200 days of inhuman torture in IOK

The Kashmiris have endured now more than 200 days of torture at the hands of Indian forces after the revocation of Article 370. India’s claims of a “pluralistic society, constitutionally-guaranteed freedom, fundamental rights and robust institutions operating in the world''s largest democracy” have become a joke as far as Kashmiris and other minorities in the country are concerned.

The issue of Kashmir has been internationalised not seen in the last 50 years. Even the West does not believe in the Indian government’s claims that it was “responsive to safety and well-being of people in Jammu and Kashmir”; it never was, now more than ever. The unparalleled restrictions on movement and communications in held Valley since August 5 last year are in still in place. Fundamental freedoms and liberties have been seized and human rights defenders are being targeted. The political leadership of Kashmir has been placed under house arrest or imprisoned. Over 10,000 Kashmiris have been arrested without due process of law and sent to prisons in India.

There has been systematic and serial violations of fundamental freedoms in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), which has been transformed by India into the largest prison on Earth where basic amenities and means of communication are not accessible.

The use of pellet guns, bloodshed, curfews, clampdown and communications blackout continue. It is clear that India's unilateral decision to revoke the Article 370 on August 5 was illegal under international law and now India’s presence is, by its own benchmark, naked foreign occupation. The assertions that these actions are its internal affair are patently false and a lie. As it is, India is now trapped in the held Valley since the revocation of Article 35; if it had not been, it would have lifted the lockdown by now. The world opinion has turned against India. The international media outlets and neutral observers are no longer shy in reporting about the atrocities being carried out against the people of occupied Kashmir. The UNSC, UNHRC commission and other world bodies have also taken hold of the issue.

Genocide Watch, a US-based organisation, has issued an alert, giving a list of risk factors for a genocide that are early warnings of massacres in IHK. It was massively downplayed by the Indian media and the Modi government.

MK Bhadrakumar, a former Indian diplomat, last year warned the Modi Sarkar: “The roof is not likely to come down if Trump can lend a hand to tamp down tensions and nudge the Indian and Pakistani leaders to talk. The point is, the Kashmir issue has been internationalised, and if the downhill slide in India-Pakistan relations continues, UN intervention becomes all but certain, and it may turn out to be intrusive. Of course, that doesn’t mean that India will buckle under pressure, but attrition is bound to set in over time, and statesmanship lies in anticipating events and assessing whether on balance such developments would be to India’s advantage.”

Nothing has changed since Mr Bhadrakumar’s warning; only the pressure on India to take her brutal steps in the Valley back and come to the table to hold talks with Pakistan has further mounted.