‘With UN silence, IOJ&K moves towards a human rights apocalypse’

The United Nations has been sidelined in the dispute over Kashmir, says AJK president

MUZAFFARABAD:

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has said that the Modi-led government is comitting the worst human rights violations in the occupied valley and silence of the United Nations over it indicates that the world body has been sidelined in the dispute over Kashmir.

“The United Nations has been sidelined in the dispute over Kashmir… [and as such] we are moving towards a human rights apocalypse in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K),” he said in an interview to a foreign news website.

The UN Security Council in its resolution has emphatically stated that Kashmir is a disputed region, and its future is to be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people, the AJK president said, "However, India has been denying right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people for the last seven decades."

Urging the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the international community, he said that India should be stopped from implementing its next phase of Hindu settler colonial project in Muslim-majority Kashmir, in defiance of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions numbered 47, 51, 80, 96, 98, 122 and 126, which determine that the final status of the disputed territory “will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations”.

“For the past seven decades, India has defied these resolutions in denying 8  million Kashmiri Muslims the right to determine their own future by maintaining military control over the territory while granting semi-political autonomy to the local population,” he added.

Explaining the background of recent Indian actions, President Masood said that ever since Narendra Modi sworn in as Indian prime minister, he had vowed to revoke Article 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution. “Article 370 was symbolic; it was an empty shell. It just kept up this myth of autonomy in the occupied territory. But Article 35A was important. It recognised Kashmiri’s rights to acquisition of property, permanent residence, education and employment.”

All those rights have now been taken away and New Delhi is taking steps to sub-divide the territory into two parts, with one called ‘Union Territory, he said’, adding, "Union territories are like municipalities, which are being directly governed by Delhi and without the consent of the people."

“Recently, they have taken another step by introducing new domicile rules, which allow Hindus from all over India, but have lived in the occupied territory as civil servants or as military officers or in other capacities or have served in other statutory bodies or educational institutions, to apply for domicile certificates, as can their families."

President Masood also said that during the last one month, the Indian army violated the ceasefire agreement for 1,100 times.