Tragedy of Errors "My Kashmir"

I Still Protest...

2010-08-01T01:37:00.000-07:00

From the time when everyone would be home behind locked doors with only olive green uniform to be seen outside and getting to sleep with the sound of firing going on at distance and some time’s close by, to a time of protesting on the roads, stone pelting and daring to stand face to face with the law and look into their eye’s a lot has changed over the time. As a community and as a society we all have and are surviving this ordeal of bloodshed, Violence, hatred, mistrust, frustration and anger. We feel angry towards our leadership, politicians, centre etc. Our leaders would have their own list of people to be angry with and even politicians have a very good reason to be angry with us because of how we express our grievances. We all have our tales to tell of what had happened? What is happening? And what should happen? Our tragedy was the same but the suffering was personal. The very same place which was called paradise by the world turned in to a place of destruction, deaths and suffering. The amount of bloodshed that this place has seen over the years has changed the psyche of every person living here or involved directly or indirectly with this place. And yet we all can do nothing about it.

We have reached a time where in a 13-14 year old boy can stop anyone on the road during Hartal and ask the very same question which are asked by the security personal during undeclared curfew or restriction. For this generation they feel let down by everyone and they believe what they are doing is right and in doing so they are treating their own people in the very same manner as the forces would. No one is against them or the method of their protest at least it’s not a Gun they are protesting with but when treated the same way as a security person would treat us, it brings the resentment back and with it the memories of the time when almost every Kashmiri was treated like a dog. To see the body of a 9 year old boy hit with bullets is not an easy picture to forget for anyone and the emotions are bound to run high and they do run high. This is how the newspapers of valley were in early 90’s carrying photos of dead people who either died in cross firings, blasts, killed and found most of the time’s and this is how it’s starting to look for past couple of years we again see the dead faces of young ones and its bound to make the society jittery and do things which change this fear and helplessness into anger and thus the protests.

This is a change that not many in our new generation have seen. The way a common Kashmiri was treated by the forces was bad but the same done by a Kashmiri it’s confusing. It confuses us because we have protested against this very same treatment but given out by the govt. And if still we are treated in the very same manner by our own then where do we go to protest. Suffering and sacrifices are something that most of the Kashmir has seen and given and it will keep on going for a long time to come but to be treated like human by our own is something that we need to have right now for us to keep going. We have a generation who believes and has seen the leadership and the politics at its worst with everyone here making it more complicated and ugly. For them to feel angry is the only option they have because it’s their blood spilled on the roads and we as parents, neighbours, and society as a whole see our leaders not able to channel this anger in a better direction, thus we lose faith in these leaders. We see the political establishment as the killers and feel hateful and angry towards them but as a society even we are equally to be blamed for such an outcome of this protest and violence as the rest of leadership and the power establishment is because this generation inherited this modus Vivendi from us.

Govt. On its part has always addressed the final outcome the protests and the stone pelting but never addressed the core and the basics problem right in its infancy, the mistrust, feudal approach towards people, not able to cater to the emotions and sufferings of the masses, high headiness of its officials, denial at times and silence at the other has fuelled this situation to spiral out of control and yet still we have our power establishment all quite behind their closed doors. And when there is no one who would listen, making them listen results in such means and methods. Probing the deaths that have occurred should be the latter part of the effort from the govt to pacify the masses, to go and reach out to the families who have suffered should be the priority. Imposing of undeclared curfew/restriction where a death has taken place would never help in calming the tension but rather give time for anger and hatred to build up in everyone and when this explosion of emotions take place the brute force and the ways to get the situation under control starts a vicious circle of death and destruction all over again.

I Protest

2010-07-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

I protest for the incompetency of the people handling my future, I protest for the lack of humanity in our (in)security forces, I Protest for the repeated insults, I protest for media using my pain for their TRPs, I protest for the short sightedness of all our leaders, I protest for none of them coming out submissively and asking for forgiveness, I protest for being ordered to be locked up in my house for no fault of mine, I protest for anyone, but never a kashmiri, getting his 5 minutes of fame on tv ,I protest for the unnecessary and insensitive comments made about my place, I protest for journalists telling the world just one side of the story, I protest for been asked Kahan se aaya hae?Kahan jana hae, I Protest for being treated as an imbecile child, I protest for been stopped again and again on the roads for VIP movement, I protest for being taken for granted and most of all I protest for the life that i will be giving to my children...

What next?

