A call to international community on Kashmir
“The real sovereign of the state are the people. The ruler is a servant of the people. If he is not so then he is not the ruler. This is my firm belief, and that is why I became a rebel against the British – because the British claimed to be the rulers of India, and I refused to recognize them as such. In Kashmir too the power belongs to the public. Let them do as they want.”
THESE are the words of none other than father of India, Mahatma Gandhi which reverberate in my thoughts every year on 5 January when we celebrate Right of Self Determination Day for the Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
It is marked to remind the world of their promise to resolve Kashmir dispute in line with the UN resolution on Kashmir passed on 05 January 1949, which stated that the future of the state of Jammu and Kashmir shall be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the UN.
The issue is lingering since then which denotes the triviality, where the world at large accords to gross human rights violations in Kashmir, breach of international norms and disregard to the commitments to international community by the Indian government.
Regrettably, such is a perpetual state of affairs for the last 73 years which is agonising not only to the people of IIOJK and Pakistan but to every human being with a conscience.
India has been refusing to sit down at the negotiating table with Pakistan or those representing the aspirations of the people of IIOJK which is indicative of its apathy to the commitments it has been making with the world, Pakistan and most importantly the people of IIOJK.
Consequently, in these difficult seven-decades, three-generations of Kashmiris have suffered at the hands of Indian occupation forces.
Since its illegal and unilateral actions of revoking Article 370 of Indian Constitution on 5th of August 2019, India has been implementing an elaborate strategy of military occupation, land confiscation, influx of non-Kashmiris, and creation of alien settlements in IIOJK.
So far India has issued more than 4.2 million illegal domicile certificates to non-Kashmiri settlers to obliterate Kashmiri identity.
These actions are in violation of UN Charter, Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 49) and UNSC resolutions.
The gross human rights violations that India has committed in IIOJK especially post its unilateral actions on 05 August 2019, present a gruesome picture.
Since then, more than 502 Kashmiris have been martyred by Indian occupation forces in fake encounters and extra-judicial operations.
Out of these, around 78 persons have been martyred in Indian custody.Since 01 October 2021, 52 Kashmiris have been martyred in fake encounters and so-called “cordon and search operations” by the Indian occupation forces.
In December 2021 alone, 18 Kashmiris were martyred by Indian occupation forces.The so-called largest democracy has also subjected almost entire Kashmiri leadership including Asiya Andrabi, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Yasin Malik and Masarat Alam Bhat to either detention in crowded jails in India or under house arrest on trumped-up charges.
Due to COVID-19, there is a ‘double lockdown’ in IIOJK and people have been facing lack of access to hospitals, medicines specifically lifesaving drugs and critical supplies including oxygen kits and ventilators.
Gross human rights violations continue with an occupation force of 900,000 Indian troops deployed in IIOJK, turning the valley into world’s largest open prison.
This pattern of brutalities and genocide vividly reflects anti-peace and anti-Muslim ‘Hindutva’ agenda of RSS-BJP combine Government.
Their naivety can be further gauged from concoction of fiction that the indigenous and popular Kashmiri resistance to Indian occupation is sponsored by Pakistan, whereas, Pakistan has always been harbinger of rights of IIOJK people.
In order to better inform the international community about the scale of Indian atrocities in IIOJK, Pakistan unveiled a comprehensive dossier on 12 September 2021, comprising of undeniable evidence of human rights violations, war crimes, delinquencies against humanity and false-flag operations by Indian occupation forces in IIOJK.
Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan, during his address to the 76th UNGA session drew attention of the international community to India’s heinous human rights violations in IIOJK, and India’s unilateral and illegal measures aimed at altering the demographic structure of the occupied territory.
The protracted issue of IIOJK has evoked persistent tension in relations between Pakistan and India.
It has resulted in a number of armed conflicts and is a continuing source of poverty amongst the population on both sides.
Pakistan has consistently maintained that durable peace and security in the region is contingent upon peaceful resolution of all unresolved disputes between Pakistan and India including the resolution of the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir as per international legitimacy.
The international community needs to realise that the situation in this part of the world is unique due to strategic orientation of both the neighbours.
It’s appropriately called a nuclear flashpoint which is a cause of concern for the entire world.
The pending issues between both the neighbours, especially of IIOJK, has the potential of bringing them to a close quarter situation which can be of further misery to the already poverty stricken populace on both sides.
The people of IIOJK, especially deserve the right to live as per their aspirations.
India must recognize that no amount of brutalization of Kashmiris can suppress their voice and the legitimate movement to achieve their inalienable right to self-determination.
Nor will India’s illegal and unlawful actions be able to mislead the world into accepting India’s false narrative against the Kashmiris.
India, for once, must lend an ear to the person they call father of Indian nation; Mahatma Gandhi!
—The writer works at Institute of Regional Studies.
