The Kashmiri lands are the killing fields for Indian forces where they kill people with impunity. According to the statement of the Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson, India has killed 110 Kashmiris in the last five months. While India kills Kashmiris with impunity, the silence of the international community shows that it has abandoned Kashmiris long ago. Extrajudicial killings and arbitrary detentions constitute gross violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights regime.
Unfortunately, the “immense suffering of Kashmir occupies an imperceptible place in the world’s moral imagination.” As India becomes a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), its record in Kashmir ought to be scrutinised and highlighted. For the sake of saving Kashmir’s present and “successive generations from the scourge of war,” bringing India to an account for its violations of human rights “is the fierce urgency of now.”
Pakistan must not leave its Kashmir brethren alone in their fight against the Indian occupation. The world needs to awaken to the recent developments in the valley where India is keen on bringing an apartheid regime to cull the freedom movement. Pakistan’s embassies should establish dedicated Kashmir desks, and renew lobbying efforts against Indian atrocities in Kashmir. The strategy while building the desks should initiate a campaign along the lines of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that is fighting against Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.
Recently, China strongly thwarted India’s unilateral attempts at changing the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Islamabad must tell the world that India is the actual destabilisation factor in South Asia, be it in the context of Kashmir, Nepal, Sri Lanka or China. Similarly, the global community must not forget New Delhi’s role in Afghanistan, where it has been exploiting the conflict to achieve the geostrategic goal of using Afghan soil against Pakistan.