If India’s aggressive actions continue it will have consequences that history has never encountered
KARACHI: It has been around 70 days of curfew in Kashmir. People are in a complete blackout and are under siege. It is the first time a state in the country has been turned into a union territory. Article 370 was a temporary provision included in the Constitution on October 17, 1949. Now occupied Kashmir is divested of special powers, including that of the state legislature to draft its own laws on all subjects other than communications, defence and foreign affairs.
The move has worsened the already-heightened tensions with neighbouring Pakistan, which downgraded its diplomatic relations with India. Journalists were shown a US-made sniper rifle, an IED and hand grenades as evidence of malevolent intent. Firing resumed along the Line of Control (LoC), with the Indian Army using 155 mm Bofors howitzers — among the rare instances of the use of this heavy calibre along the LOC since the 1999 Kargil war. The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two of their three wars over the disputed territory. A revolution in IoK has been ongoing for 30 years.
The Pakistani prime minister has criticised the international media’s lack of coverage of the ongoing crackdown in Kashmir. PM Imran Khan has said that while the “international media continues to give headline coverage to Hong Kong protests”, it is ignoring the humanitarian situation in the Kashmir valley.” Most people are ready to cross the LoC in order to comfort their brothers and sisters in occupied Kashmir and to free it from the malevolent intentions of the Indian army.
I hope that India will stop its aggressive actions and will restore the special status of the state. If India’s aggressive actions continue it will have consequences that history has never encountered. Besides IOK, separation movements have been going on in several northeastern states like Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam.
Tayyab Hussain
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2019.
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