The Creed of Theo-Fascism

Kargil aggression unfolded new dimension of Pakistan’s designs in the region. Ambitious to be recognized as a regional power, it confirmed that even the possession of Kashmir, if that happens, was neither the only nor the final goal she has set for herself.

Emergence of theo-fascist forces in Pakistan, and their social and political reach, is the new phenomenon India has to reckon with. These forces have ideologically integrated with their counterfoils in the Islamic world and also with the strong Muslim Diaspora in the West.

Catalysts to theo-fascist ideology are twofold.  One is the cumulative grouse of political and economic exploitation of the Muslims by the West after the dismemberment of Ottoman Empire in early 19th century. The rise of Kemal in Turkey and of Reza Shah in Iran in the beginning of the twentieth century is also considered as western conspiracy against Islam. Western democracy is an anathema to Islamic traditionalists.

The second catalyst is the belief of dominance of Islam over other faiths and the superiority of Islamic civilization over existing civilizations. The youth in Muslim seminaries all over the world are brought up along this scriptural guideline. The concept, they assert, must be translated into practice. Hence we find general mobilization of the faithful.

Religion and state are inseparable in Islamic thought: it is abundantly proved historically as well as theoretically. Late Ayatollah Khumeini refuted Shah Saud’s contention of their separation by stressing that the Kaaba was the precise place where the Muslims coming from all over the world should discuss their political problems.

Pakistan has not only permitted but also encouraged setting up of thousands of Islamic seminaries called madrasas for disseminating theo-fascist teachings among the youth. The concepts mentioned above are taught, together with a fair sprinkling of the use of muscle power and the promised reward for martyrdom. This regularly replenishes the cadres of Islamic religious militias deployed for jihad in different parts of the world.

Pakistan is a vastly organized theo-fascist society wearing alternatively the mask of democracy, martial law administration or theocratic dispensation. She is a moderate Islamic democracy to the Americans, a staunch Sunni-Wahhabi pro- monarchy theocracy to the Saudis, a progressive, liberal and scientific Muslim state to the Central Asians, the only sympathetic fraternity to the Indian Muslims, and the milk and honey flowing cherished haven for the Kashmiri Muslims.

In theory and in practice, both democracy and secularism – by which India swears – are anathema to Pakistani rulers. Democracy, if real, means devolution of power to the people, and secularism, if real, means equality for all religions. The latter is the antithesis of two-nation theory or the very basis of Pakistan’s creation: the former is to her vast landed aristocracy what a red rag is to the bull. Therefore, in the eyes of her ruling cadres, the greatest threat to Pakistan’s existence, her integrity and sovereignty, emanates from a menacing source lying in her immediate neighbourhood – India, precisely in what India teaches and follows.

Evidently, Pakistan’s priority lies in weakening and destabilising India, breaking her democratic and secular structure so as to insulate her against the contagion called secularism, pluralism and democracy. Kashmir, projected by India as its model, had to bear the brunt. The axe fell on the Pandits.

Removal of an elected government, imprisonment of elected Prime Minster, framing of cases against him -– the latest being his so-called RAW connections – are all measures to supplant the fundamental perceptions described above. Kashmir is a minor screw in the big machine of Pak subversion.

In order to maintain anti - democracy and anti-pluralistic tempo, Pakistan is obliged to give long leash to the theo-fascists within and outside the country. The super intelligence outfit called the ISI is championing the campaign. Considering the fine sensitivity and importance of its mission, it is but natural that ISI becomes extraordinarily powerful, nay a state within a state. In order to exercise that power, it needs funds, which, however, flow uninterruptedly and massively from the state exchequer, no doubt at the cost of education, health and welfare of the masses of people.

Besides that, ISI, devised its own methods of generating funds by promoting narcotics and drug traffic in NWFP and the region bordering on Afghanistan. The presence of millions of Afghan refugees in that province helped institionalising of drug trade, sucking in cadres of Pakistani army, sections of bureaucracy and civilian administrative apparatus and Mafiosi with international connections. Terrorist supremos like Ossama found an empire to sit at its top.

