Minority report

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s castigation of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on October 29 for their audacity in appointing an interlocutor for the India and Pakistan dispute over Kashmir was very timely and appropriate. The OIC does not seem to understand that India is a country with a Muslim population of over 151 million, the third-largest Muslim community in the world after Indonesia and Bangladesh, and that Pakistan, a country with a much smaller Muslim population, does not really have any locus standi as far as Kashmir is concerned.

To project India’s case on the Kashmir issue, one needn’t go into the history of Kashmir. Just citing the previous United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s announcement several years ago that the UN resolutions of 1949-50 on Kashmir are not valid in today’s context, is enough. For some strange, unexplained reason, the Indian foreign office has not made use of this extremely significant statement.

In this connection one has to painfully admit that in the last two decades India has failed to counter Pakistan’s propaganda in some of the orthodox Muslim countries, especially Saudi Arabia, and been unable to project itself as the home of 151 million Muslims. Public opinion about India in most Muslim countries, except maybe Indonesia, Turkey and Bangladesh, has become a victim of Pakistan’s propaganda which day in and day out spreads the canard that Muslims in India are persecuted, and that their rights and privileges are seriously curtailed. Unfortunately, this is also the general belief of a number of Pakistanis. It was not so always, but has unfortunately become so in the past two decades, especially from the time of Zia-ul-Haq and his anti-Indian tirade.

India needs to seriously counter this vicious propaganda and project the truth. Public opinion in orthodox Muslim countries must be won over and Pakistan’s bluff called. How one misses an Arab leader like Saddam Hussein at such a time; he was a strong supporter of India on all issues, including Kashmir.

One also needs to remember that in 1971 a very important geo-political change took place in the subcontinent. Bangladesh, with a large Muslim population, seceded from Pakistan after an armed struggle and became the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Thus, Pakistan lost its moral claim of being the champion of Muslims in the subcontinent under the legacy of the 1947 Partition. So how can Pakistan then claim any moral right to Jammu and Kashmir vis-à-vis India?

Since 1947 there have been four armed clashes between Pakistan and India over Kashmir. In 1971, the Pakistan Army was decisively beaten, both on the western and eastern fronts. But not only did India not press her advantage at the bilateral discussion at Shimla in 1972, it also agreed to return 93,000 prisoners of war and all territory seized from Pakistan without any conditions. This remains a unique event in world history. The correct quid pro quo would have been for Pakistan to give up all claims to Kashmir, or at least agreeing to the ceasefire line or the Line of Control between the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. But, in its generosity, the Indian government did not press these points and decided to trust Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Thereafter, Pakistan did not raise the Kashmir issue for two decades.

It was during the National Democratic Alliance regime that India allowed Pervez Musharraf, on a visit to India, to raise the Kashmir issue after recognising him as Pakistan’s President. Kashmir returned to the discussion table once again, that too at a time when Pakistan was sending terrorists to India, not only from Pakistan but also from Chechnya, Afghanistan and Sudan.

Kashmir was already in turmoil, 1989 onwards, as a result of political mishandling by successive governments in New Delhi. Terrorism had gained new ground and had a clear-cut agenda of ethnic cleansing, in the course of which the Pandit community was by and large compelled to leave the Valley. Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s period as Union home minister was particularly bad, and it was complicated further by George Fernandes serving as minister for Kashmir affairs, the two working at cross purposes.

India needs to do a great deal in her external publicity programme, especially to counter Pakistan’s propaganda on the condition of Muslims in India. If some of the utterances by the captured “jihadis” are any guide, it is clear that they genuinely believe that the condition of Muslims in India is pitiable, that they are constantly persecuted, harassed and humiliated. While there are deeply unfortunate and shameful events like the Babri Masjid demolition, followed by the Mumbai riots of 1992 and the riots in Gujarat in 2002, these are exceptions, not the rule. Most Indian Muslims would agree that barring these, they live a life of dignity like all Indians. That they have equal rights and freedoms — political, social and religious. One need not go into the statistically-flawed and politically-prejudiced Sachar Commission report which sought to determine the status of Muslims in India only with reference to the number of jobs they hold in the government vis-à-vis the upper classes among Hindus, excluding the dalits.

The fact is that Muslims have made a remarkable mark in India, especially in businesses and professions. Nothing illustrates this better than Bollywood where they occupy a dominant position, as superstars, technicians and musicians. It is time some of our prominent Indian Muslims take the initiative in counteracting Pakistan’s propaganda, and project the truth. A special responsibility rests on the Bollywood community. If some of them, say like the Khan trio, do some plain speaking, especially directed at Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, one can expect these countries to change their attitudes towards India considerably. One recalls the televised tête-à-tête that the late actor Feroze Khan had with Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan — he criticised Pakistani society, praised India, and said that he was longing to return to India to live an honourable life as a free citizen.

A lot of responsibility rests with progressive Indian Muslims, intellectuals, artists and politicians as well to disseminate the truth: that India has a large Muslim population of 151 million, and that Indian Muslims, therefore, have a natural interest in seeing that Jammu and Kashmir remains in India. It is only by conscious reorientation of India’s PR machinery abroad that we can influence public opinion in some Muslim countries. Once this is done, it will surely be reflected in organisations like the OIC.

Nitish Sengupta, an academic and an author, is a former Member of Parliament and a former secretary to the Government of India