By
Sajjad Shaukat
The Martyrs’ Day, known as Youme
Shuhada-e-Kashmir is observed on July 13 every year on both sides of the Line
of Control and all over the world by the Kashmiris to pay homage to 22
Kashmiris who were martyred in 1931 to free Kashmir
from the brutalities of despotic Dogra rulers. The day is the milestone in the
history, as it has become genesis of the Kashmir’s
struggle for independence against foreign occupation.
However, the history of Dogra rule
(1846-1947) in Kashmir is replete with
tyrannous treatment, meted out to the Kashmiri Muslims by Dogra forces. Under
the Dogra rule, they were leading so miserable life that it was difficult to
differentiate them from beasts. Slave labour, heavy taxes, capital punishment
for cow slaughter, and living under constant terror was order of the day.
In this regard, Yousaf Saraf in his book,
“Kashmiris Fight for Freedom” calls it “free forced labour” and “instead of
donkeys and horses, Kashmiri Muslims were used for transportation of goods
across the far-flung areas.” In this context, while describing the pathetic
picture of the Kashmiris, in his book, “The India We Served”, Sir Walter
Lawrence writes, “Army was employed in forcing the villagers to plough and sow,
and worse still, the soldiers came at harvest time and when the share of the
state had been seized” and “there was very little grain to tide the unfortunate
peasants over the cruel winter.”
On April 19, 1931, the ban of Eid Khutba
(Sermon) ignited widespread demonstrations in the Jummu city for a number of
days. It was followed by desecration of the Holy Quran at the hands of Dogra
forces, which resulted into outrage among the Muslims throughout the state. In Srinagar, people gathered
in Jamia Masjid to denounce this blasphemy. One such get-together was held in
Khankah-e-Muella Srinagar,
which was addressed by prominent Kashmiris. When the meeting was concluded, a
youth, Abdul Qadeer, pointing his finger to the Maharaja’s palace, raised
slogans “destroy its every brick.” With the accusation of sedition, he was
arrested forthwith. Abdul Qadir was to be tried in the court, but due to large
public resentment, the court was shifted to Central Jail Srinagar.
On July 12, 1931, in response to the
shifting of court, intense public protests were held throughout the city. The
next day, on July 13, 1931, thousands of people thronged the Central Jail
Srinagar to witness the in-camera trial of Abdul Qadeer. As the time for
obligatory prayer approached, a young Kashmiri stood for Azan. The Dogra
Governor, Ray Zada Tartilok Chand ordered soldiers to open fire at him. When he
got martyred, another young man took his place and started Azan. He was also
shot dead. In this way, 22 Kashmiris embraced martyrdom in their efforts to
complete the Azan. The people carried the dead and paraded through the streets
of Srinagar,
chanting slogans against Dogra brutalities. Complete strike was observed in the
city, which was followed by weeklong mourning. This incident shook the whole
state and the traffic from Srinagar to Rawalpindi and Srinagar to Jammu came to halt from
July 13 to 26, 1931. The 22 martyrs are buried in Martyrs’ Graveyard at Khawaja
Bazar, Srinagar.
Consequent upon these brutal killings, the
Kashmiri leadership realized the need to form a political party, Muslim
Conference (MC) with a view to waging struggle for their freedom. Later, in
1934, state’s first elections were held and MC won 10 out of 21 seats, and
after two years in 1936, it succeeded in getting 19 out of 21 seats. Indian
Congress was upset with this situation and tried to create division in the
ranks of Kashmiri leadership. Afterwards, on July 19, 1947, MC passed a
resolution to merge Kashmir with Pakistan,
considering the geographical proximity—majority of Muslim population (77%),
language and cultural relations of Jammu
and Kashmir.
Ironically, despite a lapse of 66 years,
Kashmiris are still struggling and sacrificing to achieve their alienable right
under the UN resolutions for the plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir Valley
is one of the most heavily militarized regions in the world with Indian 7
million armed security forces which are perpetrating various forms of state
terrorism on the innocent Kashmiris. Since 1989, a deliberate campaign by the
Indian army and paramilitary forces against the Kashmiris has been manifested
in brutal tactics such as 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.
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.”
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 (AFSPA) 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 passed a
resolution on May 11, 2011 about human rights abuses committed by Indian forces
in the Indian held Kashmir.
Particularly, in 2008, a rights group
reported unnamed graves in various regions of 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 disclosed
that unnamed graves include thousands of persons, killed by the Indian forces
in the fake encounters including those who were tortured to death by Indian
secret agency RAW.
In its report China’s
leading News Agency Xinhua has unearthed more gruesome details on
world-stunning unmarked graves in Poonch of the Indian occupied Kashmir. The report revealed the statement of Sofi Aziz
Joo, caretaker of a graveyard as saying, “Police and Army used to bring those
bodies and direct me to bury them. The bodies were usually bullet-ridden,
mutilated, faces disfigured and sometimes without limbs and heads.”
It seems that non-condemnation of these
Indian massive human rights violations and non-interference for the settlement
of this issue by the so-called civilized international community, especially
the US have further encouraged New Delhi to keep on going with its state
terrorism on the armless Kashmiri masses. Ignorance of the issue by them
involves the risk of nuclear war between Pakistan
and India.
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.
It is notable that dialogue between India and Pakistan
took place on a number of occasions, but produced no outcome, prolonging the
agony of the subjugated people of the occupied Kashmir
due to Indian intransigence.
Nevertheless, observance of Kashmiris’
freedom struggle during the Martyrs’ Day, every year is reaffirmation of the
fact that Kashmiris will continue to fight against Indian illicit occupation.
In this context, Youme Shuhada-e-Kashmir is an ideal day for Kashmiris to seek
inspiration to take their war of liberation to its logical end. At this time of
distress, the people of Pakistan’s
side are sharing the grief of Kashmiri freedom lovers. Pakistan also
observes Youme Shudaha-e-Kashmir on July 13, launching a protest against the
oppressive polices of Indian occupation, which have continued against the
hapless Kashmiris.
Nonetheless, on July 13, all over the
world, Kashmiris renew their pledge to continue the ongoing war of liberation
for the accomplishment of their right of self-determination and for the
independence of Kashmir from the despotic Indian rulers who continue state
terrorism in the Indian-controlled Kashmir
like the Dogra rulers. In these terms, Martyrs’ Day has become genesis of the Kashmir’s Struggle for independence.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment