follows: “I broke the sword and made a sickle from it.” This saying
expresses the essence of his thoughts. This means that though God
created iron with exceptional strength, iron is not meant to be used
for violence. It should rather be used for constructive ends in the
service of humanity. If instead of a sword, you make sickle from the
iron, it will be of use in agriculture. But since October 1989 such
people in Kashmir have emerged who believe in converting their
sickles into swords. In the name of jihad, they have been spreading
the culture of hatred and violence throughout the whole of the State.
Fromday one, I have regarded this so-calledKashmiri movement
as being without foundation. I have to say that any progressive
happenings emerge in the process of a long history rather than
through the present kind of movement. I believe that the fate of
Kashmir was already decided upon with the end of British rule
in 1947. Now neither an all-out war nor a guerilla war can change
the fate of Kashmir. All such efforts to do so have totally failed.
Repeating such initiatives again and again only worsens an already
bad situation.
Experience shows that India’s progress is far greater than that of
Pakistan in every respect. In such a situation the best choice for the
Kashmiris is India, not Pakistan. The truth is that remaining part of
India is to be a part of a developed country, whereas associating with
Pakistan is throwing in one’s lot with a country which has yet to start
its journey towards progress.
Before the start of militancy in 1989, Kashmir was called ‘Pirwar’,
meaning in Kashmiri language, the land of Sufis. AKashmiri Muslim
once told me with great pain that, prior to this, Kashmiris had not
even known how to
kill chickens, but after 1989, they began to
slaughter human beings. The Sufi culture that prevailed in Kashmir
owing to the untiring efforts of Sufis like Bulbul Shah and Shah
Hamadan, etc., was totally a culture of peace. The Kashmiris by
temperament were totally non-violent.
This Sufi couplet speaks of the peaceful temperament of the
Kashmiris:
Ma qissae sikandar o dara na khwanda eim
Az ma bajuz hikayat e mehro wafa mapurs
(I have not read the stories of Sikandar and Dara, ask me only
about stories of love and compassion)
But human beings are fallible and prone to human weaknesses,
26
The Dawn Over Kashmir
