5th of August 2020 makes it one year to the siege of Kashmir;
a full year of making the valley of Kashmir the biggest prison for the oppressed
Kashmiris and 365 days of unimaginable living in the curfew, and nonstop cruelty
at the hands of Indian Occupied forces.
Shall we ever forget such days and the part of our land, which the Quaid called
as Pakistan’s jugular vein – Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK)?
Isn’t it still in the chains; struggling for freedom?Don’t you think the ordeal
being faced by our Kashmiri brothers and sisters has become more aching,
particularly in the aftermath of August 5, 2019 when the already flawed IIOJK’s
special status was revoked?Hats off to the Kashmiri people’s unconquerable will
and unstoppable sacrifices that have sent shockwaves to the Indians. Is this
indicative of the dawn of independence to herald sooner than later?
Last year, on August 5, 2019, India revoked the special status of Jammu &
Kashmir granted by the Indian constitution. This special status gave IIOJK a
privilege to safeguard the interests of Kashmiris as they could have their own
flag, own constitution and their own freedom to make certain laws. It also
ensured that the Kashmir land was owned only by the Kashmiris, and non-Kashmiris
couldn’t get settled there. The revoking of the special status shocked the
world. India sent more troops in the region and with a million troops imposed
curfew to contain any confrontation. Since then India is playing a free hand to
oppress the Kashmiris, especially the youth, in every possible way.
Gone are the days when the Indian constitution had enshrinedthe country to be a
secular state. No more. It is no more a secular state in today’s India, rather
it is now a Hindu extremist, RSS terrorist state that sponsors terror, not only
to perpetrate inside India but also in neighbouring countries, including
Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives. On August 5, 2019,
the Modi government revoked Articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution, which gave
an already flawed special status to the disputed territory of the state of J&K.
This way, Modi sarkar through illegal action and with one stroke of pen turned
the Kashmiris’ Muslim majority into minority.
On October 31, 2019, New Delhi issued a map showing IIOJK bifurcated into two
union territories – J&K and Ladakh. The map identified Pakistani side of Azad
Jammu and Kashmir as well as certain areas of Gilgit-Baltistan as an Indian
territory. China rejected the malicious acts saying it “unlawful and void”.
“India’s decision to “include” some of China’s territory into its administrative
jurisdiction “challenged” Beijing’s sovereignty. Border dispute between China
and India has increased tension between the two countries.
Narendra Modi, the leader of ruling BJP has accelerated anti-Kashmir moves.
Implementing Hindu nationalism, he hastaken various other measures such as
issuance of domicile certificates to 40,000 non-Kashmiris.
His cruel actions against Kashmiris reached its peak on August 5, last year,
when he imposed strict military siege deploying more than 900,000 troops.
Indians have martyred so far hundreds of Kashmiris, including women and
children. Curfew and military siege has resulted in shortage of food, medicines
and other items.This is added with media blackout as Kashmir has been cut off
from rest of the world.
According to BBC: “Unprecedented restrictions have put Kashmir into a state of
lockdown. In one village the residents saidtwo brothers were woken up and taken
to an outside area. They kicked us,gave us electric shocks, beat us with cables.
We screamed, they sealed our mouth with mud. We told them we are innocent, don’t
beat us, just shoot us. I was asking God to take me, because the torture was
unbearable.”
International community is pained. UN’s special rapporteurs said: “We remain
deeply concerned about the ongoing human rights violations, excessive use of
force, torture and other forms of ill-treatment reportedly committed during the
arrest and detention and death in custody…We have asked the Indian government to
investigate killings of several Muslim men since January 2019. A report was sent
to the Indian government on May 4 over the continued deterioration of human
rights conditions in occupied Kashmir”. Amnesty International said: It is
“deeply concerned about the disregard for the lives of people in Jammu and
Kashmir.”
PM Imran and FM Qureshi took exception to world community’s inaction
for“financial interests”. During his visit to US last year, the PM said: “The
Indian occupied region has been facing a clampdown since August 5.Nearly 100,000
Kashmiris have died in the past 30 years.I am disappointed by the international
community. If eight million Europeans, or Christians or Jews or Americans were
put under siege,you can imagine the action. The only reason why Kashmiris are
subjected to this is, they’re Muslims”. COAS Gen Qamar Bajwa repeatedly warned
India against the illegal action.DG ISPR in a statement said: “Indian ceasefire
violations along LoC have witnessed a surge since the abrogation of the
constitutional status of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The situation along
LoC is worrisome and India has violated the ceasefire agreement many times
during recent times.”
Pakistanis as well as Kashmiris living in Pakistan and abroad are observing 5th
of August as ‘Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir’.Conferences and rallies will be held
reminding the world that the Kashmiris have not been given the rights of
self-determination which was guaranteed by the UN. Will the world wake up?