Daily Diary (DD) - Day 235 of 2023

1303hrs:

We have reached yet another milestone. 

After much travelling from south (Dadyaal - Mirpur) to north (Keran - Neelam Valley) and then back south to Kotli, we have commenced our work on another public activity.

We focus our attention now on the Pakistani State's centre of 'intelligence' in the city, near Dharang Chowk.

It is obvious that they know that they are operating in our territory without a legal reference and they know that we know too. 

A country that claims to exist for the protection of Muslim welfare in the Indian subcontinent has worked as hard as India to ensure the fundamental rights of all humans (Muslims and non-Muslims) in the divided territory of JKA are kept in denial indefinitely.

Incarcerating aspiring local citizens like Lala Sarfaraz of this territory for seeking the withdrawal of Indian & Pakistani troops from here is obviously considered an unforgiveable crime. We visited Lala this morning and gave him much needed medicine which he had been deprived of and assured him that he would be released as soon as our message is felt by the aforementioned State agencies of Pakistan.    

The barefoot walk I undertook on the 14th of August ended prematurely on the 16th of August after covering 18 kilometres from Dadyaal to Rajdhani, as the blisters on my feet had made it impossible for me to stand, let alone walk. The discussions that ensued on the 17th of August 2023 at Naar police station ended with a promise that Lala Sarfaraz's matter would be resolved in a week. I shortened it to 4 4 days despite my conscience and mind not being convinced of any of the reasons for the delay.

Not 4 but 7 days have now elapsed and we have made it clear as a public policy prescription that political prisoners in AJK would now be confronted with zero tolerance. It makes a mockery of the provisional government declaration on October 24 1947 which referenced the people's misery under autocracy as the reason for rebellion. How can a government born out of a rebellion create political prisoners? With what face do we tell the world that we demand the release of our political prisoners in Jammu and Srinagar?

I will continue waiting under the shade of a tree on the roadside, almost equidistant from Pakistan's clandestine agencies - who ordered Lala Sarfaraz's arrest and detention - and the main road at Dharang Chowk.