Bystanders watch with keenness

For a moment, she mistook the State Flag as the party flag of National Conference which is red in colour with plough symbol in its middle.

As independent legislator Er. Abdur Rashid hoisted state flag here on Sunday, bystanders at Pratap Park—the venue for the event—watched the entire sequence of happenings with eagerness.

Rashid had organized the event to commemorate June 7 as the ‘State Flag Hoisting Day’.

“Is this our own flag?” asked Shugufta, a young girl at the venue, as Rashid unfurled the flag. Shagufta was watching the event through the iron-fencing surrounding Pratap Park.

For a moment, she mistook the State Flag as the party flag of National Conference which is red in colour with plough symbol in its middle. The State flag however has three parallel lines besides the plough sign.

Elderly Ghulam Rasool Wani however clarified it’s J&K’s own flag.

“Is this our own flag?” inquired young GowharNazir, a student of 11th standard who was going for his tuitions. His friend SuhailReshi quickly remembered the flag being hoisted in the middle of the Park resembles the one hoisted atop Civil Secretariat.

As State’s own anthem ‘LehraAay Kashmir Kay Jhanday… Lehra’ was being played, bystanders started to sing it slowly. “Kashmir has a separate flag and its own national anthem. This shows Kashmir was a nation sold by its leaders,” said AbdusSamad Khan, a retired teacher who was watching the flag hoisting event.

A young boy had pasted the State flag on his right cheek.

A tourist from Chigaco also watched the event. “I haven’t seen this flag. I am familiar with the Indian flag, Pakistani flag, US flag, but this one is purely a new one for me,” he said. He stepped inside the venue to get more details about the flag.

Watching the development from his office window, Muhammad Ansar Mir said he came to know about the State flag today. “I had no idea that we also have our own flag. I wonder why this is not being hoisted frequently. Very less people know about it,” said Mir.

Soon after the flag hoisting culminated with Rashid’s 18-minute speech, one could see many vendors at Sunday market singing: “Lehraaiy Kashmir kayJhanday.”