Seven decades of brutality
CHARMING and enchanting, Kashmir is cradled high in the lofty green Himalayas and hailed all over the world for its wonderful natural beauty.
Surrounded by peaks, lush green valleys, glistening lakes, temples and glorious Mughal-era gardens, it has inspired poets through centuries. It has been under assault and humanitarian bloodbath for over seven decades but remains irresolvable.
Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of conflicts have been resolved successfully like “the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands, a long-lived dispute was also resolved through a referendum under UN leadership. Unfortunately, Kashmir is still disputed.
Kashmir has been referred to as the most dangerous place on earth. The prospect of two nuclear powers facing off across such a comparatively small space is frightening indeed.
Since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, this unresolved land and the people who live there have been at the root of constant tension between the world’s most populous democracy, India and Pakistan that three major wars have been fought between those protagonists over the years only heighten the fear that now exists given their advanced technology.
Global and regional implications aside, the instability and lack of any conclusive resolution to the political dispute have left the population of Kashmir divided and uncertain about their future.
A land of immense beauty, Kashmir has seen its once burgeoning tourist industry fade completely in the face of military incursions.
Pakistan and India are neighbours and nuclear powers and have numerous unresolved controversies and problems topped by the lingering and burning Kashmir issue. Pakistan enjoys cordial and friendly relations with all other countries of the region.
It is pertinent to speak here that India is not only illegally occupying the Jammu and Kashmir territory for more than seven decades, but it is also denying the Kashmiris their basic right of self-determination, is persistently resorting to brutalities.
India’s tactics to integrate Kashmir into the Indian Union did not achieve because the main Kashmiri leaders and parties opposed these endeavours.
The Kashmiris want that they should themselves decide about their political future, as committed to them by the UN Resolutions of 1948-49.
Indian leadership contests this and uses force to crush this desire. This has resulted in an eternal dispute between the Indian authorities and the people of Kashmir.
India has been using security establishment to govern Kashmir which frequently resulted in human rights violations in Kashmir.
Indian actions are driven by the consideration of keeping Kashmir under its influence irrespective of human rights or other costs. The unnecessary design of security forces and state power by India has the Kashmir Valley into a “Human Tragedy”.
The Indian government uses security forces to suppress Kashmiris. The Kashmiri people want freedom from India and decide their political future on their own. This is not acceptable to India and it uses force to control Kashmiris.
The political history of Kashmir since 1947 shows that the Kashmiris have resisted Indian actions to integrate Kashmir fully into the Indian Federation.
The Kashmiris have tackled the wrath of Indian security forces but they did not change their mind on the future of Kashmir. This problem has negatively affected the relations between India and Pakistan. There is a necessity to pursue a tranquil political solution to the Kashmir dilemma.
For this purpose, Pakistan and India should hold a regular discussion for evolving methods to implement the UN resolutions on Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the Indian Government should adopt ways to control human rights mayhem by its security forces in the India-occupied Kashmir and build an environment for a solution to the Kashmir dilemma.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Kandhkot, Sindh.
