Wounded Inside Out

As I browse through the pages of the newspaper, my heart wrenches at the thought of what I have just read. The J&K issue, a pot boil. The tug of war between two sects over the land allotment issue for Amarnath Shrine has stretched way too much beyond every body's expectations and endurance. And like the actual game of tug of war that has a hole dug in the center where the defeated ones fall, analogous to that scenario, are the Kashmir Protests. People on either sides of the tug are pulling in the opposite directions and the contenders from either side are continuously falling into the pit. The saddest part of the story is that even after witnessing there fellow men fall into the hole the others relentlessly keep tugging. They feel it's a fight for freedom, but I just have one thought that hits my mind every day. Freedom from what?

I want to look each protester in the eye and tell them, my dear brothers and sisters, you need freedom; I agree, but not from any government but from the chains of communalistic thoughts that have been engraved into your thought process by the hardliners. India needs freedom from any fanatic who wants to get himself fame and put his fellows to flame.

Today as India stands in the 61st year of its independence, it's a matter of shame that we are heading towards the worse.

What are you protesting for my dear friends? I am one of you. Having my roots in Kashmir I belong to a Kashmiri Pundit family that was forced to flee for the fear of their lives and issues of integrity. I have lost my land and my people who got murdered by the so called "freedom fighters" of the country that you endorse. The loss I have suffered goes beyond words.

So many children who were forced to flee the land with the parents have a seeded thought of suppression which by no means is healthy for any individual,such wounds take a lifetime to heal. And the same is happening with the children in Kashmir, who witness the game of blood every single day.

I have suffered the loss but I am still tolerant rather openly welcoming all Muslims as I feel there is no difference between us. It's just the communal tags that have been attached with us that have turned us into foes.

Wake up my dear Fellow Kashmiri people, Think about your future generations and try to accept that you are rooted to India through Kashmir. I as an individual respect what Islam preaches but it for sure does not preach that we shed blood of our own people.

Before signing off I would like to express that it was indeed shocking to hear that the renowned Ms.Shabaana Azmi could not buy a piece of land in Mumbai because she belonged to the Muslim community, but I was hoping that Ms.Azmi could have handled the issue in a more dignified manner than bringing it up at such sensitive times when the crown state of the nation is burning under communal riots and when the states like Gujarat, Bangalore, Mumbai are still reviving from the IM led bomb attacks.

I am an ordinary person, a common individual of the country, who just wants to appeal to the people, not to forget what I wrote but to please genuinely give it a try to douse the communalistic thoughts inside our minds. We need to grow out of these for a brighter tomorrow for all of us irrespective of our religious roots.