Leave toying with kettle drums.
Let there be thunder storm and tempest.
Yes an earth quake.
—Mahjoor
It took many years ’ patience and perseverance for the Kashmiris to build the whole edifice of political opposition to the autocratic rule. They built it brick by brick; layer by layer; each layer making an important phase in its edification. Whatever the variations, the sole interlinking principle of these phases was the growing awareness about the miserable conditions of the people, and a strong desire to change these to reduce poverty and to create an environment that would ensure the fulfillment of religious aspirations of the people. The hartals observed by the shawl weavers to air their anger against the callousness of dag-i-shawl; the petitions presented to the authorities for the protection of the religious places and for the validation of newly founded schools; and the labour tensions that surfaced for an increase in the wages are the vital linkages of the evolution of political opposition in Kashmir which exposed the centuries old wrong doings of the ruling clique and never-melting perfidious character of its henchmen.
But the impact of Silk Factory strike was far greater; it resulted in building a fearless, matured and organized opposition by breaking the silence, and the isolationist attitude of the masses. It inspired the Muslim elite to come to the forefront to articulate public grievances
in a fairly effective manner. As a result, they showed considerable understanding approach towards the people’s problems when they presented a memorandum to the Viceroy and demanded, besides other things, a State Constitution, a Legislative Assembly with Muslim representation, land reforms and equitable distribution of Government contracts.
Failing to appreciate the changing public mood and the throbbing pulse of the elite, the Government adopted a lackadaisical approach to these demands and dismissed them as unfounded and unsavory. Infuriatingly, it pounced on the elite; charged them with sedition; confiscated their properties; and expelled them from the country. The common people too were not spared; their righteous indignation was suppressed with not only baton charges but also by augmenting their poverty through systematic corruption and exploitation, and by hurting their sensitivities. As a result, Kashmir presented an extremely intolerable atmosphere, hostile to the majority community who constituted more than 99 percent of the total population of the Valley. Prejudice, discrimination and the invidious attitude of the ruling clique filled the community with dismay and discontent, and made the situation so disgusting that in March 1929 A.D., Sir Albion Baneiji resigned the post of Foreign Political Minister which he had held for over two years. He made it public through press that he could no longer be associated with the misgovemment of the Dogra regime. While castigating it, he observed:
Jammu and Kashmir State is labouring under many disadvantages, with a large Muhammedan population absolutely illiterate, labouring under poverty and very low economic condition of living in the villages and practically governed like dumb driven cattle. There is no touch between the Government and the people, no suitable opportunity for representing grievances and the administrative machinery itself requires overhauling from top to bottom to bring it up to the modem conditions of efficiency. It has at present no sympathy with the people’s wants and grievances.
Not caring two hoots what an experienced, matured and foresighted politician of Baneiji’s caliber outlined in his press statement, the Government continued to enforce the anti-Muslim policy even more vigorously than before. The most disheartening features of this policy were:
The denial of an average livelihood to weavers, and the promotion of a preponderance of the Hindus, both the Kashmiris and the non-Kashmiris, in the State service to the detriment of newly returned young local Muslim graduates, post-graduates and diploma holders from outside educational institutions; quite a few of whom conceived of a talk-shop (a gossip center which, subsequently, became a discussion forum, known as Reading Room Party) at Fateh Kadal on 12 April, 1930 A.D., where they indulged in ribald humour and occasionally exchanged ideas on issues like unemployment that had afflicted their community; the preference given to the non-Muslims in the relief dispensation during natural calamities and other emergencies; the perpetration of hardships against the Muslim contractors, craftsmen, artisans, peasants and villagers; the patronage to corruption that pushed die masses to starvation; the callous disregard for Islamic susceptibilities, shrines and places of worship.
The situation was extremely bad. The entire Valley was seething with discontent. A deep hatred for the extant Order of things was preparing a ground for subtle interplay of historical forces to set Kashmiris against the misrule. It was a matter of time before they could embark on the task of improving their lot.
However, a few reasonable and moderate opinions, in the whole lot of insolent, incompetent and inhuman ruling race, could foresee how things would turn out to their discomfiture if remedial measures were not taken in time. Sheikh Abdul Aziz and General Samunder Khan, the non-Kashmiri Muslim members of the Dogra Sabha were most notable among them who impressed on the Government the importance of changing its policy to stem the rising tide. But it could not think beyond constituting the Civil Services Recruitment Board to assuage the deep longing of the Muslims for a fair deal.
