On Monday, a clash between two groups of people left a person dead at Sendbal, a village in Ganderbal. The clash has reportedly taken place over the use of loudspeaker at the local mosque with one group allegedly objecting to its use through the prayers. Two persons were also injured in the fight. The tension in the village forced the government to impose curfew to maintain calm, a rare thing to do in a place where few scores of families live. The trouble in the village is seen as the outcome of the sectarian differences, with one school of thought objecting to the practices of another school of thought. There is a familiar ring to this discourse. Over the past year, we have witnessed a slow build-up of a debate around some kind of a religious split in Valley. This debate has been magnified to an extent that it effortlessly serves as a context to every incident which has a religious angle to it. According to reports, the immediate provocation for violence at Sendbal was the use of mosque loudspeaker. This doesn’t lend itself necessarily to the interpretations of a larger religious clash. The fact is that the incidents like these do happen in every society and are generally the outcome of the local social tensions. In case of Sendbal, the violence also has a pronounced political dimension. The deceased Shabir Ahmad Bhat was a worker of Jamaat-i-Islami and the sarpanch Muhammad Subhan Wani who is alleged to have led the assault is a National Conference activist. At a press conference on Tuesday Amir-e-Jamaat Sheikh Muhammad Hassan said the violence at the village was primarily political in nature. The need of the hour is to put the opinions about a growing religious divide in Valley through a serious scrutiny and see whether these have an authentic basis. The prevailing discourse about the phenomenon is not based on the objective appraisal of the situation. Meanwhile, the best way to deal with such situations like the one at Sendbal is for the government to strictly enforce the rule of law. The people responsible for the murder should be held accountable for their foul deed.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 8 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 8 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 9 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST