ALL ROADS LEAD TO PAMPORE :Rising kashmir

Nation pays homage to Aziz

Hakeem Irfan
Srinagar, Aug 16: All roads leading to Saffron town were flooded with people marching to pay homage to the slain Hurriyat leader Sheikh Aziz who fell to the bullet of troopers during the recent ‘Muzaffarabad March’.
It is hard to ink the emotions. Black flags, green flags furling in air with enthusiastic sloganeering in favour of Islam, freedom and Pakistan were resonating around Badami Bagh Cantonment of the army, which is considered to be the most heavily deployed area by troopers anywhere in the world.
People in private flagged cars, buses, trucks, jeeps and bikes were raising slogans in rhythm and rhyme.
The atmosphere was charged when women near Pantha Chowk joined the motor cavalcade in sloganeering.
The 12 km strip from Dalgate to Pampore was all abuzz with pro-freedom slogans and lyrics.

A woman amidst heavy slogans said: “We are paying tribute to our martyrs especially Sheikh Abdul Aziz.”
“He is our hero,” she said wiping tears with her head gear.
People were seen offering cold drinks and fruits to the marching protestors. Children at various places in their stuttering voices were trying to imitate their young sloganeers.
“It is more than what happened in 1990. I was part of those processions as well. Today I’m getting nostalgic about things,” said a 50-year-old cameraman who had also covered the 1990 uprising.
The placards carried by protestors read: “If Kashmiris are terrorists then what about Gandhi; India is at war with unarmed Kashmiris; We want freedom; Break this bleeding line and join two Kashmirs; Hamari Mandi Rawalpindi.”
“It is do or die situation. This time we will get freedom. Long live Pakistan,” shouted a boy carrying a green flag in a truck on seeing a camera focusing him.
Women en route Pampore had prepared “Tahri” at various places for the rallying protestors.
“It is our duty to serve our men as they have come out braving bullets. Inshallah we will soon get freedom,” said a women serving “Tahri” to the protestors.
“For the first time I’m witnessing army convoy being stopped for locals. This is the right time for them to leave this state. I’m enthusiastic as I am witnessing this for the first time,” said a medical science student Maroof, 20.
“I just pinched myself twice. It was hard to believe what I was seeing is real,” Maroof added.
The Srinagar-Jammu highway near Kadlabal Pampore was picturesque. People could be seen here, there and everywhere.
“It was a million men march when I saw it from the roof of a three-storey building nearby,” said a journalist who was performing his duties.
When people were moving back to their homes, local women and children at various places stopped their vehicles and offered drinks, biscuit packets and then joined in for a short slot of sloganeering.
Women, children and elderly persons who could not make it to Pampore were seen waiting on the roadsides for the people to return. The bye-pass strip from Pantha Chowk to Bemina and onwards was reverberating with sloganeering.
“This is unbelievable. I pray that this fetches immediate results. I want to move to take a breath in free air at least once,” said an octogenarian Muhammad Shaban waiting for his two sons and three grandsons who had joined the march.
The Kashmiri Tibetans from Eidgah, Hawal and other parts of the Valley also participated in the march and were raising pro-freedom and anti-India slogans.