Rights & duties with reference to Kashmir perspective
“A NATION IS HELD TOGETHER BY SHARED BELIEFS AND SHARED ATTITUDES. THAT IS WHAT ENABLES THEM TO RISE ABOVE THE CONFLICTS THAT PLAGUE ANY SOCIETY. THAT IS WHAT GIVES A NATION ITS TONE, ITS FIBER ITS INTEGRITY, ITS MORAL STYLE, ITS CAPACITY TO ENDURE.”
JOHN GARDNER
The rights and duties play a vital role in the overall development of people of a particular nation and in turn this perspective shapes the future a nation.
Kashmir which is recognized throughout the world through the United Nations Human Rights charter, they are interpreted differently around the world and are not guaranteed in their true spirit, specifically so in certain parts of the World.
In Kashmir, the rights of people were unfortunately taken over by few who claimed to saviors of their rights. In the past three decades, the people of Kashmir has suffered immense hardships because of this ‘power of attorney clause and in the garb of this, their rights were more misused than guaranteed.
With abrogation of Article 370 a new era of democracy has been started in the valley. The decision changed not just the geography of the state, but also effected a sea change in the socio-economic dynamics of the state. At the cost of sounding prophetic, I feel what awaits them is an era of real development and progress which will usher in peace and tranquillity as never seen before. But for this to happen, the role of the local populace is more important than the state.
In the late eighties or we can say past three decades of turmoil destroyed the socio-economic fabric of the valley. What caused the events and what ensued has been widely written, discussed and deliberated upon by voices from both sides and thus doesn’t require any further elaboration. What is required is ensuring that the voices of the future, i.e. the upcoming generation, are nurtured and heard. But in the gambit of it all, unreasonable claims and vested interests need to be recognized and eliminated from staking claims that would eventually be detrimental to the future of the people and may push them back in to a negative spiral.
Shaping the Future
voices of the future generations would define and steer the course for the people of Kashmir. Hence their selection and rise has to be a process controlled by the people themselves. This will be a natural process and despite the various push and pull that anyone may try to exercise, it will prevail. The recent executions of young and eminent personalities like Babar Qadri ,is an example. However hard the forces that be may try, these killings would not affect the natural selection of leaders who will steer the course for Kashmir.
The social media, being misused by some miscreants, to become a game changer, but it should not be the same because when social media platform made by Mark Zuckerburg, as it came into existence in order to provide some social help through this medium.
A Responsible Citizen:
Being a responsible citizen is an all-encompassing obligation. Some of them may be legal , some social and some moral . Since not all of them are legal obligations, being a responsible citizen is not as easy as staying within the law. In fact, to be a truly responsible citizen, we sometimes must go out of our way to do things which help our society – give a little more of our time and effort for the greater good .
Also, no one can remain a responsible citizen by not following the law. Laws exist to protect citizens, the communities they live in and their property. So to be a responsible citizen, we must respect these laws and abide by them. Harming others or others property does not equate to being a good citizen. This, above all, is the most important aspect that would require great commitment from the people of Kashmir. The Kashmiris are by heart very peace loving people. Shaped by a tradition of Sufism, it has not just remained a sect, but has over the centuries become a defining characteristic of the people here.
Social obligations really form the bulk of being a responsible citizen. To be a responsible citizen we should help our communities and those who live in them. Already, people belonging to different religious communities stay in the valley, though the others may be extremely small in numbers. The rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandits , who were subjected to a great many atrocities, is the first step to this aspect. The general public of Kashmir is famous for its hospitality and being large hearted. Whatever can be gauged by local interactions with the people, it is felt that they too feel that thus is a prerequisite to the rehabilitation of Kashmir itself.
The whole process of contributing responsibly would demand great commitment from the people of Kashmir who have till now only seen violence, strikes, curfews and restrictions by govt.forces. And this remains a factor which is being watched out as the most decisive factor of all.
The People’s Choice
The people of Kashmir will ultimately be responsible for calling the shots as it happens in every democracy. The rights of the people are getting restored to them and they too are still in the process of figuring out the boundaries of their rights and the expectations of their duties. But going by the trend, it appears that the reintegration of the people here with their brethren from rest of India, which was long delayed, has already begun gradually and will successfully culminate in the near future. What remains to be done is ensuring that the people do not fall back in the enticing darkness of unrest and that would require commitment from not just the Kashmiris but from the whole of India.
Fazal Ahmed
Baramulla