‘Kashmiri women don’t need morality lessons’

Mehbooba Mufti, the fire-brand leader of Kashmir’s opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), adopted the abaya after she joined politics. But the former legislator and daughter of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is aghast at the recent campaign by an unknown group to enforce the veil for women. ‘‘Kashmiri women don’t need lessons in morality,’’ Mehbooba, who travels across the Valley, tells Muzamil Jaleel. What they need at this juncture, she adds, is more support from the Valley’s men.

Kashmir is witnessing a terror campaign to enforce a strict Islamic dress code for women. You too have worn an abaya for years now. What do you feel about this campaign?

I HAVE been wearing an abaya for years now and I personally feel it is a decent dress. You feel extremely comfortable in it. But I chose to wear it not because of anybody’s dictates but out of my own choice. When I hear about brutal attacks like throwing acid on the faces of women who are not adhering to this draconian dress code, I feel this group of mysterious men are sick in the head. I want to tell them, please don’t impose this dress code in the name of Islam. They are defaming Islam, the religion has never imposed anything by force. Our Prophet used to treat women with so much sensitivity, respect, honour and dignity. Islam does not allow men to even talk to women in harsh tones, how will it justify acid attacks?

Do you believe this veil campaign is against Islamic values?

YES, I strongly believe that. Islam as a religion gave us the right to live when girl children were being buried alive in the Arabian deserts. Islam provides a girl freedom to choose her husband after she attains maturity, the wife isn’t a dasi of her husband. Islam has always stressed on women’s education — in fact, education is obligatory for every Muslim, man or woman. We have property rights too, which don’t exist in any other religion.

The basic thing these so-called saviours of Islam ignore is that the philosophy of Islam is to convince people with the power of argument and not by force. Islam is an entire way of life for Muslims, but these people are bent on confining it to the issue of the veil and its enforcement.

The issue has actually has become more about politics than about religion. Kashmiri Muslims have bigger issues to address. There is no place for dowry in Islam, why don’t these people talk about that? What about other evil customs? Look at marriage parties, where people are forced to spend lakhs and lakhs of rupees on food, most of which goes waste anyway. We Kashmiri women don’t need any lessons on morality at all.

What hurts you most about this veil campaign?

IT is ironic. Over the last ten years, Kashmiri women have exhibited extreme courage and strength to face the worst type of traumas. They have suffered as mothers, sisters, daughters and wives. Over the years, rape, molestation and other abuses have been committed by male warriors from both warring sides. Most of the times, men have tended to stay behind and women have come out on the streets to demonstrate against a custodial killing, a raid or an arrest. At that time, their headgear is always missing, they even have torn clothes, there is no purdah at all. Then, nobody has any problem. But when one of these women is on her way to school or office, she has acid thrown on her in the name of vulgarity. It is nothing but hypocrisy.

You move all around Kashmir valley. Is wearing a burqa practical?

FORGET me, I can afford to wear abaya. But it’s a culture shock for rural women. I want to know, how can a woman working in a paddy field wear a burqa? What will a female surgeon do? Do they want her to conduct an emergency operation in a burqa? It is not practical for everybody.

Who is responsible for this entire terror campaign?

WE really don’t know. It is a mystery. Two major militant outfits, Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba, have outright distanced themselves from the campaign and even strongly condemned the acid attacks. Dukhtaran-e-Millat is the only known group that supports this campaign, which adds to the confusion. It could be the handiwork of miscreants. One thing is clear, though: some people want to play God. These are people who don’t understand the spirit of our religion and misinterpret it to suit their petty agendas.

This also has something to do with male chauvinism. It satisfies male egos because men generally want women to be subservient. Let us presume it is a genuine campaign against vulgarity. In that case, there’s a major contradiction here: there is no corresponding diktat for men. Men can wear jeans while the religion wants them to to wear loose clothing, men can go about clean shaven while the religion wants then to sport beards, men can smoke and do everything they like and nobody sprinkles acid on them. This entire campaign is basically the worst disservice to Islam.

The 11-year-old daughter of one of my friends was pleading with him to buy her an abaya because she was worried that somebody might throw acid on her face. What image of our religion are we giving our children?

How should civil society react to this campaign?

WHEN something tragic happens to men, women come out. In Haigam, women faced bullets and two of them were killed while protesting against security forces. But now, when such a tragedy has struck women, our menfolk are silent. Society should not treat this merely as a women’s issue.