Monthly Archives: August 2018

Owen Bennett-Jones
Whereas the Indian state has controlled militancy in Deo­bandi institutions, the Pakistani state has done the oppositE

HERE’S a tale of two madarsas: one Deoband north of Delhi, the other in Akora Khattak, Pakistan. Today in Deoband, at the madarsa where it all began in 1866, the 4,000 students focus on religion. The institution was created to preserve a purist, back-to-basics interpretation of Islam and it has remained true to that purpose. Whenever the Indian government offers the madarsa funds the clerics decline the money: they don’t want changes to the curriculum that would come with government funding.In 2008, some 20,000 Deobandi clerics from around India agreed on a declaration condemning terrorism. And for good measure they threw in a pledge of loyalty to the Indian state. The seminary has even instructed all Muslim households to hoist the Indian flag over their homes each Independence Day. A recent fatwa said that while it would be wrong to worship the Indian motherland, it was permissible to love it.Akora Khattak’s Deobandi Islam is different from the Indian variety.That’s not to say that the Deoband seminary is a moderate institution. The madarsa has specific departments dedicated to the rejection of Christianity, Judaism, even Shia Islam and Barelvism. Not to mention a whole postgraduate course dedicated to loathing Ahmadis.To protect their faith, Deoband’s clerics have retreated into a citadel of literalist and exclusionary doctrine. Some of the students would like a little more mainstream teaching to improve their job prospects. But the institution prefers that its protégés study religion, graduate and then go on to propagate the Deobandi worldview by establishing new madarsas in India and around the world.When students have been tempted to stray into militancy, the Indian state has been quick to lay down the law. For example, when the Kashmir insurgency was at its height, some of Deoband’s Kashmiri students flirted with using violence to advance their cause. The Indian state did not hesitate to give them long prison sentences. By all accounts the justice meted out to them was pretty rough and ready — but it served its purpose: today Kashmiri students in Deoband steer clear of politics.I recently met a Kashmiri student in Deoband and asked him if he wanted Kashmiri independence.

“Yes,” he said.

“Would you fight for it?”“No,” he replied. “I will go back to Kashmir only to teach the Quran.”When I suggested that Kashmiri students in Pakistani Deobandi madarsas might be a little more assertive than that, he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know anything about that,” he said.Such quietist attitudes can also be found amongst some of Pakistan’s Deobandis. But there is also a militant strain of Pakistani Deobandism. Take, as perhaps the prime example, the Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak.In 1947, Sami ul Haq’s father, a cleric from Deoband who got stuck in Pakistan during Partition, started out with just eight pupils. Today, there are some 3,000 students. Sami ul Haq recently published a book in which he lays out his views on global affairs. These include the claims that the Afghan Taliban provided good government, that Osama bin Laden was an “ideal man” and that Al-Qaeda never existed. He has said that if his students wish to take a break from their studies to fight alongside the Afghan Taliban, then it is not for him to stand in their way. He awarded Mullah Omar an honorary degree. And let’s not forget that key conspirators in the plot to assassinate Benazir Bhutto met in advance in Akora Khattak.When it comes to militancy, then Sami ul Haq’s Deobandism is very different to the Indian version. The question is why Pakistani Deobandism as represented by Akora Khattak has so quickly diverged from the attitudes prevalent in the mother institution in Deoband itself.The answer lies in the contrasting attitudes and policies of the Indian and Pakistani states. Whereas the Indian state has controlled militancy in Deo­bandi institutions, the Pakistani state has done the opposite. As a senator for many years, Sami ul Haq can even be considered a member of the Pakistani establishment. He has always taken care to work with, rather than against, Pakistan’s deep state.There are some signs that Delhi is becoming increasingly aware that the Pakistani strain of militant Deobandi Islam poses a threat to peace and security in South Asia as a whole. After years of forbidding foreigners to study at Deoband, the Indian authorities recently relaxed the rule and granted visas to some Afghan Deobandi students. Given a choice between having Afghans educated in Pakistan or India, Delhi has decided that the quietist madarsa at Deoband is preferable to letting them be influenced by the politicised and sometimes militant Deobandi madarsas in Pakistan.Deobandi militancy might look like a force that cannot be controlled. But India’s experience suggests that the degree of militancy espoused by some Deobandis is a function of state policy.The writer is a British journalist and author of “Pakistan: Eye of the Storm”. (By arrangement with Dawn.)

