Politics is not a bad affair at all though most of people disgust this profession. I too used to keep myself away from such a state of affairs until recently. Not only this I often used to read political leaders through newspapers and other periodicals but had no curiosity to watch them on television. However things have been changing over time. I keep a close watch over what is happening around the humankind.  It is like as if I am awakening from a deep slumber to know what is happening around me.
 I remember my childhood days when crackdowns were common. I even remember how troops used to raid my house and interrogate my uncle because his son had crossed over to Pakistan. I still could not forget the day when I (being a 6th class student) was beaten heavily by an army Major ( Who then used to call himself as Major Saleem) in front of a huge gathering of local villagers because I joined them a bit late after announcement of crack down. The tragedy was that along with me, he beat a young man for a similar cause even though he was told by the then Chokidar that the man was a cancer patient. However of late, I realized that I belong to a nation where I lack both my identity as well as individuality. Until 2008, I used to treat myself as Kashmiri. When I joined as KPO-Associate for Syntel Company Ltd. at Pune in 2008, some of my fellow colleagues there used to call me as Pakistani though some would like to name me as an Indian only.  Some were even interested to hear about whether I belong to this Kashmir or that Kashmir. All these things baffled me and my mind. Text books that I used to study during my school days illustrate that Kashmir was one of the states of India and no wonder that these books still narrate same stories. They were silent about the rest of the story. Though I could not witness 2008 unrest in my valley but the protests and the slogans of Azadi still ring in my ears as I used to watch them over television or YouTube. With the passage of time my perception of Kashmir changed.
Now the situation at present. I could not believe how Shinde remembers Guru but forget Modi who burnt thousands of Muslims to death in Gujrat. Does Shinde again forget those tens of thousands of Kashmiris who have been massacred or forcibly disappeared?  I don’t know how long our civil administration will be held under a tight leash. What is most disgusting is that the international community has largely kept mum on the plight of Kashmiris. The international media has continuously failed to report the truth. Indian authorities are not willing to talk with Kashmiri people either on political grounds.  It has imposed a repress order on the media in Kashmir by only letting pro-Indian journalists to report. It seems that New Delhi is of the opinion that only bullet and pellet is the precise way of dealing with innocent Kashmiris. That unfortunately is not the case. Kashmir is more complicated a story than it appears to be.

(Author is currently pursuing Ph.D in department of commerce, School of Management Pondicherry Central University.)

Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
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