Why Ban Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir?

Jamaat e Islamia1 1

So Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir has been declared an ‘unlawful association’ and banned for five years on the grounds of what the notification says ‘Indulging in subversive activities’ and all the manufactured tosh the document is crammed with. it should not come as a calamitous shock, especially to those who have understood or experienced the petty machinations the present regime has churned out before and is always capable of breeding on an epic scale. Just a tip of iceberg. Much more to come.

Why this ban:- As common sense suggests, every time, an established ruling apparatus finds/senses a threat or a potent challenge to its set of oppressive policies and doctrines, in a fit of frenzy, ruthless measures are taken to hunt those – who pose it – into extinction or at least render them emasculated. This clampdown on JIK has to be understood in this context or in light of a Voltairean pithy remark: “It is dangerous to be right on the matters where established authorities are wrong”.

What needs to be done:-

At this juncture, setting ideological differences aside, this onslaught is not only to be castigated in severest terms, but has to be resisted with vim and verve by each and everyone through any medium available to us. Those who subscribe to other sectarian strands should not this time claim it to be a victory of sorts and smugly laugh in their sleeves: “they deserved it” or things will turn out possibly like what that German Lutheran pastor brilliantly once wrote on the heels of Nazi’s rise to power and what followed:

“First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out , because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Social media muteness:-

it is profoundly disturbing to observe a sizeable chunk of native Neti-zens except a tiny minority, maintaining a criminal silence on this savage move when this whole bunch lost no time in frantically clamouring for ‘return of Indian pilot’, ‘Peace’ etc.

It seems we are more than eager to prove “Hey people, we are very kind-hearted to even the strangers”. But when it comes to our own conundrums and calamities, not only do ‘those who want to advertise their sympathy for us ‘ drag their heels but strangely enough we don’t even rescue ourselves. Kindness to others is not bad, but unkindness to ones own renders it a bit weird.

If Govt declared JIK as an ‘unlawful association’, our silence ‘criminalised’ it and thereby vindicating the outlandishly fatuous claims of our oppressors.

What Govt should actually have done:-

Instead of stifling down the expressions, you need to press your ‘thinkers’ (if you have any) into service and mount a critique on the JI doctrinal structure intellectually if you find that their version of Islam is not the real Islam or it is exclusively aimed at ‘radicalising’ the youth, who otherwise don’t want to jump into the fray. Don’t resort to these repressive tactics, for it will be terribly nonsensical to harbor a notion that JI will completely disappear from the scene. Rather, it is likely to emerge and emerge with a new fervour, as the 1970, 1990 bans are palpably indicative of. A famous line often invoked by the oppressed, comes to my mind: “They tried to bury us, but they did not know we were seeds”.

Should we be silent out of fear:-

If our silence emanates from the fear that we will be harmed, so remain silent and save our skin, then we should simply abandon the idea of emancipation from the ugly clutches of oppression. As Malcolm X bluntly said: ‘If you are not ready to die for it, take this word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary’. If ‘dying’ sounds radical, at least ‘to suffer/sacrifice a bit’ should not sound too much, for even to make an omelette, an egg has to be broken first. Everything comes, Bro, at a cost – small or big. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

PS: Although I don’t belong (officially or unofficially) to any sect, if opposition to such a move, makes you call me a Jammati, it is alright.

Imtiyaz Assad can be mailed at [email protected]

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