The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people (Martin Luther King, Jr.) Oppression and democracy are ill-wedded companions. Nightmares haunt anyone, but what if these nightmares turn into reality? One such nightmare with eyes wide-awake traumatizes every conscious and mankind loving human being. This horrific dream becomes reality every day. It is about people dying everywhere getting massacred in every town and village, it is about the people being picked up and thrown into dark jails in unknown parts, it is about the dungeons in the city where hundreds of young men are kept in heavy chains and from where many never emerge alive, It is about those thousands who frequently disappear leaving behind women with photographs and perennial waiting, the roads are red with multitudes of dead bodies, in hospital beds, in fresh martyrs’ graveyards and scattered casually on the snow of mindless borders. The place is none but Indian Occupied Kashmir, a valley of tyranny, revenge and death. Indian Occupied Kashmir, a paradise on earth, has been converted into hell by India. It is the story of tyrant and oppressed on a genuinely legitimate cause. The oppressed is inking this story with blood and tears but the international community has become totally callous to safeguard their vested interests. May be they do not want to displease a big economic ally, or may be the hysteric voices of poor Kashmiris cannot reach their ears. How their voices can be heard when a massive brutal military force of about a million has been deployed to mute them through coercion, intimidation and genocide? May be murder, rape and kidnapping have been expunged from international dictionary of crimes or may be the case of poor people of IOK has succumbed to double standards of international community. Whatever may be the case the story is on for the last seven decades. Not all the people in the World are hypocrite. Their voices, though faint, keep challenging the turncoat policies of those who matter but don’t care. Such voices have now frequently started rising from within India as well. Prem Shankar Jha, the author of ‘Kashmir 1947: The Origins of a Dispute’ is among those Indian journalists who understand the complexities and consequences of Kashmir conflict. The genesis of conflict, he believes, lies in India’s inability to understand Kashmir and Kashmiris. In an interview with “Rising Kashmir’s” Daanish Bin Nabi, he criticises the flawed and double standard policies of New Delhi vis-à-vis Kashmir and Hurriyat. While exposing the real worth of sham polls being conducted in IOK he admits, “We have done blunders regarding our Kashmir policy. The issue of rigging is the most serious one. The elections were rigged not only by the government of India, but also by the successive state governments. The state governments appointed their chosen officials at key positions to conduct elections. India never liked to grant the right of self-determination to the Kashmiris’ and instead imposed fraudulent assemblies on them, since 1951, to make tyrannical laws against the people of IOK. The Indian Parliament not only ratified the IOK’s illegal accession with India, but declared it as irrevocable and crippled the state economically and suffocated the democratic voices in Kashmir. Thus, the history of Parliamentary and state assembly elections is the history of hypocrisy and treachery in Kashmir since 1950s aimed at depriving the Kashmiris their political and economic rights and freedoms. India is using different tactics to hoodwink the international community about the Kashmir dispute and to justify its illegal occupation. To achieve these objectives, its leaders keep on issuing different statements claiming that Kashmir is India’s internal issue. This latest stance adopted by hardliner BJP is totally in contrast to that of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He announced on many occasions that Kashmir was a dispute and the Kashmiris would be given an opportunity to choose their political destiny. He said, “We have declared that the fate of Kashmir is ultimately to be decided by the people. The pledge we have given, and the Maharaja has supported it, not only to people of J&K, but also to the World. We will not and cannot back out of it. We are prepared when peace and law have been established to have a referendum held under international auspices like the United Nations. We want it to be a fair and just reference to the people and we shall accept their verdict”. Unfortunately, the international community has callously failed to fulfill its obligations towards settling the Kashmir dispute, resulting in the continued sufferings of the Kashmiris. This indifferent attitude has bolstered New Delhi to sustain its repressive policy in the occupied territory. Even the United Nations, the highest forum for conflict resolution and flag bearer of human rights protection, despite having a record of resolving many global disputes, has not made any serious effort to get its resolutions on Kashmir implemented, putting a question mark on its credibility. According to Joseph Addison, ‘No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority. The sentiments of a young Indonesian researcher, Laura Schurman truly depict double standards of international community in context of Kashmir dispute. She in her research paper titled, ‘Brief Kashmir: the Geopolitical Implications & its Impact on Regional Peace and Security’ presented at Kashmir EU week at the European Parliament Brussels, Belgium in November 2013 writes, ‘During the occupation of East Timor when the Indonesian armed forces were condemned for their human rights violations in this disputed territory, European leaders, human rights activists and the international media repeatedly rang alarm bells and demanded a move towards a resolution of the conflict. During those turbulent years, the whole of Europe stood united to defend the rights of the East Timorese, and no single country averted its eyes to the human rights abuses, oppression, and suffering of the people. The case of East Timor, on one hand, never posed a serious threat to regional peace and security. Kashmir, on the other hand, has and will remain a threat with geopolitical implications for the wider South Asian region. Europe must stand up for the rights of the Kashmiris which will ultimately deliver effective results for both regional peace and security and that of the entire world. For more than six decades, the people of Kashmir have been waiting for their promised plebiscite. Their hopes have been continuously dashed; the desperate youth growing increasingly angry and the people of Kashmir forced to exist in a state of darkness in their own communities and homes. The Kashmir dispute can no longer be considered a bilateral dispute between India and Pakistan only, but one with real geopolitical implications of which the repercussions will have long term effect on regional peace and security’. Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of division of sub-continent. While Pakistan has always advocated a just and peaceful settlement of Kashmir dispute in accordance with the aspirations of Kashmiri people, India’s persistent intransigence has remained the main impediment in achieving this objective. India’s obstinacy in resolving Kashmir dispute has brought a stalemate in efforts towards fostering peace in the region. Her baseless allegation of fueling militancy in the valley against Pakistan is a wicked ploy to keep the world blind on her state sponsored atrocities and gross human rights violations in IOK. Today, the bleeding Kashmir is urging the peace and justice-loving nations of the world to fulfill their pledge and express practical solidarity with the oppressed people of IOK. Unresolved Kashmir dispute means a troubled South Asia.
