Ode to dying Dal!

The Mughals had made Kashmir their jaunt to escape the scorching heat of the plains. Kashmir Valley for them was a pleasure garden. Love of pleasure has been undoing of Kashmir itself. The last ruler of the sovereign independent state of Kashmir, Yusuf Shah Chak, too was a lover of pleasure and poetry. It is Kashmir’s misfortune that most of the time people think of pleasure and luxury whenever they talk about it. Very few people talk about Kashmiris and their suffering which is centuries old. During the last 65 years and particularly in last couple of decades the local people have seen the worst of times.

They have been oppressed beyond limits. They have seen bloody massacres, tortures, innocent killings, disappearances, mass rapes, and continued detentions within and outside state. Apart from the massive sufferings of the people, the beautiful land of Kashmir and its environment too have been drastically vandalised. Most of the water bodies are either dying or drying up. The River Jhelum once supposed to be Kashmir’s lifeline has turned into sewer. The pride of Kashmir, the green and tall cedar forests have been mowed down like stalks of wheat leaving only rows upon rows of stumps by the timber smugglers in collusion with security forces.

Kashmir in the present state is not looking for a Shah-i-Jahan to soothe peoples’ suffering through music but needs a Budshah to take hold of the situation to redress their grievances and rebuilt Kashmir emotionally, spiritually and physically, as he had done few centuries back!

The German Ambassador Michael Steiner has put together an event to take Kashmir to the world. He feels that the world needs to give recognition to Kashmir, its culture and history. His focus is supposed to be on the people. In an interview to Greater Kashmir Michael Steiner said that he feels an affinity and emotional bond with Kashmir. He had visited Srinagar seven times in a year to set up the event. He claims that it is not a “Peace Concert”. “This is not a solution to anything. This is a purely cultural event”. The concert is being televised live worldwide. There would be 1500 guests from all over the world. If the concert is expected to give recognition to Kashmir, the recognition has to be full and absolute. Truth cannot be compartmentalised. Feelings have to be conveyed in full and not only superficially. Smiling faces and cheering crowds would not convey the bitterness and pain deep within the soul of Kashmir. Yes, it would give true recognition to Kashmir, its culture and history if it motivates the world to look deeper into the psyche of a suffering Kashmiri. It should convey not only the smiles and cheers but the tears and the groans also.

The event being on the banks of a Lake in throes of death makes it pertinent that people take cognizance of the dying groans of this speechless water body neglected and polluted by its owners and guardians. The growth of obnoxious and poisonous weeds including Azola all over the water body shows the pathetic condition in which the Lake is at present. German Government instead of spending millions on a musical concert could initiate a proposal to start a time bound turnkey project by some global companies having expertise in Lake Restoration and Conservation to breathe fresh life in the dying Dal. Incidentally, some years back the Austrian Government had offered to start such a project but the Indian Government turned it down and instead started a consultancy through Roorkee University which has virtually proved fatal for the Lake. There is still time to retrieve the ebbing life of the Lake and it would be a real tribute of the Maestro if his music can awaken the world to the pathetic condition of the dying Dal Lake.

Here, one is reminded about a passage from Salman Rushdie’s novel. “Shalimar, the Clown”. In the novel a similar celebration is held in the Shalimar Garden. The best part of the celebration is a magical show. “A drum boomed immensely in the night, louder and louder, commanding attention. So potent was the drumming that it froze people in their tracks, it silenced the rumours and got everyone’s attention. The little man, Sarkar the magician, was marching down the central avenue of the garden, hammering away at his mighty dhol. Finally, when all eyes were on him, he raised a megaphone to his lips and bellowed, “….. I came here to do something and I’m going to do it. The genius of my magic will triumph over the ugliness of the times. On the seventh beat of my drum, the Shalimar garden will disappear.” He banged the drum, one, two, three, four, five, six times. On the seventh boom, just as he had foretold, the whole Shalimar Bagh vanished from sight. Pitch blackness descended. People began to scream”.

