Syeda Mazhar
Imagine a utopia. A land full of high mountains, green hills and even greener pastures. Where the sun shines as it should, high and bright. Touching upon every corner across its huge body and reflecting from the grass and trees, so as to cause the land to glow brightly of the green. Where you can be down below in the pastures, where the sun’s warmth is the strongest or high up in the mountains, where the foggy clouds cover the sunlight and there blows a wind as cold as winter.
The pastures have growing in them trees and plants of the sweetest fruits. The large, blossomed, cherry trees looking like giant fluffs of colored cotton balls. Standing straight and high, claiming their territory on steady and hard ground. Along with small and fragile rice plants sticking out of the wet and water logged soil like needles. This is the land of Jammu and Kashmir. Where honest men and women toil day and night in the fields, cultivating their crops, or on the farm, grazing their animals. Or they might be at one of the many small manufactories creating value out of their bare hands. All contributing in every way they can to give monetary value to their land, and in turn, to themselves. A community made of people from every religion and race and color, all the while they acknowledge their differences and centuries of living together has taught them mutual love and respect. It would undoubtedly be a pity, though, when the lives of these men and women, and their beautiful land is tainted by a thing as terrible as human ambition. And ambition not of the kind that may urge the people to serve humanity, and betterment of their land and lives, but one that comes from the outside. One that looks upon this land as opportunity, to seize the rice fields, the cherry trees, the quaint manufactories, and turn them into their own sources of benefit, their own sources of wealth. All the while destroying the very beautiful diversity their community carries with them, by forcing onto these people their ideologies, their religion and calling it freedom.
Unfortunately this has been the case with the land of Jammu and Kashmir for a long time now. Since the partition of Pakistan and India, the two neighboring countries of this state, India has been keeping a close and an unwelcome eye on this state and it’s people. The ambitious political body has been claiming Kashmir to be a part of India, while telling the world that this is what the people of Kashmir want as well. Even though multiple referendums held in the area have proven this claim wrong, the intruding behemoth refuses to acknowledge these votes. The Kashmiri people tried countless times to make sure their voice was heard. The youth of the land gathering in huge crowds and yelling “Pakistan Zindabad! Pakistan Zindabad!”, hoping that this removes any doubts held by the intruder about their desires. Instead they are met with soldiers, firing burning tear gas into the crowd and pellet filled mortars. Their children killed and women raped as the tyrant attempts to force them into silence. In an event like this it would be unethical and immoral for a body like Pakistan to remain in the sidelines, after all, it was Pakistan that the people of Kashmir were struggling for. Seeing no other way to freedom, the people of the land decide that there is only one way to achieve their goal. So they take up arms and begin an armed struggle against the occupier. This is clear testimony to the world about what the people of Kashmir desire, so the intruder panics and labels them as terrorists who are backed by its opposition in this matter, Pakistan. As the people of Kashmir struggle and fight for their freedom, Pakistan mobilizes its troops and sends them to counter India and fight the violation of human rights being committed by Indian troops. Pakistan takes a strong stance for the Kashmiri people, and helps them oppose the oppression of India.
A long and hard struggle by the people under the chiefs who had dedicated themselves to bringing freedom to their people, resulted in a partial victory of the Kashmiris. The western province of Jammu is freed from the Indian oppression and is able to join Pakistan. The area is now called ‘Azad Kashmir’, Pakistan has granted it independence as a state but is still federally administered by Pakistan.
Though a small portion of Kashmir gets its happy ending, unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the rest of it. 70 years after the initial invasion, Kashmir is still an oppressed state under Indian rule. Time and time again a few gather and muster enough strength to shout out for their freedom, but they are still silenced by the giant oppressor. But just like before, Pakistan keeps an eye out for injustice in the province and calls the administration out when it steps out of line. As the people of Kashmir are administered and ruled under fear, they still carry hope among themselves, perhaps one day they will muster enough strength to break free of this ongoing oppression, and on that day, Pakistan will be here to help them into the light.
