KARACHI:
The 5th of August, 2019 marked the horrific day when the Modi regime revoked IIOJK’s special status by abrogating articles 370 and 35A, which gave special privileges to the state and limited the power of the Indian parliament to impose laws. Even before the abrogation of the articles, IIOJK had long been locked down and subjected to never-ending violence. The situation worsened when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP took office in 2014. The Hindutva-backed policy of Modi became more offensive, suppressive, and crude.
After the revocation of Kashmir’s special status, the Modi government tried to alter the demographic composition of the disputed territory by introducing new domicile rules. Initially, Kashmiris only needed a permanent resident certificate (PRC). Under the new rules, a domicile certificate was made necessary for education, employment and housing in the valley. Right after this measure was taken, around 430,000 people from India acquired domicile certificates. This measure grants a right to residency and government jobs to anyone from India who lived in the state for 15 years or more and studied there for seven years. The unilateral action demonstrated a gross violation of both the international law and the Indian constitution. It revealed the nationalist motivations that lie behind Modi’s actions.
India recently assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of August, which raised much suspicion on India’s ability to gain political leverage on the Kashmir issue. Pakistan pledged to watch India’s moves to ensure that India does not hurt the country’s core interest during its presidency. Demographic terrorism has already harmed Kashmiris enough. It is important that both India and Pakistan work collectively to reduce tensions and draw a pragmatic solution that can bring about peace and harmony in IIOJK.
Naveed Mahar
Sukkur
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2021.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