“For the rest of his life the Seventh Sarkar would curse history for cheating him of the credit for the unprecedented feat of “hiding from view” an entire Mughal garden, but most people in the garden that night thought he’d pulled it off, because on the seventh beat of his drum the power station at Mohra was blown to bits by the Pakistani irregular forces and the whole city and region of Srinagar was plunged into complete darkness. In the night-cloaked Shalimar Bagh the earthly version of the tooba tree of heaven remained secret, unrevealed. Abdullah Noman experienced the bizarre sensation of living through a metaphor made real. The world he knew was disappearing; this blind, inky night was the incontestable sign of the times”.

One sincerely hopes, that the Maestro Zubin Mehta may also be able to perform a similar feat and make all the sufferings of Kashmiris disappear in a jiffy even though temporarily!

The State of Jammu (Tawi)!

One distinctly remembers the story which we learnt in our primary schools about the establishment of Jammu. “Raja Jambolochan nay Sher aur Bakri ko ek hi ghat par pani pitay dekha aur iss say kush hokar yehan par Jammu shehar bassaya!” King Jambolochan saw a lion and a goat drinking water at the same spot and was so impressed that he decided to establish the city of Jammu here. Thus the City of Jammu presently known all over as the City of Temples came into being on the banks of River Tawi. Thus, Jammu was initially a City and not a State. Over the years it turned into what is known as the “Dugger Desh”, the country of the Dogras. However, there were other principalities of Rajputs in different parts. Ultimately, during the Dogra period, the Jammu became the Kingdom of Dogras and it expanded into the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, clobbered together through conquest of Ladakh by General Zorawar Singh and the purchase of entire valley of Kashmir along with its people from the British by virtue of the infamous treaty of Amritsar.

As mentioned by Kalhan in Rajtarangani, two erstwhile principalities in the Chenab Valley, Kashtavata (the erstwhile district Doda) and Parontsa (Poonch and Rajouri) were always aligned to Kashmir valley because of their Kashmiri speaking population. These two areas were populated by Kashmiris who had migrated from the valley from time to time due to various reasons. In fact, the rulers of these areas had many social connections in the valley. There were inter-marriages between the valley rulers and the rulers of these regions. Even at present the majority of the population in the entire Chenab Valley is Kashmiri speaking. They had been clamouring for getting connected to the valley for a long time. It is very recently that the two roads connecting these regions via Synthan Pass and Pir ki Gali have somewhat been connected directly to the valley. These roads are yet to be made fully macadamized and year round as that requires construction of tunnels at Vailoo and under Pir ki Gali. It is alleged that the authorities have been sleeping over these projects deliberately and have put these on a slow track as they would not like these Kashmiri speaking areas to get fully connected to the valley on a year round basis. That would be paving way for establishment of the erstwhile Greater Kashmir as it had existed for centuries.

The demand for a separate state of Jammu is not a new one. It has been there for quite some time but by a section of people only. In fact, right from the time Maharaja Hari Singh lost his throne, the people of Jammu, especially the Dogras started feeling the loss of their hold on the poor wretched suffering Kashmiris whom they were treating as serfs! The first manifestation of this loss was in the form of the Parija Parishad agitation, “Ek Nishan, Ek Vidhan, Ek Pradhan” aimed at total merger of the state with the Indian Union. This agitation was highlighted by the entire media in India and supported by the rightist parties. Sheikh Abdullah tried to crush the agitation but was severely castigated by the Indian press and many politicians which made him realise his blunder in aligning with India. Since that time a certain section of Jammu people have been blackmailing the valley politicians from time to time by raising these demands going against the aspirations of the Kashmiris.

Before one even thinks about the creation of the new state one has to ascertain whether the majority of the people want it. As already mentioned, the majority of the population in the entire Chenab Valley would prefer to be with Kashmir than with the proposed state of Jammu. The people demanding the creation have also to keep in view the fact that with two and a half districts of Jammu, Kathua, and Udhampur, they would be almost the size of a district of Himachal Pradesh just like Chamba! Moreover, the importance of Jammu is because of it being a take off point for Kashmir and Ladakh. Without these it will lose the economic and other importance. It is true that the state of Jammu & Kashmir is not the creation of a natural voluntary process but it has been clobbered together by the Dogra Maharajas. However, during last 65 years there has been economic, social and cultural integration and the three regions have become dependent on each other. In addition, throughout India and abroad people hardlyknow aboutJammu. They call the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir as Kashmir.

