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KASHMIR'S ISLAMIST PURITANS - LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS
By M H AHSAN
Andrabi pulls a face“IF MY son would kill Mr Bush,” says the burqa-wearing head of an all-female Islamist organisation, “it would be a great honour for Asiya Andrabi.” Those who threaten the leader of the free world and refer to themselves in the third person tend to be crackpots or dictators. Asiya Andrabi may be a bit of both. But Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Daughters of the Faith), which she founded in Indian-administered Kashmir in 1981, is no joke. Older than al-Qaeda and the Taliban, Dukhtaran supports terrorists, and was banned by the Indian government from 1990 until 2004.
One consequence of the 17-year-old insurgency against Indian rule that still simmers in Kashmir is that the region's centuries-long tradition of a moderate, tolerant Islam with its roots in Sufi mysticism, has been under threat. Many liberal Kashmiris blame Pakistani-financed militant outfits for blurring Islam and nationalism, and trying to turn the conflict into a jihad. Throughout the 1990s militants tried to enforce moral rectitude, bullying local women, for example, into wearing burqas. They had limited success. But now the puritans are on the march. Last month, for instance, a furious mob beat up customers and smashed furniture in a hotel in Srinagar, accusing the owners of operating a sex ring. A week later conservatives forced the black-out of “vulgar” English-language cable-television channels.
The turning-point was an earlier sex scandal, which shocked Srinagar last year. Civil servants and policemen were linked to a prostitution ring in which teenage girls had been drugged and abducted to a brothel. The scandal prompted days of mass protests, and the torching of the home of the accused brothel-keeper.
Leading the campaign against licentiousness, Dukhtaran helped found a Forum Against Social Evils. Its burqa-wearing members wrecked beauty parlours and liquor shops, ransacked dimly-lit restaurants for encouraging smooching and celebrated Valentine's Day by burning cards. Their cause has been bolstered by the uncovering of two more “sex rings”. In one, young women were lured by a fake charity. In another, policewomen were allegedly coerced by male superiors.
Yet Kashmir's liberal traditions are proving stubborn. Kashmiri women continue to pursue further studies, hold professional jobs and move about alone, some without headscarves. Shutting cinema halls has led to a boom in satellite dishes and video-rental shops. Progressive locals winkingly refer to Ms Andrabi as the “Angel of Death” and on the streets of Srinagar burqas and long beards are still rare.
“Islam came to Kashmir not by the sword but through teaching, preaching, Sufis and saints,” points out Umar Farooq, a separatist politician and mirwaiz, a hereditary spiritual leader. “You can't threaten people with Islam,” he argues. “You have to educate them.” Dukhtaran, however, is trying to do just that. It runs 75 part-time madrassas in Kashmir.
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