Farzana Mumtaz
Kashmir is tremendously suffering on account of the prevailing situation which has worsened over the past few weeks, since the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani. With more than 55 deaths, 6000 injuries and about 200 mostly youngsters hit by pellets on eyes which has endangered their vision , the unabated siege and curfew continuing since more than 35 days and simply now the human suffering has attained new heights in already browbeaten Kashmir.
Sharing the pain of the suffering Kashmiris, Parliament few days back unanimously appealed to people of the valley to restore peace and harmony even as the government expressed readiness to hold talks with moderate groups and others and decided to call an all-party meet on the issue.
But, many are not satisfied with this and terming it a mere rhetoric as they feel now there has been history of lip- service without much concrete action to end the pain and sufferings of Kashmir .
Syed Tajamul Imran, a young columnist while talking to News Kashmir Stated – “Human sufferings in Kashmir are tremendous . Kashmir on account of atrocities has been ruined. Our youngsters are falling to bullets and we have been reduced to a mourning place .Where are the voices of humanity and voices of conscience. Kashmir is being brutalized under the barrel of gun. If political issues are not addressed and policy of suppression follow unabated it would have disastrous consequences. Yells, Pain, Cries have become our fortune. Sanity should prevail and issues, aspirations should be addressed .”
As rightly analysed, the crux of the Kashmir problem is very simple (although often carefully elided in many essays on the subject): The Kashmiris want a voice in their future.
Even the depth of pain is gauged from what is written on the social networking sphere , Muhammad Tauseef, a volunteer who has worked untiringly during this agitation to reach to distressed , writes on his facebook wall –“ Met an innocent looking and sober kid brother Shahid Ali today. The thirteen year old boy was a Hafiz-e-Qur’an in making who has already memorised about 22 chapters of the holy book. According to his relatives He, this year led the taraveeh prayers at Pinjoora Village in Shopian. He had been called at a congregation at his native place Chee, Islamabad to do the Tilawat (holy recitation) on last friday but received pellets in his eyes during the event. The noble kid laments that had the tragedy befallen him after completing his Hifz (complete memorisation of Qur’an) he would not have felt that bad. He also fears that his dream to be a Mufti (Islamic Jurist) might be shattered.
Also whilst his mother learned about the episode she left home in search of him only to receive a volley of pellets in her abdomen including private parts….
I fall short of words to express my feelings but just one prayer may the might of Almighty come to our rescue.”
Be it the loss of vision caused by the pellet gun or the arrest spree and the continuous death cycle the pain and misery in Kashmir is heartrending.
