By Ibrahim Yousuf for TwoCircles.net
Living in a nation, yet not being called its citizen is a matter of shame. But we must not forget that this is our nation and we Muslims had decided to stay here and not to go to the other side. This nation belongs to us as much as it belongs to other Indians. They are nobody to suggest us to cross the border and we need not to prove our love and loyalty to the country. Religion doesn’t decide which country you belong.
It is important to point out that Kashmir is treated as a part of the country but its natives are not. This leads to such a catastrophe in that part of the nation. And if this continues, then at a certain point, the whole nation will become like Kashmir. The callous behavior to that part is responsible for such a situation. First, in every budget, Kashmir is promised a lot of assistance but it never reaches the state which leads to its backwardness. The second reason is that Kashmiri youth are not serious about their career; they just waste time in stone pelting and other notorious activities. They are all talented but they prefer to stay in the valley. I want to ask Kashmiri youth: apart from stone pelting what else are they doing? No one is trying to make oneself stronger for a good stand. The other question is that if they want Azadi then why do they come out with Pakistani flags? They have their own flag but I have never seen a Kashmiri carrying that flag.
The presence of Army encourages the presence of militants. For you and me, they might be terrorists but for Kashmiris, they are freedom fighters protecting them from injustice. It just depend on which side are you standing. This unrest claimed more than 50 lives and more than 2,000 people got injured and so many lost their eyes. Ultimately it’s their loss with no final decisions.
If they really want Azadi, then they will have to make themselves capable, which is not going to be easy. India was fully equipped with the natural and human resources so freedom for India was not a problem. But Kashmir doesn’t have such resources. They are totally dependent on India. They don’t have big industries and factories and no private sector. They are dependent for even a small packet of biscuit. So before talking about Azadi you all should talk about these things. Japan also lost everything, but they focused on making themselves stronger and now every country is dependent on Japan and they are independent too.
The author is Research Scholar, Department of Geology, Centre of Advanced Studies, University of Delhi.