Kashmir on High Alert

Let Obama not ignore HR violations

By: Kashoo Tawseef
Right to live, that too in ones own place, is an inalienable, birth and basic human right of every individual on this planet as Nelson Mandela said, ‘to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity,’ the state of Jammu and Kashmir is an example of such challenge to humanity where this right is being violated day in and out.

On 26th January, India will be celebrating democracy while as people of Jammu and Kashmir will be held hostage in their own homes so that she can celebrate its “democracy”. This time, the United States president, Barack Hussein Obama, is visiting India to attend such celebrations, good! but question arises why people of Jammu and Kashmir have to face humiliation at the hands of security forces. You must be wondering, what is the connection of his visit to the Jammu and Kashmir. But yes there is always a correlation, whenever any foreign dignitary visits India, that too on Republic Day for people of state, it is a day of undeclared curfew for them, better to stay home rather than end up in a bunker or a camp.
The Republic Day function is taking place miles away from state but unfortunately the people of the region have to face strangulation at the hands of security forces and various other security agencies. More people will have to die at the IB (International Border) and at so called LoC (Line of Control). Security has been beefed up in the state and on 26th January all communication channels will be shut so no face-booking or tweeting, probably because the world’s largest democracy doesn’t trust the people of state.
Kashmir is on high alert. There are security check points at every nook and corner of the Jammu and Kashmir, you have to show ID’s (Identity Cards), whenever you go out and you are alien in your own home place, while as the White House, which is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, Mr. Obama in Washington, D.C, people are free to move around and no one asks you for such ID’s.
They say in democracy, you have more freedom and more rights, why this democracy seizes to exist in Jammu and Kashmir, and why such rights vanish in air, remains a big question. The worlds largest democracy is doing all it can to impress Obama; they should be because he’s flying directly from thousands miles to India via Air Force One, but to him its business as usual and of course the United States first. For president Obama, it’s good to have USA and its own business interest’s first and strong economic co-operation with growing economy of Asia but he can’t ignoring the human rights violations at the hands of world’s largest democracy.
Moreover, on 26th January, a grand function in capital city New Delhi, trade meetings and meetings with CEO’s of Indian businesses is on the agenda, that’s absolutely fine, but Obama should highlight the issue of human lives that are being lost in Jammu and Kashmir under the rule of worlds largest democracy. Let Mr. Obama not ignore the sufferings of people of Jammu and Kashmir during his visit, otherwise history will not forgive him.
How long can you snatch the basic rights from the people, how long will they be subjected to strangulation and humiliation. Closing eyes doesn’t mean everything is flawless in this part of the world; the human rights issue of Jammu and Kashmir needs to be addressed and if Obama raises this issue with his counterparts, his visit will be viewed by analysts as more balanced and unbiased along with his economic mission.
This is fifteenth year of this century, people of this region are suffering from last few decades now, how long will people of Jammu and Kashmir have to die, face humiliation, and how long people have to face destruction as Mahatma Gandhi points out ‘what difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?’ Let the people of this region taste this holy name of democracy as Ghadhi mentions eloquently. Let Mr. Obama enlighten this part of the world with the Liberty as does the Statue of Liberty in Liberty Island in New York Harbor in the United States.

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