Analysis by Ahmed Khan, The Rahnuma Daily Editor-In-Chief (Online English Edition)
@editor_therahnuma, editor@therahnuma.com
August 9th, 2019
Hyderabad (RAHNUMA) Prime Minister Modi’s government has redrawn the map of Jammu and Kashmir in a decisive move on Monday which stripped the J&K of its special status and scrapped Article 370. The Modi government has also bifurcated the state into two Union Territories – Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. The matter was taken up in Lok Sabha. Before making the big announcement, an additional 38,000 troops were deployed to the Valley and another batch of 8,000 personnel was sent on Monday after the announcement. Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik reviewed the security situation and emphasized the need for constant alertness and preparedness to deal with any eventuality. Top political leaders of Kashmir such as Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, and others were arrested on Monday night. Internet and phone lines continue to remain suspended in Jammu and Kashmir as tension simmers in the Valley after the scrapping of Article 370 that gave special status to the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed on Thursday for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. During his address, the PM blamed Article 370, which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir, for slowing down the pace of development in the region.
During his speech, the Prime Minister reiterated his government’s stance that J&K will not remain a union territory forever, and will be reinstated to statehood once situation return to normal. He said that the people of J&K will soon be able to elect their representatives, like before.
PM Modi urged the people of J&K and Ladakh to show their capability to the world and congratulated the people on the occasion of Eid.
“The government is trying to ensure that the people of J&K face no difficulties in celebrating Eid,” said PM Modi. “I assure the people of J&K that things will return to normalcy,” PM Modi said.
Kashmir chapter ‘closed’
Unlike pan-Islamists in Pakistan, Turkey, and some other OIC member nations, the vast majority of Indian Muslims overwhelmingly support PM Modi’s decisive move on Kashmir and welcome it as the end of the conflict, and a new day in India’s democratic history.
The Diwan of the Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishti Dargah in Ajmer, Sayyid Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, welcomed the government’s move to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, terming it as a historic day for the country.
The Diwan congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for taking this bold move.
Addressing a press conference, the Diwan said, “The Kashmir chapter is closed and now the issue of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) will be discussed. The Kashmir issue was awaiting its solution for the last 70 years. Article 370 was introduced in Kashmir in 1949. From then till now, the move to scrap it was discussed many times as it was a temporary installation.”
‘200 million’ Indian Muslims
India is home to nearly 200 million Muslims. Pakistan’s pan-Islamist narrative has continued to falsely demonize secular India as somehow inherently anti-Muslim” while most Indians remained silent in face of such lies.
The time for all Indians and Indian Muslims especially to stand up to Pakistani propaganda which is also holding 200 million Indian Muslims hostage is now.
Kashmir is an integral part of India and we already control 2/3 of it. This is an internal matter. India will be the 5th largest economy in the world by 2020, Pakistan isn’t even in the top 20. For those who think Pakistan will be suitable for Kashmiri’s due to the sharing of religious beliefs, let them not forget it is Pakistan which is most responsible for the destruction of Afghanistan after the end of the Russian invasion.
The Taliban were largely founded by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence beginning in 1994; the I.S.I. used the Taliban to establish a regime in Afghanistan which would be favorable to Pakistan, as they were trying to gain strategic depth.
Pakistan pretty much sold Afghanistan to the CIA and the American war machine. The Taliban their I.S.I. founded, subsequently hosted Al Qaeda and created all the global mess we see today, including the rise of Al Qaeda’s Jordanian breakaway operative who later founded ISIS – Zarqawi.
Hence it can be argued, Pakistan’s creation of the Taliban even contributed to the fall of Iraq, which was an outcome of a 9/11 based false pretext for war, which later led to the collapse of Syria, and Libya.
Pakistan ‘s Taliban hosted and served as a base for Al Qaeda, which inspired ISIS, which destroyed the lives of millions of people and displaced so many more.
It is not surprising for Indian Muslims that Al Qaeda founder, former Saudi national, Osama Bin Laden was hiding in plain sight near a Pakistani military base where he was said to have been killed.