The most alarming thing about the present episode of the separate Jammu State demand has been triggered by the Chief Minister’s suggestive remarks regarding creation of the new state of Telengana. People have been attributing sinister motives to this new episode of the Jammu State agitation. This becomes more sinister by being bracketed with the Union Territory demand of Ladakhis. Some people allege that the whole thing is the creation of certain destructive think tanks who would like to isolate the trouble making Kashmiris to deal with them in a better way as was done in early nineties by Jagmohan. In the end, it may be pointed out that as said by a fellow columnist, the State of Jammu & Kashmir cannot be divided for any purposes without the United Nations coming in. It is still on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council and we have the United Nations Military Observer Group very much present in Srinagar and Islamabad!

“K-resolution”, the new election slogan!

It is now become a routine that just prior to the election time political parties come out with some catchy slogans to get attention of the people. Right from 1947 people have been fooled with newer slogans by various political leaders. The saying that the “Democracy is a balloon filled with hot air. Fools watch it, when it rises and the clever pick their pockets”, appropriately fits Kashmir elections. This game of fooling each other has been now going on for quite some time. Both the leaders and the people know that they are fooling each but they still carry on the drama just for their own vested interests. Everyone knows that the mainstream leaders have neither the intention nor the power to do anything about the basic political problem in Kashmir. These leaders are simply fighting each other to gain the power and the benefits associated with it. They know that ultimately they have to toe the line drawn by their masters in Delhi. It is amusing to hear some leaders say that they will get the basic issue of Kashmir resolved if they come to power. In the same breath they claim that Kashmir cannot go out of India as it is an integral part. How can they reconcile the two contradictory statements? Then what is the resolution that will fulfill the basic aspirations of the Kashmiris without going out of India in view of 65 years bad experience?
Another aspect is the call for boycott given by the parties claiming to be struggling for the basic rights of Kashmiris. This very much suits the ruling parties as in the absence people coming out to vote in large numbers, they can easily rig the elections and get their own people elected. Again there is a catch. When the people genuinely and honestly want to come out and vote to elect their own representatives, the elections are again rigged. This is what happened in 1987. The elected representatives were shown to have lost and were jailed. No body honestly believes in the veracity and impartiality of these elections. This is in reality an exercise to continue the mainstream set up by hook or by crook regardless of peoples’ following.
The most humorous and amusing is the discovery made by the present head of the government regarding the basic aspirations of Kashmiris. He has discovered these truths only towards the end of his tenure. After having toed the Delhi’s line meekly for almost 5 years, he is now challenging it regarding various basic issues. All these years he looked like a joker trying to please everyone. On one hand he appeared a champion of peoples’ basic rights by demanding revocation of the draconian legislation AFSPA while on the other hand he ate a humble pie when Delhi refused to budge. He did not have the courage to revoke his own law, the Disturbed Areas Act which would have let AFSPA die its own death. Of course, he would have lost the chair and the power and goodies associated with it.
Earlier these mainstream leaders were claiming that the state elections are not for the resolution of the basic problem but simply to ensure good governance to take care of day to day affairs of the common people. Now, they have suddenly discovered that these elections can enable them to solve the basic political problem and get the people some relief from the oppressive situation. The changeover is simply because of their total failure to deliver on the governance front. Having miserably failed to provide Bijli, Panni and Saddak, they do not have the courage to face the electorate with the same slogan! People of course know that these leaders have failed to provide them the basic necessities especially the power which has seen the worst situation in last few decades. How can they now solve the basic issue that too with the toeing of the Delhi line of Kashmir being an integral part of India? People may still go and vote and create another façade of a democratic peoples’ government with only the change of faces of the puppets on Delhi’s strings. The theatre of the absurd would continue as per the past practice. There does not seem any immediate escape from this drama and we may be destined to carry it on for some time. One does not see any light at the end of the tunnel due to the continuing mistrust between the two neighbouring countries totally embroiled in their own problems of senseless violence and the worst form of corruption!

