Kashmir: Back To The Future, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

Kashmir: Back To The Future

By Balraj Puri

19 Oct 2009

A statement sometime ago by a Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson pleading for Kashmir's independence, though ignored in India, was widely commented upon in the Kashmir Valley as a climb-down from a traditional position. It appears to respond to the slogan of "we want azadi" often raised in popular demonstrations. Azadi is Urdu for independence and freedom, concepts that sometime contradict each other. The question is: do people need independence if it denies them freedom? This has never been debated in Kashmir.

When Sheikh Abdullah, the most popular leader Kashmir ever produced, assumed power after the state's accession to India and the end of Dogra rule, he hailed azadi after four centuries of slavery, Kashmir having been ruled by Mughal, Afghan, Sikh and Dogra rulers. People celebrated as well. However, neither the ruler nor the people bothered about freedom. No dissenting voice was tolerated. The system was so regimented that office-bearers of the ruling National Conference were appointed as government officers and vice versa. The Sheikh dismissed my suggestion that government officers should not hold party office by citing how successfully the system worked in the Soviet Union.

At the time I asked Nehru, then India's prime minister, "Can such a state remain a part of a democratic India?" He said India's Kashmir policy revolved around Abdullah's personality: "We cannot afford to oppose him."

Gradually, discontent started brewing in the state. As all outlets for expressing it were blocked, it sought a secessionist outlet. In sheer desperation, G M Karra a legendary leader of the Quit Kashmir movement against Dogra monarchy in 1946 who was sidelined by the new government raised the slogan in favour of Pakistan in June 1953. In Jammu, discontent took the form of an agitation sponsored by the Jana Sangh for Kashmir's "full integration". The Sheikh, to steal Karra's thunder and provoked by the Jammu agitation, started making anti-India noises.

http://newageislam.com/kashmir--back-to-the-future--/islam-and-politics/d/2045

An Islamist’s resurrection in Kashmir, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

An Islamist’s resurrection in Kashmir

Syed Ali Shah Geelani woke up shortly after four in the morning and turned on the radio — the sole news source in the beautiful but sparse mountain cottage which briefly served as his prison last month. Half an hour later, an attendant who brought tea heard Kashmir’s Islamist patriarch sobbing quietly. News was coming in about an encounter near Jammu, which had claimed the lives of three terrorists, three soldiers and five civilians. “So many people have given their lives for the movement I lead,” Mr. Geelani said, “I will have no answers to give them in the hereafter should I falter now.”

Four years ago, when he was released from prison and flown on a government jet to the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, Mr. Geelani’s autumn appeared to be upon him. He faced an uphill battle against cancer — and what appeared an even more certain defeat at the hands of his political adversaries.

On his return to Kashmir, Mr. Geelani found himself sidelined by the Jamaat-e-Islami, the party he had led for years. Worse, in 2005, the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led All Parties Hurriyat Conference opened negotiations with New Delhi, breaking with its historic rejection of a dialogue that did not include Pakistan. Less than three years later, though, Mr. Geelani has become the principal voice of the Islamist movement against India. How did this come about?

http://newageislam.com/an-islamist%E2%80%99s-resurrection-in-kashmir-/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/719