Dalai Lama & A New Era of Muslim-Buddhist Brotherhood in Zanskar

On the Dalai Lama’s insistence Buddhist & Muslim communities reach a peaceful compromise ending a six-year-old row

The Dalai Lama with the members of Zanskar’s Muslim community. 

Photo: Courtesy TibetNet

World is a strange place to live in and every other day we hear about religious intolerance, fundamentalism and various other inhumane activities fuelled by religions. But even in the midst of all these, news of communities coming together springs new hope. A similar incident happened in Zanskar, where both Buddhist and Muslim communities came forward to end years-old enmity against each other.

Peace Be Upon All

This milestone in inter-faith harmony was achieved in the presence of Nobel Laureate His Holiness Dalai Lama, who was recently on this 5 days visit to Zanskar from 21st to 25th July. Members of both Zanskar Buddhist Association and Muslim Association presented HH Dalai Lama a letter pledging to forgo past six years of communal tension. They pledged to demonstrate dedication to embracing a harmonious future by promoting interfaith harmony according to the news published in Tibetnet, a news portal of Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamshala.

The Dalai Lama welcomed this step and lauded both the communities for their efforts and prayed for their wellbeing. This welcome news would have raised many eyebrows and questions in every heart in Zanskar. One such question is why it took so long for both communities to come together and resolve this issue? Do the Buddhists want to teach the Muslims a lesson? Or the Muslims never wanted to compromise at the cost of their ego? Uncovering the reason for enmity between two communities becomes a very daunting task due to the absence of documented literature; the only source to history is senior citizens who had lived in that time.

Members of both Zanskar Buddhist Association and Muslim Association presented HH Dalai Lama a letter pledging to forgo past six years of communal tension.Photo: Courtesy TibetNet

History of Conflict

Zanskar is a tehsil in the Kargil district of Ladakh region with the Buddhists comprising 95% of its population and the rest 5% are Muslims. Some of the common reasons for polarity between two communities have been the subjugation of Buddhists by Muslims in the past, conversion of Buddhists into Islam, rise of porno-nationalism, and the Muslim grievance of oppression by majority. In the midst of these common reasons sits the nexus of puppets and politicians trying to deepen the faultlines with the rhetoric of revenge and hatred.

All these variables snowballed into the present situation in Zanskar for the last six years. Politicisation of institutes like Zanskar Buddhist Association and Muslim Association complicated the matters further.

Breakthrough Moment

At least now the two communities have pledged to resolve their differences and mark a new era of brotherhood. One of the main reasons behind the execution of this peaceful compromise seems to be the insistence of HH Dalai Lama on the importance of harmonious and peaceful existence among the people of the world irrespective of religious and cultural differences.

During his last year’s visit, he also expressed his heartfelt request to the people of both communities to compromise their differences and start a meaningful dialogue of peace and brotherhood. When the problem started in 2012 due to the mass conversion of five Buddhist families to Islam, Mehbooba Mufti- then leader of opposition party in the state came all the way from Kashmir to Zanskar by road to take the stock of the matter. Today, however, there is no leader or politician to congratulate the people of Zanskar on this milestone achievement.

As Martin Heidegger writes, “Boundary is not at which something stops but, as the Greeks recognized, the boundary is that from which something begins its presencing” and in the case of Zanskar, the last 6 years proved healthy for people to introspect their doings to usher in a new beginning. This move has germinated new hope and responsibility in the common people of Zanskar, and whenever there are such problems in future, this historical moment will be the focal point to guide people’s consciousness in the direction of human brotherhood.

(Jamphel Sheyan is a research scholar at Central University of Jammu. This is Reader’s Blog.The views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)