Islamabad
Speakers at a live webinar have said that the India’s nefarious design aimed at bringing material change in the region will have devastating impact on political, economic and cultural identity of the Kashmiri people.
The webinar titled “Demographic Changes in Indian occupied Kashmir & Its impact on Indigenous Population” was hosted by the Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR).
It was attended and addressed by Ambassador (Retd) Zamir Akram, Andrew Gwynne, Prof. Mehmut Sukru Guzel, Mirza Saaib Beg, Syed Waqas Ali Kausar, Endre Barcs and others. The event was moderated by the KIIR Chairman, Altaf Hussain Wani.
In his opening statement the KIIR chief, Altaf Wani, referred to the precarious situation in the held territory and termed 2019 as a dark year for Kashmir. “It has been a rough year for Kashmiris who after being stripped of their decades long special status had to bear the brunt of crippling military lockdown and communication blockade”, he said. He added that after a loss of special status, Kashmiris were now reeling under COVID-19 lockdown, which, he said, was remorselessly used by India as an opportunity to implement its colonial agenda.
Mirza Saaib Beg, a Kashmiri lawyer, based in London, UK, underlined the dangerous aspects of the newly introduced domicile law and said that the domicile law was a disastrous recipe to deprive Kashmiris of their land, jobs and other privileges. “Domicile law will give the Indians an opportunity to buy land, apply for jobs in Kashmir”, Beg added.
As far as India’s plan to alter the demography of the territory is concerned, he said that the work on the plan had begun the day when the Indian government introduced the new domicile law for the residents of Kashmir. Giving the figures, he said, “There are 1.5 million non-Kashmiris who will qualify for the 15-year category of the domicile law excluding the other 2 categories which is 15 percent of the current population of Kashmir”.
These people, he said, will get voting rights in Kashmir who will participate in the electoral process. He said that India was doing its bit to legitimize things, which he said were not acceptable to Kashmiri people. “In case there is a referendum on Kashmir in future, it will be very difficult to get these people out of Kashmir”, he said, adding that it will further complicate the matter.
Referring to other aspects of the continued lockdown in the territory, he said, “As private economy has been destroyed due to lockdown the unemployment rate in Kashmir has increased”. He said that 500,000 jobs were available in Kashmir, if non-Kashmiris started applying for the jobs, unemployment of Kashmiris would increase.
Regarding natural resources in Kashmir, he said that the tenders of mining of were given to non-Kashmiris through online bidding.
Regarding the BJP government’s plan to settle outsiders in Kashmir, he said, “Deforestation has already taken place in the territory to settle in the valley”. He revealed that 50,000 acres of land had been under the illegal control by the Indian army. He said that the series of laws enacted by the government of India in Kashmir amply demonstrated the fact that Indian was hell bent to change the demography of the territory the way Israel did in Palestine.
He, however, maintained that Kashmiris had lost everything and had nothing more to lose against India. Kashmiris, he said, have not and will not give up hope and will continue with the resistance.
Citing the worst human rights violations taking place in the territory, he said, “Atrocities being carried out against Kashmiris by Indian forces can be the reason to approach the international courts though the United Nations”.
Renowned Turkish peace and human rights activist, Prof. Mehmut Sukru Guzel said, “Legally, the Jammu and Kashmir is an international dispute according to the United Nations Security Council resolution.” He said that Indian bid to change the demographic of Jammu and Kashmir was a flagrant violation of the UN Charter.
Ambassador Zamir Akram, who has served as the Pakistan Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said that Indian policies regarding the change on the status of occupied Kashmir had been the BJP’s core agenda for many years. Modi’s relations with the US, he said, has given him confidence to carry out the illegally process in IOK
He said that India’s main motive behind the move was to grant non-Kashmiris citizenship and other rights including the right to employment and buy the land in Kashmir.
Terming it as a violation of the Geneva Convention, he said, “It is no short of any genocide in Kashmir”. The Modi government, he said, was hell bent on converting the Kashmiri people into a minority in their own land as was done by the Americans to the Native Americans.
Kashmiri people, he said, need to fight back for their rights as the people of Kashmir have the right for self-defense against the atrocities carried out by the Indian government.
He said that a concentrated sustained effort was needed to project the overall Kashmir dispute and the urgency about the demographic changes. He said Pakistan has been trying to raise and project this issue worldwide but due to the travel constrictions, their approach has been limited in the last few months.
He said legal experts need to be brought together so that they can work together to raise the legal aspects of the issue to take it to the international court of justice.
Syed Waqas Ali Kausar said that the Indian forces deployed on the Line of Control had been deliberately targeting local population to deflect world attention away from the situation in the held territory. He said that it had been BJP’s political agenda to further complicate and divide the region based on religious and ethnic bases.
About the political and financial empowerment of the people of AJK, he said, “After the 13th amendment, AJK was further empowered which is hailed by people within and outside the AJK.”
British MP, Mr Andrew Gwynne on the occasion voiced his concern over the deafening silence of the international community on the sufferings of Kashmir and said, “What has been happening in Kashmir the global community would have been outraged if it would have happened to people in any other part of the world.”
Addressing the event, Endre Barcs said, “People of the world are not aware of the Kashmir dispute until the atrocities carried out by by the Modi government.”
He said that the international media was heavily covering the Kashmir dispute in the western part of the world to give the Kashmiri people a voice.—KMS
