{"id":4079,"date":"2019-03-04T21:05:40","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T15:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=4079"},"modified":"2019-03-05T11:40:23","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T06:10:23","slug":"dissent-and-democracy-banning-the-jamaat-e-isamia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/point-of-view\/kashmir-talk\/dissent-and-democracy-banning-the-jamaat-e-isamia\/","title":{"rendered":"Dissent and Democracy: Banning The Jama’at-e-Isamia"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>\n

Punchline\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dissent and Democracy : Banning The Jama\u2019at-e-Islamia Jammu and Kashmir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z.\nG. Muhammad <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For four\nmillion people living in   an area of 85,805.8 square miles in the bosom\nof mighty Himalayas, Saturday \u201812 March 1932\u2019 was a momentous day.  On this day after years of struggle and\nsacrifices,   \u2018Maharaja Hari Singh, the\nautocratic ruler of Kashmir  on the\nrecommendations of the Glancy Commission Report announced the grant of the\nrights to freedom of press and platform to the people of the State.\u2019 Maharaja\nHari Singh ancestor had purchased the country and its people as merchandise in 1846 from British for peanuts-\nthus earned the title of ruling it as his fiefdom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 To see the fundamental democratic right of\nfreedom of expression denied to the people of the state restored, it had taken the\nblood of hundreds of martyrs to convince the\nEarl of Willingdon, British Viceroy and Governor General (1931-1936) to appoint\na commission under BJ Glancy, an officer of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the\nBritish Indian Government, to look into the grievances of the people of the\nState. The restoration of this right in the state was the beginning of peoples\ntryst with democracy.  On 15, October, of\nthe year this right was restored, the first political organization All Jammu\nand Kashmir Muslim Conference was set up for conducting the movement for establishing democratic institutions as\nenvisaged in the memorandum presented to Lord Reading by Kashmir leaders in\nOctober 1924. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole\nobjective behind recapitulating these historical developments is to suggest\nthat people of Jammu and Kashmir had earned the freedom\nto association, assembly, carrying out social, religious and political\nactivities and right to dissent during the feudal-autocratic rule much before\nthese were bestowed upon people in other states in the sub-continent. Subsequently, these rights were also protected and\nguaranteed to the people in the Constitution. Nonetheless, after 1947, the political\nparties in power in the state, despite vowing for strengthening the democratic\ninstitutions in the state  and protecting people\u2019s right to freedom of\nexpression, for achieving myopic political ends have been undoing the goals\nachieved after huge sacrifices. On Thursday,  \nJama’at-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir were\nbanned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for five years, officials\nsaid.  The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)\nafter a high-level meeting on security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi\nissued a notification in this regard. The order said the politico-religious\norganization was indulging in activities prejudicial to internal security and\npublic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party\nhas been banned for the third time during past forty-eight\nyears since it for the first time participated in the electoral politics and\ncontested elections for the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly.  Before looking into its role as a religious and political organization, it would\nbe of interest to look at the genesis of the organization and its objectives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In undivided India, on 26 August 1941, Maulana\nAbul Ala Maududi founded Jama’at-e-Islami. On his invitation seventy-five\npersons assembled in Lahore.  There were\namong them the Ulema, University graduates, artisans and professional men. The\nobjective of the organization was the establishment of Deen (religion) which meant a\nrevival of Islamic ideas and values in the life of the people. Known for his lucid diction, in Urdu, his literature on Islam was  \nread by Muslims all over India. In Srinagar, it was available at an\niconic book shop Ghulam Mohammad Noor Mohammad Book Sellers, Maharaja Gunj-\nthen the commercial hub of the state.  Few young men\nincluding a science graduate working in Islamia High School, Saad-u-Din was attracted\ntowards the literature. In 1945, he along with another young man Qari\nSaif-u-Din reached Pathankot to participate in an All India Conference of the Jama’at-e-Islami\nheld on 18 April 1945. In this conference,\nthey met Maulana Ghulam Ahmad Ahrar of Shopian. On their return to Srinagar,\nthe trio founded    Jama’at-e-Islami\nJammu and Kashmir. Immediately after the foundation a delegation of the newly established organization called upon Mirwaiz\nMolvi Mohammad Yusuf Shah, then most important religious leader. \u201cThe\ndelegation included Hakim Ghulam Nabi, Maulana Ahrar, Maulana Mohammad Amin\nShopiani, Maulana Ahsan Sahib and Qari Saif-U-Din\u201d. He encouraged them to go\nahead with the mission of spreading the message of Allah. Moreover, he told them that they could also use the premises of the Jamia\nMasjid, Srinagar for their religious activities.  Steadily, a good number of educated Muslims\nwere attracted towards the religious programmes of the newly founded party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its\nconstitution, enforced in November 1953, under article 4, the organization   explain its objective: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nobjective of the Jama\u2019at-e-Islamia J&K is Iqaamat-e-Din<\/em>, i.e. establishment of God\u2019s religion, which is\ninspired by sole desire to earn Divine pleasure and secure success in the\nHereafter.