Independence means enjoying freedom and empowering others to do so. The true essence of independence is when you have freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom to make your own decision.
Today, as we celebrate our Independence Day, the leadership and the nation of Pakistan reaffirm their resolve to extend support to our Kashmiri brothers and
sisters endeavoring for their indigenous struggle and right to self-determination.
The state of Jammu and Kashmir, located between northwest India and northeast Pakistan, is a Muslim majority area of the Indian subcontinent. Before 1947, the region comprising Pakistan, India, and Kashmir was known as British India. There were two types of regions as one was directly under the control of British rule while the other was made up of hundreds of princely states, including Kashmir, controlled by local rulers known as Maharajahs.
When the British left the region in 1947, it was up to the individual states to determine which of the two newly independent countries they wished to join. Those countries with Muslim majorities opted to become part of Pakistan, while those with Hindu majorities chose to become part of the new India.
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority area, decided to align with Pakistan, but its Hindu ruler, Raja Hari Singh, had his inclination toward India. Kashmir, termed as the jugular vein of Pakistan by the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, remains an inevitable to-be-resolved issue to normalize bilateral relations between India and Pakistan.
India’s approach toward Kashmir has become burdensome because it has become a testing ground for new ideas governing the state of affairs projected by the fascist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This unique symmetry is based on their philosophy of “Hindutva” or “Hinduness,” which is a rogue, extremist ideology seeking to establish the hegemony of Hindus and the Hindu way of life in the region. Kashmir has its ethos built on the Islamic faith of a unique strand of tolerance. It would be a great tragedy if this unique inheritance were submerged in BJP’s resolve to impose its violent vision of India.
The ongoing agitation in Indian-held Kashmir is rooted in the struggle of the people for the exercise of their right to self-determination. Peaceful processions chanting demands for freedom were fired upon by the Indian Army and police.
• Syed Hamzah Saleem Gilani is a press counselor at the Pakistan Consulate in Jeddah.
