According to Eleanor Roosevelt, who played a pivotal role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home–so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, opportunity, and dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.”
The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on January 5, 1949, in which the Kashmiris were given the right to decide their future through a referendum. Still, India, showing its stubbornness, did not implement this resolution. However, the Kashmiri people have never accepted this Indian oppression and domination, and they are continuing their struggle for freedom from the illegal Indian military occupation of Kashmir which began on October 27, 1947. In this struggle, the Kashmiri people wrote a new history of sacrifices.
In the recent past, India ruined all the international norms instead of implementing dozens of resolutions made by the United Nations and the Security Council. On August 5, 2019, India abolished Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution and completely took over the occupied valley. Moreover, search and siege operations are still happening in most areas of the occupied valley, where the Kashmiri youth is being arrested or martyred, and innocent women are desecrated.
In return for raising a voice for Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, Pakistan’s security is at stake since India and Pakistan are both nuclear-armed countries and have fought four wars over the Kashmir issue. Therefore, it is high time for the world community to settle the Kashmir issue. Otherwise, it can bring world peace into the greatest debacle.
Meanwhile, the Indian illegal intervention policy for Pakistan’s internal security is a classic example of the mindset of the current Hindutva ruling regime. In this regard, India continues its hostile activities against Pakistan by inciting and financing the rebel elements inside Pakistan to commit terrorism here. Indian spy and Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Yadav has also admitted and disclosed this in his statements.
In addition, evidence of India’s involvement in terrorist activities has been found in Pakistan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent a formal dossier many times to most countries and the United Nations. It has been proved that India’s secret organisation, RAW, is directly involved in terrorist activities in different areas of Pakistan. Still, despite these irrefutable pieces of evidence, there has been no change in India’s attitude.
Henceforth, if world leaders and international human rights organisations still do not force India to implement the UN resolutions and continue to keep a blind eye over the issue. In this case, regional and global destruction at the hands of the extremist Indian Hindutva regime cannot be ruled out.
On the other hand, under the extremist ideology of Hindutva in India, life is difficult for non-Hindus by depriving them of their fundamental rights. The Muslim minority is mainly being targeted, using every tactic against them.
It is pertinent to note here; extremism in India was not less before, but after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014, it got a new dimension. Since 2014, all minorities, including Muslims, have been subjected to atrocities by extremists; neither their houses nor their places of worship are safe. The international community is witnessing all this in their reports. Then there are statements of condemnation, but no concrete action is taken to show India that the world considers this extremism, which is going on with the government’s blessing, unacceptable.
In conclusion, India is doing all this publicly, and all the international human rights organisations, including the United Nations, are silent spectators. The world needs to understand that it is time-sensitive; the UN must take a step forward and pave the way to ensure the right to self-determination for the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Kashmiri people and Pakistan are raising their voices against Indian atrocities on every international forum and convincing international powers and institutions that if India’s expanding ambitions are not stopped, it will be impossible to stop the region’s destruction. Henceforward, world leaders must have to play their role to restrain Indian ambitions. Otherwise, India’s incendiary fire will burn the entire region to ashes.