Stand With Kashmiris.

August 5 is Black Day in the history of Kashmir. It is remembered with different dimensions of apathy, violence and repression unleashed by the state of India on hapless Kashmiris. This signifies the 'death of democracy', 'murder of human rights', and the 'demise of secularism'.

The dawn of August 5, 2019, brought nothing but misery for Kashmiris. Their constitutional rights were usurped. Schools which used to wave Kashmir's flag now host Taranga; kids who used to sing the Kashmiri national anthem are now forced to exhibit belongingness to Vande Mataram. The annulment of Article 370 and 35A has devastated the ideological outlook of the Kashmiris by demeaning their demographic reality. This is merely a vile step of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to change the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir into a minority conclave. The fascist ideology of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has further galvanised the situation by introducing certain changes that aggravate animosity among the people of Kashmir.

Scrapping of Article 370 has led to the demolition of socio-political ideology of Kashmir and its roots. Tantamount to treason, Kashmiris feel punished by the law. Ladakh, once part of Kashmir, is now a separate territory. Marriage and Inheritance laws have been impacted and molded in the best interest of Indians. Rules have been amended and the constitution has been vandalised. Myriad cases of disappearances; extrajudicial executions; incarceration of journalists, lawyers and human right activists; deliberate killings of indigenous people disguised by officials as encounters reflect the plight of millions of Kashmiris under the Indian yoke.

In a nutshell, Kashmir which enjoyed special status is no longer the same. However, one can change the demographics, but one cannot move the giant mountains and wide plains that will forever belong to redolent Kashmir and its indigenous people, exclusively.

The conundrum of Kashmir demands a solution that can stop violence and abate the life-threatening situations. Civil Society of Kashmir can learn a lot from the Palestinian-led Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (BDS) movement in different parts of the world. Abrogation of Kashmir's special status paves the way for Israel-style settlements in the held valley. The demographic engineering orchestrated by the diabolical BJP intoxicated with Hindutva fervor is wheeling in the same...