A group of former Indian officials dealing with Pakistan and Kashmir, ex-military men, academics and journalists have expressed serious concern over the intrusions and assaults against civilians in the India-held region, which are accompanied by an absence of accountability from the authorities. According to media report the group said in the statement that they, as thinking citizens of the world’s foremost democracy, had been deeply distressed by the disturbances afflicting Kashmir since July.The group spoke by suggestion and did not directly blame the military or the Modi government.Prominent among its members are former RAW and IB chief A.S. Dulat, former army chief V.P. Malik and former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha. The group said that they had watched with grave foreboding as Kashmir descended into turmoil for the past several months. A grave and unfortunate situation developed and nearly a hundred people have died and many others injured. Most regrettably for our country, most casualties had been from among the youth, even children, many of whom could have been our leaders into the future. Yet there had been no accountability thus far.Though Kashmir was bound to India by sturdy laws, “only bonds of love and understanding will bind India together”, said the statement.It said the rights of Indians should be secured everywhere. These can be secured only by giving all our citizens voice and the feeling that this is their country as much as Kashmir is part of us. It is undoubtedly the duty of the democratically elected government of the State of J&K to create a peaceful and humane environment in Jammu and Kashmir, it added.These very observations explicitly belie the claims of extremist Indian government which misses no opportunity to accuse Pakistan of stoking unrest in the Valley. The reign of terror that occupying forces have unleashed in Kashmir is also a stigma on the face of India, which claims itself as the largest democracy in the world. Democracy does not confine only to holding elections after every stipulated period but it also demands respecting aspirations of the people and protecting their rights regardless of their faith and creed. But on the contrary, under Modi, we have seen that minorities in India are only being subjected to violence with complete impunity. Situation in occupied Kashmir where Muslims are in majority is far worse and this is the reason that Modi government is resorting to sordid tactics in order to divert world attention from state repression in Kashmir. We believe this will not work to pin down the ongoing freedom movement, as history bears testimony to the fact that brave Kashmiri people have been facing worst form of state tyranny for the last many decades but refused to bow down before the oppressors. Given the situation in Kashmir, international community and so-called flag bearers of human rights instead of turning deaf ears should listen to the cries of innocents. International community should pay attention to gross human rights violations in occupied Kashmir and play its due role in implementing UN resolution on Kashmir.
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