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And under\nArticle 5, clause 3, it explains that the organization wants to achieve this\nobjective through democratic and constitutional methods while working for the\nreforms and righteous revolution. Looking\nat the organization through the prism of its constitution it is a religious\norganization \u2018guided by Quran and Sunnah\u2019 that does not believe in employing\nthe ways and means against ethics, truthfulness or which may   contribute to strife on earth.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nJama\u2019at constitution does not explicitly say that the party can take part in\nthe elections for the Parliament or the State Assembly.  It also makes\nno mention of the   Kashmir\nDispute and working for the cause of self-determination for the people of the\nstate.  Nonetheless, it has been part of\nthe electoral process in the state, and equally,\nits leadership and cadres from the mid-fifties agitated for the right to\nself-determination and suffered long incarcerations. It shot into prominence as\na socio-religious and political\norganization, after 1964 Holy Relic, after it as a constituent of the All\nParties Action Committee endorsed the resolution for passed in mass public\ngathering for the right to\nself-determination on 23 March 1964. In 1968, State Peoples Convention,\nconvened by Sheikh Abdullah, it had avowedly come in support for right to\nself-determination for the state, that besides\nbeing part of the \u201cInstrument of Accession\u201d signed by Maharaja Hari Singh and\nfirst Governor General of India, Lord Mountbatten had also been recognized by\nUnited Nations in its 1948 and 1949 resolutions and agreed by India and\nPakistan.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the thick\nof election boycott culture that after 1951 elections for the Constituent\nAssembly was gospel for the resistance politics in the state, in 197i, it decided\nto go against the tide and participate in the polls.\nIn 1970, the Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front had announced that it was going\nto contest the coming elections.  On 12\nJanuary 1971, the GOI declared the Plebiscite Front as an unlawful body, arrested its 350 activists and locked its office.\nSyed Mir Qasim in his memoirs mentions that he had suggested to Prime Minister\nIndra Gandhi to declare the Jama\u2019at also as an unlawful body and prevent it from\nparticipating in the elections. Mrs\nGandhi had not agreed to ban and\npreventing it from participating in the polls.\nShe had her reason for it then she will have to ban the RSS also in India. The\nJamat leaders took the oath of loyalty to the Indian and Kashmir Constitution\nof India, and it won some seats. (My life\nand Times p 132-133). The participation of the Jama\u2019at was a trendsetter in as\nmuch as a couple of few more organization\nlike the Political Conference, which candidly advocated accession of state with\nPakistan also contested the 1977 elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1975,\nthe party fielded candidates against Sheikh Abdullah and Afzal Beg after the\nIndra-Abdullah Agreement, which had drawn curtains on the plebiscite movement\nin the state and let to the burial of the Plebiscite Front.  Same year after the elections Sheikh Abdullah\nbanned the Jama\u2019at, sent all legislators of the party\nto jail and closed schools run by the organization- interestingly the GOI had\nnot extended the Emergency to the state. The organization also contested 1977\nand 1983 State Assembly elections- it did not have good success. And it also\ncontested 1987 election as a constituent of the MUF. Like few other political\nparties that participated in the electoral process, after the notoriously\nrigged elections of 1987 elections, the\nJama\u2019at also remained away from the electoral politics. Nonetheless, for it\nbeing a cadre-based and grassroots\norganizations its influence has not diminished from the hustings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 1990 the V.P. Singh government again banned\nthe organization. In 1993 P.V. Narasimha Rao government revoked the order. In\n1993, after the birth of the multi-party combine the All Parties Hurriyat\nConference, it was also one of its 23 constituents.\nNonetheless, despite being constituent of the Hurriyat Conference, it continued\nit socio-religious activities- educations and orphanages remained its main\nconcerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strength of democracy lies in giving space to voices of dissent and not in denying it. Had Mrs Gandhi agreed to the suggestion of Syed Qasim, perhaps the Jama\u2019at would not have participated in the future elections till 1987.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Part Published in Greater Kashmir on 4-03-2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Punchline<\/p>\n

Dissent and Democracy : Banning The Jama\u2019at-e-Islamia Jammu and Kashmir<\/p>\n

By<\/p>\n

Z.
\nG. Muhammad <\/p>\n

For four
\nmillion people living in   an area of 85,805.8 square miles in the bosom
\nof mighty Himalayas, Saturday \u201812 March 1932\u2019 was a momentous day.  On this day after years of struggle and
\nsacrifices,   \u2018Maharaja Hari Singh, the
\nautocratic ruler of Kashmir  on the
\nrecommendations of the Glancy Commission Report announced the grant of the
\nrights to freedom of press and platform to the people of the State.\u2019 Maharaja
\nHari Singh ancestor had purchased the country and its people as merchandise in 1846 from British for peanuts-
\nthus earned the title of ruling it as his fiefdom. <\/p>\n

 To see the fundamental democratic right of
\nfreedom of expression denied to the people of the state restored, it had taken the
\nblood of hundreds of martyrs to convince the
\nEarl of Willingdon, British Viceroy and Governor General (1931-1936) to appoint
\na commission under BJ Glancy, an officer of the Foreign Affairs …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kashmir-talk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4079"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4086,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079\/revisions\/4086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}