The predictability of Kashmir is its unpredictability.
On a frigid Friday morning of December 27, 1963, shocking news of the disappearance of the holy relic from Hazratbal Shrine spread across Srinagar and other areas of Kashmir, creating tremors of turmoil and fury. The most revered site for Muslims in the valley, Dargah Hazratbal, holds Moi-e-Muqqadas, believed to be the hair of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). And when the holy relic disappeared, Kashmiris' long silence was shattered as thousands poured into the streets in shock and anger, tremors of which reached New Delhi and forced it to rethink its Kashmir policy.
The holy relic’s disappearance, according to the author Khalid Bashir Ahmad in his latest book, Kashmir: Shock, Fury, Turmoil: The Theft of Prophet’s Relic, Outrage and Spin-Off, was a serious affront to the Muslim majority in Kashmir.
Published by Gulshan Books, Ahmad vividly narrates the scenes from various sources: how barefoot grieving people battling sub-zero temperatures rushed en masse towards Hazratbal Shrine in anger and grief. The intensity of suffering and chaos was so enormous that for the first time in the known history of the Shrine Mosque, the congregational Friday prayers were not held.
The event gave vent to collective outrage and lurking discontent following Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s arrest in 1953 and the beginning of the erosion of Article 370 as Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad was installed to help the integration of the State with the Union of India with gradual dilution of its special status and his rule which is marked with balancing coercion with economic incentives.
Since its arrival in Kashmir on 5 April 1700 AD and after more than six decades of its mysterious disappearance and reinstallation in the winter of 1963-64, does scholarly probing of the theft of the Prophet's relic matter?
Will flipping the pages shake the history of political cupboards full of skeletons? How did the event light tinderboxes of accumulated fury on the streets? Does its communal, diplomatic and political fallout hold significance today? How does it inform the present and construct the past? Does the book answer questions like: who committed theft and why? Is the reinstalled relic original? Why were there silences, forced confessions and delays? How was this event used and abused by people in and out of the power corridor?
The gravity of the situation could be gauged from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s concern that the incident had seriously jeopardised India’s position in Kashmir and that everything that had been done in Kashmir over the last fifteen years was going to be lost in one stroke as a result of the unfortunate incident. The Director Central Intelligence Bureau (CIB), B.N.Mullik, gave a similar feeling.
Ahmad, while narrating the spiritual significance of the holy relic in the collective conscience of Kashmiris, also documents the role its disappearance played in unifying the stratified society of Kashmir.
As people lost centuries of spiritual anchor, which acted as a source of hope and healing, the author has analysed the event entailed with the explosion of collective cathartic anger in the form of mass agitations. It played a role as a unifying factor as people across ideological spectrums came under one banner of the Action Committee, only to be unravelled later after relic's mysterious recovery and Sheikh Abdullah's release from jail.
The book profiles the people and places impacted by the event in the larger context. Besides documenting the transformation of the power landscape in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, the book analyses the speeches, slogans and rhymes expressing people's sentiments on the ground. It also helps the reader to critically assess the role played by various political players in using the event to serve their political ends.
As people were overwhelmed by grief and trauma, the sacrilege made them shed terror of living under tyranny, surveillance, self-censorship, and jackboots (both official and unofficial).
Seated in open-hooded jeep and wearing a woollen overcoat and a qaraqul cap, Bakshi Abdur Rashid, the powerful General Secretary of the ruling National Conference and maternal cousin of the former Prime Minister suddenly appeared in Lal Chowk, asked the protestors to disperse and not make a fuss, telling them that the Holy Relic would soon return to its abode. His security guard, making fun of the protesters' poverty, asked them, "Rassed Chhewa Khaermetch?" (Have you secured the government-supplied ration of food grains?) An infuriated protester responded by hurling a Kangri at Bakshi Rashid and the security guard. In no time, several Kangris aimed at him flung in the air.
As public pressure mounted, the ensuing investigation revealed a quagmire of administrative incompetence and political machinations, giving birth to conspiracy theories. A chapter in the book analyses these conspiracy theories.
The official complicity in the event was exacerbated by the delayed response to the event, the framing of innocents, the failure to capture elusive culprits by state machinery and the role played by state institutions.
