The word “Kashmir” rings bells in all those minds that follow global politics and regional conflicts.
However, for one reason or another the international community and media did not pay it the attention it deserves. In this column, I shall try to present the Pakistani viewpoint about the Kashmir dispute.
In order to understand the Kashmir issue, a brief historical and geographical overview is pertinent here. Kashmir is a scenic piece of land in the foothills of the majestic Himalayan mountain range. The area consists of valleys, rivers, gorges and green mountain tracts.
Kashmir had existed as an independent state under Muslim rule since the 14th century. It was occupied by a Sikh ruler, Ranjit Singh, in the 19th century.
Subsequently, the British conquered Kashmir and sold it to Maharaja Gulab Singh, a Sikh officer in the British army.
At the time of partition of united India under British rule, Kashmir was given an option to choose its accession, with either Pakistan or India. But in collusion with Kashmir’s ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, Kashmir was occupied by India.
The valiant response by Kashmiris wrested a part of Kashmir from the Indian siege. The matter was taken to the UN Security Council by the then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. The UN Security Council in its resolutions of August 1948 and January 1949 recommended the withdrawal of forces and the holding of a plebiscite under its authority to let the Kashmiri people decide their future.
Eleven registered resolutions have so far been tabled in the UN Security Council and for the future dispensation of Kashmir.
Since then, India has been in violation of the UN resolutions and remained obstinate in the face of several UN Security Council proposals for the holding of a plebiscite in Kashmir.
In addition, India has been abusing the card of bilateralism to solve the dispute under a bilateral agreement. But it was a false pretext, to keep attention and involvement of the international community away from the Kashmir dispute.
Gradually, the Indian government tried to erode the autonomous status of Kashmir over the past many years. This process culminated in the revocation of article 370 and article 35-A of the Indian constitution last month.
These two articles together ensured Kashmir’s “Special Status” in the Indian Federation. Moreover, they made sure that the demographic composition of Kashmir would not be tinkered with.
But the rightist Bharatiya Janata Party government, which won the recent countrywide elections on religious slogans stating “India is for Hindus only”, has flouted its own constitutional provisions.
There have been grave human rights violations in the Indian-held Kashmir, which were reported and acknowledged by the UN Office for Human Rights in its two reports subsequently issued in 2018 and this year, underpinned by the media and human rights organisations. However, this time India has trespassed all norms of humanity and civility while perpetrating brutal actions in Kashmir.
Genocide Watch, an international advocacy network which tracks genocidal violence, recently warned of an imminent ethnic cleansing in the Indian-held Kashmir. The purpose of abrogating article 370 and article 35-A is to engineer demographic change in Kashmir.
The aim of this machination is to render the Muslim majority into a minority in their own homeland, like Palestinians who were reduced in a similar pattern by Israel. But the people of Kashmir have refused to give in to the Indian high-handedness.
They are looking at the international community to take notice of Indian inhuman actions resulting in deprivation of basic freedoms and human rights.
The world cannot remain oblivious to the plight of Kashmiris, which has been unfolding in recent weeks and days. India has imposed an indefinite curfew since early last month.
It has also stopped internet services and enforced a shut-out for the international mass media from covering the situation in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir. Nevertheless, the pictures of Indian brutality are still coming out.
The 21st century is said to be the most enlightened period of human history. The world has to stop India from this new wave of tyranny and state terror.
There are three important dimensions of the Kashmir issue: violations of human rights, the legality of the UN Security Council resolutions, and the growing threat to peace and security in the region. Kashmir has become a flashpoint for conflict between nuclear-
armed India and Pakistan. Both countries fought two wars in the past on Kashmir.
India is already trying to provoke such a crisis with Pakistan through a “false flag” operation. Since Pakistan is a party to the UN Security Council’s resolutions, it remained firm on finding a permanent solution to the dispute and will continue to extend its diplomatic, political and moral support to Kashmiris until a durable solution is carved out through dialogue, which remains a preferred option for Pakistan.
The ground reality conveys that the Kashmir dispute is an internationally registered conflict already incorporated in the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and must be resolved in accordance with the wishes of the people of Kashmir.
In the end, I would like to remind people that the struggle for freedom is a never-ending process and South Africa itself has proven it.
Dr Sohail Khan is High Commissioner of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan