Unprecedented Indian terrorism in Occupied Kashmir

All people, Muslim or non-Muslim, have not closed eyes and ears to what happens in Rawalpindi-Islamabad, or elsewhere in the country, and the world. Never neglectful of daily chores, they do discuss events of the past and present in homes, offices, restaurants, shops and tea stalls. The arduous role of the print and electronic media and, of course, the radio in re-awakening the once-dormant masses cannot be underestimated in any sense.

What seizes the attention of the common man, besides the soaring food prices, is the curiosity of teen-agers to know what the Kashmir Solidarity Day means and what has so far happened in the Jammu and Kashmir forcibly occupied by India.

The Kashmiri families reminisce how their elders escaped with their men, women and children the carnage in Jammu and Kashmir held by India soon after the 1947 Partition.

So, it’s not difficult to trace a grandmother and a grandfather, and gather from them some relevant information and eye-witness account.

The Day of Solidarity is observed on February 5 every year to exhibit unflinching support to Kashmiris who have been struggling to emancipate themselves from the Indian yoke for about seven decades. One may recall the 2002 historic event when the people of the world watched on their mini-screens a grand show of chain of humans in Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas.

The theme of the day was ‘Justice without Discrimination and the Right to Self-Determination.’ The aim, as it is today, was to pass on the real message to international community with a clear objective of peaceful resolution of the long-standing core issue. The nation’s commitment to the cause of the oppressed people of Kashmir was well projected, and the spirit of fraternity continues to prevail with full vigour. The day dawns with special prayers for the 90,000 men, women and children of the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir who have sacrificed their lives to-date, success of the ongoing freedom struggle and solidarity with the Kashmiri masses.

The struggle, as elders recall, began with the liberation movement in the area now called Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan in October 1947. In March 1948 Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas was freed from jail by Sheikh Abdullah and he migrated to Pakistan where he, first of all, met the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi and then, following a meeting with Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, chalked out a formula on the basis of which the latter was to continue as President and Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas to act as supreme head of the AJK government. The Kashmiri leader passed away in Rawalpindi on December18, 1967. The impact of the formula existed till 1970. The oppressed people are at the heart of the Kashmir issue, and it is their fate and future, which are at stake. Even assuming that the Kashmir dispute was settled at Simla, as India claims, it is worth pointing out that nothing in the international law confers on two parties the authority to make decisions or conclude agreements, which adversely affect the rights of a third party. Paragraph 15 of the United Nations Resolution, dated January 5, 1949, states clearly that “the question of the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite.” But, as former chief minister of the state Dr. Farooq Abdullah told a public meeting in Srinagar on July 13, 2004, the government of India has “illegally taken over control of the whole state of Jammu and Kashmir.” And India’s state terrorism has not relented in anyway until now, a migrant family disclosed to this scribe the other day.

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and the late Barkat Ali’s son Ghulam Abbas have a harrowing tale. The violence sponsored by the Indian forces has destroyed the day-to-day life of the Kashmiri people. The ordinary person feels he is living in the midst of torture and terror. “Life and honour of a Kashmiri woman is not secure.” According to them, the farewell greeting has changed from “Khuda Hafiz” (God be with you) to “Sahi salamat lot aana” (return safe). “A youth walks in fear, fear of being named a suspect or militant, picked up, interrogated, tortured, and killed—-and, that’s not the end of Indian way of terrorism...the women live in fear of humiliation, harassment, molestation, rape—-gang-rape by Indian troops.”

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