Vancouver Kashmiris march to raise awareness of conflicts with India

Protesters in Vancouver marched in front of the Indian consulate Thursday to showsupport for people living in India-run Kashmir.

Both India and Pakistan administer portions of Kashmir.Alockdown in Indian-administered Kashmir has been in place since Aug. 4, just before India's Hindu nationalist government revoked the special status of the portion of Muslim-majority Kashmir it controls on Aug. 5.

Telephone lines, internet and television networks were blocked, and the government withdrewthestate's right to frame its own laws and allowed non-residents to buy property there.

Thursday'sprotest coincided with Indian Independence Day.

Manzoor Wani, one of the protesters in Vancouver, said it is still difficult to keep in touch with family living in the region.

"Right now, it's feeling very unsure, nervous because we don't know the family how they're coping," Wani said.

"We just want to hear their voice. We keep calling every day, several times aday just to make sure maybe things have changed, maybe I can hear my mom's voice, my dad's voice."

In a speech Thursday,Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi saidstripping the disputed Kashmir region of its statehood and special constitutional provisions has helped unify the country.

"Kashmiris had their entire independencestripped away and it's just [ironic] that India and the citizens are celebrating independence while 12 million people have been locked in an open air prison,"saidJasim Khan, an organizer of the rally who lived onthe Indian side of Kashmir until he was a teenager. He now resides in Vancouver.

Hotly contested region

Issues in the region are complex. Since 1947, Kashmir has been disputed by three countries: India, Pakistan and China.

For India, Kashmir's strategic location acts as a large buffer between Pakistan and China, said Chin Bannerjee, a Kashmiri and president of the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy.

Bannerjee said Indian control of Muslim-majority Kashmir has been tenuous. Tens of thousands of people have died in clashes between militants and civilian protesters and Indian security forces since 1989.

Jasim Khan, an organizer of the rally who lived onthe Indian side of Kashmir until he was a teenager, said life in India's section of Kashmir was intense. It was common to see the Indian military on every street and have to find cover because of artillery fire.

"I feel like a global citizenbecause I've lived in so many different countries and continents, but that's specifically for me," said Khan, who now lives in Vancouver.

But if you were to take an average Kashmiri young adult like myself, they would identify themselves as Kashmiri[not Indian]," he said.

Khan saysKashmiris havelittle affiliation with the rest of the subcontinent, including India.

"Our language is different. Our culture is different. We are geographically separated by the mountains," said Khan.

Listen to CBC producer Rohit Joseph's segment on Kashmir on The Early Editionhere: