Somebody has beautifully said that whenever the emotions of heart overflow and when the thoughts wreak havoc in your head, then the etiquettes of speech are beyond our control and I am feeling like this right now in front of you people. On the one hand, I am pleased that I am between you people after such a long time and on other hand my heart aches for our people who have gone through such devastation and pain during this turmoil that we are facing. So many innocent and valiant faces flash before my eyes who have given their life and resisted against the dark monsters of tyranny and who are valiantly facing the tortures and injustices and writing our history with their blood.
I can’t forget on this day, all those fearless souls who have witnessed all kinds of injustices, interrogations and were put in jails to break their resolve. They have shown the world, we are not among those people who take slavery as their destiny, rather our quest for truth and freedom keeps us going and our sacrifices make us more determined than ever. Let’s pay salute to each of them and respect their sacrifices and indomitable spirits.
My dear comrades, your huge presence here is in itself a big slap on the the faces of those evil-doers and tyrants who try to trample us down in every possible way. Your presence here has given me so much zeal and enthusiasm and I am grateful to you all for your sentiment and faith in our struggle.
My countrymen, as you know our beautiful valley of paradise has been enslaved since the times of the Emperor Akbar, who by deceit and by his wily tricks forcibly intruded our land and established Mughal rule here. After that the dark era of the rule of Afghanis, Sikhs, Britishers have been our destiny. Our humiliation reached at it’s peak when we were sold for a mere 75 Lakh Nanakshahis by British to the Dogra ruler, Maharaja Gulab Singha and since then for continuous 100 years we have been literally through hell and were treated as slaves and inferior beings whose lives were even cheaper than the lives of cows. They pushed us into the dark abyss economically, socially, politically and we were just “good for begaar” for them. That was a strange era in which including our lush valleys, green fields and captivating forests, our lives too were sold. At that time, the sub-continent erupted against slavery and oppression and were fighting for freedom. In the beginning of 20thcentury, we too raised our voice against the tyrannical rule which choked us, the aftermath of which then led to the painful episode of 13 July,1931. Just like the people of India, our people too fought against the oppressive rulers and when in 1947, Indian freedom struggle reached its logical conclusion, our unfortunate state still remained locked in chains even after reaching so close to the gates of freedom.
Ruthless circumstances plotted against us in such a way that our freedom looked like an illusion. Mistakes of some of our own people, and deceit of others blocked our way to freedom, and now instead of Maharajas and other rulers, we were enslaved by the newly freed democratic India, which have made us feel like strangers in our own land. Their tall claims were never ever supported by our sentiments and we never really accepted their rule over us. It was simply a military occupation which they were trying to justify by various deceitful means. The jingositic Indian army in their task of crushing our voice, has made Kashmir a graveyard of their wrongdoings and human rights violations. They tried every kind of torture to break us but the sacrifices of our countrymen kept the flame of freedom always burning which will inspire our generations to come and all those people who resist and fight oppression in any part of the world.
The irony is this that Kashmir isn’t seen as ‘OUR’ problem but as Indo-Pak conflict. We aren’t even considered as a party to this conflict and our voice of self-determination has been gagged by the futile rants of both countries. Among all struggles going on in the world for freedom, ours is most probably the most legitimate and historically valid one, but the so called civilized world acts like as if we don’t have an opinion of our own and as if we don’t exist anywhere in the scenario of the Kashmir issue. Other conflicts were in limelight in the eyes of world, perhaps because in all conflicts, there were two parties; one the oppressor; one the oppressed, one the conqueror; one the conquered, one snatching away freedom, one fighting for it. But in our peculiar case, there is we the Kashmiri people and then there are two nuclear powers fighting over us and we are sandwiched in between them, and in all this the two countries fought wars, and fighting goes on at borders and still martyrdom of our 75,000 men, sacrifices of millions of our men and women haven’t made us eligible to be a party to this conflict.
