By Dr. Ashraf Zainabi

Kashmir, the Reshwaer, the land once sanctified by the footsteps of saints and softened by the words of mystics, now trembles under the weight of its own undoing. It was here that Lal Ded wandered, shedding the chains of materialism, and here that Nund Reshi’s silence was mightier than a thousand decrees.

This was the land where prayers rose with the morning mist and settled like dew upon the hearts of its people. But now, what remains of that Reshwaer? What remains of that sacred breath, that divine touch?

Amir Khusrau, enamored by a Kashmir, wrote, “If there is a paradise on Earth, it is this, it is this, it is this.” Paradise-like no longer exists. If he were to return today, would he still call it paradise? Or would he find himself gasping for air in a place where truth has been buried, and honor has been sold to the highest bidder?

The tragedy of Kashmir is not merely in its political wounds, nor simply in its territorial struggles. It is in its moral decay, its spiritual erosion, its betrayal of self. There was a time when Reshwaer meant humility, a land where a traveler could sleep under the shade of a chinar, unafraid of deceit or violence.

Kashmir was a place where generosity was instinctive, where a stranger was fed before he could ask, where the wealth of the valley lay not in its gold, but in its grace. Today, the same land is haunted by the ghosts of corruption. The streets that once welcomed poets and seekers now echo with cries of crime, obscene, immoral acts, the fields that once blossomed with saffron are now buried under highways and shopping malls. What........

© Kashmir Observer