India’s ruling party, BJP, is a great admirer of Hitler and its Goeblian Communication Techniques. Following ‘His Masters’ vision, Indian Army Chief is trying to claim new highs in Goeblian propaganda. General Bipin Rawat keeps lying to cover backlash of his poorly conceived and stupidly executed military misadventures. One such oft repeated lie is that Indian violations of Line of Control (LoC) are directed at training camps of Kashmiri freedom fighters on Pakistani side of the LoC. Just after another such baseless and fallacious statement by the Indian Army Chief, Pakistan arranged a tour of Islamabad based diplomatic corps alongside national and foreign media, by helicopter, on October 22, to the site of Indian ceasefire violations, which had resulted in the martyrdom of five innocent civilians and injuries to six others, on the Pakistani side. Pakistan also requested the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to share details, including longitudes and latitudes of the alleged location to back the Indian allegations. There was no response from Indian High Commission. The Indian Deputy High Commissioner was also invited to be the part of visiting team, but he did not show up.
The diplomats and media personally witnessed the destruction of life and property resulting from the recent Indian ceasefire violations, including use of heavy artillery. They also visited the injured in the hospital in Muzaffarabad.
The irresponsible allegations of the Indian Army Chief and the lack of response from India when asked to back its hollow assertions with details of the alleged “launch pads/ camps” exposed the lies and deceit being employed as state policy. Indian aggressive posture is a growing threat to regional peace and stability. The visit further exposed the Indian falsehood to the international community and the desperate attempts being resorted by India to divert international attention from the humanitarian nightmare in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K).
After failing to restore normalcy in Indian occupied Kashmir, Indian authorities have issued a jacket advertisement in local newspapers, trying to persuade the people to end the self-imposed continued shutdown. According to Kashmir Media Service, in the first of the series of advertisements, the occupation authorities have tried to tell the people about the benefits of the repeal of special status of Kashmir. It was published in the local newspapers in the last week of August. The message in the advertisement read, “Closed Shops. No Public Transport. Who Benefits? Think!”
This is the nature of campaign by the occupation forces against the continuous shutdown being observed by the people, in the Valley on their own, to express their resentment against Indian government’s decision of revoking the special status of the territory. Shops and main markets are shut and public transport is off the roads in the Kashmir valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu as a mark of protest.
Earlier this month, a pro India US Senator, Chris Van Hollen, was denied permission to visit the occupied region. “If the Indian government has nothing to hide, they should not worry about people visiting Kashmir and witnessing the situation with their own eyes,” emphasised the senator.
Situation in Kashmir is so alarming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that it would take four months for the IoK to return to normal. At a rally in Maharashtra on October 13, PM Modi said “I assure you that it won’t take more than 4 months to normalise the abnormal situation that has persisted there for 40 years.” He also said that his government had taken necessary steps to maintain security in Jammu and Kashmir. After the withdrawal of special constitutional provisions for IoK, Modi government had flooded the region with additional troops, and imposed curfew to keep a lid on protests. Despite the curbs, Kashmiris have come out on to the streets, and most of the commercial and educational activity has remained shuttered.
Indian authorities had restored call and text services for mobile phones on October 14, following a 72-day communication blackout in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK). However, short messaging service (SMS) was once again blocked just hours after being restored. Communication blockade was imposed in the run-up to India’s scrapping IoK’s semi-autonomous status. Over eight million people are still cut off from the internet.
Indian law enforcers arrested half a dozen women activists protesting in Srinagar. The women, carrying placards reading “Respect Fundamental Rights” and “Why downgrade Jammu and Kashmir,” had assembled in a Srinagar park on October 15. Those arrested included the sister and daughter of pro-India former chief minister Farooq Abdullah. Thousands of Kashmiri politicians, lawyers and others are in custody since early August, mostly without charge. During the ongoing spell, Kashmiris have been fighting over three decades; over 800,000 Indian soldiers are deployed in the occupied territory to curb the struggle for right of self-determination.
During an election rally in Haryana on October 13, the Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh mockingly offered Islamabad assistance in fighting terrorism and also threatened the disintegration of Pakistan. “Pakistan should forget Kashmir. In 1947, based on two-nation theory, India was partitioned. But in 1971 Pakistan again split into two. If the same situation prevails, then no power of the world can stop Pakistan from disintegrating,” Indian newspaper “The Hindu” quoted Singh as saying. Over taken by the panic caused by the backlash, Indian minster seems to have forgotten the basic etiquettes of interstate relations.