Pakistan’s Genocide
Pakistani Islamists conveniently forget the Pakistani genocide of Muslims and others in Bangladesh which began on 26 March 1971 with the launch of Operation Searchlight. Pakistan began a military crackdown on the Eastern wing of the nation to suppress Bengali calls for self-determination rights.
During the nine-month-long Bangladesh War for Liberation, members of the Pakistani military and supporting Islamist militias killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000 people and “raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bangladeshi women” according to Bangladeshi sources. In December 2011, a BBC News report cited unnamed “independent researchers” as claiming that between 300,000 and 500,000 people were killed during that period.
Indian Muslims are aware, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s talk of moderation is cheap, and normalization of relations is not supported by his stances.
Even significant leaders of moderate religious narratives from Pakistan who shamelessly toured India in the past promoting peace, endorse the false colonial Umayyad narrative of ‘Ghazwat ul-Hind’. When asked, they reply it is no different to Indian support for Akhand Bharat. In fact it isn’t, as in the event we were somehow able to unify all territories which were once part of Bharat in the past, the vast majority in such a democratic union would be Muslims.
Pakistan isolated 200 million Indian Muslims from OIC for 50 years
The recent demise of Sushma Swaraj reminds us of the nasty isolation game Pakistan has repeatedly played against India and it’s 200 million Muslims in keeping us out of the OIC for over a period of 50 years, until this year when they utterly failed.
Indian Muslims don’t agree with the very idea of Pakistan itself, that’s why our ancestors stayed in Bharat. Pakistan is a country defined by religion, not a common heritage, ethnic identity and or culture.
Indian Muslims also categorically rejects Pakistan’s false narrative of Bharat as being somehow “anti-Muslim”. Islamophobia in Bharat is isolated and no different from how it is in other democratic countries around the world. It is being dealt with and will be reined in.
OIC Maintains Neutrality
The OIC has not sided with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue and has been very cautious to maintain neutrality on the matter.
Both Malaysia and KSA have called on both sides to consider regional implications of an expanding conflict and hence work towards a peaceful resolution.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia went as far as declaring the Pakistani narrative which divides Kashmir based on religion as “unacceptable”.
The UAE also openly sided with India and referred to the matter as internal.
No country other than Islamist Turkey has shown open support for Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir.
Islamist Turkey’s Repression Shocking
For Indian Muslims, Islamist Turkey’s sympathy for Pakistan’s Islamist narrative is pathetic, and clearly predicated on religious bigotry, a quality Indians for the most part, and Indian Muslims in particular emphatically reject.
After the failed coup against Erdogan’s government, Turkey has dealt with its own Islamists is a way which is unprecedented in a modern secular democracy.
Turkey’s treatment of its own dissidents and the scale of its repression is shocking. Since a state of emergency was imposed after the failed coup of July 2016, Turkish authorities have detained more than 142,000 Islamists.
The Erdogan government has detained 15,846 Islamists, (10,012 soldiers, 1,481 judiciary members), of which 8,133 were arrested. 48,222 Muslim government officials and workers were suspended, 3 Islamist news agencies, 16 TV stations, 23 radio stations, 45 newspapers, 15 magazines, and 29 publishers were ordered to shut down for simply not supporting Erdogan.
It’s ironic to Indian Muslims to see Erdogan’s Turkey talk of human rights and democracy with a barbaric record like that.
Single Decisive Move
It is a new day for Kashmir. PM Modi has resolved the Kashmir crisis with a single decisive move. The vast majority of India’s Muslim’s support the move, and want to see Kashmir flourish and prosper like the rest of the country.
The time to push back pan-Islamist narratives which demonize India as somehow anti-Muslim and an ‘enemy of Islam’ is now.
On this one move to uplift the lives of all Kashmiris, including its Muslim majority, India stands united, and with gratitude to the government.
PM Modi’s decisive leadership delivered justice to India after 70 years! Let’s celebrate and give thanks. Jai Hind! #AkkandBharat
