Canada should not ignore erosion of human rights in Kashmir

Imagine being an inmate in the largest concentration camp in the world, where you are being held without any means of communication and under a constant fear of death. And imagine having no internet access and not being able to get emergency medical assistance. For anyone living and thriving in Canada, this would be the stuff of horror films, but for millions of Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, this is an everyday reality. India, which is vying for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, is demonstrating to the world that multilateralism and peaceful settlement of disputes are for the faint of heart. The occupying state should be like a juggernaut that’s free to prey upon its captives if it feels that it is too populous or too commercially important to be taken to task. But history tells us that braggadocio and delusions of grandeur have played havoc with world peace. If India's repression of Kashmiri, aggression against Pakistan, and its nonchalance towards Pakistan’s longstanding calls for negotiation leads to a conflagration between two nuclear-armed countries, one does not need to be Einstein to understand the ramifications. Despite scrapping the special status of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir; allegations of forced disappearances of thousands of young men; the alleged use of rape as an instrument of war; and accusations of arbitrary detentions, India has embarked upon a cynical campaign to re-engineer the demography of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir by making it possible for any non-Kashmiri to take up residence and buy property in the occupied territory. The revocation of Article 35 (a) of the Indian constitution, which grants special status to Indian-administered Kashmir, more than a year ago is a clear violation of Article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention. India’s claims of being a secular country and the world’s largest democracy have been blown to shreds by these actions. The possibility of a “false flag” operation by Indian against Pakistan cannot be ruled out. India’s claim that IOJ&K is “an internal affair” is incorrect since Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory. UN Secretary General António Guterres affirmed in an Aug. 8 statement the “the final status of Jammu and Kashmir is to be settled by peaceful means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.” The recently released reports by the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and Association of Parents of Displaced Persons (APDP) in their six-month review of the human Rights situation in Kashmir for the first half of this year indicated that 229 people are believed to have been killed in this period; 450 people remained in detention in various jails under the new laws. The head of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Yasin Malik, was already under detention, and has been charged with trumped-up charges under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act. The human rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir are being violated. In January, India tried to hoodwink the international community by arranging a two-day visit of a select group of 15 envoys to IOJK, the first such visit since the region lost its semi-autonomous status, according to Toronto Star. This was an attempt to portray normalcy in IOJK. The visit was stage-managed with very limited access. The latest incident in Sopore, which involved the alleged killing by the police of Bashir Ahmed Khan, a civilian whose death was witnessed by his three-year-old grandson, speaks volumes of the impunity that government authorities enjoy. (The Central Reserve Police Force, which has been accused of killing Mr. Ahmed Khan, has refuted the allegations, blaming it on militants.) Since 1989, more than 70,000 Kashmiris have been killed. There are about 10,000 unmarked graves in Kashmir. Thousands of Kashmiris have disappeared. Tens of thousands have been subject to torture. Kashmiri teenagers have been blinded with pellet guns. Thousands of young boys have been arbitrarily detained. Protests have been violently suppressed. Women have been subjected to sexual harassment, humiliation, and intimidation. This slow-moving, relentless tsunami of cruelty should not be ignored by Canada and all defenders of human rights. Hapless Kashmiris call on the world to put an end to this bloodshed and intolerance. Pakistan hopes and strives for an amicable resolution. Let us empower rationality and humanity, and not strengthen the narration of those who espouse and advocate violence as a means of settling disputes. Raza Bashir Tarar is the Pakistani high commissioner to Canada. The Hill Times