SARGODHA: University of Sargodha, Department of History and Pakistan Studies, on Thursday, organized a book launching ceremony, special lecture and a documentary screening to mark the Kashmir Solidarity Day.
The ceremony was about launching of a fresh book ‘India: An Apartheid State, written by Dr. Junaid Ahmad, an internationally known researcher and management consultant and author of another book, ‘Creation of Bangladesh: Myths Exploded’.
The chief guest of the ceremony, Dr Junaid Ahmad, while delivering his speech, informed that since 1989, Kashmir has witnessed brutal killings where more than 70,000 Kashmiris were buried in more than 6,000 mass graves.
The draconian laws; The Army Act, 1950, Code of Criminal Procedure Act, 1973, Public Safety Act, 1978, and The Armed Force Special Power Act, 1990 have emboldened the Indian Security Forces by providing legal impunity for their brutal campaign against innocent Kashmiris, he argued.
He was of the opinion that there exists a strong pact between India and the Western countries such as United States and Israel against Muslims that India involves herself in mass killing of Muslims while her western henchmen refrains international media from covering and publishing these incidents.
While briefing audiences about his new book, Dr Ahmad opined that the caste system in Indian society originated with the arrival of Aryans in 1500 BC. The mythological belief of the reincarnation of Sati provides a glimpse of the outlandish mythological beliefs embedded in Hinduism, he said adding that people in India are not judged on their character but on the color of their skin. The darker the skin, the lower the rank and caste.
“Minorities in India including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits etc. are living under a constant threat from the Hindu majority and its extremist groups while the Indian hypocritical mindset, despite the constitutional guarantees, deprives the minorities of their basic human needs”, he expressed.
According to Hindu scriptures, the primary goal of a women’s life after her marriage is to “beget sons” for her husband, the author argued adding that every year nearly 3.0 million female infanticides happen, nearly 6.0 million female feticides take place which has severely messed up the sex ratio, hence lead to present spate of molestation in India.
“Being the world’s largest so called “democracy” with a GDP growth rate of 7.2% makes an impressive headline, but it’s only the projected reality. As the veil of democracy and secularism falls, the gloomy, obscure, and grim realities of the Indian state become visible. Apartheid, sexism, racism, economic imperialism, income inequality, stark poverty, social stagnation of minorities, and religious fundamentalism due to Brahman-centric polices are the common practices in the Worlds’ largest democracy”, Dr Ahmad concluded.
During his special lecture on ‘Kashmir: The Children of Conflict’, Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, University of Sargodha stated that every year on February 5, we reiterate our solidarity with the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir who are continuously struggling to get freedom from India.
Kashmir issues is the unfinished chapter of 1947 partition and during the course of 71 years, the conflict has witnessed three major transitions. Setting aside the post 1990 era of major geopolitical changes, the freedom struggle of the people of Kashmir has transited from violent to resistant and from allegedly external to complete indigenous.
While throwing light on the human aspect of Kashmir Issue, the Vice Chancellor said that like the Black Widows of Chechnya, there are more than 10000 half widows in Kashmir and we have to internalize and project the pain and sufferings of uncertainty of these widows for the sake of humanity.
The VC vowed to hold a pure academic conference at UOS to better highlight the human aspect of the Kashmir Issue.
At the end, a documentary produced by BBC on ‘India’s Torture Trail’ was screened for the audiences in order to have them a look into the massive human rights violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir.