This is ingratitude, Mirwaiz Farooq

It seems rather foolish for someone to be sitting in Saudi Arabia and saying: “If Muslims are committed to Islamic Sharia they can form a great civilisational world power”. Can there be greater nonsense than this? Is Saudi Arabia not committed to Islamic Sharia? And is this American colony not “a great civilisational world power”? Is Pakistan, the country you want Kashmir to accede to, not committed to Islamic Sharia, at least since 1956? And is this IMF-colony not “a great civilisational world power”?

I must tell you Omar Farooq, in case you do not know, you are very lucky to be an Indian national and not a citizen of either of these “great civilisational world powers”. Do you know what happens to Saudis who dare to speak a word against the Monarchy, which as you must know is a patently un-Islamic system of government? They are beheaded publicly without any trial. And what about the country of your choice, Pakistan? Right now the leader of opposition and formerPrime Minister is fighting for an exit visa from the country she ruled for two terms. Benazir Bhutto cannot even leave Pakistan, not to speak of living there.

Do give a thought to this fact sometimes, Omar Farooq. You are the leader of a secessionist movement. You want to break up a country that hates your people and your religion, as you say, but allows you to go around the world and spew venom against it, to condemn it in the vilest of language, level whatever baseless allegations you want to charge it with. Is your country a greater civilisation, a more confident democracy?

As a Kashmiri leader you must be aware of the plight of fellow Kashmiris in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. I was in Pakistan recently and happened to meet some ex-militants from Indian Kashmir in Rawalpindi. They had received their training in “Azad” Kashmir. It was what they learnt about Pakistan there that caused their disillusionment. As they said, “Azad” Kashmiris can’t even apply for jobs without first signing a declarationstating that they believe in the idea of Kashmiri accession to Pakistan. The fact that the state of Pakistan forces them to say that means that it knows they do not want to remain a part of Pakistan. And why should they? Pakistan has already sold part of their land to China. It had no right to do so. It has handed over the entire Northern Areas of Gilgit and Baluchistan, two-thirds of the area under its occupation, to its armed forces. The other one-third has been designated as the so-called `Azad Kashmir’, but it is run by the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs at Islamabad which is usually headed by a non-Kashmiri who doesn’t even know the distance between Muzaffarabad and Bagh. It has an Assembly which doesn’t have the powers of even a municipal committee.

You are indeed lucky to be an Indian citizen, Omar Farooq. It is nobody’s case that all is well in India, that we have no problems of any kind. Yes, there have been violations of human rights in Kashmir and elsewhere. Yes, there is intolerance in our societytoo. But we are free to fight against the injustices. You are free even to run a secessionist movement. Court your blessings too, sometimes, Omar Farooq. Ingratitude is akin to kufr (disbelief) in Islam.