Links and extracts for weekend reading

Irfan Husain on how the intelligentsia in Pakistan�is blissfully unaware (or indifferent) to the threat from Taliban

Saurav Basu on Amir Khusro and the myth of composite culture

and Kapil Sibal on�how the ‘NDA ditched UPA after vowing to support the N-deal’�

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Excerpts from�A world without joy�by Irfan Husain writing in The Dawn, July 19 2008 (emphasis mine)

…IMAGINE a world without joy: a world in which music, dancing and art are prohibited; where women have been declared non-persons and banished from public view; and where games and sports of all kinds have been banned.

In this dreary, monochromatic world, poetry, prose and drama have no place, and dissent is punishable by death. This is a world with endless lists about what citizens are not allowed to do, and most human activity is focused on imposing yet more restrictions. In short, a world devoid of everything that makes life worth living.

Actually, it is not very difficult to imagine such a barren place as this is the bleak vision the Taliban imposed on Afghanistan when they were in power. And now, their Pakistani counterparts are trying to transform Pakistan into this hell on earth in the name of Islam.

…Over the centuries, the rough terrain that today constitutes the Durand Line has been crossed by an unending succession of conquerors, smugglers, traders, mercenaries and shepherds of diverse nationalities.
…Today, Pakistan’s side of this inhospitable region plays host to Arab and Central Asian fighters from several countries. The Afghan Taliban, heroin smugglers and gunrunners come and go at will.

…if those foaming at the mouth over the recent American words and actions over the Taliban threat would pause to draw a deep breath, they would realise that both the West and Pakistan face a common enemy.

What would happen if Nato and American forces were to withdraw from Afghanistan tomorrow? The Taliban would be back in Kabul, and very soon they and their Pakistani friends would be knocking on our gates in Islamabad. Already, Peshawar is under threat. How long before the darkness falls over the rest of the country?

…Let me be absolutely clear: the Taliban’s vision of how we should lead our lives is diametrically opposite mine. And since they do not believe in civilised discourse, they must be opposed by force. Just as I would not like to impose my views and beliefs on anybody, I will not have the Taliban (or anybody else) impose theirs on me. To think that we can make deals with them, as many in Pakistan do, is to live in a fool’s paradise.

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Excerpts from Amir Khusro and the myth of composite culture�by�Saurav Basu (emphasis mine)

…Amir Khusro, has been eulogized ad nauseum as the shining example of India”s composite culture…Khusro”s anecdotes have become almost compulsory inclusions in any standard text on medieval Indian History. TaraChand was the progenitor of this theory in his “Islamic influence on Indian culture”; J L Nehru, a non historian wholesomely appropriated it in his Discovery of India.

(but�facts suggest otherwise)…Consider his (Amir Khusro’a) opinion on Hindu temples:

There were many capitals of Devs where satanism had prospered from the earliest times and where far from the pale of Islam The devil in the course of time had hatched his eggs and made his worship compulsory on the followers of the idols but now with a sincere attempt the Emperor removed these symbols of infidelity…to dispel the contamination of false beliefs from those places through the muezzin”s call and the establishment of prayers. [Quoted by Carl W Ernst, in Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center, Suny Press]

In another case, his contempt for the phallus worshiping Hindu women is brought to fore during his poetic hysteria while describing the siege of Chidambaram

The stone idols called Ling Mahadeo which had been established a long time at the place and on which the women of the infidels (Hindus) rubbed their vaginas for (sexual) satisfaction. These, up to this time, the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to break. The Musalmans destroyed all the lingas, and Deo Narain fell down and the other gods who had fixed their seats there raised their feet, and jumped so high, that at one leap they reached the fort of Lanka, and in that affright the lings themselves would have fled had they any legs to stand on. [Quoted by Sita Ram Goyal in Hindu Temples What Happened to them, Volume II – The Islamic Evidence, 2nd edition, Chapter 8, Voice of India]

Here, he triumphantly gloats at the subjugation of the Hindus

The Whole country, by means of the sword of our holy warriors, has become like a forest denuded of its thorns by fire. The land has been saturated with the water of the sword, and the vapours of infidelity have been dispersed. The strong men of India have been trodden under foot, and all are ready to pay tribute. Islam is triumphant, idolatry is subdued. Had not the law granted exemption from death by payment of poll-tax the very name of Hind, root and branch, would have extinguished. [Amir Khusrau, Mathnawiyy-i-Dawal ani Khizir Khan, Rashid Ahmad Salim Ansari, ed., Aligarh, 1917, P. 46]

And finally, the relationship between the Muslim and the Hindu – verily master and a slave

