I have lived in Kashmir Valley for a year, when I was a kid. Terrorism has started gripping its roots at that time. My father being a Senior Journalist in a leading newspaper in India used to get lots of visitors who were hard liners and used to talk about freedom of Kashmir, separation from India etc. I was quiet young at that time to understand fully what they meant, but one thing was clear they wanted their voice to be heard.



In my later years I made some cool friends who were Kashmiris. Interestingly everyone had a different opinion and quiet different demands regarding the Kashmir issue. Some wanted an autonomous state, some wanted a separate state and others wanted to merge with Pakistan. Any ways, terrorism in last few months in Kashmir has dropped drastically and the valley saw a rush of Indian tourists. Kashmir has always seen tourists for decades, but this time Indian Middle Class has emerged and was very rich. They were not hesitant to shop for a $100 shoe or $1000 carpet. The atmosphere of the valley improved and suddenly the hard liners start losing reasons for demand of a separate state or freedom. Prosperity started rising and terrorist outfits started getting negative vibes from the local people. So they resorted to attacking the tourists, and if you look closely most of the last attacks in Kashmir, tourists have been targeted.



The Indian Media has done a terrible job, in reporting the actual situation out there. Few days ago I appreciated Chartreuse, for sending bloggers to New Orleans to dig up the real story the world needs to see. Char was met with lot of negative response from angry local bloggers, blogging from New Orleans itself. The situation in India is grimmer. We are still waiting for the real story to be heard from the locals living there, or people who were thrown away from their land. People who don’t have the luxury to get their voice heard. We need People who lost their loved ones, People who were forced to flee from their land and had to stay in refugee camps for many many days to come out and express their voice.



We need to make this blogging simpler, as simple as we can. Everyone should have a blog or be a part of the community. We need to have a debate between people who are real sufferers, whether they are supporting any side, to discuss on this Web 2.0 platform. Most of the blogs I see on Kashmir by local people there are still from hard liners who are actually desperate to see the situation improving, and are blogging in a negative way. The platform given by old media is only to officials, politicians or hard liners. But Web 2.0 or Internet has the power to give a platform to masses wanting to express themselves. This debate if could be started will surely help rubbing out pains, sorrow. Because everyone in this war has suffered, has lost something.



Let no one remain alone, unsupported and unheard. This will be the real Web 2.0 for India, or any part of the world where the true voice is still being suppressed or curbed.