Apparently the Board was constituted to redress the grievances of the Muslims, but surprisingly it had no Muslim member. Also the rules of its business, and recruitment procedures were framed strictly and unfairly to the prejudice of the Muslim interest. These were too harsh to encourage their representation in the State services. For all practical purposes, thus, the Government deliberately prevaricated over the whole issue.The Board turned out to be a complete joke that gave a nasty jolt to the Reading Room Party which vainly tried to find favour with it by persuading it to modify the rules. To the Party’s utter dismay, the Board showed reluctance to even remove the rider of competitive test that was not at all in vogue till then. The hapless Party had to eat a humble pie. It wore a haggard and disappointed look after its unfulfilled mission and ambition.
THE DESECRATION OF QURAN
The Board’s stubborness did not provoke any immediate public reaction; but history was nevertheless imperceptibly working up to shatter their silence lest it might assume the proportions of a cowardly behaviour. It was shaping a series of significant events to expose the squalor of bitter hatred and malice of the Hindu rulers towards their Muslim subjects buried beneath a deep pile carpet of the Dogra regime. The foremost among these was the prohibition imposed on preaching sermon; the khutba; the most essential part of the nimaz offered on the auspicious occasions of Id and Friday prayers.
It was 29, April, 1931A.D., the Id day that a police sub-inspector, Khem Chand prevented the imam from delivering khutba in the city of Jammu. The congregation felt deeply affronted at this. The incident sent terrible shock waves throughout the length and breadth of the Maharaja’s territories.
The Muslims had not yet come out of this shock when it was reported that at the Government’s instigation a series of anti-Muslim incidents had occurred in Jammu. The most conspicuous among these were:
Tohhin -i- Quran, the defilement of the Quran at the police lines, Jammu where a head constable, Labha Ram insulted the Holy Book while it was being recited by a Junior constable in his room; the closure of a premises and an adjacent tank at village Digore, Jammu for the Muslim congregation; and the demolition of a mosque at Riasi, Jammu.
Whatever the variations, the essential components common to these incidents were: insult to Quran; contempt for religious places; and the disrespect for Muslim traditions. The news of these incidents spread like a wild fire, the flames of which travelled to Srinagar to convert the city into a roaring inferno. The pulpits of mosques, both major and minor, made an overwhelming spectre of fiery denunciations.Durgah Hazratbal and Jama Masjid were thronged with irate protesters who formed huge processions to make their way down the city to proclaim too loudly their collective concern and determination to protect and preserve the sanctity of Islam at any cost.
The Muslims of all opinions and shades joined hands to form a united alliance against the silly behaviour of their Hindu rulers. Transcending their group and sectarian differences, the Sunnis, the Shias, the Hanfis, the Shafis,the Wahabis and the Ahmadiyas let out their anger as one community in an all-embracing manner. The two Mirwaiz, the traditional rivals, agreed to forgo their mutual differences for the sake of greater cause of the community.
Cutting across traditional boundaries of differences, the head of the Ahmadiyas, Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mehmood issued a directive to his followers in Kashmir to join hands with the protesters. The directive reads:
For the past many years, I have been studying the conditions of Muslims in Kashmir and have come to this conclusion that until they rise to offer sacrifices, nothing would be achieved for their betterment …………….All of us, whether belonging to upper or lower strata, must join to tell Maharaja that we are all one and united, that we all stand behind the Kashmiri Muslims and that we will, in no case tolerate any injustice to our Muslim brothers and sisters.
Likewise, the leaders of other groups of Muslims echoed the similar consciousness and exhorted their followers to unite to assert the claim of the whole community. This consciousness asserted itself even more forcefully in July, 1931, when a large number of people assembled in the open compound of Khankah-i-Mulla, the shrine of Amir-i-Kabir, to protest against the Jammu incidents. An observable strength of public passions forced the senior Muslims to call off the protest meeting on the understanding that they would petition the Maharaja for equal respect to the Islamic susceptibilities of the people of Kashmir. This was an obsolete technique not to the liking of many. The protesters who were ready to disperse took back to their seats when one Abdul Qadeer, a Muslim cook in the entourage of Major Bott, a British officer, suddenly appeared on the platform and in his own persuasive manner cast a spell on them. He delivered a speech that was even more spicy than his cuisine and lit the fire of a mass upsurge; sending passions soaring. Firing up the Muslim concerns he said:
The honour, respect and reverence of the Holy Quran are dearer to the Muslims than the kingdom of the world. They will never tolerate any interference in their religion or defilement of their Holy Book. Oh, Muslims arise; time has come when you should reply with stones against the bricks. I warn you that your representatives and memorials cannot come to your rescue, nor will these papers remove injustice. You must stand on your own legs and fight against autocratic force. Even if you have no arms, continue your fight with sticks and stones.
