I remember that sad February day in 1984 when the news broke out that
Mohammed
Maqbool Butt, a Kashmiri leader, had been hanged in Tihar Prison
near Delhi by
the Indian authorities. Neither Maqbool Butt nor his case was
known to me at
that stage but as a member of the Kashmiri community I
remember feeling an
immense sense of loss, anger and helplessness.
Maqbool
Butt is quoted to have said, "If they (Indians) think that by executing
me
they can kill the freedom movement in Kashmir they are simply mistaken. It
is
after my death the movement will really start".
How right he was!
Within hours of his death young Kashmiris were prepared to
become 'Kashmiri
Shaheeds' in following his footsteps in the name of 'Azadi'.
Over the years
following Maqbool Butt's sacrifice I remember feeling a sense of
frustration
on many occasions when I felt that the western world was not
highlighting the
very real atrocities imposed upon the Kashmiri people by the
Indian soldiers.
It was a well known fact that mass murder, torture, rape and
humiliation of
innocent civilians was common place in Kashmir, yet international
communities
appeared to be turning a blind eye. In some ways though the lack of
support
appeared to strengthen the determination of the Kashmiris. Slowly
support for
the movement started filtering through. Many reports, documenting
human
rights violations by Indian forces were prepared by Amnesty
International,
Physicians for Human Rights and Asia-Watch. Despite the
reports India continued
to claim the atrocities as 'an internal matter',
allocating the international
community to a ringside seat as a helpless
spectator.
Despite the lack of international intervention support for Maqbool
Butt's dream,
the right of self-detemination for the Kashmiri people,
continues to take
momentum both in occupied and in Azad Kashmir. What started
as a dream has
become the cry of over 13 million people of Jammu-Kashmir
worldwide. InshaAllah
the floodlights of Azadi will very soon shine through
whole of Kashmir.
Nazir Ahmed, House of Lords, London
