By Muazzam Nasir:
Ms CM, you were all happy and overjoyed when you took over the Chief Minister’s office on April 4, 2016, and the whole valley was abuzz – not of excitement but because it was the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir that a woman was sworn in as the CM. There were some hopes, not huge but very little because the people in the valley have had nothing but just disappointment over the 70 years-of-conflict.
Your daughter had made a statement after the swearing in ceremony and I clearly remember what she said,“My mother is very emancipated. She has always given us a lot of freedom. And she will give freedom to people. My mom is not the sort of person who is planning to tie people down in any way”. She also added,“She is going to be role model especially in J&K. My mom has always been a grass root politician and has built the party. She is a people’s person,”.
I do not know what kind of freedom was she talking about because her mother, you Ms CM, have curbed every possible way a person can express himself, every possible way a person can communicate and every possible way a person can call himself free. And your daughter thinks of you as a person who can never tie people down?
What on Earth has forced you to put a population of millions under curfew for more than 50 consecutive days? What pushed your ’emancipation’ to such a low level that under your rule, more than 70 people have been killed, 8000 have been injured and the most drastic of all this – more than 350 people have lost their vision. Ms CM, if you were ever so vigorous and a role model-like figure, why did you not give the same opportunities that you provided your daughters with (who speak so highly of you and your virtues and qualities), to the youth of Kashmir whom you repeatedly call your ‘prized assets’? Why did you not give the same level of freedom to the people of Kashmir?
Ms CM, your daughters might have never in their life had to struggle to get a packet of milk for themselves when they were hungry, they might have never in their life struggled to meet their friends who are lying half-dead in the hospital beds, and of course, they might never have had the ‘greatest of the opportunities’ to live their whole life in the shadow of the gun. To my imagination, this is why they can share such good words about you.
Ms CM, you have had a huge change in your opinion and have forgotten the cause that you were championing 6 years ago – the cause of the Kashmiris. Or was this just because you wanted to trample down the government of the then Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah? Ms CM, hypocrisy too has a limit and when people suddenly deny what they have been preaching throughout their career, that limit gets encroached.
Ms CM, the youth you once claimed to love, are today lying in hospital beds in numbers exceeding thousands. Ma’am, you recently visited a pellet gun victim, Insha and suddenly had a bout conscience when you offered to donate your own eye to her. Your false show of love and bonhomie has no takers because the same Kashmiris whom you have demonised on the national fora, are no more interested in your ‘sweet talk’ and are well aware of your intentions behind it. You stayed stuck to your chair even when body bags were being sent back home…
What more do you want me to say? Ms CM, I am falling short of words but I can be straight to the point and bluntly say that you have let your own people down, you have let the whole valley down.
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This article has been published on the author’s personal blog.
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Featured image source: Hindustan Times/ Getty Images
The post Letter To CM Mufti: ‘The Youth You Claimed To Love Are Lying In Hospital Beds Today’ appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.