The blackest day for Kashmiris

On 27th October 1947, India landed its troops in princely state of Jammu and Kashmir and occupied it in blatant violation of the Partition Plan and also against the popular will of Kashmiri Muslims. Jawaharlal Nehru and Lord Mountbatten were the masterminds of this greatest human tragedy, whereas Hari Singh then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir and Cyril Radcliff, head of the Boundary Commission were accomplices. India had announced the accession of Jammu and Kashmir under a controversial Instrument of Accession. The fact remained that Jammu and Kashmir was a Muslim majority state, and fulfilled all the conditions in the partition plan for the princely states to join Pakistan keeping in view peoples’ aspirations, culture and religion. The partition plan of 3rd June 1947 had envisaged that over 565 princely states would join India or Pakistan keeping in view the aspirations of their people and geographical contiguity.
Right from the day one, the people of Kashmir did not accept India’s illegal occupation and started armed struggle with the public support in 1947. And it was India that approached the UN Security Council on 1st January 1948 to help address the matter. The UN Security Council through its successive resolutions nullified Indian occupation of Kashmir declaring it as a disputed territory. It approved a ceasefire, demarcation of the ceasefire line, demilitarization of the state and a free and impartial plebiscite to be conducted under the supervision of the UN. Although the ceasefire and demarcation of the ceasefire line were implemented but demilitarization of the occupied territory and a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN supervision remain unimplemented till date that kept the Kashmir dispute lingering on. On 5th August 2019, a presidential decree revoked Article 370 that gave special status to IOK.
The Article 370 of India’s constitution had guaranteed special rights to the Muslim-majority state, including the right to its own constitution and autonomy to make laws on all matters except defence, communications and foreign affairs. In the lead-up to the move, India sent thousands of additional troops to the disputed region, imposed a crippling curfew which continues for over 7 weeks, shut down telecommunications and internet, and arrested political leaders. Already, Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Disturbed Areas Act in the occupied territory have broken all records of human rights violations. During the last 30 years, the trigger-happy forces have martyred around one hundred thousand Kashmiris; thousands of innocent youth have been subjected to disappearance in custody and their whereabouts remain untraced. Besides these cruelties, the occupation authorities have usurped all kinds of freedom and frequently impose restrictions on the people and pro-liberation leadership to suppress the sentiment of dissent in the territory.
India is hell bent upon changing the demographic composition of the territory and turn Muslim majority into a minority. Kashmiri Muslims have suffered death and destruction unparalleled in the history, first during Dogra Raj, and later faced murder, rape and killings at the hands of Indian armed forces. Frustrated by the apathy of the international community and non-implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, Kashmiri youth took up the arms in 1989. However, after 9/11, political landscape of the world changed dramatically, adversely impacting the freedom struggles of the people the world over who were dubbed as terrorists. Nevertheless, writers, intellectuals and peace loving people condemned India’s repression on people of Kashmir and also for treating them as second class citizens. A few right-thinking Indians like writer, intellectual and human rights activist Arundhati Roy also highlighted the atrocities perpetrated on Kashmiris.
While referring to UN resolutions on June 26, 1952, the then prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had told Indian Parliament that if the Kashmiri people wished to join Pakistan they may do so. But in later years, India amended its constitution to make Kashmir its integral part, which was beginning of the grave human rights violations in Indian Held Kashmir. In case, India continues to baulk at resolving the Kashmir dispute, there can never be a durable peace in the region. The international community has to understand that Tashkent and Simla agreements were signed by Pakistan under duress. Secondly, Article 103 of Chapter XVI of the UN Charter clearly states: “In the event of a conflict between the obligations of the members of the United Nations under the present Charter and any other international agreement, their obligation under the present charter shall prevail”.