A press report published by Al-Jazeera website said that the Shia youth in Kashmir, which is under the control of the Indian government, began expressing their own vision in defending the personal freedoms and rights of their citizens, indicating that these young people were inspired by the cause of Imam Hussein, peace be upon him.
The report said that “Muharram processions held by the Shia youth, which have by nature underlined that importance of values like justice, honor and resistance, are a potent media in their hands.”
The report added, “The attacks by violent Sunni groups like ISIS on Shia communities, coupled with the Indian state’s efforts to brew sectarian divisions in Kashmir, limited Kashmiri Shias participation in the pro-freedom movement. This gave weight to the Indian state’s claims that Shias do not support the political struggle in Kashmir.”
“In the face of increasing state repression and violence, young Shia have now decided to articulate their own narrative and negotiate their own space in the landscape of the Kashmiri struggle,” it continued.
The report concluded, “As India’s right-wing, Hindu nationalist government continues with its efforts to change the demographics of the Muslim-majority region, Shia voices for freedom are now rising. For decades, the Indian state was not bothered by the Kashmiri Shias mourning wails during Muharram. But with state-crafted narratives that long framed Shia as overwhelmingly pro-India and anti-freedom falling apart, and divisions within Kashmir’s Muslim communities being bridged, the state is now scared of the new, bold Shia voices calling for justice and freedom.”
