Reema Shaukat
Indian held Kashmir is under oppression for many decades. During the previous year of Modi’s tenure as Indian PM, brutal acts and laws were introduced to torture poor Kashmiris in any possible way. Same happened when the Indian elections were held in past few months and the results have declared Modi’s BJP party to be ruling party again for another term. Obviously one cannot expect something better in future from Modi keeping in view his past term.
The holy month of Ramadan is near its completion and month which is termed as month of blessings, forgiveness, purity and serenity for Muslims never remains that peaceful for Kashmiris in IOK. After every other day Indian police targets someone and kills without any justification. Last week a young man Musa Zakir was killed on a suspicion of his links with Al-Qaeda.
Thousands of people took part in multiple funeral processions and clashes with Indian forces were reported. Fearing an escalation in tensions, the authorities in Kashmir closed down schools, colleges and universities, while mobile internet services were also shut across the Himalayan region to prevent people from mobilising protests.
In the region’s main city of Srinagar, curfew and shutdown remained in place as the authorities prevented people from attending Friday prayers in the city’s grand mosque.
A cordon and search operation was held in Pulwama district for Zakir and after the reports of gunfight spread in the region hundreds of people came out on roads and raised anti-India slogans.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned the situation and said in his tweet, “for the second time in Ramadan, Jumma prayers disallowed at Jamia Masjid. Extremely sad that each day Kashmir loses its promising young in one way or the other to the lingering conflict. Urge all the stakeholders to come together to put an end to this daily killing.”
Indian troops in their ongoing act of state-sanctioned brutality during the month of Ramadan, also martyred five youth in the Pulwama and Baramulla districts of Indian-occupied Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave troops a “free hand” to respond to the attack, and near-daily searches in villages in IOK since then have often triggered violent confrontations. Tensions in the held territory have been since the February 14 suicide attack that killed over 40 Indian paramilitaries. Villagers in the area have complained before about the army using Kashmiris as human shields in searches.
Jammu and Kashmir has suffered violence for the last 30 years. An estimated 100,000 people have died, including civilians, militants and army personnel, after groups began an armed struggle for freedom from Indian rule. The state is under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act that grants authority to the military to use lethal force in dealing with suspects, to arrest without warrant and detain suspects indefinitely without charge.
Many civilians have been killed as they try to stop police and troops from arresting innocent Kashmiris. Kashmiri leaders are always put under house arrest during Ramadan so that they cannot give Eid sermon to people. Because of upcoming Burhan Wani death anniversary India already has deployed about 2,000 extra troops in Kashmir.
Pakistan has always supported just struggle of Kashmiris and Foreign Office always spokes about Indian atrocities in IOK and mentions that the people and government of Pakistan have rendered immense sacrifices in both blood and treasure to end this scourge, which has been acknowledged by the international community.
70 year old indigenous struggle of Kashmiris in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir remained legitimate, and the designation of individuals supporting the Kashmiri right to self-determination as terrorists was completely unjustified. The gross and systematic violations of human rights of the Kashmiri people in IOK that have been recorded and reported by independent human rights bodies was a reality. Over the past one year the world has witnessed an intensification of the brutal policies of repression being pursued by the Indian occupation forces.
This includes the full or partial blinding of over a thousand innocent Kashmiris through the use of pellet guns, rape as an instrument of state policy, extrajudicial executions, use of human shields by Indian occupation forces, arbitrary arrests, undocumented disappearances, humiliation of Kashmiris on a daily basis, the blowing up of their homes and the denial of their fundamental freedoms of movement expression and opinion as well as religious freedoms.
Despite this relentless state terror, the Kashmiris remain undeterred and unbowed. Pakistan has always supported Kashmir cause on political, diplomatic and moral fronts and will continue to do so unless the peaceful solution is found in accordance with UN resolutions and Kashmiris are given their right of self-determination.
