Introduction
I HAVE BEEN writing about Kashmir since 1968. From the very outset I have been of the firm view that unrealistic politics has played havoc with Kashmir, but that now through realistic politics we can once again lead Kashmir to progress and development. Kashmiri Muslims have today become disillusioned. They are living in an atmosphere of mistrust. The aim of this book is to assist them to emerge from the disillusionment, and to start afresh with new-found courage and confidence.
It is indeed possible for the Kashmiris to start a new life at any given time, but for this, two conditions must be met. First, they must hold themselves responsible for the unpleasant situation they are faced with today. As long as they continue to hold others responsible for it, it will be almost impossible for them to make a new start. Second, more importantly, they must come out of their dream world and learn to live in the world of practical realities. They must abandon the wishful thinking their incompetent leaders have fed them on. For their growth and advancement to take place, they must carve out a new plan of adjustment with the present situation. Admitting the existing realities, the Kashmiri Muslims must arrive at the brave decision—willingly and not out of compulsion—that destiny has decreed that they should be a part of India. They have no option but to willingly accept this verdict of destiny.
Furthermore, this is not an evil. It is certainly, in every respect, good for them. India is a big country. It has freedom and democracy. Here reside more than two hundred million people of their faith. Almost all the big Islamic institutions of the sub-continent are located in India. All across India, is imprinted a thousand year- history of the Muslims, which should give them courage and inspiration.
Moreover, India provides great opportunities to Muslims in the footsteps of the Sufis to follow and spread the peaceful message of Islam—a task which, according to a hadith, can earn them salvation in the hereafter.
Once, on a short visit to Karachi, I met a Muslim industrialist who told me that the Indian Muslims were in a far better position than they were. When I asked him why, he answered, “Pakistan is a small country. So we have a limited market for the products we manufacture. In contrast, India is a vast country. If you produce a product in India; you have a huge market to sell it in.”
What this Pakistani industrialist told me has now become a fact of life. In the twenty-first century, the Muslims of India have emerged as the most developed Muslim community in the whole of the subcontinent. This is in no way an exaggeration. And a comparative survey of any city can establish the validity of this statement. For example, today the richest Muslim, of not only the subcontinent but of the whole Muslim world, is an Indian: Azim Hashim Premji of Bangalore.
If the Muslims of Kashmir whole-heartedly were to become a part of India, then great opportunities for all kinds of development would open up to them. The prospects of progress here in the fields of education, economics and other fields are not in evidence anywhere else.
Furthermore, in the sphere of politics, there exist great opportunities for them. Sometime ago I published an article in Hindi, Urdu and English newspapers, in which I urged the Kashmiri Muslims to abandon the policy of confrontation and whole-heartedly become a part of India. Then the first Muslim Prime Minister of democratic India could very well be a Kashmiri Muslim. I have no doubts about this.
