Communalism dressed
up as nationalism, Dr Shabir Choudhry
It is sad that most
Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir either don’t understand what is nationalism, or
they are hypocrites; and they camouflage their communalism by wearing a
‘nationalist hat’.
To reach this conclusion, one only has to look at level of
debate, and standard of nationalism they promote. In Speakers Corner programmes,
which I anchored for 4 years, 99% participants were Muslims, some openly
supported Pakistan, we allowed them to express their voice.
Dr Vivek Kaul, a Kashmiri Pundit from the Valley of Kashmir,
came to few shows and some nationalist people got tummy pain or their masters
did. They criticised me, and made allegations against me for inviting
non-Muslims to the TV debates. They forget that these non-Muslims are also
citizens of Jammu and Kashmir; and they also have rights to enjoy fundamental
rights and express their views.
These communalists or their handlers, encourage and reward
Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir State to wave Pakistani flags, chant pro Pakistan
slogans, abuse India, condemn India, burn their flag; and even use weapons
given by Pakistan to kill people, including men in uniform.
However, despite lofty claims of secularism, democracy and
equal rights, they are not prepared to allow non-Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir
to express their views. They cannot, and will not allow Muslims of Jammu and
Kashmir to peacefully challenge the Pakistani agenda on the Jammu and Kashmir
dispute.
Pakistan agreed in the UN Resolutions that people of Jammu
and Kashmir can join India or join Pakistan.
Despite this fact, they and their foot soldiers will not allow any
person to even correct the false propaganda with fabricated stories and lies to
fool people.
No sane person can support human rights abuses inside the
Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and I for one, condemn all human rights
abuses taking place there. But does that mean Pakistan, and their foot soldiers
should be given a right to tell lies to complicate the Kashmir dispute, make it
a religious dispute that people continue to fight each other, just like they
are fighting each other inside Pakistan?
This is called
mental slavery
There is a country
which has prefix ‘Azad’, meaning independent, the only one of its kind in the
world. Its taxes are collected by a neighbouring country. Its Prime Minister is
selected from the most loyal mental slaves by the neighbouring country. Once this
‘Prime Minister’ is in office he is fully controlled by Lent Officers and
security agencies of that country. He begs that country to release a percentage
of the money collected from our taxes; and foreign exchange sent by citizens of
‘Azad’ Kashmir. Sometimes to oblige him, the rulers of the neighbouring
country, Pakistan, release some of the funds collected.
This Prime Minister
cannot ask how much the neighbouring country has looted from his territory; how
many billions they have made in foreign exchange sent by its citizens. Once
when Raja Farooq Haider, the current loyal servant of Pakistan, was sacked from
his post, he said, ‘Prime Minister of this territory has fewer powers than a
peon’. Interestingly, later on, he agreed to accept the post which, according
to him, has less powers than a peon.
Citizens of that
country, Azad Kashmir, are so ‘intelligent’ and slavish that despite knowing
some of the bitter facts that they endure worst kind of slavery, they proudly
claim that they are independent. And sadly, they say they are happy too.
To best of my
knowledge there is no other nation on earth that is happy with its slavery. Most
people of Azad Kashmir, are mental slaves, these slaves are mentally
conditioned, and they are unable to distinguish between slavery and
independence. They have not developed conspicuousness required to appreciate
benefits of independence; or harms of slavery.
Those who tell
these mental slaves that you are fooled in name of religion, then they get
angry and abusive. They start their tirade by accusing loyal sons of the soil
for being anti Pakistan and traitors. How can one be a traitor, if he/she is
loyal to his motherland? In reality, traitors are those who are loyal to our
neighbours, and are working as their touts and collaborators.
Even the Stockholm
syndrome does not explain their mental condition. It is difficult to say, what
can be done with these mental slaves? One can only say that mental slaves are
immune from logic and independent thinking.
Hidden agenda of
communal groups
In so called Azad
Kashmir, the occupying country does not allow us to publish books that tell
true situation, depth of slavery and our suffering on this side of the forced
division. They urge people to only focus what India is doing; and brainwash
people in name of religion.
They discourage
love of Jammu and Kashmir, and replace it with love of Pakistan, because Pakistan
is a Muslim country, which is a ‘fort of Islam’; and, which is in danger. These
misguided citizens of Jammu and Kashmir have developed strong sentiments of
Muslim nationalism, and erroneously believe it is Kashmiri nationalism. All
their political and social acts are seen with prism of what Pakistani rulers
preach – Muslim nationalism, extremism, intolerance and religious hatred.
People of so called
Azad Kashmir are not allowed to write or publicise about true history and
culture of Jammu and Kashmir. Those who do, their books are banned; and authors
face various kinds of social, political and economic problems. Those
booksellers who dare to stock these books are severely punished with hefty
fines on the spot. The books are confiscated and bookstore is locked up.
One man who claims
to be a Kashmiri (I know he is a Pakistani, and is only fooling people on
behest of the Pakistani agencies) said on social media: ‘I support Pakistan army.’
I asked, why do you
support Pakistan army?
1.
Do you get paid to support
them?
2.
Do you support them
because they have not won any wars yet?
3.
Do you support them
because they surrendered in East Pakistan, biggest surrender in history of
human beings?
4.
Do you support them
because they lost East Pakistan?
5.
Do you support them
because they killed millions of Pakistanis in East Pakistan, in Balochistan, in
FATA and other parts of Pakistan?
6.
Do you support them because they lost Siachin?
7.
Do you support them
because they gifted away nearly 2000 Kilometres of territory from Gilgit Baltistan
to China?
8.
Or do you support
them because they imposed Martial law in Pakistan 4 times?
Please
clarify, why do you support them?
I know these are
bitter questions and Pakistanis and their touts don’t like to hear them.
Whether people like them or not, but all these questions are factually true,
and many Pakistani writers agree with them.
As a result of my
post providing factual account of deeds of Pakistan army, one Kashmiri group
which is doing jihad against India with Pakistani money, Pakistani guns and
Pakistani bullets, expelled me from that group. Instead of challenging these
facts, many other Pakistanis and their Kashmiri touts generously used foul
language against me.
This group is set
up and run by Jamat e Islami, and claims that they will provide equal rights to
non-Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir once they have defeated India with Pakistani
weapons and guidance.
Look at their lofty
claims; and look at level of their tolerance. They are not even prepared to
give a right of expression to a fellow Muslim citizen, just because he differs
with their views; and have shown a mirror to Pakistan.
My message to all
of them: you cannot fool people anymore. Your agenda is a division of Jammu and
Kashmir State on religious grounds. We will oppose that, and ensure that forces
of communalism, extremism, violence and religious intolerance are eradicated.
Writer is a renowned
writer and author of many books. He is also President Foreign Affairs Committee
of UKPNP; and Chairman South Asia Watch, London.
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