Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir
The Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir or Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir is an Islamic political party based in the city of Srinagar in the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is distinct from the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. The organisation's stated position on the Kashmir conflict is that Kashmir is a disputed territory and the issue must be sorted as per the UN or through tripartite talks between India, Pakistan and representatives of Kashmir.
Origins
Reformist roots
The JIJK stemmed from Islamic reformist activities in Kashmir in the late nineteenth century, when Jammu and Kashmir was under Dogra rule. One of the pioneers during this phase was the Mirwaiz of Kashmir, Maulana Rasul Shah, who formed the Anjuman Nusrat ul-Islam in 1899 which aimed to impart both modern and Islamic education, and eliminate what were seen as un-Islamic "innovations" and superstitions that had become part of the popular Sufi practices.The Anjuman activists established the Islamiya High School and the Oriental College in Srinagar. Rashul Shah's successor, Mirwaiz Yusuf Shah, connected Anjuman with other Islamic reformist groups throughout India. He created the Muslim Printing Press, inaugurated two weeklies called al-Islam and Rahnuma, and published the first translation and commentaries of the Quran in the Kashmiri language.
The connections with other Indian Muslim groups brought the Ahl-i-Hadith movement to Kashmir. Sayyed Hussain Shah Batku, began a campaign to eradicate innovations in Kashmiri Muslim society. Although this movement failed due to a lack of mass support, it formed a precursor to JIJK's later reformist agenda.
Origins of the Jamaat-e Islami Kashmir
Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir's progenitors came from middle-class families associated with Sufism, who were disillusioned with the secular politics of the National Conference and the Muslim nationalism advocated by the Muslim Conference. They chose to work for Islam advocated by the Islamist ideologue Maulana Maududi, who founded Jamaat-e-Islami in India.The early pioneers included Sa'aduddin Tarabali, who came from the family of Sufi mystic Ahmad Sahib Tarabali. Tarabali influenced many Kashmiri men in Shopian, then a political hub, including Maulana Ghulam Ahmad Ahrar, a member of the Islamic reformist group Majlis-i-Ahrar, who also came from a family of Sufi connections, and Hakim Ghulam Nabi of Pulwama, who came from a family of Pirs. These men were dissatisfied with the contemporary religious practices in Kashmir which they saw as un-Islamic and were also dissatisfied with secular Kashmiri leaders such as Sheikh Abdullah who were deemed to be insufficiently Islamic.
The first all-India ijtema of Jamaat-e-Islami was held at Pathankot in 1945, which was attended by four Kashmiris. Sa'aduddin, Qari Saifuddin and Muhammad Hussain Chishti established the Jamaat in Kashmir and thus Sa'aduddin became the amir, a position he held till 1985.
Jamia Masjid in Srinagar became the location of Jamaat's weekly meetings as the group distributed Maududi's literature. The Jamaat expanded its presence from Srinagar to other places in the Valley as Qari Saifuddin and Ghulam Rasul Abdullah undertaking travels to spread the Jamaat's message. The Jamaat's first large ijtema was organised in Srinagar in late 1945 which was attended by between seventy and a hundred people including government servants, youth and traders.
History
After the Partition of India, the Jamaat activists based in Srinagar, favoured Jammu and Kashmir to join Pakistan while at that time most Kashmiri Muslims rallied behind Sheikh Abdullah, who was pro-India. The pro-Pakistan constituency provided a base of support for the Jamaat. Soon afterwards, Jammu and Kashmir joined India, spurred by the Pakistani tribal invasion, and Sheikh Abdullah was appointed as the prime minister of Kashmir.During 1947–1952, an increasing number of educated youth and low and middle-ranking government servants came to be attracted to the Jamaat, which established a number of schools and expanded its activities in the media and mosques.
