Opinion
|
|
|
| | A New Low in Kashmiri Politics | | The Burning Down of Dastgeer Sahib | | The ham-handed and callous response of the J&K government to the mysterious and many allege mischievous, burning down of the revered Peer Dastgeer Sahib shrine in Khanyar area of Srinagar on 25th June represents a new low in Kashmiri politics. This iconic dargah is more than 200 years old and has been a spot of great veneration for believers across Kashmir. It is a symbol of the uniqueness of Kashmiri Islam seeped as it is in the Sufi world view which enabled Kashmiri Muslims to peacefully coexist with people of other faiths for centuries. According to eye witnesses fire broke out in the green minaret atop the older part of the shrine at around 6.15 a.m-a little after morning prayers. Soon it engulfed the entire structure because the fire engines took some time coming. What is worse when they began operations, they faced water shortage. Srinagar is not in a desert region. If a city which is home to Jhelum river and the grand Dal Lake cannot provide adequate water supply to its fire engines, it speaks volumes about the gross mismanagement and inefficiency of the local administration.
Even while the shrine was being reduced to ashes, thousands of people reached the area to mourn and protest against the incident. By all accounts agent provocateurs used the occasion to create further havoc. They stoned police vehicles and fire tenders. One of the fire engines was set on fire. Rumors spread fast and furious that the burning of the centuries old shrine was an act of deliberate sabotage leading to a call for a bandh and attacks by protestors on police stations and other government property.
On its part, it did not help matters that the enquiry committee set up by the Chief Minister to probe the incident did not display any urgency in identifying the cause of the fire. The police started its own investigations but did not share any information with the public. The lackadaisical manner of probing the incident led to further discontent and mistrust. Several prominent leaders alleged that the destruction of the venerated Shrine was a result of pre planned "criminal conspiracy". Many people suspect that the burning down of shrine after shrine of venerated Sufi saints during the last few decades indicate a definite pattern of undermining the homegrown and tolerant Sufi Islam in the Valley in favor of Talibani variety of "petrodollar Islam". The Grand Mufti of Kashmir, Bashir-ud-Din openly accused the state of "destroying and distorting vital evidence." The government was accused to stoking "sectarian hatred by encouraging certain religious groups to unleash mayhem".
All this could well be dismissed as a typical example of politicization of a great tragedy by opponents of the National Conference led state government. But the murderous attacks on two senior political leaders - Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan - when they went to join the protestors gathered near the shrine --represents a new low in Kashmiri politics and the credibility of the Omar Abdullah government. Both are mass leaders of repute. According to Shabir Shah, mischievous mobs had positioned themselves outside the burning shrine to prevent fire engines from quelling the fire. Mobs indulged in heavy stone pelting on fire tenders when they went to refill from the nearby Brarinambal water body on the specious plea the use of 'polluted' water from this source for dousing the fire is a sacrilegious act. Twenty fire men were injured and one fire engine was burnt down. The water hoses were snatched from the hands of firemen and the mobsters made a pretense of dousing fires. When these novices took over hose pipes, they didn't attach nozzles to the pipes. It led to a great deal of water loss. Worse still, the water came out as a weak spray and not in the form of high pressure jet essential to douse the massive flames that were emanating from within the shrine. This led people to suspect that this was a willful act of sabotage and the gangsters had instructions to ensure that the fire was not put out till such time as the shrine got reduced to ashes. One of the fire engines was actually set on fire something that only agent provocateurs would do at a time when a crowd of believers were mourning the burning down of a venerated place of worship. However, some newspapers gave the incident another twist by alleging that the fire men were attacked because they did not have enough water to carry out the operation.
Furthermore, shadowy forces tried to add fuel to the fire by desecrating the Quran at a Shia shrine in Srinagar's outskirts. Fortunately, people chose to foil the attempt of agent provocateurs to instigate sectarian riots.
When Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan-senior Hurriyat leaders went to join the mourners at about 2 p.m. the fire fighting operation was over and the shrine had been totally destroyed. In order to express their solidarity with the mourners, they parked their cars at a distance and proceeded towards the shrine on foot. Hundreds of people walked along with them. As per the account provided to me by the two leaders on telephone, as they reached the ground floor of the two storey structure, suddenly about 10 men armed with iron rods and burnt logs of wood came down from the second floor and swooped down on them with murderous fury without any warning. There was a lot of slush on the ground floor because of all the water used by the fire department. In the chaos that followed, Shabir Shah's foot slipped and he fell in the slushy mess and in the process sprained his ankle. A group of young men acted as his shield and protected him from the gangsters who were using steel rods and wooden logs to beat up anyone who came between them and Shabir Shah. Nayeem Khan was somehow whisked away by supporters but Shabir Shah faced the brunt of the attack. His supporters called for a private car to take him away but the miscreants attacked and damaged the vehicle so that it could not even reach him.
