Kashmir and its Governance

Kashmir and Governance | MikeGhouseforIndia.blogspot.com

No nation should be formed on the basis of religion anymore.  We have seen the ugly results of it, and any nation that is formed now should be democratic in governance, where all people's rights are protected.

There should never be an Islamic, Christian, Hindu or Jewish state, as religion is practiced by humans, and they may not live up to its highest principles. I would rather have a bad democracy over a theocracy, in a democracy we have a chance of correcting the course, and peacefully replacing the corrupt guys with good guys,  you cannot do that in a theocracy. Then the question is whose theocracy will it be?  

Shia, Ahmadiyya, Hindu, Christian and Sikh minorities live in apprehension in Pakistan, and in Bangladesh, you can add the Buddhist Minorities who are equally harassed.  The current but short-lived Hindutva wave in India is also causing apprehensions among Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities. 

 The authentic Islam that respects the otherness of others, honors dignity of every human, and believes in living your own life and letting others live theirs is part of the individual Muslim psyche, but it has not reached in governance of many a Muslim nations. As a Muslim, I invite fellow Muslims to stand against the brand of Islam practiced in Pakistan,  Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and.... others. There is no respect for other traditions within Islam in these nations, let alone others.  They claim to follow Islam, but they don't.

Islam is my religion and I love it, most of us want it to remain a personal guidance to continue to make us good humans and good citizens with no political ambitions to rule others, but to serve others as fellow beings.  The idea of ruling others in the name of a religion, corrupts that religion, any religion for that matter.

God honors caring people over religious people who do not care, caring is emphasized here. There are numerous examples - if someone gives water to a thirsty cat, God is willing to forgive his or her shortcomings, and such is the value places on caring for others.  God loves the man who shares his food with hungry fellow being, even if that person has committed sin over a guy who prays all day long. God only knows what is in your heart and you are reminded not to judge other people's faith.  God says in Quran, whether you are Jewish, Christian or Pagan, if you take care of fellow humans, he or she need not worry, as he would earn God’s grace.  Similar thoughts are in Hinduism, Christianity and other faiths – do the followers of all faiths follow their religion to the full? Then, why do we need a religion in governance?

An Independent Kashmir is not good for Kashmiris, Indians or Pakistanis. The extremists loaded with guns will swallow it and terrorize everyone, but most certainly Muslims for not following their brand of Islam. They will be coming from around the world to establish a false Islamic Caliphate in the likes of Islamic state, where they rape women, make them slaves and sell them, completely against the principles of Islam.

Islamic Caliphate should be consistently discouraged, what we need is democracies, which is Islamic in nature, you elect your representative who is trustworthy, but there will be a contest with other trust worthy individuals. That is how it was done during the first four Caliphs of Islam, and after that it was always run by  dictators and kings and together they have messed up what Islam is all about to suit their whims, Islam is a system designed for individuals to create cohesive societies where no human has to live in fear of the other with justice, mercy and equality to all.

Kashmir and Kashmiris are better off with a Pluralistic India, where they can choose who governs them freely. You can fix the problems in a democracy, but not in a theocracy.

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, terrorism, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine and foreign policy. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Visit him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and a bulk of his writings are at TheGhousediary.com and several blogs listed there in.

Democracy and Indian Muslims by Tufail Ahmed

URL - http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2013/03/democracy-and-indian-muslims-by-tufail.html

The following piece "Democracy and Indian Muslims"  by Tufail Ahmad is reflective, thoughtful and dreamy.

For a Democracy to be alive and functional we have to bitch at the Government,  India is good at it and Pakistan and Bangladesh have done well in that area as well. The most patriotic person is the one who attacks government every day and on everything. We have got to keep the Government guys from becoming pig-headed.

In 1947, India rightly chose to be a secular state and Pakistani leadership erred in making it a religious state. By the way, the only two nations created on the earth based on religion are the ones facing most difficulties;Pakistan and Israel. We can blame the British or any one, but the fact is the problem persists.  God does not have a religion himself, he was super careful in not mentioning in any holy books  that he was a Muslim, Hindu, Christian or a Native, because he is not divisive.  God simply does not like religious governments, because he does not like any one to mess with his creation in his name. An attack on a Hindu, Muslim or any is an attack on God, who created them, do you think he likes it?  It is still not late to strip religion from the governance in Pakistan and Israel.

He prefers a government where all of his creation is treated with dignity, equality and respect. Individuals will be judged in the society by the society for the violations of others space, sustenance and nurturence, where as God  reserves the right to judge the individuals for their moral compass. 
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 God loves Americans for keeping him out of school and public spaces, he doesn't need any more headaches, he washed his hands off us when he implanted a self-governing device called brain, and he wants nothing but good for his creation, and offers the same guidance to all - to treat each other with respect.

Mike Ghouse is committed to build cohesive societies - www.MikeGhouse.net
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DAILY TIMES 
http://dailytimes.com.p/default.asp?page=2013%5C03%5C16%5Cstory_16-3-2013_pg3_5

Saturday, March 16, 2013

 Democracy and Indian Muslims — Tufail Ahmad

The organising principles of Indian polity and society are the same that define a western country: a multi-party system, individualism, liberty, a free press and rule of law

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the self-confessed leader of the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, may think that Pakistan is the best Islamic nation for the Bollywood star, Shahrukh Khan to move to, but it is India that is arguably the best Muslim country today. Muslims in India enjoy complete political and religious liberty, a free legislative environment to undertake economic and educational initiatives, a vibrant television media and cinema that teach liberal coexistence, and access to a vast number of universities and institutes of modern education. There is absolutely no Muslim country that offers such a vast array of freedoms to its people.

