New Delhi: Two kinds of people identify themselves with Islam—“animals” who killed innocent people in Pahalgam and “Shaheed” Aadil Shah, the porter who died fighting them—and it’s for the nation to decide what kind of Muslim it chooses and stands for, Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi has said.
“Do you identify all of us collectively for your own benefit with the other side—which is animal in nature, and has nothing to do with the faith, but uses the name of the faith for its benefit—or you identify with and take the side of the Muslim, who gave his life for the innocents in defence of the Muslims…,” Ruhullah told ThePrint in an interview.
Kashmiris have spoken that Syed Aadil Hussain Shah—the porter and pony ride operator, who was shot down by terrorists for trying to protect tourists during the attack in Pahalgam’s Baisaran valley on 22 April—is the “image of bravery and the true spirit of Islam”, Ruhullah said.
He said that Indians didn’t stay away from Mumbai and Taj after 26/11, and it would be a victory for terrorists if tourists stayed away from Kashmir after the Pahalgam attack. Last Tuesday, at least 26 people were killed and several injured in what was one of the deadliest terror attacks in the Kashmir valley.
“We didn’t stay away from Taj after 26/11. I mean Taj was overbooked after the incident of 26/11, and people stood with (the) victims. That’s how I expect the nation should behave in the aftermath of this,” Ruhullah said.
The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference leader told ThePrint that the tourists became an easy target for the terrorists in Pahalgam because the Bharatiya Janata Party equated tourism with political achievements in Kashmir.
“I have been saying since the abrogation of Article 370 that it is very dangerous to equate tourism with political achievements in the valley. We have seen tourism going up and down in the past as well in the last three decades… We equated tourism as a marker of the situation getting better (the political situation). Therefore, it provides a target for these elements, the terrorists I mean, to defeat that sense of achievement,” he said.
“If you want to create a political score out of tourism, they will also want to create a political score out of tourism as they have tried to do. It has been very dangerous. I have said this because the BJP celebrated the influx of tourists as some kind of achievement. I have said that this is not a permanent thing, and please do not drag tourism into it.”
Also Read: Congress distances itself after leaders’ Pahalgam remarks spark row. Only Rahul, Kharge speak for party
‘Organic outrage on the streets of Kashmir’
Condemning the terror attack, the MP said that the organic outrage that has poured out on the streets of Kashmir is unprecedented and people are lodging their protest against the act of terror, adding that Kashmiris are not bothered about the impact on tourism, but pained by the loss of lives.
However, he said, Kashmir and Kashmiris are being punished collectively. “The way we responded against the attack in Mumbai 26/11…we didn’t abandon Mumbai after 26/11, and you (also shouldn’t) abandon Kashmir after this terror attack. Especially when the people have stood against this act of terror. This is an opportunity to embrace the people of Kashmir on a human level,” he remarked, citing the example of Aadil Shah.
Ruhullah said this is the time to bridge the gap between the people of Kashmir and those from other parts of the country, which has existed for many decades, and has widened during the BJP regime.
Asked if the “organic” protests in Kashmir could be a turning point for the region and its people, he said that would depend on the behaviour of the nation viz-a-viz Kashmir.
“I would quote the same ‘mainstream media’ which has, unfortunately, again made use of this incident to dehumanise Kashmiris, to turn Kashmiris into some villains or collective terrorists, and they are polarising the society of Kashmir. Whatever is happening on ‘mainstream media’…and in the BJP party itself, and their social media handles, social media team…the leaders of BJP…right-wing…how they have been creating the narrative around this act is something which is dangerous in terms of what comes from Kashmir from now onwards,” he added, pointing out that Kashmiris have spoken for themselves.
Coming down heavily on those who shared his “edited” clip on “cultural invasion”, including BJP IT cell incharge Amit Malviya, Ruhullah said that in the heavily circulated video clip, he was in fact discussing the rise of open consumption of alcohol in the valley, which was “twisted” to run a narrative.
“You can go through that podcast. Among these tourists, they send a set of people deliberately to create these kinds of activities, which are unacceptable in the society—be it in Kashmir or UP—and I see that as an act of cultural invasion,” he said.
“I would never know that some free fringe element or the Right wing would, I mean, use that phrase to find some scapegoat as they have a habit of, whenever these kinds of incidents do take place… where instead of asking the government of the day the question, they find scapegoats to divert these issues to, and hide the failure of the government, and that’s why that’s the context I was speaking in.”
The statehood issue
On Article 370, the Srinagar MP said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are committed to its return now more than ever.
Asked whether the issue of statehood was among the reasons Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was trying to keep cordial relations with the Centre, and whether such rapport would help the cause, the NC leader said: “I don’t think so. That’s one of the disagreements that I have with my party and I have a right to have disagreements. Some people in our party feel that the statehood is coming, and I don’t see it coming. I don’t see it in the grand scheme of things of BJP. In their policy, there’s disempowerment of Muslims, and there’s disempowerment of Kashmiri Muslims, in particular. There’s no place for empowerment of Muslims and Kashmiri Muslims.”
He added, “Return of statehood means some kind of empowerment and that does not fit into the scheme of things for the BJP, and especially when they lost the elections in Kashmir. They were defeated badly by the people of Kashmir. Why would they want to give up the control they have?”
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
Also Read: Nishikant to Himanta, BJP leaders back ‘free Balochistan, split Pakistan’ after Pahalgam attack
