HIJACKING HISTORY
What they want is a complete saffronisation all colours. Painting history their own way is not only wicked, but farcical to say the least, comments Dr. Sheikh Showkat Hussain.
Within the Marxian paradigm, history is the most important theoretical weapon in the hands of the class which controls it. This perception of Marxists may or may not be true about every region of the world but applies in its totality to Kashmir situation. History like every other discipline has been used extensively as a tool of subjugation by those who dominate Kashmir. I have seen P N Oak claiming Taj Mahal to be a Hindu Palace and people predicting that soon he would be attributing construction of Lal Quila to Lal Bahadur Shastri. I had heard about communalist intoxication of text books during Bhartya Janta Party rule in India but what I experienced during a cursory view of a general knowledge compilation was distortion of Kashmir history by those who give us sermons of objectivity and unbaisedness. All shades of opinion across the globe have a consensus on the fact that Kashmiris converted to Islam as a result of Muslim missionaries like Bulbul Shah and Syed Ali Hamdani. Kashmir was not invaded by Muslims rather locals opted for Islam out of free will starting from the ruler Rinchan Shah.
The same way all schools of Kashmiri thought converge on the point that 1931 is the beginning of Kashmiri reassertion and struggle against despotism. The State across LoC acknowledges it through its official functions on 13th July in memory of the Martyrs of 1931. Again every scholar and common man of Kashmir perceives that Sheikh Abdullah was sacked from Prime Ministership in 1953 because of his insistence on maintaining relations between India and Kashmir within the framework of and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Instrument of Accession. All these historical facts are presented in a completely different way in Chronicle India supplement 2010, a general knowledge guide meant for students appearing in competitive exams. I do not want to rephrase the descriptions of the chronicle but simply reproduce these.
* 1394-1416: Central Asian ruler Sikander invades Kashmir and brings about mass conversion to Islam. After the tyranny of Sikander was over, only eleven Kashmiri Hindu families survive (P No1023).
*1931: One of the worst communal riots led by Sheikh Abdullah and his Muslim Conference (P No1023).
*AUG 9 1953: Sheikh Abdullah is arrested. He had turned corrupt and autocrat. He tried to hold India for ransom by giving increasingly anti India speeches and preserve his power (P No1025).
These are not the only distortions of the Kashmir history but few among the glaring ones mentioned within the supplement. While enumerating militant groups of Kashmir the authors didn’t forget to include Awami Action Committee of Mirwaiz Omer Farooq within these despite its moderate postures. Democratic freedom party of Shabir Shah, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Hurriyat Conference are other groups included within the list (P. No 1038). Al Qaida has also been depicted as a Kashmiri Militant group. Name of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front however, does not figure within the list, it seems bona fides of Gandhian credentials of Muhammad Yasin Malik have been accepted and have facilitated this exclusion. The list of Kashmiri politicians includes Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Motilal Nehru apart from Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik.
Mirwaiz Omar Farooq has failed to find place among politicians probably on account of heading “two militant outfits Hurriyat Conference and Awami Action Committee”. Mirwaiz shouldn’t get disheartened as Mirwaiz Yousuf Shah and Choudary Ghulam Abbas too remain missing from the list. For obvious reasons Hashim Qureshi enjoys a prominent position within the list of politicians and precedes everyone right from Indira Gandhi to Yasin Malik. One wonders why Pandit Nehru has not qualified to be a Kashmiri Politician despite inclusion of everyone from his progeny and predecessors within the list. Equally surprising is the issue why Pakistani Politicians of Kashmiri origin like Prime Minister Khwaja Nazim ud din, Nawaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, Mubasir Hassan and Sheikh Rashid are excluded from the list. One may ask if Indira Gandhi on account of her Kashmir ancestry qualifies to be a Kashmiri politician why not Ayatollah Khomeini for the same reasons.
Not a single Kashmiri Muslim apart from Sheikh Noor ud din Wali qualified to be a philosopher and a historian. The list of administrators, diplomats includes all the known and unknown Kashmiri Pandits.
It is obvious that the distortions are neither mistakes nor result of inadequacy of information rather deliberate attempts to intoxicate new generations of Kashmir with that version of history which suits status quo. The efforts started long back when study of Diniyaat, Persian and Arabic was banished from schools in 1976 along with Kashmir history and geography during the rule of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. Bereft of any knowledge about Kashmir new generations of Kashmir are now sought to be `Ind-toxicated’ through this distorted version of knowledge. Like every dominant power the status quoist version targets every segment of Kashmiri society. Sheikh Abdullah like every collaborator remains target of Indignation in the Chronicle. The version of history doesn’t have an iota of space for the moderates and drum-beaters of realism. The Chronicle supplement provides a clear and explicit about plans of the ones whom it represents.
Notwithstanding the opposition by several authors of the Indian Constitution including Dr. Ambedkar, its chief architect Article 370 was inserted in the Constitution of India. This article is meant as a temporary measure, to be in effect until the formal constitution of Jammu and Kashmir is drafted (P. No1024).
The Chronicle is not the beginning and the end of this `Ind-toxication’ campaign rather a part of it. Good will Yatras, Vidyalas, extensions of Delhi based Public schools, radio channels even the so called local TV channels constitute part of same game plan. Unfortunately apart from sloganeering Kashmiri society has failed to respond to this challenge. Elites and academicians instead of resisting this tirade remain instruments of this campaign by assuming the role of peddlers of this toxin. Results of this callousness are obvious while Neelofar and Asiya invoked negative publicity in Indian TV channels. Jessica Lal and Ruchika continue to consume most of the media attention. The only difference for this disparity being association of Asiya and Neelofar with the maligned subjugated community and those of Jessica and Ruchika with the ruling nation. Therein lies all the difference.
