Today marks 64 long dark years of occupation of kashmir by the occupying Indian forces. Many of you may not be well versed with the history of the region. To make it easier to understand lets compare the situation to Palestine. Like Palestine Kashmir is being occupied by a force that has no right or autonomy according to the UN council to even be there.
In Kashmir the people are brutalised by this illegal regime with torture, murder and rape being the dish of the day. Like Palestine the people of kashmir have little or no rights in regards to education or work, they are heavily sanctioned on food and medical supplies. Like Palestine the men are arrested tortured and sometimes killed. The irony of the whole situation is that the Indian Government and the Israeli government are staunch supporters of each others regimes and often compare notes on their relevant occupation. The thought of that sickens me that two so called super powers would discuss how to best brutalise and destroy a people.
The Un has declared that Kashmiris have a right to decide their own future whether that means becoming a part of India or Pakistan or becoming their own independent state. However India has refused to acknowledge this and have open dialogue with the Kashmiris. The Kashmiris should have the full right to determine their own future and that of their children.
Instead India continues to occupy this land of over 4 million people 95 % of who are Muslim and wish not to be controlled by Indian laws. India continues to pour military personnel into IOK (India occupied Kashmir) at the alarming rate of over half a million military personal, making it the most militarised zone in the world. That works out to one military personal to 8 Kashmiri citizens including women and children.
Below you will find a summary of some of the statistics I found that covered 1989 to 2010 thats only 21 years of the occupation and I have reassurances that the real figures are much higher.
8,000 disappearances
117,000 arrests
22,000 widows,
107,000 children orphaned
10,000 women raped.
These figures speak for themselves without me having to add anything emotive to the mix.
Yet Kashmir is something that we never discuss, a situation that many of the so called activists groups out there tend to ignore. I often wonder why we are so silent on Kashmir yet so vocal on other issues? Is it because it is not deemed trendy enough to care about? Is it because todays rap starts are not rapping about kashmir? Is it because The Uk and America have outstanding financial rewards from India?
Whatever the reason all I know that it is time to stop being complacent, to stop being silent. Our silence is worse than all the violence. Our silence means that we don't care. We as a people need to stop and look at the situation. Is it ok that Occupying forces can enter homes, order the women to strip naked and be molested in front of their families in the name of anti terrorism? Is it ok that men are taken away in the dead of the night never to be returned? Leaving behind the phenomena that is known as half widows,
women that do not know for years on end if their husbands are alive or murdered, who cling onto little hope and attend meeting with pictures of their husbands, not knowing if they should grieve for their dead husbands or hope for a miracle and their return. Or fear that they would be found at the bottom of a mass grave, stipped of their dignity and their right to a muslim burial. Is it ok for the new generation of children to grow up without their fathers in a world where they may be murdered on their way to school, where innocent children throw stones at men who carry guns. Men that look the same as their fathers but have the hearts of demons. My haer bleds for this new generation growing up in captivity with no rights or freedom of movement.
So today on this dark day lets take a moment out to look into the situation, maybe even understand it a little and to spread that knowledge via conversations and social networking sites. It is only when this issue is brought out into the mainstream that we can lobby india to allow Kashmir to be involved in political dialogue, maybe with these first baby steps we can start to make a difference.
I would like to add I am not a Kashmiri myself but ever since I first learnt about their plight something in my soul has been touched. My heart bleeds for these forgotten people locked in the jail called kashmir with all exit and entrance routes blocked. Its my wish one day to go out there and work on a project with the women of Kashmir, inshallh their stories will be heard.
Free Kashmir
