@shhhahuuu
You are confusing socio-economic problems with freedom of religion. Indian muslims may be around 3-4% in the army and its not because they don't want to join the army as some people believe. There is a historic reason that most of the Indian muslims in the army went to Pakistan when the British Indian army was being divided. So two things need to happen, Indian muslims will themselves have to step up to the plate and the GoI should also encourage recruitment from all ethnic and religious groups to give the army a more holistic composition.
But this has NOTHING to do with freedom of religion. Even if there was not a single Muslim in the Indian army, muslims can still have freedom of religion. The Indian constitution provides to freedom to practice and preach any religion. Muslims along with other religious groups have their own personal laws that pertain to their personal life like marriage, inheritance e.t.c in accordance with their faith. Is there any other country in the world that provides this legal provision? This is freedom of religion that I was talking about.
So what I said still holds.
Well I'm talking about groups that specifically claim that they will establish a "Islamic" state in Kashmir (i.e. LeT, Hizb e.t.c.). There is no denying that there is significant sentiment for
Independence in the border districts. But every single mainstream separatist group have advocated peaceful resolution. These Jihadi groups then assassinate if any kashmiri leader advocates joining India or even Independence. They even indulge in attacks to media outlets that criticize them. Is this justified?
The plebescite is not the solution for reasons I don't want to go in this thread. And these are statements from high ranking Pakistani negotiators as well. Opinion polls have been conducted though which an idea of what Kashmiris want can be gleaned. I suggest you go though the Kashmir conflict report on
www.peacepolls.org
Yes unfortunately Jihad has been twisted and perverted and its the fault of muslims alone for making Jihad into some sort of a dangerous word today.
Jihad in the Islamic context, and in literal sense, the word jihad simply means a struggle—doing one’s utmost to further a worthy cause. This is an entirely peaceful struggle, with no overtones even of aggression. The actual Arabic equivalent of war, is qital or harb, and even this is meant in a defensive sense in the Quran.
I don't want to talk about Jihad bil Qitaal as everyone is aware of that, but this is used in only 2-3 verses out of the 6600+ verses in the Quran. Moreover, it is NOT some continuous fighting. Jihad is continous yes(I will explain this later) but not Jihad vil Qitaal. This is only a small part of Jihad and is only the last resort. There are special conditions for initiating it such as it can only be done by a state and how it should be conducted. Most importantly if there is freedom of religion there is no applicability of Jihad. If the GoP feels that it should militarily take over Kashmir. It should revoke peace treaties with Indian and THEN declare war. Only then these proxy groups can be allowed to fight. The problem is that these groups are BASED in Pakistani Kashmir. The United Jihad Council has offices in Muzaffarabad and issues press statements and recruits people.
On casualty figures, according to offcial figures about 50,000 have been killed in the 20 year conflict and that includes civilians, security forces and militants. Out of which 15000+ muslims alone have been killed by militants. Is this the "Jihad" that is suppose to protect the innocents as a last resort? Palestine and Kashmir are completely separate issues when you look at the scale of human right abuses. When was the last time Kashmiris were put in refugee camps and bombarded with white phosphorus?
Now on your insistence of Jihad as a continuous struggle, I feel compelled to go a little off-topic to discuss the concept of Jihad as you are only partially correct.
The predominant use of Jihad in Quran and Hadith is with the sense of striving or struggling for betterment of one's self or society. Unfortunately this meaning has been completely forgotten by muslims, what to talk about non-muslims.
Jihad in the Qur’an means striving to the utmost to present the teachings of the Qur’an before the people including to muslims themselves and thus to inculcate good values in them. That is, presenting the concept of One God, presenting akhirah-oriented life as superior to world-oriented life; principle-oriented life as against selfishness-oriented life; a humanitarian-oriented life as more elevated than a self-oriented life and a duty-oriented life as a categorical imperative taking moral precedence over a rights-oriented life.
So Jihad, according to Islam, is simply a natural requirement of daily living. It is vital both as a concept and as a practice because, while leading his life in this world, man is repeatedly confronted by such circumstances as are likely to derail him from the humanitarian path if he/she doesn't continue to strive and struggle to the morally right path. The re-assertion of his ethical sense is the real jihad which he has to wage.
From the Islamic standpoint, intention is all-important. Any undertaking carried out with good intentions will win God’s approval, while anything done with bad intentions is bound to be disapproved of and rejected by God. In actual fact, intentions are the sole criteria of good or bad actions in the divine scheme of things.
This truth relates jihad to man’s entire life and to all of his activities. Whatever man does in this world, be it at home, or in his professional capacity, in family or in social life, his prime imperative must be to carry it out with good intentions and not the reverse. This, however, is no simple matter. In all one’s dealings, adhering strictly to the right path requires a continuous struggle. Resisting temptation weather it is premarital sex, or alcohol or cheating your customer or taking bribes e.t.c. is part of the continuous Jihad bin nafs(self). This is a great and unremitting lifelong struggle and is rightly called Jihad-e-Akbar. And this is what is called jihad in the context you mentioned. It is NOT some lifelong violence that these so called "Jihadi" groups want you to believe.
Even if one is engaged in good works, such as the establishment and running of institutions which cater for social welfare or academic needs, or if one is personally engaged in social work or performing some service in the political field like protesting against injustices of the government whether they be against muslims or non-muslims, in all such works the element of personal glory has a way of creeping in. Therefore, in all such instances, it is essential that in the individuals concerned there should be a strong tendency to introspection, so that they may keep before them at all times the goal, not of personal glory but the greater glory of God alone. This effort is then also the struggle or Jihad that a person will be rewarded.
It is one’s intense inner struggle to make all activities God-oriented which makes it so powerful a concept and this is Jihad.
You can check this out for further reading:
Islam, Peace and Justice: The Concept of Jihad in Islam
The True Jihad: The Concepts Of Peace, Tolerance And Non-violence In Islam
