Chapter Sixteen

Peace in Kashmir culture. As far as I know, the people of Kashmir learned about these aspects of Islam, but there was another aspect of Islam whose benefit they remained cut off from to a great extent. And that was the building up of the intellect. The education and nurturing of the Kashmiris was not done in a manner that would enkindle in them the proper Islamic awareness. It is perhaps right to say that while the Kashmiris embraced Islam at the religious level, they did not succeed in going very far in terms of the transformation of their awareness on Islamic lines. Stirred up by the slogans raised by some leaders in the early years of the 20th century, the Kashmiris began mobilising against the then Dogra Raj. If this is looked at from the Islamic point of view, it was an emotional outburst. And so, we see that, despite appearing to be successful, this movement played no role in the building of the Kashmiris’ future. The movement against Dogra rule was more the expression of the boldness of some political leaders than the expression of Islamic awareness in the true sense of the term. After 1947, a new period of movements emerged among the Kashmiris. In this period, the people of Kashmir were influenced by two major movements. One was in the name of secularism, and the other was in the name of Islam. Both these movements, once again, were the products of the political aims of some leaders. They were not born of Islamic awareness in the real sense of the term. After 1947, secularist leaders carried on their movement in the name of Kashmiri independence as well as in the name of accession to Pakistan. Some leaders benefitted from these movements by becoming famous and gaining in material terms, but as far as the Kashmiri public was concerned, they were running towards a non-existent target. These movements were completely pointless and futile—they had a beginning, but they had no end. Another section of Kashmiri leaders launched a movement for what they called ‘Islamic Kashmir’ and the establishment of