SRINAGAR -- Seventy four-year-old Ghulam Rasool Bhat has lost two sons, a grandson and a son-in-law during the past 22 years of bloodshed in Kashmir.

In the late 1980s, his son Abdul Rasool joined the armed struggle in Kashmir to fight against Indian rule however, he was killed in 1991 in an Indian military operation. The following year, his son-in-law Mohd Goni attempted to crossover to the Pakistani side of Kashmir, but was killed in an Indian military ambush.
Puffing on a hookah while sitting on a verandah of his house in Warpora village of Sopore in northern Kashmir’s Baramulla district, Bhat has hundreds of stories to narrate about Kashmiri’s strife to seek self rule. He himself as a teenager in 1946 joined the Kashmir movement against the erstwhile Dogra Hindu ruler of Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh,
“The history of rebellion in Kashmir is not new. If we peer into the past 500 years of Kashmir’s history, you can see that Kashmiris always fought against foreign rule, whether they were Moguls, Afghans, Sikhs or the Dogra rulers. Kashmiris inherited the culture of resistance and have always opposed foreign rulers, trying to maintain their identity as an independent nation. And this is precisely what they are doing against the Indian rule; fighting for freedom”, said Bhat, emphasizing his statement with vivid facial expression.
It must be mentioned here that Kashmir was an independent country until the Moguls invaded Kashmir in 1586.
Going back to Bhat’s story, his second son, who was never a part of the armed struggle, was killed in a bomb explosion in 2003. And, in 2007 his grandson, Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, who had joined the armed struggle like his father and uncle, was killed in a Fedayeen (those who sacrifice) attack on an Indian police camp.
And when the senior Bhat is asked if he has any regrets having sacrificed four family members, he says, “Yes, I do. I have not had an opportunity to die in fighting for a free Kashmir.”
India and Pakistan both have staked a claim on Kashmir and fought four wars since the British divided the united India into secular India and Muslim Pakistan in 1947.
“Pakistan's claim to Kashmir is based upon religion, since it is the only Muslim majority region in India. India's is based upon its ruler Hari Singh's accession to it. Neither country has tried to ascertain what the Kashmiris want. Kashmiri aspirations stem from one little-understood consequence of the partition of British India: In 1947, when India and Pakistan gained their freedom, Kashmiris lost theirs,” Indian author and columnist Prem Shankar Jha once noted.
Moving ahead in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district is village “Dardpora”, which couldn’t have been given a better name -- 'Dard' means pain and 'Pora' the abode. The village is also called the ‘village of widows’ since most of the women of this village are widows, whose husbands joined the armed struggle and were killed by Indian troops during anti-uprising operations.
“In 1989 when the freedom movement broke out in Kashmir, it came as doom for this village,” says Haseena, 48, a widow in Dardpora.
Haseena’s husband Sher Wali, a cadre member of Hizbul Mujahideen, was killed in 1997 leaving her alone to fend for their four children. “My brother is still fighting for Kashmir, although I have not seen him for over 15 years. I hope our sacrifices are fruitful and one day, Kashmir will be free.
After the armed anti-India struggle broke out in Kashmir, a large number of youths from this village crossed the line of control, the de facto border between dividing the portions of Kashmir administered by India and Pakistan, to take up arms. Dardpora was on one of the favorite crossover routes to Pakistan-administered Kashmir, because of its proximity to the other side.
Rehmatullah Khoja, 65, one of the few men left in the village, resorts to begging to take care of his grandchildren. His son, Ghulam Qadir Khoja, was a freedom fighter.
The elder, pointing towards a huge mountain range says that when you cross it, you land in Pakistan. His eyes shine as he relates the tale of his son. “He always gave a slip to the Indian military,” boasts Khoja, adding he eluded the troops for eight years.
These elders and widows represent a generation, which in 1989 dreaming of self rule, sent their boys and men to receive guerilla training in Pakistan-governed Kashmir. A majority of them were killed in Indian military operations, others disappeared in alleged fake military operations and a few are still fighting for the cause.
Meet 20-year-old Sajjad Lone, an engineering student born during the peak of the armed struggle. Long before he could speak clearly, his vocabulary included the words -- encounters, curfews, clampdowns, AK-47s, bombs and armies. Growing up during the worst phase of violence and having lost his paternal uncle and cousin to the violence, this young man is a fresh recruit to fight for the independence of his homeland.
But his weapons are different. He uses social networking sites, organizes discussions and arguments to support his demand. “I am educated and understand the perils of violence, but that does not mean I would not fight for the ultimate -- We don’t want Pakistan, nor do we want India. We want our own identity in our own country, a Kashmir meant for Kashmiris”, said young Sajjad.
Until 2007, Kashmiris fought with guns, but then started a new phase in the fight for the freedom of Kashmir. They took their struggle to new heights by abandoning the armed struggle in favor of non-violence. This newfound tool of non-violence, according to Indian administration, is dangerous. “When they used weapons, we had all the benefit of countering it militarily but now the fight is fought intellectually, more through words”, shared an Indian top military officer.
Yasin Malik, the chairman of Kashmir’s pro-freedom separatist outfit Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), still remembers the day of 1985 when as a student, he entered the Regal Cinema in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital -- Srinagar -- to watch a famous Hollywood movie about Libya’s struggle against the Italian colonizers, ‘Lion of the Desert’ and came out a rebel. He was among the first few youths to take up arms against Indian rule in Kashmir.
In 1988-89, we started an armed movement. Omar Mukhtar was the inspiration for many youths including me who were the first to start it all,” he said. Malik said he later showed the movie on a video to Mohd Yousuf Shah, now known better by his nom de guerre Syed Salahuddin, the chief of the United Jihad Council -- an amalgam of 15 Jihadi outfits fighting Indian troops in the region. “Over the years, Kashmiris have realized that violence is not the way to seek our goal. The Kashmiri struggle is not a territorial or an Islamic campaign but is for securing the rights of the people. It is neither against the Hindus nor against the country but is for justice. We have paid a heavy price for our struggle for our just rights. Over 80,000 Kashmiris, including women, the elderly and children have so far been killed in the conflict, but Kashmiris have still not given up on their dreams of freedom. The oppression and violence have not changed their decision. We will fight it out although non-violently”, asserted Yasin.