SRINAGAR (Kashmir English): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference senior leader and Indian parliament member from Srinagar, Agha Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, has expressed solidarity with the people of Ladakh, saying that while the BJP and RSS regime may have divided Kashmir and Ladakh geographically, it has united them in “pain, suffering, subjugation, and oppression.”
According to Kashmir Media Service, Mehdi’s remarks came after a viral video showed a Ladakhi school teacher breaking down in tears while narrating how government employees were being threatened against expressing opinions on social media and punished with transfers to remote areas for doing so.
Ladakh reflects Kashmiris’ woes
Reacting to the video, Mehdi wrote on X that the ordeal long endured by the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir was now echoing in Ladakh.
“The BJP and RSS regime might have divided us [Kashmiris and Ladakhis] geographically on paper, but they have united us in pain and suffering, subjugation and oppression. The pain which the people in Kashmir have endured for a long time is now finding an expression in Ladakh today,” Mehdi wrote.
The Srinagar MP stressed that Kashmiris never wished such injustice upon any other society. “We only wanted to be heard. When we cried injustice, everyone else thought that it’s only upon Kashmiris, it will never come upon us. But today from Ladakh [IIOJK] to Kanyakumari [Indian state of Tamil Nadu], people are slowly but surely experiencing the same miseries and subjugation that Kashmiris have been subjected to since long ago,” he wrote.
Offering assurance of solidarity to the people of Ladakh from the people of IIOJK, Mehdi said, “I can assure my fellow citizens in Ladakh, though we were left alone, but we won’t let you be alone in your rightful cause and struggle.”
The viral video that prompted Mehdi’s statement shows a visibly distressed Ladakhi school teacher lamenting that employees were being directed not to post anything on social media.
The teacher added that those who expressed opinions or highlighted grievances were being transferred to far-flung areas as punishment.
