What do we do with the land alone?

Though Kerala’s political fronts remained silent on Kashmir, civil activists organised meets, discussions and seminars. The Kannur-based Manushyavakasa Koottayama (Human Rights Collective) was the first to call on the state Assembly to pass a resolution condemning the violation of the Constitution’s federal principle. It plans a one-day fast before the Assembly as well as a public meeting on November 1.

In Thrissur a well-attended meeting, Rise up with Kashmir and Stand with Assam included Kannan Gopinathan, the former IAS officer who quit in protest against the Kashmir action.

A majority debunked the attempt to portray Kashmir as a ‘Muslim’ issue. A Thiruva-nanthapuram-based scholar said it would amount to walking into an RSS trap. “Kashmir should be a litmus test of whether we have an avenue for expressing our democratic aspirations,” he said.

Renowned writer and critic Prof. M.N. Karassery said everybody in the world knows that what is happening in Kashmir is human rights violation. “We’re trying to impose Urdu when they have Kashmiri. We’re trying to impose our identity when they have the stronger, deeper Kashmiryat,” he said. “Why are we afraid of the opinion of people in Kashmir? Without winning hearts and minds, there’s no point in winning just the geographical area,” he insisted.

Islamic scholar Dr Hussein Madavoor said both Kashmir and its people should be with India. “Land alone offers nothing to us,” Dr Madavoor said.

(With Jose Kurian in Kozhikode)