Daily Times

It is a well known fact that since 1989, the people of Jammu and Kashmir has started their freedom struggle to get their right to self determination as recognized by the UNSC vide its Resolution 47 passed on 21 April 1948. In this resolution, the UNSC had ruled 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 to mediate and facilitate both the countries to hold a plebiscite.

As India had foiled all the UNSC and UNCIP efforts to hold the plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, since 1989, the people of the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) have started their peaceful freedom struggle. Since then, India has been using above 700,000 security forces to crush the freedom struggle and in the process the Indian security forces have committed rampant human rights (HR) violations and atrocities on the Kashmiris, which are well recorded by the international HR organizations, and also by the UN Report on HR Violations-2019.

Cutting through all the limits, on August 5, 2019, the Modi government abrogated Articles 35-A and 370 of India’s constitutionthrough an act of the Indian parliament, took away the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, and divided 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 on ending IOK’s special status and dividing it into two union territories, India has clamped lockdown/curfew in the Kashmir valley since the end of July 2019, which is still there and telephone/internet services in Kashmir are also blocked. India also jailed 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.

When Pakistan referred the India’s actions in Kashmir to the UNSC, its discussed the issue but its veto wielding member states (except China) did not condemn Indian actions and also did not ask India to lift the lockdown, curfew and communication/internet blackout. Of course, the UNSC member countries individually asked India and Pakistan to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute through bilateral dialogue, but India is not ready to talk to Pakistan. In the process, the people of the IOK are undergoing unending sufferings and genocide.

In view of the above situation, the OIC is the only organization, which can alleviate the Kashmiris’ sufferings by persuading India to lift restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir, free their leaders, and end their genocide. According to the Anadolu Agency, Turkey, the human rights branch of the OIC has slammed in the following words, the new laws enforced by the Indian government to control parts of occupied Kashmir.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, having made a joint investment of 75 billion dollars in India, and wielding lot of influence on the Modi government are in a strong position to persuade the Modi government to immediately ease the lockdown in Kashmir

The OIC “condemns the promulgation of illegal ‘Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Order 2020′ by India which is an attempt to alter demographic and geographic status of the Indian occupied Kashmir”, it said in a Twitter posting recently. The OIC wing pointed out that the latest Indian action was a violation of international human rights and humanitarian laws, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, OIC and UN Security Council resolutions. It demanded India stop human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, abolish “draconian laws” and recognise Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.But, India does not pay heed to such protests.

Although the above mentioned stance of the HR Branch of the OIC on Indian actions in Kashmir is well appreciated, the OIC and its influential member states are capable of doing much more in this regard. At least they can persuade the Modi government in lifting the restrictions in Kashmir, freeing the leaders kept under detention and for ending Kashmiris’ genocide. In this context, it would have a great impact on India’s Kashmir policy, if the OIC foreign ministers’s conference is called and that meeting adopts the same stance as has been done by the HR Branch of the OIC, which would be in line with OIC’s objectives, which say that the OIC will safeguard the rights, dignity and religious and cultural identity of Muslim communities and minorities in non-Member States.

To get the restrictions lifted in Kashmir and ease the HR violations and genocide there, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, having made a joint investment of 75 billion dollars in India, and wielding lot of influence on the Modi government are in a strong position to persuade the Modi government to immediately ease the lockdown in Kashmir and end the communication/internet restrictions so that the people of Jammu and Kashmir can lead a normal life. It would also be a great service to the people of Jammu and Kashmir as Muslims brethren, if these two brother Muslim countries can convince the Modi government to start bilateral dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute in the light of the UNSC resolutions, as has also been suggested to India by all the major world powers.

The writer is a former Consultant and Research Fellow of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Islamabad and Senior Research Fellow of Strategic Vision Institute (SVI), Islamabad