Altaf Hussain Wani
THE recent report by the Concerned Citizens’ Group (CCG) on its eleventh visit to Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir is not merely observational; it is a chilling testament to a deliberate betrayal. It depicts not integration, but a suffocating occupation where promises of democracy, dignity and self-determination have been systematically shredded, leaving a populace trapped in “sullen silence” on the brink of eruption.
For decades, Kashmiris were assured that their future would be decided through the democratic principle enshrined in UN Security Council Resolutions 47, 80, 98 and 122: a free and impartial plebiscite. Indian leaders, from Nehru onwards, repeatedly pledged on global platforms that the people of Kashmir would determine their political destiny under UN auspices. Today, that promise is a ghost—invoked only to be mocked by the grim reality on the ground. India has moved from rhetoric of consent to a policy of punitive control.
The CCG report meticulously documents this architecture of domination. The continued denial of statehood is not an administrative lapse but the cornerstone of a colonial-style diarchy. The elected Chief Minister himself admits to being a “half CM,” presiding over a “toothless” government. Real authority lies with the unelected Lieutenant Governor, a viceroy in all but name, exercising control over law, order and bureaucracy. This arrangement ensures Kashmiri voices can never truly govern Kashmiri land. Even the Indian Supreme Court’s observation that the demotion to Union Territory status was “unconstitutional” underscores the illegitimacy of this political structure.
This political disenfranchisement is compounded by a severe psychological and cultural assault. The report notes a “deep sense of loss—of identity, sub-identity, dignity and honour” following the unilateral abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A. This was not a legal adjustment but an act of demographic and political conquest, stripping away Kashmir’s last constitutional safeguards. When a retired professor laments that there is “no protection for Kashmiri identity today,” he speaks for a people fearing cultural erasure. The branding of cultural events as “invasion” and the Indian national media’s vilification of Kashmiris reflect a project aimed at enforcing a homogenized, majoritarian identity.
Economic repression tightens the noose further. The devastation of tourism after Pahalgam, the auctioning of hotel lands to dispossess local entrepreneurs and the crippling of the horticulture sector through neglect and discriminatory policies are not accidental. They function as instruments of collective punishment and economic disempowerment. As civil society members observe, economic marginalization is a key pillar of the current repression. The new reservation policy—described as a “time-bomb”—pits community against community and region against region, deliberately fracturing Kashmiri society and diverting attention from political resistance to internal conflict.
Most damning is the pervasive climate of fear. The report details a media ecosystem under siege: journalists harassed, credentials revoked and reporting censored. Civil society stands effectively silenced, with intellectuals, doctors and religious leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, subjected to constant surveillance and intimidation. The space for dissent has been surgically removed. This is not the “normalcy” India claims; it is the silence of a graveyard. As one senior editor warns, this enforced quiet is “unsustainable” and destined to explode with dangerous consequences.
India’s response to any challenge has been further militarization. Operations like Sindoor and relentless anti-Pakistan rhetoric are used to justify perpetual lockdowns, while all demands for rights are branded as terrorism. Kashmir’s youth, alienated and stripped of hope, are increasingly pushed toward drugs or radicalization—tragic outcomes of policies that offer no dignity, no future and no peaceful avenues for political expression.
The CCG’s findings expose a stark reality: the Indian government is neither interested in dialogue nor reconciliation, nor in honoring its own historical commitments. The promise of statehood is endlessly deferred and the pledge of a plebiscite buried beneath claims of territorial integrity. The world watches, largely complicit in its silence, as an entire people are stripped of their rights, economy and voice.
The warning from the ground is unmistakable: “Kuch bada hone wala hai”—something big is going to happen. This is not a threat but a desperate prophecy from a population pushed to the wall. The volcano of suppressed anger is real and when it erupts, the responsibility will rest squarely with oppressive policies. The path forward lies not in more battalions or bureaucratic control but in the only just solution ever promised: respecting the Kashmiri people’s right to determine their own future. Until then, the silence will remain—heavy with grief and rage, waiting to find its voice.
—The writer is Chairman, Kashmir Institute of International Relations.
