26th January! And This Time Obama Is Visiting
By Kashoo Tawseef
21 January, 2015
Countercurrents.org
Right to live, that too in ones own place, is an inalienable, birth and basic human right as Nelson Mandela said, ‘to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity,’ Jammu and Kashmir is an example of such challenge to humanity where this right is being violated day in and out.
On 26th January, India will be celebrating democracy while as people of Jammu and Kashmir will be held hostage in their own homes so that she can celebrate its “democracy”. This time, US president, Barack Hussein Obama, is visiting India to attend such celebrations, good! but question arises why people of Jammu and Kashmir have to face humiliation at the hands of security forces. You must be wondering, what is the connection of his visit to Jammu and Kashmir. But yes there is always a correlation, whenever any foreign dignitary visits India, that too on “Republic Day” for people of state, it is a day of hostage for them.
The function is taking place miles away from state but unfortunately the people of the region have to face strangulation at the hands of security forces. More people will have to die at the IB (International Border) or LoC (Line of Control). Security has been beefed up and on 26th January all communication channels will be shut, because the world’s largest democracy doesn’t trust the people of state.
There are security check points at every nook and corner of the Jammu and Kashmir, you have to show ID’s (Identity Cards), whenever you go out and you are alien in your own home place, while as the place where Mr. Obama sits in USA, Washington D.C, people are free to move around and no one asks you for such ID’s.
They say in democracy, you have more freedom and more rights, why this democracy seizes to exist in Jammu and Kashmir, and why such rights vanish in air. The worlds largest democracy is doing all it can to impress Obama, but to him its business and USA. For president Obama, it’s good to have USA and its own business interest’s first and strong economic co-operation with growing economy of Asia but he’s ignoring the human rights violations at the hands of world’s largest democracy.
Moreover, on 26th January, a grand function in capital city New Delhi, trade meetings and meetings with CEO’s of Indian businesses is on the agenda, that’s absolutely fine, but Obama should highlight the issue of human lives that are being lost in Jammu and Kashmir under the rule of worlds largest democracy. Let Obama not ignore the sufferings of people of Jammu and Kashmir during his visit, otherwise history will not forgive him.
How long can you snatch the basic rights from the people, how long will they be strangulated. Closing eyes doesn’t mean everything is faultless in world’s largest democracy; the human rights issue of Jammu and Kashmir needs to be addressed and if Obama raises this issue with his counterparts, his visit will be viewed by analysts as more balanced and unbiased along with his economic mission.
How long will people of Jammu and Kashmir have to die, have to face humiliation, have to face destruction as Mahatma Gandhi points out ‘what difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?’ Let the people of this region taste this holy name of democracy as Ghadhi mentions eloquently.
Born in conflict area, Kashoo Tawseef is a student of Media Studies and political science. His articles and essays have appeared in the Greater Kashmir, Kashmir Times, Rising Kashmir, Etalaat and in other media journals. His paper about the resolution of a Conflicts and a way forward won a journalism and research award in the United Kingdom. You can record your viewpoint at k dot tawseef at the rate gmail.com
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