Daily Times

In a rare yet highly rewarding development, the Council of Foreign Ministers in its 46th session held on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Conference in UAE adopted a resolution which ‘condemned in the strongest terms the recent wave of Indian terrorism in Occupied Jammu & Kashmir besides ensuring unwavering support for the Kashmiri people in their just cause’. The OIC’s ‘rebuke’ is highly shocking for the entire India in general but an absolute embarrassment for the ‘champion of diplomacy’ Sushma Swaraj, the external affair minister, in particular who was invited at the event as the ‘guest of honour’.

The recent declaration was a badly needed and long over-due obligation on part of Muslim Ummah and luckily it has been worded in the most explicit manners ever. This rebuke to India, handed down by the 57-nation forum without mincing words, is being considered as an apt and well-timed moral boost not only for the hapless Kashmiris but also for Pakistan because the BJP-Modi nexus was seen hell bent on cashing in on Pulwama incident of 14 February by obstinately attributing it to Pakistan in their customary kneejerk reaction since the day of its happening.

For long, the daily account on miseries of the people of Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) has fallen short of jolting the conscience of international human rights watchdogs in general and the United Nations in particular. Absence of resources and projection platforms have miserably failed the oppressed Kashmiris in making the world bodies realize that they have so far remained painfully quiet while thousands of young Kashmiri freedom seekers have been brutally tortured and slaughtered by Indian security forces. Prior to this recent resolution, even the OIC did not find it appropriate to openly object to or raise voice against India for the inhumane treatment and atrocities the people of Kashmir were being subjected to by the occupation forces. However, what prompted OIC members this time round to speak their heart out on Kashmir issue were the related developments that took place on international human rights scene during the last 12 months.

Somewhere in mid-2018, few traces of silver lining – though bleak in contours yet highly promising given the prevalent darkness of disillusionment – started to come down as moral support to the beleaguered Kashmiris from different human rights quarters. The first such good news arrived in July when the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a report that exposed Indian atrocities on Kashmiris besides testifying the incidents of grave rights abuses in the occupied valley. The 49-page OHCHR report gave detailed account of violence committed by Indian security forces in Held Kashmir ranging from kidnapping and killing of civilians as well as gang rapes of Kashmiri women by the soldiers. The report also criticised the absolute impunity against abuses enjoyed by the Indian military in Kashmir. The part of report that really pinched the Indian authorities is the recommendation for establishing an independent ‘Commission of Inquiry’, which was then also supported by OIC’s human rights set-up – IPHRC.

Then came the report presented by UN Assistant Secretary General in UNHRC’s September session which unequivocally earmarked India and Israel amongst the most shameful countries on account of human rights violations in Kashmir and Palestine respectively. This was second occasion in year 2018 when the world’s largest forum was seen acknowledging the plights of the innocent people in the occupied valley and showing a relative empathy towards them. Both India and Israel issued fiery refutations to the narratives of the reports besides launching an aggressive diplomatic onslaught against the quarters concerned in the UN. India further supplemented its efforts by targeting Pakistan for feeding observers with exaggerated accounts of the happenings in IHK. Nevertheless, the damage was already done, as these reports were later followed by observations from European Union’s HR Commission (EUHRC) with equally strong version on highhandedness of Indian forces in the occupied valley. Yet, to top it all, the OIC’s reprimand to India and show of solidarity with the oppressed Kashmiris in the most expressed manners has worked as a final nail in the coffin of India’s doggedness with regard to brazen travesty of human rights in Kashmir.

Shameless breach of basic rights of local populace have since long been a routine feature in Kashmir’s daily life. Nevertheless, India has by and large remained successful in hiding acts of brutalities behind their military’s iron curtain and through media manipulation. Similar to what India is doing right now to counter the latest and most biting critique from the OIC, soon after those reports from UN and HR watchdogs came to light, India sped up its campaign to refute the versions about their foul play in IHK. At the same time, they frantically debated the report at UN Human Rights Council, besides lobbying actively to garner support from like-minded western capitals for diminishing the credibility of UN’s take on Kashmir. Side by side, India resorted to more intensified crackdowns on innocent protestors in retaliation of UN reports and imposed governor’s rule in the occupied valley aimed at giving free hand to already unbridled Indian troops. As an act of vengeance, in the days following the UNHRC’s September report, the occupation forces martyred 42 Kashmiri protesters during a month besides molestation of 14 Kashmiri women in the garb of siege and surge operations in the valley.

Being an optimist, however, it is safely anticipated that the fact-files by UNHRC, OHCHR, EUHRC and the OIC exposing India’s inhumane excesses on the innocent Kashmiris may not be callously set aside yet again. If the UN’s independent Commission of Inquiry could be convened in time, it will surely help unearth hitherto untold tales of Indian brutalities on Kashmiris. It is expected that the international concerned over atrocities on hapless Kashmiris would exert due pressure on the United Nations to act tough against the tyrant India, thereby honouring its very own resolutions on Kashmir that had promised the right to self-determination for the oppressed people of the valley.

Published in Daily Times, March 8^th 2019.