Recently the comments by Arundhati Roy that Kashmir has never been an integral part of India, and that the Indian military deployed in Kashmiri is the most oppressive force in the world have created a great hue and cry and backlash in India. The Indian government seems to be disturbed on these remarks at a time when the US President Obama is arriving.
This response seems to be very harsh. Arundhati havent said anything new, it is an historical fact and since many years millions of people from Kashmir, Pakistan and various countries are saying that Kashmir is not a part of India and Kashmiris never wanted to live with India. Even people from India admit this fact very well and Arundhati has expressed the same sentiments.
Arundhati Roy is being treated in a very unkind way in her own country due to her remarks on Kashmir. Yet the government has indicated in a recent seminar on Aazadi for Kashmir that it does not have intentions to charge Arundhati in case a sedition case.
How India claims to be democratic if the freedom of speech is a total catastrophe, where a respected intellectual woman is paying for speaking the truth. Arundhati herself said that Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds. Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice, while communal killers, mass murderers, looters, rapists, and those who prey on the poorest of the poor, roam free.
It is understood that Arundhatis concerns for HR issues in Kashmir is based upon reality. How Kashmiris can be integral part of India when the Indian army have to pull out their finger-nails in order to force them to say they are Indians. Yes, Arundhati made a mistake because she thought as a human first and an Indian later. She might be a strong woman who chooses to stand with the right even if she has to stand alone!
MAIMUNA ASHRAF
Rawalpindi