The flawed investigation, the contentious identification to manage the crisis as political and spiritual obligations clashed, and the government's efforts to bring the situation under control, created a highly controlled event of special deedar. It was staged to create a public perception regarding its authenticity during the identification process. However, contrary to Delhi's expectation, the situation in Kashmir did not return to normalcy as the agitation was relentless and spilled over. The London Times reported that the incident brought to the surface stored-up sentiments, as, according to it, 'Peace in Kashmir hanged by Hair'.
Therefore, the cry to reclaim the relic soon metamorphosed into a call for a Plebiscite. It also highlights the role of journalists and police bearing witness to the process. The author traces how various sections of society came together irrespective of demographics under one identity of being a Muslim, and played a crucial role in the movement and how it also led to the formation of various groups and organizations.
The event also witnessed pro and anti-Abdullah forces sharing the same platform. However, after the release of Sheikh Abdullah, the Action Committee formed to recover and identify the holy relic imploded with burgeoning accusations, as it was also an emerging challenge to Abdullah’s dominant leadership.
The incident also introduced Maulvi Mohammad Farooq and Sheikh Abdullah’s elder son, Farooq Abdullah, into public life. Even though Abdullah was tutored for public speech, he captured the attention of the audience with his style.
He was told to begin his speech with the speech of Narra-e-Takbir, which the audience would respond with Allahhu Akbar. At a Jamia Masjid, however, when Farooq was asked to take the podium, he began with Naare-e-Allahu Akbar, causing ripples of laughter in a section of the audience. People, however, enjoyed his speech in broken Kashmiri.
The event of the holy relic's disappearance had communal, political and diplomatic fallout. Ahmad's narrative also explores and analyses the role of Pakistan and its efforts to internationalise the issue at the United Nations and the framing of protests as discontent against Indian rule in Kashmir. The event was also widely reported in national and international media with varying slants and framings. However, according to the author, it was the local Urdu press which captured the mood on the ground.
As the events entailed communal fallout in other places, Kashmir emerged as an exception to maintaining communal harmony. Diplomatically, the United States was keenly observing the situation in Kashmir, but besides war cries, the incident led to a long diplomatic duel between India and Pakistan. However, in the end, Pakistan walked with a diplomatic defeat.
The book explores minutely the event that came with its political fallouts that changed the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir. From the end of Bakshi’s dominance to speeding up erosion of Article 370 to the declaration of the Plebiscite as unlawful to Sheikh Abdullah entering an accord post his release from jail and becoming Chief Minister to his deputy declaring it as “wandering in the wilderness.”
The book also raises questions about the silence of Sheikh Abdullah and the Plebiscite Front as dilution of Jammu and Kashmir's special constitutional status and Central laws were extended.
The book does not reveal the elusive culprit, but it raises questions on the conduct of various people in and out of power and gives subtle hints, leaving it for the reader to deduce.
The book chronicles and dives deep into primary and secondary data through official records, oral history, interviewing eyewitnesses and dusting up old archives and hundreds of references.
Known for breaking myths and narratives through his meticulous empirical research and access to resources, like his previous groundbreaking works, Khalid Bashir Ahmad chronologically stitches minute details of the tumultuous and crucial event of Kashmir’s modern post-partition history.
As a former civil service officer, and also the head of the Director of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), Libraries Department and the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Arts, Culture and Languages, he pilots a paradigm shift in the narration of Kashmir history with the art of storyteller and incisive empirical research of a historian.
His work informs his ability to use his diverse resources from human to material to inform his rigorous, rich and in-depth research. As a researcher, he has approached the subject with multiple methods to lend credence to his richly layered narrative to create a holistic understanding of the subject.
The themes explored in Ahmad’s book resonate deeply with contemporary Kashmir and inform the reader as history should: critically. To comprehend the present and move towards the future requires an understanding of the past: an understanding that is sensitive, analytical, and open to critical inquiry. The book achieves these objectives. It, like his previous works, is the beginning of a historical renaissance in Kashmir, as now Kashmiris are writing their history!
Name of the Book: Kashmir Shock Fury Turmoil Theft of Prophet's Relic Outrage and Spin-Off
Author: Khalid Bashir Ahmad
Publisher: Gulshan Books Srinagar
Pages: 446
Price Paperback: Rs 795
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