
Indian injustice against the people of Kashmir isn’t new. It has been persisting for almost 73 years. In 1947, during the partition, the princely states were given the opportunity to either join Pakistan or India. Even though Kashmir was a Muslim-majority state, its Maharaja, Hari Singh, was a Hindu famously known for treating his people badly. While facing opposition and revolt after trying to drive the Muslims out of the region, the Maharaja, in a state of panic, asked India for help which agreed on the condition that Kashmir accede to India. Pakistan, of course, could not accept this and hence sent their troops to help the Kashmiri people to defeat the Indian army. Neither nation could afford a long-drawn war so they referred the matter to the UN and eventually a ceasefire was arranged and Kashmir was divided between the two countries.
It has been 73 years since India promised Kashmiris that a referendum would be held, but nothing of the sort has yet taken place. Instead, the Indian government has committed gross human rights violations against the Kashmiri people. On August 2019, the Indian government committed the epitome of evil when they abolished Article 390 of their constitution. This meant that Kashmir was no longer an autonomous state. When people started to protest, India responded in the extreme. They initiated a complete lockdown of Kashmir. The people were stuck inside with no access to the outside world with cellular services shut down. Indian soldiers have killed innocent civilians, raped women and children, raided houses, cut of food supplies, and committed every other evil sin one can think off. Anyone who dared to protest was killed.
Pakistan on the other hand has tried to raise awareness of these injustices, but the international community continues to stay silent. It has been more than a year since the lockdown was imposed, and it is high time for the international community to bring India to justice for their inhumane actions.
Muhammad Ibrahim Ayaz
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, Septe0mber 14th, 2020.
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