So they come up with the solution: No hartal, no protests and no struggle. Just work, live, eat, reproduce like lizards and keep minds shut for any yearning for dignified life. Cherish the one sided ‘peace’ and carry on with the normal chores of enslaved life. They say, “Enough of bloodshed has taken place. Let us move forward now.” (Towards God knows what).Good attractive emotional sermons and well thought over points of argument by them.
This note of mine is actually addressed to those who oppose the sustenance of struggle by whatever means available with us. Though they criticize every act of defiance by people of Kashmir but they have never come up with a valid, achievable, realistic and sustainable alternative to the shutdowns. But still I want some answers from them.
Where are the answers?
My dear advocates of peace and development,
I respect your sensibilities and am ready to buy your arguments against protest and strikes which are frequently called in reaction to the injustices perpetrated against the innocent people of Kashmir. But, can you please answer my few points before firing your salvos against those who sustain this struggle for Freedom with their own personal Freedom.
Protest or maintain peace?
Let me remind you further. Prior to Tufail Matoo’s murder three other innocent boys were killed by Indian security forces and the local police. A boy named Inayat was mercilessly killed at Lal Chowk by CRPF, Wamiq Farooq was killed by Kashmir Police at the same place where Tufail Mattoo was killed and Zahid Farooq was killed when a BSF party directly fired at him at Nishat locality of Srinagar. All of these boys were killed without any provocation whatsoever.Prior to all these killings, three young boys from district Kupwara were taken to the forests of Machil and killed in the cold blood by India army. They were labeled as ‘Terrorists’ and the officer in charge of that ‘encounter’ killed them only to get himself decorated for killing ‘dreaded terrorists’. He however planned his action is haste and could not hide the real identity of those whom he killed. This resulted in him getting exposed but not arrested or punished. And prior to these killings someone else somewhere was killed in the same fashion and prior to that someone, somewhere else. This vicious cycle of innocents being killed is not new but an old misery which is not ending at all. Who can break this cycle? Ordinary Kashmiris cannot do anything as those killed are their sons and those who kill are the enemies. Kashmiris can only protest by observing occasional shutdowns as they do not have the liberty of protesting differently. Subjugators simply have deprived them of all other alternative means of protests.
Protest is a natural trait.
And we humans too react in the way, in which nature has crafted us. Why should we defy our inner feelings by pretending to be insensitive, since protesting against the killing of brethren is quite natural a trait. If you want us to be silent, then you are not a living being. I cannot even call you an animal as animals too protest in these situations. I would simply like to call you a stone instead.
Give an alternative please
Recalling a few of them: Gawkadal massacre, Zakura massacre, Bijbehara massacre, Hawal massacre, Pathribal massacre, Handwara massacre, Sopore massacre and so on.
Giving peace a chance
Argument is, “why protest in the first place. Let there be peace and things will improve automatically.”
Who can say that peace is not good? Peace is after all what we all strive for. But our perception of peace is altogether different from their perception of peace. We want peace through the achievement of our freedom and they want freedom to enforce ‘peace’ through subjugation. We have seen their ‘peace’ blown up into pieces in the past. Kashmir has had a relatively ‘peaceful’ atmosphere for more than 40 years from 1947 to 1989. Did it improve anything? No, it did not. Killings and atrocities happened then as well. Infrastructure did not get developed; Economy, Healthcare and Education did not get any boost either. Tourism too did not shine.
In return, our Ecology suffered, Dal lake shrunk to the half, Aanchar lake vanished, Wular lake started to shrink, our other water bodies became extinct, our forests became subjects of loot and plunder, our glaciers started to melt, our rivers turned into streams. All of this happened during ‘peace’. Kashmir issue too did not find any solution during that ‘peace’.
What fuelled rebellion of 1989 in Kashmir?
Peaceful democratic activity called elections fuelled the tumult. So is their brand of ‘peace’ in Kashmir any solution to all the miseries. Kashmiris were killed while protesting against the hike in power tariffs during 80s or protesting against “Satanic Verses” or protesting against the theft of the holy relic. Is all this ‘fragile peace’ a blessing? Yes, it is a blessing for those who treat Kashmir as their fiefdom. Those who have constructed majestic palaces and golf courses on the banks of Dal lake need this peace to enjoy their comfortable five star luxuries. Those who have slaughtered forests of Kashmir to fill their coffers need peace to flaunt their wealth around. Those who behave like Arab royals riding in highly expensive SUVs and treating whole of Kashmir as their oil field, need this peace to dig for more wealth. As Arab royals have sold their oil wells to their benefactors in the west, same has been done by our own breed of Sheikhs. Whatever is left has been sold to Indians without any objection. We are asked to maintain peace and wait for the development to come but at the same time our institutions are being destroyed. One of our self made, self sufficient institutions named J & K Bank too was not spared. It too has been gifted to our subjugators. Our main catalyst of economical development is also under their control now. Our educational institutions have been politicized and centralized. Our healthcare infrastructure is still in pre – historic infancy; our Industrial sector is ailing, our ecology and water bodies are dying which will result in the death of our much talked about tourism industry in the long run. These all things are happening not because of the struggle but because of reasons for which we struggle.
Who is the sufferer?
Why those who are least affected by protests, shout more? Why those who do not offer a penny from their wealth as charity or alms to the poor, all of the sudden become so concerned about the poor?
Those who normally treat ordinary Kashmiris like cattle, start to show concern for the people.
