-Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
Yes, they are right! Guns, manufactured in India or imported from USA, Russia or Israel can never silence them. Even after the sacrifice of over 100,000 persons, they continue to fight for sovereignty in full remands us of long Indian struggle for freedom led by Mahatma Gandhi. But Kashmiris have lost more people- mostly young- than India had. And Kashmiris deserve sovereignty and liberty in full so that they can build their own home from the scratches. There require entire Jammu Kashmir nation so that they need to worry about any future invasions. They seek the artificial LOC dismantled between the two parts of Kashmir and being occupied by India on the one side and Pakistan and China on the other.
India, Pakistan, and China are occupying colonialist nations and cause of pain and agony of Kashmiris- both Muslims and non-Muslims. Discovery of secret grave yards in Kashmir has only emboldened the Kashmir youth to push ahead with their agitation until they are free.
In recent years, Kashmiris, mainly youths, have displayed open solidarity with anti-India militants and sought to protect them by engaging troops in street clashes during military operations against militants. The anti-India protests and clashes have persisted despite the Indian army chief warning recently that “tough action” would be taken against stone throwers during counterinsurgency operations.
Kashmiris have taken a resolve not to let any nation to occupy their land in future.
Protests for sovereignty have stayed in Kashmir, notwithstanding all provocative terror methods of India. Now protests have acquired a national character and house to house involvement. Large anti-India protests and clashes, spearheaded mostly by students, erupted in India-held Kashmir (IHK) on 01 August after Indian forces killed two Kashmiris or so-called “suspected militants” in a gun battle and fatally shot a protester during an ensuing demonstration demanding an end to the Indian rule in held Kashmir.
The agitations in Kashmir are not sponsored by Pakistan; an s being suggested by Indian TV and print media, or China but by Kashmiris themselves. It is their “Quit Kashmir” struggle. Sovereignty is their birth right India, or Pakistan cannot steal from them. Jammu Kashmir was an independent nation until 1947, and it shall be so again sooner or later.
It is only the question of time.
For months Kashmiris have been fighting for freedom. The protests following the killings spread across the region and were led mostly by students, after which authorities ordered the closure of educational institutions. Inspector General of Police Muneer Ahmed Khan claimed that the “two militants” were killed after police and soldiers, on a tip, cordoned off southern Hakripora village early Tuesday. He said the trapped militants fired at the troops, triggering a gun battle which lasted at least two hours.
Villagers said the powerful Indian troops blasted two civilian homes with explosives during the operation. As the gun battle raged, residents defied the security lockdown and clashed with government forces near the site of the fighting in an attempt to help the trapped militants escape. A young man was killed, and scores of others were injured in the clashes in the village.
Massive protests and clashes against Indian rule spread to several other places across held Kashmir, including the main city of Srinagar, as students boycotted classes and hit the streets.
Chanting anti-India slogans and demanding the end of the Indian rule, the students hurled rocks at Indian forces after being stopped outside schools and colleges. Troops fired shotgun pellets and tear gas, leading to pitched battles, including in Srinagar’s main commercial hub, where streets were strewn with rocks and broken bricks, and the stench of tear gas filled the air. Dozens more were injured in subsequent clashes.
Authorities closed all educational institutions on Tuesday, and the institutions will remain closed on Wednesday as a “precautionary measure,” said Baseer Khan, a top civilian administrator. Indian officials also blocked internet service in the region to stop activists from using social media to rally support against the Indian rule in Kashmir.
Separatist freedom leaders, who challenge India’s rule over Kashmir, called for a shutdown Wednesday to protest the killings. Indian police identified one of the suspected militants who were killed as Abu Dujana, a top Lashkar-i-Taiba commander.
The way people took out to streets at various places after Abu Dujana’s killing should be a matter of shame for those who try to portray the killing as their success, ignoring that their terrorists are Heroes of masses. Abu Dujana being a foreign national, the response to his killing should be the cause of more concern as Kashmiris mourning death of a foreign militant is ample to understand which side people stand.
India’s use of brutal force under the garb of CASO has angered the people of Kashmir. Joint Resistance Leadership of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Muhammad Yasin Malik while terming the use of brutal force under the garb of CASO on the peaceful protestors in Kakapora, Pulwama and Shopian districts killing a young boy Firdous Ahmed Khan and leaving at least 40 injured many of them with bullet and pellets.
In fact, the forces entering the Pulwama Hospital and firing at the patients and hospital staff there exposes India’s worst form of state repression, and it looks evident that the police and other government forces have been given a free hand to harass, terrorize, kill and commit atrocities on the people of Kashmir. The police and paramilitary force’s action on the Kashmiri students and the youth who were protesting in various colleges and schools against the civilian killing in Pulwama expose Indian hidden agenda for Kashmir. The heinous act of arson, showering students with pellets and tear gas shells, who were peacefully protesting against the bloodbath committed by the trigger happy forces, makes it clear that there is no scope for the peaceful protest against the atrocities and high handedness committed on the people of Kashmir.
The people of Kashmir will observe complete shutdown on August 2, 2017, to protest against the bloodbath unleashed by the forces in Pulwama, Shopian and the innocent killings being committed by the trigger happy cops in Kashmir. The JRL said the shutdown would also be against the continuous raids, torture, and arrest of youth and last but not the least, the frequent CASOs being launched by the Army and other forces in the villages of South Kashmir in which ordinary people are targeted and made to suffer.
The Kashmiri nation is offering tremendous sacrifices for a sacred cause, and these sacrifices will remain as real assets for the Kashmir movement. They continue repression, torturing of youth and frequent raids on their homes and treating them with harsh laws have forced the Kashmiri young people to pick up arms as a last resort. They said it is the collective duty of the people and resistance leadership to take the present ongoing movement to its logical conclusion.
Kashmir issue is a political and human issue, and it is because of the lingering Kashmir dispute that peace is under constant threat in the entire sub-continent. New Delhi has to shun its rigidness and stubborn approach and understand that without the resolution of Kashmir issue peace in Sub Continent and South Asia will remain elusive. The reign of terror and the use of brute force on the peaceful protestors in Kashmir by government troops in South Kashmir, Sopore, Handwara, and Srinagar should stop. The new wave of instilling fear among the people can have serious repercussions, and entire blame will lie with the government.
The government was forced to shut the internet and thus proving that it is Dujana, not the security forces, which enjoys widespread public support. Killing militants has never been the solution, and those celebrating deaths are the biggest dividends of the uprising since 1990. Let the security agencies not mislead Indian masses by claiming every killing a grand success and putting just one side of the story in the public domain, thus ignoring that every drop of blood strengthens anti-India sentiment and gives new oxygen to the resistance movement in Jammu Kashmir.
Resistance movement for freedom and sovereignty is not terrorism, please! Repressive measure against the people for their legitimate protests is state terror technique; When Indian forces keep killing Kashmiris in their lands to silencing them – that is terrorism.
India should come forward to surrender Kashmir to Kashmiris and help them make their nation. If later, Kashmiris return to New Delhi requesting it to take their land into Indian constitution, India could decide in its favor.
But for now, India is occupying Kashmir as people of Kashmir did not endorse any dirty transaction between the colonialist traitor king Hari Singh and Indian Nehru.