India is able to offer these freedoms to its citizens because it is a successful democracy. It was good for India to lose the 1857 war; if the British had lost, Indians would have continued to be governed by kings and nawabs, and under shari’a courts that existed during the Mughal era. At the time of independence, the British left behind a justice system that was blind to religious and caste inequities in Indian society, an inclusive democracy that guaranteed equal rights and religious and political freedoms for all; English language that opened doorway to enlightenment and scientific education; and a civil service that treated everyone as Indians rather than Muslims, Hindus or Christians. Muslims in India enjoy these freedoms because India is a thriving democracy, unlike Pakistan that chose a discriminatory constitution, barring its own citizens from holding top positions such as the president of Pakistan because they are Hindus or Christians. Over the past half century, hundreds of millions of Dalits and women have found political empowerment and social freedoms in Indian democracy.

Religion cannot be a good model of governance for modern times because it fails to imagine situations in which non-Muslim citizens could be trusted to govern a Muslim country. Conversely, democracies trust their citizens irrespective of their faith. In a democracy like India, any citizen could compete to be the elected ruler. As democracy matures, India has appointed its Muslim citizens to top positions, currently Hamid Ansari as vice president, Salman Khurshid as foreign minister, Justice Altamas Kabir as Chief Justice, and Syed Asif Ibrahim as the chief of the Intelligence Bureau. It is also true that Muslims lag behind in India’s collective life, but this is because they are under the influence of orthodox ulema or because Muslim politicians fail to imagine themselves as leaders of all Indians. A Muslim politician will be the country's prime minister the day Indian Muslims begin to view themselves as leaders of all Indians and not only of Muslims, much like Barack Obama who imagined himself as a leader not only of blacks, but of all Americans.

Effectively, India is a ‘western’ country. In the popular imagination, the west is viewed as a geographic concept, covering mainly the United States, Britain and parts of Europe. However, the ground realities are otherwise. Several countries, notably Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, are situated in the east, but in terms of their values and politics are firmly part of the west. Conversely, countries such as Russia and some in Latin America are geographically in the west but cannot be called a western country as their citizens do not enjoy the social and political freedoms available to free people in the west. The organising principles of Indian polity and society are the same that define a western country: a multi-party system, individualism, liberty, a free press and rule of law. As in a western country, consensus about governance, politics and society is moderated by media and political parties and is derived from differences rather than similarities of religion and ideology as in Saudi Arabia or North Korea.

Early this year, Shahrukh Khan wrote a long article in which he discussed how “stereotyping and contextualizing” determine the way societies treat us as individuals as we interact with others. Khan narrated that he is loved as a Bollywood star in every country, but is also questioned by officials at US airports over links to terrorists, as his surname is shared by an unknown terrorist. Khan also observed: “There have been occasions when I have been accused of bearing allegiance to our neighbouring nation [Pakistan].” Hafiz Saeed reacted to this statement, suggesting that Khan, and presumably all Indian Muslims, should move to Pakistan. If Khan were to move to Pakistan, think of the images he would witness everyday: the genocide of Shia Muslims; the Taliban bombers shooting girls and namazis; Karachi up in flames and Pakistani businessmen leaving the country; plight of Hindus and Christians and lawlessness everywhere.

Saeed and his cohorts must bear in mind that terrorism that affects Muslims in India originates from Pakistan: the jihad in Kashmir through the 1990s or the attacks by Indian Mujahideen collaborating with their controllers in Pakistan. Like any country, India has its own share of extremist Hindus as well as Islamic and naxalite militants, but the courts are taking care of them.

Indian democracy is a model for all Islamic countries. It is the only country where Muslims have experienced democracy solidly for more than half a century; the other countries where Muslims have had some democratic experience are Indonesia and Turkey but their experiences have been limited to just a few decades. Democracies trust their citizens and are accountable to them. Democracies also bring freedom and economic prosperity for their people. In his book, Development as Freedom, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen demonstrated that famines have occurred only in countries governed under authoritarianism while freedom available to people in democracies has ensured economic welfare of their entire populations. Indian democracy has a large Muslim population, about the same as in Pakistan. As democracy matures and economy prospers, Muslims in India are beginning to benefit from a sea of economic and educational opportunities opening before them.

Islamic and authoritarian countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and North Korea do not trust their own people. Islamic terrorists, jihadists like Hafiz Saeed and other Taliban-like Islamists think of defending their religions and ideologies rather than the interests and welfare of their people. It is due to such thinking that 180 million people of Pakistan are today literally buried under the weight of a failed education system, a rapidly collapsing Pakistani economy that is forcing business leaders to move their money to countries such Sri Lanka, lawlessness that makes common Pakistanis insecure in their own homes and a future that fails to offer hope. The Inter-Services Intelligence, a friend of Saeed that imagines itself as the ideological guardian of the Islamic state of Pakistan, could do a favour by trusting the Pakistani people and letting them decide their own course of life and governance.

The writer is a former BBC Urdu Service journalist, is Director of South Asia Studies Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute, Washington DC.