Dr Muhammad Khan
WITH the formal imposition of Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act-2019, Indian has unilaterally and unlawfully ended the special and separate status of the occupied part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir on October 31, 2019. The Act comprises provisions to reconstitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories (UTs); UT Ladakh and UT Jammu and Kashmir with effect from October 31, 2019. This Indian Act is a blatant violation of the UN resolutions and Constitution of the Indian occupied State of Jammu and Kashmir. From this day, India has assumed direct control over the occupied state through two Lieutenant Governors (LGs): Girish Chandra Murmu and R K Mathur, who were sworn in on October 31, 2019 at Srinagar and Leh. This is another dark day in the history of state like October 27, 1947 and August 5, 2019. This illegal Indian Act has the provision of legislature like Puducherry for the Jammu and Kashmir (UT) whereas, Ladakh UT will have no legislature. New Delhi will be in direct control of the police and the law and order in both illegally constituted UTs.
Illegal annexation of the occupied state into Indian Union territory may be end for India as far as the Kashmir dispute is concerned, but for the people of Jammu and Kashmir is the beginning of new phase in their historical struggle against foreign invasion. The people of Jammu and Kashmir will never accept bifurcation of their state into two UTs nor would they accept direct Indian rule over the state, which in no case is part of India. There have been instances where integral Indian UTs became state or a state bifurcated into two states, but it has never been a practice that a state bifurcated and converted into UTs.
Converting a disputed state into UTs, whose future has yet to be determined by its masses, is another crime which India has committed. India has kept the occupied state under siege and curfew ever since it decided to introduce the bill in Indian Parliament on August 5, 2019. It is unclear as how many more weeks and months, India would like to hold the Kashmiris as hostage, even after imposition of Act on October 31, 2019. During the last three months, Indian Army has arrested over 20,000 youth from various parts of the state and transferred them to various jails inside India, since jails in the Valley, Ladakh and Jammu have already been filled owing to massive illegal arrests and detentions of Kashmiris.
Despite requests from human rights groups, independent media houses, officials and parliamentarian groups for overseeing the human rights situation in the IoK, India did not allow visit of any unbiased observer to visit there. On October 29, 2019, Indian Government arranged the visit of a group of largely right-wing European parliamentarians (MEPs) to visit IoK, just two days prior to imposition of the Reorganization Act. According to BBC news, “The visit has been criticised as nothing more than a PR stunt.” There are similar views from other independent media channels like Al-Jazeera. These MEPs of EU Parliament were highly manipulated and part of Indian lobby, having the sentiment like Nazis. They had the sentiments similar to Indian RSS: a collaboration of Modi’s RSS and Hitlers’s Nazis. It is a dangerous collaboration, which provoked outrage from the local Kashmiri masses and even the Indian opposition parties. Members of this group were hosted in a luxury hotel around famous and historical Dal Lake. 15 hand-picked Kashmiri delegations, mostly manipulated traders and students met the MEPs in a hotel next to a guest house, where Omar Abdullah is held under house arrest. Rather meeting the besieged Kashmiris in Srinagar, this 27 member’s right-wing EU MEPs had boat ride on the picturesque Dal Lake under tight security of Indian Army, indeed, a matter of shame for them and those who arranged this visit. On this day, Indian Army killed five innocent civilians, who wanted to go out for the basic necessities like food and medicines. There took place over fifty protests against Indian siege and curfew in the valley area only.
All these Euro MPs were nationalist, anti-immigration and anti-Muslims, with a clear alliance with Hindutva, the BJP-RSS ideology. On the eve of their visit to IoK, even European Parliament had to clarify that it is not an official visit, permitted and sponsored by EU Parliament. It was a visit by this far right group {Nazi group} in their personal capacity, sponsored and funded by India. A UK MEP Charis Davies said, “His invitation had been rescinded after he sought unfettered access to go anywhere and speak to anyone he wanted. I am not prepared to take part in a PR stunt for the Modi government and pretend that all is well.” This is a clear evidence of Indian manipulated visit of this right wing group of EU MPs to stamp its illegal act and to divert attention from the continuous siege and curfew since last three months.
Earlier, India did not allow the US Senator, Chris Van Hollen, to visit India-occupied Kashmir in the beginning of October 2019. The Senator and his team later visited Azad Kashmir and highly criticized the illegal act of annexation of the IoK into Indian Union. The visit of Euro MPs is being criticized at the global level including EU Parliament, as highly manipulated, controversial and discriminatory. This group of Euro MPs, in fact, caused humiliation to civilized society of Europe. Despite illegal Indian act of annexation of the occupied state, the Jammu and Kashmir remains as a global dispute, yet to be resolved as per the wishes of its subjects through a free and fair plebiscite under UN resolutions. The Indian manipulated visit of Euro-MPs cannot change the status of dispute.
— The writer is Professor of Politics and International Relations at International Islamic University, Islamabad.