India’s true face behind the mask in IOK

If the true face of India is being exposed, there are major realities which must be considered by Pakistan

After a year of revoking the so-called special status of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) guaranteed under Articles 370 and 35(A) of the Indian constitution, there is no let-up in New Delhi’s brutal suppression in the Muslim majority occupied Valley of Kashmir. A year has passed when lockdown, curfew, siege and serge operations, killings, injuries and forced disappearance of Kashmiri youth were introduced as a state policy but the BJP regime failed to quell the popular movement of Kashmiri Muslims for emancipation from India’s military occupation.

India’s true face behind the mask in occupied Kashmir has been exposed when on March 31 this year the Indian Union Home Ministry amended the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019, and redefined permanent residents by introducing a policy of issuing domicile certificates aiming to transform the demography of Kashmir. Surprisingly, the new policy of issuing domicile certificates is not applicable in the Buddhist majority union territory of Ladakh but has been only enforced in J&K so as not to offend the Buddhist community.

When the Modi regime presented Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Act on August 5 before the Lok Sabha (Lower House) of the Indian parliament, it took the position that the purpose of revoking Articles 370 and 35(A) was to prevent corruption and promote development in J&K, particularly in the valley because prominent families of Srinagar were manipulating funds provided by the Centre for the well-being of people. But, the real intentions of the Modi regime and its Hindu nationalist allies like Shiv Sena were exposed when under the cover of the new domicile policy, lockdown and other punitive measures, New Delhi embarked on to give a practical shape to its age-old ambition of demographic transformation of Kashmir.

In an interview to The Wire on July 29, former chief minister of J&K and leader of the National Conference, Omar Abdullah lamented that “India’s annexation of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 last year aims to change its demography by reducing Muslims to a minority. There are genuine concerns, real concerns to take a straw poll of all the domicile certificates that have been issued since this new law came into being and see the religious breakup in those between Muslims and non-Muslims.”

One needs to bear in mind the fact that Omar Abdullah and Mahbooba Mufti, another former chief minister and leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), were pro-Indian in their stance till the time New Delhi revoked the special status of J&K. Both have now turned against the Indian government which means all Muslim Kashmiri political parties and groups are united to seek the reversal of the Reorganization Act and the withdrawal of security forces along with an end to the lockdown.

If the true face of India in J&K is being exposed, there are three major realities which must be considered by Pakistan.

First, can Pakistan take the risk of going on an all-out war with India over Kashmir? Can Pakistan withdraw from the Simla Pact which binds both New Delhi and Islamabad to respect the sanctity of the Line of Control (LoC) and resolve the Kashmir conflict bilaterally? The rhetoric of reaching Srinagar will not work because power elites are reluctant to take a bold and courageous step for rendering direct support to Kashmiri emancipation groups. In October last year, when the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JK&LF) announced in Muzaffarabad that they would cross the LoC to render support to their counterparts in the Valley of Kashmir, Pakistan’s Prime Minister appealed to them to not consider that option as it would be counter-productive and would provide India an opportunity to escalate conflict. As a result, the JK&LF postponed its march till March 2020. By just using diplomatic and political efforts, Pakistan will not be able to expose India’s true face in J&K because so far no permanent member of the UN Security Council is convinced to call an urgent meeting to discuss the Indian atrocities in IOK. It would have been better had the special session of the UN General Assembly on J&K been called by its Secretary General on the request of Pakistan. According to the UN Charter, any member has a right to request a special session and special emergency session of the UNGA in case there is a serious threat to peace. And Kashmir is certainly an issue which has the potential to destabilise international peace and security.

Second, critics of the PTI government allege that it has handed over Kashmir to India because no concrete measures have been taken to force New Delhi to reverse its August 5 steps except for tweets, statements and speeches to help and assist the people of Kashmir seek liberation from the Indian occupied forces. A year has passed and India has been able to get away from its absorption of J&K in the Indian Union. There is no indication that the Modi regime is giving second thoughts of reversing its August 5 steps; and the Indian Supreme Court where several petitions, including the one by Omar Abdullah, are lying challenging the revocation of articles 370 and 35(A), has so far not given its final verdict. It is appalling that since the outbreak of the popular uprising, Kashmiri ‘Intifada’ in 1990, more than 100,000 people have been killed and thousands injured from the use of pellet guns. Other gross violation of human rights like rapes of Kashmiri women and forced disappearance of Kashmiri Muslim youths are well documented but have failed to draw the attention of the UNGA and SC. Is it not a hard reality that despite Pakistan’s efforts to internationalise India’s brutal suppression of human rights in occupied Kashmir and absorbing Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir in the Indian Union, the BJP-led government is firm on continuing with the implementation of its age-old ambition to alter the demography of Kashmir so as to diminish Pakistan’s claim over J&K? All major political parties of India have rendered their support for the Reorganization Act in the parliament.

Third, the ground reality of Pakistan’s failure in governance, economy and political stability, which cast a negative shadow on its policy over J&K, is a source of great embarrassment. Renaming Kashmir Highway in Islamabad as Srinagar Highway, Prime Minister’s address to the assembly of Azad Kashmir on August 5, introducing the new political map of Pakistan reflecting J&K as an Indian occupied territory and other symbolic measures to express solidarity with the people of J&K will not work unless practical steps are taken by Islamabad to help emancipate these people from the clutches of Indian brutalities. Are the elites of Pakistan ready to render sacrifices for the cause of Kashmir?

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2020.

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