Mohammad Jamil
THERE are many similarities between Kashmir dispute and Palestine issue; for one both date back to 1947-48; civilian casualties are very high as a result of brutal occupations; despite repression and oppression Kashmiris and Palestinians stand tall and they refuse to bow; and UNSC has passed resolutions acknowledging the right to self determination of Kashmiris and a separate state for Palestinians. In both cases, occupying forces violate human rights, alter the demographic structure, and pose a threat to peace and security. Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned the continuing extrajudicial killings by Indian occupation forces in fake encounters and phony cordon-and-search operations in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmri (IOJ&K). In April alone, Indian occupation forces martyred 33 Kashmiris and seriously injured over 150 with impunity under draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Public Safety Act (PSA) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
Kashmiris are vociferously protesting against a new piece of legislation rolled out by India, saying it’s a page straight out of the Israeli playbook and will alter demographics in the Muslim-majority region. The new set of laws allows Indian citizens to permanently reside and buy land in India-occupied Kashmir if they have worked in the region for 15 years or studied there for seven years. Children of federal government employees will also get domicile certificates if their parents have lived in Kashmir for 10 years, according to a notification released by Indian Home Ministry. The racist and unjust laws India has been enacting lately are similar to the racist laws Israel has been applying in Palestine for decades. Israel indicated to carry out West Bank annexation on 1 July as agreed to between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White Party head Benny Gantz.
US President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘deal of the century’ plan, announced on 28 January referred to Jerusalem as “Israel’s undivided capital” and recognizes Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the West Bank, has emboldened Israel. The plan includes the establishment of a highly fragmented Palestinian State connected by bridges and tunnels. Palestinian officials say that under the US plan, Israel would annex 30-40% of the West Bank, including all of East Jerusalem, seen as the capital of a future Palestinian State. The plan has drawn widespread criticism from the Arab world and rejected by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which urged all member states not to engage with this plan or to cooperate with the US Administration in implementing it in any form. The decision comes as Kashmir reels under a near ninth-month lockdown following India’s decision to annex territory in August last year.
“Coronavirus has piled more misery on the region where the people, under a new lockdown, have had restrictions tightened further. India is behaving like a Mafia Cartel in Kashmir. It decides the fate of eight million people with a stroke of a pen. This is nothing but a broad daylight robbery,” said a top businessman in main Srinagar city who declined to be identified, citing reprisals. India-occupied Kashmir is considered to be the most militarised place in the world, with New Delhi deploying more than 500,000 troops and paramilitaries, a further 100,000 Indian police and about 30,000 SPOs (special police officers) have been added to add to the woes of Kashmiris. Pro-freedom groups and rights activists say the ruling Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans to implement a “demographic change” by settling army officers, bureaucrats, migrant labourers and even nomadic slum dwellers in the region.
“The world is fighting the demon of Coronavirus and Indian rulers are busy usurping the rights of Kashmiris,” Syed Abdullah Gilani, a spokesperson of popular resistance group Hurriyat (G), told Middle East Eye. From 1954 to 5 August 2019, Kashmir had a special status under the Indian Constitution which allowed it to enact its own laws, have own flag and a Constitution. Those provisions also barred outsiders from settling in and owning land in the territory, but they were revoked by India last year. Experts say that with the new domicile laws New Delhi is imposing a settler-colonial project mirroring Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands. “It’s a blatant attempt to colonise Kashmir and populate it with new and old colonisers to make Kashmir’s indigenous citizens a minority in their own land,” said Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian affairs expert and Director of Istanbul-based Centre for Islam and Global Affairs.
The racist and unjust laws India has been enacting lately are similar to the racist laws Israel has been applying in Palestine for decades. Indian state functionaries themselves have spoken of this well-thought-out Israeli-style solution for Kashmir. It is certainly a settler colonialism project with tragic consequences for Kashmiris to it. Observers say changes in the domicile law may also disenfranchise thousands of non-resident Kashmiri Muslims, as well as tens of thousands of Muslims who were exiled from the region since 1947 to Pakistan and elsewhere. In fact, India had started its efforts to change demography of the IoK when in June 2008, Kashmiri Muslims had protested against allotment of land to Delhi-based Amarnath Shrine Trust, which was violation of the law.
Earlier, Congress-led government had allotted a piece of land near the shrine apparently to facilitate Hindu pilgrims that throng the shrine in large numbers, but Kashmiris were suspicious of the government’s intentions, as efforts were being made to encourage migration of Hindus to the state with a view to diluting Kashmiri Muslims’ 98 per cent majority in IoK. It means that there is only difference of degree, as draconian laws had existed during both Congress-led governments and BJP governments. However, Narendra Modi is implementing the annexation plan and advancing fascist and Hindutva agenda changing India’s secular character.
—The writer is a senior journalist based in Lahore.
