Naeem Qadir Bhatt was a gifted young cricketer from Indian-held Kashmir. A promising batsman, he was full of energy and zeal for the competitive game. With his room covered with posters of his heroes Wasim Akram, Brian Lara and Virat Kohli, he was all set to join the national camp for young cricketers on April 16. But that did not happen. He left his home on April 12, after he was called by his journalist brother to bring his camera along. But a straight bullet fatally pierced his skull and shattered the dreams of an entire community. The protest his brother was trying to film was against the alleged molestation of a young girl by a member of the Indian armed forces. The same armed forces shot Naeem in broad daylight without any qualms. The Indian government just termed the incident unfortunate.
Naeem will be forgotten soon, because he was born in the wrong country at the wrong time. Instead of joining the insurgency, he had decided to pin his hopes on the State of India, like the rest of Handwara district, which has 75% literacy rate – far above the national average. His mother is still waiting for her young Gavaskar, and his friends miss their Virat Kohli. He had been selected to join the Kohli Cricket Academy in Dehradun, and hoped to become the second Kashmiri Muslim to become part of the Indian national team after Pervez Rasool. His community is simmering with anger, reminiscing another Bhatt. Maqboot Bhatt, whose remains are still in the Indian Tihar Jail after he was hanged there in 1984, was from the same community. The logical recourse for the Kashmiri youth in the face of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) would be to follow in the footsteps of Maqbool Bhatt, rather than Naeem Qadir Bhatt.
The historian Aziz Beg first termed the Kashmir valley The Wailing Vale in 1969, in his book by the same title. His earlier book Captive Kashmir,which told story of “betrayed and enslaved people”, is still banned in India. The tragedy of Indian-held Kashmir is one of the most unfortunate forgotten tales of the 20th Century. Sadly, Kashmir valley has had brutal captors and naïve supporters, and the branding of its case has been that of aggression instead of suppression. In capitals around the world, the mention of Kashmir struggle evokes images of ferocious gun wielding terrorists scaring the hapless populace. Our domestic audience is equally clueless.
Kashmir’s misfortunes have not been recognized enough to warrant and international intervention so far. This calls for considerable introspection, given that fact that in the last decade, three such regions – East Timor, Kosovo and South Sudan – have gained freedom as a result of referendums under international pressure.
East Timor should be an eye opening case. The first country to gain freedom in 21st country was no match for its strong occupier. A tiny island with less than a million people made a far more powerful country Indonesia to kneel, owing to persuasive lobbying and imaginative campaigns like ploughshare actions. At the time when Kashmir was in its insurgency phase in 1996, four women broke into a British Aerospace factory destroying a plane meant to be given to Indonesia by the UK government. They were prosecuted but acquitted later, raising phenomenal awareness for East Timorese liberation in the west. East Timor can be discounted as a Christian community struggling against a large Muslim State, but Kosovo is another example – a tiny Muslim enclave in mainland Europe standing against militarily powerful country and making its voice heard.
Kashmir’s struggle has often been a victim of bad timing. The strategies of 1948 could never have been effective in 1998. The end of cold war and creation of terrorism as new nemesis ended the leverage of large scale insurgencies and armed movements. The Tamil tigers learnt the lesson the hard way, and the Palestinians are also feeling the jolt. Killing for freedom has been out of fashion in the last two decades. But a new era of victim glorification has ushered in, due to shifting patterns of global power play. An opponent’s dead body is now a liability instead of prize for the resistance movement.
Late Eqbal Ahmed aptly described India’s moral alienation from Kashmir as complete and absolute. This alienation of its so-called largest Muslim province is irredeemable, and the largest democracy on the planet has accepted it as fait accompli. And now, Kashmir needs a voice that resonates with the conscience of the civilized world. The voices and hands we lent to Kashmir so far leave much to be desired.
The young Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party, during his recent passionate exhortations for a plebiscite in Kashmir, conveniently forgot that the cleric-politician his party chose to head the moribund Kashmir Committee would be the last person the world would want to hear from on the subject.
