Nayyar Adnan
Human rights abuses in Illegally Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) ranges from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. Currently India maintains almost 1 million troops in Kashmir, making it the most militarized zone in the world, which have been involved in crimes against humanity. Indian Security Forces operate with pretty much impunity in IIOJK. The draconian security laws, e.g. Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act 1978, The Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1990, Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002, give Extraordinary powers to Indian security personnel to shoot and kill unarmed civilians. These infamous laws encourage the use of lethal forces in IIOJK against innocent people.
Kashmiris are suffering under the illegal Indian rule. They are looking towards Pakistan for every kind of support to help them out of this misery. Therefore, Pakistan will continue to fight their case on every international platform. India calls Kashmir dispute a territorial issue. While for Pakistan, it’s a humanitarian issue where the population of 1.3 million is being denied the right to self-determination. As long as Kashmiris don’t get freedom, people of Pakistan will stand with them. Pakistan would not let the world forget about plight of suppressed Kashmiris. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Said, “Kashmir is the Jugular vein of Pakistan and no nation or country would tolerate its jugular vein remains under the sword of the enemy.”
United Nations has failed to implement its resolutions of Kashmir which has the potential to disrupt global peace; it’s a nuclear flashpoint. Jammu & Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of the completion of Pakistan and it will remain so until the outstanding dispute is resolved in accordance with the UN security Council resolutions and aspirations of Kashmiri people. Even after 75 years, India has not fulfilled its international obligations and remained reluctant to conduct plebiscite in Jammu & Kashmir. US and its allies have failed to press India to resolve Kashmir dispute because of strategic convergence of Indo-Western interests. US deems India as a crucial player in its China containment strategy. Hence, India acts with impunity in IIOJK and the region.
Due to some mere economic interests, champions of Human Rights like US, USA and EU are silent on the mounting human right abuses in Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. People are extra judicially killed in detentions, women are raped and molested, and even voices of journalists are silenced and freedom of expression is suppressed in the valley. But there is no one except few sane voices who even dare to object this inhumane behavior of the so called world largest democracy of the world. What to blame the others, even Muslim countries like KSA and UAE are not raising their voices against Indian brutalities. In India they only see a huge market, where they can sell their commodities and earn money. They didn’t even bother that how disastrous their help in financial uplift of India would be in future to the Muslims. They happily turn their eyes from the hardship Indian Muslims are facing due to extremist backed Modi government.
Even after 76 years of its creation, the UN could not protect the basis human rights of oppressed Kashmiris, hold India accountable, and deliver the promise of plebiscite to Kashmiri people. UN must not become a tool in the hands of great powers; instead, it must go back to its primary responsibility as mentioned in the UN charter. The process of de-colonization will be incomplete until the people of Jammu & Kashmir are enabled to exercise their right to self-determination through an UN-supervised plebiscite as called for in several resolutions of the Security Council.
