For what...?

Pakistan, continuing a 17-year-old tradition, marked 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' today, 5 February. A few thoughts...

- What exactly did Pakistanis do, except lounge around at home, for the purposes meant behind this day?

- What are the purposes, explicit and implicit, official or otherwise, meant for this occassion anyway?

- Is there an alternative, perhaps more productive, more impacting and more introspective, that could help both us and the Kashmiris? I am thinking of not shutting down the entire country and not wasting billions of rupees worth of business, but instead running an awareness programme which, without fomenting hatred against India, explores how human rights and freedom of expression could be made better within Pakistan. I am sure that greater attachment to human dignity at home would automatically enkindle the Indians to do the same.

- Do the Kashmiris really care? They would care if it brings them any tangible good. Without that, its as good as someone watching bad news on TV and then changing the channel. In any case, for now there seems to be a growing realization along both sides of the LoC that the status quo shall inevitably attain permanency in the future, for better or worse.

- Even if they do care about us marking the Indian oppression visited upon them, would the Kashmiris really want to join Pakistan eventually? With the frequent suicide bombings in the name of religion across the country, the reality that Afghanistan's most lawless provinces are far more in physical unison with our territory than Kashmir ever could be, and the permanent political deadlock that we have reached on the questions of democracy and dictatorship, I dont think so.

- Do the Indians care? OK, I wasn't trying to be funny.

- Does the world care? I think Kashmir registered for a grand total of a few minutes on the international crisis radar back in 2002 when India and Pakistan were threatening to wipe each other out. Since then, the issue attracts probably as much attention as that Japanese whaling controversy. Seriously, did anyone see a whimper in any of the newspapers abroad? Even the Arabs seem to have grown tired.

So if nobody cares, and we waste so much of our precious resources for it, while we have so many other pressing matters to address, why, in the name of all that is reasonable, are we still sticking with this 5th of February drama?