Why Kashmir
first? M ASHRAF
If Kashmir is to be redeemed and
saved, then every Kashmiri must adopt the maxim, “Kashmir First” in every
aspect of life
For every Kashmiri,
the most important thing at the moment is the “Kashmir First”. It is Kashmir
which gives him his identity. Here, one recalls a saying about a blade of grass
growing on a piece of land. It has been said that every blade of grass in the
world has a piece of land in which it has its roots. It is from this piece of
land that the blade of grass draws its nourishment and has an identity.
Without that it
becomes meaningless. Similarly, we too have our roots in the soil of Kashmir
and draw our nourishment from it. Without Kashmir we will become just dried
blades of grass tossed by winds from place to place!
At the present
moment, the slogan “Kashmir First” has assumed tremendous importance in view of
the onslaughts on Kashmir’s every aspect. For last 68 years Kashmir has faced
onslaught culturally including slow and steady erosion of Kashmiri language. Kashmir’s
environment has been vandalised under the garb of Tourism which is deliberately
projected as the back bone of Kashmir’s economy even though it is not true.
Traditionally and historically, Kashmir has an agriculture based economy.
The greatest resource
of Kashmir, the free flowing water has been virtually stolen by the new “East
India Company”! These waters have been virtually divided as spoils of war by
our two neighbours. That too with international backing!
All these years,
money, material and blackmail have been used to subdue Kashmiris. Kashmir
itself has been converted into a prison with almost one armed soldier looking
after every five Kashmiris. Outwardly Kashmiris seem to have been subdued or
appear helpless because of an army of collaborators from every section of the
society.
However, internally
people are extremely alienated. Especially the youth, the new generation
brought up in the turmoil of nineties. They are totally uncompromising and
Kashmir’s only hope. As regards the leaders, the so called mainstream ones have
been materially and morally corrupted through and through. The so called
“popular” ones seem to have been paralysed by an endless internal
bickering.
The Kashmiris have
somehow managed to live on in spite of being made economically totally
dependent on dole and subjected to repeated cultural and social assaults.
However, now a physical assault is being unleashed to demographically displace
them from the land where they been living from the earliest times. It started
with the feelers for setting up of Panun Kashmir, a Kashmiri Pandit homeland in
Pahalgam-Sonamarg area around the famous Amarnath pilgrimage. The first
backlash was the Amarnath land transfer agitation of 2008 following which
government had to hurriedly give up the idea. Next came the composite townships
on the Israeli pattern. Again there was hue and cry which made the proposal go
into limbo. Then suggestions were floated for settling ex-Army men in a Sainik
Colony near Srinagar Airport. Now, the attack has been mounted on Article 35-A
to somehow allow outsiders to own land and property in Kashmir. Article 370 has
already been under bombardment since its very introduction in the Indian
constitution to guard special status of Kashmir. It has been used in practice as
a tunnel to push in every Indian law to take away Kashmir’s special status
which it was supposed to guard. The latest in this regard is the Central
Statistical Law to allow gathering of information about state subjects by the
Central Government directly. Now, only a hollow shell of 370 remains. In spite
of that it is a psychological assurance that Kashmir has not been fully merged
into the Indian Union.
Incidentally, the
proposed talks between India and Pakistan have been cancelled on Kashmir
itself. Pakistan has insisted on “Kashmir First”. India on the other hand is
saying “Terrorism First” even though it is internationally accepted that the
main cause of the conflict between these two neighbours giving rise to
“Terrorism” is Kashmir. Incidentally, within the state, the Jammu is always for
“Jammu First”! It has grown to be a metropolis. This is because of its
politicians, because of its bureaucrats and because of its people. In contrast,
Kashmir has virtually sunk in every respect to the lowest depths because of its
politicians, because of its bureaucrats and because of its people! If Kashmir
is to be redeemed and saved, then every Kashmiri must adopt the maxim, “Kashmir
First” in every aspect of life. Otherwise Kashmiris as a nation are doomed to
oblivion.
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