Pakistan has condemned Indian defence minister’s statements calling it “highly irresponsible”. “These provocative statements from a senior minister in the Indian government provide another insight into the Bharatiya Janata Party mind set a mix of extremist ideology, hegemonic ambitions, and obsession with Pakistan,” said Foreign Office spokesperson. The statement added: it was “highly irresponsible of the Indian defence minister to be threatening the splitting of a sovereign country”. “We are sure that the world community would take cognisance. For his part, Mr. Rajnath Singh should have no doubt that the security forces and people of Pakistan remain ready to resolutely defend the country against any evil design.”
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat has warned India that if it dared to indulge in any military misadventure, it would receive more robust response from Pakistan. He said that fascist policies are being pursued in India to advance BJP’s Hindutva based hegemonic agenda, and that India had crossed all limits of atrocities in Occupied Kashmir but it would never succeed in suppressing the resolve of the Kashmiris for liberation from the Indian occupation.
The international community, World’s mainstream media as well as prominent sane voices in India itself are on the side of the oppressed people of Kashmir. Indian fascist mind-set and it hegemonic thinking have created serious security concerns in South Asia. India is amassing lethal weapons and its military budget had soared to a new high.
The stripping of occupied Kashmir’s special status on August 5 saw New Delhi send in tens of thousands of extra troops to what even before was one of the world’s most heavily militarised zones. Several hundred Kashmiri politicians, activists, lawyers and others remain in custody, mostly without charge. Several thousand ordinary Kashmiris were also detained, including children as young as nine, security forces are routinely indulging in provocative clashing at peaceful rallies. Tens of thousands of people, most of them civilians, have died since 1989 in an uprising against Indian occupation demanding their right for self-determination.
Human Rights situation in IoK is increasingly coming under focus of international media and HR Watchdogs. UN HR chief Michelle Bachelet has recently stated that she was “deeply concerned”. Prime Minister Imran Khan has criticised the international media for ignoring the “dire human rights crisis” in IOK and giving “headline coverage” to protests in Hong Kong. The premier said he was puzzled by the attention being given to the unrest in Hong Kong, and the lack of it being afforded to the “growing humanitarian crisis” in Kashmir.
Highlighting the inhumane conditions being faced by Kashmiris, PM Imran said India has imposed a communications blackout in the occupied territory.
In an editorial, The New York Times has criticised the United Nations’, “The Security Council should make clear that it opposes Mr. Modi’s brutal tightening of India’s control on Kashmir. While Mr. Modi may think he can control this volatile conflict on his own, he almost certainly cannot.” The Guardian reported that up to 10,000 people have been victims of enforced disappearances in the occupied valley. Similarly, The Independent reported that Indian authorities were refusing to issue death certificates for civilians killed in clashes following the revoking of special status.
Miseries of millions of residents of Kashmir Valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu region continue unabated. Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi has once again shamed India for its “brutal” suppression of the Kashmiri people, and said that the world body’s decolonization agenda would remain incomplete without a settlement of the Kashmir dispute based on Security Council resolutions which pledged to them the right of self-determination. “Negation of the right to self-determination, generates anger and discontent, ignites conflicts and threatens peace and security,” she warned in a speech to the General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth) Committee. “It is deplorable that rather than comply with UN resolutions and ensure that the people of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir exercise their right to self-determination, India has subjected them to brutal suppression for decades,” she said. To make matters worse, the Pakistani envoy said, India illegally annexed Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, turning it into the world’s largest prison, as thousands of additional troops were moved into the disputed state, already the world’s most militarized zone. “There are scores of chilling reports about widespread torture and arbitrary arrests; of thousands including young children being abducted from their homes in night raids, without any trace; of food supplies running out, of hospitals running short of critical supplies and being turned into graveyard; of children left to die for lack of medical attention.”
October 27, 1947 marked the illegal invasion of Kashmir by Indian troops, often justified on the basis of a dubious accession letter by Kashmir’s Hindu ruler. Ever since, the day is observed as Black Day by Kashmiri people, the World over. Indian forces occupied vast swaths of land, which has since by administered with an iron hand. Law enforcement agencies are powered by nearly a dozen Kashmir specific draconian laws. India moved a step further on August 05 to balkanise and annex the territories which it had illegitimately occupied, back in 1947. Since August 05, all days are black days due to a communication shut down with no parallel in contemporary era.
It is time to stop the pervading sense of cynicism born out of perceived selectivity and bias in the work of the United Nations. Unilateral actions in gross violation of Security Council resolutions threaten the rules based on international order and erode the credibility and legitimacy of the United Nations. Among the oldest issues on the UN agenda, the Kashmir dispute serves as an ignominious face to a cruel occupation.
Pakistan will remain the voice of Kashmiris in all international forums especially at the UN until justice is done and Kashmiris are able to exercise their right to self-determination. Pakistan does not harbour any aggressive designs but our armed forces and people remain ready to defend the country against any acts of aggression.
