Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) was placed in a state of lockdown on 5th August 2019, after India abrogated articles 373 and 35A of its constitution, annexing Kashmir and ladakh illegally to its union territory. The Muslims of IOK were brutalized and curfew as well as shutdown of communication facilities paralyzed them. As I am writing these lines, this lockdown has entered 231th consecutive days. Despite requests of restraints be and letup on the incarceration of the hapless Kashmiris by Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia, India remain deaf while the world continued to be obvious to the sad plight of the Kashmiris.
Nature has taken its revenge on the callousness of the world. Coronavirus or Covid-19, starting from Wuhan, China in December 2019, which was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 11th of March 2020, has caused over ten European countries to shut their orders while numerous are in the state of lockdown. Italy is the worst hit followed by Spain, France, Germany and the US. Covid-19 spreads rapidly and the world is in the middle of the worst pandemic in recent history.
The death troll is rising in hundreds and the number of addicted cases now runs into millions. Sports fixtures have been cancelled, the Olympic Games 2020, scheduled to be held in Japan are facing the prospect of postponement while bars, gymnasium, Cinemas, educational institutions and other places of public congregation have been shut down. There is a possibility of curfew being imposed to restrict the movement of people.
Javeriya Khan
Karachi
