Kashmiris have a long history of dark days, which continues to grow as Indian security forces persist in their atrocities and brutalities. For over 75 years, India has blatantly denied the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions that call for granting the right of self-determination and allowing the genuine residents of Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) to decide their future.
Kashmiris observe two of the darkest days in their history as they continue their unarmed, indigenous freedom struggle. The first is observed on October 27 each year, marking the landing of Indian security forces in 1947. This occurred after the last Dogra ruler, Hari Singh, fled to Delhi and signed a forged Instrument of Accession, opting to join India against the wishes and aspirations of the valley’s population. India wasted no time in airlifting its security forces into the occupied territory.
The second darkest day in Kashmir’s history occurred unexpectedly on August 5, 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fascist regime unilaterally abrogated Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, ending Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and merging the occupied territory with the Indian Union. This move brutally undermined the ideological identity of the Kashmiris by altering their demographic reality. It was merely a vile step by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to change the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir into a minority conclave.
Since then, Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC), all over the world, and in Pakistan observe August 5 each year as Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir—the second darkest day in their bloody history. Pakistan has consistently extended unwavering legal, moral, and political support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle.
In continuation of expressing solidarity and support, the government and people of Pakistan are observing August 5, 2024, as Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir to condemn the prolonged illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and to wake up the sleeping international community, drawing attention yet again to the continued brutalities, atrocities, killings, and gross human rights violations by occupying Indian security forces who enjoy a free hand.
After revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, the fascist regime of Indian Prime Minister Modi has been promoting Hindutva and Islamophobia policies, taking measures to reduce the Muslim majority into a minority through the settlement of more and more Hindus via fake migration certificates. Communication in the valley remains largely suspended, and foreign media continue to be shamelessly denied entry into the occupied territory.
The observance of Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir by the Kashmiris and people of Pakistan will hopefully remind the world body, the United Nations, to wake up from its deep slumber and take effective measures without further delay to implement its Security Council resolutions and allow the Kashmiris to exercise their birthright of self-determination, which has been denied for decades.
The civil and military leadership of Pakistan has been voicing their unwavering support to the Kashmiris at all international forums, calling on the international community to wake up and condemn the ongoing gross human rights violations, killings, rapes, and extrajudicial activities committed by occupying Indian security forces. They stress the need for the UN Security Council to implement its own resolutions, which have been denied by successive Indian governments for more than seven decades.
Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers, and the unresolved Kashmir issue is like a ticking time bomb. Peace and security in the region depend on resolving the lingering Kashmir issue in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, which would bring durable peace, security, prosperity, and progress to the region.
As is well known, according to the Partition Plan of June 3, 1947, the Indian British Colony was to be divided into two sovereign states. Hindu-majority areas were to constitute India, while Muslim-majority areas of the western provinces and East Bengal were to be included in Pakistan. It is a bitter fact that the so-called Boundary Commission, headed by British Barrister Cyril Radcliffe, played a major role in the creation of the Kashmir issue. Had the Boundary Commission demarcated the partition line based on established principles of justice, India would not have had a land route to enter Jammu and Kashmir. Unfortunately, the Boundary Commission, under a conspiracy, split Gurdaspur, a Muslim-majority area, and handed it over to India, providing territorial access to the region that should have been part of Pakistan. The role of the last British Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, in reportedly tampering with the Radcliffe Award, is also condemned and criticised.
Needless to say, Kashmiris continue to struggle, suffer, bleed, and fight for the completion of the Pakistan Movement, which remains incomplete. The international community should wake up from its deep slumber, set aside vested petty interests, and exert pressure on both the UN Security Council and the Indian government to allow the Kashmiris to exercise their long-denied birthright of self-determination as per the UN Security Council resolutions. India can kill the Kashmiris but not their sentiments, commitment, or determination to secure long-denied freedom from Indian shackles. Through their continued sacrifices, Kashmiris are undoubtedly writing new chapters of history, and as already stated, the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue is key to lasting peace, prosperity, and stability in South Asia.
The struggling and suffering Kashmiris are bound to achieve freedom from Indian occupation soon with the continued political, legal, and moral support of Pakistan’s civil and military leadership, as well as the people of Pakistan. The awakening of the international community’s conscience and their strong and assertive condemnation of India’s flagrant human rights violations and persistent denial of UN Security Council resolutions is direly needed. Modi’s regime’s ongoing malicious designs of promoting Hindutva, Islamophobia, and altering the demographic status of Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir also need to be forcefully and aggressively condemned by the international community.
Muhammad Zahid Rifat
The writer is Lahore-based Freelance Journalist, Columnist and retired Deputy Controller (News), Radio Pakistan, Islamabad and can be reached at zahidriffat@gmail.com
