Pakistan is the sanctuary for the now precarious millennia old Islamic tradition while our brethren Muslim Indians will cower in their ghettos waiting while their special privileges (special status for Kashmir, Muslim family law) steadily erode to eventually become the Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Pakistan for pity's sake should enact a right of return for all Urdu-speakers & perhaps settle them in the failed city of Gwadar?
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ReplyDeleteOr perhaps Quaid's 'infinite wisdom' is responsible for Taliban's dominance in Pakistan and Modi's rise in India. Afterall without 2-NT led Partition, Would there be a Taliban takeover of Kabul (and Pakistan?) and Mujahideens in Kashmir or will Modi be able to achieve a simple majority in United India?
ReplyDeleteAs for Muslim Family Law (ala Sharia), I wonder why its erosion (if it actually happens) should be lamented by any progressive section of society. Kashmir itself is an orphan of Partition- if there were no Partition, There would have been no Kashmir Conflict or Special Status in the first place.
@ naveenbishnoi
DeleteSharia is largely dead in India anyway. The different family codes doesn't have drastic differences between them. Polygamy for Muslim men is a notable exception. But the alimony (Shah bano) business has been dealt with in numerous later court rulings in state High courts (in Kerala, MP among other states) that have been subsequently re-iterated by the Supreme court. Abolishing Sharia would be symbolic- universal civil code being a founding constitutional directive. If it was a check box yes I would tick "Universal Civil Code" but if there is a lot of resistance it is good enough that Sharia is diluted enough to match modern progressive standards.
BTW, there is a strain of thought among the Hindu right that polygamy as such is not the problem but only its selective availability to Muslim men while Hindu men has the Christian social norm of monogamy imposed on them (basically pseudo-secularism). These people (Hindu men) want the same rights as Muslim men. Appropriately enough, there is a survey that has found equal number of Hindu men (illegally?) and Muslim men having multiple wives:
"Meanwhile, the NFHS found (in the only survey that looked at this) that approximately 5.8% of Hindu men have multiple wives, while only 5.73% of Muslim men do."
http://kafila.org/2014/04/12/some-myths-about-muslims/
If Sharia is largely dead, then why not repeal it altogether ? The fact is law exists, Shariat Courts exists. Its not merely about numbers of marriages (though here too, one needs to make a distinction b/w what is deemed as legal and what is illegal). On Paper, A Muslim Woman does not have the same rights as Hindu Woman. There exists an institutionalised gender inequality-
Deletehttp://www.tarahaat.com/Law_Wrtp_Muslim.aspx
http://insideislam.wisc.edu/2012/06/muslim-women-in-india-seek-equal-rights-under-personal-law/
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sharia-courts-for-Muslim-women-soon/articleshow/21075650.cms
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/human_rights_quarterly/v035/35.1.narain.html
As for resistance to reform, There will always be one from Orthodoxy (even Hindu Code bills required bulldozing many a Pandas). Even Pragaash had to disband-doesn't mean Kashmiri Muslim girls should not form rock bands in future.
Anyway My central point was- Modi may or may not be evil but taking Muslim Personal Law as litmus test for "Islam in danger" is definitely NOT a sign of being progressive. If someone takes Muslim Personal law as sign of Indian Secularism- then in my view, it only maligns the ideal of Secularism. Pseudo-Secularism charge is well deserved in such cases.
Ironically the Quaid had envisioned a mostly secular Western looking country based on his own personality rather than the outlook and leanings of the teeming Muslim masses. It worked for a while till Mr Zia Ul Haq cashed in on the Soviet invasion and indulged his Islamist instincts thus mortally damaging a secular society in Pakistan.
ReplyDeleteI dont think Pakistanis understand how badly Hindus in general crave to be liked by Muslims and take the first opportunity to display their Aamir Khan, Abdul Kalam, AR Rahman et al
Nothing would thrill them more for Muslims to join the mainstream and become secularized and yes Hinduized somewhat. Kashmir is not going anywhere, we had enough vivisections. Sorry to sound harsh, but if Kashmiris dont like Indian rule, they can move to Pakistan. We are done caring about Kashmiris, coddling them has led nowhere, it will suck to lose such a pretty people. But if a pretty girl doesn't like you, no point in degrading yourself in trying to appease her. Just kick her out of your house(or at the very least invite other girls in ie revoke Article 370)
I agree with N(D). Polygamy is a boogeyman used by the Hindu right. Very very few can afford polygamy. It is a rich mans game but then the rich Muslim or Hindu tend to be secular and Westernized so the likelihood of polygamy is even smaller.
Funnily Islamic polygamy laws are used by high spirited Hindu men such as Dharmendra and various South Indian stars to indulge in polygamy. All these guys convert to Islam to get their second wives. Legally Dharmendra and Boney Kapoor are Muslims.