Outsourcing Kashmir!

 Kashmir has an abundance of outside workers especially in the manual labour field. According to some estimates the number of outside workers is close to a million now. We have workers both skilled and unskilled from Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, Assam, and Punjab. There are also some from Rajasthan, Orissa and some other states. These people apart from working as domestic help work in paddy fields, on construction sites and so on. They work as carpenters, plumbers, mechanics and even as bakers and sweet/pudding sellers at different shrines. In fact, a large number of outside Moulvis lead prayers in many mosques. In winter some of these outsiders especially Biharis work in harissa shops! Even Kashmir’s traditional cooks Wazas are employing Biharis as additional hands.
Historically, Kashmiris were never so lazy. In fact, they were the hardest working people and had to toil day and night during various foreign regimes. In spite of the sweat and blood they gave, they still had to live in penury. They were the hard working tillers and did not own the land. Most of their produce was usurped by the rulers and they were left with meagre rations enough only for their survival. The situation changed in 1947 after the revolutionary legislation of giving the land to the tiller was enacted. Kashmir is the only place in the sub-continent where this unique step was taken during the regime of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah which gave Kashmiri the land whose ownership he had been deprived of for centuries. It was no less than the Russian Revolution but a peaceful one.
This step changed the entire social milieu in Kashmir. Once the Kashmiri peasant got his land he started working with full zeal to earn his livelihood with honour and dignity. Sheikh Abdullah wanted Kashmir to be self-sufficient and took certain unpopular measures towards this direction. Unfortunately, all these measures came to a nought when he was dethroned and arrested in 1953. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad who replaced him was given bags full of money by Delhi to bribe Kashmiris in every possible way. A deliberate and exhaustive campaign of character assassination was started and the notorious culture of subsidy was introduced making Kashmiris totally dependent on outside assistance. The story since then is the colossal rise of corruption in every facet of the society and complete dependence of Kashmiris in every aspect of economy and development.
After the dethroning of Sheikh Abdullah, the money did not start flowing only from Delhi but from Islamabad also! The two money streams have continued flowing since that time corrupting both the mainstream politicians on the Indian side and their opponents claiming to fight for a place of honour and dignity for the common Kashmiri. These streams have made corruption seep into the blood stream of a Kashmiri who would need dialysis to purify his blood! This easy money has also made him very lazy hating manual labour. In addition, the culture of government service was also introduced and the white collar job became the most sought after thing. Any government job at any level was taken to be a life time social security. Highly educated and technically trained people would prefer a government job at the lowest level rather than become a self-employed entrepreneur. It is a pity that we have almost a million educated unemployed but at the same time we have almost a million outsiders doing all sorts of jobs in Kashmir. The main reason being that there is no dignity of manual labour here!
Incidentally, the rulers here have themselves outsourced everything. Be it the power generation or even copying of the traditionally famous Kashmiri handicrafts now manufactured on a large scale in Amritsar. The word Kashmir has been misused with impunity all over the world. Apart from manual jobs, handicrafts and so on outsourced by general public, the government itself is leading everyone in outsourcing certain activities. In fact, the government has outsourced the maintenance of law and order supposed to be a state subject to central government. The Ministry of Home Affairs has the last word in everything concerned with the law and order and internal security. Similar is the case with the security forces who have unlimited and unquestionable powers for dealing with insurgency alleged to be sponsored from across the borders.
One often hears about the outsourcing of the Kashmir’s popular movement. Large number of political leaders and the common people emphatically plead for third party intervention in resolving Kashmir’s basic problem. Unfortunately, they fail to understand that the basic problem is their own and it is they who have to sort it out themselves. Recently, there has been loud thinking in some quarters about the Taliban coming to Kashmir after the Americans leave Afghanistan in 2014, to fight for its ultimate freedom. That would be the mother of all outsourcing and we may end up by taking back the valley to the mythological Satisar. We would need then a new Kashyap Reshi to kill the demon Jalobdhava and redeem the valley back to its inhabitants if there are any survivors!

