The human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) is alarming, warranting a notice from the UN and international community. While the Modi government always uses different tactics to paint normalcy, the situation is quite the opposite in the valley where all records of brutalities are being broken to suppress the freedom movement.
The BBC’s year-long investigation into the Indian government’s campaign to intimidate and silence the press in Kashmir uncovers a disturbing pattern. Journalists in Kashmir live under constant fear. Many reported being summoned by the police, sometimes multiple times, for “routine background checks.” These checks, however, often extended to invasive personal inquiries, including property ownership, bank accounts and religious and political beliefs.
The line between journalism and criminality blurred, with journalists labelled as anti-nationals and terror sympathisers. The clampdown on the press is part of a broader crackdown on civil liberties in Kashmir. Nobody is safe from the hands of the Indian security forces that are employing rape as a weapon of war to instil fear in the Kashmiri people. About eleven thousand rape cases have been reported in IIOJK and we believe this is only tip of the iceberg as many cases go unreported. The entire Kashmiri leadership is detained whilst those raise voice for their rights are also put behind the bars.
The UN special procedures have also expressed concern over detention of human rights defenders Khurram Pervaiz and Irfan Mehraj saying they are designed to de-legitimise their human rights work and to obstruct monitoring of the human rights situation in India-held Kashmir. Then the way pellet guns have been used to blind the Kashmir youth is also an open secret. But all this has not broken the will of brave and courageous Kashmiri people for right to self-determination. It is for the international community to shun its silence and take notice of blatant human rights violations in the illegally occupied territory. Promises made with the Kashmiri people for right to self determination needs to be fulfilled.
