- Is Pakistan doing enough?
As the world grapples with the unprecedented economic and social challenges of the coronavirus pandemic that has shaken the entire human race, it must not lose sight of the silent sufferings of the millions of Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir. They have now been forced into a suffocating ‘double lockdown’─ first with the terror of a military siege and now with restrictions to prevent the spread of covid-19.
It is hard to even imagine their pain, anxiety, despair and deep sense of betrayal by those they looked to for rescue. Pakistan most of all. The international community’s muted response to the Kashmiris’ plight has been equally disappointing.
Occupied Jammu and Kashmir has been under lockdown since 5 August 2019 when the BJP-led Modi government unilaterally revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, ending autonomy of the disputed region. This stripped Kashmiris of their special status in flagrant violation of all UN Security Council Resolutions.
In these times of global lockdown where the world struggles to stay indoors, empathy should grow for the Kashmiris in the disputed Valley who have been under the harshest lockdown for over eight months now.
The international campaigners for peace and security can no longer overlook the blatant abuses and repression in the occupied territory. Market forces should not dictate protection of human rights but the principles of international law and social justice. The Coronavirus pandemic has shown us the volatility of even the mega global markets and how rapidly they can crumble. So better stand on the right side of history
According to the Kashmir Media Service, healthcare experts in IOK fear that it could become a covid-19 hotspot as the public healthcare system remains unprepared and understaffed. The doctor-to-patient ratio in the valley is very low at one doctor for 3,866 patients compared to India’s 1 to 2,000. So far over 400 coronavirus cases have been reported in the Valley which is seen as a gross underestimation. Reportedly there are only 215 ventilators for a population of approximately 13 million. Amid this humanitarian crisis, the Indian establishment needs to be pushed to focus on health of Kashmiris instead of isolating them for political or military reasons.
The Indian aggression against Kashmiris could continue for months given Indian Prime Minister Modi’s disdain for Muslim Kashmiris and his hostile plan to alter the demographics of the region.
It was ironic how Modi apologized to the Indian nation last month for initially imposing the three-week lockdown, saying it was required to win against the coronavirus. “I apologise for taking these harsh steps that have caused difficulties in your lives, especially the poor people,” he said in his radio address. More than anything else, his words expressed his own hypocrisy and double standards given the reign of terror unleashed on Kashmiris in the occupied territory.
His apology is in fact first due to the millions of Kashmiris who have been subjected to most oppressive military lockdown for months at length.
Apart from the brutalities of the ruthless Indian occupying troops and the communications blackout, Kashmiris continue to suffer rampant trampling of fundamental rights by usurpation of their freedom of person and association, denial of education and healthcare, and forcible confiscation of their properties.
Pakistan and the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation have been pushing for a negotiated settlement of the longstanding issue of Kashmir in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions that envisage a settlement aligned with the will of Kashmiris. However, this is not enough. Pakistan has to move beyond statements of expressing solidarity, regret, condemnation, concern and alarm for media consumption and the optics. We cannot just pray and hope for an early solution. For the past four decades that has not yielded any positive results. OIC and the Islamic body’s Contact Group formed in 1994 have not delivered anything more than resolutions or statements condemning the repression by India in the occupied territory.
Consistent, concrete and well-coordinated initiatives at the diplomatic level are required. Senior Pakistani diplomats have been critical of Pakistan for not being consistent in its approach and support towards the Kashmir issue, calling for more sustained efforts for resolution of this festering dispute. Dr Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the USA and Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, flagged this issue last month at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, saying: “Right now there is an inexplicable halt in our Kashmir diplomacy. People ask why.” She very rightly observed: “It is too serious a matter to be reduced to occasional tweets of solidarity.” Her point being that the government should gear efforts towards convening of a ministerial meeting of the OIC and a special session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva exclusively on Occupied Kashmir. A sound suggestion made by the former envoy.
The international community cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the atrocities in the Kashmir region. It must stir the slumbering conscience of world leaders who, in enlightened self-interest, have been ignoring the Indian aggression. Powers-that-be have to stop being selective in their censure of human rights violations. Human rights violations must not be seen through biased and narrow prisms of religion and ethnicity.
In a recent article titled ‘Tragedy of Pak-India disputes’ Pakistan’s former foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan noted that after last year’s August 5 measures, India has removed Indian Occupied Kashmir from the agenda of the bilateral process, limiting Pakistan’s diplomatic options to “approaching the international community and to knocking at the doors of international forums.” Clearly bilateralism has not worked between the two South Asian neighbors in resolving any outstanding dispute. The UN secretary General during his visit to Pakistan in February was reminded of the world body’s long ‘forgotten’ responsibility of holding a plebiscite in the disputed region.
The former secretary succinctly warned: “Pakistan and the international community cannot remain insensitive to the appalling Kashmiri predicament and Kashmiri alienation under the Indian occupation, which will again erupt into a widespread insurgency, as soon as the draconian lockdown crumbles, which it must.”
Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan, a former diplomat with vast experience in multilateral diplomacy, has also repeatedly called on the international community to play its due role. “Time is on the side of the freedom seeking Kashmiris, but the UN Security Council, its permanent members and other global powers are not playing their role in safeguarding the Kashmiris from the carnage by India and eventually also saving the region from a possible lethal war,” warned the AJK President, a strong advocate for the Kashmiris.
Pakistan must keep pushing the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to hold India accountable for this open breach of international humanitarian law. The international campaigners for peace and security can no longer overlook the blatant abuses and repression in the occupied territory. Market forces should not dictate protection of human rights but the principles of international law and social justice. The Coronavirus pandemic has shown us the volatility of even the mega global markets and how rapidly they can crumble. So better stand on the right side of history.
