Kashmir continues to simmer

The world media widely reported how Indian farmers trashed the country’s Republic Day on January 26, 2021. However, few media outlets reported that in held Kashmir, the Kashmiris, subjugated by the Indian rule, cold-shouldered the event with great disgust and dismay.

Hundreds of Kashmiris were called to local police stations on January 24 and interned. The roads were sealed by paramilitary forces, which humiliated and frisked locals. Ten of thousands of paramilitary troops made sure that Srinagar residents stayed home. Simultaneously, the Valley observed a shutdown on the 72nd Republic Day, which it has been doing since the 1990s. This year, it was the second Republic Day in the Valley since the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A on August 5, 2019. In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, protest rallies and demonstrations were held in all the 10 districts to mark the Indian Republic Day as a black day.

The situation today in held Kashmir for its residents who have been sidelined is critical. Former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah in an interview said, “What about the representative character of the government?” in the Muslim majority area.

“Please look at the make-up of our administration today. Your LG is non-Muslim; chief secretary non-Muslim; DGP non-Muslim; both your divisional commissioners are non-Muslims; both your IGs of police non-Muslims; the chief justice of J&K high court is non-Muslim; the rest of the high court bench, barring two judges, are all non-Muslims.

How many of your deputy commissioners and SPs posted in Kashmir today are Kashmiri-speaking? It may appear minor, but please understand these are the issues that resonate with people. We don’t play the religious card, but when there is such a severe communal imbalance, there will be resentment.”

Also, following the Republic Day, India and Pakistan’s delegates at the UN clashed. Pakistan's delegate strongly rejected India's claim that Jammu and Kashmir was its part. "As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, India has no other claim than that of an occupier," the Pakistani delegate reminded. "Like all occupiers and colonizers of the past, India wants to physically, politically and psychologically crush the indigenous Kashmiri struggle."

The delegate added: "Today’s India has become a nightmare for its minorities. Its current leadership has sacrificed every trapping of secularism."

More shocking for India was UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ statement, who called on nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to “come together and seriously discuss their problems” stemming from the unresolved Kashmir dispute, saying his good offices were always available for mediation. In a message that New Delhi did not want to hear, the UN chief warned that there was no “military solution” to the decades-old conflict. “It is clear when seeing Pakistan and India, any military confrontation between the two would be a disaster of unmitigated proportions for both countries and for the whole world,” he warned. “I do believe that [it] is absolutely essential to have a de-escalation of the situation, namely in the Line of Control.”

Further responding to a question about the continuing human rights abuses in Indian-occupied Kashmir, the UN chief said, “I think it’s essential that human rights are fully respected in all territories that you mentioned."

The UN chief’s open ended offer to both countries for mediation is shocking for India. It is also a reminder to New Delhi that the issue has not been forgotten and sidelined in most world capitals and by human rights bodies. On the whole, the UN chief’s statement was invaluable in raising the profile of simmering issue. It also showed there is massive Indian failure at the Kashmiri landscape.