Actions that the Modi government has been taking since ending the autonomous status of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) only show its nervousness in dealing with the freedom movement in the disputed territory. Now an Indian court has convicted Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik on trumped-up charges of terror financing. Sentencing will be announced on May 25. In its reaction, the Foreign Office summoned a senior Indian diplomat and handed over a demarche in which the Government of Pakistan has condemned Malik’s conviction on entirely false charges in the strongest terms, saying this was another attempt by India to suppress the freedom movement in IIOJK.
Malik has dismissed the charges against him as politically motivated and termed it yet another bid by India to crush the liberation movement in IIOJK. He told the judge that “if seeking Azadi is a crime then he is ready to accept this crime and its consequences.” He has been lodged in the high-security Tihar Jail in New Delhi, notorious for harsh treatment of inmates, since August 2019, when the New Delhi authorities abrogated Article 370 of the Indian constitution that guarantees the autonomous status of the Muslim-majority state. Afzal Guru is one more example of the Indian government’s high-handedness to scare, albeit in vain, the Kashmiri freedom fighters. Guru had been hanged in 2013 following a court decision, even though he had renounced violence.
Currently, many other prominent Kashmiri leaders have either been in jail or under house arrest since the illegal August 2019 actions by New Delhi. Also, the atrocities against the innocent civilians go unabated. The Indian authorities are also carrying on with their nefarious bid to mislead the public opinion. Before the false conviction of Malik, the authorities allowed the screening of a highly toxic movie, Kashmir Files, in cinemas. Many Indian public opinion leaders have described it as a ‘Radio Active film’. Alas, the international community – including the UN, EU and OIC – has not uttered even a single word of condemnation! The world conscious slumbers on – shamefully!
Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2022.
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