Another Protest Day

FEBRUARY 2001 - So we have successfully spent another Solidarity Day expressing our great support for the Kashmir cause. While most of the country has had a lazy day - late breakfast, lounging about at the house, doing odd errands, calling up friends or taking a long week end, the few who play roles on this day, have been busy, doing the usual thing; making speeches.

5th February is now a public holiday, which of course means that everything except making speeches and taking out processions, is closed. The country is officially on holiday. No one goes to work. Schools and colleges remain closed for three days and most banks, for two days. Offices go the same way. Some for long and others for short weekends. Traffic comes to a halt for a few minutes and at 10 am a siren dutifully goes off as a mark of respect for the martyrs. There are other activities. Airplanes shower rose petals, balloons with slogans go up and of course, the country ODs on speeches, pledges, resolves and promises. The Chief Executive flew off to Azad Kashmir, showed the Indians a clenched fist and made an off the cuff speech to a large gathering with the President and Prime Minister of AK watching from plush sofas. It was a long speech. Each time I surfed the channel, he was still on. Nothing new came out either from what he had to say or for that matter all the others, in seminars, press conferences or from the middle of processions. Something or the other was handed over to the UN authorities and in short, the ritual that has more or less become standard fare on 5th February, was enacted and in all probability, went off without too much trouble.

So where does all this lead us? Nearer a solution? Greater awareness abroad for our point of view? Tighter pressure on India to grant Kashmiri people the right of self-determination? Shows India we mean business on this issue? There was that all time favourite banner, ‘Kashmir banay ga Pakistan’ which is somewhat a little out of sync with what’s been happening for some years now. Vacillating between making 5th February a public holiday or not, we seem to have settled for the former, but whether this really serves our cause, is a very, very debatable question. Someone said the other day that when Mao died, the Chinese high command declared that they would have to work twice as hard since the Chairman was no longer there. Many people in Pakistan would like someone to take up that thinking rather than continue to follow a path that is so beaten that it has lost meaning. The ritual remains and in fact is getting better as the act gets more polished year after year.

Why must we close down on 5th February? If this is to protest Indian occupation of Kashmir, how is taking a holiday meant to unnerve the Indians? Or is the world suddenly jolted into action observing that Pakistan has taken a holiday? They already know that given half a chance, Pakistan takes a holiday. So who are we impressing? As for the hordes of professional speech makers who are capable of making a speech on any subject under the sun given half an opportunity, does the world and the powers that matter, feel the impact of their analysis and their inevitable conclusions? The whole business is just another meaningless run about and really serves little purpose. Having said that, it is unlikely anyone will get up and say enough is enough and what Kashmir needs is not another rally in Chiniot but something else altogether. The chances of that unlikely event are the same as Hailey’s Comet falling in my backyard.

I suppose were we to work an extra hour on 5th February and were to announce our intention to do so, things would be different. Some people believe that the world lobby we are trying to impress might be actually impressed were this gesture known to them. It is unlikely that a procession is going to do the job. In any case, even if we have to resort to processions – they being the usual form of popular opinion, why must we have a shut down of everything so that we can take out a procession? Protest can be expressed in many ways and shutting the country down merely weakens us further. Given our precarious economic condition and most experts give us few chances of a healthy recovery, dragging the country’s tattered economy down a few more pegs, surely serves India’s interests not ours, but who is going to stand up and admit that? It has often crossed my mind and I am sure the thought is not specifically confined to me, that even back armbands or a simple one-minute silence would be far more evocative. But this exercise or any other that is required must be followed by a return to work and hard work to be more exact. That would strengthen us and strengthen our cause and if we all wish to support the Kashmiris, then our working hard will serve them, not our lolling about basking in the sun. This is not exactly a very complex and advanced concept that requires years of study before comprehension can set in, but it seems everyone wishes to hang on to the status quo because it is dull, safe and predictable.

It is the same when we voice our concern for other causes. Since just about most people would turn to the established standard practices, so do we, finding comfort in staying on the middle path. People no longer are able to believe that even one voice makes a difference. Collective support can weave magic and there is great power when people make their opinions heard but processions are a waste of time. In such a mind set at a national level, even the most justified protest or march will come to signify nothing, particularly when it can be enacted without cutting into the nation’s threadbare resources. But why are we even hoping for a small change? People prefer to do what they are used to doing and trail blazing can be hazardous far too often. Far better to chant slogans, burn effigies and stone vehicles. As for Kashmir, a hundred 5th Februaries will not set it free. A strong Pakistan can make the difference, but then who’s listening?