Mass protests in New Delhi followed after the loss of more than 30 lives in 3 days of clashes between the armed forces and civilians in the Kashmir valley. Yusuf Omar, reporting from Hindustan Times, followed the protests live and interviewed human rights activist, Kavita Krishnan, about the need of dialogue between the Indian government and the Kashmiri people.
Krishnan went on record, saying, “If there are lakhs of people angry and mourning, or sad, in Kashmir, if they have a resentment, then the way to deal with it is not to use bullets to claim lives or to use pellet guns to take away the eyesight of Kashmiri people.”
“We have to remember that Kashmir is not just a piece of land,” she said, “There are actually people living there…Primarily, contrary to the way it’s projected in much of the media unfortunately, the Kashmir problem is not primarily a problem of terrorism; it is not primarily a Pakistan-inspired problem. It is primarily a political issue, to do with Kashmiri sentiment, and that cannot be addressed by bullets. You can’t solve that at gunpoint.”
Krishnan also emphasised the need to involve “all sections of the Kashmiri people” in the political dialogue involving Kashmir and to treat them with the respect they deserve.
To watch the full interview, click below:
https://www.facebook.com/hindustantimes/videos/10153970503523580/
