ALI SUKHANVER

This Eid again proved a hard day of trials and tribulations for the helpless Kashmiris in the Indian Held Kashmir. At most of the places the Muslims were not allowed to offer their Eid prayers by the Indian forces. Thousands of Kashmiris gathered on roads and raised slogans against this injustice of the Indian occupying forces. They hoisted Pakistani flag to express their love for Pakistan and hatred for India. The Indian army used shelling and baton-charge to disperse the protesters, injuring several of the protesters in the process for hoisting the Pakistan flag. Several Hurriyet leaders were put under-arrest along with so many other innocent Kashmiris. It seems that offering Eid prayers and expressing love for Pakistan is an unforgivable crime in the Indian Held Kashmir and the people of the Indian Held Kashmir are being severely and continuously punished for this crime.

The cruelty and brutality of the Indian Armed Forces in the Indian Held Kashmir is not hidden from any eye. The international media, different human rights organizations and even the Amnesty International have been raising their voices against the human rights violation in the Indian Held Kashmir at the hands of the Indian Armed Forces but except a few truth-loving Indian analysts no one in the ‘Democratic India’ is ready to pay heed to these voices. The tale of cruelty seems endless and never-ending in the unfortunate valley of Indian Held Kashmir .The world renowned anthropologist, activist and feminist historian Angana P. Chatterji has done a lot of research work on gendered violence and human rights violation in Indian Kashmir. In a paper on the situation of the human rights violation in Indian Held Kashmir she says, ‘Disgracing of women is being used as a war weapon by the Indian Army to punish Kashmiris for their demand of right to self-determination. More than 7000 Kashmiri women have yet been gang raped in homes, streets and army camps by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir. About 63 interrogation centers are located in Kashmir Valley, 26 of which fall in Srinagar district with 19 centers in Srinagar city alone. There had been more than 75 thousands deaths in Indian Occupied Kashmir and over eight thousand cases of disappearances. These facts and figures are a proof that there is a continuous genocide of Kashmiris.’ A noted Indian civil society activist, Gautam Naulakha said speaking at a seminar in Srinagar, ‘I am ashamed of being an Indian and feel disgraced to belong to a nation, which is committing war crimes on Kashmiris for their demand of right to self-determination. It is believed that more than 60,000 Kashmiris have been tortured in prisons and interrogation centers by Indian Army and the levels of torture committed on Kashmiris have no match in the entire world.’

As per rules and regulations the security forces of any country must be the custodians of human rights and civil privileges but in the Indian Occupied Kashmir the situation is altogether different. Under the shield of AFSPA, the security forces are butchering and slaughtering the innocent people. The Armed Forces Special Power Act of 1958, commonly known as ‘a draconian law’ allows even a junior non-commissioned officer to ‘shoot to kill’ on mere suspicion in order to maintain ‘Public Order’. This license to murder is widely misused by the security forces in India particularly in Indian Occupied Kashmir. Some of the moderate politicians of India call this license ‘a trigger-happy culture of governance’. The Act has been employed in the Indian administrated state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1990. Various human rights activists have ever been expressing their reservations regarding this inhuman and brutal Act but they are never listened to. The Press TV India said in a recent analysis, The law is fueling serious human rights abuses including the killing of innocent civilians across the Muslim-majority region. The emergency law, known as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), gives thousands of Indian forces sweeping powers to detain suspects without trial, shoot on sight, and seize property. The Indian army has been unwilling to cooperate even in cases where local police decided to investigate”.  The analysis further said, The senior army officials have dismissed as false or baseless 96 percent of the more than 1,500 complaints of Indian military wrongdoings between 1993 and 2011.” Instead of keeping an eye on the illegal and inhuman activities of the Armed Forces posted there in IHK and instead of giving the people of Kashmir their moral and human rights, the so-called democratic government of India is deploying more and more troops to Srinagar and several other major towns to prevent street demonstrations across Kashmir. The situation demands sincere and honest attention of the international peace and human rights organizations.