Recently on Facebook, within a gap of 24 hours, two Indian Nationalists on two different threads called me a member of Tukde-Tukde Gang (Splitters Gang)….. So let me confirm, Yes, if opposing Imperialism and Colonialism means that I belong to Tukde-Tukde Gang than I am proud to say that I belong to Tukde-Tukde gang. To me someone who considers that they are being ruled by ‘other’ and want independence from these ‘others’, I am with them because everyone has right to self determination. The textbook definition of Imperialism is someone being ruled by ‘other’, so I am not talking Non Sense. If standing against oppression and refusing to stay under rule of someone considered ‘other’ is being in tukde-tukde gang, than I am proud to be in tukde-tukde gang. Because this is textbook Imperialism and Colonialism, and I am happy to be in company of greats like Washington, Gandhi, Rehman, Mandela and countless others who fought Imperialism and Colonialism, they were the original members tukde-tukde gang. And they did tukde-tukde of the British Colonial Empire, an Empire where the Sun didn’t set. All these men accepted that forcing a group of people to be ruled by someone they consider ‘other’ is wrong, they too called it Imperialism and Colonialism, and none of them would ever support imperialism and colonialism. This opinion is for every group of people who consider that someone ‘other’ is ruling them and they want independence from the rule of ‘other’, be it Kashmiris, Baloch, Kurds, Catalonians, East Turkestanis, Tibetians, Kurds, Kosovars or anyone else. I don’t like to be ruled by someone ‘other’, why should I imagine someone else liking it, every person has right to self determination. So yes I have no problem in being tukde-tukde gang of today because I am in footsteps of Gandhi, Rehman, Mandela and countless others.
For the thousandth time, my take on Kashmir is this (like everywhere else in the world where people are fighting for independence), people of Kashmir consider Indians as ‘other’ and there is serious and popular demand for independence, hence there must be a referendum. Obviously the choice in the referendum will be between remaining in India or leaving the Indian Union. Should Indian Government wish that Kashmiri people should choose to remain in India, it should offer Kashmiri people such a good deal that Kashmiri people realise that it is beneficial for them to stay in India rather than leaving her. This is the way democracy works, when Scotland was voting whether to stay in UK or leave, the British Government offered Scots such a good deal that they voted to stay in the UK, same thing should happen in Kashmir. It is like hiring a cycle rickshaw, if I and rickshawallah agree to a price, great, we go together. But if we don’t agree then we part ways, there is no need to fight about it, I can not beat him up and force him to take me somewhere because I am huge and he is frail.
Personally, I want Kashmir to remain in India, I spent my entire childhood in Kashmir and want to have a close relationship with her and I believe that Kashmiri people would be worse off by leaving India. BUT whether Kashmir should remain in India or not is NOT MY DECISION, that is a decision for Kashmiri people, not me and nor anyone else, but Kashmiri people alone.
Finally, it is a grave injustice to force anyone to stay in a union they don’t want to stay in, that is Imperialism and Colonialism, hence if being opposed to Imperialism and Colonialism is being in tukde-tukde gang, I am happy to be in Tukde-Tukde gang, in company of Jean-Bapiste, George Washington, Simon Bolivar, Mahatma Gandhi, Mujib-ur-Rehman, Nelson Mandela and countless others. As people who support democracy, we should honour will of people and not our egos, I am completely opposed to Brexit, but I still want the Brexit to be honoured. Because, people voted for Brexit. The only way to stop it is another referendum.
The Khalafzaee Blog 