Solidarity with Jammu and Kashmir: The Need for Action.

The people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, have suffered decades of an inhumane occupation. As if this was not enough, the Indian government completely set aside international norms, and its own commitments, to annex Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019. The promised right to self-determination, endorsed by UN Security Council resolutions, was jettisoned. And, along with this illegal annexation, human rights violations intensified. The actions taken by the Indian occupiers, especially after August 2019, reflect an elaborate strategy of military occupation, land confiscation, influx of non-Kashmiris, and creation of new settlements. The strategy comes straight from the Israeli playbook of Palestinian occupation.

The International Russell Tribunal on Kashmir, held in December 2021 in Sarajevo, expressed deep concern at the restrictions on fundamental freedoms and gross human rights violations. The Tribunal heard accounts of widespread disappearances, torture, and the use of rape as a "primary weapon of the Indian army in Kashmir". The Tribunal concluded that these crimes seem to meet the "definition of genocide." Today, Kashmir has been turned into the world's largest prison. The spate of killings of the Kashmiri youth appears to be part of the policy of elimination of the young. The situation in Indian occupied Jammu and; Kashmir is dire. Solidarity today with the Kashmiri people, therefore, should not be confined to a series of public events held on 5 February. Solidarity must be made more meaningful.

It should manifest itself in concrete actions that would, firstly, alleviate the suffering of the people of Jammu and; Kashmir, and, secondly, help in the realization of their right to self-determination. We need to be clear: the struggle of the occupied people of Jammu and; Kashmir to live in accordance with their wishes will be long and difficult. India has always sought to renege on its international commitments to the Kashmiri people. However, the current Indian government is ideologically committed to reject the rights of the Kashmiri people. The prospects of political solutions are bleak. Quaid-e-Azam was prescient in understanding the mindset of the Indian leadership when making the demand for Pakistan. Today, the reality of this mindset has come out in the open, whether in the context of Jammu and; Kashmir or, more broadly, in the treatment of Muslims and minorities in India.

Even the "saner" elements in India continue to evade...