Amarnath: How the state manufactures fear!

Pahalgam and Sonamarg areas of the Kashmir valley have been declared out of bounds for school excursions “In view of the ensuing Amarnath Yatra”. The timing of the ban imposed by school education department of Kashmir on school picnics to Pahalgam and Sonamarg is quite interesting. The ban comes in the backdrop of the warning of the Indian army about a possible militant attack on the yatra. While as the warning runs contrary to the tall claims of the security establishment in Kashmir that militancy has been, more or less eliminated, but it does serve the purpose of the state to manufacture fear and impose a sense of uncertainity among the people.

One of the important visible aims is to create fear psychosis among the natives as well as the yatris. This manufactured fear is aimed to give legitimacy to the presence of security forces across the length and breadth of Kashmir.  And as a result, all the debates regarding the repeal or partial withdrawal of draconian laws like AFSPA, Disturbed Area Act and Public Safety Act are stealthily laid to rest without much opposition. And the laws continue to be there. The yatra also means that Kashmiri policemen are coerced to be at the disposal of the pilgrims for two months. That their posting is coercive was evidenced by the recent hunger strike and protest by new recruits of the JKP undergoing training at the Ganderbal police training centre. The manufacture of threat is not a new thing in Kashmir. Back in 2012, a cooking gas cylinder blast in a vehicle carrying some tourists, in Islamabad, was initially reported as an grenade attack on yatris in the Indian national media. Similarly, when militants attacked a CRPF camp early this year in Bemina, one of the Indian TV channels went to the extent of falsely reporting it as an attack on a school run by the JK Police and further declared that 5 students died in the attack while as in reality the school was closed on that day and there were no civilian casualties.

One more aspect of this perceived threat is that it reaffirms the Islamic Extremism rhetoric which is often used to downplay the struggle of Kashmiris. It has been a convenient way all along to malign the Kashmiri struggle as being communal and this particular Hindu pilgrimage provides an opportunity for the state to turn the tide in favour of its own narrative. And we know, branding it as Islamic Extremism is the easiest way to turn any struggle of Muslims in any part of the world illegitimate. And Islamic Extremism having with its different shades and different definitions in different parts of the world, when linked with Kashmir, makes it easy for the world to forget the various human rights violations being meted out to Kashmiris on one pretext or the other.

Keeping in view the fact that this threat perception was well received by the central government notwithstanding the clear rejection at the state government level, a political angle cannot be avoided with general elections due next year. Congress may want to turn the tide completely in its favour eyeing the religious Hindu vote base, as if acting as the saviour of the beliefs of majority Hindu community given that Army has already invoked ‘Operation Shiva’ to ‘sanitize the hills around the route’! Furthermore, this decision as well points to the incompetence and irrelevance of the state government and that fact that the it is just an extension of the central government of India. It is just an instrument or interface between the decision maker (central government) and the executing body that is the army. The fact that there was no mention of any militant attack threat in the recent meeting of the Unified Headquarters headed by J&K Chief Minister makes it amply clear that this threat perception has been conceived at the centre only.

It is interesting to note here that even during the peak of the 2008 popular uprising which was sparked off by an issue related to the same Amarnath yatra, the yatra went off peacefully without any harm done to a single pilgrim. This leads to the conclusion that the only visible threat to peace is the state itself.

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This write-up first appeared on PKKH.

Journey of Faith

It was always from books in school, posters and picture frames hung in the drawing rooms and paintings available for sale outside mosques and more recently facebook pictures that I had known about and experienced Makkah and Madina. And as they say, it is the lucky ones who get to see, experience and live these places in reality.

So, here I was – King Abdul Azeez International Airport, Jeddah. While the airplane was moving on the tarmac after landing, I could see the first glimpses of the land, minarets of beautiful mosques interspersed with a few date trees and the desert soil. The immigration check is a bit tedious particularly for people from the Indian sub-continent. Once through the immigration, we are on the way to Makkah a 50 minutes’ drive from Jeddah.  The introduction I had with the driver, a Pakistani, would turn out to be the standard for the rest of the days in the Kingdom. When you reply, “Kashmir” after being asked, “Kahan se ho bhai?”, he is quick to add, “Azad Kashmir or Jammu Kashmir”!

