Afia Ambreen
In Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Gilani, has urged the people to completely boycott the fifth and final phase of the sham Indian Parliamentary elections and observe complete shutdown in the poll-bound areas on 6th May. Syed Ali Gilani in a statement issued in Srinagar, said that ruthless killings, unabated arrest spree, economic strangulation, vehicular restriction and enforced demographic changes through judicial onslaught were being carried out in occupied Kashmir by India.
However, on the other side, he added, a vast military exercise under the veil of elections was being forced on Kashmiris to strengthen India’s rule and hoodwink the world community about the prevailing situation in the occupied territory. He urged the world community to come to the rescue of Kashmiris who were being victimized for their legitimate demand for right to self-determination and help resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with their aspirations.
Meanwhile, complete shutdown was observed in Pulwama and Shopian districts to mourn the killing of three youth by Indian troops. The occupation authorities deployed Indian troops and police personnel in strength in different areas of the districts to prevent people from holding demonstrations against the killings. The authorities also continued to suspend train service for the second consecutive day on Srinagar-Banihal track. Use of brute force by Indian troops and police against peaceful protesters in Shopian resulted in killing of three youth and twenty people were injured, some of them critically, when Indian forces’ personnel fired bullets, pellets and teargas shells on peaceful demonstrators who were protesting against Indian atrocities.
Hundreds of people, mostly youth, raising pro-freedom, anti-India and anti-election slogans marched towards the polling stations set up in school buildings in Qaimoh, Bugam and Kujjar areas of Kulgam and pelted stones on the polling staff. The troop used lathi-charge and fired teargas, but the protesters refused to budge. Then, the forces opened pellet fire directly on the protesting youth, injuring many. Reportedly, one Kashmiri student namely Mr Noman Wani, final year student at Nishtar Medical University revealed that Indian authorities at Wagha boarder mistreat most of the Kashmiri IOK students.
He further shared a recent incident of his own at said border crossing in which he was compelled by Indian authorities to chant “Pakistan Murda Bad Hindustan Zinda Bad” slogan and also made video of it and posted/ uploaded on his Facebook ID. Besides, his mobile phone was also thoroughly checked by the Indian authorities.
As hundreds of millions of Indians take part in the largest democratic election in the world, residents of the northern province of Kashmir are engaging in what appears to be a historic boycott of the vote. The current Indian prime ministerial election, which runs over the course of a month, pits the incumbent Narendra Modi of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, against Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. In April, freedom groups in Kashmir called for a boycott of the election that started on April 11 and will end on May 19. Reports say that only 13 percent of voters in the provincial capital, Srinagar, have voted, amid sporadic clashes at polling stations. The turnout so far is markedly lower than it was in the most recent election in 2014, when a record 65 percent of eligible voters in the province cast ballots.
The control that the Indian military asserts over Kashmir, in addition to politicians’ indifference toward Kashmiris’ desire for greater autonomy, have contributed to the latter’s aversion to participating in Indian democracy. Modi’s five-year tenure as prime minister has seen an escalation in violence in the troubled province.
The people of occupied Kashmir have been facing the worst kind of Indian state terrorism in their just struggle for freedom from India’s occupation of their homeland. New Delhi has given its troops and police personnel unbridled powers under draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Public Safety Act and Disturbed Areas Act to commit all kinds of atrocities on the Kashmiris to intimidate them into submission.
At the same time, India has usurped all the basic rights of the Kashmiri people and Hurriyat leaders including the freedom of free movement, the freedom of expression and the freedom of protest and assembly. It has also imposed curbs on political and even on religious activities of the masses in the territory. t is a reality that New Delhi is suppressing the Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom movement through military might. However, despite using all brutal tactics, Indian forces’ personnel have failed to subdue the freedom sentiment of the Kashmiris and they are very much determined to continue their struggle till they achieved their cherished goal of freedom from Indian bondage.
Kashmir’s chilling strife and turbulence was the denial of right to self-determination. Acceding to self-determination is the answer to Kashmir’s agony. That acceptance would also relieve India of the multiple national security and economic adversities spawned by its denial of self-determination. More important, Kashmir self-determination would eliminate the chief cause of India’s national security vulnerability. War with Pakistan would become fanciful. India had accepted a resolution in the UN Security Council in 1948 mandating a plebiscite in Kashmir conducted by the United Nations to determine its future sovereignty. India reneged on its plebiscite commitment and obligation because it knew that a commanding majority of the people of Kashmir would never vote accession to India. The Kashmiri people were rendering sacrifices for freedom and Indian brutalities would not be able to force them into submission.
