Daily Times

Since 1989, state terrorism by Indian security forces in the Occupied Kashmir is continued unabated to crush the fight freedom. The brutalities of the Indian forces have intensified after the martyrdom of young Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016. Following the extrajudicial killing of Wani, protests by Kashmiris are continued amid sieges and prolonged curfews, besides arrests and detentions of the Kashmir leaders. More than 700 innocent people have been martyred by Indian forces since July 8, 2016, in the occupied valley.

The recent martyrdom of prominent Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari is another example of India’s extrajudicial killing in the occupied valley.A strong voice of the people of Kashmir and a brave 50-year-old journalist and editor of ‘Rising Kashmir’ was silenced on June 14, 2018.”A leading newspaper journalist and editor in Indian-occupied Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari, has been shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Srinagar.Bukhari, a frequent contributor to the BBC News website, was attacked in his car near the office of the Rising Kashmir newspaper, which he edited.He was taken to hospital but was later declared dead. One of his guards was also killed in the attack. No group has claimed the killing. Bukhari described the threat to Kashmiri journalists in a 2016 article for BBC News.Threats to life, intimidation, assault, arrest and censorship have been part of the life of a typical local journalist, he wrote in the article.He was a well-known figure in Kashmir and was previously a correspondent for the Indian newspaper The Hindu. Apart from running three daily newspapers, including the English language Rising Kashmir, Bukhari lobbied aggressively for peace by organising conferences and summits in the US, UK and other parts of the world. He was also a regular presence at secondary diplomatic initiatives envisioning better relations between India and Pakistan,” according to a BBC reported released on his martyrdom.

Shujaat was martyred on the day when Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a 49-page report covering human rights abuses in the Occupied Kashmir during the period between June 2016 and April 2018. Close friends of the deceased stated that Shujaat Bukhari always condemned Indian state terrorism against the innocent Kashmiris openly and loudly.Hewould openly criticise extra-judicial killings of innocent people by Indian security forces, especially Indian intelligence agency RAW.

Various forms of state terrorism have been part of a deliberate campaign by the Indian army and paramilitary forces against Muslim Kashmiris since 1989, including brutal crackdowns, curfews, illegal detentions, massacres, targeted killings, sieges, burning of houses, torture, disappearances, rapes, and killing of persons through fake encounters.

According to a report on human rights violations in the Occupied Kashmir, almost 100,000 innocent Kashmiris have been martyred since 1989, besides 8,023 custodial killings, 150,771 arrests, destruction of 140,996 houses or buildings, and rape of 20,086 women.Indian forces have employed various draconian laws like the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act to silence the voice of Kashmiri people.

Besides the Human Rights Watch, the Amnesty International has also pointed out in its various reports the grave human rights violations in the Occupied Kashmir. In its report on July 2, 2015, the Amnesty International highlighted extrajudicial killings of the innocent persons at the hands of Indian security forces in the valley. “Tens of thousands of security forces are deployed in Indian-occupied Kashmir. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act allows troops to shoot to kill suspected militants or arrest them without a warrant. Not even a single member of the armed forces has been tried in a civilian court for violating human rights in Kashmir. This lack of accountability has in turn facilitated other serious abuses. India has martyred around 100,000 people. More than 8,000 others have disappeared while in the custody of army and police,” the report by the watchdog had said.

In 2008, a rights group reported unmarked graves in 55 villages across the northern regions of the Indian-held Kashmir. Researchers and other groups also reported thousands of mass graves in the valley. In August 2011, Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission officially acknowledged in its report that innocent civilians killed in the two decades of conflict have been buried in unmarked graves. Human rights organisations claim that the unnamed graves include those of innocent people killed by the Indian military and paramilitary troops in fake encounters and in the torture cells.

It is worth noting here that by manipulating various false flag operations, especially the one which occurred in a military base in Uri on September 18, 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only shifted the blame towards Islamabad but has also intensified war hysteria against Pakistan. However, the world community including the UN is now raising fingers at India’s state terrorism on the Kashmiris who have been demanding their legitimate right of self-determination as recognized by the UN resolutions.

In response to a letter by Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on August 19, 2016, the then UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon deplored the killings of the Kashmiri people and urged India and Pakistan to settle Kashmir as well as other issues through dialogue.During his visit to Pakistan on November 17, 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also urged for an immediate resolution of the Kashmir dispute and expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people.

Earlier, the visiting Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Ayad Ameen Madani in Islamabad expressed grave concern over extra-judicial killings in the Occupied Kashmir and offered his support to Pakistan on the issue.Italian Minister for Defence Roberta Pinotti who visited Pakistan on September 19, 2016, said that her country opposes use of force and lethal weapons against peaceful protestors in Kashmir.

Like the martyrdom of Kashmir leader Burhan Wani, extrajudicial killing of Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari has also given a new impetus to the freedom movement of Kashmiri people. World community must play its role and pressurize the Indian government to stop human rights abuses in the occupied valley forthwith and ensure right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people.

Published in Daily Times, June 26^th 2018.