After reaching Makkah at 90 minutes past midnight one would expect to see pretty less number of pilgrims in the Haram than during the day doing Tawaf of the Ka’aba and Saee between Safa and Marwah. But, the activity in the Haram never stops or even appears to slow down. It is a cliché but true that one can hardly differentiate between day and night in Masjid Haram because of the continuous rush of pilgrims throughout the 24 hours,  if not for the temperature – soaring during the day and somewhat soothing during the night. 

While doing the obligatory acts of worship which comprise Umrah various realisations dawn upon the person. It is amazing how God preserved the noble acts of Prophets and their family members for the times to come so much so that they are obligatory upon people performing pilgrimage. As an example, during the Saee of Safa-Marwah, men have to walk briskly/run for a certain distance designated by green lights an this is in honour of the act of running of Hagar, the wife of Prophet Abraham, when she was looking for water for herself and her son Ismael. As I observed, it looks like as if a marathon gets started as soon as as men approach the green light. But, it is all in honour of the travails of a mother for her son, for the community, for the believers to come – as it was only through her that God blessed us with Zam-Zam.

And, with the completion of seven runs between Mount Safa and Mount Marwah followed by the compulsory hair-cut, having completed the seven circumbulations around the Ka’abah, the act of Umrah is completed. And the restrictions of the state of Ihram also end and people can afterwards do as much Tawaaf and other optional/recommended acts of worship as per conviction, convenience.

During the subsequent acts of Tawaaf , it was an inspiring experience to walk along people from all over the wolrd – Turks, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sudanese, Indonesians, Iranians and others at the same time, all praising God with the same words – some individually, some in groups. Some Turks were really fast in completing the Tawaaf and one fine afternoon I took up the challenge and completed Tawaaf – seven circumbulations around Ka’abah – in just fifteen minutes, in the meantime beating even the Turks! And the time when the crescent at the top of the clock tower overlooking Masjid Haram turned green it signalled the time for Azaan. At this particular time the haram police, conspicuous by only their Khaki (without any weapons or even any sticks) gears into action and goads the pilgrims to row up for prayers. The clock tower and hence its green crescent is visible from as far as Mina (and probably Arafat as well) and hence serves as an important indicator for prayer times apart from accommodating a huge number of pilgrims.

The 6 hours journey Northwards by bus from Makkah to Madina is as physically exhausting an experience as is enriching spiritually. Almost 80 per cent of the track is characterised by rocky desert on both sides. The endless desert on either side of the highway gives us an idea about how it would have been like when the Prophet himself undertook the journey. It took the Prophet around two weeks to cover the entire distance which included three days spent in the cave of Sawr, on the outskirts of Makkah. And at that time, there were no Pakistani restaurants along the highway to have lunch, there wasn’t even a highway for that matter, no Red Crescent health centres along the way. Hence a person travelling from Makkah to Madina definitely gets at least some idea about the history, about the hardships undertaken by the Prophet and the accompanying sacrifices made by the companions of the Prophet for the cause ordained by God.

Upon reaching Madina, one can see difference in various aspects. Apart from the demography of the pilgrims – in Madina majority of them are from the Indian sub-continent, Turkey and Iran – the other important aspect include the provision of separate prayer areas for women as well as separate timings for doing the optional/recommended acts of worship inside the Masjid Nabawi. In those times males are not allowed in those specific areas of the mosque and the Haram policemen, who are otherwise busy on Whatsapp on their Samsung phones, have a pretty hard time keeping control. The other thing; this being the resting place of the person considered by us to be the greatest ever to have lived, this place becomes an epitome of reverence!

At last it is not just yet another trip across the Arabian sea, flying over Pakistan, Iran and UAE and finally landing in Saudi Arabia to be recorded in our travel history. But it is a trip to two of the three holiest places in Islam, the other being Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, which have been mentioned in the Quran by the Lord. It is a spiritual experience which leads to an overall change in the thinking, behaviour and outlook of a person, who seeks such a thing!