In 1952 the Jama'at-i-Islami Hind decided to separate its Kashmir branch because of the disputed nature of Jammu and Kashmir. Under the leadership of two committed Jamaat members, Maulana Ahrar and Ghulam Rasul Abdullah, the Jamaat in Kashmir drafted its own constitution which was passed and accepted in November 1953. In October 1954, at a special meeting held in Barzalla, Srinagar, Sa'aduddin was elected as the President of the organisation by a large majority. The Central Advisory Committee held its first meeting two months later.
Sa'aduddin spread the work of the JIJK from Kashmir Valley, where it had until then been concentrated, to Jammu. Sa'aduddin was particularly concerned about the Muslims of Jammu as they had suffered communal violence abetted by the Maharaja during Partition and suffered from the feeling of being an insecure minority thereafter. He warned his colleagues in Kashmir that Jammu Muslims needed to be helped otherwise they could be Hinduised in terms of culture and faith.
The Jamaat expanded in size considerably in the 1950s. The National Conference's autocratic rule and the perception that it had sold Kashmir's interests to India caused a disillusion with that organisation among Kashmiri youth began enlisting as Jamaat members or came to sympathise with it. As opposition to Indian rule mounted, due to India's failure to uphold its promises to the Kashmiri people, growing Hindu chauvinism, threats to Kashmiri Muslim identity, rigged elections, the failure of the state to provide jobs to an increasing number of educated youth in the public sector and the continued domination of the administrative service by Kashmiri Pandits the Jamaat found an increase in its support. However, the mounting support for the Jamaat was also contributed in part to its advocacy of piety and social Islamisation programs.
The Jamaat in particular appealed to lower middle class young men from towns such as Srinagar, Baramulla and Sopore and were typically from the first generation of educated members of their families. This class was disillusioned with the popular Sufism of Kashmiri shrines which they came to see as 'un-Islamic' and also found in the Jamaat a medium for political assertion. The Jamaat's advocacy for both modern and religious education and its community work also appealed to sections of the new generation. The Jamaat sought also to address contemporary political issues. The JIJK became part of debates concerning unity of Muslims, the growing spread of alcohol, increasing corruption in the state's administration, providing fertilizers to farmers, Kashmir's disputed status and the militant Hindu agitation in Jammu for the state's full integration with India.
Despite the organisation's growth in the 1950s the group also faced opposition from several sections of Kashmiri Muslim society. Many Sufis associated the group with the 'worldwide nexus' of Wahhabis and considered the Jamaat a threat to their own interests. Despite sharing a common background with the Ahl-i-Hadith movement, the Jamaat encountered opposition with them too as the Ahl-i-Hadith feared that the Jamaat would win over its own support base. The response of the Jamaat to its opponents was tactful.
From the 1950s onwards Jamaat attempted to influence Kashmiri opinion through its extensive works in the education sphere and its participation in elections. The Jamaat received funds from donations, members' fees and properties endowed to the organisation by members and sympathisers. By the 1970s the JIJK became a powerful organisation with a membership presence all over the state, particularly in the Kashmir Valley. But the organisation has still remained a largely Kashmiri Muslim group. The JIJK's stronger presence in Anantnag district was due to the high literacy rates in the district, demonstrating the Jamaat's appeal to the educated class. The weaker presence in Srinagar was explained by the presence of the traditional Sufi leadership in that city.
The JIJK came to conflict with the Indian state throughout the 1960s since it questioned the legality of India's administration of Jammu and Kashmir and demanded that the matter be solved by a plebiscite in accordance with UN Resolutions.
In December 1963 when a holy relic was stolen from the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar and the movement demanding the relic's recovery turned into a popular agitation for freedom and the demand of self-determination. During this time JIJK participated in voicing this demand and also at the same time prevented Hindu-Muslim communal violence. The Awami Action Committee was setup, where Qari Saifuddin represented the Jamaat, to continue this struggle. The Indian authorities arrested the leaders of the Committee including the Qari. In addition to the event of the relic's theft, corruption, unemployment and poverty in the state contributed to Kashmiri hostility to Indian rule. Due to the JIJK's strident and consistent challenge to the Indian control of the state it earned increasing support from growing numbers of Kashmiri Muslims.