Sanjay Puri
American educator Helen Keller was once asked what is worst than having no eye sight, then she said “The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but no vision.” Today’s problems in the Kashmir are the results of yesterday’s short sighted
solutions.
Seventy percent of twelve million population of Jammu and Kashmir, according to the data, is under the age of thirty one years. We all are aware of the maxim, “the youth of today are the future of tomorrow”. The young people have the power to change the world but the issue of un-employment has reached such perilous levels in Jammu and Kashmir that the subject has become a hit among the elected representatives of both past and present to finally agree that government jobs will not solve it. With very few avenues in the private sector the number of educated unemployed youth is increasing day by day. Lack of resources and avenues to engage youth in meaningful ways will always drive youth towards the miscreants in this society.
When a Kashmiri is killed in police or army action, it naturally evokes violent outrage among youth more than any other age group. The mobs of youth come to the streets spontaneously and they do not even listen to their parents or elders.
Pak sponsored agents and separatists in Kashmir mobilise these youth into violence. They radicalise youth and propagate anti-state views among them. The old men of the Hurriyat Conference feed on the blood of young Kashmiris. Whereas their own sons and family members living abroad, pursuing professions other than jihad. Name one relative of Syed Ali Geelani, the head of the Hurriyat Conference, who is fighting the so-called Indian “occupation”? His son Nayeem Geelani is a doctor in Rawalpindi. Zahoor, his second son, lives in South Delhi. Izhaar, his grandson, is a crew member of a private airliner in India, while his daughter Farhat is a teacher in Jeddah.
Similarly, Hurriyat’s moderate faction leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s sister Rabia Farooq is a doctor in the United States. Mariyam Andrabi, sister of head of the radical Dukhtran-e-Millat, Asiya Andrabi, along with her family lives in Malaysia. Every Kashmiri separatist leader’s daughter or son is rich and safe, outside Kashmir. These revelations clearly expose the hypocrisy of separatists, who regularly issue diktats to others children to not to go to school or college and join protests instead.
Kashmir’s young and restless blame the security forces for killing them but they never question Burhan Wani when he killed down three policeman, who were of his religion, no Kashmiri opposition leader or descendant condemned innocent killing of the policemen nor did they give a call for strike.
What is freedom? It is when an honest individual can pursue a legal avenue and bring peace, prosperity and happiness to himself, his family and society. It is when every citizen has the freedom to practice the religion of his choice without any interference from the state. Do we have it in Kashmir?
Today a fight is going on inside every Kashmiri……It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves, one wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, reject, greed, arrogance, self pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, pride and superiority. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humanity, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The same fight is going on inside of you and every other person too. Thought about it for a minute which wolf will win? The one I feed.
The striking metaphor is so relevant to the Kashmir context. Which wolf are the Kashmiris feeding? Are Kashmiris feeding and nurturing the forces that will create a shared humanity of respect, dignity, justice and hope or are Kashmiri people only fueling the forces of prejudice, hatred, oppression and the ‘isms’ that destroy human dreams and hopes? When will Kashmiris ever realize that they cannot begin building a future that is founded on ‘fear’, hate’ and ‘exclusivity’? In this time of reconciliation, each Kashmiri man and woman must question which wolf they have been feeding in their hearts all along.
The nature of the two wolves makes humanisation and dehumanisation as inevitable destinations in the course of human history. These conditions make the question of the shared humanity crucial to the issue of justice and peace; and at the heart of this question is whether Kashmiris can freely exercise their rights to determine the course of their own future. Human history is about human struggle and it is for Kashmiris to determine the course towards either one of these paradoxical destinations. The idea that eventually defines the path towards either of these destinations is the crucial question which wolf the Kashmiris feed.
It is time for alternatives that is self-determining and enables the realisation of a dignified shared humanity. Therefore, is it possible then for Kashmiris to engage in a collective process to define a future inspired by their shared humanity and with the ability to equally meet the fundamental human needs of all? Today Kashmiris are challenged by the forces of history to adequately demonstrate the basic idea that Kashmiris need to come together and jointly pursue the realisation of their political rights and shared humanity. Kashmiris must decisively choose which wolf they feed in their hearts!
The great mystic saints and rishis preached the eternal message of universal humanism, compassion and peace. These spiritually uplifted souls carved out special places in the hearts of innumerable followers in Jammu and Kashmir.
Renowned Sufi saints who have blessed the people with their eternal message of spiritualism in the region are Hazrat Bulbul Shah, Amir-e-Kabir Shah-e-Hamdan, Noor-uddin Wali, Lal Ded, Baba Rishi, Baba Budhan Shah, Roshan Ali Shah, Peer Mitha and Panj Peer. Their pristine life set a glowing example before Kashmiri society and helped people move on what many in the region call “the right spiritual track.” There is a need to rebuild the society that can best be done by reviving Kashmiriyat and Sufism.
(The author is senior Journalist. Feedback welcome at [email protected])