Keeping this in mind, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference gave an option of referendum to the resolution of this conflict and we were flexible that if India doesn’t agree to it, we still can solve it by dialogue and mutual discussions with all stakeholders being part of it but unfortunately the animosity and ego of both nations have failed Kashmiris for so long and their unwillingness to take a bold and brave step in resolution of this conflict has led to consumption of more precious human lives of Kashmiris. It seems that policies of these both nations are dictated and decided by their secret intelligence agencies rather than the political class. Rather than seeing Kashmir as a human issue they use it as a political tool to grind their own axes and secure their vote bank. One nation gives the theory of Kashmir as their inalienable part and another as jugular vein; the result of which has forced many Kashmiris to find some other radical ways of getting their voice heard. None of their leaders have got the guts to come out of their cocoon of fake nationalism and seriously try to end this imbroglio for the betterment of all. And in this process, deceit, false propaganda, jingoism are seen as being nationalist and true patriot. The aggressive war of words between the nations have made it more difficult to discuss the issue in a rational way and arrive at some logical conclusion. The hate politics of both nations have reached it’s zenith and a peaceful resolution of this conflict seems to us now a distant dream.
My dear countrymen, as you know the All Parties Hurriyat Conference was created by valley’s political, social and religious entities in unfavourable ambience and catastrophic environment so that it would act as an authentic platform for voicing the demands of Kashmiris, and raising genuine concerns of we people, and creating awareness of it not only in New Delhi and Islamabad but in the whole world, and we vociferously advocated that we people are masters of our own destiny and we can represent our case on any global platform with confidence. Thanks to Almighty, even the intelligence agencies of our occupiers and their nasty games of strangling our voice have failed. I, along with my family too had a close shave in a car bomb blast and other Hurriyat members have been attacked from time to time. We were vilified, character assassinated, but we didn’t succumb, result of which is this that Hurriyat conference isn’t now a strong representative of Kashmiris in India and Pakistan only but all over the world. It is this recognition and popularity that from time to time Hurriyat leaders had to be freed from Indian jails as condemnation always poured in from international community. Instead of taking Hurriyat seriously, Indian leadership tried to create misunderstandings between the people of Kashmir and Hurriyat leaders. New Delhi tried to shift the attention from the real cause by various means and Farooq Abdullah’s Autonomy was just one of the attention diverting techniques which India employed. During this time also unilateral ceasefire was declared by Hizbul Mujahideen and after some days it was ended, and again New Delhi started blaming Hurriyat, although we had no role in declaring or ending the ceasefire. All we demanded was a peaceful and everlasting resolution of this conflict so that all this bloodshed stops for once and all and that is only possible when all stakeholders meet and negotiate the matter putting their ego and imperialistic tendencies behind.
My dear countrymen, we all must keep this thing in mind that the huge sacrifices offered by the people of Kashmir was not for bringing somebody to power or removing some party from power. The sacrifices given by conscientious people of Kashmir weren’t given for some temporary solution but for the cause that this conflict should be taken to its logical end and these clouds of uncertainty and ambiguity looming over the valley should be cleared, our self-respect should be restored, our homes should’t be burnt down or searched and we shouldn’t be asked about our identity in our own land, and the pre-1947 status of state be restored. We don’t want this side of Kashmir and that side separated and divided, the whole Kashmir lying on both sides of the LOC belongs to us only.
I am extremely happy that more than 100 delegates have come from Jammu and I welcome them from the depths of my heart and I want to convey to the people of Jammu that Jammu Kashmir People’s Conference believes in the unity of the state. I appeal to the people of Jammu province, specially my non-Muslim brothers that any divisive politics intended to separate us should be played down by them. This partition of the state on the basis of religion or linguistic basis is detrimental to the very cause we are fighting for. People from all provinces should play a constructive role for the resolution of this issue. Our hearts should be united, our souls overflowing with love and care for each other and we should fight off any forces which try to divide us. I must make our stand clear to the Indian leadership specially its PM Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, that don’t even think of dividing the state. This trifurcation of state is deeply rooted on racial and religious basis and its consequences too will be like the religious riots which happened during the partition of India and Pakistan.
