Confused Kashmiri...

Kashmir shuts down over Mirwaiz's Pak visit

Are they confused or what...?

If you thought Kashmiri Muslims knew what they wanted and what cause they were fighting for – believe me they don’t. Here is an example. For years they kept cursing the central governments that they be allowed to go to Pakistan and meet with the leadership there – be given their passports and visas and so on… And now that all that has happened, they are protesting and shouting about the same thing.

This is what happens when you get your dictations from elsewhere on what you should want, what your goal should be, what your aspirations should be… And when there is a change or multiplicity of dictations in a movement – the people don’t know what they were fighting for. Just have to fight for the sake of fighting, have to beat breasts just because that’s what we have been doing for decades, have to shut shops and burn government vehicles – just because that’s how we have always protested – doesn’t matter if we have no clue what we are protesting.

This is not a new phenomenon in Kashmir. Even in early and mid 80’s, when the current wave of Jehadi extremism was still not in vogue, Srinagar would erupt into spontaneous riots and arson – without any reason. Once it was because someone had seen a picture of a mosque published on back of a playing card abroad. So someone shouted “Islam khatre mein hai” and a dozen vehicles were burnt. Today, Geelani sahib would have felt – “Mirwaiz is going to Pakistan, not me – even though I have been the strongest stooge of Pakistan and ISI. Am I getting marginalized? Is the Mirwaiz becoming a bigger Islamic cleric in the state than me? Oh God…Islam is in danger…Maaro, kaato, bandh karo”…

I still remember a good sattirical play on Kashmir doordarshan in 80's... a story where the city goes into rioting and curfew just because "shall'e thokh' gaye yeere" (a jackals spit drowned in the river)... Weird it may sound...but the picturization was true.

This is the freedom movement of Kashmir…