viral picture of Sardar Athaullah mengal by the name of Syed Ali Gilani

By: Javed Baloch

Syed Ali Gilani, a senior Kashmiri struggler and leader, passed away on September 1, and Sardar Ataullah Mengal, a Baloch leader (here may the some words can change the meanings, only a Baloch leader is enough) passes away on September 2. The people of Balochistan, as usual, complained to the print  and electronic media, and to those pages of national newspapers which

published from Balochistan that they did not give the news of Sardar Ataullah Mengal the place that he gave to Syed Ali Gilani.

Sardar Sahib, being the first elected Chief Minister of Balochistan, continued to face many difficulties of imprisonment for the sake of democracy. He was a father of a missing Baloch young son who did not even see his missing son's body until the last day. Yet he was not tired, neither bent nor given up politics and struggle. He kept on speaking, kept on calling for Balochistan at every level and in the last period of his life he also refrained from speaking. He used to say that it is better to stand at a crossroads and tell a passerby about the sufferings of Balochistan than to come to the media because the reaction of both will be the same. And in fact, the same was witnessed. media has given the news of his death as much space as to tell something to a person standing at the road.

the news of the death of Kashmiri leader Ali Gilani trending on social media, a picture of Sardar Ataullah Mengal's jail did make trend. Those who trended this picture shared it as a picture of Syed Ali Gilani. According to a senior journalist Raza Rumi in a tweet that it is a tragedy of our curriculum that the sharers do not even bother to do research. But along with this academic tragedy, may it is also the mindset that our present generation has been trained in such a way that now we only like Kashmiris in prisons and bars and the Baloch in the  pictures of a missing persons camp in front of a press club.

It seems that this nation set it that pictures of Kashmiri leaders look good in jails and Baloch in missing persons camps

How can anyone believe that this picture was trending by the name of a Kashmiri leader, is a  Baloch leader whose government was overthrown within eight months. His sons were imprisoned for many years for politics and one son has been missing for decades. Many of his friends have been killed and many more have gone on trial till the passed away.

But one thing is that even though the people who shared the photos they proved that what is in the name, the struggle on both sides was such that it became difficult to differentiate between the both prisoners . The pain was same real. Even though one was not good in the eyes of Delhi and the other in the eyes of Islamabad. But both the people of Balochistan and Kashmir were equally in mourning. Just as the body of a female student leader, Karima Baloch, was taken here by force and buried in a silence, so was the body of a senior Kashmiri leader, Syed Ali Gilani there.

 

Syed Ali Gilani does not care what Dehli call him. He is a leader for his youth and Kashmiris. In the same way, while saluting the corpse of Sardar Ataullah Mengal, many students from Karachi to Wadh considered him a great leader. Now, no matter what the headlines of Delhi and Islamabad says and what kind of breaking news they broadcast, it does not make any difference to Kashmiri and Baloch youth because for them the example of media has become just like at a crossroads. Telling something to a passerby.

As far as the image trending on social media is concerned, that deserves to be called the image of freedom, struggle and great leadership that undoubtedly represents every oppressed nation for democracy and basic human rights. And yes, this picture also reflects the tragedy of our curriculum and the different angles set for Balochistan and Kashmir, where our Mob (called the new generation) has been trained to see what and how to look at different subjects.