In Defence of ISIS
We are all ISIS. The difference between the
ISIS and us is this: they say we are, we say only they are.
Mehmood ur Rashid
In the frost bitten last week of December, the year just past
us, a riotous incident at the Srinagar's cathedral mosque smacks of a fresh
turbulence in a long frozen pond. In all such situations our response begins
with condemnation, ends with fuming disapproval. And then everything stays
where it was. But the signs tell us, things won't stay where they are.
Coming events have begun to cast a long shadow.
The first major
appearance of this Black was at the funeral of Esa Fazili, avowedly a member of
IS in Kashmir. Carrying black flags, a group of masked men thrust into the room
where Esa's dead body was kept. Eyewitness account says that these people barged
their way into the room pushing even Esa's immediate family menacingly off, to
take the dead body into control. Reportedly such people were seen at many other
funerals, including that of prominent militants like Mannan Wani, and before
that Dr Muhammed Rafi. The surfacing up of groups like Ansar Gazvat al-Hind,
Jund al-Khilafah, and JKIS consolidated the talk of ISIS in Kashmir. We
have boys who say they belong to these groups, and die. Their death is as real
as the death of someone belonging to groups like HM. As painful, and as tragic,
as the death of all others. On the one hand we call them “our sons”, and in the
same breath we say ISIS is our enemy. It doesn't add up. Who do we deceive -
ourselves!
True, the Resistance leadership in Kashmir opposed ISIS openly.
Geelani Sahab took a lead in this, and denounced it at its early rumblings. But
that opposition is vague, and half hearted. It puts a hypocritical cover over
the deep seated contradiction between our ideological content and political
practice. ISIS in Kashmir, whatever it is, will sooner or later bring that
contradiction to fore.
The point is this:
our opposition to ISIS is unreal, and totally ineffective. This new phenomenon
has a potential of eroding all opposition in its way, because we essentially
believe in the same politics that ISIS talks about. We have been all along
promoting a vision of History that suits this ISISised mindset. We all
subscribe to a Future ISIS openly says it works for. Our ideals, our legends,
our examples, and our utopia - it's all one. A plain act of
standing in front of a mirror can tell us that we are all Black. So who do
we oppose, and why!
The West, the US,
Israel, and India - all mixed into a grand conspiracy against Islam and
Muslims, is now our favourite dish. We cook it, and then there is a serving
after serving, and then another serving. An imaginary meal that neither
finishes, nor mitigates our hunger. We are feasting on this table for long, and
there is no palpable desire to search for some real food: food for
thought.
And the first morsel
of that food is that it's easier to fight the ISIS we fancy is part of some
conspiracy. That ISIS is a thing outside, and no matter how hard it tries,
Kashmir's Muslim culture, and its Resistance politics, shows no signs of
buckling under that pressure. This too will pass. But how to deal with
the ISIS within. The ISIS that we all are. The ISIS that we preach and
pray.
What happened at
Jamia Masjid is a clarion call to open our shut minds. It is not a challenge to
Mirwaiz Umar alone. It cannot even be confined to Joint Resistance Leadership.
It is a threat to all of us – the Islamists, the secularists, the moderates,
the hawks, even the bystanders. All will be bombed to bits.
After the Hindu
rightwing took power in India, new designs have unfolded. The Doctrine of State
that says total oppression is the lone way to deal with Kashmiris, can, and
will, if it has not already, connect to this phenomenon. This heralds a new
doom. If that happens – may that never happen -Kashmir would be a locale of an
exceedingly devastating violence.
But are we equipped
to deal with this. Not at all. It needs a courageous revisiting of all our
religious thought. Our resistance politics is also based on that thought, so a
transformation of Resistance politics is badly needed.
The opposition to
ISIS is bound to make some exposures, and also bring extreme violence in its
wake. An unequivocal condemnation of this violence is just not enough. The buck
stops at bringing into discussion the theological content that breeds
ISIS.
Syed Ali Shah
Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Yasin Malik need to sit, and discuss
seriously, how to deal with ISIS. Symbolism is just not going to do it. A
politics based on some substance is needed. Some allusions may help. One, Syed
Maududi's emphasis on transparent, democratic, and non-violent
politics. Two, Rashid Ghannoushi's reconciliatory national politics. Third, and
the most crucial, Ghamidi's Counter Narrative.
mrvaid@greaterkashmir.com
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