Seventy years of state-sponsored atrocities, heavily policed civic ambiance, apathy towards international laws of human rights and blindness towards diplomatic norms, and yet India failed to oppress the passion for freedom in zealous Kashmiris. Despite lofty claims of being a mature democracy and secular society India has miserably failed to even ostensibly provide political and basic human rights in Indian Occupied Kashmir. The more they increase the volume of their state sponsored brutalities the more the Kashmiris become repugnant to the ugly Indian presence in their scenic land.
Generations after generations, and the fervent passion of freedom in Kashmiris is ever increasing. The unequivocal dedication of Kashmiri youth for the cause of their freedom, for protection of their basic human rights and for the exercise of their political privileges is unmatched since its very start. And the momentum of the unmatched freedom movement against the atrocities of Indian State is still the same. The so-called mature democracy of India needs to realise that political movements can be suppressed for a moment but genuine passion of freedom allied with religious motivation can never be deleted from the minds and hearts of the people.
July 2016 was a glaring eye opener for India when a 22-year-old youth established the fact that the passion to fight and die for freedom of Kashmir is as young as ever. Burhan Wani, “soldier of Freedom” as duly called by our Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and “poster boy mujahid” as fearfully popularized by the Indian media, instigated a fresh thrill in the freedom movement of Kashmir. According to the recently issued report of the Human Rights Watch, i.e., World Report 2017, it has been testified that after July 2016 over 90 Kashmiri youth embraced shahadat as a result of brutal attacks by Indian army. Funerals of these martyrs with uncountable human heads attending them always comes as a reminder to the Indian army that martyrdom is cherished by the proud Muslim youth of Kashmir. It also reminds India that how each killing enlivens the freedom movement India intends to smash with bullets. Burhan Wani’s funeral attended by scores of people reiterated the fact that he, along with other martyrs, give India a tough front. Recently, on January 10, 2017, in continuity unjustified Indian brutality, three more Kashmiri youths were killed. Despite freezing cold weather their funerals were massive gatherings. The wrapping of the mujahideen’s bodies in the Pakistani flag is a slap on the fact of Indian suppression of the “jugular vein” of Pakistan. This consistent and massive response from the people of Kashmir testifies that the Kashmiri freedom movement is indigenous in its nature. And this is a real nightmare for India because it cannot kill all Kashmiris and now cannot establish their empty propaganda that Pakistan flares up these protests. Yet there is no denial of the fact that the masses of Pakistan and our civil and military leadership proudly give political, moral and diplomatic support to the just cause of Kashmiris.
Our civil and military leadership has never mumbled their words as Prime Minister in the aftermath of Burhan Wani’s martyrdom reaffirmed that “Pakistan will keep giving its political moral and diplomatic support to the freedom movement of Kashmir”. The then Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif made it clear to India that “Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of sub-continent’s partition” so it needs to be resolved as per the UN resolutions and more importantly according to the will of Kashmiri people. Furthermore, our civil and military leadership have time and again reiterated that it is high time that the international community dives in to solve this long standing undecided agenda of sub-continent’s partition. Recently in Davos, while meeting with UN secretary general Antonio Gueterres, our premier Nawaz Sharif once again raised the issue of implementation of UN resolutions about Kashmir.
Apart from these frequent shahadats of Kashmiri people, there have been hundreds and thousands injured by blatant use of bullets, tear gas, pepper gas and pellet guns. The inhuman use of pellet guns has been internationally reported and condemned as the plight of its reported victims is a severe violation of human rights. The range of Indian inhuman torture includes minors and the elderly. 19-year old Imtiaz underwent three surgeries for pellet removal from his left eye and yet his vision has not been restored. The tools of Indian State torture also include frequent house to house search for alleged militants, imprisonment of Kashmiri youth, abductions of people, rape of women, harassment of people, never ending curfews, denial of bails… and the list is endless. As reported in the media, a few of the examples of denial of justice are 10-year-old Aqib Farooq from Srinagar who was booked by the police for allegedly pelting stones and who despite having bail from the court is not being released. An 83-year-old is in jail for the same reason.
Kashmiri people and Kashmiri Huriyat leaders are fully awake to the situation and for keeping up the momentum of the movement they are following comprehensively scheduled protest events, which include dharnas, black days, yoaum mazamit and massive protest rallies across the valley. It is hoped that Kashmir’s freedom movement will soon bear fruit and the grant of Devine mercy in the shape of freedom for Kashmir is in the offing for our dear brethren in Kashmir. May the heavenly land be void of violence, Indian State terrorism, and of Indian unjust occupation, Amen!
The writer is a freelance contributor.