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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Somersaults over Kashmir

By Malik Muhammad Ashraf
October 20, 2018

After deferring local bodies elections for 13 years in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK), the Indian government held the first phase of the polls on October 8. The polls were marred by tensions, shutterdown strikes and protests.

India inducted 40,000 more troops to handle the ever-deteriorating law and order situation in the valley and also put various Kashmiri leaders – like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Yasin Malik and Ghulam Ahmed Gulzar – under house arrest.

The people overwhelmingly responded to the calls for boycott and the voter turnout in the valley was abysmally low – at 8.3 percent. This proved that the people of IoK abhor the occupation of their land by Indian security forces and aren’t prepared to compromise on their right to self-determination.

It is pertinent to point out that IoK Governor Satya Pal Malik, who is handling the affairs in the state after the fall of the PDP-BJP alliance in June this year, told the Indian Express on October 3 that India had made mistakes and had alienated itself from Kashmir.

The reality is that the freedom movement in Indian Occupied Kashmir has become irrepressible and the issue can only be resolved through a process of dialogue between the parties to the dispute – as was also pointed out by the Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat.

According to the Indian media, Rawat said in an exclusive interview with The Economic Times in June that he supported dialogue to solve the ongoing problems in Kashmir. He reportedly said that: “Talks must happen. We kill them and more of them join. Infiltration can be controlled, but this cycle of recruitment of local youth can go on and on. So, let us give peace a chance and see”.

The Indian army chief’s statement corroborated the credentials of the freedom movement as an indigenous phenomenon, contrary to the Indian stance, and underlined the need for a negotiated settlement that will ultimately have to be resorted to.

Rawat’s observations about more and more youth joining the freedom movement is amply corroborated by the martyrdom of Mannan Wani, a PhD student at Aligarh University who dropped out to join the ranks of the Hizbul Mujahideen.

In his letter to the Indian media in July, Mannan Wani had said that: “we are soldiers. We do not fight to die but to win… we do not feel dignity in death but we feel dignity in fighting Indian occupation, its military might, its possession, its tyranny, its collaborators and most of all, its ego”. There was a complete shutterdown in the valley to protest against his death and a large number of people took to the streets to express their resentment.

The freedom movement in IoK, which started in 1989, has gained more intensity since Burhan Wani’s killing in 2016. The ruthless oppression by the Indian forces, senseless killings and violation of human rights hasn’t been able to subdue the flame of freedom in IoK and it is gaining more momentum with each passing day.

But India fails to see the ultimate reality. Thriving on the indifference of the UN, the global community, and the US and its allies, it is continuing to spill the blood of Kashmiris with impunity, notwithstanding the fact that the first-ever UNHCR report released on June 14 pointed out the systematic violation of the fundamental rights of Kashmiris.

The resolution of the Kashmir dispute is the UN’s responsibility. Dr Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, was right on the money when while addressing the UN General Assembly on October 9 she pointed out that it was a long-standing obligation of the UN as a party to the Kashmir dispute to find a peaceful settlement to the issue.

Regretting the non-implementation of the UN resolution that pledged a plebiscite in Kashmir to decide the question of accession, she said: “Pakistan seeks a negotiated solution to the dispute whereas India does not”.

The continued violations of the 2003 ceasefire agreement by the Indian security forces along the LoC and the Working Boundary, and the belligerent posturing of Indian leaders amply suggest that India isn’t interested in ensuring peace and security in the region, let alone in resolving the Kashmir dispute.

By acting like a warlike state, India is endangering peace and security in the region. Disputes and conflicts cannot be resolved through the barrelof the gun.

They require attempts to address the causes that have given rise to the conflict. The people of Kashmir are fighting for their right to self-determination, which has been enshrined in various UN resolutions and also repeatedly promised by Indian leaders like Nehru.

India somersaults on its commitments regarding the plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the UN in 1957, taking the position that the question of Kashmir’s accession stood resolved because the constituent assembly of IOK had declared that the region’s accession to India was strongly repudiated by the UN through resolutions number 91 and 122.

Therefore, Kashmir remains an unfinished agenda of Partition that awaits resolution through a UN-sponsored plebiscite. There is no way India can stifle the freedom movement in Kashmir. Similarly, Pakistan can’t be forced to withdraw from the position it has taken on the issue.

As a peace-promoting entity, the UN has the obligation to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Pakistan’s permanent representative, while welcoming the formation of secretary-general’s High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation, rightly reminded the global body that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was one of the earliest applications of Chapter VI of the UN Charter, which deals with the peaceful settlement of disputes.

The writer is a freelance contributor. Email: ashpak10@gmail.com