inam ul rehman
If Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires Kashmir is the graveyard of reputations. The latest example of this is the Jamaat-i-Islami. From violently taking on the Indian state from 1990 to 2019 to its final meltdown, or the National Conference challenging the rule of the Indian state on Kashmir to finally acceding to it, Kashmir has seen many others crumbling under their own inflated weight.
As the present “panel head” of the banned Jamaat-i-Islami finally said publicly his party is ready to contest elections, adding it never issued boycott calls. One wonders why this politico-religious party lies so much? Officially the party endorsed election boycott calls throughout the 90s well upto 2014 (https://kashmirlife.net/
But, in 2015, chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, Muhammad Abdullah Wani, in an interview to a weekly English newspaper said that his party is ready to join the electoral process provided AFSPA is removed. This was said at a time when the PDP had won the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and formed a coalition government with Hindu fundamentalist party, the Bharatiya Janta Party.
The JeI is a parochial party. Its cadres have been brought up in such a way where they believe there is no religious person like theirs, no political analyst like theirs, no intellect like theirs, no humans besides them have any knowledge, or worldly wisdom. No party or organisation on the earth, according to their belief system, can solve Muslim conundrums or bring prosperity to the world. They seldom read books outside what their party prescribes. The RSS cadre are also brought up in a similar way. They fall prey to their own agitprop and as a result are used by everyone for agitational purposes.
What prompted the Jamaat to join the electoral fray.
Nine years later, the Jamaat is now openly campaigning for elections. It may have surprised most of the people in Kashmir given that it was the party which claimed to be running the secessionist movement and always “standing in the way of the oppression”. It was the party whose cadres and supporters would brag of being inheritors of the secessionist movement from 1990s onwards, which according to them, Sheikh Abdullah discarded in 1975. A decade and half later it was this party that took over the mantle of the secessionist movement from the JKLF in the early 90s on the pretext of Islam and declared everyone a traitor who didn’t adhere to its pro-Pakistan viewpoint. In Kashmir from 1991 to 2019, only the party of the Jamaat-i-Islami grew while the rest receded.
Now facing a 5-year ban in succession the Jamaat has realised it is facing an existential threat. It wants to join the mainstream Indian bandwagon. The party members claim no one has the right to question its decision since it is only they who are facing the music. Rightly said. No.
The National Conference refused to bow down for 22 years before the government of India. Much more hardships were faced by other parties and persons in the 90s. Everyone who give up the secessionist fight before or in the 90s has its own reason and compulsions, but the Jamaat didn’t spare them, labelled them traitors, sell outs and collaborators, and their armed wing, the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, had no compunction in killing them to clear the field for the Jamaat.
How come the National Conference becomes a “stooge” after Pakistan was defeated by India, and told by the former to negotiate on whatever it can save! How come the JKLF became a sell out when it was caught between the guns of HM and the army? In spite of that the JKLF never ever entered the election fray. How come Sajad Lone became a deserter when a pro-Pakistan militant killed his father? Not everyone can become Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in spite of knowing that the Jamaat’s armed wing killed his father, never uttered a word, or never used this compulsion to justify his position. How come their compulsions were “sell out” and yours is not?
There are lots of questions which the Jamaat has to answer. But the important one is that since it accused the National Conference of abandoning the Plebiscite Movement in 1975, what is the Jamaat abandoning? The Plebiscite Movement didn’t kill thousands of Kashmir. It didn’t endorse violent movement for its cause. The Jamaat killed and endorsed the violent movement in Kashmir from 1990 to 2019. Since the Jamaat always takes a moral high stand will it apologise to Kashmiris for the death and destruction it wrecked on Kashmiris? Will it apologise and accept defeat in front of the mighty Indian state? Will it apologise to those families whom it killed for not adhering to its pro-Pakistan stand?
The history of the Jamaat in the subcontinent, or its prototype, Muslim Brotherhood, in other parts of the world, reveals a telling truth: whenever states wring its ears it surrenders. The other historical truth about the Jamaat is: power and dominance are its motto. The state of India only flexed its muscles and the whole edifice of the Jamaat came crumbling down on expected lines.
A welcome step
At present some youngsters of the Jamaat are showing a feeble resentment within, but they will yield to the “wisdom” of the elder ones. The youngsters of the Jamaat are not going to revolt anyway, and the Jamaat will label this period from here on as the Treaty of al-Hudaybiya.
The Jamaat entering the election fray will discover to its utter dismay that it will get votes but won’t get any seats in the coming assembly elections. At best if it is allowed to contest elections it may win a single seat in the 2029 assembly elections. Unlike the NC which had a wide base the Jamaat is a shallow and restricted party. It holds no appeal for the voters.
The Jamaat should now open its doors for everyone and take a cue from the RSS. While the BJP as a political party is open for all, the RSS is a restricted organisation. It would serve Jamaat a great deal if it distinguishes the Jamaat-i-Islami as a religious organisation, and forms a new separate political entity open for everyone irrespective of what religion and ideology s/he holds. The primary control for this political party would remain with the Jamaat cadres. The Jamaat could then manage the political party while keeping the two entities distinct.
This way the Jamaat as a socio religious party will be free from many malaises while simultaneously allowing its cadres the option of joining its political wing, or staying with the parent body.
What does the Jamaat’s re-entry into the Indian mainstream politics means for disgruntled Kashmiris?
Kashmiris espousing the cause of secessionism should pause, think, and ponder why the parties whom they chose to represent as their representatives fail to deliver their promises. If only Kashmiris would have thought what went wrong with the Plebiscite Front in 1975 it would have saved thousands of lives from 1989-2019. Instead of that Kashmiris developed a narrative that the Plebiscite Movement of 1953-75 was a sell out and all those who worked for it are traitors. Result you had a 30-year period where killing was normalised in the name of “azadi”, “sell out” and “traitors”.
For the Kashmiri people, parties espousing the Kashmir cause come and go, Kashmir remains.
Pic courtesy: Rising Kashmir, Indian Express
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