As if use of Indian military was not enough to suppress the freedom movement in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir where oppressing and killing innocent unarmed Kashmiri people goes unabated, the Modi government has now established all Hindu militia units to achieve its sordid designs in the occupied territory. India has already deployed over a million troops in the occupied Valley, which is classified as world’s most militarised zone. Ever since its illegal and unilateral steps of 5th August 2019, the occupied territory has been turned into an open prison for the Kashmiri people. And now raising the Hindu militia units has created a further environment of fear amongst the Muslim population there who are rightly concerned about exacerbation of their woes. We believe this amounts to giving a license to the Hindu community to hunt and kill Muslim population as and when they want to. In the past also, India had created a militia force and rights groups accused their members of committing serious atrocities against civilians. We understand the situation would not be different this time too as those being equipped with arms and weapons will again resort to terrorising the people through different tactics. This will make the situation more precarious.
Indian government is mistaken if it considers that the voice of Kashmiri people can be suppressed through such tactics. The Kashmiri people have been braving all sorts of atrocities over the last seven decades and under no circumstances they will back out of their right to self-determination. In fact the latest act by Indian government will create further anger amongst common Kashmiris and it gives the impression that this is being done to change demography of the occupied territory. It is for the world community to shun its silence, stop India from its cruel policies and speak openly for rights of Kashmiri people. Resolution of this dispute is imperative for durable peace and stability in the region and for this to happen, the UN will have to fulfil the promises made to the Kashmiri people.
