At a time when sectarian equations in the Muslim world are strained, more so after the hanging of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, the Valley is putting to use an important lesson – building unity on the fundamentals of faith while differing in the details.

The alert came in November, with the grenade attack on worshippers at Tahab led by a Barelvi cleric, Abdur Rashid Dawoodi. Four children were among six people killed in the attack. Two months later, the Majlis Itihad-e-Millat, committee for the reconciliation of Muslim society came into being. The committee represented leaders across the religious spectrum, and heads of the major Darul Alooms. The express purpose – to meet from time to time and discuss the evolving sectarian relations while addressing mutual grievances.

“From now on, let no one divide us. We are all part of this embattled society and have a responsibility towards maintaining its peace. We are already seeing so much political violence and can’t afford sectarian tension,” says Jamiat Ahle Hadees chief Moulana Showkat Ahmad Shah, himself the target of an attack in the recent past.

Initiated by Jamaat-i-Islami – the only religious outfit in Jammu and Kashmir with a political agenda – the dialogue not only cuts across Islam’s ancient bipolar Shia-Sunni divide but also various Sunni sub-sects comprising Deobandi, Wahabi, Salafi and Barelvi schools of thought. So we have the unusual spectacle of Jamaat-i-Islami, Jamiat Ahle Hadees, Anjuman Tableegh-i-Islam, heads of Kashmir’s biggest Deobandi seminaries Darul Aloom Raheemia, Darul Aloom Bilalia and other major religious organisations sitting across from each other to keep the socio-religious fabric intact.

Barelvi Dawoodi, the target of the Tahab attack, was represented by the leader of his organisation Anjuman Tableeghi Islam Showkat Teng. The only section absent was the Valley’s traditional Sufi moorings, but that was more because Sufis in the Valley have no unified institutional structure. At most, they are a strong cultural presence, with shrines and urs festivals and their dervishes in certain regions.

However, the latter have been targeted too. The house of a prominent dervish, Ahad Bab of Sopore, who wears no clothes even through Kashmir’s winter, was attacked last year with grenades. Several people were injured; the dervish escaped unhurt.

Though the Barelvi thought accommodates distinct Sufi strands, it doesn’t completely subsume the typical Kashmiri Sufism. Originally called Rishut, the order propagated by the Rishis, Kashmiri Sufism goes back to ancient Hindu saints, with Kashab Rishi — Kashmir’s eponymous patron saint — being the first in the line.

Now, there is the dominance of orthodox Deobandi Islam, spearheaded by an extensive network of seminaries and madrasas, followed by Salafi Islam propagated by Jamiat-Ahle Hadith and Barelvi thought led by Tableegh-I-Islam. Besides, there is Tableeghi Jamaat which comprises a loosely organised substantial section of the population with its exclusive concern for preaching the religion.

With the Islamic world churning worldwide, Kashmir’s Islamic diversity is at the receiving end, with an odd sectarian attack often putting the equations on a cliff-hanger. Before the Tahab strike was an attack on the Jamiat Ahle Hadees chief Moulana Showkat Ahmad Shah. Resentment grew between the sects as the perpetrators were seen as being driven by sectarian differences.

“It is to guard against these strains that we have decided to come together so that nobody gets a chance to exploit our differences. We will work not only for the fraternal inter-sectarian relations but also use this harmony for wider social reform,” said Jamaat chief Shiekh Ghulam Hassan.

The fact that the initiative has come from the Jamaat also makes it significant as the party has often been accused of propagating hardline literalist Islam, antithetical to Kashmir’s syncretic Sufi traditions.

Chairman of the Jamiat, Ahle Hadees Moulana Showkat, couldn’t agree more: “We don’t want the Sipahi Sahaba and Lashker Jangvi Pakistani Shia and Sunni outfits to rear their heads in Kashmir”. He pauses to add, “Kashmir has no space for them.”