A commitment to Kashmir’s people that Pakistan will never forget
https://arab.news/988mz
Beautifully ensconced between Pakistan, China and India, Kashmir is often referred to as the Switzerland of Asia. It is home to some 9 million peace loving people who are steeped in spirituality and a humanist culture. For centuries, the Kashmiris assimilated the best in terms of their civilizational sojourns, as is reflected in their arts, crafts and folklore.
The Kashmiri way of life was disrupted in 1947 with the landing of Indian forces in Srinagar. Since then, they have been afflicted by brutal realities-intrigues, cruel politics, coercion and colonial occupation. Kashmir thus became a contested space. A theatre for hegemony and conflict.
In the world of the United Nations, Kashmiris rested their case in higher values of humanity, belief in the sanctity of international law and confidence in the promise of the United Nations for justice. The UN Security Council upheld their inalienable right to self-determination to be exercised by plebiscite in 1948. Numerous Council resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir issue have awaited implementation for over 70 years.
The long history of India’s illegal administration in Jammu and Kashmir is replete with brutality and stoic Kashmiri resistance to the usurpation of their basic human rights. India, while maintaining its hold on Kashmir, has tried everything to falsify facts and project the Kashmiri struggle for self-determination and freedom as terrorism.
On 5 August 2019, India dissolved the State of Jammu and Kashmir and incorporated Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as Union territories to be ruled by fiat from New Delhi. This was done by the force of arms, without consulting the Kashmiris, by incarcerating all Kashmiri leaders, inducting additional 100,000 troops and giving them a license to torment and tyrannize the Kashmiris into submission in futile attempts at acquiescing them to Indian rule.
India wrongly believes that it has succeeded in deleting the Kashmir question from the international and bilateral agenda.
Salman Bashir
9 million Kashmiris have been in captivity with their homes and dignity being systematically violated day for the past almost three years. The sordid tales of Indian atrocities are well documented by UN and international human rights organizations.
Thousands have been arrested and sent to unknown destinations. Hundreds, including children, maimed by pellet guns. Kashmiri youth are being eliminated. Kashmiri lands are reportedly being confiscated and given to settlers.
Despite international appeals, the communication blackout in Kashmir, imposed to conceal these horrific accounts of barbarity, has not been lifted. The Indian judiciary is either complicit or unable to hear cases of heinous crimes against Kashmiris, including extra judicial killings and large-scale disappearances.
India’s barbaric conduct in Kashmir is a blot on the conscience of mankind. It is antithetical to all values and norms of the civilized world. The international community seems powerless to stop such wilful trampling of the fundamental human rights of the Kashmiri people.
Complete and irrevocable alienation of the Kashmiris from India is being demonstrated by their non-violent, indeed stoic resistance. Kashmiris have been steadfast in their belief that injustice cannot endure and their aspirations for freedom cannot be quelled by force.
The Kashmiri cauldron could trigger explosions, destroy the peace of the region, rip apart the fabric of political geography and spark wider conflagrations of global magnitude. The international community must assert its moral authority and considerable influence to extinguish the fires now burning in Kashmir.
While Pakistan continues to plead for Kashmiri rights and protests against the injustices, India wrongly believes that it has succeeded in deleting the Kashmir question from the international and bilateral agenda.
In fact, Chinese actions on the Line of Actual Control in 2020 were a direct result of India incorporating Ladakh into the Indian Union and laying claims to the Chinese territory of Aksai Chin. The Sino-Indian disputes over the border regions have become more intense as a consequence of Indian actions.
China is a party to the contested parts of the Jammu and Kashmir state and the Sino-Indian rivalry compels and complicates the security situation in the region. Siachen, which India took over in 1984 is now within the easy grasp of the Chinese, as they overlook the access to Indian supply routes to their forces in Siachen.
While supporting the Kashmiri struggle morally and diplomatically, Pakistan and the Kashmiris must take cognizance of the broader picture that has emerged and requires a peaceful solution. Diplomacy and political resolution of differences and disputes is the only sensible way forward and in any such approach the rights of the Kashmiris must figure prominently and should be accommodated and respected.
*Salman Bashir is a Pakistani diplomat who served as Foreign Secretary of Pakistan and as High Commissioner of Pakistan to India.
Twitter: @Salman_B_PK
