Daily Times

Since long the Kashmiri people are registering stories of resistance and valour which are unparalleled in the history of their struggle for self-determination. Countless innocent people have been martyred and injured due to ruthless repression of Indian armed forces – large number of the dead and injured had been the youngsters.

Currently Indian forces are using pellet guns to deface the people without discrimination. It has become a common occurrence that youngsters take to the streets, throwing stones at the Indian security forces. The slogan of ‘Azadi’ is seen almost on every wall. Indian chief of army staff, out of frustration, has declared that even stone pelting young Kashmiri boys and girls will be treated as ‘terrorists’. Along with a huge number of killings and injuries, over 10,000 have been arrested so far, many under the Special Powers Act under which anybody can be detained without charge for up to two years.

Although there is a long history of struggles, this freedom seeking movement is qualitatively different from all previous movements. An important aspect of this movement is that it is not limited to urban areas, as is usually the case. This time the movement has a strong base in the rural parts of South Kashmir as well.

Besides all the brutal atrocities, a new way of inflicting injury to the souls of the freedom fighters – rape – is being extensively used as a powerful weapon to silence freedom voices. Unfortunately, rape has taken the worst and most horrific form in the occupied Kashmir. Rape is often committed in front of relatives and family members. The victims later are abused, killed and left on public display as a reminder to others. Indian occupational forces use rape of Kashmiri women as a double-edged sword. In the past, Indian forces had been involved in gang rapes in villages. The incidents of molestation of Kashmiri girls and women continue unabated.

The growing statistics of oppression is a grim reminder that India has employed every possible tool of tyranny to control and subjugate Kashmiri masses. The recent revolt in the occupied valley is of historic significance as new generation is carrying forward the struggle of self-determination to new heights and it would be the golden chapter in the history of struggle against Indian occupation forces. The struggle of Kashmiri people is a natural reaction to the inhuman brutalities being perpetrated by the Indian occupation forces. The movement in Kashmir is purely indigenous and spontaneous. Brandishing such struggle as terrorism by the Indian government is aimed to divert the attention of international community.

Struggle in Kashmir has gone virtually beyond control despite the heaviest deployment of military and the phenomenon has become a dilemma for the entire Indian leadership. The BJP-led government faces sharp criticism from the opposition as well as the academia and media. Instead of going for legitimate solution of the Kashmir problem, New Delhi prefers responding to this movement by exerting more control on political life through repressive measures. As Pakistan continues to support and highlight the issue of self-determination of Kashmiri brothers and sisters, India through unprovoked shelling at the Line of Control and the Working Boundary has unleashed terror by killing innocent Kashmiris living in Azad Kashmir as well.

Indian brutalities are prevailing not only in occupied Kashmir but its orbit is now quite wider than expected. Currently, India is witnessing political movements with a broad range of Hindutva centric ideologies, striving for a radical change, often creating problems for other religious minorities comprising mostly Muslims and the Christians. The threat to religious minorities by fanatic and aggressive Hindu fundamentalism is enough to raise serious doubts among the international community regarding the secular outlook and democratic claims of India. The plight of Indian minorities, especially, during the BJP regime, has surpassed all the previous records. Modi’s fundamentalist policies dictated by the RSS are not something new to unleash atrocities on minorities and still showcase India to be a secular state. However, secular claims are not substantiated by the ground realities. The reality is that India has an unwritten mandate of pushing the minorities against the wall through state policies as well as by hardliner Hindu politicians. State-sponsored anti-minority initiatives like ‘Purkhon ki Ghar Vapsi’, a mass conversion jointly organized by Dharma Jagran Samanvay Vibhag, an offshoot of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bajrang Dal, ban on cow slaughter, lynching of Muslims on fabricated charges of eating beef, increasing rape incidents targeting all the minority groups including Christian elderly Nuns and instigation of Hindus against Muslim populace are just few examples of anti-minority venom amongst Hindutva centric Modi government and its political allies.

Modi, as an activist of RSS, had demonstrated his ‘performance’ as chief minister of Gujarat back in 2002 when thousands were massacred and many were left homeless. Now the situation under his RSS-backed reign is haunting country’s minorities more than ever. Hindu extremist organization Shiv Sena leader Udhay Tahkray has demanded that India be proclaimed as a Hindu country. VHP International President Ashok Singhal had described the Gujarat carnage as a ‘successful experiment’ and warned that it would be replicated all over India. In 2014, Dharm Jagran Smiti (DJS) leader Rajeshwar Singh had threatened to Hinduise India by 2021 by expelling or re-converting Muslims and Christians.

The hate campaigns are becoming frequent and violent as evident from lynching of Muslims over beef controversy, blackening the face of Muslim parliamentarians in occupied Kashmir, desecration of Sikh religious book and violence against Christians and Dalits. A Hindu extremist country like India in a progressing region will pose serious threat and challenge to the regional peace and security. International community should end its slumber and understand that any kind of support to India will be an inadverdent support to Hindu extremism.

Published in Daily Times, June 11^th 2018.