‘We are brave, your highness’

Kashmir has ‘simmered’ long enough.

If there was ever a word that should not be used to describe the Kashmiri people, it is “plucky”. A local indigenous uprising does not take mere “pluck” – that wide eyed, school boy naiveté. It takes grim determination that only years of being beaten back from the pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel can bring. The kind of courage the Kashmiri people display in the face of certain death – down to the youngest child – is driven by the sense of responsibility for a cause they believe is greater than themselves or their individual pain. And that faith, erupting from years of simmering anger, much to the dismay of the Goliath they face, cannot be trampled, nor can it be dismissed as the fault of a third party.

For all of the Indian media’s attempts to misrepresent the events of Burhan Wani’s anniversary, it is still hard pressed to explain away the gross negligence of the Indian government and the frankly criminal behaviour of the Indian armed forces. And it cannot explain away one the most striking feature of this uprising: despite reports of social media sites being blocked in the area, it appears the Kashmiri fighters still managed to send out calls for recruitment – calls that were answered.

Historically, Pakistan’s appeals for action on Kashmir have gone largely ignored. But with Turkey and even Iran’s individual support for the fight for freedom in the face of criminal treatment, the UN must now decide whether it will remain a silent spectator as the “heaven on earth” of South Asia finally becomes the much predicted battle ground.Kashmir is not a “simmering” mess of “plucky” people. It is an open wound. Either we’re standing with its people, or we’re sinning by silence. It’s time we choose.