Recent weeks have seen India launch a crackdown on the Muslims living in Kashmir. So far 58 Muslims have died since July 8th with many more being detained by the Indian security forces. This is not something new as the Ummah there has been faced with such oppression by the Hindu state since as far as it can remember. Massacre after massacre, false promise after false promise is what the Ummah has seen regarding Kashmir where India has retained control despite the will of the people while successive Pakistani regimes have essentially given up on the cause. Kashmir is the subcontinent’s Palestine and with the situation worsening day by day the Ummah yearns for salvation.
As Indian soldiers continue to commit atrocities on a daily basis, its government continues to play down these occurrences by calling for negotiations and dialogue on the future of Kashmir. The “world’s largest democracy” is only concerned about its image. To claim that India’s role in Kashmir is simply looking after its politics is a far cry from what the role it really plays. A state exists to protect the values of the people and to tend to the affairs of the people and only when this is done can a state be said to represent the people. Instead, India has always undertaken actions contrary to the will of the Kashmiri people despite claiming to be a “democracy”. It had initially refused to abide by the 1948 UN Resolution which called for a referendum to allow the Kashmiri people to decide their fate and has maintained that the land is rightfully theirs. An 800 page report released in 2015 titled “Structures of Violence: The Indian State in Jammu and Kashmir,” detailed 333 case studies of human rights violations involving 972 staff from across the political spectrum including army personnel, police and politicians. All this demonstrates that India has so far done the opposite of taking care of the people of Kashmir.
India has long had a problem in dealing with its minorities. Hinduism at its core stratifies society through its caste system. Despite producing personalities such as Gandhi who protested against the caste system India has proved itself to be a racist state which has given it various problems when dealing with minorities. African migrants face abuse on a daily basis along with ethnic South Indians, better known as Madrasis, often mocked for their skin colour on TV shows. In addition, Hindus in India continue to take the law into their own hands by assaulting anyone who slaughters cows due to their veneration for the animal. Muslims are beaten and even killed for slaughtering cows and this has been banned in some places such as Gujarat. What is ironic is that all this occurs whilst India is currently the second largest beef exporter in the world. The Hindu caste system continues to subject people to oppression based on factors completely outside of their control. The Dalits, formerly known as the “untouchables” are considered to be from the lowest caste in India and have been subject to centuries of abuse from other Indians. This continues in India today where Dalits are regarded as impure and whatever they touch is forbidden for others to touch. They are harassed, abused and even killed by mobs of other Indians while police officers watch and ministers remain silent. The political class continue to restrict their entry into education and encourage them to remain in a continuous cycle of poverty as they use the caste system to their political benefit.
Despite India being hailed as a democratic success, it can be seen that the discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities has only worsened.
This has been a long standing issue across various ages and empires and it is hard to find a period in Indian history where this has not been the case. However, under Islamic rule things were completely different. The fact that India has remained majority Hindu today demonstrates how Islam protected people from other religions and the state protected its religious sites. Muslim rulers from the times of Muhammad Bin Qasim, the opener of India to Islam did not force individuals to become Muslim, nor punish people for carrying out their religious customs. Buddhists and Hindus saw the justice of Islamic law and became Muslim in their droves. Where every caste was previously subservient to the Brahmans, Islam provided an alternative option, according to the last sermon of the Prophet ﷺ where the only distinguishing factor of one from another is taqwa:
»أَلَا إِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ وَاحِدٌ، وَإِنَّ أَبَاكُمْ وَاحِدٌ، أَلَا لَا فَضْلَ لِعَرَبِيٍّ عَلَى أَعْجَمِيٍّ، وَلَا لِعَجَمِيٍّ عَلَى عَرَبِيٍّ، وَلَا لِأَحْمَرَ عَلَى أَسْوَدَ، وَلَا أَسْوَدَ عَلَى أَحْمَرَ إِلَّا بِالتَّقْوَى«
“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action.”
The leaders of the Mughal Empire in most cases protected the people of India and dealt with them justly. For example, in the will to his son Humayun, the first Mughal ruler Babur wrote:
“My son take note of the following: Do not harbour religious prejudice in your heart. You should dispense justice while taking note of the people’s religious sensitivities, and rites. Avoid slaughtering cows in order that you could gain a place in the heart of natives. This will take you nearer to the people.
Do not demolish or damage places of worship of any faith and dispense full justice to all to ensure peace in the country. Islam can better be preached by the sword of love and affection, rather than the sword of tyranny and persecution. Avoid the differences between the Shias and Sunnis. Look at the various characteristics of your people just as characteristics of various seasons.” [Will of Babur, Bhopal State Library]
The Ahkam of Islam sent by Allah سبحانه وتعالى are the only laws which can best organise man’s affairs. The Khilafah system which is the only mechanism by which these laws can be implemented is currently absent from the world and the world is in dire need for the justice of Islam. The contradictions and disparity contained within Democracy is for all to see, whether one lives in the East or West and for India, despite adopting secularism as a basis to solve its problems it continues to suffer due to its religious views. Therefore, solving the problems of Kashmir do not lie in negotiation, Indian democracy or even a nationalistic Kashmiri state. The solution lies in the need for a Khilafah state (Caliphate) upon the method of the Prophethood, whose head leads and represents the Muslims in their desire to seize back what is rightly theirs.
«إنما الإمام جنة يقاتل من ورائه و يتقى به»
“The Imam is a shield, behind whom you fight and protect yourself.”
Muhammed Ubaid