Daily Times

It is a well known fact that Jammu and Kashmir has been a UNSC recognized international dispute between Pakistan and India since 1947. Both countries fought their first war in Kashmir in 1947/48. At India’s request, the UNSC intervened, and vide its Resolution 47 adopted on 21 April 1948, the UNSC asked for the cease fire, and decided that the accession of the state to Pakistan or India will be done through a free and impartial plebiscite, as was agreed by both, Pakistan and India.

The Resolution also instructed the newly formed United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) to visit the subcontinent and to mediate and facilitate both the countries to hold a plebiscite. In the later years, India foiled all the UNSC and UNCIP efforts to hold the plebiscite on one pretext or the other. Experiencing India’s intransigence for many years, in 1989, the people of India-held Kashmir (IHK) started their peaceful freedom struggle.

India is using above 700,000 security forces to crush the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle. In the process, the Indian security forces have committed endless human rights violations and atrocities in IHK. As per Kashmir Media Service, since 1989, around 100,000 Kashmiris have been killed by Indian occupation forces in IHK. Out of these, more than 7,120 persons have been killed in Indian custody. 109,200 structures have been destroyed. 22,896 women have been widowed, 107,754 children have been orphaned and more than 11,110 women have been raped and gang raped by Indian occupation forces.

The year of 2018 was one of the deadliest years in the history of IHK in which Indian occupation forces killed over 450 innocent Kashmiris in search/cordon operations and fake encounters. In the aftermath of the Pulwama incident, reprisal attacks against Kashmiris in IHK continue, along with the deliberate targeting of Kashmiri students in India, with complicity of the Indian government.

Indian occupation forces have mass blinded Kashmiri civilians, including youth, women and children, by deliberately targeting the eyes with pellet guns. As of January 2019, 8,500 Kashmiri youth have been injured due to the deliberate use of pellet Gunshots. Of these, 207 have been blinded in one eye, while 130 have been made totally blind.

Crossing all the limits, on August 5, 2019, the Modi government abrogated Articles 35-A and 370 of India’s constitution and took away the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir dividing the state into two union territories. By doing this, India has converted a UNSC declared disputed territory between Pakistan and India, into its integral part, which is in total violation of the UNSC resolutions on Kashmir.

To preempt Kashmiris’ reaction, while India has increased its security forces number to 1100,000, it has clamped lockdown/curfew in the Kashmir valley, which is still there and telephone/internet services in Kashmir are also blocked. India has also apprehended all the Kashmiri leaders and youth and the Indian forces are carrying out genocide of the Kashmiris by killing the young men and boys through fake encounters.

On August 5, 2019, the Modi government abrogated Articles 35-A and 370 of India’s constitution and took away the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir dividing the state into two Union territories

The violations and atrocities of Kashmiris are widely acknowledged by the international community, media and human rights organizations. A few such major reports are reflected. The Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights published its first ever report on Kashmir in June 2019, documenting gross human rights violations in the IoK, including the excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests, detentions and disappearances, and cases of mass graves.

This report reaffirms that Kashmir is a disputed territory. Moreover, it calls for the grant of right to self-determination to the Kashmiris in line with the UN Security Council resolutions. It also calls for the establishment of ‘Commission of Inquiry’ for international investigation into human rights violations in the IHK.

The UK’s All Parties Parliamentary Group on Kashmir on the Kashmir Report of October 2018, questions the morality and legality of parallel Indian legal apparatus in the IHK, criticizes impunity being enjoyed by Indian occupation forces, and condemns the use of pellet guns by Indian occupation forces.

Asia Watch and Physicians for Human Rights in their report “Rape in Kashmir-A crime of War” state that rape by Indian police is the common place throughout Kashmir. The report gives horrific accounts of the use of rape as a form of collective punishment by Indian security forces in IHK. The Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2018 has criticized the impunity given to the Indian security forces under the draconian laws.

The above discussion leaves no doubt regarding HR violations and atrocities being committed in the IHK by the Indian security forces with total impunity granted by the state. Although the world has acknowledged these violations, India continues to kill the Kashmiri without any hesitance. Therefore, to rein in India’s belligerence, now there is a need that the UNSC constrains India’s belligerence, through a fresh and binding resolution to end the atrocities in the IoK, reverse its 5 August 2019 steps to restore Jammu and Kashmir disputed status, and resolve the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan, as per the UNSC resolutions or by holding a dialogue.

The writer is a former consultant and research fellow of an Islamabad-based research institute.