Feedback from Sanjay:
Kashmir is back to the boil again. The army had to be called in after 15 years of relative normalcy in the valley. The situation threatens to spiral out of control just when you would’ve thought it was getting better.
How did it all come to this? Where did we go wrong? Where ARE we going wrong?
There has been a lot of discussion about the history of the Kashmir issue – the wars, the UN resolutions, the Shimla accord and so on. What we don’t discuss regularly are the people of Kashmir and their concerns. They include those on the other side of the border, those who live in the valley, those who have been chased out of the valley, and even those who live in the Jammu and Laddakh regions.
Why many of us don’t feel any pain whatsoever when human rights are violated in the region? Why don’t we create the kind of uproar we saw in the Ruchika or Jessica case when similar, if not more disgusting, crimes are committed in Shopain? Why do we go hysterical when a ‘prince’ falls in a bore well but not when a school boy is killed by security forces in Srinagar on his way home from school?
Let’s face it. Those who are out on the streets in Kashmir are not terrorists. They are not even militants. They are ordinary teenagers whom the system has failed. They deserve the same freedoms that we take for granted. If we wouldn’t like our PM telling us not to let our children out on the streets, the Kashmiris shouldn’t be told that too. If we like political freedoms in our colleges and universities, the Kashmiris should have that political engagement too. If we like to live in our homes, the Kashmiris should be resettled in their homes too!
What we need is to show some empathy towards the Kashmiris. If we can’t do that much, we have not right to call Kashmir an integral part of India.
Sanjay Bhat, New Delhi
Kashmir is back to the boil again. The army had to be called in after 15 years of relative normalcy in the valley. The situation threatens to spiral out of control just when you would’ve thought it was getting better.
How did it all come to this? Where did we go wrong? Where ARE we going wrong?
There has been a lot of discussion about the history of the Kashmir issue – the wars, the UN resolutions, the Shimla accord and so on. What we don’t discuss regularly are the people of Kashmir and their concerns. They include those on the other side of the border, those who live in the valley, those who have been chased out of the valley, and even those who live in the Jammu and Laddakh regions.
Why many of us don’t feel any pain whatsoever when human rights are violated in the region? Why don’t we create the kind of uproar we saw in the Ruchika or Jessica case when similar, if not more disgusting, crimes are committed in Shopain? Why do we go hysterical when a ‘prince’ falls in a bore well but not when a school boy is killed by security forces in Srinagar on his way home from school?
Let’s face it. Those who are out on the streets in Kashmir are not terrorists. They are not even militants. They are ordinary teenagers whom the system has failed. They deserve the same freedoms that we take for granted. If we wouldn’t like our PM telling us not to let our children out on the streets, the Kashmiris shouldn’t be told that too. If we like political freedoms in our colleges and universities, the Kashmiris should have that political engagement too. If we like to live in our homes, the Kashmiris should be resettled in their homes too!
What we need is to show some empathy towards the Kashmiris. If we can’t do that much, we have not right to call Kashmir an integral part of India.
Sanjay Bhat, New Delhi
