- India goes on committing human rights violations
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while addressing a ceremony held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Kargil War on Saturday reportedly said, “The Kashmir issue will be resolved and no power on earth can stop it. If not through talks we know how. I have made several appeals to the so-called leaders as Home Minister. Kashmir is in my heart and the government wants it to become not only the paradise of India but the tourist paradise of the world”.
His statement constitutes a blatant repudiation of the UN resolutions with regard to the resolution of the Kashmir issue through a plebiscite held under the auspices of the world body and reaffirms Indian sinister designs to keep the people of Kashmir under subjugation through ruthless use of force.
The Indian minister is however right to the extent that no power on earth could stop the resolution of the Kashmir issue. The people of Kashmir have been waging a struggle for their freedom since 1989 when they launched an armed struggle after having been frustrated due to the Indian refusal to honour her commitments under the UN resolutions. The Indians have been using ruthless force since the beginning of the current uprising in the backdrop of the martyrdom of Burhan Wani in 2016, which continues unabated. Reportedly the Indian security forces have killed 755 Kashmiris, raped 903 women, maimed and injured thousands of them through use of pellet guns and destroyed 3002 structures and buildings. The year 2018 was the bloodiest as more than 500 people were killed. In September 2018 alone the Indian security forces martyred 42 Kashmiris. The people of Kashmir, undeterred by the Indian atrocities, are determined to win their freedom. The Indians have not been able to dent or dampen their resolve in this regard. History is a witness to the fact that freedom struggles cannot be suppressed with the barrel of the gun. The people of Kashmir will ultimately be successful in casting off the Indian yoke. It is an irrefutable lesson of history.
In the interest of peace and security in the region it is incumbent on the UN to use its good offices in ending the ordeal of the people of Kashmir by having its resolutions implemented
International Human Rights organizations like Amnesty International have been regularly compiling reports on human rights abuses in the IHK by the Indian security forces. The UNOHCR has also compiled two reports in this regard. The first report on the subject, issued in June 2018, highlighted serious violations of human rights, unwarranted use of force by the Indian security personnel leading to civilian casualties, subjective detention and impunity for human rights violations. The report had also demanded setting up of a commission of inquiry for a thorough probe into the continued perpetration of atrocities on the people of Kashmir under Indian occupation. The report lamented, “No security forces personnel accused of torture or other forms of degrading and inhuman treatment have been prosecuted in a civilian court since these allegations started emerging in the early 1990s.”
The second report released on the eve of the third anniversary of the martyrdom of Burhan Wani indicates the rise in bloodshed and the abuse of human rights. The repot pertaining to the period between May 2018 and April 2019 says that in the backdrop of the Pulwama incident the Indian paramilitary forces unleashed a floodgate of civilian casualties and the situation impacted the rights of the Kashmiris, including the right to life.
India, with a view to hoodwink the international community, has also adopted a belligerent posture towards Pakistan. Indian belligerence towards Pakistan almost led to a full-fledged war between the two nuclear neighbours in the backdrop of the Pulwama incident. It is continuously violating the ceasefire agreement of 2013 along the Line of Control and Working Boundary and also trying to portray the freedom movement in IHK as Pakistani-abetted terrorism notwithstanding the fact that the freedom struggle in IHK is an indigenous phenomenon, as has been corroborated even by saner elements within India. Notwithstanding provocative belligerence by India, Pakistan has shown the utmost restraint even when its territory was violated by the Indian aircraft and took only defensive action by downing two of them. It also tried to defuse the burgeoning tensions between the two countries by releasing the captured Indian pilot and by seeking the intervention of the international community, which reinforced her credentials as a peace-loving country in spite of the fact that it possessed matching nuclear capability.
The continued killing of the people of Kashmir by the Indian security forces with impunity is an affront to the conscience of the civilized world and the United Nations, which is under the obligation of having its resolutions on Kashmir implemented. The indifference shown by the world community, particularly by those powers which cry hoarse from every convenient rooftop to announce their credentials as champions of human rights, is extremely regrettable.
India must realize that it cannot stop the inevitable by any means. Acting like a war-like state can ultimately prove harmful to her own security and strategic interests as well economic wellbeing. Resolution of the Kashmir issue and normalization of relations with Pakistan undoubtedly is a prerequisite for peace in the region and realizing the dream of shared regional economic prosperity. The UN as a peace-promoting international organization has the responsibility to ensure the implementation of its resolutions on Kashmir. It is a globally acknowledged fact that Kashmir is a nuclear flashpoint. Therefore in the interest of peace and security in the region it is incumbent on the UN to use its good offices in ending the ordeal of the people of Kashmir by having its resolutions implemented. It is also the responsibility of the international community to exert pressure on India to end the reign of terror in IHK and fulfill her obligations towards the people of Kashmir as enshrined in the UN resolutions on the subject.