‘August 5 worsened occupation in IIOJK’

Speakers lash out at Indian govt for rights violations

ISLAMABAD:

Children of detained Kashmiri leaders from the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), on Wednesday slammed as unjust the domicile law and other attempts at changing the demography of the disputed Himalayan territory adding that actions taken on the day last year had worsened the situation.

They shared these during an online dialogue to mark the first anniversary of the forced annexation of Kashmir. The online session had been organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

Ruwa Shah, a student of cinema and television in Turkey and the daughter of Kashmiri activist Altaf Ahmed Shah who has been detained in the Tihar Jail since 2017, said that children in occupied territory never got the chance to live a normal life.

She said that New Delhi’s actions on August 5, 2019, when India revoked the special status for Kashmir by abrogating Articles 370 and 35-A, had worsened everything. The situation was further complicated after the Indian state imposed a complete lockdown in the disputed valley.

“It has just accelerated the colonial designs further,” Shah said, adding that the resistance leaders had for years forewarned of Indian plans to annex the disputed territory.

Ahmed Bin Qasim, a student of International Relations and Post Colonialism and is the son of political prisoners Dr Qasim Faktoo and Aasiya Andrabi - Kashmir’s longest-serving political prisoner, told participants that more than 13,000 Kashmiri men and women are currently detained in Indian jails for raising their voice against the illegal occupation.

He says the judiciary is proved to be an instrument of colonialism as far as the cases of political prisoners are concerned.

He said that India has used all kinds of oppression in IHK during the last 70 years and still failed to enslave the Kashmiris. Hence, now it has resorted to use Domicile Law to change the demography and introduce a culture of ‘settlers’ colonialism’ to snatch identity from the Kashmiri people.

Human Rights Lawyer Nasir Qadri suggested that rule of law has become a victim in India where draconian laws are being used against political prisoners.

Earlier, SDPI Senior Policy Advisor Dr Shafqat Munir stated that a year of illegal actions by the Indian government has completed, changing the fate of the Kashmiri people. He said that Article 370 was scrapped by the Indian government against the aspirations of the Kashmiri people and in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

“The legislative forums in IIOJK are also being changed in addition to efforts to bring about demographic changes.” Dr Munir highlighted, stating that these conspiracies will be resited at every platform.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2020.