Daily Times

Kashmir has been the victim of different occupations in different times. Recently, the valley is going through the worst occupation from the self-called largest democracy of the world, India. Last year on August 5, the occupied Kashmir was practically further parted into different union territories, now directly controlled by the centre, Delhi. This unilateral move is followed by the strict and longest lockdown in political history. 12 million people of occupied Kashmir are living in an open prison.

Kashmiris have seen three-tier curfews since August last year. The first that was imposed by the Modi regime as a move to suppress any demonstration against the revocation of article 370. The second was the lockdown imposed by nature in winters, i.e. heavy snow and the third one was the lockdown again being reinforced due to Corona pandemic. Kashmiris had the hardest year as far as their long history of struggle is concerned. Every part of their lives has suffered.

As far as the economy is concerned, it has been devastated by the longest ever curfew. According to a report by Kashmir Chamber of Commerce, occupied Kashmir has suffered a total of (Indian) Rs 31,200 crore, from August 5 till May 2020.

This has occurred due to the life practically being at a halt in the region by Modi government after illegal revocation of article 370 and 35A last year.

The tourism industry has suffered the most along with the crops and fruit industry.

The never-ending miseries of Kashmiris are added by the illegal settlements in their land by the fascist Modi government. The new domicile law introduced early this year paved the way to settle the aliens into occupied Jammu & Kashmir, aiming to permanently change the demography of the region by settling more Hindus in the Muslim majority area. The nefarious Hindutva campaign continues, and the reports suggest that till date, 25,000 illegitimate domiciles are awarded to the outsiders. The most beneficiaries are the occupational forces men and the government officials of India. This settler process is just not illegal to the international law, UN resolutions on Kashmir but is also a violation of the pact that was made by Nehru with his staunch supporter and puppet Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah in early years of the conflict.

Furthermore, the youth have been picked up by the occupational forces and are disappeared. A report submits estimated 11000 young men are missing from the occupied region since Aug 5 last year, and their families are afraid that either they are killed or are in detention camps.

The resistance leadership including old Syed Ali Shah Gillani, Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Asia Andrabi, Masrat Alam Bhat, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and others are either in jail or are under continuous house arrest since the revocation of the so-called special status. The pro-Indian leadership including Farooq Abdullah, Umer Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti were also detained as they also objected the abrogation of the little autonomy that their forefathers had taken from the centre.

Covid-19 has also not been kind to the oppressed Kashmiris and more than 20,000 people are infected by the disease. The death toll has raised to 390 and the prisoners are being the victims of this pandemic. The jails are overcrowded, and the prisoners are not given access to the medical facilities. Recent reports suggest that 70-plus prisoners have newly contacted the disease.

The picture is scarier as a report released by Kashmir Media Service revealed that Indian troops had martyred 214 Kashmiris, including four women and 10 young boys during the period. It said that at least 1390 people were critically injured due to the use of brute force by Indian troops on peaceful demonstrators and mourners in the territory. The killings since August 5, 2019, have been higher than those in 2011, 2012, 2013,2014, 2015 and 2019. The martyrs also include the son of the Hurriyet leader Ashraf Sahrai, who had apparently refused to take the body of his son by replying that, “I won’t receive the dead body of my son until you return all the bodies of our youth as they all are also my children.”

Kashmiris had the hardest year as far as their long history of struggle is concerned

Internet and all forms of communication were banned in early 6 months of the curfew and now the 2G is restored in the area. The Kashmiri youth have tried to raise its voice through internet and have been posting the information on social media in case their IDs are not blocked by Twitter and Facebook. The Indian government has worked hand in hand with the administration of these social media sites which have not only blocked Kashmiris ID’s but also any profile that has voiced against the brutal handling of the Kashmir by Modi’s administration.

Press has always remained censored in the occupied region but the journalists in the valley have been under severe restrictions for last one year and many of the publications are freeze by the administration. Many of the journalists were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), a draconian anti-terrorism law under which a person can be designated a terrorist and jailed for up to seven years. Despite these restrictions, three of Kashmiri journalists Dar Yasin and Mukhtar Khan from Kashmir and Channi Anand from Jammu won the prestigious award, Pulitzer prize, for their work during the military lockdown and communication blockade. Qazi Shibli, the editor of a local publication is recently jailed on publishing a story on lockdown.

The students in Kashmir have not been able to attend the schools for long. They are also not able to take online classes as the internet is shutdown. The population is going through severe psychological trauma and depression rate has increased in the valley as a result the reproductive health has also suffered. Additionally, the houses and property have been damaged in fake encounters by the Indian army. These factors have led youth to opt for militancy and an increase in the number of youths joining training camps have been observed.

On the other hand, Pakistan has tried to lobby for the oppressed Kashmiris and was successful initially when PM Imran Khan along with his team worked hard to get international condemnation of the acts of Modi but in the retrospect no concrete achievement is countable. Pakistan must continue to follow up diplomatically and must not just focus on big five but also reach out to the African countries and other friendly states as every state has one vote in the United Nations. Pakistan should empower the Azad Kashmir government and the Kashmiri diaspora to plead their case internationally. Moreover, on completion of one year of the abrogation of Article 370 from Occupied Kashmir, Pakistan should reinstate state subject rule in Gilgit Baltistan to give a clear message that Pakistan respects international commitments and autonomy of Kashmir region. This will have a vital effect on the morale of Kashmiris as well as the trust of Kashmiris will be restored in the state of Pakistan.

The ground support of India in Kashmir has now minimised after the controversial move of Aug 5, 2019. Even Pro-Indian politicians are against India. It is the time for the Kashmiri leadership of this side (AJK) to take the lead and approach the stakeholders across the board and unite for the greater cause of restoration of identity as a short term goal and resultantly to pave the way to achieve the right to self-determination as a long term goal.

Moreover, the diaspora and Azad Kashmir government should arrange financial aid along with other relief items which could be transferred to the occupied region through international NGO’s or by some other means. This is the need of the hour that must be considered on an immediate basis.

Last but not the least, the Kashmiris in the occupied region will have to resist the illegal settlements that are being planned by the fascist Modi. The locals must not sell their lands to the outsiders so their generations may not be compelled to live in another Palestine. The leadership must give a clear direction and we must learn lessons from the Palestinian case else the task will become more complicated. The internationalisation of Kashmir conflict must be focused, and the international world should be realised frequently of its commitments and responsibilities towards the potential nuclear conflict between two nuclear states in the world.

The writer is an MPhil graduate in International Relations who is currently pursuing his PhD from Turkey