By
Sajjad Shaukat
In the earlier this month, the draft bill which was up for
public consultation was published on the Indian home ministry’s website. It suggests
that anyone distributing a map the Indian government deems to be wrong and
could be liable for a billion-rupee fine and jail time. Through passage of this
bill, the Indian government would be able to penalize individuals and
organizations who depict Jammu and
Kashmir as a disputed territory as per the United
Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.
Pakistan foreign ministry on May 17 has expressed serious concerns
to the UNSC) and UN secretary general through letters with regard to the Indian
government’s efforts to introduce a controversial ‘Geospatial Information
Regulation Bill’ in the Indian Parliament which aims to restrict geographical
depictions of India and
disputed Kashmir to those that are
government-approved. The letters elaborated that in violation of UNSC
resolutions, the official map of India
has been depicting the disputed territory
of Jammu and Kashmir as part of India which is
factually incorrect and legally untenable. The letters also called upon the UN
to uphold the UNSC resolutions on Kashmir and urge India to stop such acts which are
in violation of international law.
In this respect, Pakistan’s
foreign office spokesman pointed out “We have urged the international community
and the United Nations to fulfill their commitment with the people of Jammu and Kashmir by
holding an independent and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices.”
It is notable that during the partition of the
Sub-continent in 1947, the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir,
Hari Singh, in connivance with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and
Governor-General Lord Mountbatten, had decided to join India, quite
contrary to the wishes of the majority of Kashmiris.
When a contention arose between India
and Pakistan on the Kashmir
dispute in1948, India took
the issue to the United Nations Security Council and offered to hold a
plebiscite in the held Kashmir under UN
supervision. On February 5, 1964, India backed out of its promise.
Instead, in March 1965, the Indian Parliament passed a bill, declaring Kashmir
a province of India.
While passing through various phases, the struggle of Kashmiris
which has become an interaction between Indian state terrorism led by the
Indian security forces and war of liberation by the freedom fighters, keeps on
going unabated.
Despite the employment of various forms of state terrorism
by the Indian security forces, war of liberation intensified since 1989.
A report on human rights violations by Indian Army and its
paramilitary forces in Indian-held Kashmir
disclosed that since 1989, there have been deaths of 93,274 innocent Kashmiris,
6,969 custodial killings, 117,345 arrests and 105,861 destructions of houses.
Indian brutal security forces have orphaned over 107, 351 children, widowed
22,728 women and gang raped 9,920 women.
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 have extraordinary
powers to shoot suspected persons.”
Particularly in 2008, a rights group reported unmarked
graves in 55 villages across the Indian occupied Kashmir.
In this context, in August, 2011, Indian
Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC)
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 organizations including Association of Parents of
Disappeared Persons (APDP) have pointed out that unnamed graves include
thousands of innocent persons, killed by the Indian military and paramilitary
troops in the fake encounters including those who were tortured to death.
It is mentionable that leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has taken various steps to
strengthen Indian illegal control on Kashmir.
The Modi regime hurriedly decided to forcibly annex disputed territory of the
State of Jammu and Kashmir,
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 context,
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 the Valley through delimitations.
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.
Nevertheless, India’s Kashmir map issue shows that New Delhi is quite non-serious in settling the Kashmir
dispute with Islamabad.
Hence, the US-led major powers must take action on Indian negative measures, as
Kashmir remains the nuclear flashpoint in South Asia.
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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