Kashmir Solidarity Day – A time for introspection and action in support of Kashmiris

Kashmir Solidarity Day is an annual event observed on 5th of February by Pakistanis and Kashmiris worldwide to express unwavering support for the legitimate struggle of the people of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in attaining their inherent right to self-determination. People of Pakistan also reaffirms commitment to provide political, moral, and diplomatic backing to their Kashmiri brethren and honor their sacrifices in seeking freedom from India's illegal control.

In 1819, the predominantly Muslim population of Kashmir fell under Sikh rule, enduring religious oppression and heavy taxation. The era was marked by poverty among the Muslim peasantries. The tragedy persisted as Sikh rule gave way to the oppressive reign of Maharaja Gulab Singh and his successors after the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846. India forcefully occupied Jammu and Kashmir on 27 October 1947, coercing the then ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh to sign accession.

The illegality of Indian occupation of J&K, violating the Pakistan-India partition plan, UN Security Council Resolutions, and bilateral agreements, is widely acknowledged. The overwhelming Muslim majority in J&K desired to join Pakistan due to religious, cultural, and geographical affinities. Despite over a dozen UN resolutions since 1948 calling for a plebiscite, to which the Indian government had pledged to abide, it has consistently infringed upon the human rights of Kashmiris, denying them their fundamental right to self-determination.

The BJP government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unleashed a heinous pogrom against Kashmiris on 5th of August 2019, by unilaterally revoking Article 370, granting special status to the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), and removing restrictions on non-Kashmiris acquiring the state citizenship under Article 35-A. A siege of eight million Kashmiris was enforced by nearly a million Indian troops, resulting in unprecedented human rights violations that persist even today. The bifurcation of the state territory into the Union Territories of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh further exacerbated the situation, violating international law and disenfranchising Kashmiris as like in 1819, 1846 and 1947 their wishes were never ascertained in any of the illegal actions by Modi government.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) condemned the revocation of autonomy and special status, which deprived Kashmiris of their rights under international law. The ICJ highlighted the systematic disenfranchisement and degradation of Kashmiris' rights to life, liberty, dignity, and honor that perpetrated grave injustice on them by the Indian government.

Demographic Apartheid

The Indian government's policies reflect a form of demographic apartheid, characterized by settler colonialism and discriminatory practices. Over 2.5 million Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) domiciles have been issued to members of Indian security forces and outsiders, granting them voting rights in local bodies, legislative assemblies, and union parliamentary polls. This influx of domiciles, primarily issued to Hindus, disrupts the Muslim majority demographic composition of J&K. Additionally, the removal of the ban on constituency delimitation aims to manipulate electoral outcomes.

These arbitrary measures would not only undermine future UN-sponsored plebiscite results but also provide the BJP with the possibility to establish its own government in J&K. Concerns have been raised regarding the simplified process of awarding domicile certificates to outsiders, making it even easier for them to obtain citizenship than the long-standing Kashmiri residents. UN mandate-holders have criticized the unilateral modification of local laws on land sale and ownership, citing discrimination against Kashmiris and worsening the human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K).

In a joint letter issued in February 2021, five leading UN mandate-holders expressed grave concerns over the new Domicile Rules. They warned that the rules, by excessively simplifying the process, make it easier for outsiders to obtain J&K citizenship than local Kashmiris. This alteration in demographic composition could lead to the political disenfranchisement of Kashmiris and undermine their basic rights, including linguistic, cultural, and religious rights.

Profiling of Kashmiris

The Army and Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) are conducting a profiling exercise of Kashmiri households, gathering intrusive details such as photographs of the house, head of the family, and other members, along with vehicle registration numbers, 'Aadhaar' identity numbers, mobile numbers, information on terror links, encounters, family members settled abroad, and visits to foreign countries. Despite the government having most of this information already, this initiative amounts to harassment and intimidation.

