Adnan Rashid – History of the Kashmir Crisis

			To understand what's happening happening in India today, one must study the history of India from
ancient time like going back to maybe at least 1000 years back to start studying what was happening
in India then right. And why did the Muslims feel this sense of
		

			fear from the extreme element within the Hindu community in India,
		

			because Muslims had existed or coexisted in India with Hindus for over 1000 years, right. So, they
had good reasons, solid reasons to fear living under a Hindu rule in India, especially when it would
be a democracy when the British left because Hindus are the majority and this argument that Muslims
from Bengal and West, western India and central India collective collectively would have outnumbered
the the current Hindu majority of India is absurd. Anyone who knows the demographics of India
wouldn't argue in that way. Why? Because what has changed today, there are more Muslims in India
than there are in Pakistan. And they are demographically divided in ways that they cannot have a
		

			real impact politically on the politics of the country. So, if you look at the Muslim population in
India, it is in pockets, there is a pocket in Hyderabad, there's a pocket in
		

			northern India, there are few pockets, possibly in West India, okay. And they're because they are
divided demographically. They cannot have a real impact politically how many MPs do Muslims have in
the parliament in India today? How many, how many real leaders who can actually stand and talk for
Muslims there is one or two there are one or two people of course, this is why the founding fathers
of Pakistan demanded a separate homeland in order to protect
		

			the unique identity Muslims professed Hinduism as a new idea. Hindus are not homogeneous, they're
not monolithic, they don't exist as a pocket as one united entity, that was never the case if you
pick up histories from the Mughal period and even before that, they are written in Persian, even
written by Hindus even written by who created Hinduism Hinduism was created by the British okay to
divide the Muslims and Hindus along religious lines. So that they are easily governed and the
British establishment colonial establishment favored Hindus over Muslims because they feared that
Muslims who have lost power in India will try to come back to or they will try to claim back that
		

			glory once they once had in India. So, that was the reason why the British political establishment
favored Hindus and Hindus were appointed in important positions even in the 19th century. So, the
the War of Independence or the Indian mutiny of 1857 caused the Muslims to be marginalized, they
were completely sidelined. Because the British blamed the Muslims entirely for that mutiny, even
though it was sparked or initiated by Hindus, the Hindu garrison at Meerut, in India in 1837. It was
actually started by a Hindu soldier within the British East India Company, army his name was Mangal
Pandey, and he initiated the rebellion. And it then then it grew to other regions of northern India.
		

			And then the Mughal Emperor, who was a puppet already anyway, was forced into it by on gunpoint,
some of these mutineers, they came and they occupied daily, and they forced the Emperor to take into
shape because they didn't have a leader. They didn't have a leader, so they wanted some kind of
Central leadership. So the blame was put on Muslims cut to cut the long story short, and Muslims are
dense fourth, completely marginalized from important positions that were given to Hindus. Muslims
lacked education. For that reason people like Mr. Khan, who had some erroneous ideas on Islam,
unfortunately, he you know, kind of sparked many controversies, when it comes to his theological
		

			views. But when it comes to his leadership for the Muslim community in India, he was very sincere,
he wanted good for the Muslims. So for that purpose to that end, he established this college called
Anglo Muslim College in a place called Aligarh, which later on no came to be known as the Aligarh
University, the Oxford Muslim India base, right. And the elegant University produced many
intellectuals because he could see so you could see So see, his name was Ahmed Khan, sir, was the
title given by the British establishment to him for his achievements, right. So he could see that
Muslims if something is not done very fast, will suffer financially economically, you know,
		

			politically
		

			That will impact Muslim well being in India. So that's why he established this educational
institution to have an elite for the Muslim community, so that Muslims can have effective leaders,
intelligent leaders, educated leaders who can lead the lead the Muslims of the subcontinent and that
is what produced directly or indirectly, that particular group of people which rose to lead the
Muslims during the independence movement later on and so, then how does how does this mean Kashmir
issue is basically another very unfortunate episode in the history of colonial India, Kashmir is
predominantly Muslim, right? Kashmir was governed by Muslims for over 1000 years again, Muslim
		

			photons had direct rule over Kashmir, okay. In fact, we can find coins to this day from the Mughal
period minted in Kashmir and Srinagar you have
		

			the Mughal Emperor jalala Deen Muhammad Akbar.
		

