A Kashmiri: Erasure In His Own Identity

They set off explosives in their roots, and separated them from their lands, I wonder, what did they whisper in their ears, and separated them from their lands? The snow storms hit the valley, striking Chinars, where would the fallen Chinars go now? They will dry up, and set ablaze, we all know that, we all know, that their ashes would still like to return but to their valleys only.

- Caiityya.V.Pillai

Intolerant to Pakistan, suspicious of China, vary of the lower casts.

These phrases not only define the volatile, diverse political interests of our nation but also the instilled strands that linger in the very core of every individual that resides in this secular nation.

In our fervour to drown the separate identity Kashmir holds, is India displaying its own cracks in nationhood?

A map of a divided Kashmir Yet, even as it is devoured by the big states that surround it, Kashmir cannot be understood through the simplistic framing of ‘India versus Pakistan’, ‘Hindu versus Muslim’, or ‘China allied with Pakistan versus India’.

Kashmir is a valid and important juncture in the silk route, it holds history.

The history of this state is being torn apart and slaughtered for its political interest.

A Kashmiri man stands, in this conglomeration of political agenda and big countries. The population mostly consisting of Chinese, Pakistanis and Indians but they are none. They are Kashmiris.

A repetitive cycle of an identity crisis continues for the state in general and its people in specific.

A chase for political power, tears their sense of belonging, homes and lives apart.

WHAT IS ARTICLE 370 & A GLIMPSE ON ITS ABROGATION.

The entire world stands on the brink of this conflict, major changes take place in the now union territories of ‘Jammu & Kashmir’ and ‘ladhak’.