By Sajjad Shaukat
When every year, on
January 26, is being celebrated by India as the Republic Day, Kahmiris on both
side of the Line of Control (LoC) and all over the world, including their
Pakistani brethren commemorate it as the Black Day in protest against Indian
illegal occupation of Kashmir, while, the issue is still alive due to continued
struggle of the Kashmiri people.
On January 26, 1930, the
Indian National Congress proclaimed the declaration of Independence. Hence this
very day was selected as the Republic Day. Although Indian constitution
declares India to be a secular and democratic state, yet its subsequent regimes
have broken all the records by continuing undemocratic injustices in relation
to the Kashmiris.
During the partition of
the Sub-continent, the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) which
comprised Muslim majority decided to join Pakistan according to the British-led
formula. But, Dogra Raja, Sir Hari Singh, a Hindu who was ruling over the State
of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), in connivance with the Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru and Governor General Lord Mountbatten joined India.
The design to forcibly
wrest Kashmir began to unfold on August 16, 1947, with the announcement of the
Radcliffe Boundary Award. It gave the Gurdaspur District—a majority Muslim area
to India to provide a land route to the Indian armed forces to move into
Kashmir. There was a rebellion in the state forces, which revolted against the
Maharaja and were joined by Pathan tribesmen. Lord Mountbatten ordered armed
forces to land in Srinagar.
When Pakistan responded
militarily against the Indian aggression, on December 31, 1947, India made an
appeal to the UN Security Council to intervene and a ceasefire ultimately came
into effect on January 01, 1949, following UN resolutions calling for a
plebiscite in Kashmir to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to determine
whether they wish to join Pakistan or India. On February 5, 1964, India backed
out of its promise of holding plebiscite. Instead, in March 1965, the Indian
Parliament passed a bill, declaring Kashmir a province of India-an integral
part of the Indian union.
The very tragedy of
Kashmiris had started after 1947 when they were denied their genuine right of
self-determination. They organized themselves against the injustices of India
and launched a war of liberation which New Delhi tried to crush through various
forms of brutalities.
It is notable that since
1947, in order to maintain its illegal control, India has continued its
repressive regime in the Occupied Kashmir through various machinations.
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 fake encounter.
According to a report on
human rights violations in the Indian Occupied Kashmir, since 1989, there have
been deaths of 1,00000 innocent Kashmiris, 7,023 custodial killings, 1,22,771
arrests, 1,05,996 destruction of houses or buildings, 22,776 women widowed,
1,07,466 children orphaned and 10,086 women gang-raped/molested. Indian brutal
securities forces have continue these atrocities.
In fact, Indian forces
have employed various draconian laws like the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas
Act, and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act and Public
Safety Act in killing the Kashmiri people, and for the 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.
In its report on July 2,
2015, the Amnesty International has highlighted extrajudicial killings of the
innocent persons at the hands of Indian security forces in the Indian Held
Kashmir. The report points out, “Tens of thousands of security forces are
deployed in Indian-administered Kashmir…the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
allows troops to shoot to kill suspected militants or arrest them without a
warrant…not a single member of the armed forces has been tried in a civilian
court for violating human rights in Kashmir…this lack of accountability has in
turn facilitated other serious abuses…India has martyred one 100,000 people.
More than 8,000 disappeared (while) in the custody of army and state police.”
In this respect,
European Union has passed a resolution about human rights abuses committed by
Indian forces in the Indian held Kashmir.
It is of particular
attention that in 2008, a rights group reported unmarked graves in 55 villages
across the northern regions of the Indian-held Kashmir. Then researchers and
other groups reported finding thousands of mass graves without markers. In this
respect, in August, 2011, Indian Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights
Commission officially acknowledged in its report that innocent civilians killed
in the two-decade conflict have been buried in unmarked graves.
Notably, foreign sources
and human rights organisations have revealed that unnamed graves include those
innocent persons, killed by the Indian military and paramilitary troops in the
fake encounters including those who were tortured to death by the Indian secret
agency RAW.
Indian authorities are
not willing to talk with Kashmiri people on political grounds. New Delhi
reached to a conclusion that only bullet is the right way of dealing with
Kashmiris, demanding their right of self-determination. Surprisingly, Indian
successive governments are trying to ignore the dynamics of the freedom
movement of Kashmiris for the sake of their alien rule.
But, New Delhi is still
showing its intransigence in order to resolve Kashmir dispute with Pakistan by
neglecting the fact that Kashmir remains a nuclear flashpoint between both the
neighbouring countries.
In this context, Egbert
Jahn in his book, “Kashmir: Flashpoint for a Nuclear War or Even a Third World
War?” has pointed out, “The Kashmir conflict is embedded in the wider conflict
over the incomplete creation of nations and states on the Indian subcontinent,
which during the east-west conflict even threatened at times to escalate into a
nuclear world war between Pakistan and the USA on the one side and India and
the USSR on the other. Until now, there have been three wars between India and
Pakistan over the Jammu and Kashmir: in 1947–49, 1965 and 1999… finally, the
Indo-Chinese border war of 1962…after these wars…and could unexpectedly again
lead to a regional and under certain circumstances…even a major nuclear war or
a Third World War.”
Meanwhile, like the
previous year, Pakistan’s recent serious and sincere effort at the annual
session of the United Nations—the speech of Pakistan’s prime minister and his
meeting with the American president, highlighting the Kashmir dispute and
demanding its solution has infused a new spirit among the Kashmiri
people.
Nonetheless, by exposing
the myth of Indian claim of the largest democracy and double standard of the
US-led western countries which still remain silent over the Indian injustices,
Kashmiris, living both sides of the LoC observe “Black Day” on January 26 to
protest against the Indian illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. On this
very day, Pakistanis and Kashmiris across the globe express solidarity with the
freedom fighters of Kashmir, demanding their legitimate right of
self-determination from India which continues various forms of state terrorism
in order to suppress their popular movement.
Sajjad Shaukat writes on
international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants,
Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations
Email:
sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
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