A Duty to our Martyrs

By Prof. Zafar Khan

Month of July holds a special place in the hearts and minds of people of Jammu Kashmir. On 13th July 1931 twenty two unarmed peaceful protesters were gunned down by Maharaja Hari Singh’s police out side Srinagar jail while demanding release of Abdul Qadeer, whose only crime was that he dared to condemn the draconian ruler of Kashmir, the Dogra Maharaja. The present phase of the ongoing freedom struggle in Kashmir was also begun in July 1988.

In this long and protracted struggle for emancipation and freedom, hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris have perished, and been forced to become refugees in their own as well as neighbouring countries since the 1940s.

Particularly over the past 21 years Kashmiri nation has lost over a hundred of thousand men women and children including some of its most illustrious sons of the soil. Among this multitude of sacrifices include the martyrdom of Maqbool Butt, Ashfaq Majeed Wani, Abdul Hameed Sheikh, Abdul Gani Lone, Dr Abdul Ahad Guru, Dr Ashai, Professor Abdul Ahad Wani, Shabbir Siddiqui, Basharat Raza, Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammed Farooq, Hilal Baig, Ejaz Dar, Maqbool Ellahi, Altaf Qureshi, Ghulam Rasool Mir, Hardai Nath Wanchoo, Sheikh Abdul Aziz and many more. Ordinary men and women are subjected to most undignified, degrading and humiliating oppressive methods, including rape and summary executions adopted by over 700,000 military operating in the Indian occupied part of Jammu Kashmir.

A nation which has lost two generations of its youth at the hands of Indian State since 1988 cannot therefore be expected to compromise on the sacred principles of justice, democracy and above all freedom which is yet to be realised through the exercise of its inherent, inalienable and internationally pledged and recognised right to self-determination; which to date unfortunately remains denied to the 15 million inhabitants of the divided Jammu Kashmir state as a whole!

The very ideal and objectives for which Kashmiri people have fought and made tremendous sacrifices, since before, and after the fateful day in July 1931 for national emancipation and deliverance from internal and external tyranny cannot be bartered away for any settlement of Kashmir issue, which is within the present framework of Indian constitution, and one that will continue to maintain the forced division of Jammu Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Thus we owe it to the memory and sacrifices of the martyrs and future generations of Kashmir to continue the freedom struggle for reunification and unfettered right to self-determination of 15 million inhabitants of their forcibly divided country.