An icon of the freedom movement in Indian-Occupied Kashmir and the leader of the All Parties Hurriyet conference, Syed Ali Geelani, passed away last Wednesday while under house arrest. The Indian security forces buried his body under their own supervision and prevented people from attending his funeral by clamping a total curfew. There was also a media black-out of the event. Internet and mobile phone services were also disrupted. Geelani’s son accused police of taking his father’s body away to be buried in the middle of the night, hours after his death and even the relatives were not allowed at the burial. Reportedly police have also registered cases against family members of the deceased for raising pro-independence and pro-Pakistan slogans and wrapping his body in the Pakistan flag.
Snatching his dead body from his family and disallowing burial according to his will was an act of ultimate inhumanity by the Indian security forces which also  constituted a violation of international humanitarian law and the tenets of civil human rights. Reportedly the action of the Indian authorities sent a wave of indignation and resentment across the occupied territory; particularly in the Muslim majority areas where people have held strikes, breached curfew and clashed with the Indian security forces.
Funeral prayers in absentia have been held across the valley as well as Pakistan, a party to the dispute and an ardent supporter of the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir. The government of Pakistan has rightly condemned the Indian indiscretion in regards to the burial of Syed Geelani and disallowing the people from participating in his funeral prayers.
The Indian action is glaring testimony of the fact that the situation in Indian-Occupied Kashmir has not returned to normal which India has been desperately trying to make the world believe. It also strengthens the belief that the flame of liberty and freedom lit by leaders like Geelani continues to nurture the freedom movement. Geelani was an indomitable leader of the freedom movement and never succumbed to the pressure tactics of the Indian authorities and instead endured the rigours of repeated incarcerations. He was a staunch advocate of the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir as enshrined in the UN resolutions.
India and Pakistan are both nuclear states and the Kashmir dispute surely is a nuclear flashpoint posing danger to regional and global peace. Indian leaders must realize that they cannot keep the people of Kashmir under subjugation with the barrel of the gun. The flame of independence lit by Kashmiri leaders and sacrifices rendered by the people cannot be obliterated through persecution. India is also under obligation to honour her commitments as per the UNSC resolutions on the Kashmir dispute. It was also time for the international community and the UN to fulfill their obligations towards the people of Kashmir.
Freedom movements have their own momentum and low and high phases, but they cannot be subdued or obliterated through the barrel of the gun. History is a witness to this undisputed reality. Indian security forces have killed more than 96,000 Kashmiris, raped thousands of women and destroyed thousands of structures since the beginning of the freedom struggle in 1989. Human rights violation in the state have been regularly documented by the international human rights organizations like Amnesty International as well as by the UN Human Rights Commission. The discovery of mass graves at 30 sites also tells the story of the Indian oppression on the people of Indian-Occupied Kashmir.
The killing spree continues unabated since 5 August 2019 and hardly a day passes without the martyrdom of Kashmiri youth. But all these brutal actions have failed to dampen the morale and determination of the freedom fighters supported by the masses.
The reality about Indian-Occupied Kashmir is that the whole valley has been converted into a brutalized internment camp by the Indian authorities after 5 August 2019 when special status of the state was scrapped, it was bifurcated into two territories and annexed to the Indian union followed by the promulgation of a law to change the demographic features of the valley.
The Indian government tried to sell the narrative that the action of the government in regards to Indian-Occupied Kashmir was its internal matter but it is gratifying to note that the world community has not fallen for it, thanks to the diplomatic offensive launched by the PTI government, the reiteration by the UNSC that the solution of Kashmir dispute must be found in conformity with the UN charter and the relevant UN resolutions, and the role played by the international media in exposing Indian designs and persecution in the Valley.
Indian attempts to divert the attention of the world by keeping the LoC hot and stage-managing acts of terrorism like Pulwama and blaming Pakistan for it, have also failed to mislead the world community. The actions by the Modi government in Indian-Occupied Kashmir is tantamount to defiance of the UN resolutions, international law and the 4th Geneva Convention.
The Indian government has also adopted a hostile posture towards Pakistan and its leaders have been repeatedly hurling threats to teach a lesson to the latter. It even tried to intimidate Pakistan by sending its planes across the border to bomb an imaginary terrorist camp at Balakot in February 2019. It was given a befitting reply by Pakistan. Thanks also to the international media which exposed the hollowness of the Indian claims about existence of a terrorist camp by showing footage of the site where the Indian planes off-loaded their bombs, felling some trees and killing a donkey.
India is currently being ruled by a party inspired by the RSS ideology of ‘Hindutva’ which is a racist philosophy like Nazism. Annexation of Kashmir was part of the election agenda of the BJP. Modi, speaking on the Indian Independence Day, had boasted that his government had done within nine months which nobody could do in the last 70 years and fulfilled the dream of Vallabhai Patel. The communal policies pursued by the Modi government, particularly against Muslims within India, are also a testimony of the BJP’s anti-Muslim agenda. No wonder that even a former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accused Modi of having turned India into a majoritarian state.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has been warning the world about the ulterior designs of the Indian government inspired by the hate philosophy of RSS. He dwelt at length on the subject in his address to the General Assembly and has also been vociferously sounding the warning at all the available international forums urging the world to stop India in her tracks before it was too late.
India and Pakistan are both nuclear states and the Kashmir dispute surely is a nuclear flashpoint posing danger to regional and global peace. Indian leaders must realize that they cannot keep the people of Kashmir under subjugation with the barrel of the gun. The flame of independence lit by Kashmiri leaders and sacrifices rendered by the people cannot be obliterated through persecution. India is also under obligation to honour her commitments as per the UNSC resolutions on the Kashmir dispute. It was also time for the international community and the UN to fulfill their obligations towards the people of Kashmir.
