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Journalism of Courage
The current Amarnath Yatra is a good opportunity for the people in the Valley to give a fitting reply to Pakistani attempts at communalisation and internationalisation of the Kashmir issue. They had done well to display the traditional spirit of communal harmony and respect for each other’s religions last month during the celebrations at the holy Khir Bhawani temple complex. It was for the first time in the last eight years that the Muslims got an opportunity to display such amity during the festival at Tullamulla.
While the people in Pakistan itself continue to be mired in violent ethnic and sectarian discord, with bombs exploding regularly in both Karachi and Lahore, despite well orchestrated attempts at arousing a sense of nationalism following the detonation of nuclear bombs at Chagai, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have proved that the spirit of Kashmiriyat is still alive and well.
An editorial in Kashmir Times found it “particularly heartening” that some Kashmiri pandits had informed their Muslimfriends in advance about their forthcoming visit to Tullamulla. The Muslims were quick to respond by staying in wait for the former and extending all assistance needed by them. The paper specially cited the example of the help rendered to disabled Hira Lal, a migrant living in Jammu, by his old friend in the Valley, Sanaullah.
A number of other poignant scenes of union were witnessed on the occasion, “strengthening faith in Kashmir’s traditional composite culture.” Striking an optimistic note, the paper wrote: “Hira Lal and many other migrants may or may not return to their homes and hearths in the Valley in the immediate future. But the restoration of otherwise near total snapped direct communication and contact is by itself an important development. It has been admitted at the government level that the return of migrants is possible essentially on the strength of the goodwill of the Valley’s majority community.”
Almost 20,000 Hindu pilgrims from Jammu and other parts of the state thronged thehistoric temple and offered puja and performed havan. they were received with open arms by their Muslim friends and former neighbours who had gathered at the shrine specifically to meet them and help them in any way they could. That this happened so soon after the dastardly massacres of Hindus at Prankote and Wandhama should have conveyed some message to our neighbours across the border. While Prankote and Wandhama are recent events of communal massacres in the Valley, Doda and Jammu, which provided many pilgrims, have been a particular target of Pakistan-inspired and religion-based militancy for quite some time. Such incidents could have vitiated the communal atmosphere. Obviously, the Pakistani game was to provoke Hindus into retaliating against the local Muslims.
This may have started a vicious cycle of retaliatory communal violence and, as renowned Kashmiri politician and writer Balraj Puri recently pointed out, the enemy would have succeeded in creating “an emotional and ideological support base in astrategically crucial belt between the Hindu majority area of Jammu and Kashmir Valley which can help it more than recover the lost ground in the Kashmir Valley.”
But both the Hindus and Muslims of the state showed great wisdom in not allowing the nefarious designs of the enemy to succeed; there was nothing much they could have done to stop these massacres and migrations, but it is gratifying that they did not allow their minds to be polluted by communal propaganda coming from across the border day in and day out. It is important to remember that as long as the composite culture of the state survives, as long as Kashmiriyat is alive, no Gohar Ayub or Madeleine Albright will succeed in their designs to communalise or internatioinalise the problems of the state. That is why it is imperative the state and Central government heed the advice given by the Kashmir media and encourage people’s participation in festivals like the Khir Bhawani and Amarnath Yatra as well as the revival of tourism in a big way.Pilgrim tourism, both Hindu and Muslim, must be encouraged. Historic shrines like Hazrat Bal, Charar-e-Sharif, Khanquah-e-Maula Makhdoom Saheb, etc. have the potential to bring the valley once more in the mainstream of India.
