Wake up! October 27 warns world on Kashmir

M Arshad

Kashmir’ bleeding history starts with its foreign occupation on October 27, 1947. Though every day brings miseries in the lives of innocent Kashmiris but 27th October is observed and remembered when India contrary to the aspirations of Kashmiris and against the international norms landed its troops in Srinagar in 1947.

However, matter of the fact is the Kashmiris never accepted India’s illegal occupation for a single day. They brought into test all options one by one to resist the occupation. They tried to undo it through democratic process, but every time elections were rigged, and only those political forces were given a space, which fell in line with the then Indian government. Then, the Kashmiris were forced to opt for an armed resistance. This was not their choice but compulsion.

Since October 1947 onwards, the perpetual moves of ethnic cleansing, through brutal tactics, yet unending are raging on. Being the oldest and unresolved international conflict, the Kashmir dispute presents a formidable challenge to regional as well as global peace and security, in addition to being a huge question mark on the effectiveness, sincerity, and efficacy of the United Nations. Had the United Nations been as vibrant as it acted in case of East Timur and Southern Sudan, Kashmiris wouldn’t have suffered as much. Tens of thousands of Kashmiri people have lost their life due to the apathy of their international community. However, what is in wait is way more calamitous and disastrous.

However, this remains a fact that Kashmiris have suffered so badly, and their voices have remained largely unheard as yet. And these illegalities have been reinforced when on August 5, 2019, India revoked Kashmir’s special status. It was in fact the last step towards re-colonization. Owing to the commerce and trade of the world with India, the Kashmiri voices have not been heard as effectively. There have been a few concerns raised on the human rights violation in the region but the major violation that occurred over seven decades has not been questioned appropriately. Moreover, not enough pressure has been exerted on India at the international level.

Indians believe that after running out of security and bureaucratic options, their fascist ideology might be able to break the Kashmiris resistance. This is their only hope.

Kashmir is a source of continued tension between the two nuclear-equipped South Asian neighbours, and Ladakh being the new fault line China is the third nuclear stakeholder, in the dispute culminated into three wars and serious conflicts between Pakistan and India since 1947.

If the international community, particularly the United Nations, does not intervene, there is every danger of a nuclear catastrophe in the region over the Kashmir dispute. The West’s undue pamering of India, as a potential bulwark against China, and being a big market, have inflated New Delhi so much so that its secret agencies have allegedly carried out the murder of a Sikh leader of Khalistan, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Canada. When Toronto asked India to hold the perpetrators accountable, Indian anchorpersons, analysts and parliamentarians started openly threatening Canada with ‘nuking’ and ‘surgical strike’, in return. Besides, Indian rulers are nowadays hurling threats to invade Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. It is not unexpected from the fascist regime led by Narendra Modi to make the stupid move if it goes unpunished by the West for not killing just Hardeep Singh Nijjar, but some other community members in England and Canada.

Regardless of Indian brutalities and its state-sponsored terrorism worldwide, every Kashmiri, particularly the youth, is determined for their Motherland to be part of Pakistan. Pakistan, too, is stick to its stand of continuing its moral support for the Kashmir freedom movement. Every year October 27 is marked as Black Day to give the world a loud and clear message that Kashmiris will never surrender and continue to struggle for their right of self-determination despite Indian draconian laws and ruthlessness.

It is better in the interest of the world peace that international community steps in and resolve the Kashmir dispute to avert a looming catastrophe in the South Asian region, which will have potential to spill over.