October 27- Start of dark era for Kashmiris
October 24, 2021Pictures que and enchanting, the state of Jammu and Kashmir is hailed all over the world as Paradise on Earth for its incredible natural
beauty. Surrounded by mountain peaks, lush green valleys, glistening lakes and spectacular Mughal-era gardens, it has inspired poets through centuries. But unfortunately, this beautiful land has been
turned into hell by Indian occupation forces and its residents have been suffering the worst human rights abuses for the past over seven decades.
The grisly day of October 27, 1947 brought miseries, sufferings,depression, grief and sorrow for the hapless people of Jammu and Kashmir when expansionist and colonial India in violation of the principles of the Partition Act 1947 unlawfully annexed the state.
Kashmiris across the Line of Control and all over the world observe this day as a black day every year to remind the world community in general and the United Nations in particular of their promise made to Kashmiri people. As per partition plan, Kashmir as a Muslim majority state contiguous to Pakistan was to join Pakistan. This illegal Indian occupation resulted in a spontaneous revolt in the state and Kashmiris got a part of the state liberated from India which is now called Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The hostilities between the two neighbors resulted in the Indo-Pakistan war which ended with an UN-mediated ceasefire along a line that was eventually named the Line of Control. Facing defeat at
the hands of the Kashmiris, India knocked the door of the United Nations and sought resolution of the issue through the UN Security Council intervention.
The UN SC adopted several resolutions granting the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir. India duly signed on the resolutions and made solemn commitment to fulfil the promise of
holding a plebiscite in the occupied state. However, after some time New Delhi backtracked from its promise and started claiming that Jammu and Kashmir was its integral part.
India started state terrorism in the occupied territory to crush Kashmiris legitimate freedom struggle with use of brute force, which has resulted in the martyrdom of nearly hundred thousand innocent
Kashmiris. Human rights abuses at the hands of Indian occupation forces in Jammu and Kashmir range from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression
and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force and other law enforcement agencies personnel have been committing severe human rights abuses against the Kashmiri population with complete impunity enjoyed under the Kashmir-specific draconian laws.
From January 1989 to end of August 2021, over 95,800 innocent Kashmiris have been killed by trigger-happy Indian troops in acts of state terrorism, out of which over 7100 were custodial killing. As a result of Indian atrocities, over 22900 Kashmiri women have been widowed and over 1, 07,800 children orphaned. During the past 32years, Indian occupation forces arrested over 162,100 Kashmiris and
over 110,430 houses and shops were completely destroyed or badly damaged.
Indian security forces have been using gang-rape as a tool of war against the hapless unarmed Kashmiri civilians demanding their inherent right to self-will as promised not by the United Nations
resolutions but the then Indian leaders including Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the first Indian Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru as well. During this period savage Indian army personnel also gang raped and molested over 11,240 women of all age groups. The victims included women of all ages from adolescent girls to elderly women.
The Pakistan government recently presented a detailed dossier to expose Indian war crimes and human rights violations in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The dossier comprising 131 pages had three chapters: one on war crimes committed by the Indian army and its genocidal actions,second on the disappointment of Kashmiris and how a local resistance movement is continuing despite the propaganda of everything being normal, and a third chapter on how UN Security Council resolutions, international laws and humanitarian laws were being violated through efforts to bring about a demographic change in the valley. The dossier contained details on a vast range of incidents and atrocities from warcrimes, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, pellet gun injuries, rapes, over 100,000 cases of children being orphaned, search and cordon operations, false flag operations, fake encounters and planting of weapons on innocent residents to implicate them and harm the resistance movement. The evidence clearly suggested India was operating five training camps in Gulmarg, Raipur, Jodhpur, Chakrata,Anupgarh and Bikaner.
Pakistan believes that by injecting these state-trained ISIS fighters,India may try to establish linkages of the freedom movement with international terrorism in order to malign the freedom struggle and to justify its own crimes as counter-terrorist operations.
The use of pellet-guns in Jammu and Kashmir to disperse peaceful protesters is categorically a war crime. India first started using pellet-firing shotguns against Kashmiris in 2010 but the matter hit
international prominence in 2016 when protests following the martyrdom of Burhan Wani resulted in thousands of injuries, the blinding of hundreds and the deaths of over 70 people.
On the 5th of August 2019, the fascist Indian government led by hardline Prime Minister Modi unlawfully and unilaterally revoked the semi-autonomous ‘special’ status granted to the occupied state under Articles 370 and 35A in the Constitution of India. Simultaneously, India put Kashmir under a complete military lockdown. Telephone and internet services were shut off, leaving more than seven
million people in the region unable to contact the outside world.
The colonial Indian occupation forces have deprived the Kashmiri Muslims of all their fundamental rights including religious freedoms.They are not allowed to attend Friday congregations and take
out Muharram and Eid Milad processions. In its latest shameful act Indian occupation administration stooped so low that it snatched the mortal remains of iconic pro-freedom leader Syed Ali Gilani from his family and forced them bury him near his home in the darkness of night, contrary to his desire of burial in Mazar-e-Shuhadda in Srinagar expressed in his will. Not only Muslims, but other minorities
in the occupied territory including Sikhs also face a similar attitude from the occupation administration.
On August 5, 2019, Kashmir had been completely cut off from a virtual world. The Indian occupation administration enacted a digital apartheid in Kashmir which is a form of systemic and pervasive discriminatory treatment and collective punishment for Kashmiris demanding freedom. Through the digital apartheid and gag of media India has been trying keep the world in the dark about gross human
rights abuses being committed by its forces.
The clampdown on the Internet has severely crippled the functioning ofthe media fraternity in the Valley, and adversely affected the groundreporting and news gathering operations. The Indian occupation
government has deliberately muzzled the press to control the flow of information which has equally impacted the readers and viewers who have the right to know facts. The new media policy introduced by the occupation administration in 2020 has brazenly, underlined that every report has to be vetted by the police first which is an open attempt at censorship.
The United Nations and international stakeholders should take cognizance of the situation and pressurize India to fulfill their international obligations on Kashmir issue by implantation of UN
resolutions by taking steps for holding free and fair plebiscite in the state as promised in numerous UN resolutions.Pakistan has time and again reiterated its stance on all international forums and has highlighted Indian brutalities in Kashmir to the world to act and end Indian atrocities by immediate implementation of UN resolutions.
Rampant abuse of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the ravaging Indian forces in the Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir calls for the attention of the international community to
probe into the violations of human rights in IIOJK.