Bharati minister says: ‘Indian Occupied Kashmir is a big prison’

That “Kashmir is a big prison” is the conclusion the visiting 11-member Indian delegation to Held Kashmir to assess the causes of the months of turmoil has reached.

If a BJP MP observed that it was on coming to the occupied part of the state that they learnt that the Kashmiris had been kept “in a cage like a parrot” and were struggling to get out of it to be free, another MP from a different party regretted that the Indian parliamentarians had been kept in the dark about the misery of the people. He went on to say that if the people’s elected representatives did not know what went on in the state, they did not deserve to be in the House. His argument is simply unquestionable because parliamentarians, who are primarily elected to solve the problems of the people, must have the finger on their pulse to know what they feel and what they need.

These utterances based on the personal observations of the delegation should shake the Indian ruling leadership out of their smug attitude to the people’s movement for freedom. The truth is that it is the Kashmiris’ determined struggle, in the form of the ongoing intifada, which they have launched to seek freedom out of the stranglehold of India, that has raised alarm bells in the corridors of power in New Delhi. Rather, the intifada, spearheaded by the youth and joined by hordes of men, women and children of all ages coming out on the streets in the occupied part of the state chanting the slogan, “We want Azadi (freedom)” – the signature call of the peaceful uprising – has attracted the attention of world capitals as well. The international media that, as a rule, is in the forefront of putting a veneer on the flaws that are ingrained in the Indian society, has to admit that it is a purely indigenous peaceful movement, and the Indian security forces are brutally provoking the protestors to pelt stones on them. In the process, these Indians have killed well over 100 of peaceful protestors, wounded a much larger number of them, detained and tortured others. Yet the call for “Azadi” has not been stilled. The Nation. 

(Courtesy : www.prokerala.com, 7 Dec. 2010)