I appeal to the PM of India, that at this stage of his life, he should shed this fake nationalism and vote bank politics which is preventing him from taking a bold step towards the resolution of Kashmir conflict. The longer this conflict remains, it will just get uglier and will consume our generations. He is well aware of the fact that the sentiments of Kashmiris can’t be silenced forcibly. It seems that New Delhi and Islamabad have made Kashmir their battleground furthering their nationalistic agendas using Kashmir card, without giving a damn about our plight and condition. To save a two hundred or so odd lives, you even went to Qandhar and met the demands of hijackers, but genocide is being carried out in Kashmir for so long; so many young men are losing lives but you aren’t even bothered about it and never think about it in a humanistic manner. What happened to your hollow slogans of humanity? What has happened to your intellect? Have the love of power made you blind, dumb and deaf to the genuine demands of Kashmiris?
My dear countrymen, violence isn’t our way: it never was. History is witness to the magnanimity, kindness and our hospitality. Whatever happened in recent years of conflict and whatever is happening now, New Delhi is to be entirely blamed for it, not Kashmiris. Many of us chose the path of gun, but we all know we never closed our doors to talks or peaceful resolution of the issue. We don’t relish killing or getting killed but it is to be seen what made us choose this path and what kind of circumstances made our youth think that taking up arms is now the only way left.
Gentlemen, the circumstances are bleak, the night is dark and scary but we must remember the stars shine bright in the darkest night. This dark night too will end in a hopeful and peaceful morning. Isn’t it our success that any country of the world, be it allies and friends of India too don’t consider Kashmir India’s inseparable part? They too stress on both India and Pakistan to find some everlasting solution through dialogue. Isn’t it our success that a hardliner radical party like BJP too has come forward to talk to Hurriyat and even other militant outfits? We must work to end this conflict and hope for a better future for Kashmir. I want to make our stand clear that this struggle which we are fighting is not for power and status, our martyrs haven’t attained the status of martyrdom just for usurpation of power or shifting and replacement of men in power. This is certainly not the case, we just want to take out Kashmir from this imbroglio so that it can prosper like never before. We all know some of the people here treat Kashmir as their private property which they can transfer to next generations. Basically in 1996, Govt. Of India, in order to show to the world that normalcy has returned and that everything is under control in Kashmir needed some people without conscience who would justify India’s rapes, killings, enforced disappearances, tortures, fake encounters and other humans rights violations. If at that time Dr.Farooq Abdullah and his associates would have shown some patience and restrained themselves, situation would have been different from what it is right now. But their thirst for power and their longing to rule the valley got the better of them and they worked with Indian agencies hand in hand in crushing the movement of Kashmiri people. Everyone knows how India and NC rigged elections so that they come to power and act as their obedient agents in Kashmir, while showing the world that this government has been established democratically. These people have crushed their own people, they have no shame left in their eyes. I see them as vultures preying on dead bodies of martyrs, filling their bellies, feeding their ego and greed. But remember, this isn’t forever, they too have to face the wrath and their day of judgement is soon to come. I am saddened by the fact that they haven’t learnt anything from the annals of history and they too have to face the disastrous fate as other despots.
Brothers, on this historical moment I think that it is very imperative to talk about our Kashmiri pandit brethren. I have always believed that they form an integral part of our society.They are part of our composite culture and we wish from the depths of our heart that they return to their homes as soon as possible in a peaceful environment and elevate our cultural, academic and literary heritage. I am highly grateful to the Kashmiri Pandit group, headed by the famous and senior advocate Mr. Bhushan Lal Bhat, who has attended this convention. Their presence has added charm to this event.
At last I sincerely want to thank you people, inspite of the dangerous circumstances and without fearing for your lives, you people came here and made this historical convention a success. Come, before we all go, return back to our homes, let us pledge, we will keep irrigating our freedom struggle with our sweat and blood and take it to its logical conclusion.
May God be with us all.