Today, after five years of relegation of the statehood and revocation of special status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), India has not been able to control the security situation in any part of the occupied state. Rather the security situation and unrest among the masses of entire IIOJK has further deteriorated. The people of IIOJK have rejected all the steps Indian Government has taken since August 5, 2019. On this day, Indian Government acted unilaterally and illegally and revoked special status of IIOJK granted through Article 370 of Indian Constitution and later supplemented by Article 35A in 1954. Indeed, relegation of the status of IIOJK by India on August 5, 2019 was illegal, immoral and a blatant violation of international law, UN resolutions and constitution of IIOJK. Special status of IIOJK under Article 370 of Indian Constitution was a temporary, transitional and provisional arrangement, asserting that, Kashmir was not part of India. This temporary position was to remain effective until people of Kashmir determine their future status through a free and fair plebiscite as per UN resolutions.
In last seventy-six years, plebiscite could not be held in Jammu and Kashmir only because of Indian perpetual reluctance through a strategy of prolonging the dispute and buying time for changing the nature of dispute. It is pertinent to mention that, Article 370 was to remain valid until conduct of the plebiscite in the state as per UN resolutions. This article got a conditional acceptance from the Constitutional Assembly of IIOJK after which Assembly was dissolved in 1956/57. Undoing this Article was to be done by the Constitutional Assembly or at least Legislative Assembly of IIOJK which was not done, since India imposed Presidential Rule to implement its illegal annexation of the state through unconstitutional ways and means. By relegating the statehood of IIOJK into union territories, India humiliated the entire Kashmiri nation, Pakistan and UNO.
Since India had larger designs for IIOJK, therefore, subsequent to its illegal act of August 5, 2019, New Delhi introduced yet another illegal act; “Adaptation of State Laws Order-2020” on April 1, 2020. This law was introduced to grant Kashmiri citizenship to non-Kashmiris, the Indian nationals from various parts of India. I was a plan to make massive demographic changes in IIOJK, yet another violation of International Law, UN resolution; a) UNCIP resolutions, b) UNSC resolutions; no. 91 and Resolution no. 122 and Geneva Convention-1949. Article 49 of the Fourth (4th) Geneva Convention-1949 provides adequate protection to local civil population of any occupying territory with respect to the right over their land and security against making any demographic changes in the composition of the original population.
Article 49 (6) of the 4th Geneva Convention exclusively deal with the Protection of civil population in the time of war. Since 1990, the occupied state of Jammu and Kashmir has been a war zone with an overwhelming military presence of over 900,000 Indian troops. Indian security forces have been involved in massive killings of Kashmiris masses with total impunity under repressive Indian laws. Indeed, IIOJK has highest troops concentration level in the world with the status of an active war zone. Besides, Article 49 (6) of the 4th Geneva Convention prohibits the transfer by an occupying power of its own civilian population in the area it occupies or colonizes. The Article stipulates that the “Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.
India is a signatory state of the Geneva Convention-1949, therefore bound to observe and follow the Convention in its essence. Shifting its own population in occupied parts of the state Jammu and Kashmir clearly aims at making the demographic changes by India.Indeed, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act-2019 and Adaptation of State Laws Order-2020 are meant to make demographic changes in IIOJK. The Jammu and Kashmir is an international dispute with over 20 UN resolutions, demanding its solution through a free and fair plebiscite. How can India devise these strategies in occupied Jammu and Kashmir which is not its part?
From the perspective of international law, Geneva Convention, international covenants, UN Charter and UN resolutions and other human rights laws, Indian occupation of IIOJK and converting and annexing it into Indian Union is illegal and a wilful of violation of the international treaties. From the legal perspective, India cannot change the status of a state under its occupation, whose resolution is pending at United Nations. As an international body, United Nations has not played an effective and convincing role towards resolution of Kashmir dispute.The permanent five members of UNSC, making the international elite club have been found seriously wanting over post August 5, 2019 developments in IIOJK.Besides, international community and UNO are mysteriously quite over the massive human rights violations, being perpetrated by India in IIOJK. UN and its elite club could have realized their global responsibilities in the light of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) since India is violator of human rights and occupying state in IIOJK.
The Government of Pakistan should have approached UN and its organs like; Human Rights Council, ICJ, ICC and other international forums against the massive human rights violations and abovementioned illegal acts of India in IIOJK. Indeed, in the absence of any worthwhile response, India got total freedom to terrorize the Kashmiris, further consolidate its illegal occupation over IIOJK through demographic changes and imposing its own constitution in IIOJK.The people of entire Jammu and Kashmir demand that, India must restore the statehood and special status of IIOJK as CMBs for ultimate resolution of Kashmir dispute as per wishes of its masses. The writer is Professor of Politics and IR at International Islamic University, Islamabad.