ISI’s achievement in Kashmir is the ethnic cleansing of its religious minority and fundamentalising of her society. For disintegration of India, it has spread tentacles among the vulnerable sections of Indian Muslims.

The story of India’s North Eastern states, where separatism and secessionism are brewing fast, is also linked to ISI machinations. In order to deepen her perfidy, ISI has created bases around India to coordinate subversion by her agents. Thus Dhaka and Katmandu in the east, Dubai, Sharja and Muscat in the west form the ring of these subversives.

In Kashmir, apart from the known pro-Pak militant outfits and the Hurriyat Conference, there is a committed section of state bureaucracy, political organizations including the ruling party, and moles within administrative structure fully empathizing with separatists, secessionists and militants. The Kashmiri Muslim Diaspora in Saudi Arabia, Emirates, UK, the US, Canada and Australia is zealously contributing its moral and monetary support to the cause. It has become easily vulnerable to Pakistani lobbying.

Having projected Kashmiri Muslims as the victimised people, the ISI is using them fatally for destabilisation of the Indian State. This is the reason why in ninety per cent cases of bomb blasts, shoot outs, RDX plantings, kidnappings, hijackings, ransom seeking etc. in different parts of India, only Kashmiri youth are involved. This is how on Pakistan’s instigation, these young people are misled, got arrested or killed. The more that happens, the more do the Kashmiri Muslims get alienated from India. This amply serves the purpose of Pakistan.

International connections of theo-fascists are too well known to beggar any description. Islamists of various nationalities, Pakistanis, Afghans, Chechnyans, Sudanese, Lebanese, British Muslims and others have been fighting in Kashmir; some have been arrested. They believe firmly that they are fighting a jihad against the kafirs. The statements of the Jamaat-e-Islami chief in Pakistan instil in them the spirit of jihad and martyrdom because they are told that India (and also Russia and the US) is an enemy.

In the aftermath of Kargil incursion, Pakistan and its ISI have accelerated the intensity of militancy in Kashmir as also the subversion in other parts of India. The hijacking of IC 814 and the high drama at Kandahar, the headquarters of Taliban, the extremist wing of the contemporary Islamists, are clear indications of what the theo-fascists are up to.

It should not go unsaid that Pakistan is wielding strong influence in the OIC. She sponsored most of the anti-India resolutions on Kashmir passed by this organisation. After Islamabad’s successful plan of destroying Afghanistan by thrusting on her a fratricidal war, in the process getting rid of a perpetual menace, she has established her political and military depth westward. After effecting ethno-religious cleansing in Kashmir, and making deep inroads into Kashmiri Muslim polity through subversion, bribes and Islamization agenda, Pakistan has also found political and military depth eastward. Her veiled threats of using the nuclear option against the “enemy” (meaning India) are in place -- the latest coming from the Chief Executive himself. Pakistan has been able to prejudice the world opinion on Kashmir.  Internationalising of Kashmir has ultimately been achieved whether through the eruption of Kargil fighting or as a result of conducting nuclear test and then focusing on Kashmir as the nuclear flash point in the subcontinent.

Against this, the Indian government has not come up to the mark. India is groping for an effective way of curbing the menace. She is bogged down with tiresome debates in the parliament and the assemblies. She is responding to the situation through a pedagogue’s manual for democratic dispensation. Her handling of airliner hijacking case has aroused mixed response. She is dangerously trying to minimize the subversion inside Kashmir, and elsewhere in the country. Is it that their vision of a futuristic India is blurred by vote bank politics? Is there none among the political and intellectual stalwarts who can stand up and alert the masses of India to the impending danger of theo-fascism? Let us not forget that even in the country that has stolen a march over others in fomenting theo-fascist tendencies, there are millions of people who would like to live in peace with others. What are we doing to strengthen those elements? The current crisis cannot be mitigated just by verbatim recitation of the mantras of democracy and secularism. Practical aspects of these postulates cannot be left to coffeehouse theorizing.