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Last week I had two important telephone conversations with two
men, one with a Islamabad based journalist, and the other with
London based important Pakistani. Both men are very dedicated
and loyal Pakistanis, and are in positions where they can
influence other people. Both have a friendly relationship with
me and both are my regular readers.
After
reading my latest articles on Azad Kashmir, they had a complaint
to make, even though they did not challenge the contents of
these articles. They appreciated my hard work on Kashmir,
especially written work to highlight the plight of the Kashmiri
people, but questioned me why I don’t write against India.
Their argument was that most of my articles deal with the
situation in Azad Kashmir, and I pay less attention to the
plight of the Kashmiris in ‘occupied Kashmir’; and in their
view Azad Kashmir could do with less or no attention at all.
This
is a widely held view in Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and in some
parts of the Indian occupied Kashmir, and there is some logic in
this point of view as well. But there are many who think it is
against their political struggle which is based on Kashmiri
nationalism. To Kashmiri nationalists, all parts of Kashmir are
occupied and the plight of all areas must be highlighted, that
the struggle should be seen as a nationalist struggle, rather
than a communal one based on religion and against one occupier
only which happens to be non Muslim.
Also
Kashmiri nationalists think that if we only concentrate to
highlight what India is doing on that side of the LOC ( The
Line of Control), and pay no attention to what goes on to
the people on this side of the divide, then it would surely give
wrong message to the world outside, and tarnish the struggle as
it would be seen as an extension of the ‘Pakistani propaganda
against India’. Moreover this is exactly what the Pakistani
establishment wants – more concentration on what India is
doing on that side, and complete silence what Pakistan is doing
on this side of the forcibly divided State.
Similarly,
India would like to have less attention paid to what India does
to Kashmiris in the area under its ‘occupation’, and more
attention paid to what Pakistan does in ‘Pakistani Occupied
Kashmir’. We want to speak against both, as role of both
countries is disliked and opposed; surely there is difference in
method, approach and degree of disagreement and opposition.
Above all we don’t want to be seen as ‘stooges’ of either
India or Pakistan, so we have to oppose positions of both
countries.
That
is what nationalist Kashmiris think and say regarding
highlighting the issues related to Azad Kashmir and Pakistan,
but I have some more reasons for paying attention to these
areas. Like they say charity begins at home, similarly your
fight against injustice and unfair treatment begins at home. You
cannot champion cause of human rights and fairness in other
areas and other countries by abusing or ignoring human rights in
your own home or in your own area.
Israel
is an abuser of human rights at home and has very little
justification and moral authority to talk about human rights
issues in other countries; and the same applies to many other
countries including India. If you are a human rights abuser at
home, then you lose that moral authority to talk about human
rights in other countries.
If
injustice is done to people of my village and people of my
district, then I should raise voices against that as well, not
only talk of injustice done to the people in Doda and Srinagar.
We need to speak against injustice and oppression wherever it
takes place in the world, Doda and Srinagar are parts of the
State and it is our duty to speak against oppression and
injustice taking place in any part of State of Kashmir.
Because
there is more oppression and injustice on that side of the LOC,
as a result attention of the entire world is focussed on those
areas; and there are many national, Indian, Pakistani and
international human rights organisations to highlight human
rights abuses there. Apart from that Kashmiri political parties
and other groups from both sides of the divide, and many
Pakistani groups are paying hundred percent attention to the
plight of the people on that side of LOC.
In
one sense this approach - all attention to the Indian side of
Kashmir - has backfired our nationalist cause, because as far as
the world outside is concerned Kashmir dispute is only related
to the Indian side of Kashmir, and particularly to the Valley of
Kashmir. It is because of this false impression all important
governments, experts of conflict resolution and think tanks talk
of solution of the area on that side of the LOC. Unfortunately
this false impression is growing stronger with time, and people
talk of some kind of solution for the areas under India by
drawing a new Line Of Control.
This
in practise means division of the State, and that is totally
against my political beliefs and struggle spread over a few
decades. And it hurts me more when I feel that we nationalists
of Kashmir have contributed in creating this false impression
that the problem is only related to the Indian side of the
Kashmir, and on the Pakistani side of Kashmir everything is
‘rosy’.
We
accept there is more oppression and human rights violations on
that side of the divide, but that does not make that area more
disputed than the area under Pakistan. The entire State of Jammu
and Kashmir is disputed, and we need to design our policy to
project that, and not continue with the policy which reinforces
the false impression that only the Indian side of Kashmir is
disputed.
As
far as the contribution made by me and my colleagues is
concerned, I don’t think I need any certificate of loyalty
from anyone, especially from those who were (and perhaps still
are) either benefiting from the Indian or Pakistani
establishments, when we were demonstrating outside the different
Indian High Commissions and on the streets of Britain to project
the cause of Kashmir.
However,
for the information of younger generation and especially those
who discovered Kashmir in 1990s, I want to say that we started
the struggle for a united and independent Kashmir in 1973, that
is four years before the JKLF was formed. It was the time when
some of today's Mujahids were part and parcel of the system
imposed by India and Pakistan in the divided parts of the State;
and some were proudly sitting in Assemblies and holding senior
posts by either taking an oath of allegiance to India or Pakistan.
At that time it was us who challenged the status quo and refused
to give in to all sorts of pressures.
Since
that date, my colleagues and I have been part of the struggle
and have organised and participated in hundreds of
demonstrations and pickets against India, made hundreds of
speeches and issued thousands of statements opposing and
condemning Indian rule in Kashmir. Not only that, in order to
oppose custodial deaths and oppression, myself and other JKLF
activists had hunger strikes outside the Indian High Commission
and the British Prime Minister’s residence.
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Why Not Write Against India -
Part 1