Syed Qamar Afzal Rizvi
HISTORIAN Yuval Noah Harari thinks hatred of the kind witnessed in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak is a bigger problem than the pathogen itself. If allowed to spread, such hatred — the “inner demon” within humans — will prevent nations from dealing with the pandemic and poison relations for years to come’’. In this backdrop, Pakistan has expressed sheer concern over the lack of medical supplies for India-occupied Kashmir during the coronavirus pandemic, as the valley continued to face human rights violation and lockdown as it looks immensely clear that the Modi Government is trying to cash the Corona crisis as an evil opportunity— to kill thousands of Kashmiris in the Vale. According to Foreign Office Spokesperson Ayesha Farooqui, so far 170 Coronavirus cases have been reported in the occupied valley and five people have passed away from the virus. The FO spokesperson said six international human rights organizations have demanded the release of the arrested Kashmiris during the time of the Coronavirus outbreak.
Amid the growing Coronacrisis, in occupied Kashmir, Indian police have currently arrested dozens of people including shopkeepers in different areas of the Kashmir valley. Indian police during search operations have arrested around one hundred Kashmiris including shopkeepers and seized 10 vehicles in Budgam, Qalamabad, Vilgam, Kralgund and Handwara areas. Most of the shopkeepers defied restrictions and lockdown, imposed by the Indian authorities on the pretext of coronavirus, the media reports said. “Complete shutdowns or restricting of internet speed or access makes it difficult for people to navigate their way through a difficult time further undermining their trust in the authorities. The situation in relation to the Coronavirus is constantly evolving. To ensure its full communication to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the government of India must urgently lift internet restrictions in the region and ensure real-time preparedness of the people against the spread of the virus. The responses to Coronavirus cannot be based on human rights violations and a lack of transparency and censorship,” said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India.
The officials in the Vale said New Delhi has directed the Union Territory Administration to continue implementing lockdown restrictions strictly for the extended period till May 3 as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Twelve more non-locals, all members of Tablighi Jamaat and a four-year-old girl were among 28 people, who tested positive for coronavirus in the Valley on Monday, taking the total number of infected people in Kashmir to 225, and 273 across the Union Territory, officials said. Clearly, the politics of hatred based on ethnic exclusivism are the glaring features of Modi’s regime.
Modi’s strident state policy against the voices of peace, human rights and civil rights can be well evident by that fact that he is taking action against the writers erecting their heads against this policy. An example is set there as Navlakha is a longstanding critic of state and army atrocities in the disputed region of Kashmir, which has faced a disgraceful lockdown since August last year and continues to experience unconstitutional — and, in Corona-ridden times, dangerous — limits on internet access. He is accused, along with respected figures like the poet Varavara Rao and trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj, of allegedly conspiring in a plot against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018. Teltumbde, related by marriage to India’s towering Dalit leader and constitution-drafter, Babasaheb Ambedkar, has been remanded in custody in the context of violence in the town of Bhima Koregain in 2018.
Under the BJP’s rule, the hatred for Muslims— a sizable minority of over 200 million, among other minority groups— has grown over the years to represent the core discourse of a movement that is ideologically and morally bankrupt. Scornful and hateful messages have been routed online, depicting Hindutva hatred doctrine against the Muslims in India. And in a similar move, a wave of apparently fake videos has popped up telling Muslims not to wear masks, not to practice social distancing, thereby chartering no worry about the virus at all, as if the makers of the videos wanted Muslims to get sick.
Ruthlessly, the Indian state has employed oppressive structures and processes, ranging from state-sponsored massacres to full-blown military occupation, for virtually its entire history. However, the repeal of Article 370 and the adoption of the CAA are an escalation toward settler-colonial ambitions. It attempts to erase the association between indigenous peoples and their lands while creating an association between non-indigenous settlers and those same lands. Instead of getting the privilege of the internet, Kashmiris have been just only relying on television news, radio alerts, and awareness posters that authorities have been putting up in public places to make people aware about the pandemic. According to locals, the TV channels don’t properly guide the public— telling people where they can go to get tested, and what steps to take to prevent spreading the infection. The recent accession and provocation have crossed all limits of atrocities. Rather, inside India, the intellectuals and moderate politicians do voice against Indian policy over Kashmir.
The Modi Government’s malicious propaganda that Pakistan has sent the Corona-stricken patients to the Valley is nothing but a reflection of his mala fide intentions accompanied by political hedonism. Modi’s agenda is to use the Corona crisis as an evil opportunity for killing Kashmiris. Yet, make no mistake any loss of Kashmiri lives via Coronavirus bears a direct responsibility on the shoulders of the Indian premier—whose anti-humanist policy clearly invites a legal recourse to be tried for genocide in Kashmir. In this hour of helplessness, uncertainty and turmoil, Kashmiris desperately look towards the international community to take the prompt action that may save them from the draconian policy that India under Modi’s regime is complying there. It is not out of context to say that we, the Pakistanis cannot help sharing the Kashmiris’ grievances. The time has come that we, the Pakistanis need to strategize our moral, diplomatic and ideological support via peace or war, for Kashmiris.
—The writer, an independent ‘IR’ researcher-cum-analyst based in Pakistan, is member of European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on IR, Critical Peace & Conflict Studies, also a member of Washington Foreign Law Society and European Society of International Law.
