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Kashmir is said to be a heaven on Earth with ultimate scenic beauty and exciting culture; however, its natural treasures are being ruthlessly molested by the Indian occupation. Such a situation forces one to think that for how long the people of this state will continue to suffer.
Having a rich history of being ruled by Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs, British and now finally by the Indians, Kashmir and its people have tasted all flavors of governance. However, during all these tenures, one feature remained common, and that was suppression of an ordinary man. India was partitioned into dominions of India and Pakistan on 14th August, 1947, as per Indian Independence Act, 1947, which after having been passed by the British Parliament received assent of the British Monarch in August, 1947. As per provisions of the Indian Independence Act, with the lapse of the British monarchy all the native princely states became independent with sovereignty vested with the ruling prince. Princes were free to accede to any dominion and Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, under whatever circumstances, acceded to the Dominion of India. On the advice of Lord Mountbatten, Pakistan’s aggression in Kashmir was reported to UN Security Council, and after a long debate; it was decided to send a Commission to India. The UN Commission arrived in Delhi in March 1948 and had talks with the governments of India and Pakistan. On August 13, 1948, the Security Council adopted a resolution proposing cessation of hostilities and asked Pakistan to vacate the territory it occupied. After restoring the Indian jurisdiction over the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir it thereafter proposed a fair and impartial plebiscite. But unfortunately, till date poor Kashmiris still await a fair and impartial plebiscite and continue to suffer at the hands of Indian forces. When Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was inquired about his opinion regarding the compromise with Pakistan over Kashmir, he replied, “Short of secession, short of re-drawing boundaries, the Indian establishment can live with anything.” Meanwhile, “we need soft borders — then borders are not so important. People on both sides of the border should be able to move freely.” After reminding him about Nehru’s promise to Kashmiris about the plebiscite, he replied emphatically, “a plebiscite would take place on a religious basis, it would unsettle everything. No government of India could survive that. Autonomy we are prepared to consider. All these things are negotiable. But an independent Kashmir would become a hotbed of fundamentalism”. However, we all know that the risks of war in Kashmir are frightening. Apart from the severe economic cost on all parties involved, India and Pakistan, we need not forget that both the nations are also tied in a race of nuclear capabilities. But if you go to Kashmir, and travel outside of Srinagar, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out the resentment and the anger. The impact of having 500,000 soldiers is incredible. Whether or not people are passionate about azadi (freedom) and what form their notion of azadi takes, what they are extremely passionate about is getting the Indian army out of there. What we are seeing today is the fact that, spontaneously and simultaneously, people are coming out in the hundreds of thousands from all across the valley. They are responding to the everyday humiliation, the everyday beatings and checkings, and just the continuous presence of security forces in their backyard. Just having those forces there constitutes such an enormous pressure on the people. They have just exploded. Here it comes in when the explosion of resentment against the granting of lands to the Amarnath Shrine Board, and forces everybody to think: "How can there be so much resentment against something so small?" These protests are nothing but the last act of a fairly well-planned strategy of provocation. As per the history, the keepers of the shrine have actually been Kashmiris--and those credited with discovering it, Kashmiri Muslims, in fact. It is true that this cave was discovered by a Muslim shepherd and his family 150 years ago. They became the custodians of the shrine, and a Hindu priest was responsible for the religious part of it. Meanwhile Kashmiri Muslims, separatists and others alike, have been going blue in the face saying that they have never obstructed the yatra, but that isn't heard. For all of them, the aggressive pushing of the yatra by the Indian government was like driving a shaft into the heart of Kashmir. 
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