ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a seminar in Geneva have expressed serious concern over India’s settler colonialism in the disputed Kashmir region terming it a grave threat to Kashmiris’ existence.
Community Human Rights Advocacy Center on the 54th session of UNHCR organized the seminar which was addressed by international law experts, educationists, rights activists, and parliamentarians from different parts of the world.
According to a press release from Geneva, the speakers drew a comparison between colonizing states and the Indian policies of occupation and annihilation.
They said that India illegally occupied the territory of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 and then annexed it on August 5, 2019, in open violation of the UNSC resolutions and other international conventions.
They added that after the annexation and dissolution of the disputed territory, the phenomenon of colonialism was in full place in the area. They said the Indian government’s goal of settler-colonization amounts to the removal of people’s identity and displacing them of their resources.
The Speaker said that following the annexation India took a series of measures that included revoking the special status of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and abolishing Article 35-A.
They said that Article 35-A was struck down by the Indian parliament with an evil intention to make structural changes to make Kashmir as a settler colony of India.
The speakers said that the Indian move has led to further disempowerment and systematic marginalization of the indigenous population of the region.
India’s settler-colonialism policy in Kashmir threatens peace
They said that New Delhi’s settler-colonialism project in the disputed Kashmir region threatens peace and security in the region.
They said that the Indian aggression and expansionist designs not only pose a threat to the Kashmiris’ existence but also to the other small nations bordering India.
The Speaker said that the UN Charter of 1947 gives the right to self-determination to the Kashmiris. They said regrettably India has become a colonizer in the region.
They called upon the international community to take notice of the Indian-settler colonialism in the region and play a role in stopping the assimilation and annihilation of Kashmiris by India.