Naeem Qadir Bhatt is not the first person killed unjustly in Kashmir, and he is not the last one. With the brazen Indian suppression of the valley, there will be many more. The tears and sobs are however suppressed too, beneath the clamor of terrorism and callousness.
We need to raise our voice against the death of young men and abuse of young women, but that is only possible if we become harbingers of sacrifice rather than messengers of violence.
Naeem will be forgotten soon, because he was born in the wrong country at the wrong time. Instead of joining the insurgency, he had decided to pin his hopes on the State of India, like the rest of Handwara district, which has 75% literacy rate – far above the national average. His mother is still waiting for her young Gavaskar, and his friends miss their Virat Kohli. He had been selected to join the Kohli Cricket Academy in Dehradun, and hoped to become the second Kashmiri Muslim to become part of the Indian national team after Pervez Rasool. His community is simmering with anger, reminiscing another Bhatt. Maqboot Bhatt, whose remains are still in the Indian Tihar Jail after he was hanged there in 1984, was from the same community. The logical recourse for the Kashmiri youth in the face of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) would be to follow in the footsteps of Maqbool Bhatt, rather than Naeem Qadir Bhatt.
Killing for freedom is out of fashion
The historian Aziz Beg first termed the Kashmir valley The Wailing Vale in 1969, in his book by the same title. His earlier book Captive Kashmir,which told story of “betrayed and enslaved people”, is still banned in India. The tragedy of Indian-held Kashmir is one of the most unfortunate forgotten tales of the 20th Century. Sadly, Kashmir valley has had brutal captors and naïve supporters, and the branding of its case has been that of aggression instead of suppression. In capitals around the world, the mention of Kashmir struggle evokes images of ferocious gun wielding terrorists scaring the hapless populace. Our domestic audience is equally clueless.
Kashmir’s misfortunes have not been recognized enough to warrant and international intervention so far. This calls for considerable introspection, given that fact that in the last decade, three such regions – East Timor, Kosovo and South Sudan – have gained freedom as a result of referendums under international pressure.
East Timor should be an eye opening case. The first country to gain freedom in 21st country was no match for its strong occupier. A tiny island with less than a million people made a far more powerful country Indonesia to kneel, owing to persuasive lobbying and imaginative campaigns like ploughshare actions. At the time when Kashmir was in its insurgency phase in 1996, four women broke into a British Aerospace factory destroying a plane meant to be given to Indonesia by the UK government. They were prosecuted but acquitted later, raising phenomenal awareness for East Timorese liberation in the west. East Timor can be discounted as a Christian community struggling against a large Muslim State, but Kosovo is another example – a tiny Muslim enclave in mainland Europe standing against militarily powerful country and making its voice heard.
Kashmir’s struggle has often been a victim of bad timing. The strategies of 1948 could never have been effective in 1998. The end of cold war and creation of terrorism as new nemesis ended the leverage of large scale insurgencies and armed movements. The Tamil tigers learnt the lesson the hard way, and the Palestinians are also feeling the jolt. Killing for freedom has been out of fashion in the last two decades. But a new era of victim glorification has ushered in, due to shifting patterns of global power play. An opponent’s dead body is now a liability instead of prize for the resistance movement.
Late Eqbal Ahmed aptly described India’s moral alienation from Kashmir as complete and absolute. This alienation of its so-called largest Muslim province is irredeemable, and the largest democracy on the planet has accepted it as fait accompli. And now, Kashmir needs a voice that resonates with the conscience of the civilized world. The voices and hands we lent to Kashmir so far leave much to be desired.
The young Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party, during his recent passionate exhortations for a plebiscite in Kashmir, conveniently forgot that the cleric-politician his party chose to head the moribund Kashmir Committee would be the last person the world would want to hear from on the subject.
Naeem Qadir Bhatt is not the first person killed unjustly in Kashmir, and he is not the last one. With the brazen Indian suppression of the valley, there will be many more. The tears and sobs are however suppressed too, beneath the clamor of terrorism and callousness.
We need to raise our voice against the death of young men and abuse of young women, but that is only possible if we become harbingers of sacrifice rather than messengers of violence.