			His coins were minted in Srinagar, I have these coins in my personal collection. So, Kashmir has
been there as Muslim territory for a very long time Mughal emperors would go there for you know,
recued recreational purposes they will go and spend their time there. If an emperor felt sick or ill
they would make their way to Kashmir. I mean, there are so many examples. Then after the Mughals
declined. Other dynasties came in for example, the Durrani is the Afghans, right Mr. Cha abdali also
known as Mr. Cha Durrani, he governed Kashmir directly there are coins that after the moments after
the Mughal so how did how was Kashmir lost from I mean, how did Muslims lose control of Kashmir,
		

			which is predominantly Muslim demographically, Kashmir is a Muslim territory, okay. I would say over
80% of the population is Muslim, right. So, when India was divided by the British colonial
establishment, Kashmir would naturally come to Pakistan, right. But Kashmir was a semi independent
territory ruled by Hindu a Hindu family called the dog grace, okay. This Hindu family got the the
control of Kashmiri territory in the mid 19th century from the Sikhs, because Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Again, it's going to be a very long history lesson, and I'm going to shorten it so that people
understand where we're coming from Sikhs
		

			governed parts of India, particularly Punjab, the Punjab region for nearly 50 years. Okay. Maharaja
Ranjit Singh, who was born in currently Pakistan Gujranwala, okay. He rose to unite. Our he took
leadership as as a young man of the Sikh
		

			divided military orders, he united them, there were 12 different orders in different parts of
Punjab, okay of the Sikhs, and they call them missiles. Missile actually means a group of people who
are it's like a military group. So they would go into different territories, Rob plunder, and this
is how they lived, right? So reducing united all these 12 groups and became the leader and he took
Lahore from the Iranians. Okay, so after he occupied law in 1799, thenceforth, he governed with an
iron fist, parts of Punjab and at one point, he was governing territory from rush hour to Moulton,
wow, okay. Yes. And you govern for 40 years, he died in 1839. Cut the long story short, within 10
		

			years, his empire was dismantled. And there were two Anglo Sikh wars. The British had the eyes on
Punjab, which is very fertile regenerate, and it was producing
		

			rice sugar, a lot of a lot of things. So the British had their eyes on the Punjab, so they defeated
the Sikhs in two wars, two Anglo Sikh wars and the Sikhs lost influence in Punjab and the British
imposed the direct rule. Now, at that time, Kashmir was governed by the Sikhs, right? Kashmir was
occupied by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. And there are coins minted in Kashmir in the name of Maharaja
Ranjit Singh and his sons share sing and you know, others who came. I mean, there were not many
Unfortunately, they all kind of died within a very short span of time after the father was
		

			gone. So, Kashmir became a territory ruled by the Sikhs. But then the governor of Kashmir was Hindu.
His name was collapsing. Okay. collapsing was directly attached to the court of Maharaja Ranjit
Singh in lower so when things went wrong, upside down
		

			In the center, gulab Singh announced his independence and they came to be known as the dog Ross okay
this Dogra family, so, there was no direct rule of the dog has
		

			a lower the value of Jammu and Kashmir which is predominantly Muslim population population is still
Muslim okay dominantly over 90% is still Muslim okay. So,
		

			from then to 1940s when India was basically split into two halves mainly
		

			the the families still continue to govern even as as a tributary power. I mean they were like under
the protection or you know, how can I put it it was like a vessel state, right. So, the over ruling
power was the British colonial establishment. So, my Raja or the Raja of Kashmir at the time of the
partition was Hari Singh, one of the descendants of collapsing.
		

			Jenna approached him for the reason that the Legion Legion approached him in 1947. But before that,
that Kashmir is a Muslim territory, it the population is all Muslim. So it would be only fair for
you to join Pakistan. Right. And then narrow Pandit Jawaharlal
		

			Nehru was the the leader on the other side who was representing Congress, Congress Party in India,
who was one of the founding fathers of current day India. He approached
		

			my Maharaja, how do you think that you should
		

			become a part of India? So with some reservations, because he was Hindu himself or he saying he
didn't care about the population, and in fact, there were some massacres carried out against the
population man, they wanted to be with the Muslims. He joined hands with India. So India imposed an
indirect rule on the value of Jammu and Kashmir, okay, which continued to this day, on paper, of
course, Kashmir has been the most heavily militarized region in the world. There is.
		

			I mean, there are close to a million soldiers in Kashmir as we speak right now, okay to subdue the
valley to have control over it. And Pakistan wants it as part of Pakistan, because it was claimed by
Pakistan as well. Right. So narrow promised when he took Kashmir as his own, as if it was his own,
you know, to claim he promised that we will do a referendum for the population in the population
wants to go independent from India or Pakistan is it would be their choice, or if they want to join
hands with Pakistan, then that referendum never happened, unfortunately. Right. So Kashmir was given
a special status.
		

			And the article that guaranteed that was the article 370 in the Indian constitution and 35. Right,
according to these two articles, just in the moment, right, yes. Which is exactly what was repealed
on Monday. These two articles were repealed by the current extremist right wing, BJP Indian
Government, okay. And they obviously didn't care about agreements made by previous governments and
leaders. So these two articles guaranteed the semi autonomous status of the states of Jammu and
Kashmir. So according to these articles, Indian civilians from mainland India couldn't buy land in
Kashmir. Okay. the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India did not didn't apply in Jammu and
		

			Kashmir. The people of Jammu and Kashmir could have their own flags, okay. They would have to
consult the main land, the Indian government on issues regarding foreign policy, defense and things
like that security issues. Other than that, Kashmir was constitutionally a semi Autonomous Region
without any serious consultation, even with their own politicians to impose a direct occupational
rule over the value of Jammu and Kashmir. These two articles were completely repealed by the current
Indian government, which is well known for trading against Muslims for pumping Islamophobia, all the
lynchings in India that have been taken place for the last five years is what happened yesterday.
		

