Kashmir is Bleeding

Almost half a decade back, while passing through the Garhi Dopata, Hattian and finally Chokati Bazar of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) to attend a briefing being given by Pakistani Army authorities to journalists on Kashmir issue, I had a belief that this time we are going to solve the Kashmir problem. Over a dozen vehicles in a queue, passing through the bazaars gave an impression to the bystanders on sides of the road and those peeing through their shops that the group of international and Pakistani journalists after knowing the miseries of Kashmiri people on both sides of Line of Control (LoC) would definitely go back to their respective countries and use the power of their pens to kill the issue once for ever. Where I noticed hope, I could also notice disappointment on the faces of some old aged Kashmiris, who had a clear idea that the briefing of foreign and Pakistani journalists is a routine affair and it has nothing to do with solution of long standing Kashmir conflict. They view that each journalist would come up with an excellent piece of journalistic art to stay alive in media and sell their industrial products. Many years after this briefing, I found sentiments of old aged Kashmiris to be true as one fails to find an inch movement in the resolution of this problem. Kashmir is bleeding so are the Kashmiris but there is hardly any serious effort to unite Kashmiris on the both side of the LoC. Genocide of Kashmiris Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs is taking place at the hands brutal Indian occupying forces but the international community and media is observing as silent spectators.

The Confidence Building Measures between India and Pakistan faded away in a wave of suspicion. Mumbai attacks, which although were linked with foreign intelligence conspiracy and Maoists struggle for independence, left Pakistan and India at eye balls to eye balls position. India government claims that recently organized election in India held Jammu and Kashmir state is sufficient to find out the verdict of Kashmiri people. Isn’t India ignoring the fact that all the major political parties boycotted the elections and over and above the elections were held in the presence of bulk of brutal Indian occupying forces? How can any elections be free and fair under the bayonet of guns? The Kashmiris living in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir state are prisoners of conscience and are subjected to blackmailing and torture. It is being officially admitted by Indian government that Mujahideen’ activities in the Kashmir Valley have drastically come down in the recent months but protests during the last two months over the incidents of rape and killings of innocent Kashmiris speaks of Indian security forces highhandedness otherwise if justice was provided to Kashmiris, there could be no room for latest protests and violence. India must admit that Kashmiris are not free and are being treated by Indian occupiers as third rated citizens in their own state. The treatment of minorities in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir is also deplorable. The Indian government and Army have forcibly occupied the houses of Kashmiri Hindu Pandits and Sikhs. The have been settled in refugee camps and are not allowed to return to their ancestral land. Despite the fact that Hindu Pandits and Sikhs want to voluntarily return to Indian held Jammu and Kashmir as well as Muslim Kashmiris have given all sort of guarantees to them for their safe return, India government is not allowing to return.

When Omar Abdullah took over as the Chief Minister of Indian Held Jammu and Kashmir, he made vary tall claims and it appeared that he would ease the miseries of the Kashmiri masses but he proved another puppet of Indian occupying forces. The gang rape and murder of two women in Shopian, mysterious killing of a young man in Srinagar and mysterious death of a Kashmiri college girl, molested by a group of Indian Territorial Army Jawans in Kupwara have put a big question mark on his ability and credibility. Despite protests and violence all around burning India Held Jammu and Kashmir, local newspapers are publishing full-page advertisements highlighting Omar’s first six months achievements and there is no mention of his failures. Omar feels that by spending Rs 60-crore on road modernization project in Srinagar and Jammu cities is his successes but being a Indian occupying force puppet he cannot realize that Kashmiris want their right of self determination. In fact his government has even failed to provide justice with regard to crimes in Shopian, Srinagar and Kupwara what to expect anything else. In fact Kashmiris figured out Omar’s pain for the people of Kashmir from day one when Indian security forces shot a hearing-impaired person outside his residence at Gupkar Road two days after the oath-taking ceremony. Omar is a helpless and lifeless instrument in the hands of Indian occupying forces who has no say of his own. It is on record that during Press conference in May, 2009, while ruling out rape and murder, Omar supported the Indian official version that the two women in Shopian had died due to drowning. Even his announcement to order an Inquiry was only to establish the claim of the Indian authorities but forensic reports proved on the contrary. There is no doubt that Omar is brainwashed child of Indian intelligence but he must realize that he is Kashmiri first. There is a requirement from all Kashmiris to express solidarity with Kashmiris living on both sides of LoC. If Omar and his puppet government cannot do much about Kashmiris right for self-determination, at least they should not add to their miseries.
By: Afshain Afzal