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Remembering Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq
By Bhushan Bazaz. Dated: 5/22/2015 8:47:16 AM
It was in June 1964 that I came in contact with Mirwaiz Maulvi Mahamad Farooq when my late father, Pandit Prem Nath Bazaz visited the Valley after 12 years of his exiled stay in Delhi. I had then accompained him as his private secretary because during those days his personal assistant Late Pandit J.N. Sathu was imprisoned under Preventive Detention by the central government and was lodged in the notorious jail of Punjab in Nabha. We stayed at Hotel Budshah for 25 days during this period. Maulvi Sahib was kind enough to visit us regularly, and I had the opportunity to interact with this Kashmiri firebrand leader several times. Time passed by, and we developed immense intimacy with each other. Despite his enormous rich and poor supporters and well-wishers in Delhi he preferred staying with me and my family.
Maulvi Farooq Sahib was a courageous man with very strong views, but regarding his political toleration and freedom of expression his motto was the same as that of Voltaire: "I disagree with all what you say, but I will defend with my life your right to say so." His ouster from the holy relic Action Committee soon after its formation was supervised by those who were not capable and intelligent as he was. There is a Persian saying, "Aye roshniyay taba, tu bar man bala shudee. (Oh my intelligent, you are the cause of my misfortune and ordeal)".
When militancy erupted in the Valley, I called on him from Delhi and requested him to come over to Delhi to attend my late mother, also the first woman freedom fighter and founder chairperson of Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Forum (JKDF) Mrs. Badri Bazaz anniversary which was schedule to fall on 8 May 1991. In fact, I and my family members were much worried about his welfare and thus wanted him to be away from the Valley. He told me, "he just cannot leave the Valley until and unless normalcy returns and I am able to stop the slaughter and atrocities being faced by the' masses. I shall shed the last drop of my blood on the soil of Kashmir for the cause of communal harmony."
At public congregations and social get together he would advise his followers and congregates to maintain communal harmony in the valley and safeguard the interest of minority community. He spoke particularly about the Kashmiri Pandits who totally depended on the whims and fancies of majority community for the reasons best known to anybody and everybody having emotional attachment with Kashmir historical scenario who nick-named him "Butt Maulvi"..
Alas, on 21st May 1990 Maulvi Sahib was assassinated. And thus with his passing away, the people lost one of the last hopes in Kashmir (my intelligent you are the cause of my misfortune and ordeal). Had he sold his conscience and played to the tune of the ruling parties he would have been a messiah to the masses.
And thus with the passing away of 'Messiah' the people have lost one of the last hopes in Kashmir and the Chief custodian of valley's unique Shrine. Such was the popularity of Maulvi Sahib that thousands of men, women and children took to the streets within minutes of the attack on him. Crowds that gathered outside Sapura Medical Institute and those who lost their lives during his funeral procession speak of the respectability and command which Maulvi Farooq enjoyed amongst the masses of the valley. It will take ages for the soil of Kashmir to produce another leader like Mirwaz Maulvi Farooq. Today it is extremely painful for me to describe Maulvi Sahib as late, but one has to accept the realities of life.