Within the Marxian paradigm, history is the most important theoretical weapon in the hands of the class which controls it. This perception of Marxists may or may not be true about every region of the world but applies in its totality to Kashmir situation. History like every other discipline has been used extensively as a tool of subjugation by those who dominate Kashmir. I have seen P N Oak claiming Taj Mahal to be a Hindu Palace and people predicting that soon he would be attributing construction of Lal Quila to Lal Bahadur Shastri. I had heard about communalist intoxication of text books during Bhartya Janta Party rule in India but what I experienced during a cursory view of a general knowledge compilation was distortion of Kashmir history by those who give us sermons of objectivity and unbaisedness. All shades of opinion across the globe have a consensus on the fact that Kashmiris converted to Islam as a result of Muslim missionaries like Bulbul Shah and Syed Ali Hamdani. Kashmir was not invaded by Muslims rather locals opted for Islam out of free will starting from the ruler Rinchan Shah.
The same way all schools of Kashmiri thought converge on the point that 1931 is the beginning of Kashmiri reassertion and struggle against despotism. The State across LoC acknowledges it through its official functions on 13th July in memory of the Martyrs of 1931. Again every scholar and common man of Kashmir perceives that Sheikh Abdullah was sacked from Prime Ministership in 1953 because of his insistence on maintaining relations between India and Kashmir within the framework of and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Instrument of Accession. All these historical facts are presented in a completely different way in Chronicle India supplement 2010, a general knowledge guide meant for students appearing in competitive exams. I do not want to rephrase the descriptions of the chronicle but simply reproduce these.
* 1394-1416: Central Asian ruler Sikander invades Kashmir and brings about mass conversion to Islam. After the tyranny of Sikander was over, only eleven Kashmiri Hindu families survive (P No1023).
*1931: One of the worst communal riots led by Sheikh Abdullah and his Muslim Conference (P No1023).
*AUG 9 1953: Sheikh Abdullah is arrested. He had turned corrupt and autocrat. He tried to hold India for ransom by giving increasingly anti India speeches and preserve his power (P No1025).
These are not the only distortions of the Kashmir history but few among the glaring ones mentioned within the supplement. While enumerating militant groups of Kashmir the authors didn’t forget to include Awami Action Committee of Mirwaiz Omer Farooq within these despite its moderate postures. Democratic freedom party of Shabir Shah, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Hurriyat Conference are other groups included within the list (P. No 1038). Al Qaida has also been depicted as a Kashmiri Militant group. Name of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front however, does not figure within the list, it seems bona fides of Gandhian credentials of Muhammad Yasin Malik have been accepted and have facilitated this exclusion. The list of Kashmiri politicians includes Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Motilal Nehru apart from Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik.
Mirwaiz Omar Farooq has failed to find place among politicians probably on account of heading “two militant outfits Hurriyat Conference and Awami Action Committee”. Mirwaiz shouldn’t get disheartened as Mirwaiz Yousuf Shah and Choudary Ghulam Abbas too remain missing from the list. For obvious reasons Hashim Qureshi enjoys a prominent position within the list of politicians and precedes everyone right from Indira Gandhi to Yasin Malik. One wonders why Pandit Nehru has not qualified to be a Kashmiri Politician despite inclusion of everyone from his progeny and predecessors within the list. Equally surprising is the issue why Pakistani Politicians of Kashmiri origin like Prime Minister Khwaja Nazim ud din, Nawaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, Mubasir Hassan and Sheikh Rashid are excluded from the list. One may ask if Indira Gandhi on account of her Kashmir ancestry qualifies to be a Kashmiri politician why not Ayatollah Khomeini for the same reasons.
Not a single Kashmiri Muslim apart from Sheikh Noor ud din Wali qualified to be a philosopher and a historian. The list of administrators, diplomats includes all the known and unknown Kashmiri Pandits.
It is obvious that the distortions are neither mistakes nor result of inadequacy of information rather deliberate attempts to intoxicate new generations of Kashmir with that version of history which suits status quo. The efforts started long back when study of Diniyaat, Persian and Arabic was banished from schools in 1976 along with Kashmir history and geography during the rule of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. Bereft of any knowledge about Kashmir new generations of Kashmir are now sought to be `Ind-toxicated’ through this distorted version of knowledge. Like every dominant power the status quoist version targets every segment of Kashmiri society. Sheikh Abdullah like every collaborator remains target of Indignation in the Chronicle. The version of history doesn’t have an iota of space for the moderates and drum-beaters of realism. The Chronicle supplement provides a clear and explicit about plans of the ones whom it represents.
Notwithstanding the opposition by several authors of the Indian Constitution including Dr. Ambedkar, its chief architect Article 370 was inserted in the Constitution of India. This article is meant as a temporary measure, to be in effect until the formal constitution of Jammu and Kashmir is drafted (P. No1024).
The Chronicle is not the beginning and the end of this `Ind-toxication’ campaign rather a part of it. Good will Yatras, Vidyalas, extensions of Delhi based Public schools, radio channels even the so called local TV channels constitute part of same game plan. Unfortunately apart from sloganeering Kashmiri society has failed to respond to this challenge. Elites and academicians instead of resisting this tirade remain instruments of this campaign by assuming the role of peddlers of this toxin. Results of this callousness are obvious while Neelofar and Asiya invoked negative publicity in Indian TV channels. Jessica Lal and Ruchika continue to consume most of the media attention. The only difference for this disparity being association of Asiya and Neelofar with the maligned subjugated community and those of Jessica and Ruchika with the ruling nation. Therein lies all the difference.
Published Greater Kashmir dated 06 Jan 2010
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