Azaadi or freedom?

A thought-provoking article on Kashmir in this week's EPW [link] claims that an increasing focus on developmental problems within the state and the growth of a healthy multi-party system is taking people's attention away from separatism. Unfortunately, this is happening inspite, not because, of the Centre's Kashmir policy.

The author plays creatively with the word azaadi, maintaining that if freedom of political expression is allowed in Kashmir, the drive for independence will wither away. Funny, as he points out, that the words 'freedom' and 'independence' can both be translated in Urdu as 'azaadi'.