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The first death anniversary of Burhan Wani, Commander of Hizb ul Mujahideen is approaching on July 8, 2017. Since he was an iconic figure of the freedom movement, it is expected that his anniversary would be observed on a large scale in the Indian-occupied Jammu & Kashmir. Widespread protests are expected to be held. The Indian occupation forces, as usual, are likely to use brute force including live ammunition and pellet guns against the protestors which may result in casualties.
Last year, after the killing of Burhan Wani, widespread and spontaneous protests erupted throughout the Indian Occupied Kashmir. In order to control the mass movement, the Indian occupation forces unleashed a reign of terror against the civilians. As a result, more than 200 people embraced martyrdom and around 20,000 got injured. Many became permanently blind due to pellet guns shots. Curfew remained imposed for more than four months. Around 12,000 people were arrested or detained.
The bloodshed is still on and God knows how many more Kashmiris will lose their lives at the hands of Indian forces.
Wani, in his early 20s, had become the face of the struggle in Kashmir and over the last five years was using social media like Facebook to reach out to young Kashmiri men to continue their movement for the independence of Kashmir. He became the voice of the Kashmiri youth and his popularity irritated New Delhi.
Undoubtedly, Burhan Wani was a great voice for freedom of the Indian-occupied Kashmir. Hence, the planned killing of Burhan Wani triggered protest throughout the valley.
The terrible and heinous massacre of Muslim populace of the Indian Controlled Kashmir is continuing since seven decades without any break. Unfortunately, the callous insensitivity of international community is encouraging India to cross all limits of gross human rights violations. It is not that international community is unaware of atrocities, being unleashed on people of Indian Held Kashmir—it is rather the vested interest of Western governments to remain mute just to please India.
Instead of accepting the existing reality, New Delhi resorts to implicating Pakistan for Kashmiri uprising. Indian allegations against Pakistan are a ploy to hoodwink the international community on Kashmir issue and a blanket to hide state-sponsored atrocities on innocent people of Kashmir.
The International community must realise the plight of the Indian Occupied Kashmir and their people. Kashmir has been under unlawful Indian occupation since October 1947. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been granted the right of self-determination under the UN Charter, and under several UN Security Council resolutions, more specifically under UN (UNCIP) resolution of August 13, 1948, and January 5, 1949. These along with subsequent UN resolutions have affirmed that the question of accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through the political democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite. Unfortunately, the stalwart supporters of human equality and advocates of preservation of human rights have done little to resolve decades-long Kashmir dispute. It is sad to admit that death of few animals aired by international media can bring tears in the eyes of people, but no heart moves on the genocide of innocent Kashmiris. These double standards are a drag to international efforts on global peace.
In this regard, Leonardo Boff has rightly said, “The eternal destiny of human beings will be measured by how much or how little solidarity we have displayed with the hungry, the thirsty, the naked and the oppressed. In the end, we will be judged in terms of love.”
However, a peaceful, negotiated settlement of Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions should rank top on UN’s agenda. In order to find a swift and legal solution of Kashmir issue, the international community must stand with people of the Indian-held Kashmir. New Delhi should also realise that no freedom movement has ever been suppressed with force and Kashmir is no exception.
Balochistan has shown solidarity with Kashmiris on July 14, 2017. Huge rallies in all parts of Balochistan occurred to demonstrate unity with Kashmiris against crimes committed by India in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. Youth including universities, colleges and schools mobilised with civil society. Local leaders addressed the rallies to give a clear message of support to the Kashmiris.
Nevertheless, various forms of state terrorism have been part of a deliberate campaign by the Indian army and paramilitary forces against Muslim Kashmiris, especially since 1989. It has been manifested in brutal tactics like crackdowns, curfews, illegal detentions, massacre, targeted killings, sieges, burning the houses, torture, disappearances, rape, breaking the legs, molestation of Muslim women and killing of persons through a fake encounter.
In fact, Indian forces have employed various draconian and controversial laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA) etc. in killing the Kashmiri people, and arbitrarily arrest of any individual for an indefinite period.
Besides Human Rights Watch, in its various reports, Amnesty International has also pointed out grave human rights violations in the Indian-controlled Kashmir, indicating, “The Muslim majority population in the Kashmir Valley suffers from the repressive tactics of the security forces. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act, security forces personnel have extraordinary powers to shoot suspected persons.”
It is mentionable that under the cover of draconian laws, most of the times, the majority of the popular pro-movement leadership is detained or house-arrested by the Indian security forces, and mostly, without prior orders from the higher authorities. As per a Kashmiri human rights group, Voice of Victim (VOV), a total of 1 471 torture centres are operating in the Indian Controlled Kashmir were arrested Kashmiri leaders and the youth are subjected to severe torture.
Nonetheless, Burhan Wani’s blood has given a new impetus to the Kashmir movement which continues unabated against the occupying forces of India.
Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
Posted by admin in Indian Army Atrocities in Kashmir:Extrajudicial Killings & Rapes on September 15th, 2016
Ex-RAW Chief’s Pragmatic Approach on Kashmir
In wake of continued siege and prolonged curfew, Indian security forces have martyred more than 100 innocent persons who have been protesting since July 8, 2016 against the martyrdom of the young Kashmir leader Burhan Wani by the Indian security forces in the Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Without caring for severe criticism all over the world, during his address on the Independence Day of India on August 15, 2016, Indian extremist Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is also leader of the ruling fundamentalist party BJP went aggressively further in a diatribe against Pakistan by claiming that people of Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir are thankful to home for raising voice for their suppressed rights.
On the other side, against his false anti-Pakistan statement, huge rallies and demonstrations were held in Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, including some other cities of Pakistan. Opposing Indian intervention in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan, the speakers on this occasion strongly condemned Prime Minister Modi’s aggressive designs against Pakistan and Kashmiris. They urged international community, civilized world and human rights organizations to take serious notice of the Indian state terrorism—genocide of Kashmiris in the Indian-held Kashmir and interference in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan.
In this context, Pakistan Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that the situation in Balochistan cannot be equated with Kashmir and Indian Prime Minister was only trying to divert world attention from the “grim tragedy” unfolding in Kashmir over the past five weeks.
One can clearly not that Indian-controlled Kashmir (IOK) is burning since July 8, 2016. The lava of resentment from the bursting volcano of IOK is now spreading from the urban centers to rural areas. Indian rulers have been trying to brush aside the issue by keeping it under the carpet, accusing that Pakistan is fuelling the flames.
At this critical juncture, the interview of A. S. Dulat, former chief of India’s spy agency RAW published in the magazine, ‘The Wire’ of August 27, 2016 sheds some light on finding a settlement of the Kashmir dispute. A.S. Dulat is relevant to the issue and helps in understanding the crisis in Kashmir and seeking possible solutions. Dulat who also was director of the Intelligence Bureau, has served in Kashmir for a long time. His most important tenure was between 2001 and 2004, when he was the advisor on Jammu and Kashmir in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s office. In 2015, his book Kashmir, The Vajpayee Years, co-authored with senior journalist Aditya Sinha, created uproar since he became one of the few members of the Indian security and intelligence community to advocate a reduced military presence in Kashmir and to argue the need for India to build confidence amongst Kashmiris through humanitarian measures.
Dulat, while emphasizing that Pakistan’s role is not the only catalyst for the crisis, talks about the need for the Indian government to start talking to separatist leaders in the Hurriyat Conference, Pakistan, and other important political players. He indicates as to how Vajpayee’s and Narendra Modi’s strategies on Kashmir are poles apart and elaborates on why Kashmiris warmed to Vajpayee. He stresses that India should engage in principled dialogue with people in the Valley, instead of taking a naïve and aggressive line. His condemnation of the Modi government for not talking to Hurriyat and for its high handedness in IOK is spot on. He rightly concludes that the Kashmiri uprising is 100% indigenous and Pakistan was taking advantage of the situation in IOK.
However, realistic analysis of A.S. Dulat shows his pragmatic approach regarding the Indian-occupied Kashmir, as he points out that the problem has been there for a while. Under the surface, there has been a lot of anger, hatred and alienation. Never before has it seemed so much in the open. In this context, He said, “Now, you have slogans put up: ‘Indian Dogs Go Back!’ It’s bad and the common Kashmiri is suffering.” He attributes all this, unfortunately, to the BJP-PDP alliance in the Indian-controlled Kashmir. In the 2014 elections, the result was such that this was the only alliance which could work. It was a natural alliance and [PDP leader] Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, therefore, opted for it although he stated that it was an alliance between the North Pole and the South Pole. Everyone hoped that it would bring Jammu and Kashmir together.
In fact, it has torn Jammu and Kashmir apart, because the Kashmiris have been very apprehensive that the BJP and the RSS are gradually penetrating into the Valley. They are very sensitive to that because with that comes fears of the repeal of Article 370, that there may be a change in the demographic pattern of Kashmir and so on. So as long as Mufti Sayeed was there, he muddled through. He was an unhappy man because Delhi did not understand what was happening. So he died an unhappy man.
As war of liberation in the Indian-held Kashmir has accelerated, Indian Prime Minster Modi has no option, but resuming the dialogue process with Pakistan, starting where Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh left it. Modi’s diversionary tactics, drawing the attention off IOK and talking about Balochistan would not help as the problem lies in Kashmir and New Delhi will have to talk to Islamabad.
In this regard, another news item reported in various news papers is the speech given by Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati in Azam Garh, Utter Pradesh. In her speech she has said that BJP may start a war with Pakistan and engineer Hindu-Muslim riots prior to the upcoming polls in utter Pradesh. She has predicted that BJP will use these tactics to divert attention from its failing government policies. Mayawati’s predictions merit attention because BJP is an irrational party, which comprises extremists, who can go to any extent to achieve their gains. Modi, who ignited Gujarat and is responsible for the slaughter of 2000 innocent Muslims in 2002, only because he was seeking re-elections in the province, can well take India to war so that the elections in UP may be won.
Nevertheless, Indian rulers must take cognizance of the interview of the ex-chief of RAW A. S. Dulat in order to seek a peaceful solution of the Kashmir dispute, as he has shown a pragmatic approach on Kashmir.
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