Kashmir is a place so mesmersing that one wishes to visit it again and again
KARACHI: Kashmir is a place so mesmersing that one wishes to visit it again and again. Undeniably, there are other beautiful places on earth but something about this region is just magical. Much of my perception about this was formed after talking to one Kashmiri girl for 15 minutes. The love for the place that her voice exuded was overwhelming. She migrated with her family from what is now the India-occupied Kashmir or ‘Jammu and Kashmir’ decades ago. The girl had to leave her small beautiful home situated by the bank of a river when situation in the region deteriorated.
While narrating to me the story of her days in Kashmir the girl shed a tear or two as she talked about the fond memories of her hometown at the age of nine. Migrating from Kashmir to Pakistan’s southern side was the girl’s and her family’s decision, yet motivated by the unlivable conditions in the occupied territory. This woman who travelled back in time for a while and talked to me like a young girl is my own grandmother who wishes to visit her hometown one day, with the hope that the circumstances will change for the better and Kashmiris will live once again as they used to years ago.
Maria Usmani
Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2018.
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