to ascertain the uniqueness of my perspective, the worth of my effort, in my own eyes, is nothing if it is not completely and entirely mine. To the least, I can be honest with myself. I can hold to my memory which is fading every passing day. I can still close the windows to keep the wind out. If I have to smell the truth, I have to breathe in the stale air.
A rather prosaic way to talk about an experience which should be rather poetic, isn’t? Well, excuse me ladies, but romance is unseasonable in Kashmir these days. And poetry is clichéd if not entirely anachronistic; and if I were Kashmir, I would be tired of the dull talks of Dal and Shikara ride. Well, no milk for me, and no sugar please. Make it hard this time. Allow me to taste the reality.
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Some people dismiss reputation as nonsense. I don’t. I believe that no bias can stand without a base. Kashmiri Pundits are said to be the Jews of Valley – rich, and cunning. That might be true. However, that can not be a valid justification to target them, loot them, rape them, murder them, and scare them out of the valley. Almost all well-known Hindu temples are known to be full of filth, noise, corruption, and worst forms of materialism. A majority of Hindu pilgrims are known to be a mob of hooligan loafers. And many Hindu priests are known to be molesters and scamsters. But can these things justify a systematic attack on an entire civilization? After all, who is beyond reproach? Who will throw the first stone?
In Kashmir, however, everyone is throwing stones. In light-hearted mood, the locals call it “One Day Cricket”. Though forbidden in Islam, pelting stones is a latest strategy of Jehad, suggested by Lashkar and supervised by Hurriyat. Go out in mob and throw those beamers on Jawans. Make them play, which they eventually will, and then cry out loud that “innocents” have been targeted. Don’t hold a gun else you will be treated as a terrorist. Hold a stone and you remain one of the faceless nameless “innocent” protesters. Since December 2008, after Friday prayers, bowling games are played in the streets of Srinagar.
Before the army was deployed, these innocent people played the role of helpless neighbours when Pundits were targeted and ousted by the “terrorists”. Those were the days of JKLF, the local avatar of Lashkar, a gang of misdirected youth. They were popular then. And why not, the innocent neighbours were the direct beneficiaries of their gun-toting adventures. But soon the redistribution of wealth was over, and the JKLF goons were resented for their amorous ambitions. Now powerful, they were beginning to mess with the existing caste system. Understandably, since utility was exhausted, support was withdrawn. Yasin Malik, the reformed Robinhood, finally married a Pakistani and retired into oblivion after his "change of heart".
Lashkar & Co, on the other hand, found another ally in Hurriyat, a congress of Mullahs. Now when Kafirs were ousted, what remained were their footprints. Before they should trace their path back home, their footprints had to be erased for good. No home for Kafirs in
Dar al-Islam. So Anantnag was rechristened as "Islamabad" in Kashmiri newspeak.
Throughout my stay, the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar was kelpt under curfew. Gilani, the Hurriyat mastermind, had issued a week’s program for the people. On Monday, while I was in Gulmarg, schoolchildren were to bunk schools and come out on the streets. Why should kids be involved in their political games, I asked a shopkeeper. What do they know about these things? Why should they be deprived of education, and a life that education provides? And after all, in Free Kashmir or in India, these kids will have to support a family when they grow up. Hurriyat mullahs are not likely to share the dough that they receive from their Lashkar masters. What I heard from him reminded me of the Nazi Germany. Jehad was on, and lack of enthusiastic cooperation would be interpreted as treason. Parents, principals, and students are expected to toe the line without questions, without doubt, and without fail. Hurriyat has no use of the likes of Dr Shah Faisal.
It's imporant to understand economics to understand politics. The economics of Lal Chowk is interesting. The economics of other parts of Srinagar is different. Tourists are not touched because they are useful. No wonder we could come out unscathed out of "the burning streets of Srinagar".
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Ordinary people believe ordinary ideas, like ignorance is a deadly sin; when coupled with complacence, it becomes deadlier, and stubbornness makes it the deadliest. Man must be wary of them. But Nehru was not ordinary. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. With that silver spoon, and the power that followed, he could afford a few sins. He was another Shahjehan, and so he could afford another Tajmahal. Being a dreamy-eyed poet, he could see whatever he wanted to. And let’s not forget, he was a gifted wizard. He could hypnotise, and show whatever he felt like. He could charm a lady. He could conjure up a rainbow in midnight. And he could even fancy secularism in an Islamic state. After all, to his intellectual eyes, invasion of one race on another was just like a geological event, a cute confluence of two rivers!
Time was on his side, the world was at his feet, and he carried on with his elite contempt towards common wisdom. Meanwhile, his destiny waited for his tryst with his nemesis. Thanks to Mao, Nehru died a wiser man, but by then he had already left a legacy of his schizophrenic idealism, his youthful romance, on his ordinary progeny. Before his sunset, perhaps he would have wanted to deliver a characteristically dramatic speech to share his coming-of-age realizations. But the blow was so hard, and so late, that he could not stand up on his legs. When the curtain fell, he was a man with broken legs and broken heart. Typical Greek Tragedy – Hubris, Hamartia, and Catharsis; he must have read it all. But reading and understanding are very different things; as different as Abhimanyu and Arjun, as different as death and life!
Talking of Kashmiri people, Peace and Justice they deserve. But freedom they do not, since freedom is usually synonymous with land, and land is not only theirs. They share their land with many others who they have forgotten. Also, before anything else, it should be understood that no political party in India would ever dare to support the secession of Kashmir. The maximum they can get from Delhi is sympathy.
But they deserve more than mere sympathy. India calls itself a secular state. This is a challenging undertaking and it takes tough character to take challenging undertakings. Delhi must act tough. The idea of India is on fire. Nehru’s lab – or Tajmahal - is on fire. What Kashmir needs is a team of fire-fighters – the men of characters like Beant Singh and a KPS Gill. And a green signal from Delhi to launch a crackdown on separatists. Pakistan was enough of nonsense. It’s an open secret that the demand for freedom of Kashmir is a veiled attempt to annex another piece of land by the Muslim extremists, who are well-funded by Pakistan. What they fail to realize is that the non-Muslim majority of India can’t be reasonably subjected to the ideology of secularism for long if the only state with Muslim majority rejects the same. Secularism cannot be a unilateral responsibility. The breach of contract from one side would encourage the same from another. The freedom of Kashmir would mean a death of secularism in India. Having said that, what was done to the Hindus in Kashmir cannot be done to the Muslims in India. Muslims can’t be ousted from India, and therefore Kashmir can’t be given away. Kashmir is where the idea of secularism and modern India must prevail. To save India, this lab must be saved.
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Finally, I will reflect upon a curious pattern that I have observed. All across the non-Muslim world, Muslims are increasingly known to be trouble-making “terrorists”. As I had previously said, I don’t dismiss reputations. At the same time, my personal experience suggests that a Muslim man is usually honest, soft-spoken, and warm individual. Better than an average Hindu any day, if you ask me. Collectively, however, Hindus are exceptionally hospitable and tolerant. Individually, Hindus win Olympic medals in all the martial games. Collectively, they are considered cowards by others. This irony is interesting. I will think about it.
