SRINAGAR: Snow in Kashmir has this year been used by citizens as another medium to spread anti India and pro-freedom slogans, attesting to the power of the post-Burhan Wani uprising.
The Kashmiri winters usually caused the freedom movement to go into hibernation. However, as the snowflakes began to fall, people wrote anti-India and pro-freedom slogans on the accumulated snow and later posted the pictures on social media.
Westminster University Politics and International Relations Department Head Professor Dibyesh Anand, who was on a visit to Kashmir, posted a picture on social media showing the slogan, “Free/ Free/Free Tibet/Kashmir/”, inscribed on the snow in two lines. A youth posted a photo of himself with a snowman whose head was covered in kifaya and the message ‘Don’t Pellet Me’ written on its body. In another photo, he posed with a snowman whose neck was draped in kifaya with ‘Free Kashmir’ written on the body and the Pakistani flag placed on the snowman’s right shoulder.
“It was not a premeditated exercise. The idea came to mind when the snowfall began. The post may not bring Azadi but it gives me satisfaction,” said the youth.
Another post had the flag of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) pasted on the snowman. The AJK flag, a key symbol of identity for Kashmiris and associated with the Kashmiri political struggle, was adopted in 1975 by AJK founding President Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan.
After the daylong snowfall on Friday, many Kashmiri youth had made albums on social media, naming them as Azadi Sheen (Freedom snow). A post that went viral had Azadi written on the frosted windshield of a car.
