After the partition of the Sub-continent, the state of Jammu and Kashmir became a bone of contention between India and Pakistan in 1947. India approached to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on the 1st of January, 1948. After hearing the stance of both India and Pakistan, the UNSC passed a Resolution on the 5th of January, 1949. Consequently, a resolution was approved in which the right to self-determination for the Kashmiris was recognized. According to that resolution, the future of the state of Jammu and Kashmir was to e34be decided by the people of Kashmir through a plebiscite under the supervision of the United Nations (UN).
The resolution was an effort by UNSC to put the right to self-determination into practice. However, the wretched fact is that more than 75 years have passed the international organization has not yet been able to implement the resolutions that it adopted.
The limbo in which Kashmiris have been has made them suffer for all these decades.
It is evident to the world that how India has subjected Kashmiris to the worst state terrorism and atrocities for demanding their inalienable right – right to self-determination. The Kashmiris have been thrown into the pit of an open prison, where 900, 000 Indian troops have been deployed that have unleashed brutal suppression in a manner not witnessed before.
In the course the occupation, the Indian forces have violated every known law, moral and norm. This includes violation of fundamental human rights, rapes, disappearances, house arrest, torture, and those draconian laws related to the conflict every day.As the Kashmiri youth appears to be bearing the brunt of the brutalities carried out by the Indian forces, they have faced closure of educational institution, many of them are suffering from physical and mental torture by remaining inside their houses as a result of curfew and blackout. All this has led to a dramatic increase in the suicide rates among the youth.
What has added insult to injury for Kashmiris was the ascendance of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in India, as an extremist right wing Hindu political Party. Since the party has come into power, the situation has become more suffocating for Kashmiris, and the rays of hope about Kashmir issue being resolved have also dimmed. On 5thAugust, 2019 Indian government annulled the special status from the Indian constitution for the Jammu and Kashmir. After that, the Kashmir state has been illegally converted into two union treaties, in order to bring about demographic change in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and settlements of non-Kashmiris is also introduced just like the Israeli model.
By doing this, Hindu colonies could be settled, which would turn the Muslim majority state into a Hindu majority state and the BJP’s dream of converting the Kashmir as a Hindu majority state could be fulfilled. To save the Kashmiris from all this suffering, on the 5th of January, the people of Pakistan and Kashmiris living all over the world express solidarity with the people of Indian occupied Kashmir. As it serves as a reminder of the unfulfilled promise to the people of Kashmir that the United Nations is yet to fulfill. They appeal to the international community to take a solid step against the incessant violation of human rights in IOK. India should also be made to fulfill its obligations related to the illegal actions regarding the oppressed people of Jammu and Kashmir as per the aforementioned resolution of UN regarding Kashmir.
The purpose to highlight this day is to remind the international community that despite the passage of more than seven decades, the fate of Kashmir has yet to be legally decided.
For this to happen, the international community must return to the original plan with firm resolve and active leadership.
The Kashmiri people and their leaders must be involved at all stages. The Kashmir issue should be resolved, not only to save the lives of the people of the Kashmir but for the regional and international peace as it keeps bringing two nuclearized states at daggers drawn to each other.
The author is Research Officer at Center for International Strategic Studies (CISS AJ&K)
