Daily Times

The Kashmir issue, being one of the oldest items on the agenda of the United Nations, which has held the Subcontinent hostage since 1947, now has become a flashpoint between the two nuclear states, a bone of contention between Pakistan and India.

For Pakistan, the Kashmir issue is not a territorial problem; rather, it is a human issue, relating to more than 13 million Kashmiris. Owing to its human dimension, the issue warrants an early resolution, so that the Kashmiri people can heave a sigh of relief. As the Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir [Kashmir Exploitation Day] is being observed on Aug 5, experts believe that India had robbed Kashmiris of every right through custodial torture and fake encounters including the right to speech in the Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Talking to APP in connection with the Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir, experts said that [Narendra] Modi-led Indian regime is not even allowing Kashmiris to assemble and speak their mind and has gagged the internet and media while journalists were being harassed without any reason.

The hidden agenda of Hindutva organisations like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), BJP, VHP and Shiv Sena is to thrust Hindu fascism in the Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir, they said. Five years ago, the right-wing Hindutva-driven premiership of Narendra Modi government in India revoked the Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution while treacherously abrogating the special status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in sheer violation of United Nations resolutions and the international law.

Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik’s wife Mushaal Hussein Mullick told APP that the RSS-inspired ‘Hindutva’ ideology was being pursued in IIOJK by the BJP-led Modi government, which was presenting ugly face of India around the globe. She said the dire political and human rights situation in the occupied territory had left India exposed at the international level. Lauding the sacrifices of people living at the Line of Control (LoC), she added that Kashmiris had been braving the brunt of firing at the LoC with the utmost courage. She urged the people of IIOJK to observe a complete strike on August 5, on both sides of the line of control and around the world to observe the Indian exploitation day. Modi-led Hindutva Indian government’s illegal move of repealing the special status of the territory on August 05, 2019, she informed.

Mushaal Mullick said fascist Modi and the Indian Army are turning Kashmiris into a minority in the valley by issuing domiciles to Indian citizens. In IIOJK, over 100,000 Kashmiris had been killed by Indian forces since 1989, while more than 7,200 people were murdered in custodial torture by the Indian army, she informed.

The grave human rights violations including killings, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, torture, and destruction and snatching of property witnessed a surge to an alarming proportion in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir after the Narendra

A recent report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service, revealed that the killing of Kashmiri youth since Aug 5, 2019 have been higher than those in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2019. Most of the victims were killed in fake encounters and in custody in the garb of violent cordon and search operations in the length and breadth of the territory, it said.

A recent report reveals that senior Hurriyat leader, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai and Altaf Ahmed Shah were among dozens of Kashmiris who died in the custody of Indian police. The report said that at least 2,369 people were critically injured due to the use of brute force including firing of bullets, pellets and teargas shells by Indian troops, paramilitary and police personnel on peaceful demonstrators and mourners in the territory.

Meanwhile, many youths were picked up from their houses and then eliminated after being labeled as mujahideen or over-ground workers of mujahid organizations. It added that most of the arrested youth were booked by the Indian authorities under black laws like Public Safety Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, it revealed. PPP senator Sehar Kamran said that it has been quite unfortunate that India used dilly-dallying tactics to avoid the UN promised plebiscite and continue its occupation of the territory despite the fact that the world body appointed several plebiscite administrators for the purpose.

Safdar Shaheen Pirzada, a noted lawyer told APP that Indian rulers led by Jawahr Lal Nehru manipulated a temporary link between IIOJK and rest of India through Article 370, a constitutional provision of the Indian constitution.

Although it was deemed as a temporary deal until a solution to the dispute was to be found, but India hoodwinked the Kashmiri leaders like Sheikh Abdullah about the hollow autonomy through clauses like 370, Pirzada said.

Article 370 was later supplemented by Article 35A that provided a sense of security to the people of Kashmir over their land, which was too robbed by Modi regime on Aug 5, 2019, he added.