Sunaina Malik
According to all the religious scriptures of the world heaven, Jannat or swarag is a place where every thing is superlative, wonderful and unblemished regarding to physical, social, cultural, demographical and ethical atmosphere. But unlike celestial heaven, our worldly heaven Kashmir has been losing all the above mention traits of a model place since the onset of insurgency. This story dates back to the time when Assembly elections of 1987 were held in Kashmir. It was the time when two big parties of State Congress and National Conference appeared as allies in those elections. Thing to notice here is that Hurriyat leader Saiyed Ali Shah Geelani along with other like minded people formed a political party named as Muslim United Front (MUF). Muslim United Front contested elections over 43 seats. But written records have revealed to us that there was rigging of that election, and Muslim United Front succeeded to grab only four seats. This malpractice became the root cause of onset of insurgency in the Valley, so MUF started State wide agitations and strikes against the establishment. Irony to Kashmir fate was that Pakistan which has been staring over Kashmir since 1947, got a golden opportunity to exploit this unrest in Valley. Without wasting time Pakistan lured Kashmiri youth on religious base, used them against India by giving them arms training. Pakistan adopted the policy of brain wash of impulsive youth and used them as suicide bombers against India and Indian Army .In addition to this Pakistan has not left any stone unturned in making cross border intrusion possible. Here I want to ask a question to the good self of Geelani ji. Was that an enough reason to create an atmosphere which has taken the lives of 47,000 innocent civilians, 5,462 armed personals, 21,000 militants. In addition to this number of innocent Kashmiri girls were raped, nearly 3,400 loving sons of Kashmir disappeared and 3,000 were put behind bars under PSA.
As a matter of fact, it is a leader who is shouldered with a responsibility of betterment, console, lavishness, and over all fate of his followers, similar is the case here Geelani ji. God has allied fate of millions of Kashmiris with you but you have shown them the path of dangers and blood shed. God has given you the competence to do some thing for the betterment of Kashmiri race but you have pushed them towards strikes, violent agitations, stone pelting and un ending militancy. God has given you the potential to lead the nation towards bright future but you have given them atmosphere of terror, tears, pains and anxiety. As per a survey conducted this continuous sick atmosphere have caused depressions in the minds of our young generation at large and forcing whole of these young hearts towards drug addiction, alcohol and cigarette consumption.
Kashmir which was the epitome of brotherhood, fidelity, charity, sacrifice, inner beauty and expertise now turned into a place where the hearts of people are crammed with abhorrence, retribution, egotism, communalism and offensiveness. Terrorism has defaced the Kashmir in particular and image of Muslims in general before the world community. Gelani ji you might be aware of the fact Muslims are no more labelled as human beings but terrorists. When ever they go abroad or out of State, people are afraid of them, people do not prefer to sit, talk and share any thing with them fearlessly. Is this you call Azadi? Once I was in Delhi, I happened to meet a Muslim girl, she narrated me the painful story of embarrassment being faced by her when her room mate refused to share her hostel room with her, as she was scared of her. Is this the kind of Azadi you want to gift to Kashmir. Terror can never make any body tolerable to the world at large.
Moreover a nation is entitled for Azadi or independence only when that nation is deprived of its legal, cultural, educational, professional, ethical and societal rights, but in Kashmir every Muslim is enjoying his legal rights to sue any criminal in Court of Law. Every Muslim is enjoying all his cultural rights to celebrate Eid-ui-Fitar or Bakar- Eid. Every Muslim is free to offer Namaz in their religious place. Every Muslim is free to appear in any civil service exam. Every Muslim is free to get free elementary and higher education, every Muslim is free to go in government hospital for treatment, every Muslim is free to go abroad to earn their livelihood or for Hajj, every Muslim is free to elect his or her leader, every muslim is free to export his fruit or crop yield in State or out of State, every Muslim is free to seek admission in any university of State or out of State, every Muslim has all his legal rights to show his or her discontent over any of the policy of government over all, every Muslim is enjoying all his fundamental rights under Indian Constitution in Valley. Geelani ji you cannot evaluate Indian freedom struggle with this proxy war because we Indians during British statute were deprived of all the above mention rights. More over it is the time when leader like you need great introspection because Valley is facing an unpredicted menace in the form of Jhelum floods. Sorry to say but no body can hoist militant against natural calamity. This peril can only be avoided by a shared effort of Center and State Govt. along with fiscal support from people’s side.
In the end I would like to appeal to the good self of Gelani ji that Kashmiri people look at you as god father and follow you blindly, so please show them the way of radiance, evolution, opulence, and verve because time only evoke those leaders who promote the nations.