Pakistan’s prime minister and president did the right thing on Kashmir Solidarity Day by reaching out to the international community and urging it to hold the government of India accountable for its crimes against humanity in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K). It is precisely because of a lack of formidable global reaction that the BJP government in New Delhi has been able to follow its 5 August 2019 revocation of the valley’s special status with “demographic apartheid,” as the president put it, which seeks to turn the Kashmiri majority into a minority in its own land. There seems no end to the brutality that the Kashmiri people have to endure as a part of their daily lives. The Indian government has already blinded a whole generation of Kashmiris with the use of banned pellet guns. It has also kept the valley under tight lockdown and in an information and communication blackout for one-and-a-half years now and even the smallest protests are met with live bullets. For its part, Islamabad has repeatedly called for peaceful dialogue to settle all outstanding disputes, including Kashmir. Prime Minister Imran Khan called for peace and commerce right at the beginning of his administration. And even Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has called for a similar approach; which should show the whole world that Pakistan’s government and military are on the same page on the matter and India’s accusations are false. Delhi, meanwhile, is not only not interested in direct negotiations but has also flatly ruled out any outside interference in what it calls a bilateral matter. Therefore, it is India that is doing everything possible to rule out any chance of peace and keep the two countries hostile towards each other. Kashmir is not just a dispute between two countries – not that a standoff between two nuclear powers should be easily dismissed – but rather it has induced a breakdown in Pak-India relations that has paralysed the whole continent. Slowly all countries in the region are realising that India’s attitude is holding back progress for everybody. That is why it is not surprising that India’s relations with all its neighbours have soured since the BJP came to power in Delhi. Internally, too, governance is breaking down. First the whole country suffered from ad hoc and unannounced policies like demonitisation, then the collapse of the economy, and now a very large farmer-protest has besieged and shaken the capital itself, forcing Prime Minister Modi on the back foot for the time being. No doubt the whole world can see what one party’s actions are doing to a great democracy and a very influential financial and economic player in South Asia. Now they need to also see what sort of crimes against humanity the BJP government continues to commit in Kashmir and put their weight behind UN resolutions demanding a plebiscite in the occupied valley. Self-determination is the basic right of all people and it would be a great shame if India is able to get off the hook for denying it to the people of Kashmir simply because the rest of the world let it. *