			Yes, how bad is your Muslims are being killed, you know, like, like, even like insects, basically,
		

			you know, if Hindu mobs get together and they decide to kill a Muslim or a Muslim family
		

			is all good police would be, you know, reluctant to take action because a lot of the times police
themselves they sympathize with such more than they are they are part of the problem. So Muslims are
facing a very difficult period generally speaking in India, very, very difficult.
		

			I mean, recently all these issues have been raised about the triple talaq as if Modi or the BJP
really cares about the environment, and some of the Muslim leaders have been raising this point that
if you really care about the rights of women, which is the pretext they are using to attack the
Muslim community by using one of the clauses of the Hanafi Fiqh, right. And this is what the Muslim
leaders have been speaking about in India that don't think this is only a problem of the honeybees.
It is a problem for for the Muslims because today they are attacking the Hanafi Fiqh. Tomorrow they
will attack all fake they will attack Islam and this is the aim slowly make I'm talking about
		

			specifically this hard, it is hard not to question their sincerity about protecting women were they
being raped in mobs? Exactly, exactly. And on top of that, hold on, if you think about women's
rights in India, the highest rate of rapes in the world okay is in India, unfortunately, India is
the * capital of the world. Number one, number two,
		

			the highest rate of female infanticide is in India, the highest number of aborted female fetuses is
in India, the highest number of child prostitution is in India, there are slums in India, Bombay,
bayangol. You know, you know, I don't know way I mean, you will go and watch documentaries on
YouTube, and you will see what's happening to women in India. So it is ironic for the government to
suddenly the BJP government in particular, he suddenly wake up and start defending women's rights
when it comes to Muslim Muslim women. Right. And Modi tweeted about that, that today. You know,
there is something freedom for women or something like that. So this is like Sarkozy, right? In, I
		

			think not very long ago, when he was the president in France. He said they are imposing this niqab
ban to protect women who are against oppression, but hold on a second. France has a huge population
of trafficked women who are being sold in markets. France has a huge problem with women, it seems
like a normal kind of playbook to, to, to, to call to a crowd bang for kind of the blood of escape
go get angry at this kind of demonized, populate? Absolutely, absolutely. Once you continue to kind
of increase your own powers of government. Yes, and distract and distracting people from real
problems. So, so all these coming back to Kashmir? Yeah. Coming back to Kashmir, I mean, currently
		

			Now unfortunately, the situation is that India has imposed a direct rule over Kashmir its occupation
now basically, is completely ignoring all the previous treaties and agreements and going against all
the United Nation and the United Nations resolutions and, and all the advice of international
leaders and requests from Pakistan and Kashmiri leaders. And even Indian politicians within India.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of Congress Party, which is one of the biggest parties in India has
severely criticized this move. And he has warned that this move will potentially divide India and
big things may happen like for the people of Kashmir, I don't know what this means. We have no idea
		

			what's going to happen to them. And Indian army is unfortunately known for committing atrocities in
Kashmir. It is well documented. I'm not even making this up. This is not because I'm speaking as a
Muslim, my bias is speaking, there is documentary evidence of Indian Army committing atrocities
against Kashmiri civilians, okay, 1000s of people have disappeared 1000s of rapes, okay, and other
things, we as Muslim community around the world, we want the best for the people of Kashmir, we want
the best for the people of India. But it seems that the government on the other side, doesn't want
peace and they're doing things like this. And now there is direct occupational really hope and pray
		

			that Kashmir doesn't become another Palestine, it is clear that the Indian government current the
current government that why I keep saying the current government, it is ruled by a specific group of
people. And they are known for the bigotry, they are known for the hatred towards Muslims, they are
known for their hatred towards Sikhs, and Dalits. And it is an it is an elite which doesn't seem to
be caring about the people of India, because of the kind because the kind of things they're doing.
And
		

			if India had problems previously, what this government might end up doing is, is completely
escalating those problems out of control. Right? And it is very possible that our fears about the
region may may come true, but we really hope, peace and justice for all people in the world, whether
it's Kashmiris or Indians. And before we enter a very quick note, that we as Muslims, we represent a
civilization, right? We don't represent a particular ethnicity
		

			Or, or a particular language or a particular piece of land. We represent a civilization. It is a
living civilization. It started with the advent of the Prophet of Islam sort of lives alone. It has
a unique feature which has a unique character. We represent that civilization. We represent our
poets, our authors, our libraries, our hospitals are our streetlights. In Cordova, we represent our
philosophers in Baghdad, we represent our theologians. In Damascus. We represent our artists for
example, calligraphers in India, we represent all of that Islamic civilization is absolutely
beautiful. And this is what we need to highlight. We need to show the world that you can't just jump
		

			from a bunch of extremists straight to the prophet and link them to the Prophet. No. If you want to
talk about the Prophet, then you start talking about the place between the 21st century and exactly
the rich history of the Muslim civilization or the Islamic civilization if you want to call that.
Call that call that out.