Afia Ambreen
Recently, the protests in Handwara, about 40 miles northwest of Srinagar, broke out after a Kashmiri girl had been molested by a soldier at a public bathroom adjacent to an army camp in the town. In a video circulating on television shared by the army, the girl, whose face was blurred, denied that she was molested by the soldier, and said instead that local boys had harassed her. The girl continued to be in police custody. Police wants to prevent the girl from speaking truth. Ironically, people including teachers who protested against the molestation incident have been booked while Indian forces’ personnel who killed five civilians are roaming scot free. This is worst form of state terrorism. However, Indian army imposed a curfew on the city in Indian Held Kashmir a day after Indian soldiers fired on a crowd of angry protesters at an army camp, killing three people. Another man also died in clashes with the police during related protests in Kupwara district.
Though widespread clashes between security forces and civilians have ebbed in recent years, the Kashmir valley has been convulsed by protests. In 2010, more than 100 people, mostly boys, were killed when the police and paramilitary forces fired on protesters who were objecting to violence by the security forces. Similarly, in 2009, the deaths of two girls in the southern region of Shopian, about 25 miles south of Srinagar, led to months of protests. The girls were found dead in a stream near police camps. Doctors declared at first that they had been raped and killed, but autopsies conducted some time later found that the young women had drowned. Residents dismissed the findings as a whitewash by the police.
The Indian government has covered up hundreds of cases of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances in the disputed territory of Kashmir. Of late, 800-page report titled ‘Structures of Violence: The Indian State in Jammu and Kashmir’ released by a local human rights group ‘Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), examines 333 case studies that span over four chapters. The report names 972 perpetrators of human rights violations: 464 army personnel, 189 government gunmen, 158 Jammu and Kashmir police personnel, and 161 paramilitary personnel. A striking feature of such reports is the impunity enjoyed by these perpetrators under the law of the land, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA). In the majority of the cases, justice has never been delivered despite overwhelming evidence and eyewitness accounts.
On the other hand, India continues to hatch conspiracies to change the Muslim majority status of Jammu and Kashmir into a minority. India was not concerned about the people of Kashmir but its land. The RSS and the BJP want to convert IHK into a Hindu Rashtra. Worst part is that local pro-India parties are assisting these forces in every possible way in fulfilling their agenda in the territory. For example covering Jammu and Kashmir under India’s Eligibility Entrance Test for admissions in medical courses, the plan to build concrete structures for non-local labourers and the unsympathetic attitude towards Urdu language as proofs of the conspiracies hatched against the Muslims of the territory. Kashmiri people are witnessing the worst kind of state terrorism, which is among the worst in the world. It is important to mention that Jammu and Kashmir is a Muslim majority region, but the sinister plans are on to change it into a Muslim minority territory. The ultimate conspiracy is to settle more people from Indian states. Over seven lac troops and five lac non-locals are present in the territory. Army has occupied over 28 lac kanals of land in Kashmir and is converting temporary sheds into concrete structures. India also plans to settle non locals and West Pakistani non Muslim refugees to change demography of the territory.
India continues to blame Pakistan for the unrest in Kashmir. It is a convenient excuse to ignore the people’s demands for self-determination. However, ignoring the decades old problem of refusing to resolve the question of Kashmiri sovereignty and self-determination has not only led to deep unrest among the Kashmiris; it has also led to two wars between India and Pakistan. UN resolutions formed the basis of resolution of the Kashmir dispute. The resolutions cannot end with statement of any UN or Indian official. India is signatory to 18 UN resolutions on Kashmir which guarantee right to self-determination to the Kashmiris. Unresolved Kashmir dispute is a threat to the peace in not only South Asia but also the entire world. India should have to adopt a realistic approach on the Kashmir dispute and resolve it by holding talks with Pakistan and the genuine Kashmiri leadership for the betterment of the people of the South Asian region.
