The books are still with me. Those books are a source of inspiration for me in many ways (I will come to that later). I can recall quite vividly each frame of the movie The Christ shown to us frequently in the school auditorium. Out of all other institutions I have been in, that school is still closest to my heart. I owe my career to this institution to a large extent. No I was not studying in Europe, America or Kerala, I was studying in Kashmir. I have spent 13 years of my early life in this Catholic school. And at 35 I am a practicing Muslim Hailing form a town which has been historically notorious – for some and politically mature – for most.

They call it an apple town in English but Chhota London in Urdu (both quite divergent in its meanings). I come from a family of futuristic educationists with traditional outlook to cushion and support the values that our religion stands for. How come then I was allowed to study in a school which had quite divergent set of values in its fundamentals. The answer- for which one need not study rocket science – lies in the fact that if the fundamentals are based on faith of reasoning then we need not worry about the other set of values around. I was born Muslim but I am Muslim by choice. There is no force, there is no threat.

That’s what an average Soporian believes even today. Being from a town which has always been seen as a villain by those journos who believe that the problem of Kashmir is a problem of seven police stations, I could not but cry on the top of my voice after I read the deadly concoction, the socially lethal tirade in some sections of Indian media in last few days aimed at maligning the social fabric of the town of Sopore.

I hail from same town – the spirit of which some sections of Indian media is trying to malign today by distorting the facts and cooking a concoction that is too indigestible to the denizens of Sopore in particular and Kashmiris in general. Sopore is a town of politically mature, predominantly Muslim and socially diverse population but all having a common reference point – the revolutionary spirit.

For the last 63 years in general and last 20 years in particular Sopore has been Ignored, selectively and repeatedly charred, marred with civilian deaths. Sopore has been crushed, been raped by the authorities at the helm but the revolutionary spirit has grown more robust.

What then can enemy do to break this spirit? Start a vicious campaign that is against the heart of Spirit of Sopore. Question the Tolerance of the very people who have shown exemplary tolerance in all these years of tortuous oppression and suppression. Question the very belief that Sopore has given to Obama in the form of a lady who now runs a worldwide campaign of religious tolerance.

I completely repudiate the claims in certain sections of media in last couple of months that Sopore is the hot bed of Islamic resurgence. Islam is the way of life and resurgent if it is in Sopore should not be a threat to anybody as Islam is a religion of peace. To depict Sopore in much a similar way as Nazi Germany is to deliberately attract loath towards its denizens. Which should be completely rebuffed and rubbished by one and all.

The people of Sopore have shown unimaginable courage and unity throughout the turbulent times. Be it repeated arsons of all major commercial places by security forces on the pretext of crossfire or be it brazen killings and mass massacres of civilians not once but many times. The zeal, valor and spirit of the people of Sopore cannot be broken by theories of conspiracy hatched to tarnish and malign the image of Sopore. We the people of Sopore stand together against these brazen theories and detestable concoctions.

Coming back to the inspiration I got from my out of syllabus school books, I have always used them as reference points during my inter faith debates with my colleagues and friends. Those books have offered me a realization that how blessed I am when I prostate and submit my will to the will of Allah.

There was no force then and there is no force now. We were tolerant then and we are tolerant now. We had religious harmony then and we have religious harmony now. My alma mater still teaches john of Arc, Mother Teresa’s and Bhagat sing stories and has Jesus – hanging on the cross- pictures pinned at the wall of the entrance. My faith was never a sub-set of my surroundings but the full set of something it stands for- A WAY OF LIFE.

Yours,
Hurrair Ashraf
Dubai

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