Seminar explores India’s rhetoric of development in IOK

ISLAMABAD: A webinar on “Kashmir under Siege: a Kashmiri Perspective” was hosted by The Islamabad Policy Research Institute on Monday.
The webinar is the first of its kind to host speakers from both sides of divided Jammu and Kashmir to initiate a discussion on the political fallouts from the revocation of Article 370 and 35-A, explore the legal perspectives, and weigh the rhetoric of development in Kashmir.
Dr Serena Hussain, associate professor at Coventry University, gave a historical overview on the politics of the Kashmir conflict. She said that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir had been under siege, and while the Indian government uses the rhetoric of development, there is recorded evidence of underdevelopment in several districts of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).
Dr Raja Qaiser, assistant professor at the School of Politics and International Relations, QAU, further shared a comprehensive note on the constitutional developments which handicap the Kashmiri people in IOK. He advised to initiate a campaign for the Kashmiri people in the international society.
Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur, director of The Justice Foundation: Kashmir Institute of International Affairs, underlined the wave of state terrorism in IOK by the BJP and RSS. He mentioned that the revocation of Article 370 and 35-A has turned the de facto occupation into de jure occupation, thereby reversing the economic growth and rather ensuring economic injustices.
Carin Fischer, director of Kashmir Action Network, Washington, DC, built on her personal work on development in IOK, described in detail the chasm between the rhetoric and practice of development in occupied Kashmir.
The webinar was concluded by Brigadier (r) Raashid Wali Janjua, acting president of IPRI, who stressed on the need of lawfare practice and for the world to take notice of the injustices in IOK.