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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 8/7/22

Kashmir three years after annexation by Modi regime

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The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Collective Voice of the Muslim World, in a statement said that August 5, 2022 marks the third anniversary of the illegal and unilateral actions taken in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, which were followed by additional unlawful measures including illegal demographic changes. Such illegal actions can neither alter the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir nor prejudice the legitimate right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.

The OIC recalled the resolutions of the Islamic Summit and Council of Foreign Ministers on Jammu and Kashmir, and said that the General Secretariat reaffirms the OIC's solidarity with the Kashmiri people in the realization of their inalienable right to self-determination. It calls for the respect of their fundamental freedoms and basic human rights and for the reversal of all illegal and unilateral measures taken on or after 5 August 2019.

The General Secretariat reiterated its call on the international community to take concrete steps for the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

Human Rights Watch

Indian authorities are restricting free expression, peaceful assembly, and other basic rights in Jammu and Kashmir three years after revoking the region's special autonomous status, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on August 2. The government's repressive policies and failure to investigate and prosecute alleged security force abuses have increased insecurity among Kashmiris.

On August 5, 2019, the Indian government, promising security and reform, revoked the constitutional autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two federally governed territories. The government action was accompanied by serious rights violations including arbitrary detention of hundreds of people, a total communications blackout, and severe restrictions on freedom of movement and peaceful assembly. Since then, the authorities have released many of the detainees and restored the internet, but have intensified their crackdown on media and civil society groups, including through frequent use of counterterrorism and public safety laws.

"Three years after the government revoked Jammu and Kashmir's constitutional status, the Indian authorities appear to be more concerned with projecting an image of normalcy than ensuring rights and accountability," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government needs to end the assault on fundamental freedoms and act to protect minority groups at risk."

The authorities have invoked the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, as well as terrorism allegations, to conduct raids and arbitrarily detain journalists, activists, and political leaders without evidence and meaningful judicial review. The authorities have also barred several prominent Kashmiris from traveling abroad without providing reasons. Since August 2019, militants have killed at least 118 civilians, including 21 people from minority Hindu and Sikh communities.

In November 2021, the authorities arrested a prominent Kashmiri human rights activist, Khurram Parvez, on politically motivated charges under the abusive counterterrorism law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Parvez, 44, is the program coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society and the chair of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances. He has documented cases of enforced disappearances and investigated unmarked graves in Kashmir, and as a result, the Indian authorities have repeatedly targeted him for his human rights work.

Journalists in Kashmir face increasing harassment by security forces, including raids and arbitrary arrests on terrorism charges. Authorities in India have shut down the internet more often than anywhere else in the world. A majority of those shutdowns have been in Kashmir, where they are used to curb protests and access to information.

Amnesty International

Earlier in June, Amnesty International India said Indian authorities must ensure a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into the recent unlawful killings of civilians by armed groups in Kashmir. The killings of three people belonging to the Hindu minority community last week adds to the long-standing violence against civilians that has been escalating since the unilateral revocation of Jammu & Kashmir's special autonomy on 5 August 2019 by the Government of India.

"The Indian authorities must take urgent steps for the protection of the people of Kashmir. For decades, people of Jammu & Kashmir have suffered from gross human rights violations and abuses committed by both state and non-state actors. The sheer impunity with which the human rights of the people of Jammu & Kashmir have been systematically disregarded by Indian authorities must end if we are to fulfil the rights of victims and help ensure that such abuses against civilians are not repeated," said Aakar Patel, chair of Amnesty International India Board.

Media reports suggest that at least 19 civilians have been killed in 2022 so far, of which seven belonged to the Hindu minority community including a schoolteacher, shopkeeper, government employees and a casual daily worker. According to the Government of India, between August 2019 and November 2021, 87 civilians were killed by armed groups in Jammu & Kashmir. An increasing number of Hindu minorities are now reportedly fleeing their homes due to the fear of the rising threat to their lives as armed groups target them for being alleged government 'collaborators'.

"Since 2019, the Indian authorities have imposed collective punishment measures against the Kashmiri population under the garb of 'counter-terrorism' measures. But the recent spate in targeting of civilians raises further questions on the government's actions which include a heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful protests in the valley including those recently held by Kashmiri pandits who were subjected to baton charges and tear gas shells. The relentless crackdown on politicians, journalists, human rights activists and even the closure of the state human rights commission has further stifled independent voices and left the people of Kashmir without an appropriate remedy," said Aakar Patel.

"It is not too late for the Government of India to take meaningful steps towards creating an inclusive and safe society instead of peddling a false notion of normalcy in the region and encouraging the perpetration of more abuses. Until then, the Indian government's historical failure to protect the people of Kashmir will keep feeding into this never-ending cycle of abuses and impunity," Aakar Patel concluded.

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Author and journalist. Author of Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality; Islam in the Post-Cold War Era; Islam & Modernism; Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America. Currently working as free lance journalist. Executive Editor of American (more...)
 
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