The Independence as we know it

I've waited one year to do this- to write about what the Indian Independence Day means for a common Kashmiri. The caption is not entirely original. Exactly one year back, my friend and a proud Indian Amar wanted me to write about the grievances that we have with the Indian state. This is the time when there was a protest turned freedom movement going on in Kashmir. From what I saw, I concluded that it was a war between the Indian state and everything that represents it and the Kashmiri people. The state government's perception of the unrest changed from "an act of miscreants" to "an engineered protest by paid Pakistani agents" to "frustrated people giving vent to their feelings" to a "parenting problem". I fell ill. I couldn't write. Also, because of the daily killings of young people and my own cowardice and inability to join them, I was overcome by the guilt of survival. I couldn't think clear.

This friend of mine was (and, I believe, still is) curious as to why Kashmiris want Azadi. This caption was his idea. There are a hundred reasons but the one that should suffice is that Kashmiris do not consider the Indian Independence as their own. I belong to the generation called 'The Children of The Conflict'. Since I grew up, I've known the Indian Independence Day as one when we have to stay indoors- curfewed. The irony is that occupation is never as starkly visible as it is on the Independence Day. The fact that the entire Kashmir valley has to be chained up so that Indian flags could be hoisted in peace is a sign of nothing short of occupation. Kashmiris resent this day not because they hate India but they hate everything that represents Indian occupation- the police, the bunkers, the govt. and so on. This should be enough for Kashmiris demanding their Azadi (freedom) and asserting their right to self-determination. Clearly, their aspirations are different from those of the larger Indian nation.

Kashmiris are a very friendly people- make no mistakes. But their hospitality is often mistaken for their docility and they're taken for granted. Their resistance is depicted as violence, their political aspirations as frustrations of the unemployed, their creative activities as the widely resented word 'normalcy' and their forced participation in rigged elections as plebiscite.

Before coming back to what the Independence Day means  for a Kashmiri, let's examine what it means for a common Indian. Majority of the Indian population is still rural, agricultural. For the Kissan (farmer) life is only marginally better than what it was during the Raj (British occupation). To be fair, the successive governments since Independence have done a lot for their upliftment- access to better healthcare, roads, irrigation facilities and so on. Whether or not it would be the same if the 'Kissan' were not the largest vote-bank is food for thought. The Kissan suffered the most under the Raj- then it was famines, now it is suicide and the conditions leading to it. Two good things about suicide are- suicides are not acknowledged as a mass suffering and they can be atributed to a host of other things. For the Jawan (soldier), serving in the British army was as prestigious as it was demoralizing. He was always in a moral and emotional dilemma. Today, it is no better for him. The poor soldier is left to fight for his country's 'integrity' in the towering and shockingly cold Himalayas and it is due to his sacrifice that the Indian politicians reside in their safe havens. He is brought in to combat street "warriors" 'armed' with stones. When he does what he's trained to do (kill), he finds himself at the centre of a moral debate that politicians sitting in New Delhi conveniently fight from their cozy drawing rooms. Every once in a while some trooper or the other commits suicide and the news doesn't make its way even to the front page. Proud defenders of a politically bankrupt nation, the Jawans have been entrusted with the task of handling the Kashmir front and sincere steps to the solution of the dispute is tactfully avoided.

The Preamble to the Constitution of India describes her as a Socialist Democratic Republic. Huge Capitalist economies of the world are more socialist than our own Socialist Democratic Republic. While millions of dollars are spent in the upkeep of an excessively bureaucratic government, expensive, top-heavy ministries, Independence Day celebrations and security- internal as well as on international borders- food grain enough to feed a large chunk of the population is allowed to rot, an honest police officer who dares to expose his political bosses is deprived of security cover in the face of death threat, women do not feel safe in the National Capital Region and children still beg on the streets.

While everything can go wrong elsewhere in India when it comes to Kashmir, the Govt. of India and Agencies become the holy cows all of a sudden. Indian govt. can never be wrong in Kashmir even if they have wronged everyone else. Innocent Indians are allowed to die in bomb blasts- who carries them out is immaterial- everyone can take advantage of India's habit of blaming it all upon Pakistan and 'anti-national' elements. The fact is that MASSIVE misappropriation of funds that could fuel huge developmental tasks is an anti-national activity. A young teenage boy venting out his anger against a fake encounter by pelting stones on anything that represents the state is not a danger to the 'integrity' of a huge nation like India. Corrupt governments like the UPA and cunning, communal ones like NaMo's are anti-national.

To the hard-working, working class Indian the Indian Independence day means heavy discounts on 'Made in China' consumer products and lots of national pride- without the slightest realization that their governments have put them on the precipice of an impending nuclear disaster by allowing an international dispute to feed on the taxes paid by them with their hard-earned money.

Which brings me to the next point- my list of three top irritants on Kashmir. However, I'll continue this in the next part of this write-up. For now, I only want to wish my friends (who are predominantly Indian) a very happy Independence Day. We, in Kashmir, wish India a bright future as we have stakes in her prosperity as neighbours.