It is important to understand Pakistan’s approach towards Kashmir and why Kashmiri insurgents and separatists do what they do. Apparently, both Pakistan and the Kashmiri separatists stick to the point that because Kashmir is a Muslim majority Indian state therefore Kashmir’s merger with secular India is unacceptable to them. To them, the so-called ‘’two-nation’’ theory applies to Kashmir therefore according to them, Kashmir should merge with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan which is clearly an anathema to the concept of secular India. Are Hindus and Muslims of India two separate nations? Do Muslims of the world form one single nation? Answers to these questions are extremely relevant and crucial to the modern world. Any opposition to abrogation of article 370 and the full merger of Kashmir to secular India is actually a tacit support to ‘’two-nation’’ theory which anybody would do at own peril.
Several invasions and thousands of years of rules of Muslim sultans and emperors could not sow the seeds of communal disharmony in India. Hindus and Muslims lived together peacefully. This was clearly visible in 1857 when both communities fought Britain together.
Post 1857, the British ruling dispension aggressively adopted the ‘’divide and rule’’ policy to consolidate their position. The ‘’separate electorate’’ for Muslims in India brought in through Minto-Morley Reform of 1907 was first constitutional milestone in modern Indian history that recognised and encouraged the thinking that political interests of Muslims in India were different from that of Hindus. This was the legal foundation of the ‘’ two-nation’’ theory which finally led to carving out of India of a theocratic Islamic nation. The very premise behind the creation of Pakistan was the spurious concept that Muslims in India form a separate nation and they could not live together with Hindus despite the fact that both communities not only share the same culture and language but also have the same ancestors and share the same DNA. Pakistan never was a nation and was formed solely on the basis of religion.
Ironically, India got independence only after the then Labour government of Britain completed the creation of the Islamic nation state of Pakistan on Indian soil on 14 August 1947. It was not really a partition. It is said that the aim behind this move was to have a buffer state against Russian red army but whether this was a sensible strategic move on part of Britain and USA is an open-ended question especially in view of the damages done to the world by the radicalism emanating from Pakistan.
It is in this background that one has to understand Pakistan’s approach towards Kashmir and why Kashmiri insurgents and separatists do what they do. Apparently, both Pakistan and the Kashmiri separatists basically stick to the point that because Kashmir is a Muslim majority Indian state therefore Kashmir’s merger with secular India is not acceptable to them. To them, the so-called ‘’two-nation’’ theory applies to Kashmir therefore according to them, Kashmir should merge with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan which is clearly an anathema to the concept of secular India.
Are Hindus and Muslims of India two separate nations? Do Muslims of the world form one single nation? Answers to these questions are extremely relevant and crucial to the modern world.
Any opposition to abrogation of article 370 and the full merger of Kashmir to secular India is actually a tacit support to ‘’two-nation’’ theory which anybody would do at own peril
Turkey and Malaysia have their own agenda behind their support to Pakistan on Kashmir. Both are aiming to be non-Arab Islamic power centres. The regressive Turkey, having completely undone the good works of Kamal Ataturk Pasha seeks to restore the lost glory of Ottoman.
In India’s home turf, the activists like Shabnam Hashmi, Anirudh Kala, Brienelle D’Souza, and Revati Laul, and who recently had published a report titled ‘Kashmir Civil Disobedience – A Citizens’ Report’, are probably doing the same without realising that they may actually be supporting the two- nation theory of Pakistan.
But the most questionable and unfortunate is the position taken by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. I hope Britain never ever faces the predicament of ‘’two-nation’’ theory.
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Author: Umesh Prasad
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