Kashmir Solidarity Day - 5 Feb 2022.

Kashmir is bleeding since last seventy years. Each year, Kashmiris and their Pakistani compatriots mark 5 February as the Kashmir Solidarity Day to jolt the world's conscience against a reign of terror unleashed on helpless people by an occupying power. India, who had herself taken the Kashmir issue to the UN Security Council and whose first Prime Minister had pledged to hold a plebiscite to let the Kashmiris decide their own future, has reneged on its commitments and unabashedly calls Kashmir as its integral part. One wonders how a country, which claims to be the largest democracy, boasts of inclusivity and secularism, aspires to become a permanent member of the Security Council, could flout international law with such impunity, and that too for so long. India has played this farce as the international community turned a blind eye to the plight of the Kashmiri people, based on sheer expediency. This crass indifference has caused a human tragedy while rendering Kashmir into a flash point between the two nuclear rivals.

The Jammu and; Kashmir dispute is an internationally recognized dispute. UN Security Council has passed several resolutions defining the contours of a just solution in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Not to talk of the illegal manner in which annexation of the disputed territory into the Indian Union was managed, India's manipulation in extending its control of Jammu and; Kashmir, is nothing but a classic case of deception and subterfuge.

The assertion that the Security Council resolutions have lost their validity due to changed circumstances or Pakistan failed to meet its end of the bargain, is meant to mislead the world opinion. Pakistan is prepared even today to implement the UN resolutions; so is UN Secretary General. And Security Council resolutions are legally valid till abrogated or amended by the action of the Security Council. No such thing has happened since these resolutions were adopted. In fact, Kashmir is very much on the agenda of the Security Council as borne out by three Security Council meetings held to discuss developments following Indian action of revoking territory's special status. In August 2019, Indian government unilaterally revoked Article 370 and 35-A of the Indian Constitution and introduced new domicile rules in a bid to change disputed region's demography.

New land laws were promulgated allowing "Citizens of India" to purchase non-agricultural land without residency...