By Kulsum Mustafa for TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: “If the country has to progress, have lasting peace the mindset of bureaucracy has to be turned around. Insensitive and senseless bureaucracy is responsible for the upsurge of insurgencies, terrorism in India,” former Allahabad High Court judge Syed Haider Abbas Raza said.
He was addressing Akhilesh Mishra memorial seminar at Lucknow University. Mishra was a veteran Hindi journalist and scholar.
Dwelling on the menace plaguing India, Justice Raza said there is bound to be an upraise, revolt, when the emotional, social and ethnic demands of a group of people are not addressed properly and their cultural values are not respected.
“Imposing a system with an iron hand on customs and culture often insensibly by ‘outsiders is dangerous – it is sure to be resented and dispised. Glaring examples is the terrorism of Kashmir and insurgency of North-East India,” said the legal luminary.
He said that in order to get a clear picture of any issue it is essential to go back to its roots. One should surely do this for Kashmir. After Independence Sheikh Abdullah remained a people’s leader, a secular man. Despite all allurements he did not budge from this image. Even the likes of Mohammed Ali Jinnah failed to sway him from the path he had chosen. The dynamic Kashmiri leader brought about the Accession of Jammu & Kashmir to India. But then something began to sour, a ridge was created between Delhi and Srinagar. All too soon this same man turned from loyalist to traitor. For this he was put behind bars and remained there for 17 years. In the years Abdullah was behind bars the people of Kashmir started shedding their faith in the system. They started seeing things in black and white. They felt that if a loyalist of Congressman like Abdullah could meet with such fate what would be the condition of a common Kashmiri in the eyes of the Congress. Mistrust set in and agitations started. The roots of differences had taken its toll on what has been termed ‘heaven on earth.”
Justice Raza said that the root cause of trouble in N-E lies in the insensitive bureaucratic handling of the situation. Unable to understand the customs and rituals the officials lobby or communicate with the tribals. Their total emphasis was to implement the policies of the government without as much as even a little effort to strike a chord with the people of N-E and imposed our system on them.
“It is a fact that whenever riots take place, it is not just the innocent that are killed but the sad fact is that the real culprits go scot-free,” he said,
Recalling the gruesome killings of Muslims after the Babri Masjid demolition on 6th December 1992 in Mumbai and Gujarat riots of 2002 he said they are black marks on the democracy of India.
He said any patriotic Indian will never support terrorism but as a sensible and enlightened citizen of the country every Muslim would expect a little more sensitivity from the power who rules over him in this secular country.
He said Muslims and Hindus have lived together in India for centuries. They are incomplete without each other. In fact, he added that a lot of Muslim issues are raised by non-Muslims; many of their legal battles are fought by those who do not profess Islam.
“What is required is a change of mindset of those who frame policies and implement them. They should do that with an open mind and sans any prejudices,” said Justice Raza.