Guwahati, April 19

The Army’s Veterans Cell located at 51 Sub Area here helped Sangita Das, the wife of a missing jawan in Assam, get pension benefits more than 15 years after her husband had been declared “deserter” and later as “missing” by the Army.Sangita, wife of Pradip Das, a jawan of 5 Rashtriya Rifles Battalion, had first moved the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in 2004, informing that her husband had been missing since July 2001 when he was supposed to report back to his unit in J-K after returning from leave. The Army unit where Das was posted later declared him “deserter” much to the agony of Sangita as it deprived her of pension benefits, thereby plunging her into abject poverty.Poverty compelled Sangita to work as domestic help and at a noodles factory in Guwahati at Rs3,000 a month. She with help of some relatives moved Guwahati bench of the AFT in 2004 seeking justice and pension. Though the AFT ruled in her favour in 2013, the Army still did not provide any pension benefit to her. She then brought her case before Veterans Cell, HQs 51 Sub-Area, here during an ex-servicemen rally held on December 9, 2015.“Veterans Cell swung into action and the 5 Rashtriya Rifles republished orders amending Pradip’s status from ‘deserter’ to ‘missing’. She finally got pension payment order on March 21, 2016. Sangita has been given a job by the HQs 51 Sub Area and her daughter Dinisha has been admitted to Army school in Narangi with free education,” said a defence spokesman. — TNS

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 18

The Army recruitment rally for candidates belonging to Ludhiana, Moga, Rupnagar and Mohali will be held at the Dholewal Military Complex here from April 25 to May 6.Recruitment director Col Kamal Kishore informed that physical test of candidates from Moga, Baghapurana, Nihal Singh Wala and Dharamkot tehsils would be held on April 25 while those from Moga and Badhni Kalan tehsils will appear for the test on April 26.“On April 27, the test will be held for candidates from Chamkaur Sahib, Nangal and Rupnagar tehsils while the same test for candidates from Sri Anandpur Sahib and Nurpur Bedi will be held on April 28. On April 29, candidates from Ludhiana South, West, East and Central tehsils will appear for the test and on April 30, candidates from Jagraon and Khanna Tehsils will take the test. Meanwhile, the test for candidates from Samrala, Payal and Raikot is scheduled for May 1 and for candidates from Dera Bassi, it will be held for May 2. Finally, on May 3, candidates from Kharar and Ajitgarh (Mohali) tehsils will take the physical test, Col Kishore added.Medical examination will be done next day. Documents of successful candidates will be taken on May 6. Meanwhile, the written test will be conducted on May 29. The candidates can download admit cards from website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in.

Chief of Army Staff General Dalbir Singh and his wife Namita Suhag console late Major Amit Deswal’s wife and father at Palam Airport in New Delhi on Friday. Tribune photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

Jhajjar (Haryana), April 15

Mortal remains of Major Amit Deswal, who was killed on Wednesday in a gun battle with militants in Manipur, were consigned to flames on Friday with full military and state honours at his village in Haryana.

Deswal, who was from Surheti village of Jhajjar district, is survived by parents, wife and four-year-old son Arjun.

Major Deswal of the 21 Special Force of Rashtriya Rifles died fighting militants in Manipur’s Tamenglong district on April 13.

His body arrived on Friday at the technical area of Palam airport in Delhi, and after a wreath-laying ceremony, it was moved to the Major’s Surheti village.

