In the ongoing election process in Jammu and Kashmir, if a large section of the people shows anger against the mainstream political parties for staying silent after the abrogation of Art.370 in 2019, the venom is also being spewed against pro-freedom Jamaat Islami and a few activists who have entered electoral politics for the first time after the armed movement of the early 1990s.
In the past, Jamaat-e-Islami and Hurriyat Conference have been calling for a strike on the election process by declaring it haram(forbidden).
Despite the venom and anger in many public circles, thousands of people are joining their election rallies, from which it seems complicated to deduce how many thousands are with whom.
The same situation was faced in the early sixties when the towering leader of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, was incarcerated, and his followers were made to suffer or change loyalties to his successor, Former Prime Minister Bakshi Gulam Mohammad. When Bakshi Ghulam Muhammad was asked by Former Prime Minister of India, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘If the thousands of the people of Jammu and Kashmir are seen in every election rally, how will it be known who they are with?’ Bakshi smirked and replied, ‘Four million are with me, and four million are with Sheikh Abdullah Sahib. That is the reality of JK’. At that time, the population was around four million.
Those familiar with Jamaat-e-Islami’s politics have been silent observers of its changing sides, U-turns, and policies for seven decades.
Although the Jamaat has been involved in electoral politics under the Indian Constitution since the early 1970s and has never won more than four seats, it has always maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed region and should be resolved through UN resolutions. Jamaat has consistently advocated for Kashmir’s accession with Pakistan.
If this party did not participate in the elections, it became the support of another party behind the scenes, got a nominated seat in the assembly, or played a role in getting votes for another party by making a secret alliance.
The question is why a large section of the people doubt the Jamaat when, for the first time since the 1990s, the Jamaat has fielded some of its candidates and has also announced support for some independent candidates.
Many believe that the Jamaat has been under severe pressure from the central government, and most of its leaders are currently under arrest. It has been declared a banned organisation, and all its activities are illegal under the new law of UAPA.
When the armed freedom movement started in the 1990s, it was a nationalist movement with no element of religion. Because of this, a large population was attracted to and supported the movement. The movement was immediately hijacked. Jamaat-e-Islami was declared the hijacker, and slogans of ‘accession to Pakistan and Nizam Mustafa (the Islamic system of government)’ instead of complete freedom started echoing from the minarets of mosques and streets.
Consequently, the secular or moderate elements had to go into hiding, about one and a half lakh Pandits had to leave their homes and thousands of educated youth joined the movement in religious fervour. Most wanted to play their role by thinking of the movement as Jihad.
It is still questionable how significant a role Pakistan played in hijacking the freedom movement. However, five youths of the Liberation Front, called the Haji Group, started the movement with a slogan of complete independence from India and Pakistan.
Jamaat-e-Islami had a deep footprint on the ground, so the movement grew stronger under its banner. Meanwhile, the architects introduced dozens of other organisations, and the mushroom growth of several organisations created mayhem.
The nationalist organisation Liberation Front was reduced to a few people with no muscle power.
There was a time when Heavy clashes broke out between Hizbul Mujahideen, the armed wing of the Jamaat, and the nationalist organisation Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, and several youths were killed. The people who were dreaming of freedom were disappointed and despised the hijacker.
The efforts of reconciliation started. The leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and Liberation Front had many meetings. Still, according to Liberation Front, in a vast gathering, the late Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a senior leader of a faction of Hurriyat affiliated with the Jamaat, called himself the sole leader of the movement. The gathering suddenly became chaotic when the people were asked to declare allegiance to him. It was reported in the media that the leader of the Liberation Front, who was on the way and coming to address the same gathering, wanted to assure the people of the unity of the leadership; as soon as he heard the news of the sole leader, he retreated from the road.
It was a severe blow to the unity and integrity of the movement. The parties disintegrated, the united front ended, the people were divided, the guns changed their direction, and the blood of innocent youth continued to flow.
When entering the fray, I asked Siyar Ahmad Rishi, leader of Jamaat-e-Islami in South Kashmir and election candidate for assembly, if your Jamaat has been calling for a strike since the 1990s separatist movement. Was it a wrong decision, and did the initiation of the armed movement also go wrong?