2008-09-08T01:38:00.000-07:00

A new date sheet is out for Kashmiris to follow given by the Co-ordination Committee that has chalked out, what people of the valley are supposed to do till the end of this month, the days when it is going to be a total or partial shutdown, even the days when people have to protest, and finally 6th October its Lal Chowk Challo again. However the question is do we have any other option than following our Separatist leaders? Unfortunately none. We have our Politicians indulging in their best loved spare time activity of being in the spot light by participating in interviews here and there in Delhi but I think none of them has even thought of coming out of their cosy, luxurious abodes to sit with their people and talk to them. Does that mean they don’t care for the masses, well no to be precise this is the time when they care the most or at the least of it they will be showing that they do, after all its ultimately ‘their’ people only who will be voting in as a result of coercion or non coercion- something that only time will decide. But it seems that they have lost the trust of people, they have lost the respect that people at one point of time had for them. But do they understand that they are the only few people to whom the entire country listens when they are asked about Kashmir. In a way, they are the only hope for Kashmiris to make their voices be heard where it matters. If they can’t do anything else , they can at least be the voice of a common man. Centre is trying to get over with the elections in the proposed time and why won’t they want do that, as soon as Kashmir get a New CM the centre’s job of normalising Kashmir issue is over because then they have a new Puppet and a Scapegoat in their hands. Then at least for some time Kashmir is not their Headache. The so called Government will be there to listen to people and work for the betterment of this state. Is this election going to be of any help to the common man? Well that question will serve as the fresh topic of debate to our media. Now that Nsg proposal is through, Singhur issue is almost over , Kashmir is again going be the prime focus of the Nation. Everyone will be asked the same questions about Kashmir over and over again by all the leading News Channels. Debates will be aired, showing our Politicians fighting in front of the whole nation when the people in Kashmir will still be suffering, because unfortunately this all drama is not for the betterment of common man but for the power hungry politicians of this Country. People are being beaten up by the security forces on a routine basis here, think this is the way people up there want to punish every Kashmiri for defying them in front of the whole world, yet none of our main stream politicians has even raised their voices against all this. More people are going to die here but who bothers. When our own main stream leaders have left the people of Kashmir to their fate the only option for a common man is to turn to the Separatists Leaders for at least they do raise their voice against the inhuman treatment given to Kashmiris here. But at the same time now that they have the support from the majority of Kashmiris I think it's about time that they should show the world that they have the Courage and the will to work for the betterment of the people of this valley. This is the time where they need to take control, maintain the order out here on the streets, look into peoples’ issues and try helping them out rather than creating more problems for the common man.
Hartals are the way of showing our defiance towards the State and the Central Administration and most of the Kashmiris support it willingly or unwillingly but then essential shops like Medicates, and Provision Stores should be allowed to open so that a common man doesn’t suffer. If a strike is called for by the Separatists Leaders it is observed as strictly as the Curfews. In that case what’s the difference between them and the Centre because at the end it’s the common man only who suffers at the hands of both parties. It’s a known fact through history that whenever there has been a revolution or the demand of freedom it has come at a great cost of Human lives and suffering, but out here it’s been going on for more than Half a Century, with ever one step forward we have gone two steps behind. Everyone here is tired of this now , and when people get tired that’s when radical changes take place and the people let these changes take place thinking that may be now things will take a turn for the better. This is what had happened in early 90’s and I am afraid this is what’s happening now. If Azadi is our birth right then it’s about time that we should be knowing our fate after the Azadi, Who’s going to be our leader? How will Kashmir survive? What will be our economical support apart from the electricity that we are able to generate here,?What sort of a government will be formed ? I think these are some of the questions to which every Kashmiri should be sensitive to seek an answer to. We have time and again raised our voices for Azadi without even thinking about these basic questions and this to me is a proof that whenever we have been led to mass protests our leaders know that they are not going to get it and that’s why no is willing to tackle these questions before hand. I don’t want to believe that all those people we have lost have died for nothing because then I as a Kashmiri am equally guilty of being a part and reason for their families’ suffering as the people who killed them. So what exactly do we want? If I have to answer this question my answer would be PEACE and NORMALCY by whatsoever means possible. But then that’s just me in the hope that everyone would have clear answers to these questions.

Reply to A friend...

