Fighting in Peace

In my cupboard, amidst important files lies my most frequently visited file ~ The Kashmir File. It contains articles of people from all walks of life, photos of victims, description of torture methods used that manage to explode putrid sting bombs in the pit of my stomach and lastly texts of UN resolutions and the Lahore declaration. The file lies there, silent like the owner. There is a lava within, but its too hot for the winter’s traveler and there are words but in a language unknown.

A string of something I am unable to name, runs like a common thread between the Kashmiries and I. Its wired because I wasn’t born anywhere near it, but I hear those unsaid promises and I dream that impossible quest. I see the day as I look ahead when the quality of my fellow countrymen’s mind will be divine. I see a day when the sun will shine on Kashmir and people will awake, not with a voice in their head that questions their identity but with the call of early prayer. I see a day the kashmiries will have a peace of mind when working and I see a day when they’ll detach from their situation and teach their children so history may never be repeated!

The human mind is a great divine, It needs a protective shell to live in; a worthwhile life. It raises like the ocean waves to peek a glance into the future, but its feet are chained to the abasyl depths of the ocean. The ocean polluted with false ideologies. When people begin to tread on the earth as if they possesses no will to question the unfair and challenge fate, their destiny turns to dust beneath their feet…so is the fate of the Kashmiries.

I ask you, WHO BLODDY DID THIS TO THEM? Someone definitely didn’t pay attention. But then again we can evolve generation after generation perfecting and improvising on the theories of who’s to blame…but that isn’t feeding any soul with peace. The irony is that there will always be someone to blame. Negativity has many shapes and forms. It whispers in our hearts and maybe its necessary for us to hit rock bottom before we raise but…I wonder.

I wonder because the determinant of rock bottom is man, and man can stoop pretty low in the glitter of power. I want the parachute to open and I want Kashmir to fly. Yes, God made the rock of “ rock bottom” but he also made the wind. I say lets gather the inventors, the scientists, the spiritualists, the creative sprits, the faithful religious and political leaders form the two countries and I say lets take the plunge. I say, our parachute will open. I say we will fly!

I agree that my yearning for the stars won’t raise my feet above the ground, but I will never stop my eyes from seeing that. The more I visualize the more I realize that a nation’s success, its power and its vision is neither determined by its nuclear capabilities nor by its balance of payment but by the way it treats its poor and its neighbor and by the way it caters for the quality of its thinkers minds. In that respect Pakistan is poor, but India sucks! Maybe that’s a good thing because it keeps all those people stuck on the crust of India.

I haven’t been around a long time but I have seen India coming to the crossroads and choosing the path that secures its positional power, because the path of humility was too damn hard for it! India has abused its positional power it got and in an attempt to put Pakistan down its also lowered itself. Okay… I’ll stop. I’ll stop playing the blame game. I agree that Pakistan is responsible for its own caravan of ills. It makes its own destiny and so I assure you it’ll get out of its own mess, God will provide, provided we quit thinking the US is God.

The US is powerful, partly because its strategies aim toward self-preservation. Its interest in Pakistan or India for that matter is dependent on what’s in it for them. It may be a good political tool for stability in the short term, but I know for a fact that it isn’t right because life would loose meaning if all nations sought only for themselves.

My solution to the Kashmir issue; cultivation of greater tolerance for other beliefs, yet never compromising on ones own, being a citizen of the world yet beginning with one’s own country. Working at grass root levels in Kashmir and believing that one day the world would meet God halfway, by being nice to its neighbors. This is not an over-simplification of the problem in Kashmir. I attempted to internalize the many details, so I’d be better equipped to step into the domain, but after lots of thought, I have created a new domain, the domain of “ fighting with peace”.

Taking Pakistan’s land away doesn’t mean we’ll stupidly remain silent, but because the Kashmiris quality of life is much more important (and besides there has been too many rivers of blood) we’ll keep our feet firm on the ground, in peace not in arrogance, and say, “ Salaams Brother will you join my fight in the name of truth?”

I see that day. I know It’ll come soon.

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Note from the Author:

I was born in Uganda, with my father very active in the Pakistan society I grew up singing and giving speeches about Pakistan's Ideology. After my father died, I had time to move out of all that and think. I am a believer in the purity of the people who gave their life and enegry in the creation of Pakistan. I want to see Pakstan as a true reflection of those people's dream, and I will, inshallah. I am currently doing my undergraduate work in Business at San Jose State university.

I believe Kashmir is Pakistan's, and silence is a useless act, but at the same time, patriotisim is a coward's last resort. I want to strike a ballance between my beliefs and this is simply my opinion. I don't intend to put anyone down and I will appreciate any healthy critisisim.