Syed Qamar Afzal Rizvi
THE recently endorsed victory in local elections of a coalition of parties opposed to New Delhi’s policies in Kashmir is a wake-up call for the Indian government. By revoking Articles 370 and 35-A in the Indian Constitution, the Modi Government has made great blunders—as the new Kashmir status to become the part of the India Union—remains completely unfulfilled. The Farooq Abdullah-led People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration ((PAGD), which was heading for a big victory in the local polls, has favoured talks between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.
Some regional politicians and observers say the results of the vote signalled rejection of New Delhi’s constitutional changes in Kashmir and a rebuff to the Modi Government, which has labelled the PAGD Alliance a “gang” and its leaders “anti-nationals” and “looters.” The Gupkar alliance led by Farooq Abdullah was ahead in the seat tally in the maiden DDC polls in Jammu and Kashmir by winning or leading in 112 seats out of 280 on Tuesday, followed by the BJP which had won 52 seats, including three in the Kashmir Valley for the first time, and was frontrunner in 18. “The verdict is an important development. We are fighting a democratic battle to undo New Delhi’s August 5, 2019, measures. The people have now spoken and it’s for those who believe in democracy to pay heed to these voices,” Omar Abdullah, Kashmir’s former top elected official and an alliance leader, told DW. Abdullah’s National Conference Party managed to secure 67 seats.
The election is part of a process in which residents directly elect their village representatives, who then vote to form development councils for clusters of villages. Members for the larger District Development Councils are also directly elected but they have no legislative powers and are only responsible for economic development and public welfare. India has repeatedly called such polls a vital grassroots exercise to boost development and address civic issues and a way to uproot corruption. Indian authorities have kept a tight grip on Kashmir since revoking its autonomy in August last year and have arrested most separatist leaders, who in the past have called for a boycott of elections
Critics said the elections for the 280-seat Council, which brings together representatives from Jammu and Kashmir’s 20 districts, are an exercise in propaganda since the state legislature elections have been postponed since 2018 and the region has lost its statehood. Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Mainstream politicians used to straddle the middle ground between separatists and New Delhi. But the shock of abrogation and clampdown on dissent humiliated the local pro-India politicians. Post-abrogation, the battle lines have crystallised: either you are with New Delhi or against it. “The Indian Constitution does not permit separatism,” said BVR Subrahmanyam, Jammu and Kashmir Administrator Chief Secretary. “Technically anyone in India who says Kashmir is a disputed territory is actually committing sedition, there is no doubt about that.”
In a statement, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the RSS-BJP (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party) brand of democracy only means the muzzling of the Kashmiri voice and will, under the bayonets of Indian Army guns “The ‘new chapter’ that the RSS-BJP regime is writing in IIOJK has been one marked by brutal military siege since 5 August 2019, egregious violations of human rights in the occupied territory, and untold sufferings for the Kashmiri people,” the Foreign Ministry said. The Modi Government has been trying to silence criticism, forcing organisations like Amnesty International, India, to shut down operations in the country.
After more than 14 months of illegal detention and confinement in their homes, some of Kashmir’s mainstream political leaders were released. Their release introduces new complexities in an altered political landscape. New alliances and political partnerships are emerging, many of which are united in their efforts to reinstate Article 370 and statehood for Kashmiris. Others are creating their own individual spaces in electoral politics, with a few maintaining their allegiance to the Congress or Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Very recently, the Indian security forces killed two Kashmiri students in a fake encounter. Pakistan strongly condemned what it termed the “extra-judicial killing” of the three Kashmiris in “yet another fake encounter” by Indian security forces in Srinagar. “Pakistan reiterates its call for independent inquiry under international scrutiny to investigate the unabated extra-judicial killings of Kashmiris by Indian occupation forces and to bring the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to justice,” a statement issued by the Foreign Office said. “It is a well-known fact that those guilty of gross human rights violations in IIOJK have never been prosecuted,” the FO said, referring to previous incidents of extra-judicial killings, custodial deaths, and “mass rapes of women” in Kunan-Poshpora (1991), Pathribal (2000), Ganderbal (2007), Machil (2010), and several others.
Many of the unlawful killings in Jammu and Kashmir have been perpetrated by the Indian security forces, vehemently involved in land grabbing, remain failed to differentiate and distinguish between combatants and non-combatants and to spare the physical integrity and lives of non-combatants fundamentally required by international humanitarian standards. Amnesty International has repeatedly urged armed groups in Jammu and Kashmir to act in consonance with minimum standards of humanitarian law and today reiterates this appeal. Unabatedly, the unlawful killings have been carried out by agents of the state, including state police, central police force and military or paramilitary forces.
The world map on WHO website shows India and Jammu Kashmir as separate entities which according to WHO spokesman is as per the guidelines provided by the United Nations. Whereas, the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference Chairman Shabbir Ahmed Dar has hailed the World Health Organization for showing Jammu Kashmir including Ladakh a separate entity from India, as against Narendra Modi government’s claim. Veritably, the redrawing of the boundaries in the said map are in accordance with the guidelines provided by the United Nations.
—The writer, an independent ‘IR’ researcher-cum-international law analyst based in Pakistan, is member of European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on IR, Critical Peace & Conflict Studies, also a member of Washington Foreign Law Society and European Society of International Law.