They also tore up Shabir Shah's clothes and blackened his face. It seems one of the gangsters took a photograph of the same and flashed it within minutes to the news channels. Those horrific images caused widespread indignation all over Kashmir because they were seen as a deliberate attempt to humiliate a senior, respected leader of Kashmir. Fortunately, local youth managed to stop an ambulance and save Shabir from the wrath of the murderous mob. By all accounts it is a miracle that the two leaders managed to come out alive from that place.
The events that followed are even more shocking. Instead of arresting and registering cases against the attackers, both Nayeem Khan and Shabir Shah were put under house arrest. This has been National Conference's standard way of dealing with political opponents: put them under house arrest or uses goons to attack them. NC justifies this draconian measure in dealing with separatist politicians saying they pose a law and order problems and stoke the fires of secession if lot free. The truth is the very contrary. It is the authoritarian high handed and corrupt politics of NC which keeps the sentiment of secession alive. The biggest grouse of Kashmiris is that they have not been allowed to exercise simple democratic rights and freedoms that people in other parts of country can take for granted. NC misrule has witnessed endless agitations and outbursts of public outrage. The disaffection for the government provides a fertile ground for separatist politics. Keeping them locked up in jail or putting separatist leaders under house arrest increases their relevance and brings them centre stage.
To add insult to injury, the NC government used its cozy relationship with the national media to present the entire incident in a highly distorted light. Three days after the incident national TV channels in Delhi carried a highly misleading version of the incident by presenting it as a case of separatist leaders Nayeem Khan and Shabir Shah being thrashed by the general public in Srinagar. The message sought to be conveyed by gloating TV anchors in Delhi and Mumbai studios was that the NC government has so successfully won over the Kashmiri hearts and minds that they are rejecting separatist politics in a determined manner. They kept on flashing the blackened face of Shabir Shah to rub this point. This may fool people who are unfamiliar with ground level reality in Kashmir but such deliberate distortions by the national media act as deadly irritants for the already estranged Kashmiris.
Those in the know say this attack was engineered by Mr Sagar, the minister for law and parliamentary affairs. This shrine is located in Sagar's constituency. He treats it like his personal fiefdom and keeps an iron like grip over his it. He does not let any other person raise his head there. Apparently when Sagar came to the area after the fire broke out he was abused and hooted by the protestors gathered there. His car was stoned because people felt the government was responsible for the tragedy. Therefore, Sagar had to beat a hasty retreat. It is widely alleged that sngered by this, Sagar instructed his goons to make sure no other political leader came to give strength to the gathering protests. By all accounts when Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan reached the area, people welcomed their coming with loud slogans and started walking with them towards the burnt down shrine. This cast further shadow on Sagar's hold over his constituency.
Unfortunately, instead of focusing on the dubious role played by the state government, separatist leaders have used the same old ploy of presenting the entire episode as part of New Delhi's 'grand conspiracy' aimed at destroying the religious, cultural and ideological identity of the Kashmiris. This kind of effete response by Kashmiris to the misdoings of their own Kashmiri leaders and tendency to pass on the blame for every misdeed on Delhi, is a prime cause for the mess in Kashmir. Niloofar Qureshi, a blogger made the most perceptive comment: "if pelting stones, stopping government employees from discharging their duties in public interest and assaulting our own leaders is what is meant by the 'national duty' for our youth, then I'm afraid, that the 'enemy' is not in New Delhi but within us!!
Thus far police enquiries have not come to any clear conclusion as to how the shrine got burnt down. Nor has it arrested the miscreants who attacked Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan. If Delhi wants that it should not be used as a scapegoat, it needs to make sure that an honest and transparent probe is conducted into the entire episode and the miscreants punished-no matter how influential or powerful they maybe. Failure to do so would only strengthen the mistrust and misgivings of Kashmiri people that the Central government is willing to overlook or even support the murder of democracy in Kashmir as long as it can have a pliable, puppet regime in Srinagar.
POST SCRIPT: Even before Kashmiris got the time to recover from the loss of Dastageer shrine news came of a devastating fire engulfing yet another shrine in Kashmir on July 16, 2012. This has given further boost to the suspicion that attacks on these ancient shrines are part of a well planned conspiracy to destroy Sufi Islam in Kashmir. |
|
|
|
|
Comment on this Story |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|