2008-09-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

It feels good to see people from different parts of India taking interest in Kashmir trying and making people understand that Azadi is not possible and that Kashmir's future lies safe with India, feeling angry when people here on streets say "Indian Dogs go Back" and at the same time saying "Jive Jive Pakistan" and why won’t you , your an Indian it’s your country and hearing someone abuse it does make the blood run faster in your veins.When J&K was attacked by Pakistan in the form of the tribal mercenaries sent here to capture the rest of J&K the then maharaja wrote a letter to the then PM Nehru ji asking for help. That time maharaja was given the option to accede to the Nation of India to which the then Maharaja replied, “People of J&K should be a given a chance to decide on their own about what they want to do” famously known as Right of Self Determination, to which the then PM of India agreed and promised that the people of J&K will have a right to Self Determination once the situation is back to normal. The demand of this Right to Self Determination is not something new that got instigated in these 18 years of conflict but it was there from the start. It was just that no one was interested in it. Everyone was busy with their own lives and the miseries that were part of it. J&K is called the integral part of India and especially Kashmir is called the Thrown of India. Gandhi ji, at the time of partition when he was trying to pacify people, came to Kashmir and said on records that “If anyone wants to see the best example of Secularism he should come to Kashmir”. Now if we were the people because of who even the father of Indian nation was so influenced with then why at this point of time are we labelled a communal? Why is that the PM of India waits for 12 days till 15th of August to say 2 lines about the Situation in Kashmir. Being an Integral part of this nation we deserve the same treatment that you people have. Then why didn’t anyone out there raise a voice when economic blockade was declared on Kashmir. Why didn’t the Home Minister intervene at that point of time? Whatever the Amarnath Samiti got now was exactly the same what they could have had on the very first day of their agitation. Over a period of 3 months Jammu had more police injuries and fatalities as compared to the no. of Kashmiri’s who died in a span of 3 days in which 30 lives were lost and scores and scores of people got injured. The police and the army in Jammu were asked this very same question as why are the protesters not fired up on in Jammu when they defy the curfew the way they do in Srinagar. There answer was simple from their side and it was “the protestors in Jammu were holding NATIONAL FLAG and chanting BHARAT MATA KE JAY”. Does that mean if Kashmiri’s have the national flag in their hand and occasionally they chant the slogans Bharat Mata Ki Jay would we also be treated in the same manner as Jammu people. Does that mean that any state of India can take this Great nation to ransom just by holding a national flag in their hands? Why people chant Pro-Pakistani slogans is simple because they feel that India has always had double standards when it comes to Kashmir. Have you ever heard in these last 3 months any of our great Leaders in Delhi even say a single line on the lives that were lost in this whole Land Issue Drama in Kashmir. Did any one of those people, who were there on the News Channels talking about Kashmir, ever say that they regret the loss of lives in the Valley? You can’t expect to take a whole population to ransom and then hope that they are going to be Pro-Indian. It can never happen. Pervez Musharaff, while giving his last address to the people of Pakistan said “Kashmir har Pakistani Ke Dil ma dhadhkta ha ” When was the last time any India leader has said the same? Never . What’s India as a nation going to lose if they accept that the way they handled Kashmir from the start was wrong and that they are sorry and asking for the forgiveness from the people of the valley who have suffered, and want some time and help from the people of the valley to make things better. But then it’s the ego that will never allow any Indian to accept that Kashmir was a result of their Govt’s misadventures. We also know that in this whole conflict many security Personal have laid down their lives for their country. Their families have also suffered because they also have lost their loved ones out here and on the borders, they got killed in the line of duty towards their country. They are the men who live under harsh conditions; they are there on the roads in summers, and winters. Living in hostile conditions because that’s the only way for them to feed their families. I have respect for them for what they endure out here, only able to see their families for 30 days in a whole year, on duty for 18 hrs straight, day and night. They have not volunteered to be here but they are sent here. Nowadays its mandatory for every security personal, be it from Army, Crpf, or Bsf to serve for a stint of 2 years in the valley. We respect them for whatever they are doing out here but we just want at least half of that respect from them as well. We are not against them because it was not there decision to be in Kashmir, they were sent here but that doesn’t mean that they are going to treat a common Kashmir like a DOG. They have built Schools, bridges etc but at the same time they have burned down our houses. They organise medical camps and at the same time Kashmiris have been tortured by them. Our demand for reduction in the presence of troops is a mutual thing because even they don’t want to be fighting an insurgency which is an off shoot of our failed politics. And still whatever is happening here could have been avoided way long back in 1947 itself but now that it was not and we are the product of that then please don’t take us for imbeciles who have no ideas what they want because that’s something what we are not. Whatever is happening now is the result of last 62 years of political mockery. It takes guts to survive when you have 1 soldier for every 5 Kashmiris. When you know that you can get killed by the armed forces bullet because they have the power given by the Armed Forces Special Act to shoot any Kashmiri on mere SUSPCION. When you know that every Kashmiri, in the eyes of an Indian National, is a Terrorist. People living outside have opened their eyes to Kashmir now because it’s the hottest topic for the new generation ,who feels Patriotic towards their country because their country is providing them the opportunities ,the very same opportunities that we were supposed to be entitled to as well but we have never had the privilege to avail them. I think because India, in all its bloom had forgotten every thin about Kashmir. Please try and understand the mindset of a Kashmiri. They were always promised better time through out there lives by everyone, from Centre to State, by our leaders, but somehow Kashmiris never witnessed those ‘better times’. Instead what we got was Soldiers on ever turn and corner of the valley for whom every Kashmiri was a terrorist, and these poor souls were not to be blamed because our big shot think tanks had done their home work and reached to this conclusion. The presence of terrorists is not deniable, 1 in every 10000 Kashmiris. And this is where the tragedy started. Army started treating us with IRON GLOVES on because they were ordered to do so, not there mistake however we still carried on living and things worsened. Every day the first thing a Kashmiri would see in the paper would be the BULLET ridden bodies of 5-8, or may be more than 10, so called Kashmiri terrorists. People have died here and people have been killed here. People were disappearing, picked up by forces and then released in return for money. It was a total collapse of governance and we were still trying to survive. Everything was collapsing .We never talked about it for we never got the time to sit back and realize what’s happening because the fear had taken over each of us. People would dread the nights because that was the time when the famous CRACK DOWNS would be operational. And the sole purpose of this was to take all the males (starting from 14 year boys to old men) of a particular locality to some pre decided location. They were made to sit there for hours and then the so called Identification Parades would start where a caught terrorist inside a gypsy would decide the fate of the people standing in front of him. In 90’s an average Kashmiri would be frisked somewhere round about 5-10 times, depending on the locality he used to live, every single day. You know only the things you hear in the news, read in papers, listen in debates apart from that no one has a clue about this place because whenever you talk about this place its always about those same old questions. Have you ever really talked to anyone who is your age, have you ever asked them how do they spend their time out here. We don’t have cinema halls, we don’t have shopping malls, we don’t have amusement parks, and we don’t have late night parties. We don’t have Baristas and we don’t have CCDs, we don’t have McDonalds and Pizza Huts. My generation has grown without all these luxuries which are an integral part of your lives. But what my generation has seen is the real face of the army the face that is supposed to be shown to the nation’s enemies. We have seen dead bodies of our friends, family members, neighbours, don’t think am trying to get emotions involved by talking about death, no I am not and I don’t think I have any emotions left within me for these things. Whatever I am saying is what every Kashmiri has gone through. If you and all the others really want to do something for your country and for Kashmir then please don’t start debates on Kashmir it’s not going to help anyone out here, all its going to do is get people involved again in the history of this place and then the blame game will start all over again, getting everyone involved forgetting the whole idea of the common man’s suffering, so please try to understand what we had and what we are going through. We want the very basic necessities of life. We want you people asking questions to those who are directly or indirectly in control of this God forsaken place, ask them where did we Indians go wrong dealing with Kashmir. And why do the people of Kashmir in spite of getting each and everything, from a paper pin to a Prado from India still so much against us? It is your right as an Indian Citizen to ask such questions. Ask the centre about how many civilians (Not Terrorist) have been killed in the cross-firings between the army and the militants? Ask them wasn’t it their duty to save lives out here? Ask them were does all that THOUSAND OF CRORES go which is sent to the valley for its development? Or is it that they don’t bother to keep a tab on the finances of this State. Understand the reason and logic behind the independence of India and may be you’ll understand why Kashmiri’s have slogans like “Indian dogs go back”. People are angry and frustrated because they have been pushed to the wall. They don’t have anywhere to go but to get out on roads in total defiance of the LAW. Just going back in time, Nehru had made a promise to the people of Kashmir in presence of the only truly greatest leader of Kasmiris, Sheikh Mh. Abdullhah .

