The sad truth about Kashmir - "India's Troubled Crown"

  

Since the time the riots and unease began in Kashmir due to Burhan Wani's death, there's always been this thing in my mind. 

How is the Indian government even helping the civilians there? By letting the military shoot them in their eyes and turn them blind? Is the government even trying to help the people of Kashmir? It's like a possession for India; Kashmir is its crown which it doesn't want to give up. What about the people there? The people of Kashmir who have been facing such ruthless and gruesome behavior of the Indian army since the time the AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) has been misused. The army has extreme power in Kashmir, the people have to go through constant trauma and disturbances, as anyone can be shot down or tortured anytime. The people are helpless, had they been satisfied with the role of the Indian army in their state or the Indian government for that matter, they would definitely associate themselves with India. But they don't! They identify themselves as Kashmiris, a separate identity from our nation. 

The people wanted to avenge Wani's death because they saw him as a ray of hope, for things to get better, for things to change. They don't refer to him as an anti-nationalist or a terrorist; they refer to him as 'Shaheed'. 

Ask teenagers or the youth in Srinagar, and they will tell you how all these years India has been communicating to Kashmiris through rigged elections, dismissal of elected governments, through encounters and corruption. They will tell you how India has become synonymous with a military bunker or a police vehicle or a ranting panelist on prime-time television. Is this the idea of India which can win Kashmiri hearts?

Kashmir became a part of India during 1947-1948, and it was because the people placed their trust unquestionably in their father like figure Sheikh Abdullah, an unchallenged leader of the valley. He saw India as Kashmir's hope, when Pakistan caused major trouble to their people. That makes Kashmir the only major princely state that acceded to India by the will of its people. And India had stood true to her history of giving refuge to the oppressed, be they Jew or Parsi, through the ages. 

( Sheikh Abdullah and Jawaharlal Nehru - Kashmir Accedes to India )

Shah Faesal, Burhan Wani, and Khurram are modern well-educated representatives of a new generation of Kashmiris, consummate in social media, brought up in an environment steeped in violence. Each of them chose a path by which they felt they could serve their people best. Many had returned to Kashmir from comfortable occupation or business, in the hope of promised opportunity. And post-conflict, this describes well the surge of Kashmiri nationalism that grips young Kashmiris today.

It's so easy for people to blame Pakistan for the unrest and violence, shrinking the responsibility of the Indian government thereby. 

More than 100 people have been shot down with pellets in their eyes, more than 50 people killed. They don't have the freedom of press or any access to the Social media. They don't have a voice so how do they come up with their opinion? Don't we Indians have the freedom of press, or freedom of speech and expression? 

Further I read an article that the Amnesty International had been sued over the programme it organized, seeking to project the human suffering in Kashmir. They had been charged for Sedition, section 124 A.

Anyone who tries to help gets blamed as an anti nationalist and gets framed under the Section 124 A. 

It's such a sad plight. I genuinely feel bad. 

We have lost Kashmir's children, the youth, educated, talented, and consumed in hatred, who will lead the state into its future...