Demolition Campaign

In a distressing move to instill fear among Kashmiris, the army has employed munitions like anti-tank mortars to demolish houses during cordon and search operations, often based on false charges of harboring militants. Additionally, a sinister campaign commenced in February 2023 to bulldoze Kashmiri houses and commercial properties under the guise of removing encroachments. Notably, the majority of victims of these demolitions are Muslims. Residents were frequently not given adequate notice to provide proof of ownership, and sometimes even with proper documentation, their homes were demolished.

Earlier, this campaign targeted the forest shelters of nomadic Muslim communities such as Gujjars and Bukkarwals, who traditionally depend on grazing cattle. These indigenous communities have held easement rights for centuries, recognized under the Indian Forest Act.

Aaker Patel, head of Amnesty International India, called on Indian authorities to “immediately cease the demolition drive, emphasizing that no one should be rendered homeless or exposed to further human rights violations due to evictions.” These ongoing demolitions are seen as an extension of the historical human rights abuses experienced in Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority region under India illegal control.

Human Rights Defenders and Journalists

Journalists and human rights defenders have become primary targets of a crackdown aimed at stifling free speech. Stringent laws and regulatory frameworks have been implemented to criminalize their legitimate work. Those who have dared to criticize authorities or shed light on atrocities against Kashmiris have faced harassment, arrests, detentions, and interrogations. Human rights defenders and journalists are routinely summoned to police stations and even subjected to public thrashings.

UN human rights experts have repeatedly expressed deep concerns over the intimidation tactics, searches, confiscations, and arrests of Kashmiri human rights activists by Indian forces. Prominent figures such as Parveena Ahangar, Khurram Parvez, Parvaiz Ahmad Bukhari, Chandrabhushan Tiwari, Aakash Hassan, Waheed Para, Irfan Ahmad Dar, Naseer Ahmad Wani, and others have faced such persecution.

Internationally acclaimed Kashmiri journalists like Aasif Sultan, Qazi Shibli, Masrat Zahra, Naseer Ganai, Peerzada Ashiq, Gowhar Geelani, and others have been slapped with criminal charges under UAPA or detained under PSA. UN human rights experts have voiced grave concerns regarding these cases, highlighting the unjust treatment faced by these journalists.

Women and Children

Women and children have borne a major brunt of the human rights abuses and the overall regressive environment prevailing in J&K. Besides suffering personal exploitation at the hand of occupation forces, they also carry the burden of the abuse of their men folks, who have either been killed, enforcedly disappeared, arbitrarily arrested under trumped up charges of terrorism, or held up under the draconian Public Security Act (PSA).

Sexual violence against women in Kashmir by personnel of armed and security forces have been widely recorded. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women had urged India to amend or repeal the AFSPA “so that sexual violence against women perpetrated by members of the armed forces or uniformed personnel is brought under the purview of ordinary criminal law and pending such amendment or repeal, allow prosecution in all pending cases of violence against women or other abuses of the human rights of women”.

The incidents such as those in Kunan and Poshpora villages on the night of 23 February 1991, when soldiers from the Rajputana Rifles regiment of the Indian Army gang-raped around 23 Kashmiri women have been cited in the OHCHR Reports. The victims unfortunately are still awaiting justice for no action has been taken against the perpetrators of this heinous crime as they enjoy blanket immunity against any criminal prosecution under AFSPA. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also released special reports on rape by Army Personnel in Jammu and Kashmir. According to these reports rape most often occurs during crackdowns, cordon-and-search operations by security personnel or in retaliation of militant attacks on them.

Children and minors have been detained in contravention of India’s international treaty obligations as well as domestic legislations. According to a report of ‘The Telegraph’ UK around 13,000 boys had been detained in IIOJK between 5 August to 25 September 2019. Amnesty International has reported that children as young as nine years old were taken into custody. Whereabouts of many of these children who were shifted to far flung Indian states are still not known to their parents. The OHCHR has expressed deep concern over the night raids by the security forces in IIOJK on private homes and arresting young people regarding it as enforced disappearances.

