A systematic genocide of Kashmiris in IIOJK
What India wants in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) should be the basic question to understand the systematic process of Kashmiri genocide since 1990.
Indeed, India wants to continue its illegal possession of the occupied parts of the Jammu and Kashmir (the land of the state) at any cost, but not the Kashmiris.
India is no longer interested to tolerate the Kashmiris masses who refused to become Indian subjects despite passage of seven decades.
The ground realities are that the people of Jammu and Kashmir never accepted the Indian constitution nor ever liked to be called as Indians in their past seventy-four years of post-colonial history.
Through Article 370 and 35A, India lured Kashmiris to become its subjects but, could not eliminate the element of Kashmiriyat, from the people of IIOJK.
The Kashmiris all over the globe have maintained their identity; “the Kashmiriyat” which really bothers India.
The Indian illegal act of annexation of IIOJK on August 5, 2019 was the ultimate, well-planned and futuristic. The process of genocide of Kashmiris is continuing ever since the restart of Kashmiris uprising in 1990.
Nevertheless, through its post August 5, 2019 genocide strategy, India is systematically killing Kashmiris as a campaign.
Through deployment of its 900,000 security forces, India has completely besieged the IIOJK since August 5, 2019.
The houses of besieged Kashmiris are liable to be searched by Indian Army and paramilitary forces along with NIA. During the process of search, these agencies use five strategies.
One, killing Kashmiris on spot in the presence of entire family and children since these agencies have complete impunity under Indian special power acts; AFSPA and PSA.
Two, arrest the people and take them to detention centres where they are put through a heartless process of tease torture until death or paralysis. Three, arrest and execution through stage managed fake encounters.
Four, detonating the houses after alleging that Kashmiri activists are inside these houses. Five, persecution and raping of Kashmiri women while blaming them for the protection of those demanding their right of self-determination.
All these acts of Indian military, its paramilitary forces and NIA are part of larger Indian strategy of genocide of the people of Kashmir especially the Kashmiri youth.
The worst part of this Indian strategy is that, it is not challenged by; any one and any state, any international forum, any human rights organization, any major power, any Muslim state, OIC and, above all, the United Nations Organization which has passed over two dozen resolutions about the disputed nature of Jammu and Kashmir and right of self-determination of Kashmiris.
In the absence of any international accountability or even condemnation of its brutal acts against Kashmiris, India gets encouragement to intensify the process of Kashmiris genocide.
It is worth mentioning that there have been killings of over 20 Kashmiri youths in the first three weeks of November 2021.
In October 2021, the number of killings in IIOJK was thirty-four including twelve in custodial killings, 1540 Kashmiris were arrested and six houses were destroyed.
Among those killed in November 2021, a video of a young Kashmiri girl has been circulating over social media, who agonizingly narrated the incident of her father’s killing by Indian Army in front of the entire family.
No human rights organization in Pakistan and anywhere in the world took a note of it, nor had the main stream media time to debate such like Indian brutalities in IIOJK.
The question arises, who will project these Indian brutalities at the global level, since there is a totally black-out in IIOJK.
The few incidents reported on social media despite the Indian ban, speaks a lot about the Indian brutalities in IIOJK.
On November 18, Indian Army killed five Kashmiri youths while being in the custody of Indian Army; an act of extra-judicial killing.
This is in addition to earlier killing of four Kashmiri youths, killed in another act of extra-judicial killing.
The Foreign Office of Pakistan strongly “condemned the extra-judicial killings of five more Kashmiris by Indian occupation forces a day earlier in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), and called on the international community to take notice of New Delhi’s state-terrorism in the valley.”
These five Kashmiri youths were killed in Kulgam district of IIOJK in two separate military operations of Indian Army which is the part of Indian genocide campaign of Kashmiris in IIOJK.
Indian Army has not returned the dead bodies of two youths despite requests by families and protects in the area.
These two innocent civilians were not militants but, Mohammad Altaf Bhat, a dental surgeon and Mr Mudassir Ahmed, a real estate dealer.
The major reason for not returning the bodies is that, Indian Army has badly smashed the bodies and cut the body parts into pieces.
This type of Indian brutalities is a routine process in IIOJK, primarily aims to make them example for other Kashmiri youths who dare to stand against Indian military might.
India is using the systematic process of genocide of Kashmiris as a last resort for controlling and illegally consolidating its occupation of IIOJK.
Indian strategic partnership with major powers, its superior diplomacy, its media overtures and political engagements all over the globe are providing a solid coverage to its acts of genocide in IIOJK.
The question arises, do we have a clear Kashmir Policy to at least protect Kashmiris from the systematic genocide of Kashmiris at the hands of Indian Army in IIOJK.
— The writer is Professor of Politics and IR at International Islamic University, Islamabad.
