Activists with Wahhabi links hold ‘Stand with Kashmir’ classes globally
Adits, the reply was that whatever happened in Kashmir in the 1990s was part of a 700-year-old history and it was the seventh exodus of Kashmiri Pandits and not the first. On my personal query about the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, Kanjwal replied that there was no formal investigation done to understand why Hindus left. It wasn’t just Hindus who were killed, Muslims were killed too. It wasn’t targeted killings,” Quasba said.
“Well, I hoped that she (Kanjwal) would use the platform in creating a good debate about Article370 and the future of the valley, but in reality, the platform was used for propagating falsehood and an untrue history
of Kashmir—it was more about claims that the Indian military was involved in sexual violence and all sorts of violence in the valley,” Quasba added.
The “teach in” classes are not just being held in the West, they are also being held in the capital of India and in many other cities of the country.
As per some of the attendees, in these “teach in” classes, mostly the PPTS of fake images of military torture and brutality are shown to the youths. Short films largely filled with representative images and characters are also being screened at such classes. These fake videos have an impact on young minds, which is reflected during the question and answer session when young spectators ask questions about how the military has occupied Kashmir and suppressed the life and liberty of Kashmiri citizens.
The Sunday Guardian has learnt that several similar classes have been held on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus, University of Hyderabad, Delhi University and at many other locations.
On the condition of anonymity, one of those who was present at a “teach in” class recently held in JNU, said, “It was shocking to know the story of torture done by the Indian military, but an hour long movie did not even tell once how the military was facing stone pelting and terrorism in the valley. The most shocking part of the movie was how the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government’s attempt was not to resolve the Kashmir issue, but to carry forward its agenda of communalism.”
Another attendee said: “While watching the entire movie, I realised that a narrative was being built that Kashmir should be given the freedom to join Pakistan and how the Indian military was crushing protests that were being held against the abrogation of Article 370. Also, the question-answer-session, which is usually held after the movie and PPT classes, adds astonishing claims like how the situation in the valley is out of control and the whole state has been held hostage by the Indian military. They forget to speak anything about Ladakh and Jammu.”
At the Press Club of India in New Delhi, a similar attempt was made by some Left and ultra Left activists, when they wanted to screen a movie, claimed to have been made by a fact-finding team, but the club administration did not allow the screening. The organisers later published the movie on Youtube.
While the people involved in these “teach in” classes claim that they are putting out facts in the public, domain experts and intelligence officials speak of a larger conspiracy. They say that these “teach in” classes, by disseminating wrong information about the valley, are basically helping the Wahhabi lobbyists who are working to create unrest in the valley.
The growing influence of Wahhabism in Kashmir is one of the most dangerous problems that the country is dealing with. The fast-growing influence of Wahhabism in Kashmir, especially during the last 30 years, is attributed to huge funding by the Saudi Arabian government and other Gulf countries, ostensibly for the construction of mosques and setting up of seminaries. The separatist hardliners follow the Wahhabi ideology.