Thursday, 25 July 2013

JOINT STATEMENT BY CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVISTS ON SECTARIAN CLASHES IN BUDGAM PUBLISHED BY KHURRAM PARVEZ

JOINT STATEMENT BY CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVISTS ON SECTARIAN CLASHES IN BUDGAM PUBLISHED BY KHURRAM PARVEZ: 
POSTED BY HABIB YOUSAFZAI, KASHMIR DIASPORA ALLIANCE


ASSALAM-O-ALAIKUM!

At the time of the partition of the Indian subcontinent, India was able to convince Sheikh Abdullah into nationalist sentiments. This division ultimately prevented the state from acceding to Pakistan.As a result, the slavery which was being resisted from 1931 was reinstated. The Kashmiris have been in a state of war with occupational forces for more than eight decades. Just as the Indian state initially weakened Pakistan in order to establish its hegemony in the region, once again it is strategically doing the same. In an attempt to weaken the liberation movement, it is utilizing a host of strategies in order to keep those that are rightfully opposing it divided. Most recently, it is attempting to divide those which are struggling for freedom on any basis including caste, color, creed, sect and nationality. This is the exact same strategy which was utilized initially with Sheikh Abdullah which created division by disassociating his allegiance to Pakistan and what is the cause of the situation which the Kashmiri people are facing today. As such, all those which are resisting Indian occupation must not fall in to foolish and baseless quarrels based on sects such as Sunni or Shiite. We must always remember that we are brothers in Islam and that Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) warned of the creation of sects and the social and societal destruction which it causes. Furthermore, and more importantly, we must realize that we are all brothers in humanity. It is pertinent than for all those which are occupied and being oppressed by the Indian state to band together in order to resist and put an end to decades of systematic oppression, adds  Habib Yousafzai.


25th July 2013

By; Khurram Parvez

For the last few days some villages of Budgam district are witnessing unfortunate incidents of sectarian clashes. Many villages continue to be under curfew but without cessation of violence.

It is reported that two youth groups entered into a brawl near Khomeni Chowk, Bemina on the Thursday evening, 18th July. As the rival groups belonged to Sunni and Shia sects, this minor tussle was manipulated by vested interests into a Shia-Sunni clash. Next day, on 19th July, the clashes spread to many other adjoining villages, despite the fact that entire valley was under strict curfew and at various places there were protests being carried out against the desecration of Holy Quran, sacrilege of the mosque and unprovoked extra-judicial killings of 4 unarmed persons in cold blood at Gool, Ramban by Border Security Force and Police.

So far many houses, shops and vehicles of both the communities have been damaged. According to the locals from these villages the Police intervention instead of addressing the clashes further enraged the people. Despite curfew and deployment of police and CRPF, it is baffling how properties continue to be damaged. For example, on 23rd July at Suhipora, Wadwan around 40 houses were torched, out of which 30 belong to one community and 10 houses of other sect. According to the villagers of Suhipora, unidentified people who attacked the village in the midnight had come from some other areas.

The pattern of these riots is very suspicious and it appears there exist some ulterior motives behind the current flare up. Having said that it would be naïve and inappropriate to be in denial and not acknowledge the increasing hostility in the discourses of some sections of Sunni and Shia communities. However we will also be amiss if we fail to take note that some vested interest groups are hell bent in hyping the differences amongst the two sects and inciting violence between the two communities who despite their well known theological view-points have never been involved in violence against each other in Kashmir and have always lived in comparative harmony with each other.

As expected, the district administration and the police have played anything but a conciliatory role. Also the curfew around and in these villages has crucially restricted the possibility of civil society initiatives for reconciliation. People in Laribal and Hakermula villages claim that the police despite knowing the volatility in the area reached their villages on Saturday only after four houses and one shop had already been looted and damaged. In fact, we have been informed by some people of Laribal village that some villagers were asked by police to come forward for inter community dialogue and on 23rd July, around 12 midday, at least 9 persons were taken along by the police from Laribal and almost the same number of persons from Dandoosa. Since then they have been detained by police.

People across the affected villages of Budgam also state that the criminal and rogue elements in the villages who few years back were part of Ikhwan network (government militants) were seen actively involved in rioting and looting. Moreover the cadres of pro-India parties instead of restraining and counseling people to desist from rioting were seen actively involved in rioting.

We the concerned civil society actors of Kashmir, urge the people at large and the religious leaders from all sections of the society to play a positive role in ending sectarian clashes in Budgam forthwith. Also we urge the religious leaders, particularly of Sunni majority community to urgently attend to the need of de-escalating the anti-Shia discourse amongst all sections of our society. Unfortunately from various areas in Jammu and Kashmir it has been reported that some religious leaders have unintentionally or intentionally encouraged via blaming the Shia community for being anti-movement. It is a blatant lie and those encouraging this discourse should stop forthwith, feel ashamed of vitiating our precious atmosphere of life-long amity, willy-nilly acting as tools of those who want to divide us.

We urge all sections of Kashmiri society to come forward for helping the affected families, defeating the machinations of anti-people forces and ensuring that this kind of madness is not accepted, ever again.

1.    Dr. Altaf Hussain – Author and Civil Society Activist
2.    Adv. Parvez Imroz – Human Rights Lawyer and President, J&K Coalition of Civil Society
3.    Abdul Majid Zargar – Columnist and Chattered Accountant
4.    Z. G. Mohammad – Author and Columnist
5.    Zahir ud Din – Journalist and Author
6.    Munshi Ghulam Hassan – Ex-Chairman J&K Bank
7.    Shujaat Bukhari – Editor in Chief, Rising Kashmir
8.    Dr. Zaffar Mehdi – Social Activist
9.    Dr. Mubeen Shah – President, Joint Chamber of Commerce
10.  Shakeel Qalander – Social Activist, member KCSDS
11.  Sajjad Hussain – Social Activist
12.  Najeeb Mubarki – Journalist
13.  Gowhar Geelani – Journalist, Writer
14.  Abir Bazaz – Academician
15.  Mirza Waheed – Author
16.  Adv. Syed Manzoor – Senior Advocate
17.  Dr. Rafi Punjabi – Poet and Writer
18.  Huma Dar – Academician
19.  Dr. Javid Iqbal – Columnist and Physician
20.  Anwar Ashai – Social Activist
21.  Zareef Ahmed Zareef – Poet and Social Activist
22.  Ifrah Butt – Social Activist
23.  Samreen Mushtaq – Social Activist
24.  Uzma Qureshi – Social Activist
25.  Uzaifa Basu – Social Activist
26.  Khurram Parvez – Human Rights Activist



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