The inhumane lockdown in Kashmir is now 50-days-old yet little seems to have changed. If any food item and medicine shortages abound, schools with shops closed, the Kashmiris continue to look towards the world to help them find a way out of isolation. The whole region has been converted to an open-air prison or solitary confinement with communication and transport links down and increased military presence of the Indian armed forces.
As Pakistan protested, several “influencers” and the public turned their profile pics on their social media to red coloured icons to protest the bloodshed taking place. The UN chief has called for the respect of human lives in occupied Kashmir and has been deeply concerned on the deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan. It has been trying to mediate the situation but how will it mediate this one, is yet to be seen.
There was news of some people boycotting the Gates Foundation for presenting an award to Modi. And this was not the only award he was receiving at the moment. One can, however, say that politics is not the business of the Gates Foundation. More so, they can rightfully say it is not our business to tell any country or organisation who they choose to hand an award to or whom to receive. But it is the right of any country to outline with necessity and make the people aware of any atrocities on another human, which is what Pakistan is trying to do.
With Kashmir under siege, another blatant fact was that, Modi termed in 2002 as “the Butcher of Gujrat,” had taken armed soldiers to massacre 2000 people; hacking them to death and gang-raping the women, is now receiving an award for building public toilets. This was a crucial moment for all humanitarians of the world to unite against the retraction of Article 370, which revoked Kashmir as an autonomous state, giving control to the Indian armed forces, and laying siege over people by force of power.
The Gates Foundation is respected greatly for its social cause and development work. There is no denying that. It is just that in this period and given the history of the region even if labelled not under their philosophy to intervene, it could have been considered for the sake of humanity and sensitivities of an entire region.
There can be no explanation given when both men and women have been tortured, killed and removed from the face of the earth simply because it is not deemed to have civil rights to live due to their religion, caste or creed. It is termed as ethnic cleansing and genocide. There are no words to describe when survivors of the still occupied Kashmir that are now getting through to news, relating incidents of torture going up to millions, since 1947, however, which way controlled press on the matter is trying to contain it.
Racism is not a dying thought anymore as it was once believed to be
Today, over seven million men and women have withstood a complete blackout from civilisation. They have no access to food, water, medicine and, certainly, no internet nor means of reaching out to the outside world: just silence.
What does that say about them and their resilience to survive? But more importantly, what does that say about the world of humanitarians and influencers out there now trying carefully to choose their words around social media.
All systems gauged down, social activists accounts being banned, suddenly we had news as more people started to take a stand. At a Houston City Council meeting, a man called Pieter Friedrich spoke against the city’s participation in the #HowdyModi rally. In a rebuttal to the “HowdyModi” hashtag, he started a new trend called #AdiosModi. His detailed speech gave clarity of the situation at hand. The fact was it wasn’t anything that hadn’t been said before- it was just done with such impact and was so powerful that it became viral.
It also took great courage to reach out to his people and slowly but surely the world. Pieter Friedrich is and was not the only one out there who has been trying to respond and appeal on behalf of the plight of the people of Kashmir. But perhaps it was his articulate speech and the cutting truths that he pointed out that surprised the audience. The discussion that was once asked if it was dying down, just got taken up another notch; this time round by real humanitarians and people who believed in justice and faith living in America.
His words struck a chord. Quoted as saying, “Modi’s hands are stained with blood. Those who shake his hand in welcome cannot wash their hands of complicity in his crimes. ”
He then quoted Bishop Desmond Tutu with the words, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Adding, “So what then if you roll out the red carpet for the oppressor?”
One is not sure when his speech would be replaced and redirected to another issue or may just be swallowed up and disappear into cyberspace. We can only hope it remains as a start for the world to realise what is truly happening and more people to come forward. We also cannot tell Houston what to do. As a country, we cannot tell who to rescind an award, or what to give one out to or whom to receive. That is not our decision. But as people who live in this world, we can ask the world to be aware of the situation and we can ask the humans of the world who value human life to stand up and speak about the ground realities and appeal.
As Pakistanis took to the streets in silent protest for Kashmir, some sceptics and specialists did say under practicality with the current economy as it is, that a physical protest would do nothing except disrupt traffic and shut down the economy. However, one thing to be noted is out of all of that is something did occur. It became a notice to the globe to look. Silence or saying nothing is not an option for Pakistanis; it is a widespread concern for human life that remains.
The problem of ethnic cleansing is not the first time that the UN or any government bodies have faced all over the world and neither will it also ever be in the future because it is now openly touted with children that are being brought up in this world. Racism is not a dying thought anymore as it was once believed to be. It has resurfaced as a toxic poison that just went under-checked for far too long.
A person or group that believes the rest of the human race apart from theirs is not meant to live, cannot be called part of civilised society or a world that wants to make progress or peace. Internal progress and success by progression in Science and technology or even public service (all good things to have) but to have them whilst simultaneously killing and eradicating entire parts of another human race hardly warrants an award. As somebody, I knew once said, “All this, by destroying the earth in order to reach the moon.”
