By Zulfiqar (Kashmir Investigation Team)
MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): A proposal has reemerged to send Azad Kashmir Assembly members abroad to “highlight” the Kashmir issue. Still, the pattern remains the same: the same politicians, the same justification, and the same outcome, foreign trips, visas, and comfortable excursions carried out in the name of Kashmir.
Ironically, these politicians develop a passion for Kashmir only when a foreign visit seems possible.
These are the same politicians who remained completely silent on the Indian government’s taking away of the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people on August 5, 2019.
When India forcibly annexed occupied Kashmir, thousands of people were arrested, a small population was kept under military siege for nine months, internet and phone services were shut down, turning the Kashmir Valley into a graveyard of living beings.
The threat of genocide loomed, a graveyard-like silence reigned in the Kashmir Valley, and the only sound that could be heard was the tramp of military boots.
The locals were warned that if they stepped outside their homes, they would be shot — and that happened. An atmosphere of terror and fear was created in the valley.
At the same time, the same people sitting in the government and assembly of Azad Kashmir were silent, hidden behind black curtains.
No protest was held, no voice was raised in any forum, and no diplomatic campaign was launched. For them, all this was like smoke in the air, which was not among their priorities.
Now, suddenly, the same gentlemen are once again active in going abroad in the name of Kashmir.
There is no investigative report in their bag, no documents of the affected Kashmiris, no statistics in their mind, no names of the affected Kashmiris on their tongue, no legal documents, and no serious diplomatic planning, just a mobile in hand and selfies in the gallery.
When these delegations meet someone in America or Europe, the hosts think: “If the representatives of the Kashmiris themselves are so unserious, then perhaps the problem is not that serious.”
Thus, global sympathy turns into mistrust and the people of the Kashmir Valley suffer a lot. And who is to blame?
The same “ambassadors” who are not from Kashmir, but have become ambassadors of the tour.
There is no audit of these “tours”, no report, no result. However, one thing is certain: dollars were spent, luxury was fulfilled, and a new trip plan was made after selling dreams to the people.
These delegations convey only two things to the world: The Kashmiris themselves are not serious about their rights.
According to Kashmiri politicians, the sacrifices of tens of thousands of people are a tourism project.
These are the people who do not want to see the painful screams of oppressed Kashmiris, the sight of youth injured by pellet guns, and the bodies falling on the Line of Control.
They only like the view of luxury hotels in Geneva, London, Paris, Brussels or New York, and like to stay there.
Have the sacrifices of Kashmiris become so cheap that their representation has become the fulfillment of tourist trips and personal pleasures? Can the problems of those who shed blood in Indian-occupied Kashmir, the indignity of Kashmiri women, and the thousands of detainees be resolved between a few “selfies” and shopping
Now, no politician of Azad Kashmir, be it a minister, an advisor or a member of the assembly, should be allowed to go abroad in the name of Kashmir.
If they are really in pain, then let them go and sit in the villages of the Line of Control, recite Fateha in the homes of the martyrs, listen to the statements of the affected women, and prepare reports. But no, their problem is not Kashmir; their problem is a new jacket to tighten their waist, a new stamp on their passport, and a trip abroad.
Kashmiris on both sides know very well that there is no justification for these “visits” and these visits are tantamount to rubbing salt in the wounds of the Kashmiri people.
This is a waste of public resources as well as a diplomatically damaging act for Kashmiris. Unfortunately, there is no monitoring or accountability on these visits.
No reports are prepared, no briefings are given, and no results are achieved. These visits have become mere diplomatic tourism that has nothing to do with the Kashmiri cause.
A complete audit of all their past visits should be done to find out where they went, how much was spent, and what was achieved. Because the waste of public resources has now become unbearable for the people.
The oppressed Kashmiris of Kashmir are fighting for themselves and are bringing the facts to the world.
Kashmir is not a fun project. This is a struggle written in blood, a collection of sacrifices, and it should not be allowed to be disgraced by such “diplomatic tourists” who turn the sacrifices of the people into luxury and make them hollow.
I wish someone would ask these gentlemen: “Sir, whose representative are you? Of those martyred children, whose blood is splattered on the ground? Or of those shopping malls, whose receipts you have brought in place of your reports?”
It is time to end free tours in the name of Kashmir should be stopped. Any political figure who makes the Kashmir issue a source of his pleasant tourism should face public accountability.