There were many mistakes that have happened over the time and the biggest of all was the planed exodus of Pandits from the valley. I was in Jammu at that time and I still remember trucks after trucks coming to Jammu full of Kashmiri Pandits. I remember those queues which would be there outside the said govt. departments where free ration was provided to them. A whole family of 10 would be living in a space of 6x6 area and that area would be defined by 4 walls of cloth. It was as tragic a moment as the Partition itself was. The first few years were the worst for them; they were dying of sunstrokes, snake bites, diseases that were spreading because of the unhygienic conditions of the Migrant camps. They suffered for many years, few are still suffering but at least majority of them have settled down now, the sorrow of leaving one’s motherland is irreplaceable and whatever the centre or the state does they can’t get Pandits back in the valley because for many of them they simply don’t want to come back. They have seen the bad times but at least now things are getting better for them. They are able to provide their kids with best of education and bright future. They were given special privileges because of what they had gone through. I think it’s fair if I say that now the time has come for them to let go of their hatred and anger for the people of the valley because we are still suffering. Now tell me has any one of you asked questions like why in spite of all the force that was sent to valley ,the centre was not in a position to safe guard their lives and property? Why was the govt only helping them in moving out of the valley and not trying in giving them security and holding them back? How many Pandits were initially killed in the valley? It was not even in hundreds then how come a whole community was feeling so insecure in a place where they were born? If u really want to make a difference in this whole conflict then try and be neutral because Kashmir was, is, and will be a play ground for the politicians. I have nothing against India because till the time of self determination comes India is going to be my country and Indian my nationality on my passport but to make me a patriotic a lot of questions need to be answered, because whatever I’ve seen in my 19 years in valley I don’t see any reason for that.

