By: Raja Amin Afzal
What credibility UN holds over the Kashmir Issue has been revealed by the recent incident of firing by the Indian troops in Chiri Kot, Poonch Sector on its Military Observer Group’s (MOGIP) vehicle who were appointed by the Security Council in 1951 on the boundary to observe and report the violations of ceasefire line that has ruthlessly vivisected the ‘once known as paradise Kashmir’ against the will of its own people who are unable to visit their next door kith and kin across the borders.
If the UN observers are not safe, one can imagine the unbridled brutal massacre of Kashmiris by the security forces on both sides of the border every day. This is turning out to be a sort of war in which civilians’ toll far exceeds armed forces’ themselves which hint towards a deadly pogrom being carried out against Kashmiris in order to wipe out their quest for freedom.
The miseries suffered by boundary-line dwellers are inexplicable in sheer words. Battered by the frequent bereavements of their near and dear ones, they are wallowing into deep valleys of despair and grief. Psychological effects remain with the survivors throughout their lives. Imagine how this affects the children. Peaceful slumber is impossible in these vicinities, as the dwellers are always looking towards their doors in fear as if waiting for the knocks of cruel death wandering somewhere nearby.
Why is the world so silent on all these brutalities, injustice and oppressions? If an elephant (Kavan) gets lonely and abandoned, a worldwide hue and cry finds him a timely rescue. But when thousands of innocent humans are killed in Kashmir, there is a pin drop silence everywhere. Is it because animals have acquired more worth and status than human lives in today’s civilized world? Why do there exist such double standards? Does human blood hold no worth to the ‘so called modern civilizations’ or are Kashmiris not even considered humans? Why are there no sanctuaries available to humans when even animals manage to get them?
It is time to take genuine actions, time for wordy articulations is over. Pakistan should pursue and escalate this further with the UN, EU, OIC and other forums to keep the issue in limelight so that appropriate solutions for the issue could be sought out.
Unanimous resolution passed in OIC’s meeting in Niger recently, rejecting illegal and unilateral actions taken by India in Kashmir to try to change its disputed status and demanding her to rescind its derogatory provisions imposed on the people of Kashmir against their will by subjecting them to a more than a year-long barbarous curfew and vicious lock down, fell on deaf ears to India and the UN. Moreover, the exposure of disinformation networks by the EU Disinfo Lab uncovering a vast network of media outlets, think tanks and NGOs serving Indian interests was another outright slap on the ‘so called largest democracy of the world’. But the silence of the world, especially the UN in the face of so much evidence is so staggering! This once again proves the helplessness and vulnerability of the UN when it comes to handling big powers.
In a situation like this, the OIC member countries must move a step further from wordy warnings to practical installations in the form of trade restrictions with India and providing financial and armed support to Kashmiris seeking freedom. If we glance through the history of the last century, we come to the conclusion that freedom fighters need other countries’ involvement to achieve their legitimate goals. The world war II (1939-1945) in which a similar pogrom was carried out against the Jews could only be tackled after the involvement and support of other allied forces especially USA whose air and nuclear superiority over Luftwaffe of Germany provided a much needed competitive advantage to put an end to Hitler’s fascists plans. In 1947, the Muslims of Pakistan were able to get their freedom by the support of the British rulers. Cuba was under constant threats from the USA especially after the revolution of 1959 by Fidel Castro as there were continuous plans in action by the later to invade it to end socialist dogma of Cuba, it was however only during 1960s when Soviet Union’s involvement in the form of installing Nuclear Missiles in Cuba to help guard it against America’s constant threats of invasions (and of course for its own safety) even pushing the world to the brink of a complete nuclear apocalypse, resulted in a complete freedom of the Cuban nation by virtue of subsequent armistice between the trio. Similarly, during the 1980s, the Afghans were able to defend the Soviet war successfully only through the help and involvement of Pakistan and the USA. And so is the case with many other countries who got their freedom from foreign occupation where the involvement of external elements to some extent was a sine qua non of those movements.
Therefore, it is time to take genuine actions, time for wordy articulations is over. Pakistan should pursue and escalate this further with the UN, EU, OIC and other forums to keep the issue in limelight so that appropriate solutions for the issue could be sought out. India is already in a deep crisis as evidenced by recent farmers’ sit ins fiasco, discriminatory laws promulgated against minorities and the boundary line skirmishes with China and Nepal, it is on its way to decline, so it is a proper time to give a much needed blow to escalate Kashmir issue aiming at a consequent liberation.
The writer is Qatar based freelance columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]