I remember as a young child, sometimes I used to sit with my head at my grandmother's knee at night when she told me stories about her ancestral home in Srinagar and described the beauty of Dal Lake and how the houseboats glided elegantly on its turquoise waters how the valley was filled with flowers in the summers and how absolutely magnificent it was. The nostalgia added to the romance of the life she missed so much and she remembered the cherries decorating the trees, the precious saffron that was sprinkled on special dishes when there were guests, and the songs of the boatmen who sang loudly while rowing the boats. I was always mesmerized by the allure of the glistening pristine turquoise waters, the magical boatmen and the gliding houseboats and always made my grandmother promise before sleeping, that she would not ever go back to Srinagar without taking me along. To me Srinagar was the ultimate magical land of unimaginable beauty and I always felt that somehow that was the place I belonged to. She always promised as if we would soon be making that journey and it seemed only a matter of time before I would go there with her.
Time passed, I grew up and my grandmother passed away many years ago without ever returning to her beloved Srinagar. But to me that longing is still just as fresh and I still believe, just as I did when I was a small child that the journey to my beloved Srinagar is still a matter of a few more days. Love for Kashmir has always been in my heart and it always will be.
The fact is that I am not alone in believing that. There are millions of people in Pakistan who have a deep and profound love with Kashmir even though their ancestors might not belong to it. The people of Pakistan have deep emotional and cultural ties with Kashmir and they have never considered Kashmir to be a part of India.
Today after seven decades of the partition of the Sub-Continent the Kashmir issue remains unresolved. There have been many uprisings in the valley against the illegal occupation of India and its puppet governments in Kashmir. Countless Kashmiris have laid down their lives for their independence, countless tears have been shed and enough blood spilled but the struggle has not ceased. Kashmiris have braved the atrocities of the brutal Indian occupied forces and the draconian laws imposed to keep Kashmiris under occupation but they have not given up the struggle for their right of self-determination.
This current Intefada that has started with the killing of Burhan Wani in Kashmir is a reminder to the world that the young generation of Kashmiri have stood up against Indian occupation. These children cannot have any remembrance of the past freedom movements or uprisings in the valley which Indian government claimed to have been supported by the Pakistani establishment. But this the world is witnessing that the young children are ready to come out on the streets and lay down their lives because they have refused to live under occupation of Indian armed forces. This is an indigenous freedom movement which is the right of the Kashmiri people as it is the right of every man, woman and child in the world. India can never make the Kashmiris its slaves and it can never succeed in making Kashmir a part of India through the use of brute force.
Kashmir has always belonged to only the Kashmiri people. They have every right to decide their destiny and live as independent and proud citizens. According to the United Nations resolution, the fate of Kashmiris will be decided by the people of Kashmir through a plebiscite and they Kashmiris are still waiting for their right.
Indian occupation forces have inflicted worst atrocities and brutally murdered innocent Kashmiris whose only crime is their struggle for their legitimate rights. The blood of innocent children is being spilled in the streets of Srinagar, the wails of the mothers of the young slain Kashmiris are piercing the hearts of every Pakistani, the pristine waters of the Dal lake are now turning saline with the tears of the families of the victims, the houseboats are standing still and the songs of the boatmen are gone.
The Indian occupation forces have made new records of brutality that the world had not seen as yet as they have mercilessly shot innocent children with pallet guns, which has made hundreds of people including children, blind. Indian army has killed civilians declaring them as militants because they are raising their voice against the atrocities. Can the Indian government tell the world as to what is the crime of the Hurriat leaders, Ali Gillani and Yasin Malik? Why are they being detained and tortured? All they want is their right of freedom from oppression.
Although Pakistanis as a people stand by the Kashmir cause and will always provide the Kashmiris with their moral support but what is really required, is that the people of India must rise up against the atrocities being committed by their extremist government. The voices raised by the people of Pakistan will not have any effect on the Modi government but the voices of the people of India would have enormous power and public pressure would make a difference.
Whenever the people have succeeded in the struggle against the atrocities of any regime it has always been with the support of the strong voices that come from inside that country. The Indians as a people must realize that today India is coming out as the worst example of an authoritarian regime which is using the draconian laws and brute force to stifle the voices of the people demanding their rights. It is not just the Kashmiris but there are also many disadvantaged groups of people that are being targeted by the Modi government. However, the worst affected are the people of Kashmir.
There is now a huge responsibility on the people of India, who claim to the biggest democracy in the world, to raise their voice against the brutality of their government in Kashmir. I urge the intelligentsia, the civil society and the informed journalists in India to look into their hearts and say with all honesty, if they believe that the Indian government is not committing the worst possible human rights violations in Kashmir. Where are the people of India who believed in the teachings of Mahatama Gandhi and his ideology of non-violence, why are the so called secular people of India so silent on the spilling of Kashmiri blood in the streets of Srinagar? Why is the colour of that blood not making the skies of Delhi go all crimson? Why are the blind eyes of the beautiful Kashmiri children not making the days go dark for every peace loving person in India?
The Indian government must restore peace in the valley, remove the huge army presence there, that has virtually made the valley into an open air prison and let the people of Kashmir live and exercise all their legitimate rights as a people.