Every year on August 14, Pakistan celebrates its independence. The country transforms into a canvas of patriotic expressions, with streets draped in the colors of pride, echoing the sounds of national melodies. Social media clips, choreographed tributes to Pakistan, go viral, and Freedom Day discount campaigns flood Instagram. In Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, euphoria reverberates enough to shake the streets. While freedom is celebrated here, Srinagar sleeps under a sky of silence. Surrounded by drones and concertina, azadi is mourned, not marked; it’s a cry muffled in silence! Arundhati Roy, in an interview with Al Jazeera, said that, “when you celebrate independence, you also mark who has still denied it.”

This contrast is not just about borders, it’s about forgotten pain. Ironically, a country that once fought for its independence is now muted on Kashmir’s repression. The world witnesses one region celebrating and another in grief. We must ask: Who got free? This article is not about waving flags; it’s about standing with those who can no longer declare their freedom aloud.

The 1947 partition carved borders across the subcontinent, but not the grief it birthed. Kashmir was not left behind; its fate was put on hold. The subcontinent became the epicenter of unhealed divisions. Kashmir was divided in 1949 by a ceasefire brokered by the UN, but the promised plebiscite remained elusive, carving a narrative of abandonment.  

Decades of unresolved tensions turned into generational trauma. According to a historian, Kashmiris have been trapped in an unending violence that has never recognized their rights. 

Today after seven decades Kashmir conflict is the one who defines Indo-Pak relations. The question remains what it is like to be born into a battle you never chose, yet cannot escape. Even today, the valley is militarized, promised autonomy is eroded, waiting for a referendum, an unhealed scar that bleeds through generations since........

© Paradigm Shift