Dr Muhammad Khan
Upon usage of brute force and cold-blooded massacres of Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), the former Indian Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, remarked that, India has nearly lost Kashmir. Mr Chidambaram was addressing a press conference in Manthan, a public discourse platform in Hyderabad. The former Minister also advised the Modi Government to make course correction on Kashmir; otherwise, India may lose Kashmir for ever. Mr Chidambaram said that, “seven million people of Kashmir valley felt alienated by the ‘oppressive methods’ of the Indian government, which was a terrible mistake.â€He was critical to the statement of Indian Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat, who upon taking over the command said, ‘anyone who interfered with defence operations in Kashmir would be treated as anti-national’. What a shame, General Rawat desires that, Indian Army should continue brutalising the Kashmiris and they (Kashmiris) should not counter to these Indian cruelties, a strange logic? In another report, prepared by five prominent Indians, headed by former Foreign Minister, Yashwant Sinha revealed similar facts. One of the conclusion of the report says, the Kashmiri youth have ‘lost their fear of Indian forces’ and that, these fearless youth are more keen to die resisting routine high-handedness than submit to a life of discrimination and humiliation, Indian security forces are perpetrating over in IOK. “There is an increasing lack of fear in the youngstersâ€, confronting the security forces. They take death in their stride. The Kashmir youth says; “The best thing for which we are thankful is that your use of weapons, including pellet guns has killed the fear in us and we now celebrate the martyrdom.†The report was the outcome of the two visits of these members to IOK (October and December 2016), under a forum, ‘the Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation.’ The other member of this fact finding team include; Mr Wajahat Habibullah (former bureaucrat), AVM Kapil Kak (former military officer), Bharat Bhushan (a journalist) and Sushobha Barve (the Executive programme director) of the forum. This group of Indian fact finders was also supported Rajmohan Gandhi’s Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation. In other findings of this report, the team found that, Indian state and its successive governments have never made the ‘crisis of acknowledgement’ of Kashmir dispute that, Kashmir is a political issue and need political solution, once for all and as per the desire of the masses, rather Indian intent. For India, Kashmir is an issue of Indian national security; however, for Kashmiris it is an issue of their survival and a separate national identity, away from Indian Union. Indian brutal handling of the Kashmiri people has angered them all over IOK, including the most rural areas. The report says, “The anger in the rural areas is palpably greater than in Srinagar and major cities. A persistent sense of discrimination against the Kashmiris pervades the minds of vocal sections of the population.†Apart from emphasising on the political solution of Kashmir, the people of IOK have a liking for the proposal of former Indian Prime Minister, AB Vajpayee, who stress on the resolution of the IOK “within the ambit of humanityâ€. After all, the years of Indian discrimination, oppression and repression in IOK has made this humanitarian issue, at the hands of Indian security forces which India just describes as ‘unrest’. As per Sinha, the most significant finding of this team is that, “Most Kashmiris claim that their protests are neither sponsored by anyone nor are their youngsters being paid to come out in the streetsâ€. This fact logically negates Indian blame game against Pakistan. Furthermore, this infers that, Kashmiri struggle for their right of self-determination is original, indigenous, rational, UN sponsored, and that; they will not give-up that until its achievement. Kashmiri masses have a feeling that, through repressive measures, India is just buying time; “time-buying techniquesâ€. Besides, the Indian civil society has been inconsiderate and senseless over the massive human rights violations in IOK which clearly imply that Kashmiris are not Indian masses. The stone palters told the team that, “This time we picked up stones, the next time around it can be much worse,†restart of the armed struggle like 1990s. The pro-India former Chief Minister of IOK, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who won the by election from Srinagar, has also reached over the conclusion that, India is losing Kashmir. He advised BJP Government of India to talk to Pakistan and start thinking about political solution of Kashmir dispute, rather using the brute forces against masses of the IOK, who have decided not to be part of India union anyway. In these by elections, the turn-out of the voting was less than 7%. Meanwhile Indian Army has crossed all the limits of human rights violations in IOK. In order to humiliate the Kashmiri youth and to create a fear among the masses, a few days back, Indian Army tied a young boy ‘to the front (bonnet) of the Indian Army Jeep in an upright seated, hands and legs bound, as the vehicle drives through the streets of dozens of villages. This is a shocking action; India Army has implemented to disgrace and humiliate the Kashmiri youth. In an interview in Srinagar, Farooq Abdullah said, ‘Come down from your high horses…I am seeing a very bad situation. The youth is on boil, which I have not seen before.’ The recent wave of Kashmiri protests and boycotting the LokSaba by-election in IOK has killed over fifteen innocent Kashmiri youth in just three days. A debate is already underway among the liberal class of India that, with the kind of strategy, India has adopted to handle the Kashmiris struggle for their right of self-determination; it has already lost the hearts and minds of the masses in IOK. People like Farooq Abdullah, P Chidambaram, Yaswant Sinha and Kuldip Nayyar has already predicated ‘India losing Kashmir’ owing to its muscular policy, injustices, human rights violations and disrespecting the UN resolutions.
