The slogans which rend the chilly air of the Valley 0 Kashmir these days are: “La Sharaiyyah, L Gharbiyya, Islamia, Is Jamia” (Neither the East nor the West, Islam is best, Islam is best “Zindagi kay teen nishan, Allah Muhammad aur Quran (there are three signs of life of a Muslim Allah, Muhammad and the Quran” and “Shia Sunni Ittehad Zindabad”.

The leaders of the Muslim United Front, of thirteen small and large parties, are out of jail, though not all of them. It appears that Farooq Abdullah released some o} them to gain public sympathy in Kashmir, A majority of the workers like Shabbir Shah and Ghulam Qadir Wani, are still behind bar and, to be sure, cases have been instituted against the ones released for having made “objectionable speeches”.

Dr. Qazi Nisar Ahmad, a medical practitioner turned religious divine and now called the Mirwaiz (Chief Preacher) of Southern Kashmir, Sayyed Ali Gilani, a firebrand and Old Maulana Abbas Ansari the Shia divine who heads the Sunni majority Front, address pubic meetings together. They are allowed to them by the formation of the coalition regime, and addressing the Muslim masses of Kashmir. The speakers as well as the listeners of these meetings remind the world that Kashmir is not a dead issue. It has been taken by India herself to the United Nations and the UNCIP resolutions of the issue of Kashmir. The maps and literature issued by the United Nations from time to time, bear testimony to the fact that the issue of Kashmir is there. Sayyed Ali Gilani has asked the Indian Government in the meeting of Baramullas what the UN observers were doing in Kashmir and why the Line of Control was not called the permanent border between the two countries. Even the quisling Gul shah former Chief Minister of Kashmir has issued a book “Aaeenai haqiqat (The Mirror of Truth) in which he has hinted that the issue of Kashmir is very much there,

These Muslim leaders who have been given the nickname of ‘fundamentalists” have welcomed the same. They say that their religion. Islam, has given the fundamental truths and guide lines about the human life personal as well as social and anybody who believes in these fundamental principles should not be ashamed of being dubbed as a fundamentalist.

If the coming elections in Kashmir are going to be free and impartial (People of Kashmir have strong doubts about their impartiality there is every likelihood 0 the National Conference meeting its Waterloo. The Congress never commanded any influence in the Valley of Kashmir, so much so that ‘when once Sheikh Abdullah issued a fatwa that the funeral prayer of Congress Muslims were not to be said, the Congressmen face considerable difficulty in getting their dead buried. Mutwallis mosques even refused to give the bier for carrying the dead to the graveyards, In the elections in 1983, in the entire Valley, the Congress got one seat only. Mutt Muhammad Sayeed, the Congress chief in Kashmir and now Minister of Tourism in the Union Cabinet, had to contest elections from Hindu seat in Jammu to get smuggled into the Assembly.

Farooq Abdullah won the elections in 1983 when he adopted an anti Congress, anti India and pro Kashmir and pro Muslim stance. He thundered against “Indian domination” as any Muslim leaguer could do. He even threatened to hold elections under the supervision of the United Nations rather than the Indian Election Com: mission. The trick worked and Farooq got enough seats to form his cabinet. Mrs. Gandhi became the lame duck of the Kashmir Politics and did not forgive Farooq for this anti India behaviour. In fact when she was campaigning for her party, the Congress, in 1983 she pointed out towards the of Control and told her Hindu listeners: “If you do not vote for the Congress, and vote for the National Conference, people from across the Line of control would ‘come and take your homes and lands”. This was enough to make the Muslims vote for the National Conference,

Farooq is now backing the bad horse of the Congress and he cannot rouse the Islamic and Kashmiri sentiments of local patriotism. The Congress (I) has become a dead weight for his ship. He is stuck up in the morass, through which it is difficult for him to wade,

Even if he wanted, as he said . to give a political fight to the Muslim fundamentalists, the Congress (I) ‘would not allow him to do so as it is using him as a pawn and wants to get into power by using him. The top brass of the bureaucracy, Which, during the pre Gulshah period used to be manned by Muslims. is being replaced by Indian Hindus. The Chief Secretary is now Hindu, the Director General of Police is Hindu, the Home Secretary is a Hindu, The paramilitary troops which were imported into the Valley prior to the ouster of Farooq Abdullah are still in the Valley and the question of sending them back to India does not arise,

What is most astounding is that sanction for creating the “Security Belt” along the border is still in abeyance as regards Rajasthan and Punjab, but in the case of Kashmir, the decision has already been taken, There are popular regimes in Punjab and Rajasthan and they have resisted the creation of the belt. Sunjit Singh Barnala has even threatened to resign, But in Kashmir, there was no elected regime at that time and the Governor was the Constitution maker, chief legislator and the Chief Administrator of Kashmir. Exercising all these powers which not even the Dogra Maharajahs enjoyed, Governor Jag Mohan, with one stroke of his pen, declared that the Security Belt could ‘be created in Kashmir. Due to the Governor’s order, Article 249 of the Indian Constitution can be invoked now in Kashmir and Indian Government can make laws about all the affairs and subjects of Kashmir. The Indian Government can then take any administrative action against any Kashmiri under this security belt law. It is) very likely that the security belt laws, the Public Security Act and the anti Terrorist Act can be used against any Muslim candidate to the legislature, his proposer and seconder and even against his voters. Thus the elections in Kashmir would be a greater farce than all the ones held so far in Kashmir during the past 38 years of Indian rule.

But it he Muslims of Kashmir are united as ever before, They are like the bunyaanim-marsoos (the lineated wall) of which the holy Quran speaks. It is also possible that Farooq Abdullah, who lacks the stamina of his father, may resign and give up in midstream, because with so many Muslims behind bars, the election he would win would not help him. It is likely that a front with a larger base may be formed by the Kashmir Muslims to win the elections against the Congress and its newly found ally, the National Conference.

(Courtesy — Pakistan Times)

Article extracted from this publication >> December 26, 1986