Danish Hameed
I am a Kashmiri, living here for 18 years. I am going to be unbiased and neutral in the answer. My personal views won’t be reflected. Also the question is about people of Kashmir not people of J& K state so I will write up about the same. So basically there are three types of people in the valley:
People who directly favour Pakistan: This group of people favours Pakistan. You can directly assume that they are anti Indian. They believe that kashmir is an integral part of Pakistan accession with India was temporary. They demand referendum. While the majority of them are religiously driven but a good proportion also support Pakistan on pure historic basis( They believe that Kashmir is an incomplete agenda of Two Nation Theory). Some non Muslims also support it, of which majority is of Sikh community. There has been an upward trend in their pro Pakistan support of non Muslims in recent years. The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) is widely considered as the true leadership of Kashmir instead of the elected government. The JRL consists of Hurriyat, J&K liberation front and all other separatist parties. This is evident as the strike calendar (Civil shutdown) issued by JRL is fully supported by people. Also in case of a call for civil curfew against government is fully implemented .Some population of the Kashmir don’t ideologically agree with Hurriyat but a majority does ,so JRL works in accordance with all ideologies. Before 2010, when Geelani wasn’t under house arrest, rallies of Syed Ali Shah Geelani( Chairman Hurriyat Confrence) used to have around 10 lakh people. He, including all other separatist leaders is under house arrest since then. Proportionally this community comprise more than 50% of the Kashmir population.
People Who want independent Kashmir! These people want whole of the Kashmir as an independent country. They neither want to join with India nor Pakistan. These people also join protests and rally of Aazadi with pro Pakistani people as JRL controls whole Kashmiri society. These two categories work hand in hand. There is no practical difference in working between people who support Pakistan and who want independent Kashmir. Around 40 % belong to this category. This group includes mainly who are driven by orthodox religious sentiments and want to establish Islamic Rule. This also includes the proportion of people who feel Pakistan is less developed and we can be better as an independent state.
3:People Who support India :This community supports India . They want Kashmir to permanently join India. However these people are very less in number and their views do not get publicised. This category mainly includes the militancy hit families and the families of mainstream politicians. This group compromises less than 10% of population. But the question is what makes people of Kashmir anti India and to support separatists generation after generation?
1: The human rights violations by Indian army is the main cause of Anti Indian feelings among Kashmiri people (Indian army widely allegation of rape, fake encounters, looting, torture of youth, spreading terror etc).
2: The immature and unfundamental approach of Indian politicians and media also has a major impact. They have made the situation like India vs Kashmir. They mainly show that Kashmiri people are hardcore nationalists and support fully India while as the ground situation is different and when people protest (which they commonly do) they necessarily produce them as anti national.
3: The failure of Indian bureaucracy to accept the reality that Kashmir is a disputed area and the people living there are not satisfied with the current situation. People of Kashmir want permanent solution not fake promises. Dineshwar Sharma(Modi government’s point man on Kashmir) said he will talk within the ambit of Indian constitution. The issue is about independence of Kashmir and it is obvious that separatists will reject it. He thought that we were fighting for drains and electricity bills all these years. Rajnath Singh makes headlines by saying Hurriyat is not ready to talk. What will Hurriyat talk about when you say talks will be under Indian constitution. You can also check comments section; all Indians are saying stop bloodshed and join India. Nobody, I repeat, nobody is addressing the real problem.
We are from Kashmir, we are under impression that Pakistan supports the will of Kashmiri people whether question of being Independent Or with Pakistan or India, which can only be determined through a fair plebiscite. However this option has not been given to Kashmiris although UN resolution was passed for it decades ago. Kashmir (Kashmir with India), strictly speaking and in literal sense have lost a generation to the armed conflict. Hundreds and thousands of people have been killed by the Army. Thousands allegedly tortured to death in army Camps. Thousands of Innocent disappearances, dozens of massacres reported so for. This was all done because Kashmir wants Independence. Hence Kashmir wants Independence, Pakistan Supports Kashmir on this object.
However, Pakistan doesn’t want to grab Kashmir as it is wish of people of Kashmir people to be independent. I feel pathetic we cannot protect our own people and land from the offensives. I am waiting for the day when at hereafter oppressors will answer to their selfish deeds
I Believe you are an Indian, it is hard for you to understand.
Many label our miseries as lies, and label us traitors.
I am a traitor if I want Freedom.
(The author is a freelancer and a medical student. Views are exclusively author’s own [email protected])