Kasher

2008-09-01T04:56:00.000-07:00

For last two month's we have talked, felt frustrated, angry, come out on roads, pelted stones, buried the dead, taken the injured to hospitals, washed the blood off the roads and yet we are still on the same spot from where it all began. Kashmir, my Kashmir, the place misunderstood by a Nation, a place forgotten by the world, by the very same people who have always raised their voices over Kashmir whenever they felt that they are being forgotten by their so called Intellectual Society and by the people who have made a fortune over the spilled blood of simple, poor Kashmiris. The worst part of this all is not that we are a forgotten tribe but the worst part is that we on our own could do nothing. With all our education, all our years of living outside we still have not learnt this one simple fact of life and that’s "God helps those who help themselves”. We have anger inside us for whatever has happened to us, we are angry for not been able to do anything, we are angry for the life that we have lived for last 18 years. I don’t expect anyone to understand this because no one can understand it. We don’t want no one’s pity for what we have gone through here, and we also don’t want any one saying that whatever has happened here was what we deserved because when people talk like that without even having an iota of an idea what life here is all about, it’s painful. We are not here to play the blame game as whose fault it was because we have our Politicians and leaders for that but as simple Kashmiris we are here to let everyone know about the humiliation, the fear, and the uncertainty that has become a part of our daily lives. We want the world to know and understand how it feels when you leave your place in the morning and till the time you come back you are just making sure that you stay alive.

Hope

2008-09-01T04:34:00.001-07:00

Hope -- hope for a better life, hope for a better job, hope for things to be fine. All our life this is one thing that never lets go of us. And yet we don’t even believe in our own hopes. At times I wonder if Kashmir is ever going to be what it used to be when I had the luck of seeing it that way in the first 10 years of my life when I was 11years of my age. Things were so beautiful here. Now it has become a faint and a vague idea not just for me but for a whole generation, for those who stayed back and for those who left. For all of us, life has been ugly and frustrating and this generation deserves a pat on their backs for showing every one that we managed to survive and remain sane. Sane enough to respect the society we live in .We never deserved to have such a life but then still it was thrust on us and we, on our part accepted it. A week back there was a debate going on NDTV regarding this Kashmir Vs Jammu drama and one of the participants in the audience made a statement though I don’t remember the exact words but it was something like “ I don’t understand what this fuss is all about. The people of the valley are pampered they get money from the centre as such they are having a gala time out there”.
At this point of time J&K has become a topic of debate, a topic on which everyone and anyone opine over. It has become THE focal point of the media because let’s face it, the most recognised face of today’s News personalities at one point of time or other have used Kashmir story to their fullest but please don’t take it otherwise because everyone has done the same; the army, the paramilitary, the police, the leaders, the politicians and in a way it is good. It gives us some happiness that at least some one is getting something good out of such a tragedy. And now that they have achieved a lot out of this whole tragedy let’s get everyone who directly or indirectly is involved with Kashmir and make them sit for an exam and let’s see who has the slightest of the idea what people in Kashmir want. At this time if you ask anyone what should be done in Kashmir they will give an answer because everyone knows what’s happening out here in the valley and that’s “we are having a gala time”. No one is to be blamed. We never spoke about our miseries because we always believed that things would get better but then they never do and we go back to square one. So why now ? Simply because people are sick and tired of going through the same miseries again I think it makes sense. But now that things have again stirred up let’s give everyone a chance to speak, to get their anger and frustration out so that when ever this all stops we all can go back to our life and live like humans do, with respect and dignity. Everyone has lost something on this side as well as on the other side. Some suffered more and some a less but if at this time we get those things influencing our state of mind then we again are going to get stuck in the vicious circle of playing the blame game. We all have to co-exist because I can’t write you off and you can write me off, now it all depends on how desperate are we for a better life because no one is going to make our lives better. It has never happened and it will never happen so finally whatever has to be done has to be done by us.