The Incredible Omar

Sincerity and honesty demands positive action to uphold the truth. Merely proclaiming that one has discovered the truth does not help.

Omar Abdullah recently declared that "Kashmir may erupt any time. People in Delhi have misconceptions about cosmetic peace in Valley". According to him, "Kashmiris' patience cannot be taken for granted". Economic development and jobs will not end the problem. The basic political problem needed to be tackled. It was almost like jumping out of the bath tub and running naked shouting all the time "Eureka" like Archimedes. It was a discovery made by him probably nth time! Earlier on many occasions too he had been saying similar things. During the earlier visit of the Prime Minister he had declared in his speech that the Kashmiri boys had not picked up the gun for jobs. In the Parliament he had emphatically stated that the Kashmiris will not part even with an inch of land. Recently he declared that Article 370 can only be scrapped over the dead bodies of Kashmiris. During the current year he has made many statements which could be construed as rebellious. However, after following Delhi's dictates meekly for so long, it sounds hypocritical to now put all the blame on them. The good one is telling Delhi not to hoodwink Kashmiris! Well, Omar Abdullah did make a discovery but only half of it. One could ask him if he has also discovered that it is he and his ancestors that have been greatly responsible for bringing Kashmiris to their present state.

Apart from Omar Abdullah, many other mainstream leaders have started discovering that the main reason of discontent in Kashmir is the basic political problem. While Omar is publicly voicing these discoveries on a regular basis towards the end of his tenure, the other politicians are making these just a year ahead of the forthcoming elections. Bijli, Paani, and Sadak seem to be forgotten by one and all! This fooling of the common people is now a regular pastime for the politicians of all hues and shades. Kashmiris have been taken for a ride by one and all. A friend while discussing this problem remarked that we are ourselves prepared to be fooled again and again. However, according to him there is another catch in the situation. The people have so much suffered that behind every initiative from any corner they glimpse a ray of light which they think may be their ultimate salvation. But then they get let down and dejected.

In a sense, Kashmir has had never a revolution but only upheavals. For a revolution the first thing is a change in the mind-set. Revolutions occur primarily in the mind and are then physically manifested. These then give rise to leadership which brings these revolutions to culmination. The French had a revolution, the Russians had a revolution and the Chinese had a revolution. The only real revolution in Kashmir in its recent history has been in 1931 but unfortunately the leaders did not bring the revolution to fruition but left it halfway leaving people in total wilderness and chaos with no light at the end of the tunnel!

It is a historical fact that the outsiders have always utilised the local differences and issues to strengthen their hold on Kashmir. It is also a fact that in almost all episodes of foreign rules a section of Kashmiris has not only sided with the foreigners but have in the first instance been responsible for inviting them here. Be it the rule of Mughals, Afghans or Sikhs, it is the Kashmiris who went to invite them here. The Dogras got Kashmir on a platter. The same holds good for the present dispensation. The typical "Nettle Story" of Kashmir which says that "I brought the Nettle", "I sowed the Nettle" and then "Got bitten by the Nettle"!

Omar Abdullah's crying "Eureka" discovering the causes of basic discontent just before the elections may be forgiven as it is wont of all politicians to do so but the million dollar question is what is he going to do about it? He could not do anything for Bijli, Pani and Sadak because of the worst governance seen in last couple of decades. The power scenario last winter was deplorable and the worst seen for last few years. It is for the first time that there is power curtailment even during summer in Kashmir. It is reportedly being done under the Chief Minister's orders to save import of energy!

Doing something about the political agenda seems not only difficult but rather impossible in his style of functioning. His rhetoric without any concrete follow up action has made him "Incredible" like the famous tourism slogan the "Incredible India!" In case he is really serious, he does not have to run out of the bath tub like Archimedes shouting "Eureka!" but has to put on the clothes and take some positive steps. Otherwise he is like the school days fable in which the King is fooled by his advisors saying that he is wearing the finest silk, but a child shouts at him saying, "But the King is naked!"

Omar cries “Eureka”!

