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| Even Shias, Gujjars & Paharis have different 'political leanings' | | Heterogeneous Kashmir | | RUSTAM
JAMMU, Apr 4: A Kashmiri commentator only the other day wrote in his political essay "Division and ideologies" that "compartmentalizing the Kashmiri society in various sections has been part of a larger conspiracy which succeeds when people themselves fall pray to such tactics". He also wrote: "For long time we have been hearing that Shias, Gujjars, Paharis etc have different political leanings" and "this is precisely to cut to size the dominant political sentiment in Kashmir". The operative part of the highly politically motivated essay read like this: "It is time to defeat the designs of those who want to see the people fighting on issues for which the solution lies in all the teachings irrespective of how they have been named…Power and force has never succeeded in making Kashmir to fall on their knees. They might have remained silent but they never compromised with their strong values that not only protected their religious identity but also made them different in the world".
That this commentator lambasted those who say, and very rightly, that the Kashmiri society is highly heterogeneous and that it consists of various social groups whose aspirations are conflicting and mutually exclusive could be taken as an admission that the over 20-year-old ongoing secessionist movement in Kashmir is sectarian and parochial and that there are social groups like the Shiite Muslims, Gujjar and Bakerwal Musims and "Pahari" or Pathowari-speaking Muslims which have by and large held themselves aloof from those involved in the ongoing secessionist movement. To be more exact, the Kashmiri commentator candidly acknowledged that the ongoing secessionist movement in the Valley is not just sectarian and parochial but it is also basically confined to the areas which are inhabited by the ethnically Kashmiri Sunnis.
There is no doubt whatever that the Shiite, Gujjar and Bakerwal and "Pahari" Muslims have different leanings. The Shiite Muslims just cannot make common cause with the Sunni Muslims because there are certain irreconcilable contradictions in their beliefs. Besides, the Shiite Muslims, like the people of Jammu province, constitute the most neglected lot in the state. They are not really considered part and parcel of the Kashmiri society and that is the reason that they are being discriminated against by the Kashmiri Sunni-dominated administration. As for Gujjars, Bakerwals and "Paharis", they are all Sunni Muslims but they belong to different racial stocks. They are ethnically different. Their way of life is different from that of the ethnically Kashmiri Sunnis. Their customs are different; their eating habits are different; their dresses are different; and more importantly, they religiously vouch for a political system that provides for political reservation in the legislature and government jobs and government educational institutions, including professional and technical. In other words, they see in the Indian constitution their salvation, regeneration and overall development.
It may appear ludicrous but it is a fact that all or nearly all the "mainstream" and separatist outfits in Kashmir are run and controlled by the ethnically Kashmiri Sunnis and some of them are the NC, the PDP, the CPI, the CPI-M, the JKLF, the JKDFP, the APHC (M) and the APHC (G). Interestingly, the Congress and the organizations of professionals like lawyers such as Kashmir Bar Association are also controlled by the ethnically Kashmiri Sunnis.
These are some of the stark realities in Kashmir. It is a different matter that the powers-that-be in New Delhi and the so-called Delhi-based think tanks willfully refuse to recognize them. In fact, it is the utter failure on their part to recognize the stark realities in Kashmir, or for that matter the entire state of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, that has helped those involved in the secessionist movement not only survive but also thrive. Those who think that they can force the policy planners in New Delhi to recognize the "dominant political sentiment in Kashmir" and devise a solution based on this sentiment are living in a fool's paradise. They have failed in the past and there are destined to suffer more and more defeats because their whole approach is sectarian and backward-looking.
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