Kashmiri Students Reject Indian National Anthem

‘It was an embarrassing moment for the Kashmir University, as students and some faculty members of its Law Department did not stand when the national anthem was played today on the arrival of Chief Justice of India, Altamas Kabir.’ Reported the Business Standard, among several other Indian news outlets, today.

This seems to be a wake-up slap on the face of many, in both India and Pakistan, who stubbornly adhere to the claim that Kashmiris are well-settled with India now and it is only some Pakistani extreme Nationalists and adherents of the falsified (in their minds) Two Nation Theory, who time and again spark the fire of separatism and insurgencies against the ‘occupying forces’ of the otherwise happy Kashmir.

There are some Pakistanis with liberal ideology, who tend to say that ‘the only interest of Pakistan in Kashmir is her waters’; and there are some in Kashmir who would say that ‘Pakistan wants to occupy this part of Kashmir just like it’s holding the other half of it’. At PKKH, we are very clear; Pakistan is not as much interested in the water that comes down from Kashmir as it is pained by the innocent blood that comes with it. Nor does Pakistan have a right to occupy Kashmir; it has stood behind the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people for several decades now, and will only be happy if the Kashmiris get their independence, their human rights, their government and their own foreign policy.

But is Kashmir stable, that is the real question, and are we to swoon into indifference towards our very brothers, in diplomatic cowardice? Kashmir is not stable, nor happy, nor content; the 2010 Intifada, remembered just a few days ago, showed how distressed and cut down the Kashmiris are. Observe some tweets from that day, the 10th of June:

@kashmirglobal @_faysal It was a bloody monday (Sep 13) in which more than 17 people were killed in a single day. #2010Uprising”

@_faysal Never Forget, Never Forgive. #2010Uprising

@KoshurX When attendance in schools was like This Roll No 1-Injured No 2- Booked under PSA , No-3 Shaheed No 4- Protesting etc #2010Uprising

@_faysal Fayaz Ahmed Wani, 24, of Gangbug Batamaloo, killed by CRPF or police firing at Batamaloo on July 06. #2010Uprising

@_faysal Muzaffar Ahmed Bhat, 17, Gangbug, Batamaloo, body recovered from Neelum, Varmul, June 06.Detained and tortured #2010Uprising

@OpKashmir_ Shakeel Ahmed Ganai, 24 of Lalad Sopore killed by 177 batallion of CRPF at Chankhan Sopore. #2010Uprising
No one could eat Eid Lunch after Ramadhan was over in our home , as already many many heroes had fallen; Solidarity observed #2010Uprising

And the tweet stories would go on and on, like never-extinguishing candlelight vigils of bloody memories burning in each Kashmiri heart – memories of their loved ones, that they cherish more than the air they breathe; for they smell freedom more in the blood that was spilled than in the air that keeps them alive.

But let’s also not forget this same Kashmir University from last year, when Rahul Gandhi visited it, with his entourage of top business icons of India. The very same students of this University welcomed Little Gandhi with anti-India slogans and chanting, protesting inside and outside the campus. If the Kashmiris were settled with India, they should have at least welcomed its business tycoons, who had come with proposals of billions, promising to convert Kashmir into a modern formation.
Kashmir did not rise to India’s anthem then, nor now, nor at any part of its history. The boiling blood of the Kashmiri hearts loves freedom and self-pride more than the treasures of the world, if offered to them. Pakistan can be a strong, friendly, cooperative neighbor of Kashmir, and has no intention of bossing over the Kashmiris who have had enough of butchery and savagery for over six decades.

Our hearts connect with the Kashmiris more than our waters do; for their human rights, for their freedom and for their sense of pride. Pakistan, and every honest Pakistani, stands behind their Kashmiri brethren, and perhaps is the only people from around the world who stand up for the Kashmir Issue, in every humanitarian front.