LAHORE: On the occasion of Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir (Kashmir Exploitation Day), experts expressed their concern that India has deprived the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) of every right, including the right to speech.
Experts accused the Modi-led Indian government of imposing inhuman military lockdowns and illegal measures to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory, while also suppressing the freedom of assembly and expression by gagging the internet and media and harassing journalists without reason.
Experts emphasized that organizations like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), BJP, VHP, and Shiv Sena are driven by a hidden agenda of pushing Hindu fascism in the Muslim-majority region of Jammu and Kashmir. This move is in violation of United Nations resolutions and international law, as it involved the revocation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, which granted special status to IIOJK.
India Turning Kashmiris into Minority in IIOJK
Mushaal Hussein Mullick, wife of Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik, warned that the RSS-inspired ‘Hindutva’ ideology pursued by the BJP-led Modi government poses a major threat to foreign investment in India. She expressed solidarity with the people living at the Line of Control (LoC) who have been courageously facing the brunt of firing. She also highlighted how the Indian government’s issuance of domiciles to Indian citizens is turning Kashmiris into a minority in the valley.
The report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service revealed that since August 5, 2019, when India abrogated the special status of IIOJK, the killing of Kashmiri youth had been higher than in previous years. It detailed grave human rights violations, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, torture, and destruction of property carried out by Indian forces in the region.
Experts lamented that India has used dilly-dallying tactics to avoid the UN-promised plebiscite and continued its occupation of the territory, despite the appointment of several plebiscite administrators by the world body. They recalled that Article 370, originally meant as a temporary deal until a solution to the dispute was found, was later manipulated and robbed by the Modi regime on August 5, 2019, with the revocation of Article 35A, which provided a sense of security to the people of Kashmir over their land.
