Except for the unwanted distraction - that indeed is a dirty reflection of our national politics - the Kashmiris' 'million march' in London on Sunday was a great success. Thousands of people had turned up to join the march called by former AJK prime minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood to protest against human rights violations by the Indian troops in Held Kashmir. Coincidental with anniversary of the Indian invasion of Kashmir and a timely reminder to the world community of its promise to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir the march had taken place despite New Delhi's stiff opposition. India had it fears: a similar anti-Israel march in London recently had won the state of Palestine the British symbolic parliamentary vote for recognition. To many in Britain and elsewhere in the world the occupation of Jammu & Kashmir by India is no less barbaric than was the Israeli aggression of the Gaza Strip - so graphically captured on a video clip now viral which shows some Kashmiri youth being paraded naked by the Indian troops a la Abu Ghuraib. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had warned Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg that the Kashmiris' march 'does not bode well' for relationship between India and Britain, only to be told that banning the proposed march would be against the principles of free speech. "We have gathered here to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir and to invite the attention of the international community towards the Kashmir issue, and this struggle would continue till independence of Kashmir in accordance with UN resolutions," Sultan Mehmood told the gathering. After Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's call at the UN General Assembly for implementation of the UN resolutions the 'million march' for Kashmir in London is the most significant development - both the moves taken by New Delhi as a spanner in Modi's work of dismantling Kashmir's special status. Narendra Modi is feverishly working on his 44-plus formula, which envisages undercutting Article 371 of the Indian constitution, which grants the held Kashmir a special status through a resolution of the state assembly.
Obviously this being backdrop the Kashmiris' protest in London has not gone on well with Modi government's game plan, a victory of the expat Pakistanis and Kashmiris, which could have been more sanguine had some of the participants of the march not succumbed to cheapish antics that of late have become part of national politics. Barrister Sultan Mehmood had sought across the board attendance of all groups and parties, and they were there in large numbers. One of them was PPP chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, whose recent statements on Kashmir have attracted a lot of negative media flak and political anger from across the border. He was dead right in saying 'when I raise Kashmir the entire Hindustan screams'; naturally he talks tough - his most pinching remark being: 'I will take back Kashmir, all of it and I will not leave behind a single inch of it because like other provinces it belongs to Pakistan'. According to media accounts, he was booed, hooted with 'Go Bilawal Go' cries, and he was pelted with plastic bottles and cans. But he seemed to be in no hurry to end his speech. "These agents [of India] who are trying to undermine the cause of Kashmir and intimidate me into leaving should know that I will not leave before completing my speech. This is not about me or you; this is about the people of Kashmir," he told the audience. Those who tried to upstage Bilawal, we don't think were Indian agents; they were our own people, but so thoroughly soaked in vicious power struggle at home, that they won't desist washing their dirty linen abroad. Of course, what happened at the venue of the march in London is quite disgusting, but definitely not very disturbing, given the fact the humanitarian cause of Kashmiris transcends above petty political rivalries. The Kashmir issue has arrived at the cusp - thanks to India's growing belligerence on the Line of Control and the Working Boundary coupled with Modi's sinister design. We are going to have more million marches, including some in held Kashmir, to be addressed by a wide variety of persons and parties, of course, without repetition of what happened at the London march.
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