Situation in held Kashmir overwhelms Modi

The world is now taking notice of what the Indian government has done in held Kashmir; restricting everyday communications, detaining all opposition leaders and dissidents and flooding the state with untold number of ruthless security personnel. Amid the strict lockdown, the Indian security personnel are conducting cordon-and-search operations throughout the Valley to trace the pro-freedom voices and silence them; Indian officials have confirmed that as many as 343 politicians, business leaders and young boys have been booked under the black law PSA and shifted to jails in India’s UP and Haryana states but the actual number runs into thousands. The business sector, offices, schools and colleges are all locked; in fact, all small and major sectors of life including business and commerce, education, transport, horticulture and tourism in held Kashmir are virtually nonoperational and the unparalleled communications blockade adding more to the predominant uncertainty. Some 50,000 vehicles stand grounded since August 5 while the tourism is finished due to the clampdown. All hotels and houseboats are almost empty and as such running into huge losses. The Valley has been under a state of siege for the last three decades. Now held Kashmir has been reduced from a state to a union territory administered directly from New Delhi, creating unprecedented outrage and protests all around the world.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that more 500 Indian academics and scientists worldwide are deeply concerned at the humanitarian crisis perpetuated by the Modi Sarkar in held Kashmir. They have expressed deep apprehensions and concerns over the out of control situation that has engulfed the held Valley after New Delhi’s unlawful decision to end the Article 370 of the Indian constitution that has end the occupied valley’s autonomy and put it into a 50-day-old lockdown.

“We are appalled by the government’s decision to restrict telecommunications and the internet in Kashmir for over a month. We understand that landlines have been restored in some parts of Kashmir, but since landline teledensity in Kashmir is below 1%, and hence this measure has failed to provide substantive relief to Kashmir’s residents,” a statement issued by the academicians and scientists said. “In our own institutions, we have witnessed students suffering because they are unable to maintain contact with their families. Moreover, credible reports suggest that these restrictions have made it difficult for ordinary people in Kashmir to procure medical and essential supplies or even for children to attend school,” the statement read.

“We believe the Indian government’s actions in detaining and restricting the communications of opposition leaders and dissidents in Kashmir are deeply undemocratic. Whatever views one might hold about these individuals, a fundamental norm in a democracy is that the party in power does not have the right to lock up its political opponents when they have not even been accused of any crimes,” the statement maintained.

On the other hand, international leaders have mentioned the situation in held Valley in their UNGA speeches, the world media has exposed the atrocities and the lockdown and Indian intellectuals are realizing the Kashmir problem has been successfully internationalized by Pakistan. “The unending trauma on the ground for Kashmiris continues. It is this collapse of empathy that allows a democracy to endorse mass arrests, human rights violations, pellet guns, barbed wire, and the suspension of liberties and rights. India’s actions in Kashmir reflect the corrosion of its own democracy,” admits an Indian professor in a write-up.

The held Kashmir issue going to stay as long as the Article 370 is not revoked and people of the Valley find a just solution to their aspirations of self-determination.