NIZAM-e- MUSTAFA

Matea vuchtam haal

Keth kertum.

 August1996. 11 pm . The days were very hot. The BSNL tariff for STD calls was one fourth after 11 pm . People used to stand in a queue at such an odd hour to avail of the facility.  

He introduced me to a teen aged Kashmiri Muslim at the STD booth. A Kashmiri Muslim at the peak hot summer month in Jammu was nothing short of a curiosity to me. 

I asked him:

'What brings you to  Jammu  in this month of the year?' 

 He replied:

'I am Abdul Rashid a JK police constable posted at Digiana Police Station. My routine job is to search vehicles, private & public including that of yours at Digiana check post'.

 It was a check against any antinational activity. The vigilance check had followed a few days after an explosion of a bomb in a matador, that had  killed a number of school going children, orphaned some and widowed a few.

By now, we had become friends. Because of the long queue ahead of us, we engaged ourselves in gossip.

 I asked him: ' Where do you live in Kashmir ?'

 He said: ' I am from Sebdan.'

' Do you know Hriday Nath of Sebdan?'

' No.'

I was intrigued.

 I told him: ' Then you are not from Sebdan.'

There was an ugly pause.

Then he said:' A............a.......I......am from ......Soibugh. Soibugh.'

I said:

'My friend Gh. Hassan also lives there. You must be knowing him! '

 The reply was: ' No.'

I was mystified. After a pause, I said:

'You are neither from Sebdan nor from Saibugh.You are from nowhere.'

 He gave out a long breath and said in a low voice:

'My dear, I am from Wadwan.'

' Mister, you cannot be from Wadwan either. Impossible!

 A faint smile frisked upon his thick lips. I could see a mysterious surprise on his boyish face. 

 I said:' The 'Believers' from Wadwan are hundred percent Jamati-Islami,  engaged in Jehad...... looting the houses of the non Believers to install Nizam-e-Mustafa.'  How come you a Wadwanian work for the anti Jehad organization!

I saw a shadow of guilt in his brownish-blue eyes. He scratched the top of his head with the pointing finger of his left hand. He turned his gaze towards his feet. The language of his gesture spoke volumes. I tried to make him comfortable.

 Suddenly he swore by the Holy Koran:

' For four years, I was a militant fighting Jihad with AK 47. India is a great country. It has rewarded me with the job of searching you, the nationalist, against any antinational activity.

Since then, whenever a police constable stops me while I am on the wheels, I counter check him, lest he should plant some explosive in my vehicle. I openly tell him about my vigilance against him. At times, he laughs away my query,  whether he is a Nabedi ( A surrendered militant )  a Mujahid ( Pak trained)  a Soieth ( A  wick- Kashmir trained) or a Teach ( Mop-Trained nowhere),  in uniform.

A few years later, at the gate of the Golden Temple , I called a Kashmiri hawker selling woollies, waistcoats and the like.

 I asked him:'Where are you from? Are you a Nabedi Or a Mujahid......'

He said: ' I am neither. I have come from Ashmuj, Kulgam to spend chill winter and make some living as well.' 

 I remarked:"This is the first day of the holy Ramzan. Obviously you must be on fast. Your forehead tells me that you must be offering Nimaz five times a day. You seem to be a pious Muslim.'

 He could no longer resist revealing the impious truth:

' I am a  Mujahid( Pak trained) with ten years rigorous training in the ravines of Afghanistan .'

 Then he boasted:

'I am trained enough to down even a plane with just a pointer.'

 Soon one more hawker joined us. He too was introduced to me as a  Militant from Ashmuj. He was followed by one more from Kilam who was said to be a civilian and had fled his home town because of the torture of some inspector from STF.

I said:

 ‘ With such an experience and training in guerrilla  warfare, why did you shun your noble cause?’

Shun! He said:

 ‘Amongst us some traitors ditched us. Everyday Mujahids are caught in hundreds. The Organization has directed us to go into hibernation, until some popular government steps in to trim the wings of the traitor. As directed, I surrendered a petty pistol and returned AK-47 along with rest of the ammunition to the Organization to gain freedom. For them I am a misguided youth back to the mainstream and for the organization I am a sincere Mujahid in hibernation.

We bade goodbye to each other & parted. I was hardly a few metres away, when he called me back and said:

‘ Why don’t you join us?’  In Nizam-e-Mustafa, we shall guarantee you protection of life and property.’

I said: ‘ I am an Indian. I am proud to be an Indian. I have faith in the secular character of the Indian Constitution’

He laughed at me and said: Indian Constitution! Indian Constitution is a complete farce. It has guaranteed  protection to your life and property. Did it protect your life and property Ha….haha… Did the Government treat teaching staff of  the Gandhi memorial College and that of the Islamia College after their exodus at par to prove its secular character? Do your children enjoy to and fro air trips to Hyderabad under Sadbhavna scheme? You join us and enjoy all the benefits of Nizam-e-Mustafa.You have to pay only jazia, which you otherwise also pay to the Govt. of India with a different nomenclature?’

I was almost lured to his offer and said: Give me some time to think over it.