These people do all this because they fear. They fear that the subjugated may succeed in their struggle for freedom and their castles of loot may eventually become bonfires of victory. They do not want to lose their oilfields. That is why they strive so hard to sabotage the just struggle of masses by their hoax concern and hypocritical activism.
Tail-piece:
Our children are shining in the field of education despite the struggle. During the peaceful days of pre – nineties, securing more than 80 % marks was considered as an achievement but not anymore. Our students are securing more than 90 % marks in exams; our folks are passing competitive exams with flying colors, our boys and girls qualify for IAS, IFS and KAS exams in good numbers now. We could hardly find anyone during Pre - nineties who had qualified in these exams.
What does this suggest? This suggests, education is not subservient to their brand of ‘peace’. It is only subservient to the urge and hard work. Longer agitations can affect schooling but not the education.Fighting for your rights and freedom requires countless sacrifices, hardships and a strong commitment towards the cause. If you are not ready to offer any of these, then you better stop dreaming about a free life. And if you do not have any urge for living a dignified life in the first place, then no one can force you to suffer in this struggle. But you cannot raise your voice against the struggle either, because living a life of subjugation does not allow you to protest against anything whatsoever. Why do you then protest this? Are you speaking in this tone because you have been coerced to speak or do you belong to the class of our home grown Sheikhs who do not want to lose their oil fields? These are the questions to which we need some honest answers.
Koshur Mazloom © 2011
olitical. That is how Indian army has shown its apolitical role during the recent talks on Siachen not to sign any of the pact to demilitarize the world’s most frozen and the costly front which has taken many lives of the both sides’ soldiers. Ironically when the talks were undergoing Pakistan’s electronic channels were flashing tickers of Indian air chief that before proceeding further there is a need to have proper line of control there in Siachen. This was, however, a prerogative of Indian democratic government officials to say anything pertaining to the talks. So Indian army’s fresh stance taken on the Siachen issue has supported the WikiLeaks cable of 2006 which stated that every time India and Pakistan came “very close” to an agreement on the Siachen issue, the prime minister of the day would be forced to back out by the Indian defence establishment, the Congress Party hard-line and opposition leaders. In another cable, Ambassador David Mulford citing various obstacles to an agreement on Siachen wrote about the first obstacle “Army Chief JJ Singh appears on the front page of the “Indian Express” seemingly fortnightly to tell readers the Army cannot support a withdrawal from Siachen. Given India’s high degree of civilian control over the armed forces, it is improbable that Gen. Singh could repeatedly make such statements without MoD civilians giving at least tacit approval. Whether or not this is the case, a Siachen deal is improbable while his — and the Army’s — opposition continues to circulate publicly”.WikiLeaks cables depicts that it was nor Pakistan neither its army but it was Indian army not interested to have any peace deal. Indian government which claims of being the biggest democracy of the world doesn’t enjoy the freedom to have its decisions with the consensus of parliament and the political faction but time and again it has to look towards its forces to take permission to go ahead on any of the deal. It reminds of Indian government’s resolve to cut short the number of the troops in held Kashmir but army’s local area commander and obviously the military high command bluntly refused to do the same so Indian government had to retreat from its resolve to decrease the number of troops there. It is heartening to note that due to hardened stance of Indian Army during recently held Defence Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan on the Siachen dispute the issue could not be resolved. During talks which were held in New Delhi, Pakistan delegation suggested immediate disengagement as a forward move for resolving the dispute. The Indian side, however, hardened their stance and did not agree reportedly due to pressure and intransigence of their Army, which was not willing to resolve the Siachen dispute to vacate the conflict zone and go back to previously held position. It depicts vested interest of the Indian army to remain engaged in Kashmir and in Siachen as well. In fact Siachen is bread and butter of Indian army as it includes huge funds and fringe benefits. Many of the fraudulent initiatives have been reported in the past that how Indian army justified its bravery and its stay in the Siachen heights by showering the encounters and its resolve to get the medals. Not only the army deputed in Siachen but in other parts of the country there have been reports of bogus efficiency to claim awards out of the ‘brave’ acts. An Indian Army Colonel H.S. Kohli, has been dismissed and a major suspended for faking killings by splashing tomato ketchup on civilians and passing them off as dead separatists – in the hope of being awarded. Colonel H.S. Kohli, commanding an artillery regiment in Assam, had faked the killing of some separatists last year by making some civilians pose in photographs as enemy casualties after splashing their bodies with tomato sauce. The “daring” colonel in fact tried to use the photographs to back his claim for a gallantry award and was subsequently tried and found guilty in a court martial.The colonel apparently took photographs of some civilians in an isolated place in southern Assam’s Cachar district after pouring tomato sauce on their bodies and making the pictures look like an encounter, with blood splattered over the bodies. The fraud came to light when the colonel’s claims for a gallantry award were processed. It was indeed bizarre to find him claiming a bravery award for the kills, which in fact, did not took place at all.The saucy scandal was not unique of its kind to rock the Indian Army as they had already proved their skills in Siachen scandal in which a Major was accused of inventing enemy killings for the sake of gallantry awards. According to new norms, Indian Army officials are being graded and awarded promotions and bravery awards on the basis of the number of terrorists they capture and kill. So this is how they try to capture the awards and the respect. Why Indian army denies the fact that awards, medals and dignity can only be earned with fervour and can never be achieved with malicious efforts....
