By
Sajjad Shaukat
The 9th
of February 9 is being celebrated as the martyrdom anniversary of Muhammad
Afzal Guru whom India secretly hanged and buried inside the Tihar jail complex
on February 9, 2013. It triggered protests in Kashmir and widespread
condemnations from various political and human rights organisations. Afzal Guru
was convicted in 2001 Parliament attack case and awarded death sentence. Afzal
had always denied plotting the attack, which left 14 dead, including five
militants.
Last year, during his
martyrdom anniversary, a complete shutdown was observed in the Indian occupied
Kashmir and protest demonstrations were held to demand the return of mortal
remains of Afzal Guru.
Call for the strike had
been given by pro-freedom leaders and organizations to mark the anniversary of
Muhammad Afzal. Indian authorities had arrested Kashmiri leaders, Yasin Malik,
Shoukat Bakhshi, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash and Mukhtar Ahmad Waza along with
several other Hurriyet activists and lodged them in different police stations
and jails. The authorities also placed Hurriyet leaders, Shabbir Ahmad Shah,
Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Nayeem Ahmad Khan and Ayaz Akbar under house arrest.
All Parties Hurriyat
Conference (G) Chairman Syed Ali Geelani, in a statement had denounced the
arrests and vowed that the Kashmiris were struggling for their basic right and
would succeed in their mission at the end of the day.
In their statements and
meetings, all the leaders of the freedom movement of Kashmir paid glowing
tributes to the martyr Muhammad Afzal Guru who sacrificed his live for the
Kashmir cause.
Even, the Sikh
organization, Dal Khalsa President H S Dhami, while paying tributes to Muhammad
Afzal Guru on the eve of his second martyrdom anniversary, in a statement in
Amritsar criticized India for failing to hand over his mortal remains to his
wife.
In fact, 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 Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) through various
machinations.
However, 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.
As a matter of 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.
And, as part of
anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan approach, leader of the BJP and Prime Minister of
India Narendra Modi who is giving impetus to Hindu chauvinism not only
accelerated unprovoked firing at the Line of Control in Kashmir including
Working Boundary in Sialkot, but also suspended the Secretary level talks with
Islamabad. Now, he has been raising baseless issue like Pathonkot terror
attack, (which was orchestrated by India), Mumbai mayhem and terrorism as
pre-conditions to advance the Pak-Indian dialogue. But, he ignored the fact
that on July 19, 2013, the Indian ex-investigating officer Satish Verma disclosed
that terror-attacks in Mumbai in November 26, 2008 and assault on Indian
Parliament in January 12, 2001 were carried out by the Indian government to
strengthen anti-terrorism laws.
It is noteworthy that
Modi regime hurriedly decided to forcibly annex disputed territory of the State
of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), uncovering its intentions to wrap up the
article 370 of the Indian constitution which ensures a special status to
J&K. Therefore, United Nations Military Observer Group India and Pakistan in
New Delhi was asked to vacate official accommodation. In fact, BJP government‘s
long term strategy is to affect demographic changes in the Indian occupied
Kashmir by composition of the region—predominately with Hindu population.
During one year of
People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-BJP alliance government in the Indian Occupied
Kashmir, BJP in aid of RSS has furthered its agenda of complete integration of
Kashmir into India. Though legal experts of India and IOK High Court have
clarified the permanent status of Article 370 of Indian Constitution, BJP’s
agenda of trifurcations is still on table. In this regard, BJP is in hot
pursuit of Mission 44+in IOK Assembly elections 2020. However, short of that,
BJP and RSS are busy in changing religious identity of the State. For example,
special concessions were given to expand the horizon of Amarnath Yatra to
project that Hindus have greater stakes in IOK than Muslims.
Special efforts are
being made for demographic engineering in the State. For instance, West
Pakistan Refugees have been recruited in the Indian Armed Forces from IOK
quota. Allocation of lands for separate cities for repatriating Hindu Pundits
and allocation of INR 2 million for rehabilitation of each Pundit family in the
Valley are aimed at creating Hindu constituencies in a thorough Muslim region
of Valley through delimitations.
On the other hand, the
sectors of health, education, local infrastructure, social support and rural
development are being controlled by BJP MLAs (Members of the Legislative
Assembly). Major projects of the State are being announced and are implemented
in Hindu dominant-BJP constituencies to give a message that only BJP’s voters
are entitled to a standard living. Through these tactics, BJP is longing for
Mission 44+ in next IOK Assembly elections.
Kashmiri Hurriyat
leadership has been suppressed by the PDP-BJP government by not allowing them
to organize rallies for demanding freedom and expressing love for Pakistan.
Their leaders were detained in Police Stations or kept under house arrests
during all important events. Detention of Masarat Alam, even after acceptance
of bail by IOK High Court, exhibits coercive mechanics of Indian forces/police
in the State.
Indian malicious intent
is evident from the blame game against Pakistan for every internal security
issue, merely to avoid serious dialogue on bilateral issues as well as the
humanitarian crisis in Kashmir. Pakistan is committed to the just and
democratic solution of the Kashmir issue, which is plebiscite, however, India
has never been serious in resolution of the dispute, neither through bilateral
dialogue nor involving third party mediation nor by abiding by the UN
Resolutions.
In the wake of changing
regional and global dynamics, resolution of the issue has become a top most
priority, but unsensitized international community is perhaps waiting for
emergence of a regional crises out of Kashmir dispute. As global players do not
find any interest in resolution of the dispute, it has become a humanitarian
issue in the region.
Nevertheless, 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.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s
serious and sincere effort at the annual session of the United Nations in
December 2015—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, the
martyrdom of Muhammad Afzal Guru infused a new
spirit into the movement of Jammu Kashmir. His martyrdom anniversary
provides an opportunity to ponder over the fact that various countries of the
world got independence by sacrificing their precious lives. On this vary day,
the best way to pay homage to the hero of Kashmir movement, Muhammad Afzal Guru
is that all the Kashmiris must renew their pledge to take the war of liberation
to its logical end.
Email:
sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
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