I know last three decades you are sleeping on a mounted mausoleum on the banks of Dal Lake with a breath taking view of Zabarwan hills around you. Probably the last impression  you carried with you on was that your Naya Kashmir is called Jannat-be-Nazeer and will never bleed again. I remember a warm handshake I had with you when I was a 7th class student in one of the state’s boarding schools. I still cannot forget that moment because you were the most popular leader, your magnanimity was known in whole of South Asia, your stature made you the leader of masses, so as a small child that handshake meant a lot to me. But with every passing day when I grew, I found your dream of Naya Kashmir was never accomplished, you had either betrayed the history or history had betrayed you. Kashmir’s partition and its betrothal to India and Pakistan is the worst historical blunder that has made South Asia a highly sensitive conflict zone and put the future of millions of Kashmiris in jeopardy.

Now thirty years down the line, I know your successors Farooq and Omar may not have updated you about the happenings in Kashmir, so today I thought to do so.

The Quit Kashmir movement has taken a rebirth, albeit with some ferocity, and it is presently going on. I know you also started it in 1946, can’t send you texts in detail but you can still Google it down there and Wikipedia will reveal to you that it is Quit Kashmir -2 which is also an indigenous movement spearheaded by firebrand leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. You know him, he was one time MLA during your tenure and would often create havoc and uproars in your assembly with Abdul Ghani Lone and Bhim Singh. Lone sahib has already left us, after sacrificing himself for our tomorrow and now his two siblings Bilal and Sajad have equally divided his political property and are also struggling to give us better tomorrow. Sheikh Sahab, you must be confused about this tomorrow, as your sagacious mind must be imagining that Kashmiris must be at top of affairs as you had already given us that better tomorrow. But your children in Kashmir have not accepted that, as they feel that your Quit Kashmir movement was an incomplete process as it did not give them either a today or a tomorrow which brings peace. Though you were so revolutionary in  your ideas, but your children today are better read people and still  I want to remind you and your people of that showy Quit Kashmir speech of yours in 1946: ‘The tyranny of Dogras has lacerated our souls. The Kashmiris are the most handsome people, yet the most wretched looking. To end your poverty you must fight slavery and enter the field of jihad as soldiers. Handcuffs jingle. They do not make us afraid. The voice of truth will prevail.’

Sheikh Sahab , there is no change on the ground, Kashmiris still are handsome but wretched, those lacerated wounds still have not healed , Kashmir continues to bleed, and only change is the regime you handed us over to, which history still debates was illegal, unconstitutional,  and betrayal of trust. Not only handcuffs jingle but volleys of bullets pierce through the bodies of innocent children who are getting mercilessly killed on our roads, and children as small as 9 years have been buried, and their blood has flown through Jhelum and Dal close to your mausoleum, You must be smelling that blood, it is your own blood, blood of poor Kashmiris for whom you struggled, I know you will not be able to resist the excruciating pain and cries of these hapless mothers whose children had not completed their smile yet and became victims of unstoppable tyranny perpetrated on your people in every nook and corner. Here your children have become orphans, homeless, daughters have become widows, homes have become prisons and more than seven lakh troopers are taking care of us. Your Kashmir’s history which was already obfuscated has become more red now , your children are jailed inside their homes, they don’t go to school, incessant curfews have paralyzed all of us,  and can you imagine who is doing it to us, your small grand child, Omar . Incapable of dealing with the crisis, he has  taken these extreme  steps, but people simply wanted him to deliver justice when the initial killings took place  and he preferred silence so as not to embarrass New Delhi and demoralize security forces whom we have to always pay our gratitude. New Delhi has humiliated him the same way as the once humiliated you. Initially he sounded man of reason and positive thinking,  but Delhi  has managed to mutate his genes taking him away from his own people, incapacitated him and rendered him to a helpless lame duck . They taught him vengeance and not love, they taught him to intimidate his own people, at least you were not like that. You were our Bab. Under your command we would sing,  ala kare wangan kare bab kare lolo, but Omar has been knocked off his perch, and has to build himself brick by brick, but sheikh sahib those bricks will be again not Kashmiri bricks but kiln-dried in Delhi,  which has every chance to fall again. He is completely dependent on Delhi’s mercy for power. To crush his own people,  he has called more forces to crush us, but succeeded in one thing where you failed. He brought them UN helmets to make them pass as peace-keeping force. This trick he played so intelligently which will sure make you envy. Indian forces can shoot us down at will and your grandchild is watching this all happening. Silently and helplessly.

People expected your grand child to undo the damage of history. As after you left we were gifted with laws like POTA and AFPSA. They have also given us economic packages, a train from Qazigund to Baramullaga to cool our emotions but you will be surprised to know our youth have become stone pelters, as they were brought up during militancy so they are very daring and brave and they have shaken your grandson and people at Delhi, and Home Minister calls them LeT men. You must not be knowing those  LeT, HM, or even Alqaida, these are new names for children of your Kashmir and our India says Jinnah exported terror to us.

I hope he meets you on tea, and had he given that Azad Kashmir back and probably kept those tribals away, signing of instrument of accession by Maharaja will not have taken place.

You must be pleased to know that your grandson Omar is also a friend of great grandson of Jawhar, Rahul, he is really working very hard and will be India’s future prime minister, but it will be better seen whether this friendship will repeat the history or correct the history. Farooq is an energy minister, and as usual his energy and humour is intact. He shows us light where bulbs fail to reach, but last sixty days Kashmir is virtually facing blackout, and his alternate source of energy cannot illuminate Kashmiri hearts and minds.

More over these protests have  crossed not only LoC but international borders as well, great people of civil society in India have also started raising concerns, they have at least bye passed the national grid and thrown more light on Kashmir. Your son Mustafa is at least concerned about your party, I think he is  reading the lines clearly. Omar has many advisors. He is unlike you in whose presence no one would dare to speak. With him even his senior party members are annoyed.

So that is it from here. You did your bit and left, then your son and now your grandson is ruling us. And here lies the tale of our sufferings.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST