Shams Irfan

Once again Kashmiri truck drivers were attacked by right-wing Hindus. This time it happened in Udhampur. But this is not an isolated attack. Rather it was a pre-planned and pre-meditated attack that followed a well orchestrated script probably written by the same men who attacked a sitting lawmaker inside state’s legislative assembly. The issue is not whether Kashmiris have right to choose their cuisine in a highly suppressed atmosphere guarded by 7 lakh men in uniform or not. The issue is how long fascist ideologies in Jammu will keep Kashmiris hostage. Whenever Kashmiris try to fight for their legitimate rights or oppose any thing that is pushed down their throats from Delhi, these elements in Jammu get activated like robots to unleash terror. Thus simplifying the reasons behind non-existence of any alternative route out of the Valley!

The highway that connects Kashmir with India passes through some of the highly communalised areas of Jammu division. These areas have history of playing at the hands of right-wing politicians who see Kashmiris as problem than as people.

 At the beginning of 2008 land row agitation, a valley based truck driver Mohammad Lateef Wani was burnt alive by a Hindu mob in Kathua.

His killing provoked Kashmiris to take a long march towards Muzaffarabad seeking an alternative route for safe transit of goods and essentials. Threatened by the will of people to break Jammu’s monopoly over Kashmiris right to passage, Delhi retaliated by firing on unarmed protestors killing five people. The killing stopped the march but not the resolve! Seven years later, the same ideology of terrorizing Kashmiris was at display in Udhampur.

But one thing these fascist forces fail to understand is that ‘where there is a will there is a way!’ And Kashmiris for sure will find a way out of this chaos and beyond.

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