‘We participated in the state elections in 1987 under the banner of the Muslim United Front. We never spoke against the democratic process, but the National Conference and the Congress rigged the elections and turned our success into a defeat, which destroyed our faith in democracy and forced our youth to take up arms. We were declared untouchables, and the mainstream parties took advantage of the strike call to gain their majority. Their monopoly exploited our youth, built graveyards and baked their bread. As much oppression was done to us during the rule of the local parties, the BJP government did not do it. We were banned by Sheikh Abdullah earlier, and now the BJP has also punished us’.
Siyar Ahmed Rishi further says that ‘we were part of the movement, but the main reason for that was the deprivation of the democratic rights of the people. We have to protect our existence, identity and livelihood against the background of the uncertain situation in our neighbourhood, the new priorities of global politics and the process of curbing our activities. It can only be done democratically; some old mainstream parties are rattled by our presence and still dreaming of getting ministries at the expense of strike politics’.
But Shakeel Ahmad, a pro-freedom young man from downtown Srinagar, refutes the claim of Jamat and says, ‘I wish the Jamaat and Hurriyat would have saved more than one lakh youths from being slaughtered if they had participated in the elections after the 1990s. Then, we still had a state with internal autonomy; now, there is no state or authority. Will the Jamaat and Hurriyat leaders answer the one lakh mothers whose sons are buried in thousands of graves without names but numbers?
After the internal autonomy under Art 370 was abolished in 2019, the central government banned Jamaat-e-Islami and imprisoned its leadership. According to media reports, the BJP government has promised to lift the ban in exchange for abandoning the demand for UN resolution or independence and participating in elections under the Indian Constitution. One of the party workers who wanted to be anonymous said, ‘There is no other option for us. We are forced to drink the poison and never reveal the pressure tactics’.
Mainstream political parties of the erstwhile state of JK, including National Conference and PDP, have termed Jamaat-e-Islami and Awami Itehad party chief, Engineer Rasheed as BJP proxies who they say could be BJP’s allies in the new government formation.
It may be recalled that at the time of Bhutto’s execution in the late 70s, houses and properties of Jamaat-e-Islami were burnt and severely damaged in South Kashmir, which they later responded to with heavy attacks after General Zia was killed in a plane crash. This was a confrontation between leftists and rightists ideology in Kashmir.
When I asked Jamaat leader Siyar Ahmed if you are connected with the Pakistani Jamati Islami, he said, ‘We have no connection with Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan’, even though Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan has played a vital role in the freedom movement.
Jamaat has a significant influence in South Kashmir. Because of its strong base, it has fielded its candidates across the south and offered support to a few independent candidates. The huge gatherings of the party do not bode well for the National Conference and the PDP, who are already worried about North Kashmir after the bail of Parliament member Engineer Rasheed. His first public statement after his release has created a stir in the valley. He said, ‘I am neither afraid of jails nor of strictures. Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed region, and Article 370 was incorporated into the Constitution of India to maintain its identity, rights, and flag. If Modi ji (PM of India) wants to create a ‘new Kashmir’ by removing Art 370, then I want to shout that this plan of Modi ji has failed, which is proved by the recently held parliamentary results of Kashmir’.
BJP leaders have reacted strongly to his statement.
Through his bold and honest statement, Rasheed has evoked the emotions of those who felt he was the first politician to speak about their plight.
Election euphoria seems less likely in central Kashmir, where the BJP is trying hard to win a few seats in the heart of Srinagar.
In Jammu, the Congress and the BJP are fighting, and the BJP may win most of the seats as in 2014.
Election Observers believe that the BJP government has not only fulfilled its dream of partitioning Jammu and Kashmir five years back but, for the first time, divided the population into sects, castes, races, and communities by creating electoral maps of North, South, and Central Kashmir. It has done enough homework on creating chaos inside the Valley, while Jammu has not been flooded with independents. The claim of normalcy by the BJP and engineering of the election process do not go well with the masses who think the Central government’s, be it BJP or Congress, ‘Kashmir Laboratory’ has no end.
Nayeema Ahmad Mahjoor is a journalist
