On January 25, India restored some internet access in occupied Jammu & Kashmir after nearly six months.
Taking to Instagram, Zaira Wasim penned down a lengthy note about the valley’s lockdown.
“Kashmir continues to suffer and see- saw between hope and frustration. There’s a false and uneasy semblance of calmness in place of escalating despair and sorrow. Kashmiris continue to exist and suffer in a world where it is so easy to place restrictions on our liberty,” she wrote.
The starlet questioned: “Why do we have to live in a world where our lives and wills are controlled, dictated and bent? Why is it so easy to have our voices silenced? Why is it so easy to curtail our freedom of expression? Why aren’t we ever allowed to voice our opinions, let alone our disprovals, to decisions that are made contrary to our wishes? Why is it that instead of trying to see the cause of our view, our view is just condemned ruthfully? “
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“What is so easy to curb our voices so severely? Why can we not live simple lives without always having to wrestle and remind the world of our existence. Why is that life of a Kashmiri is just about experiencing a lifetime of crisis, blockade and disturbance so abundantly that it has taken away the recognition of normalcy and harmony from the hearts and minds?,” she added.
She went onto say that hundreds of these questions remain unanswered leaving the Kashmiris, who are under a lockdown since nearly six months, frustrated.
“The authority doesn’t make the slightest effort to put a stop to our doubts and speculations but stubbornly tend to go their own way to confine our existence mired in a confused, conflicted and a paralysed world.”
Zaira Wasim also told the world to not “believe the unfair representation of the facts and details or the rosy hue that the media has cast on the reality of the situation.”
She urged them to “ask questions” and “re-examine the biased assumptions” because Kashmiri “voices have been silenced- and for how long….none of us really know!”
Curfew was imposed and a communications blackout was snapped in the Muslim-majority region on August 5 by India after stripping the valley of its special status.
