Saturday 2 March 2013

Indian Mental Colonialism In Kashmir

The term "Colonialism" refers to the British Raj in the Subcontinent.It refers to the occupation of the British over the Subcontinent which was eradicated when the Sub-continent was partitioned.
We all have heard and read about the remains of the British colonialism in many contexts but in this blog of mine, I would particularly make the Mental Colonialism of India in Kashmir, a point of my discussion.

 In 1947, started the era of Indian occupation on Kashmir , when the Maharajah of Kashmir 'Hari Singh' , like the maharajah of many other princely states(the 600+ states as were ruled by Rajahs and Maharajahs) , did not give any opinion about joining Pakistan or India(the main reason of which was the wish of pupil to join Pakistan and his to join India).In these circumstances , when the partition of Sub-continent was announced and some princely states were yet to decide their future, India got a chance and along with the consent of Hari Singh , occupied Kashmir through military action.

Kashmiri people never accepted and knelt down to the occupation of India.At first, India tried hard to rule over Kashmir through power and bloodshed and later by providing the Kashmiris with modern facilities but found none of the policies any useful.They could not buy the faith of Kashmiris neither could lessen their love for Pakistan whose reason was Pakistan's support with the Kashmiris.

Pakistan supports the Kashmiri public for two main reasons ; 1)Kashmiri people wanted to join Pakistan like the other Muslim majority areas at the time of partition, so they had been interested in Pakistan since then. 2)Pakistan was expecting Kashmir  to be a part of Pakistan but the Indian occupation in Kashmir through military was not acceptable to them.

Pakistan has always been a very special attraction for the people of Kashmir, mainly for being the only ideological Muslim state and the state who has always stood by Kashmiris.It is due to the love of Kashmiris and their trust on Pakistan that Pakistan could never resist raising the voice of Kashmir at many platforms (though the last 5 years of Pakistani democracy seem disappointing in this regard.)

India has always feared the special spiritual bond between Pakistan and Kashmir.It knows Kashmiris always stand by Pakistan.From cricket matches to wars, Kashmiris have always,very enthusiastically,prayed for and emotionally supported Pakistan.And this also, India knows very well that if in a condition Kashmir has options of Pakistan or India in front of it, the majority of Kashmiris would without thinking once, pick Pakistan.This fear has caused India try many tactics to maintain their rule over the minds and souls of Kashmiris.Once India realized that the brutal military action in Kashmir turned out to be no good but spreading more and more hatred for India , India tried playing a mental game in Kashmir and then started the 'Indian Mental Colonialism'!
   Realizing they cannot win Kashmir by force, India started playing a mental game.India has strengthened it's roots deep in Kashmir by infusing it's culture in the young generation of Kashmir.They are constantly trying to involve Kashmir in many facility-providing projects for farmers, students and the local residents to make themselves look better in the eyes of the people.They want Kashmiris to forget their standpoint on freedom and get busy with resuming their lives as normal 'Indians' and utilize the facilities provided by India to the full capacity.The,so called modernized ,Kashmiri youngsters feel very proud, adopting the Indian culture,the Indian way of living and the Indian language.India is trying to dominate every aspect of the lives of Kashmiris.If India could not colonialize Kashmir by force, it would do it by the Mental Colonialism.Though this colonialism has not reached to a 'maximum level' in Kashmir but the Indian attempts to make Kashmiri pupils like and praise India for their facilities, are increasing day by day and so is the no. of colonialized people.Though the love of Kashmiris for Pakistan remains at it's place, the silence of Pakistan over the violence and related Issues (like the execution of Afzal Guru) on government level has been much disappointing to them as they have had high expectation with the government of Pakistan.But Pakistani people have , as always, stood by Kashmiris and held many protests in Pakistan to show solidarity with Kashmir.Apart from the governments of Pakistan and Kashmir, the love and spirituality based bond between the pupils of Pakistan and Kashmir cannot be weakened.A Pakistan journalist says and I quote:
"When I asked question to the students of Punjab University Lahore that why is Kashmir important for you?They said Kashmir is in our blood."

 Before the Mental Colonialism of India in Kashmir makes the masses, a mental slave of India forgetting their duty as Muslims, to stand up against the dominance of Hindus, it's the duty of us all to make them aware of the reality of India and unveil the real purpose of India behind the mind game.

1 comment:

  1. Great, Thought-provoking article!
    We all shouild think about it...

    ReplyDelete