Srinagar, Jan 02 (KNS): Kashmir Centre for Social and Development Studies (KCSDS) on Wednesday said that Jamia Masjid incident was aimed to defame the indigenous movement by attempting to link it with global miscalled ‘Islamic terrorist movement’.
“KCSDS views with great disgust and dismay the underhand tricks played by ‘invisible forces’ through their hoodlums as part of psychological war waged here to create dissensions in people and fragmentize the unified cohesive community to sabotage not only the resistance to colonial rule but to obfuscate the reality for outsiders,” KCSDS said in a statement issued to KNS.
The KCSDS said that the attempt to defile the sanctity of the Grand Mosque (Jamia Masjid at Nowhatta) which epitomizes peoples’ identity and struggle for centuries-by a sponsored group of miscreants is to defame the indigenous movement by attempting to link it with global miscalled ‘Islamic terrorist movement’ to create confusion among global north and even south about the native political struggle as ‘foreign sponsored’.
“This is from the old Machiavellian rule book to divide and confuse people and weaken their collective narrative,” the statement said.
It added that after Kashmir’s transition to Islam, Jamia Masjid was first build by Sultan Sikander in 1394, then renovated by Moghul king Jehangir during Moghul era and later in 19th century by public funds after it caught fire.
“Jamia Masjid is therefore the physical incarnation of Kashmiris religious and political identity which has kept people bound together for ages for their fight for political and religious rights inspired by universal values of truth, justice and freedom It is the resistance to oppressive colonial rule and incremental genocide in operation particularly in last many years that the powers in control are trying every trick in their book to divide people on one pretext or the other to weaken and dismantle their cogent collective voice. They have been defeated in the past and would be now as people have grown more conscious of the clandestine workings of the deep state,” it added.
“People need to be extra cautious now as it is used to deflect attention from our rights movement and involve people in sectarian strife at both political and social levels as some molvi has also been used on social media to spread hatred and bigotry among various theological schools of thought,” KCSDS added.
It said that some persons have been calling Jamia Masjid desecration as Mirwaiz’s personal matter and therefore does not touch the whole community. “Let me make it very clear that Jamia Masjid is not Mirwaiz’s personal property or empire as some Sheikh Imran has hinted at on Twitter but the symbolic physical and spiritual landscape which belongs to every Kashmiri whose desecration nobody could ever tolerate,” the statement said.
Its desecration is also symbolic as they are trying to strike at the very heart of Kashmir's culture and identity to bring home their malicious message. All of us identify ourselves with it, it added.
“The desecration by sponsored ruffians has inflicted a serious blow to our collective psyche and would be resisted by all means. The dirty trick is to create not only divisions within the rank and file of resistance but within the larger community as another trick that has simultaneously surfaced in social media is the spitting of venom by some ignominious abominable Molvi to generate hatred against one school of theological thought by another,” the statement reads .
It added that people should collectively reject these motivated scandalous acts and remain on guard against these divisive forces. “These dirty tricks are not new and but are played in a new style. The onus on unraveling these elements falls squarely on the government of the day to clear its position,” the statement said.
“We once again request the people to be cautious of such elements and excommunicate them for the greater good of the community so that the treacherous designs are not allowed to succeed,” it added. (KNS)