A Journey in Jammu Kashmir & Allied areas (JKA)............................
from Subject to Citizen
.........autocracy to democracy
.........Dogra Raaj to Awaami Raaj
.........1947 CE to...........................
#WhiteFlags
#Neutrality
#WaterManagement #MirpurtoLondonviaCentralAsia
Today is effectively Day 10 of our educational walk from Sehnsa to Sharda. It took 6 days to get from my home village of Gurutta to Kotli city. Now, after 4 days here I am keen to move on towards Tattapani, which I envisage will take about 3 days to get to.
Again - like on Day 6 - I will walk in the evening after 5pm and try to get to Reyan Sharif by 7 or 8pm at the latest.
Today is already Day 7 of our #EducationalWalk from Sehnsa to Sharda. I am camped in Kotli city for a couple of days, partly because its a large city with a lot of area to cover and partly because I'm waiting for reinforcements in the form of personnel for our onward journey north towards Tattapani.
Day 17 - District (Kotli) wide tour as part of Internal Political Process - AJK
Updated stats of completed interviews of tribal politicians/political workers: 43 of 60
....
As we are into the 'home run' of this district wide tour, careful measurement is required to ensure the representative status of political workers throughout the district is reflected, in our choices of who to interview.
Preparing to move on and rejoin the walking brigade of JKLF's Rauf Kashmiri group which should now be walking somewhere between Tattapani and Hajeera. My recuperation is now complete and I hope to remain with the 'Watan Bachao March' (Save our Motherland/Country March) until it reaches its destination in AJK's capital Muzaffarabad.
If just as an after thought, I saw far more Pakistani flags for sale in Dadyaal today than I noticed yesterday anywhere between Dadyaal, Kotli, Sarsaawa, Baloch, Trarkhel, Jandaali, Banjosa, Kaigalla, Hajeera, Tattapani and via Kotli back to Dadyaal. In actual fact, I saw exactly 3 Pakistani flags on our entire journey and every 1 of those were mounted on vehicles, who could have belonged to anybody.
I would be really interested to learn of how many Pakistani flags have been sold in Dadyaal, in the days leading up to this year's 14th of August.
...... There are reports of cross-LOC firing today, in Leepa Sector and Battal Sector. Here's a 'must translate' tweet in relation to a civilian casualty in Battal:
@tariqfarooq60@PM_AJK بٹل پونچھ کا رہاٸشی منیب الرحمان آج جب بھارتی فوج کی گولہ باری کی وجہ سے زخمی ہوا تو بٹل یا ملحقہ علاقوں میں ایمبولینس نہ ہونے کی وجہ سے بروقت ہسپتال نہ پہنچ سکا۔ اپنی مدد آپ کے تحت جب اسے راولاکوٹ پہنچایا گیا تو زیادہ خون بہنے کی وجہ سے اس کی موت ہو گٸ pic.twitter.com/Iwz41nWqt7
A resident of Battal in Poonch, Muneebur Rehman who was injured in mortar shelling by indian forces, couldn't reach hospital in time as there were no ambulances available in the vicinity. When other residents of the area transported him to Rawalakot using their own initiative (community self-help), he (Muneeb) had already lost too much blood and hence succumbed to his injuries.
..... Ayesha Siddiqa has always been on the ball. I was fortunate to meet her at her residence in Islamabad in 2009. She was wrong on one thing that I'll always remember though: She thought - at the time - that Pakistan's 'deep State' would never allow me to conduct public forums throughout AJK and GB. Why? She thought they were too powerful in AJK and they would obstruct my work, by hook or by crook. I said at the time that I didn't think they could do as they liked in AJK because deep down; they always knew that they don't have a locus standi in AJK, the people do.
