“Small Act of defiance”

Shiban Khaibri
In ordinary course of business, hundreds of people in this country based on reasons ranging from personal, official, administrative, political and even because of failing in performing, take decisions to quit their jobs and take other avocations , engagements or assignments. All such decisions hardly make any news in this vast democratic country with vast and varied opportunities but definitely there are some decisions which attract public attention of some measure out of surprise, curiosity, inquisitiveness, or simply to pry and to arrive at individual conclusions with or without cross checking . Had the issue not been concerning Kashmir “affairs” even if in a very small negligible way, perhaps it would have not earned comments or views through these lines at all but it is reported that an IAS topper from Kashmir, while calling his resignation from the Indian Administrative Service as a “small act of defiance” against the Government had also used the oft repeated, worn out, stereo type one sentence …”Kashmir is incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits…” which motivated this writer to choose the theme to comment upon and put forth the view point. The original inhabitants, historically speaking, or call them indigenous inhabitants of Kashmir, the Kashmiri Pandits continue to be in forced exile for the last thirty years . May this question be put straightaway as “Why”? One must be sincere to one’s conscience or one’s “Zameer” and not put forth that mischievous and manufactured Jagmohan theory for convenience of many hues. A couplet in Urdu is appropriate to be quoted here which says, “Zameer marta hai ehsaas key khamoshi say, yeh voh vafaat hai jis key khabar nahi hotie .” So a clean and virtuous but innocent zameer alone can tell specifically as to why an entire community of more than 5 lacs were forced out of their 5000 year old roots and ancestry. Post exodus , they got two things both as consolation as well as insult. Insult in the form of being called “migrants” and consolation or a refined joke , a witticism or a crafty quip in the form of “Kashmir incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits”.
James Joyce once said aptly, “Shut your eyes and see” which carries a deep meaning in respect of seeing things instead of analysing things or erring in taking for granted what others’ eyes saw and in transition, depreciated in the truer and real form. It also meant to feign blindness to what happens or happened under one’s nose. It also means to beat around and about the bush when calling a spade a spade was the dire need of the moment. There is no doubt a serious problem in Kashmir since 1989-90. Who denies that but two things are pertinent to know, speak and take a stand on. One , was there any such problem prior to 1990 , if not why ? Two – who is responsible for wrecking havoc with what Kashmir was prior to 1989? Answers to these two cardinal and hard core questions are known to “everyone” but for expediency and for playing to the galleries and at the top of it, to lend credence and respectability to radicalisation and extreme fundamentalism , different wavering and irrelevant answers are given. Once correct answers based on fear of God and fearlessness, immaculate and upright conscience or Zameer are given , solutions and resolutions would automatically come. After all, how long and how much blood be allowed to be spilled and for what purpose?
Can we not appreciate the golden but time tested saying that “Not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can be changed until it is faced”. If by tendering resignations from such high profile , most respected, all powerful and also achieved as a result of intense dedication and hard work all laced with highest intelligence quotient, problems were thought to be solved, that was not correct unless there were solutions which could not be employed whilst sitting in such a coveted chair. Dr. Faesal could have done better whilst in service by serving the needy and the poor who would have visited his office to get justice. He could have seen the extent of poverty in rural India and should have compared that with the tremendous economic development of the State , in particular Kashmir where a few indicators would put our Kashmir among the front line economically prosperous parts of the country, the unfortunate disturbed conditions notwithstanding.
Blessed are the people who live in a country like India where right of freedom of speech and right to dissent of unbridled dominations are enjoyed, where political freedom, religious freedom , social – cultural freedom or any sort of civilized freedom is enjoyed by the citizens not only because of the constitution “adopted and given to us” but primarily because of it being a traditional deep rooted philosophy of the ancient Indian civilization, way of life , the religious tenets and beliefs which are an epitome of unparalleled tolerance, assimilation, adoption, adaptation and adjustments.
Had it not been so, the people of India with 85% population as Hindus would have never ever adopted a form of governance and administrative system where religion played no part or wielded no influence whatsoever or to be precise, where there is indifference to or rejection or exclusion of religion and religious considerations in relation to governance and rule of law which in Western parlance is called as “secularism”.
As a fallout of the partition of 1947 based on exclusiveness, religious prejudices, hate and its conceptualizing into the reality of Pakistan , there would have been, as a natural corollary, no objection from any quarter whatsoever in making rest of the country a theocratic country like Pakistan , let no bones be made about it but the ancient Indian traditions of ‘live and let live’ and ‘diversity of thoughts, beliefs, interpretations, debates and discussions and above all, forgiving and forgetting’ chose the highest and dignified system of keeping religion and state separated in absolute terms where equality before law and opportunity was for everyone without any discrimination.
This is being stressed upon deliberately to bring home to those who treat Indian administrative apparatus and even the country itself as a whipping boy free to be whipped at will, any time, every time by whosoever wants and then simultaneously start weeping and groaning that there were excesses committed deliberately against a particular individual or groups of individuals or even a community itself because of professing a particular belief or religion. It has become a fashion now, a convenience , a political accessory , a pretext , a general rationalization and the like and giving it the name of existence of something like “intolerance “, a new word coined as a religo-political idiosyncrasy. Whether it is the person as high as the Ex-Vice President of India having received immense love , respect and trust from the people to serve for two terms or some top cine actors on whom people showered their immense love , rained wealth and fortune or some opportunist politicians who speak about this elusive intolerance . This new coined word making tremendous rounds for the last four years with a hidden agenda is nothing but a deception, hallucination, a bubble and an apparition.
Yes, we need new faces, new voices, honest and sincere, unwavering and promising and as Dr. Faesal said, “we need well meaning people” in Jammu and Kashmir state and this writer a few days back already wrote in these columns that the “conventional”, old familiar and the “same ” political faces needed to take rest for ten fifteen years . Since Faesal has ruled out joining Hurriyat as they did not “believe in electoral politics” , we would wish him to be forthright and to contribute in a very positive manner as an elected representative and by dint of his expected hard work and honesty , he could be the CM of the state, the PM or the President of this great country. The ball is in his court.
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