Book on Kashmir: HMA, IETO to host book launch function

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Management Association and India Economic Trade Organisation are jointly hosting a book launch function at NKM Grand on November 21, from 6 pm to 8 pm. The book ” K file, The conspiracy of silence” is authored by a Kashmir based activist and journalist, Bashir Assad.

The book is the first of its kind written by a Kashmiri Muslim giving an insiders account of the extremism in that has plagued Kashmir for the last three decades.

Mr. Sanjay Kapoor Vice President HMA and Mr. Asif Iqbal of IETO are the hosts of the book launch.

About the book

K File: The Conspiracy of Silence

Author: Bashir Assad,

Publisher: Vitasta, Rs 495

Bashir Assad’s book comes at an appropriate time, as it provides an insider and subaltern view of Kashmir. He has first hand experience of the developments in Kashmir for the past 30 years.

In his own words, he has lived the ideology of Maududi Islam for three years, after he passed class X. He has been associated with PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Syed and he has been following the events in Kashmir, as a journalist, columnist and social activist. He has addressed the issue of rising extremism in Kashmir and the role of mullahs, Jamat-e-Islami, local bureaucracy and politicians in riding the frenzy, for retaining their social and political relevance and for reaping economic benefits. The ‘conflict entrepreneurs’ in the media, political elite, self styled authors, specialists and commentators seek fame by writing whatever suits them, without having any understanding of the local language, culture, social psychology, historical-cultural characteristics of Kashmiris.

Religious extremism in Kashmir

Bashir provides a local and eye-witness account of the phenomenon of religious extremism in Kashmir. He has aptly sub-titled the book “The Conspiracy of Silence”. He prefaces his book saying that “strategy, fear or conviction has bound all the stakeholders — mainstream politicians, separatists, media, civilians, VIPs or commoner” in Kashmir not to speak the truth. The fact is that the discourse on Kashmir has been manipulated through the past 30 years by NGOs-foreign and foreign funded Indian ones, many academicians and media persons with a craze for foreign jaunts and easy money. Such falsehood, fake news, propaganda and media lust for TRPs and scoops has only added fuel to the fire. There has been insensitivity to the intricacies of the complex issue. That explains why Doordarshan continued to telecast the protest movements in the former Soviet Republics in late 1989 and early 1990, at a time when Kashmir was simmering.

Bashir is right in describing the current phase of Kashmir conflict as being about three Ms — Mosque, Mullah and Militant. The uneducated clerics have succeeded in injecting jihadism and hate India/hate Hindu ideology in the minds of the youth. What is worse is that the moderate, educated Kashmiris are the silent spectators to such a steep drift in Kashmiri society. The author is right in saying that the Mullahs are mainly Bukharis, Andrabis, Muftis, Geelanis, Naqshbandis, Hamdanis etc., who constitute just 3% of the Valley Muslim population but occupy 35% of the government and private sector jobs. Here I would like to point out that these 3% are not indigenous Kashmiris, but are the descendants of the Central Asian Syeds who migrated to Kashmir in medieval times. They have all through history been more ambitious and power seekers using religion as a pedestal for their rise. They have always propagated political Islam.

Another aspect of the situation is that many Kashmiri Muslim Imams (of Ahl-e-Itiqad beliefs) have since been replaced by fire-brand Imams from
Deoband, UP, Bihar and other places in India.

Bashir explains how Islamists have completely transformed Kashmir.