During our School days we used to read about the discovery of Archimedes Principle regarding the floatation of bodies in water. It is said that Archimedes was trying very hard to understand the basic principle which makes objects float in water. One day when he was lying in his bath tub, he suddenly realised that a body which is lesser in weight than the weight of water displaced by it, would naturally float! He jumped out of the bath tub and started running naked crying all the time, “Eureka!”, “Eureka!” which means, “I found it”.
Exactly, like Archimedes, Omar Abdullah recently declared that “Kashmir may erupt any time”!  “People in Delhi have misconceptions about cosmetic peace in Valley”. According to him, “Kashmiris’ patience cannot be taken for granted”! Economic development and jobs will not end the problem. The basic political problem needed to be tackled. It was almost saying “Eureka” like Archimedes. It was a discovery made by him probably nth time! Earlier on many occasions too he had been saying similar things. During the earlier visit of the Prime Minister he had declared in his speech that the Kashmiri boys had not picked up the gun for jobs. In the Parliament he had emphatically stated that the Kashmiris will not part even with an inch of land. Recently he declared that article 370 can only be scrapped over the dead bodies of Kashmiris. During the current year he has made many statements which could be construed as rebellious. However, after following Delhi’s dictates meekly for so long, it sounds hypocritical to now put all the blame on them. The good one is telling Delhi not to hoodwink Kashmiris! Well, Omar Abdullah did make a discovery but only half of it. One could ask him if he has also discovered that it is he and his ancestors that have been greatly responsible for bringing Kashmiris to their present state.
Apart from Omar Abdullah, many other mainstream leaders have started discovering that the main reason of discontent in Kashmir is the basic political problem. While as Omar is publicly voicing these discoveries on a regular basis towards the end of his tenure, the other politicians are making these just a year ahead of the forthcoming elections. Bijli, Panni, and Saddak seems to be forgotten by one and all! This fooling of the common people is now a regular pastime of the politicians of all hues and shades. Kashmiris have been taken for a ride by one and all. A friend while discussing this problem remarked that we are ourselves prepared to be fooled again and again. However, according to him there is another catch in the situation. The people have so much suffered that behind every initiative from any corner they glimpse a ray of light which they think may be their ultimate salvation. But then they get let down and dejected.
In a sense, Kashmir has had never a revolution but only upheavals. For a revolution the first thing is a change in the mind-set. Revolutions occur primarily in the mind and are then physically manifested. These then give rise to leadership which brings these revolutions to culmination. The French had a revolution, the Russians had a revolution and the Chinese had a revolution. The only real revolution in Kashmir in its recent history has been in 1931 but unfortunately the leaders did not bring the revolution to fruition but left it halfway leaving people in total wilderness and chaos with no light at the end of the tunnel!
It is a historical fact that the outsiders have always utilised the local differences and issues to strengthen their hold on Kashmir. It is also a fact that in almost all episodes of foreign rules a section of Kashmiris has not only sided with the foreigners but have in the first instance been responsible for inviting them here. Be it the rule of Mughals, Afghans or Sikhs, it is the Kashmiris who went to invite them here. The Dogras got Kashmir on a platter. The same holds good for the present dispensation. The typical “Nettle Story” of Kashmir which says that “I brought the Nettle”, “I sowed the Nettle” and then “Got bitten by the Nettle”!
Omar Abdullah’s crying “Eureka” discovering the causes of basic discontent just before the elections may be forgiven as it is wont of all politicians to do so but the million dollar question is what is going to do about it? He could not do anything for Bijli, Pani and Saddak because of the worst governance seen in last couple of decades. The power scenario last winter was deplorable and the worst seen for last few years. It is for the first time that there is power curtailment even during summer in Kashmir. It is reportedly being done under the Chief Minister’s orders to save import of energy!
Doing something about the political agenda seems not only difficult but rather impossible in his style of functioning. His rhetoric without any concrete follow up action has made him “Incredible” like the famous tourism slogan about India! In case he is really serious, he does not have to run out of the bath tub like Archimedes shouting “Eureka!” but has to put on the clothes and take some positive steps. Otherwise like the school days fable of the King supposed to be wearing the finest silk, any child can shout at him saying, “But the King is naked!”