The entire complex of the gigantic mosque of Khankah-i-Mulla reverberated with the piercing noise of the first shot of the revolt fired by a Kashmiri Muslim of Gutli Bagh, a locality inhabited by the people of Pathan origin. An eyewitness account of the whole Qadeer episode reads, thus:
The audience… .listened to Qadeer’s words very attentively. While making the speech, it could not be difficult to gather that he was sufficiently literate and politically conscious. He asked the people to prepare themselves for the struggle against tyranny and oppression of the feudal lords, free themselves from the shackles of the Maharaja’s disposition at any cost…His each and every word left deep and indelible impact on their minds.
While Qadeer’s sensational speech greatly endeared him to the masses, it provoked an angry reaction from the authorities who promptly arrested him on charges of sedition under section 124 and 125 of Ranbir Panel Code. This action of the Government added fuel to the fire; it gained even more public sympathy in his favour and, thereby, acted as a stimulant to further uproar; keeping the pot boiling more intensely than before.
Fraught with many potential implications that changed the course of events, Qadeer’s arrest shifted the focus away from a narrow repertoire to a wider spectrum of communal interests that formed the basis of the Muslim identity of Kashmir. It was a rare phenomenon that gave entirely a new dimension to public anger and, subsequently, transformed it into an organized opposition and a political movement of considerable significance.
To show complete solidarity with Qadeer, the people came out on the streets; obstructing traffic on the way every time he was brought for trial to the Session’s Court and taken back to the prison; and, thus, making it Gung, Vichamag and Nowshehar where riot after riot caused immense loss of life and, property. The city was handed over to the army whose arrogance accentuated the situation. They resorted to indiscriminate firing at Nawabazar; killing several persons and wounding many, besides arresting over three hundred Kashmiris and looting some well-to-do Muslim houses.
In suppressing the agitators, the Dogras were helped by their Hindu subjects, both indigenous and outsiders, who were hostile to the Muslim cause from the beginning. This was a crucial factor that contributed to the outburst of communal riots.
The change in the Kashmiri mindset did not occur in isolation; rather it was the boon companion of suffering and sacrifice made by the unknown heroes in the process Of their struggle against the odds. The circumstances forced them to transcend the boarder of humanity by treading on some people to create an environment of happiness for the ordinary masses. The road to achieve the end was so harsh, so bitter and so rough that it could not be traversed without clearing the blocks. The communal dashes were, therefore, unavoidable in the given situation which had emasculated the Kashmiris for a pretty long time, on the one hand, and emboldened the Hindu Jan to and regime to expand their net of Muslim-bashing, on the other. P. N. Bazaz, an eyewitness substantiates this contention, though with some ambiguity, when he observes:
Indifferent and sometimes positively inimical and unnecessarily hostile and indiscriminate attitude of the Hindus towards both nationalistic and communalistic aspirations of the Muslims was by no means an insignificant factor in developing the movement on these dangerous lines.
Never had before Kashmir witnessed such a forceful upsurge. It was a new trend towards the assertion of Muslim identity; a profound departure from the earlier protests; a complete farewell to the traditional stoicism. It stirred the masses, i.e the Muslims, who constituted over ninety percent of the population, to anger that weighed heavily against their sectarian differences and urban-rural and social divide. It taught all shades and opinions not to imagine themselves as separate and independent of an all- embracing Muslim identity which, subsequently, began echoing more vibrantly with the assistance and guidance of the Central Kashmir Committee, Lahore established at the behest of emigrant Kashmiris, who had settled at Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, and with the blessings of Sir Muhamad Iqbal.
The July massacre compelled the Hindu Dogra regime to appoint a Commission of Enquiry, known as Galancy Commission, with two Muslims and two Hindus as its members, which gave a Constitution to the State supported by the idea of forming associations.
Dr. Abdul Ahad is a well-known historian of Kashmir. He presents a perspective on the Kashmir issue and talks about Kashmir’s history and individuality and personality. For feedback the author can be mailed at drahadhist@yahoo.co.in
