We, the students and members of the faculty of the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi, express our strong indignation at New Delhi’s use of cluster bombs across the LoC in the Neelum Valley, under Islamabad’s jurisdiction between the night of July 30-31, 2019, killing a four-year old baby and two adults, and critically injuring eleven others.
A statement issued by the students and faculty members says: “That these weapons were camouflaged as toys tempting children to hold them shows Narendra Modi’s intention to eliminate the younger generation in particular and adults in general. The incident was denounced by the ICRC (Red Cross) which urged the international community to take effective measures against India to stop such attacks forthwith.”
It further reads: “In fact, it was owing to the persistent efforts of the ICRC that the Convention on the Prohibition of Planning, Development, Manufacturing and even transferring of cluster bombs was signed by 108 estates on May 30, 2008 at Dublin, with the US, Russian Federation, Peoples Republic of China, Brazil, Israel, Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan abstaining; nevertheless the Convention once passed, becomes mandatory against the signatories and non-signatories alike.
“The Cluster Bomb was first used in 1940 during the second world war and lately by US in Afghanistan with deadly effect on the living beings and environment. When dropped, it splinters into numerous bomblets and gets buried in the ground and becomes landmines so the unsuspecting men, women, children and even the cattle are blasted the moment they step on it.
“As it is, this is indeed a genocidal weapon which threatens all forms of life on the planet Earth. The use of such weapon on the civilian population is undoubtedly a major war crime and may call for retaliation in kind by the aggrieved party.”
The statement says, “India has sought to kill three birds with one stone. (1) The first target is the Kashmiri people who have resisted the naked military occupation of India and (2) Pakistan which espouses the cause of the liberation movement of Kashmiri population. (3) Yet New Delhi’s motive is to sabotage Pakistan’s efforts of the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan from which it has been ousted. This meeting, therefore, recommends the following:
1) Pakistan should take the issue directly to the International Criminal Court (ICC);
2) ICRC, the sponsor of the Convention, be involved in arranging a meeting between India and Pakistan to thrash out this issue;
3) The Red Cross should call the environmentalists from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to ponder over the situation pregnant with menacing possibilities for the life and environment in the region and abroad.
“This making of the students at the faculty members of the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi, deplores the unilateral revocation by India of the Articles 370 and 35(A) of the Indian Constitution, while the matter is sub judice in the Supreme
Court of India constitutes flagrant violation of the contempt of court, putting the entire judicial system of India on trial. Apart from the legality of the arbitrary action of India, the action is designed to dismember the Kashmiri people and their entity.” There is a need to acknowledge the UN Security Council Resolution of April 21, 1948, mandating the parties to the dispute, India and Pakistan, to hold referendum under the UN auspices.
