Iqbal Khan
It is refreshing that India’s main opposition party Congress has asked the BJP led Indian government to bring a Bill in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament to restore full statehood of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Former Chief Minister of IIOJK and senior Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad in a virtual all-party meeting, said, “The government must now bring a Bill and restore the statehood, which was unfairly taken away on August 5, 2019. Scrapping of Article 370 was done unilaterally and state was downgraded” to two Union Territories.
Pakistan once again demonstrated its unwavering support for suffering Kashmiri people on Kashmir Solidarity Day that was observed, World-wide, by Pakistani and Kashmiri people on February 05. In IIOJK, Indian troops are engaged in the genocide of Kashmiris to suppress their struggle for securing freedom from India’s illegal occupation of their homeland. Seeing the commendable resilience of the Kashmiri people in the face of Indian atrocities and the increasing international denunciation of India’s brutal campaign in IIOJK, certainly the Kashmiri spirit will ultimately triumph.
All Parties Harriet Conference (APHC) has welcomed the recent statement of the UN Secretary General, António Guterres with reference to resolution of the Kashmir dispute. The UN Secretary General (UNSG) has asked India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue for ensuring durable peace in the region. The APHC Working Vice Chairman, Ghulam Ahmad Gulzar in a statement issued in Srinagar said that it was obligatory for the UNSG to resolve the 73-year-old issue, still pending on its table. Hurriyat leaders, Jahangir Ghani Butt, Aquib Wani and Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League in their statements have also welcomed the remarks of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.
There is no denying the fact that Kashmir is the jugular vein of Pakistan. There can be no deal on Kashmir. Prime Minister Imran Khan has presented the Kashmir case to the international community in no uncertain terms.
APHC and other organizations have paid glowing rich tributes to the Kashmiri youth martyred by Indian troops. The APHC spokesman in a statement, issued in Srinagar, said that the Kashmiri youth are rendering their lives for a great cause and their sacrifices would not be allowed to go waste. He maintained that India’s intransigence on the Kashmir dispute had endangered the peace of the region and entire world. Senior Hurriyat leader, Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori addressing a condolence meeting in Sopore said the Kashmiris will accomplish the mission of their martyrs at all costs.
The spokesman of Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party in his statement appealed to the international community to impress upon the fascist Indian government to stop bloodshed in IIOJK and give the Kashmiris’ their inalienable right to self-determination.
On the other hand, the Imam of Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid, Syed Ahmed Naqshbandi, reiterated the demand for the immediate release of the Chairman of Hurriyat forum, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, from illegal and arbitrary detention. The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League in a statement in Srinagar said that its leaders and activists held an anti-India demonstration in Srinagar. Addressing on the occasion, the party leader, Dr Sarfaraz Ahmad Khan, deplored that India was suppressing the Kashmiris’ just freedom struggle through killings, arrests, illegal detentions, harassment and other brutal tactics.
APHC leader and Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Social Peace Forum, Advocate Devinder Singh Behl, addressing a religious program of Sikhs at Lam in Nowshera area of Jammu said that India repealed Articles 370 and 35A to strengthen its illegal hold on IIOJK, evict the Kashmiris from their homes and harm their identity.
Kashmir is an UN-mandated dispute and it is the moral and legal obligation of the UN Body to put pressure on India to settle it through negotiations. On February 03, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to continue extending full support to the people of IIOJK in their just struggle for the right to self-determination. “Pakistan will not let anyone take away Kashmir from the Kashmiris. This cause and the struggle is just, sacred and non-negotiable,” FM Qureshi said while addressing a seminar in Islamabad. Pakistan’s ultimate objective remains the resolution of the IIOJK issue as per the wishes of the Kashmiri people and relevant UN Security Council resolutions through a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices.
India is executing a well thought out campaign to change the demographic structure of the IIOJK in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions and international law. India has already issued over 1.8 million bogus domicile certificates to non-Kashmiris to settle them in the IIOJK to undermine the plebiscite.
The world is holding its breath while witnessing the rise of ultra-nationalism, racism, fascism, religious hatred and intolerance in India.
Hindutva ideology espoused by RSS-BJP is not only a threat to the Kashmiris but to India’s own nationals and particularly the Muslim minority.
Pakistan has once again rejected India’s false claim on Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and stated that New Delhi has no other claim over the territory, than that of an occupier. Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Pakistan’s delegate Jawad Ali was responding to Indian delegate Vidisha Maitra’s reaction after Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN Ambassador Munir Akram earlier exposed India’s human rights abuses in the occupied valley. Pakistan’s delegate said that like all occupiers and colonizers of the past, India is attempting to physically, politically and psychologically crush the indigenous Kashmiri struggle for the right of self-determination.
State behaviour of today’s India has become a nightmare for the minorities living in the country. Its current ruling mafia, led by the right-wing BJP Party, has sacrificed “every trapping of secularism”.
India is misguiding the European governments and the US administration as well as other international institutions that it’s fighting against “terrorists” in IIOJK. The powerful governments of these countries are silent over the Indian repression and the worst violations of human rights as well as the genocide of Kashmiri people at the hands of the Indian army, and are thus showing negligence towards their international obligations. Their silence is encouraging India to trample human rights in Kashmir.
The reality is exactly the opposite; India, in fact, is crushing defenceless, weak and unarmed Kashmiri people, and depriving them of their homeland, businesses and livelihood.
India is engaged in the genocide of the inhabitants of the disputed territory. India is committing the crimes against humanity, and at the same time, it wants that the world not to speak about its inhuman actions. The world should push India for a sincere dialogue with Pakistan for the resolution of outstanding Kashmir dispute. Pakistan would continue to expose the true face of India before the world.
Writer is a freelance contributor; email: Iqb-al.khan9999@gmail.com.
