Dear unconcerned Indian
brothers/sisters,
Greetings!
Kashmir- paradise on Earth with the most beautiful and exotic valleys, hills
and lakes is also the State which has been the subject of oppression and
violence of the Indian Security forces for decades now. Narratives and stories
of Kashmir brings back the ghosts of the past that enlivens Agha Shahid Ali’s
words: ‘I am being rowed through paradise in a river of hell’.
I am
sure that your collective conscience is yet to be satisfied. I am not Syria. I
am not Palestine. I am not Gaza either. God has made me “Paradise on Earth”.
But now I am as good as living hell. I am an untold story. I am bleeding land
being brutally and illegally occupied by your nation which uses its
military power to suppress the voice of freedom of my people. They have
already killed tens of thousands of my innocent sons. The cheapest thing on my
land is none other than that of human blood. My children grow up watching
graveyards populate their villages. My daughters continue to live an
undignified life. Everything on my land whether it is home, hamlet, town,
city or market has tragic tales of grief to narrate. I wonder how your nation
has never been questioned of its atrocities. Doesn’t it deserve to be brought
before the International judicial court of the United Nations (UN) for her trail
of killing about my five lakh people and other crimes like human rights
violation in past six decades?
Unfortunately
your electronic media has always remained biased. They never supported my cause
rather they brushed the atrocities of their government under the
carpet. A daily business of slaying my people mainly children is
being reported in the internal pages of your print media, quite often in
microscopic fonts. That is the biggest reason why you are unfamiliar
of the brutalities carried out by the various fascist regimes of your nation.
The realities of my land remain shrouded. My people had reasons to live but
they see themselves as if they never lived. They are in a grip of utter trauma
living a miserable life and there is no one to hear their anguished cry. I am
virtually crumbling under Indian occupation and my people are at a fateful
crossroad and facing an uncertain future. But one is thing is sure! India cannot
occupy me based on gun power. The more they kill my people, the more rebels
they would create out of them. Even if India would kill my entire
population, yet it won’t be able to brush my issue under the rug and move
on. How long you can turn a blind eye? Your “Proud Army” is crossing
all heights of atrocities by killing my teenagers mercilessly. Blood bath
continues. People are being caged, curfew imposed, internet and other modes of
communication are snapped and hospitals, ambulances even journalists are
targeted. During past 15 days, there has been the brutal and sadistic
murder of people, all civilian, mostly youth and children. The only
crime they do is that they resist against Indian oppression through protests,
voices, and stones. And in return they are being killed through bullets and
pellets by brave Indian soldiers. Don’t forget that stone pelting has resulted
the death of none not even a single security personal but bullets and pellets
took away the lives of thousands of my children. Such inhuman actions may
satisfy but it won’t benefit you. My people won’t give up. How India can
defeat them who have already defeated their own fears? None can stop them from
freedom. The flag of freedom they raised to heights. Freedom from
Indian occupation. Freedom from Indian oppression. My sons will attain it, even
if they have to kiss martyrdom. Please put yourselves in the shoes
of my people and try to see the conflict through their eyes. Talk to any common
man and he can share with you the direct pain, injustice and indignity that
they continue to suffer as a result of the Indian oppression. My people are not
doing any crime but asking for a plebiscite which was promised by your
respected Prime Minster Nehru Ji. Here’s a valid question to ask you as
Indian citizens, political leaders, bureaucrats, army chiefs, right-wing
extremists and so: Are you blind? Can’t you see that my people want
recognition of their identity? Burn your Bollywood movies. Come to my
land. Walk through my cities. The bridges. The ruins. The graves. Look at what
I eat. Look at my buildings. My shrines. My architecture. My history. Speak to
me. Holding me against my will not bring any benefit to you and your
country. It is definitely undemocratic, brutal and absolutely unnecessary.
My
people are crying out for a solution which would have sincere interest to
understand the solemnity of the existing situation- which would understand the
pain of the common man- which would hold the hands of a mother who has lost her
son- which would give them a future of justice and reconciliation… I will
end up this painful letter with the words of Shelly, the English poet; Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a
cloud I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
Sincerely,
Oppressed Kashmir!
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