Kashmir - The ground reality part 1

30th August 2019

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Years of treachery will come over people in which liars are believed and the truthful are denied, the deceitful are trusted and the trustworthy are considered traitors, and the disgraceful will deliver speeches.” It was said, “Who are the disgraceful?” The Prophet (saw) said, “Petty men with authority over the common people.”  What we seeing now is exactly as the Prophet Muhammed (saw) prophesized. We have lunatic Trump in the USA, we have blood thirsty MBS in Saudi (killing Yemenis) , we have Sisi the dictator in Egypt, we have a loony Kim Jong-un North Korean leader, psychopath Netanyahu in Israel, tyrannical Assad in Syria and now we have the Hitler of our time, India’s Narendra Modi  who has annexed Kashmir making it his own whilst oppressing millions under his fascist Hindutva regime. Speaking  to a close Kashmiri friend of ours now in Delhi, I am extremely hurt and saddened of their plight. As a businessman involved in the travel and tourism industry, his company has experienced massive losses. Tour groups from Malaysia, South Africa and Europe that should have already arrived in India have all cancelled their travel arrangements. Many tourists have vowed to never visit India in the future unless and until the dignity of the Kashmiri people are restored. His company has a reasonable staff compliment of mainly Indian nationals and due to the excessive losses the company has incurred almost half the staff compliment will be retrenched by month end. This is an individual who has always given back to the community and now his own businesses are in jeopardy.  The gentleman left behind his wife and kids in Kashmir.  Their landline was only connected for 2 days. When he left home, his son had a bit of a cold and some of his close friends were on their way to their villages outside of Srinagar. Now he has absolutely no contact with anyone at his place of birth. He stated that over the years they have been through curfews and they have been oppressed but they managed. But what is unfolding now is the worst ever. In the past despite the curfews in place there were no communication barriers. People could still get their work done and online based businesses could still service the needs of their clientele. However, the situation now is catastrophic. There is no food in many homes and gas supplies used for cooking are running low as well. Kashmiri youth located in other parts of India are being taunted and harassed on a daily basis. These are the kind of remarks passed at them, “Kashmir is now ours. Go to Pakistan.” It’s been almost 3 weeks since I’ve heard from my other friends and family in Kashmir. These are people I was in contact with on a daily basis and so I really miss them immensely. Can you imagine the agony of living life through hundreds of check points being stopped by heavily armed military personnel  just to get your child to school  and having your entire suburb barricaded with barbed wire. Can you imagine how traumatized the kids must be seeing heavily armed military personnel day in and day out? It’s definitely not a normal way of life and upbringing.  These same security strategies have been put into place in Palestine and I’m one hundred percent sure that either an American or an Israeli company had a hand in implementing these methods of control in Kashmir. It breaks my heart knowing that people who are close to me are going through so much of hardship and difficulty. I wish there was more I could do to ease their pain and suffering.  Many Kashmiris who have bonds or taken loans are in great difficulty as they are unable to make payment to the banks. Many are unable to pay their rentals. Despite everything that is happening in that part of the world, the middle aged gentleman said, “This is a test from God Almighty. He is testing our faith and one day His help will come to alleviate our people’s hardship. God willing everything will be fine in the future. Allah tests us in many ways. He puts us through hardship to make us pray more and bring us closer to Him.” Whenever I’m having lunch or dinner with my family, I always think about my Kashmiri friends and family. Do they have food? Did they eat a decent meal? I can never ever forget the love, kindness and hospitality they showered on my family and I when we visited that part of the world a few years ago. They went out of their way to make us comfortable.  I find it appalling and disgusting that there are celebrities and people out there who support war and enjoy seeing the suffering of other people. In our quest for materialistic gain, our hearts have become so hard that we find joy and pleasure at seeing innocent kids being blinded, butchered and murdered. We have lost our moral conscience. I find it so strange and difficult to comprehend that people who love their own kids and want their own families to be protected are raving and happy at seeing families in Kashmir lose their loved ones . They are rejoicing at seeing the family unit disintegrating.  For many it’s a feeling of happiness out of revenge or a deeply ingrained hate for Muslims. But then I wonder, how can you take revenge on a people for atrocities committed decades ago? Why should an innocent two year old be blinded over a decade’s long conflict?
The revocation of article 370 & 35a has brought to the fore religious bigots, islamaphobes and racists both locally and abroad. Take away politics and religion, people are just people. In the same way that you want a secure, happy and bright future for your own kids and family, people in all other countries wish the same. The biggest issue with the kashmir situation i find is the deeply ingrained hate that is instilled even in young kids born today.Hindus hating Muslims, Muslims hating Hindus, indians hating pakistanis, pakistanis hating indians. This needs to end. Both sides should advocate for peace and peace must be brought about through love, dialogue and understanding. You can’t achieve peace by force. You can’t achieve peace by enforcing draconian rules and regulations on a nation. The majority of Kashmiris are timid, kind, and peace loving people. They are warm and hospitable ( Muslims, Jains, Pandits and Sikhs).For me, humanity is the mother of all religions. Love, live and let live. Always put yourself in the shoes of those who are oppressed and ask yourself, will i be happy being in this situation. Will i want my own kids and family to be barricaded and surrounded by armed troops and barbed wire.If your answer is no, then you cannot wish harm on others. You need to be sympathetic and empathetic to their plight.

Today, being a Juma, I ask from all of you to please make a special dua and prayer for the oppressed people of Kashmir and for all people residing in war torn countries. May Allah ease their pain and suffering and may He liberate them from tyrannical leadership. To those who oppress others, may God Almighty guide them on the straight path, the path of those whom God has favoured and not the path of those on whom God Almighty’s wrath will befall