third eye
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Our cause - Farooq Sulehria
While Indian barbarities in Kashmir are well established, though not fully documented owing to censorship, any mention of our own hypocrisy on Kashmir is simply stifled in mainstream Pakistani narratives.
From the severance of Gilgit-Baltistan from Azad Jammu Kashmir to the virtual reduction of AJK government to the status of a union council, the list of Kashmiri grievances is pretty long on this side of the LoC. However, what really deserves attention is the use of the ‘Kashmir cause’ as a tool of official nationalism.
Therefore, contexualising the Kashmir question is important for the working classes in Pakistan. Without the independence of the Kashmiri people on both sides of the LoC, the liberation of Pakistan’s own oppressed masses will remain elusive. The civil and military guardians of Pakistan’s ideological and geographical frontiers will continue denying them basic economic and social rights on the pretext of India and Kashmir. Ditto for India.
Consider the recent theatrics by the Pakistani media and the Foreign Office. It all started with the expulsion of 67 Kashmiri students from the privately-run Swami Vivekanand Subharti University in Meerut. Reportedly, these Kashmiri students celebrated Pakistan’s victory in a cricket match against India in the recently concluded Asia Cup.
One way to ameliorate the grave failures committed by Pakistan’s ruling classes – Talibanisation being only one of them – is to talk of India. The moment one critically discusses Pakistan, a refrain is hurled back: ‘But look at India. Look what a terrible mess India has ended up in’.
Hence, seizing upon the opportunity, the Pakistani media lavishly devoted space to the Meerut incident. Perhaps egged on by the media, the Foreign Office jumped into the fray. On March 6, the press reported a Foreign Office spokesperson saying, “Our hearts and educational institutions are open for all Kashmiri students who were suspended and charged with sedition for celebrating Pakistan’s victory”.
On reading the Foreign Office statement, the face of my childhood friend and class fellow, Azam Sultan, flashed in my mind. After completing his intermediate degree from Sargodha, he joined the Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore. In his final year, he was ruthlessly beaten up by a gang of puritan students. His belongings were set ablaze and he was expelled from the hostel empty-handed. Azam was an Ahmadi. I wonder what Pakistan is busy doing when Azam Sultan and his fellow-Ahmadi students are expelled from schools in Hafizabad.
I hope our Foreign Office remembers the rustication of 23 Ahmadi students from Faisalabad’s Punjab Medical College. Ahmadis are not considered non-Muslims in India. I wonder if Ahmadi students from the valley will also be granted admission in our prestigious university. One also hopes that the Foreign Office spokesperson remembers the FC raid on Atta Shad Degree College in Balochistan January this year. At the time of writing these lines, the press has reported manhandling of Baloch students at Preston University.
Meantime, my friend and the central leader of the Jammu Kashmir National Awami Party (JKNAP), Liaquat Hayat Khan, is drawing attention to a case of treason registered at the Dadyal police station against two JKNAP leaders. The vice president JKNAP, Khawaja Naeem, and the district president JKNAP, Mirpur chapter, Imran Shehzad, were accused of celebrating India’s over Pakistan during the World Cup semi-finals played in the Indian city of Mohali back in 2011.
The case has not yet been dismissed. Incidentally, I am a (proud) subject of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. As a Punjab University student in 1995, I was summarily suspended on the pretext of casting aspersions on such tenets of Islam as sporting a beard.
While Indian barbarities in Kashmir are well established, though not fully documented owing to censorship, any mention of our own hypocrisy on Kashmir is simply stifled in mainstream Pakistani narratives.
From the severance of Gilgit-Baltistan from Azad Jammu Kashmir to the virtual reduction of AJK government to the status of a union council, the list of Kashmiri grievances is pretty long on this side of the LoC. However, what really deserves attention is the use of the ‘Kashmir cause’ as a tool of official nationalism.
Therefore, contexualising the Kashmir question is important for the working classes in Pakistan. Without the independence of the Kashmiri people on both sides of the LoC, the liberation of Pakistan’s own oppressed masses will remain elusive. The civil and military guardians of Pakistan’s ideological and geographical frontiers will continue denying them basic economic and social rights on the pretext of India and Kashmir. Ditto for India.
Consider the recent theatrics by the Pakistani media and the Foreign Office. It all started with the expulsion of 67 Kashmiri students from the privately-run Swami Vivekanand Subharti University in Meerut. Reportedly, these Kashmiri students celebrated Pakistan’s victory in a cricket match against India in the recently concluded Asia Cup.
One way to ameliorate the grave failures committed by Pakistan’s ruling classes – Talibanisation being only one of them – is to talk of India. The moment one critically discusses Pakistan, a refrain is hurled back: ‘But look at India. Look what a terrible mess India has ended up in’.
Hence, seizing upon the opportunity, the Pakistani media lavishly devoted space to the Meerut incident. Perhaps egged on by the media, the Foreign Office jumped into the fray. On March 6, the press reported a Foreign Office spokesperson saying, “Our hearts and educational institutions are open for all Kashmiri students who were suspended and charged with sedition for celebrating Pakistan’s victory”.
On reading the Foreign Office statement, the face of my childhood friend and class fellow, Azam Sultan, flashed in my mind. After completing his intermediate degree from Sargodha, he joined the Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore. In his final year, he was ruthlessly beaten up by a gang of puritan students. His belongings were set ablaze and he was expelled from the hostel empty-handed. Azam was an Ahmadi. I wonder what Pakistan is busy doing when Azam Sultan and his fellow-Ahmadi students are expelled from schools in Hafizabad.
I hope our Foreign Office remembers the rustication of 23 Ahmadi students from Faisalabad’s Punjab Medical College. Ahmadis are not considered non-Muslims in India. I wonder if Ahmadi students from the valley will also be granted admission in our prestigious university. One also hopes that the Foreign Office spokesperson remembers the FC raid on Atta Shad Degree College in Balochistan January this year. At the time of writing these lines, the press has reported manhandling of Baloch students at Preston University.
Meantime, my friend and the central leader of the Jammu Kashmir National Awami Party (JKNAP), Liaquat Hayat Khan, is drawing attention to a case of treason registered at the Dadyal police station against two JKNAP leaders. The vice president JKNAP, Khawaja Naeem, and the district president JKNAP, Mirpur chapter, Imran Shehzad, were accused of celebrating India’s over Pakistan during the World Cup semi-finals played in the Indian city of Mohali back in 2011.
The case has not yet been dismissed. Incidentally, I am a (proud) subject of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. As a Punjab University student in 1995, I was summarily suspended on the pretext of casting aspersions on such tenets of Islam as sporting a beard.