The India’s National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights has stated that the use of schools by security forces “violates the spirit and letter of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009. The active disruption of access to education makes children vulnerable.

Abuse of G20 Rotatory Chairmanship

India utilized its G20 rotatory Chairmanship to hold the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Kashmir in May 2023, thereby exploiting the position for its own political agenda. This move drew criticism from the UN special rapporteur on minority issues, who stated that the G20 inadvertently provided legitimacy to a false sense of normalcy while human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir continued to escalate.

Several invited countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, and Oman, chose to abstain from the meeting, which in a way delegitimized India's actions on the international stage.

Pliant Indian Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court of India faced criticism for its handling of petitions following the illegal actions of August 5, 2019, by Kashmiris and human rights groups. Despite immediate pleas, the court delayed hearing of the matter until August 2023, allowing the government to implement changes unchecked. The court's decision was perceived as a disappointment, by a large section of Indian society as it appeared to endorse the RSS-BJP's Hindutva ideology, legitimizing forcible changes to the state laws disposing them of territories by the central government without their consent, thus disregarding the will of the people.

Notably, the court's verdict contained significant legal contradictions. While acknowledging flaws in the government's method of abrogating Article 370, it endorsed the decision based on its own alternative reasoning. The court ignored petitions asserting the illegality of imposing the Governor’s rule in J&K, despite the largest party in the legislative assembly expressing intentions to form a new coalition.

The unilateral decision to revoke statehood and bifurcate territories into union territories raised concerns, particularly among states experiencing disenchantment with India like the seven north-eastern states, Indian Panjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu to name a few. By timing the decision close to the Indian general elections, the court may have deliberately boosted Modi's popularity among the right-wing Hindutva supporters.

Pakistan has rightfully refused to accept the supremacy of the Indian Constitution or Supreme Court over the status of Jammu and Kashmir, as this can only be decided through a UN organized plebiscite. China also rejected the court's decision, emphasizing the need for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue in line with UNSC Resolutions, and bilateral agreements. It also rubbished the “so-called union territory of Ladakh set up unilaterally and illegally by India” The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called for the reversal of all illegal measures taken by India since August 5, 2019.

The Supreme Court's decision has deepened Kashmiris' disillusionment with the Indian state and its institutions. It overlooked principles of justice, and served as a reminiscent of earlier controversial decisions such as the death penalty awarded to Kashmiri Afzal Guru. Kashmiris perceived the sentence of Guru as a collusion among the biased Indian institutions, including the government, police, courts, political parties, and the media to hang a Kashmiri, without a fair trial, and whose guilt was by no means established beyond reasonable doubt.

Conclusion

The plight of Kashmiris and the ongoing challenges they face demand steadfast support from Pakistan and the international community. While legal and diplomatic avenues are crucial, pragmatic solidarity with Kashmiris can be expressed through a multi-faceted approach. This includes amplifying their voices through global platforms. Close situation analysis at the UN Human Rights Council, and regular liaison OHCHR, Human Rights INGOs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Commission of Jurists, Genocide Watch, Rafto Foundation for Human Rights among others.

Advocating for human rights at every level and highlighting the atrocities faces by the Kashmiris is necessary. Additionally, supporting initiatives that provide humanitarian aid, educational opportunities, and socio-economic development in Kashmir through third countries can empower local communities better equipping them to stand up for their rights. It is imperative for nations, organizations, and individuals alike to remain in unwavering solidarity with Kashmiris, recognizing their right to self-determination and working towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and inclusivity.

The massive human rights and humanitarian crisis in Palestine have further highlighted the need for early resolution of the Kashmir issue and arrest the tendency among the revisionist majoritarian leaders, parties and their supporters from seeking brutal unilateral solutions.

Jammu and Kashmir is the longest standing dispute on the UN agenda and thus a collective responsibility of the international community to help resolve it in the interest of the humanity and ensuring peace, stability and security in South Asian region and beyond.