By: Sardar Jahanzaib
History of subcontinent starts with Muslims arrival, their period of rule that led to the emergence of world’s ancient civilization i.e. Indo-Islamic civilization. In 1858 the last Muslim’s rule came to an end with the start of British rule .The basic problems in India started with the rule of Britain that compelled the two largest religious groups to live together but this rule ended after the second world war. After that due to religious differences, Pakistan and India were established as different states where Muslims and Hindus could live separately respectively. Majority of Muslims have been killed at the time of migration while some of them stayed in India because they were not able to bear the cost of migration, so their poverty darkens their future. India deployed their forces in Jammu and Kashmir taking away the right of self-determination from poor Kashmiris despite UN resolutions. India often suppressed Muslims based on two nation’s theory. Recently with the rise of “Hindu nationalist party BJP ” India has seen major clashes between Muslims and Hindus in the name of Hindutva which showed extremism in different ways as a result of this two school of thoughts emerged in India. First one was of the view that Indian politics should regulate on basis of Hindutva and second that religion should not be included in political approaches of India.According to 15thIndian Census data the proportion of Muslims in the Indian minority is greater than any other minority with a number of 34.1 million and increasing in the this number is a direct threat to Hindus and for the Ideology of Hindutva.
Hindutva, with Modi coming to power in 2014 had become a global threat, many countries refrained from criticizing Modi’s violent policies against Muslims.
The term Hindutva means “Hindu principles’ ‘ (leading it to describe as a racial theory) whose founder was “Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Initially it was a social and religious movement, but it turned into a political movement; nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the first Hindutva organization Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1925. It shows the idea of creating a nation which will have Hinduism in majority and this transformation of ideological discipline to political instruments for gaining power by this racial theory about superiority of Hindu nation over minorities and due to this minorities over there feels insecure and unsafe .Hindutva is often associated with Italian Fascism and German Nazism. These three are racist with superior ideologies. Nazism, similar like Hindutva’s anti-Muslim propaganda, was anti Aryan race. Hindutva, with Modi coming to power in 2014 had become a global threat, many countries refrained from criticizing Modi’s violent policies against Muslims. The Hindu fanatics believe to make India a Hindu state it needs to include Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh along with India. For this reason, Modi started his suppression over Jammu and Kashmir. Even within the Indian state, the Hindu nationalists had used the “anti-Muslim agenda to win the votes. During Covid-19 crisis, Hindu nationalists did not spare the moment to suppress the Muslims, such as that this pandemic was brought by Muslims in India and Muslims are violating social distancing. Muslims, under Modi harsh policies, are suffering from necessities of life in India. An already underdeveloped population is further marginalized by Hindu nationalist. Muslims doses do not have access to education and the most important challenge is to protect their identity in such crises.
Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir are suppressed by the Modi government. Modi revoked the special status of Kashmir and now it is not a state of union but two Union territories: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Now Kashmir was under rule from Delhi and Indian population can now buy property (which was not possible before). The Covid-19 crisis did not normalize the situation in Jammu and Kashmir when the world is already suffering from economic meltdown. Even after the outbreak of Covid-19, Hindu nationalist gave Islamophobia a new dimension. They associated the pandemic with Muslims and the doctors even refused to conduct Muslims covid patients. This is one of the reason that poverty, instability and diseases can be found in muslim majority areas of India. The weaker and underdeveloped populace is an easy target for draconian policies of Indian extremist and nationalist. Muslims are directly facing Achilles heel in growing both economically and politically under Indian enforcement. They are only 5 percent graduates of high schools and 3 percent hold the public offices. According to the report of the committee on the social opportunities due to a lack of access to education and basic needs. India wants people of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir to be resistant but also wants to make sure that the political opposition has no effect upon them. They want to suppress the population of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir but also want to make them rebellion so that they can show their anger to the International world and portray them as extremists. They use violence there to subjugate them and as a result when those down trodden Kashmirs stand up against their inhuman behaviour they present them to the world as insurgents and rebellions. By this they justify their national interests by using the strategy of “The Ends Justifies the means”. So when those poor Kashmiris protest against Indian suppression they arrest them and often they use National safety act to stop them in raising voice for their rights. Security forces have committed thousands of serious human rights violations over the course of the conflict, including extra judicial killings, disappearances, and torture. By far most of the infringement by security powers have proceeded to keep on going uninvestigated and unpunished. Recently Some of Kashmir’s top journos shared pictures of Indian occupation forces firing pellets on Husaini mourners. This happened during the muharram procession. This is the kind of inhuman brutalities being meted out to peaceful mourners. Two faces of the same coin. A hindu yatra allowed in Odisha while peaceful muharram procession shelled and mourners blinded and injured by pellet guns in Kashmir. There is no political process.There is no prevention of human rights over there and even now they have a great fear for being disowned from their own land or would become second class citizens in their own state after abrogation of article 370 and 35A.
The writer tweets at @sardar_jahaan