MARTYRS UNDER CURFEW

The 13th of July in Kashmir has always been a popular day for paying homage to the martyrs who gave their lives in the first ever revolution against the foreign autocratic rule. One remembers right from the childhood what a festive and exciting day the 13th July used to be. Processions from all parts of the city as well as from outside used to go to the Mazar-i-Shuda to pay tribute. Those days the movement for Kashmir’s emancipation was still young and there was fervour all round. The long period of 82 years since the martyrdom of these brave souls of Kashmir has seen many ups and downs. The movement itself has witnessed many twists and turns. Kashmir had seen many rebellions against the external rule but the events of July 13, 1931 were a turning point. It was the first mass awakening against the autocratic rule of the Dogra Maharajas. The events have been well documented by the local as well as foreign authors. The protests starting against the desecration of holy Quran in Jammu had turned into a mass movement against the Maharaja’s autocratic rule.
The real trouble had started after the fiery speech of Abdul Qadeer, the butler of a British resident, at Khanqa-e-Mu’ulla. Qadeer was subsequently arrested and put on trial for sedition. In view of the popular upsurge his trial was shifted to the Srinagar Central Jail. The people were gathering near the Central Jail on the fateful day of July 13 demanding an open trial, when the Dogra soldiers fired on them killing 21 and wounding scores of others. The bodies were taken in a procession for burial and Maharaja imposed Martial law. The events snowballed and thus started the movement for Kashmir’s emancipation. The movement threw up the 25 year old teacher Sheikh Abdullah to become the charismatic Lion of Kashmir. Thus, this day is symbolic for the rise of the first real revolutionary movement in Kashmir. The spirit of those revolutionary days still lives in the hearts of Kashmiris and they have not given up their struggle in spite of the numerous somersaults by their leaders. In fact, it is rather their leaders who have let them down from time to time. The mission, that the martyrs had started, is still incomplete. Unfortunately, due to the betrayal of their cause by some of the leaders, Kashmiris have landed in worse situation than the one which existed in 1931. Those days they had only one adversary, the autocratic Maharaja but now they have two nuclear powers in a situation of perennial conflict to contend with!
The turmoil of the last two decades has given rise to Mazar-i-Shuhada in every nook and corner of the State. However, there are also thousands of Kashmiris who are buried in unknown graves in many areas of the State including in the vicinity of the line of control. There is an obligation on the people to pay homage and remember these unknown martyrs. The ideal way would be for the people to renew the pledge to carry their mission forward. There is no need to take out processions or indulge in violence. The martyrs have sacrificed their lives for upholding the truth which has become the main casualty in the present day Kashmir. The first thing we need at the moment is to demonstrate that we do have a character. That can be shown if all of us pledge to speak the truth and stand by it regardless of the consequences. This would be paying the best homage to the memory of all those who have given their life for our future. That is the most sensible way to take their mission forward!
There is a strange dichotomy in regard to these martyrs. It may be pointed out that these martyrs had risen in revolt against the Maharaja who is supposed to have signed the document of accession of the State of Jammu & Kashmir to the Union of India. In fact, it was this agitation in 1931 which had culminated into Quit Kashmir Movement of 1946 against the Maharaja. There is a contradiction in the celebration of this day by the mainstream parties especially the ruling ones as they left the mission of these martyrs half-way. How can they honour the persons who had risen against the Maharaja because of whose subsequent actions they are now enjoying the power? However, the mission of the martyrs has not been given up by the common Kashmiris. The proofs of the continuation of their mission are the hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris who sacrificed their lives during last 82 years for achieving the goal of total emancipation. The number has gone up from 21 to thousands upon thousands. It is still increasing with every passing day. The action of the authorities in preventing paying of homage cannot suppress the aspirations of the people. It has rather increased their alienation from India. The resort to such draconian measures clearly shows that the authorities have failed to change the minds of the people. All revolutions start in the minds. The present day authorities are scared of the popular upsurge. They have, therefore, put even the graves of these brave souls under curfew! That is the best tribute to these martyrs whose mission as shown by this act is still very much alive and being carried forward!