Amidst the tumult of protests, the Kashmiri people stand as beacons of courage and resilience, echoing their calls for unity across the subcontinent.

AS A KASHMIRI myself, I salute the Kashmiris who are holding massive protests and agitations in the Pakistan Army-occupied Kashmir against inflation, particularly the huge rise in electricity bills and prices of foodstuffs.

To many, it seems that such protests will achieve nothing, but in my mind, they have historical significance. The agitating Kashmiris are providing leadership not only to their own state but to the whole of India and Pakistan in two ways. Let me explain.

(1) The Kashmiris have rightly focused on a real economic issue, i.e., price rise, and they have refused to be misled by the government, which usually tries to divert attention towards irrelevant issues. As the Roman Emperors used to say, “If you cannot give the people bread, give them circuses.” Unfortunately for the Pakistan Government, the Kashmiris will not be satisfied with circuses any longer but insist on having bread.

Massive unemployment and skyrocketing prices of essential commodities have made life almost unbearable for most Indians and Pakistanis, not just Kashmiris.

Thus, Kashmiris are showing the path ahead to all Indians and Pakistanis in this respect.

One may recall the march of Parisian women demanding bread to Versailles in October 1789, which brought down the Bourbon dynasty, and the demonstrations for bread in St. Petersburg in February 1917, which brought down the Romanovs.

(2) The second significance of these protests is that in many places, slogans were shouted “We want freedom from Pakistan,” and in some places, even Indian flags were hoisted.

To my mind, this marks the beginning of the realization among Pakistani people that in fact, India and Pakistan (and Bangladesh), including Kashmir, are really one nation, sharing the same culture, which were one for 500 years (since the time of Mughal Emperor Akbar).

The Partition of India in 1947 was a British swindle, based on the bogus two-nation theory, perpetrated by the British through their agents Gandhi and Jinnah, and must be undone.

The aim of Partition was to keep Hindus and Muslims fighting each other so that we remain weak and backward and not emerge as a modern industrial giant, of which we have all the potential, and thus become another China, a big rival to Western industry with our cheap labor.

Unless we reunify under a secular government and with modern-minded leaders, we can never emerge as a modern industrial giant but will remain condemned to massive poverty and unemployment, appalling levels of child malnourishment, skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, lack of proper healthcare, and good education for the masses, etc.

The brave Kashmiris, showing magnificent and unwearied fighting spirit, undaunted by all odds, are giving much-needed leadership and guidance to the people of the entire Indian subcontinent, who must wage similar struggles. Long live the brave and courageous people of Kashmir, who have hearts of tigers!

No amount of military jackboots can cow down such valiant and indomitable people.

__________

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