The month of Ramadan teaches us life lessons, it tests us both physically and mentally to our limits, adjusts our biological cycles, sleeping times and eating habits and as the religious texts say cleanse our body and mind. The most important lesson that this holy month teaches is to learn to respect fellow human beings. Since the time, I have had my senses, I have always followed the ritual of this holy month and by the grace of almighty Allah, I have been on the path of righteousness leaving all the negative energy behind. I am the Sarpanch (Headman) of a village in Northern part of Kashmir, and I have seen a lot of ups and downs in my entire life spanning almost 52 years.
Before starting off with my story, I think I must introduce myself to you, so that you may better relate to the narration and the feelings behind it. My name is Ishfaq and I was born in Muzaffarabad, part of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to a very poor refugee family. My father was a retired guide to the terrorists and he used to work as a daily wage labour to earn livelihood for our small family of nine members, which included my father’s two wives and six children. My mother was already dead after delivering me to this world. Since my childhood, I used to go to Terrorist Camps religiously to listen to stories of atrocities on our brothers and sisters in Kashmir; half of my family was living in a small hamlet picturesquely settled at the foothills of Shamshabari ranges. I was filled with hate for the Indian government all my youth; we were told that the Indian forces did not even allow our brothers to offer prayers, tortured them and had concentration camps to radicalise them into Non-Muslims. I had already decided that I will be part of the Maulana Sahib’s Jihad and go into Kashmir and what better than choosing the month of Ramadan for this holy venture. I was starting a new and exciting chapter of my life. We infiltrated into the Indian territory with a trekking bag and two AK-47 rifles each with a lot of ammunition. We used to walk whole night in the jungles and at the dawn, we ate our Suhur and then rested in bushes, we were very excited and happy to be part of this noble cause of Jihad.
It had been 8 days walking in the jungles and we could not spot any sign of life, anywhere but as the Sun was about to set, we started our move yet one another night into the jungles, we had hardly moved 100 meters from our location, suddenly a voice from behind us stopped us. We were scared and alert, we ran into the bushes immediately and expected hostile fire, but for our surprise a lonely man in his eighties was moving towards us and he once again asked us to come out and talk with him, he sweared on Allah that he is harmless. We believed him, he introduced himself as Peer Baba and asked us as to why were we roaming around in the jungles. We told him the reason for our arrival.
Who misguided you poor fellows? He asked with some amusement in his eyes.
“Maulana sahib enlightened us with all this”. We replied in unison and in retaliation.
“My dear fellows, there is no truth in whatever has been told to you, I give you an offer before starting of your journey of this false jihad and into the immoral actions, come alongwith me, hide all of your belongings in the jungle at the place of your choosing, without me knowing about it, as without the weapons you are safer here. I will show you the reality of this place and then still, if you are convinced with your Maulana then I will also join you in this Jihad of yours”, He said.
We agreed to him, I still don’t know why!
He took us from there to a village, where we saw that small children were playing with Indian Army and waving towards their vehicles, we could not sense any fear in the environment. We saw the girls were learning to drive four wheeler with Army, some were learning skills, and some were playing sports. I could not see even an iota of reflection of Kashmir what Maulana Sahib used to narrate to us. I was completely broken and shattered, I felt as if I was cheated upon by the Maulana Sahib and suddenly my heart completely moved upside down as I heard the Adhan from a nearby Mosque, everyone started going to offer their prayers. That means everything told to me was a white lie and so many like me are being fooled by these traders of human lives. I still remember that day clearly and consider that Peer Baba to be our guiding angel and Allah saved me that day from doing something gravely wrong. I just went to my parental village, I knew my uncle there and started new innings of my life in the jannat named Kashmir. I was rewarded by the Allah for my dedication during Ramadan and may he bless us all.
Two years later, I read the news of recovery of Weapons and Ammunition from the Jungle, where I met Peer Baba. I was amused and thankful at the same time.
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