India has lost hearts of Kashmiris: Indian journalist Santosh Bhartiya  

India has lost hearts of Kashmiris: Indian journalist Santosh Bhartiya  

 

ISLAMABAD, Oct 23 (APP): Rebuffing the untrue picture presented by Indian officials on Kashmir situation, a renowned Indian journalist Santosh Bhartiya has shown Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the mirror on his Kashmir policy, summarising that`the land of Kashmir is with us but the people of Kashmir are not with us.'

In a letter addressed to Premier Modi, the journalist

encompassed all of his findings during his travel to the valley,

including the brutal killings, use of excessive force, strong anger

in Kashmiri people, raising of Pakistani flags, the disturbance

among the Indian army and mishandling of the Kashmir issue by the

India, particularly the Modi regime.

While writing to his prime minister, Bhartiya was not much

hopeful of any response from his office or even the addressee might

not receive this above 3,400-word letter, so opted to publish it in

the Rising Kashmir newspaper.

He said he was in a state of restlessness after returning from

the Valley. Kashmiris have painful aggression in them against the

Indian system; be it a man of 80 year old or a six-year-old child

and believed this situation would lead them to the disastrous

"massacre" situation.

He said a dangerous misconception was growing in the minds of

the officials of our military troops and security forces that if

anybody who raises the voice against the prevailing system in

Kashmir he or she should be killed to suppress the separatists

movement', but it is an entirely wrong policy to peruse.

He said what was going on in Kashmir was actually a revolution

of every common man of Kashmir, where a man of 80 to a child of six

raises the slogans of "Freedom and Azadi".

Calling for correcting the past mistakes committed by India

and balming the people of Kashmir, Santosh Bhartiya said regardless

of creed and age, all Kashmiris believe that a blunder has been done

to the Kashmiris and the system of Kashmir.

"A Kashmiri who does not hold a stone in hand, keeps the stone

in his heart. This revolution has taken a shape of mass-movement

same as the movement of 1942 or JP Movement in which the

contribution of public was more than the leaders," he said.

Baqr Eid was not celebrated in Kashmir this time. Neither

anyone wore new clothes. Not a single home celebrated Eid. Isn't

this move of Kashmiris a slap on the faces of the people who talk

aloud and swear upon democracy?

In his letter the journalist quoted Kashmiri people as saying,

" The Valley is bedewed in blood of Kashmiris as more than 10,000

Kashmiris are badly injured by pellet guns; more than 500 have lost

their eyes forever. In such a gloomy atmosphere, "We don't want to

light up our homes with four bulbs, we don't feel like and we don't

want to hurt each other by doing so. We will live by lighting up

with only one bulb."

The journalist recalled witnessing how people lived on one

bulb light and how young boys piled up the stones on the roads and

the same boys remove those heaps of stone in the evening at six.

He told Modi that during night Kashmiri people slept with the

doubt of pathos that anytime the military and security forces would

enter their homes to pick them up, and they would never ever return

to their homes. Such a situation was never witnessed in our history

not even during the times of British Rule.

Entire generation that was born in 1952 had not seen a single

day of democracy but army, paramilitary forces, bullets, guns, dead

bodies, mass graveyards, disappeared people, torture and mass rapes.

Bhartiya told the prime minister that some people had made him

believe that each person in Kashmir was a Pakistani. In fact, they

say that whatever Indians promised was never respected.

On every tree, on every mobile tower, Pakistani flag swirls in

Kashmir. We inquired about it and people responded by saying that,

"India hates Pakistan. So in order to tease you we swirl Pakistani

flags."

In order to hurt Indian government, when India looses a

cricket match with Pakistan Kashmiris celebrate even if India loses

a cricket match against New Zealand, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka

Kashmiris do celebrate. They think that they are able to express

their protest by this way.

"Dearest Modiji, don't you think that we seriously need to

understand their mentality. If people of Kashmir are not with us

then what are we going to do with bare land of Kashmir. There will

be nothing do business with, no tourism, no love; only our

government will be there followed by our army. People of Kashmir

want to be self-decisive. The only thing Kashmiris say is, "Just ask

us once whether we want to live with India or Pakistan; or want an

independent Kashmir, where there is Pakistan ruled Kashmir, and

Gilgit-Baltistan," the letter said.