“Thanks to the perennial well established convention of the world, the Hindu has all along been a game of the Turks. The relationship between the Turk and the Hindu cannot be described better than that the Turk is like a tiger and the Hindu a deer. It has been a long established rule of the whirling sky that the Hindus exist for the sake of the Turk. Being triumphant over them, whenever the Turk chooses to make an inroad upon them, he catches them, buys them and sells them at will. Since, the Hindu happens to be a slave in all respects, none needs exercise force on his slave. It does not become one to scowl at a goat which is being reared for one”s meals. Why should one wield a sharp sword for one who will die by just a fierce look?” [Amir Khusrau, Mathnawiyy-I Nuh Sipihr, Wahid Mirza, ed., Calcutta 1948, Sipihr II, P. 89, 130-131]

Can this Khusrau, who spewed venom on every aspect of Hindu identity, be considered as the harbinger of composite culture in India? True, he used multiple languages for expressing his ideas, and celebrated the geography and natural beauty of the nation. But can they by any stretch of imagination be used to excuse his vulgar portrayal of Hindu gods, temples, architecture, women, culture and attitudes.

This is what perplexed R C Majumdar as to how could an enlightened Muslim like Khusro who was definitely not a Jehadi entertain such ideas about Hindus despite 500 years of Muslim presence in India predating him. Why could not Khusro sympathise with the defeated Hindus. Why could he not appreciate their architectural marvels? Why could he not tolerate, let alone accept, Hindu religious idiosyncrasies. Khusro”s literary archive is not surprisingly barren of any Hindu poetry, puranic lores, bhakti ideals, upanishadic mysticism – without which composite identity remains a myth!

Even Al Beruni, the 11th century Muslim foreigner on Indian shores, centuries before Khusro made the humanitarian gesture in expressing remorse for the Hindu genocide committed by his master, the Mahmud of Ghazni. He laments “This prince chose the holy war as his calling, and therefore called himself Al-ghdzi (i.e. warring on the road of Allah). Mahmud utterly ruined the prosperity of the country, and performed there wonderful exploits, by which the Hindus became like atoms of dust scattered in all directions, and like a tale of old in the mouth of the people. Their scattered remains cherish, of course, the most inveterate aversion towards all Muslims.” This assertion comes from a man who had no agenda in pushing concepts of shared identities and openly expresses his disdain for several Hindu practices which he found irrational or superstitious including the monstrous Hindu perversity in using numbers beyond the fourth decimal!

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Excerpts from an interview of Kapil Sibal by Karan Thapar to be broadcast later today ‘NDA ditched UPA after vowing to support deal’�(emphasis mine)

Sibal told CNN-IBN’s Karan Thapar:

“The fact of the matter is that the Prime Minister was approached and told that if he could convince the BJP leadership that UPA’s strategic deterrent is intact, they might consider supporting the Indo-US Nuclear Deal. So, the Prime Minister went across in a meeting with the previous prime minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee, along with Shri LK Advani and Brajesh Mishra and in the course of the conversation, Manmohan Singh demonstrated that not only was the strategic nuclear deterrent in place, but the strategic nuclear deterrent capability had been enhanced, and infact even numbers were broadly suggested.”

“And because Brajesh Mishra and Atal Behari Vajpayee knew of these numbers – because they had been in those positions – they were convinced. And at the end of the meeting, LK Advani said he was satisfied and that the NDA was now in a position to support the 123 Agreement. However, he wanted the Prime Minister to send them a letter. At which point in time the Prime Minister went back, sent a letter stating the conversation that had taken place,” Sibal added.

“But thereafter uinfortunately, Mr Advani informed the Prime Minister, that he was not able to deliver on his promise, and that the senior leadership of the party was against the deal, and so he couldn’t deliver,”

…

Karan Thapar: Are you absolutely sure of this story?

Kapil Sibal: I am not given to making statements on Public TV, unless I am sure, I am a 100 per cent sure.

Karan Thapar: You are a 100 per cent sure?

Kapil Sibal: Absolutely.

…

Karan Thapar: I am told that there was an occasion, when the Foreign Secretary, the National Security Advisor, and perhaps the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission briefed Jaswant Singh, and I am told that Mr Jaswant Singh complemented them on the excellent job they had done. Do you know about that story? Is that true?

Kapil Sibal: Absolutely. Again your information is absolutely right. They went over, they briefed him, all three of them – and at the end of the meeting – I have the exact words with me – this is what Shri Jaswant Singh said, and this is his language: “Gentlemen, I must complement you on a job well done”.

…Karan Thapar: Then, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha complemented the Foreign Secretary, the National Security Advisor and the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission?

Kapil Sibal: In those same words that I’ve told you.