THE news slogan wall-chalked all over Srinagar is “Azadi — Indian dogs go home”. Kashmiri bloggers have gone a step further and state: “go and worship your monkeys and cows in Delhi or somewhere we don’t want u in Srinagar. Ever wondered why no one comes out on your independence day? Because Kashmiris hate India”. This is the temper flaring in the streets of Indian Occupied Kashmir, where since June 11, 2010, the youth of Kashmiri launched the Kashmiri Intifada, in which to-date 115 innocent Kashmiri youth have been slaughtered. Their only crime is that like their Palestinian counterparts, they have dared to stand up to the might of the Indian occupation army; unarmed, untrained but imbibed by the spirit of gaining freedom, they look into the eyes of the Indian soldiers. The Indian army, which invaded the peaceful paradise of Kashmir in October 1947 and turned it into a living hell, is not used to Kashmiris standing up to them, so they use the only language they know, the language of the gun. They shoot them in cold blood. Till 1989, when the Kashmiri freedom struggle was only simmering, the brutal Indian soldiers had killed nearly 300,000 innocent Kashmiris. After 1989, when the Kashmiris arose in armed struggle, the Indian government cried havoc and set upon them their dogs of war, which have taken a toll of over 100,000 lives, molested thousands of Kashmiri women, burnt their houses and looted and plundered their shops, incarcerated thousands, who are still languishing in Indian jails. On top of it, thousands of Kashmiri youth are missing. Time and again, unmarked mass graves are discovered, which have hundreds of unidentified bodies.
If after all this the Indian government thinks that the Kashmiris would opt to stay with India, they are really naïve. Another development that took place this summer is that Arundhati Roy, the famed Indian novelist and champion of human rights, has taken up the cudgels on behalf of the Kashmiris. At a conference held in Srinagar on October 24, she declared that “Kashmir has never been an integral part of India”. A right-wing BJP party filed a written complaint against Roy after she publicly advocated for Kashmir independence and challenged India’s claim on Kashmir. If charged and convicted of sedition, Arundhati Roy could face up to life in prison. Ms. Roy defended her statements made at the conference. She wrote, quote, “I said what millions of people here say every day…I spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world.”
The pitiable aspect of the plight of the Kashmiris’ liberation struggle is that it is a just movement for their rights. The UN recognizes Kashmir as a disputed territory and has passed Resolutions demanding the Kashmir issue to be resolved under the aegis of the UN Observers for the people of Kashmir to express their right through a plebiscite, whether they want to join Pakistan or India. The Indian government, which has oppressed and subjugated the Kashmiris for 63 years, has denied them this sovereign right. US President Obama had taken cognizance of the explosive nature of the issue and made a solemn pledge to help resolve the Kashmir issue. However, his judgment has been clouded by the Indians and the desire for better trade, commercial and defence relations with them. So much so that during his forthcoming to India later this week, he has been advised by his counsellors to even avoid whispering the “K” word, lest he hurt the sensitivities of his hosts. The people of Kashmir, on the other hand are putting up a signature campaign to present to President Obama, to take notice of the gross injustice to the Kashmiris and urge the Indians to abide by the UN Resolutions. It would be difficult for President Obama to ignore the writing on the walls of Srinagar: “Azadi—Indian dogs go home – Dailymailnews
