Kashmiri Leadership
I HAVE BEEN thinking of the issue of Kashmir since its beginning. By the grace of God, the view I initially formed on this issue appears correct to me even today. I have never felt the need to change it.
I have been writing about Kashmir since 1968. My first article was published in the Urdu Weekly, Al-Jamiat, the official organ of the Jamiat ul Ulema-i-Hind. I quote here from Al-Jamiat.
“The time for receiving one’s rights is when the decision is in one’s own hands. But our leaders have realized this fact only when their case has become a moral one. I have read the speeches of the Kashmiri leader, Shaikh Abdullah, who is very bold and has made sacrifices which have earned him the title Sher-e-Kashmir. But his present Kashmiri campaign has nothing to do with reality.
“In 1947 he was in a position—had he opted for a realistic policy—to make a decision on the issue of Kashmir according to his own will. But, owing to his unrealistic dreams, he let the moment of decision pass him by. Now, when the time for decision making has slipped from his hands, he is making a hue and cry. But now his clamour, a crying out for justice, on moral grounds, has no value in the world of today.”
“Once a young man opened a shop. He had set foot in life’s struggle for the first time. He had no idea of the safeguards needed in life when you initiate such a task. So he used an ordinary lock for his shop. One day he returned from the shop looking very downcast. An elderly acquaintance asked him what the matter was and why he was looking so sad. He replied, ‘Thieves broke in my shop. The lock I used was an ordinary one and someone broke open the lock at night and stole all the goods.’ The old man pointed out that this had been his own fault. The young man said, ‘Yes. Now with this experience, I have learnt that I must use an extra strong lock on my shop door.’ Then the old man asked, ‘Is this something to be learnt after having such an experience? When you started out as a shopkeeper you should have known from day one that a strong lock needed to be used.’
“As far as a shop break-in or other similar personal matter is concerned, there is the possibility that one may make amends after such an experience. But, in the case of a national decision, the issue is totally different. In personal matters, even after incurring a loss, there is the possibility of being successful once again with further effort. But in national matters when the time for decision has slipped from one’s hands the problem becomes much more complicated and difficult to resolve.
“National leadership is only for those who can envision the future in the present. Those who can see only the present and the past cannot lead the nation. However, by their unwise steps they can surely complicate matters.” (Al-Jamiat Weekly, New Delhi, June 14, 1968, p. 4).
Since then I have been writing on the Kashmir issue over the years. If my writings for the last 35 years were to be collected, they would form a voluminous book. By God’s grace my writings have benefited a great number of Kashmiris, who, in consequence, have abandoned the path of militancy in favour of education and progress. I constantly receive letters and phone calls from Kashmiris telling me of the change in their thinking.
A ‘movement’ implies a movement of the masses but, in fact, it is instigated by leaders who mobilize the masses through their fiery speeches and writings.
Then in the name of the masses they earn all the distinction that goes with leadership. This state of affairs increases the responsibility of the leader to a very great degree. That being so, only that person should enter the field who has made the preparations necessary for the performance of the task.
Those who enter this field without the necessary preparations are grave wrongdoers in the eyes of God, irrespective of how popular they are among the ignorant masses. The final hour has now come for the Kashmiris to rise above their leaders and to view the whole matter afresh – not in the light of the pronouncements of their leaders but in the light of practical realities. In doing so, they must chart the course of their lives anew. There is simply no other way for them to succeed.