It was a sad and proud last farewell for Major Deswal. Family members, relatives and hundreds of residents, including politicians, officials, social workers, said they were saddened by the death of young officer, but they were also proud of the braveheart’s “martyrdom”.

Full military honours and a gun salute were given to Major Deswal.

One of the military officers at the funeral said the braveheart breathed his last in the true traditions of a warrior.

Deswal was commissioned on June 10, 2006, into the Regiment of Artillery.

After basic service, Deswal recognised that his calling was somewhere more adventurous. He opted for the Special Group at first, but finally opted for the coveted Special Forces. — IANS

Karachi, April 12

An alleged Indian spy arrested in Pakistan has been charged with terrorism and sabotage in an FIR filed against him by the provincial Balochistan government, a media report said today.Kulbhushan Jadhav was reportedly arrested in Balochistan after he entered from Iran and was accused by Pakistan of planning “subversive activities” in the country.The Counter Terrorism Department, Quetta, has lodged a case against Indian “spy” Jadhav, the report said. The department lodged the case in provincial capital of Quetta, the report said without specifying on what date was the FIR registered.The alleged “RAW agent” was arrested last month from the Chaman area of Balochistan that lies near the Afghanistan border. The case against him has been registered on the complaint of the provincial home department on the directive of the federal government, the report said quoting police sources. — PTI

Our Correspondent

SUNDERNAGAR, April 10

The Honorary Commissioned Officers’ Welfare Association has criticised the hike in the salaries and allowances of legislators. Members will request Governor Acharya Devvrat not to give his assent to the Bill passed by the Vidhan Sabha especially when the state was experiencing financial crunch.Talking to mediapersons, Jagdish Verma, president of the association, termed it the most unfortunate that within five minutes, the salaries and allowances of ministers, legislators and ex-legislators were enhanced without any discussion which was against the spirit of democracy.He said it exhibited the greed on part of the elected representatives of the public.He said it took more than 40 years to accept the one- rank, one-pension scheme that too after a lot of agitations.

Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit. — ANI photo

New Delhi, April 7

The peace process between India and Pakistan has been “suspended” and there are no talks scheduled between the two countries, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit said here on Thursday.

“As far as I know, there is no meeting scheduled between foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan yet,” Basit told reporters at a function here.His remarks have come in the background of the January 2 Pathankot air base attack and the recent visit by a Pakistan team to investigate the attack.This is the first official word from Pakistan about the latest breakdown in the now-on-now-off peace process with India.After a team of Pakistani officials visited Pathankot, New Delhi had expected Islamabad to allow a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team to visit that country to take the investigation forward.Basit ruled out the possibility.“The investigation (into the Pathankot attack) is not about reciprocity,” he said.“There shouldn’t be any doubt that Pakistan wants to have a normal and peaceful relationship with India on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual interest,” Basit said.Maintaining that “we need is to engage uninterruptedly, comprehensively and meaningfully”, the Pakistan High Commissioner said, “It is the J&K dispute that is the root cause of mutual distrust between India and Pakistan and other bilateral issues.Therefore, its fair and just resolution, as per aspirations of people of Jammu & Kashmir, is imperative, he added. “It is high time to break the carapace of complacency and dispense with self-serving approaches.”Basit also said the arrest of an alleged Indian spy, Kulbushan Jadhav, proved Islamabad’s allegations that New Delhi was causing unrest in Balochistan.Reading out a prepared statement, Basit referred to the arrest of alleged Indian spy Jadhav in Balochistan last month and said that it “irrefutably corroborates what Pakistan has been saying all along”.”We are aware of all those who seek to create unrest in Pakistan and destabilise the country. They are bound to fail.” He said Pakistan had arrested scores of terror operatives with “foreign linkages” over the past month. “The presence of such elements is quite disturbing, to say the least.” On the issue of China blocking India’s bid to ban Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar by the UN, Basit said he subscribed to the Chinese viewpoint on this. — Agencies