Views

Modi’s visit to Srinagar Saturday brings to mind an event where in September 2006 the British artist Banksy gave special meaning to the phrase “elephant in the room” in a Los Angeles exhibit called Barely Legal. It’s theme was global poverty. As writer Gary Martin says, “By painting the elephant in the same bold pattern as the room’s wallpaper, Banksy emphasized the phrase’s meaning, by both making the elephant even more obvious and by giving those who chose to ignore it (like the woman in the tableau) an opportunity to pretend that it had blended into the wallpaper background.“

Modi’s elephant in the room was depicted in the same way in Srinagar, the Capitol City of Kashmir this past weekend, where we had the same artificial set re-enacted. The attempt to disguise the true problem of Kashmir by locking up the voices and spirit of resistance to Indian oppression did not make it go away nor did it recede into the wallpaper. The dispute over the sovereignty of the land and people of Kashmir cannot be hidden by all the cosmetics that $12 billion can purchase.

New York, October 26, 2015. A huge peace march took place in New York in which thousands of friends of Kashmir participated. The march was jointly sponsored by all groups who believe in the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir.

The very inspiring March began at the Indian Mission to the UN on 43rd Street and led up 3rd Avenue to 47th, terminating in front of the United Nations. The cooperation of NY state and city police was exemplary, and there were no incidents which marred the event.

Hundreds also participated in London, Brussels, Islamabad and Muzaffarabad with their own marches. In Srinagar, Kashmir, however, the leadership was put under house arrest in Srinagar so they could not go the office of the UN and present the memorandum.

Keansburg, New Jersey, October 19, 2015. Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, former prime minister of Azad Kashmir and ‘the Guest of Honor’ said “Kashmir Million-Man-March is being organized on October 25 in New York to pave a way for a just and durable resolution of longstanding Kashmir dispute.” Addressing a huge gathering of friends of Kashmir in Keansburg, New Jersey, he said the world community was concerned about the latest situation in Kashmir which can lead the whole region of South Asia to the nuclear disaster. The world powers including the United States are trying to persuade both India and Pakistan to resume the peaceful negotiation to settle all disputes including the dispute over Kashmir.

Barrister Sultan urged the Pakistani and Kashmiri Americans as well as those who believe in human rights and human dignity to participate in the “Million-Man-March” to make it a great success.

Mohammad Yasin Malik, Chairman, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front and ‘the Key-note Speaker’ while speaking via Skype, expressed full support to the ‘Million-Man-March. He thanked the people in the audience for their solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and their willingness to help the people of Kashmir to achieve their right to self-determination.

Benjamin Franklin, a signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence from Britain, and a man responsible for negotiating a treaty between the colonies and France, asked, “When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration?”

Perhaps the simple answer to that is that it will occur when power is distributed among men in such a way that it cannot be abused by any individual or nation, and that both personal and national sovereignty is once and for all respected.

Benjamin Franklin was a very wise man. He wrote, in respect to the American Revolution, “We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little partial, local interests, our projects will be confounded and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And, what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest.”

Chicago, September 8, 2015. “Tripartite negotiations between Governments of India, Pakistan and Kashmiri leadership is the only way to resolve the outstanding dispute of Jammu & Kashmir,” said Lord Nazir Ahmed, Member, British House of Lords during the 52nd Annual Convention of Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) on the subject of, ‘Kashmir: A Case of Steadfastness.’