KHAWAJA MASOOD
SRINAGAR – It’s wedding day in Rampur. A joyous effervescence has reached this village in the Indian occupied state of Kashmir. In the midst of the discussions, news spreads among the guests: “The soldiers have arrived.”
“Do not worry, we are used to living with the pressure of the Indian army,” says the groom with a smile.
The police had already passed the day before, hoping to apprehend two family members who joined are fighting for the independence movement.
Among the audience, a boy that is a little shy hides his nervousness. His name is Uzerd Abbas and he is the son of one of the two “wanted insurgents”. In the valley, few have escaped so long as the 500,000 Indian soldiers control the valley and plow the roads. At any time, his relatives expect to hear the news of his death. “I would like to see my father at home like other children, and not in a hurry, once or twice a year, when he passes by unexpectedly,” says the teenager after a moment of reflection. The police will harass us as long as he is alive.
Young people were first non-violent protesters who marched in 2008 and 2010 they took up arms after experiencing torture and prison.
Besides the valley’s residents who are fed up with India’s human rights abuses, International agency Human Rights Watch is the latest to join the clamor against the Indian Army’s recent actions in Kashmir where a civilian was tied to the front of a jeep and used a “human shield”, violating domestic and international laws. Despite a pending inquiry against the officer who ordered the action, the country’s army chief awarded him a medal, spurring a fresh round of outrage. Rewarding an officer who is under investigation for a human rights violation suggests that the Army seems to be willing to not just overlook, but actually valorize an act of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment amounting to torture. And through this, India is telling Kashmiris that whoever speaks out will be hunted down and punished.
Unemployment, the difficulty of absorbing new graduates into the labor market, and the weakening of families make youth more vulnerable to stronger independence ideas, but India created this problem herself. When you torture a society for 70 years what can you expect? Not all Kashmiris are ‘insurgents’, India and her methods made them appear like ones. And most of the news in the Indian media only stirs up hatred. People in Kashmir do not kill innocent and they are not terrorists. They only try to protect their loved ones from all the abuses and the inhuman treatments India throws at them.
Some propaganda news outlets have spread fake news on the internet that peace continues to elude the strife-torn Kashmir Valley on the India-Pakistan border because of religion-based violence that keeps escalading.
That is convenient to say. It’s easy to shift blame. Throw it on religion and terrorism. But the reality is that it is India’s fault for the extremist movements in IoK. The terror is homegrown!
India grew the hatred in the soul of its people. Since the beginning of the conflict, in 1947, there have been mass 100,000 killings. Can you imagine that? 8,000 forced disappearances, nearly 16,000 case of rape and torture, 139,017 arbitrary imprisonments, sexual abuse, suppression of political rights, repression of freedom of speech, landmines – all Indian Occupied Kashmir.
How can the Kashmiri people not retaliate in front of such cruel human rights abuses? How long should they wait for the Indian government to give them the right to self-determination?
The main reason for disturbances in Jammu and Kashmir is homegrown terrorism. India created a monster and this is not the only territory they are destroying.
What is happening in Kashmir is proof of the Indian’s Government methods of taking power. Terror is not new for India, they have been doing it for decades and they don’t plan to stop.
The Indian claim that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was about terrorism is a false narrative and a desperate attempt to divert attention from alleged rights violations.
The assertion that the deteriorating human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir is an internal affair of India is factually incorrect, legally untenable and in violation of the UN Security Council resolution. India is nothing more than an occupying power and is retaliating against the wish of the Kashmiris to gain their independence.
India is no stranger to promoting and giving money to support terrorists and separatist movements to create chaos and fake news. Indian government thrives on destroying lives.
The world has witnessed the worst human rights violations in recent years in the Held Kashmir at the hands of Indian forces.
Unfortunately, the Indian forces continue with their brutalities against Kashmiri people. The Kashmiri victims of Indian brutalities have been watching the international community’s helplessness, and only in the last month, 28 Kashmiris were martyred, 945 were seriously injured and many hundreds arbitrarily arrested by the Indian government.
