kashmir
what is the first word that pops up in the consciousness of ur mind when u think of kashmir.
is it land, lakes, beauty, snow, waters, wilderness, or words like stones, blood, guns, killings.
why is the place that is called heaven on earth has been reduced to a valley ravished to such an extent that it refuses to recognise its ownself.
where i ask myself did that land of serenity that my grandparents talked about vanish of to...... did it disappear on its own or was it series of planned and unplanned circumstances that led it to the state we find it in today...who is responsible for its desolation????
having spent most of my childhood in the southern part of india, kashmir for me was an enchanted land visited twice a year. these two visits nagged me for the rest of the year.... they forced me to define home, was it the place i lived in or was it the place i barely visited. and long before i even understood the meaning of the words 'home is where the heart is' i knew what it meant. my parents had moved to bangalore to keep me away from kashmir during the insurgency years(the 90's).
when we moved back to kashmir in the year 2003 conditions were pretty normal.but even as a ten year old i could sense the unrest in people.an unrest so deep it felt as they were born with it, and slowly it felt like i was born with it too. the feeling was a natural phenomena. a feeling of discontentment breeds in the people of kashmir.what you may ask is the reason? kashmiris have been forced to to be a part of something that they are not 'india'.
according to a poll conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi, in the year 2007, 87% of respondents prefer independence over union with india or pakistan.
this suvey was conducted a year before the amarnath land row. the 2008 protests intailly over the amarnath land distribution quickly turned into pro independence protests.the largest protest saw more than half a million people crying for freedon on 18 august 2008 at a rally. during the unrest in 2008 unarmed protestors were killed and detained by the indian army and indian security forces.the U.N. expressed shame on india's response to peaceful protests.these protests gave vent to the simmering discontent that had been building up kashmiris since decades. 2009 again saw protests over rape and murder of two young women in shopian(south kashmir). suspicion pointing towards the police. these protests again turned into pro independence protests and no confidence building measures by the indian government in the past two years of protests.
starting in june 2010, the 'quit jammu kashmir movement' was a cilvil diobedience movement launched by hurriyat confrence calling for complete demilitarization of jammu and kashmir.the jammu and kashmir police and indian paramilitary forces fired live ammunition on protestors killing around 150 poeple,mostly teenagers and injuring hundereds.
thousands of unmarked graves have been in various parts of kashmir. the european union parliament, through a resolution in 2008 demanded the indian government for an independent probe of this human massacre. the parliament noted that “It cannot be excluded that the grave sites contain the remains of victims of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other abuses which have occurred in the context of armed conflict persisting in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989.”
when Margaret Sekaggya, the United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on human rights defenders, visited the Kashmir
she learnt through the grieved families about the “killing, torture, ill-treatment, disappearances, threats, arbitrarily arrests and detention,” of their loves one by Indian security forces. She insisted for the immediate repeal of inhuman laws like the Armed Forces Special Power Act, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (TADA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA).
Through the Armed Forces Special Power Act, the Indian security forces in disturbed areas have the power to shoot to kill any individual who is violating or behaving in contravention of the law enforced. On the other hand, TADA permits detention of the people arbitrarily for just inquiring whether Jammu and Kashmir should remain a part of India or discussing the possibilities of plebiscite. This cruel act allows the authorities to arrest and detain people on mere suspicion and people can be remanded up to 60 days in police custody.
a study conducted by Médecins Sans Frontières in the year 2005, are among the worst suffers of sexual voilence in the world.Hundreds of women have been raped with impunity and most of them go unreported given the social stigma and fear of retribution by the State. The Government of india has been quick to deny and cover-up most of those cases which do get reported. The reported gang-rape of nine women at Shopian in October 1992 by an army unit was dismissed off-handedly after investigation by army and police, the very units charged with the crime, despite solid medical evidence to the contrary, no independent investigation by an impartial agency was carried out. The reported mass rape of over 20 women at Konan Poshpura in February 1991 was also handled in a similar evasive manner,the complaint was not investigated in a timely manner by an impartial agency and the medical evidence was dismissed without good cause. one of the victims who was nine months pregnant during the incident delivered a baby with a fractured left arm.
on asking a 2 year old who can't even say her name properly , ''ham kya chahte?' she promptly replies 'azaadi.'
by turning a blind eye over the feelings of kashmiris, abusing human rights, killing young peaceful protestors, the indian government is turning not only the present generations against them but also the coming future generations. the government of india unknowingly or knowingly is building entire generations of freedom fighters.
recently when i asked a 10 year old why does he protest? his replied gravely "because we want freedom"
on being asked how is going to get that? he answered with a faith so strong in his eyes that eliminated all doubts what so ever i had in my mind " i don't know how we are going to do it. it took india 200 years and we shall have our freedom even if it takes us a 1000 years"
