What does Kashmir Solidarity Day mean to Kashmir’s?

On the 5th Feb when people of Pakistan come out on the streets to show solidarity with Kashmir’s, we must ask ourselves a question: what kind of solidarity do we need to show to people who are facing the most brutal onslaught on the face of planet earth? What exactly does a defenseless population need whose Muslim identity is in great danger and whose land and property is being snatched away with lightning speed?

We must not only ask these questions to ourselves but to the people at the helm of affairs who have, in the recent past, tried to “bury the past” and bulldoze the aspirations of those who consider this Mamlikat-e-Khudadad as their lawyer and defender. Post 5th August, Kashmir’s are facing the most horrendous assault by the military administration of the Indian state. The fascist Indian state has granted domicile to tens of thousands of its inhabitants to settle in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The Modi led government is hell-bent on changing the demographics of the region and dismantling every fabric of Muslimness in the valley. Thousands of acres of land are being snatched from the local population of the valley and the bulldozing of properties on Israeli type has already begun. Thousands of Kashmir’s including young and old have been put in different jails across India for resisting Indian occupation in the valley and this arrest spree continues unabated. Different socio-political and religious organizations have been banned and hence restricted from doing any activities in the region. In such a searing atmosphere, the military and civil administration in Pakistan needs to take some solid steps to stop this unprecedented onslaught on the land and people of IOJK.

The apologetic stand on the Kashmir issue since Musharraf’s time has, without any doubt, weakened Pakistan’s stand and dangerously put Kashmir’s at crossroads besides jeopardizing the country’s national security. India has since then been in an offensive mode attacking directly or indirectly, every institution of the country. The Jowhar town bomb blast or the funding of proscribed outfits in the country are some examples in this regard. The most recent suicide bombing in a mosque in Peshawar has its origins in the fascist state of India. The funding of terrorist organizations like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) by the Indian Intelligence agency RAW is an open secret now. We all know how hard the Indian state is trying to destabilize us, and at the same time, we do not bother to ponder upon the fact of what exactly led to this situation. Does leaving Kashmir in an extremely helpless situation have to do something with the storm that Pakistan is going through? Has the policy of surrender on Kashmir actually resulted in Pakistani areas becoming slaughterhouses? Who has given our enemy the time to become so bold and aggressive? These questions might make some people in power corridors uncomfortable and at times furious but as they say, speaking truth in its purest sense is to proclaim God’s eternal gospel of salvation and grace. Beating the drum of peaceful means to resolve issues bilaterally has completely lost its meaning.

It is now clear that India’s traditional obstinacy, unrealistic attitude, military arrogance, and the double standards of world powers has destroyed any possibility of resolving the internationally recognized dispute through peaceful means. While talking of “burying the past” and “we have learnt the lesson”, Pakistani politicians and military officials should remember the fact that the advocacy of the victim and friendship with the killer cannot go on simultaneously. Pakistan needs to revisit its Kashmir policy and accept the fact that putting Kashmir on the backburner is only going to worsen things in the country, for settlement of the Kashmir issue is indispensable for a stable and prosperous Pakistan. Kashmir currently needs unconditional support from the government of Pakistan. Indigenous resistance organizations should get outright support and Pakistan should accelerate the measures to highlight the looming threat of settler colonialism and genocide in the valley before the issue and the people of the region are actually “buried” forever!

(-The writer is doing MS in Media and Communications at International Islamic University, Islamabad.).