By Babar Khan Bozdar
The day of 5th February is being observed as Kashmir day in Pakistan and other parts of World to pay tribute to the people of Kashmir in their struggle for self-determination. The day is marked by public processions, special prayers and protests that are carried out in Pakistan and AJK against Indian oppression of Kashmir.
It indicates support and solidarity with the oppressed people of Indian occupied Kashmir, their ongoing freedom struggle and pay homage to the martyrs who lost their lives fighting for the freedom of Kashmir. The people form a “Human Chain” in significant urban areas of Pakistan and Indian-occupied Kashmir. This symbolizes solidarity to console that you are not the only one but rather we are with you in this battle.
The people of Kashmir are fighting for the Independence over six decades but India has captured the valley unethically. For the people of Kashmir, India is another Israel which is smothering their voice and harassing them with bullets.
Indian claim is that that they signed an instrument of accession with Maharaja of Kashmir, but their statement is controversial. The fact is that Maharaja of Kashmir pledged for Indian Military support against the popular insurgency in Kashmir. In spite of crushing insurgency Indian force occupied the whole valley illegally. Therefore, people of Kashmir and Pakistan don’t accept Indian claim over Kashmir. The United Nations also doesn’t consider Indian claim as legally valid. Therefore it recognizes Kashmir as a disputed territory.
Since 1989, when the people of Kashmir intensified their liberation struggle, the unabated Indian state terrorism has so far resulted in the killing of nearly one hundred thousand innocent Kashmiri’s and disappearance of thousands in custody. Amid the mass uprising in Indian occupied Kashmir from 2008 to 2010, millions of people rampaged in Srinagar and other towns with the demand of their right to self-determination. However, instead of respecting the sentiments of the people, Indian troops and police personnel responded to the use of brute force, killing and maiming thousands of people during the period. In the meantime, many international human rights bodies and the European Parliament expressed concern over the discovery of unidentified mass graves in the territory strongly apprehending that the graves contained the dead bodies of those who were killed in custody and fake encounters by Indian troops.
As per UN character of human rights, freedom is the basic right of any individual or nation. This privilege of freedom can’t be grabbed by any barbarous country. The battle of Kashmir may appear to be long; however, the day is not far when Kashmiri’s will be free from Indian brutality. Hence Pakistan’s support for Kashmir is genuine and ethical. On this day entire nation of Pakistan and individuals of Pakistan living outside pay tribute to Kashmiri individuals for their battle which they are doing in Indian occupied Kashmir.
In 1975, President of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto declared the strike on fifth February to bolster Kashmiri’s so as to guarantee that Pakistan is with their Kashmiri brothers and sisters in each trouble. Kashmiri’s are being martyred by Indian securities personnel’s, yet they have not gone inch back from their principal stand of freedom from India.
The people of Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir are unanimous in deploring the fact that the response of the international community to the just struggle of the Kashmiri people has been disappointing. It has failed to consider New Delhi responsible in charge of the genocide of Kashmiri’s and urge India to give the People of Jammu and Kashmir their natural ideal to self-assurance. The world needs to mull over that Kashmir has turned into nuclear flashpoint as it involved two nuclear armed-neighbors. The truth of the matter is that because of India’s implausible and uncompromising state of mind, the peace of the whole South Asia is at stake.
Conversely, Pakistan has been consistent in giving all out support to the just cause of Kashmiri people and has acted as a strong advocate of the Kashmir cause at the universal gathering. The Pakistanis have a number of legitimate and genuine reasons to express solidarity with their Kashmiri brethren as both share strong bonds in respect of religion, geography, culture, aspirations and economy. The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had termed Kashmir as the “jugular vein of Pakistan”. His commitment to the interests of the Kashmiri’s had driven him to visit Jammu and Kashmir three times before 1947 (in 1926, 1936 and 1944) during which he held extensive talks with the Kashmiri leadership. Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, had vowed to wage a thousand-year war for Kashmir. Former President, Asif Ali Zardari, in his address to the UN General Assembly in September 2012 deplored that Kashmir remained a symbol of failures rather than strengths of the UN system while stressing the early settlement of the dispute.
The recognition of Kashmir solidarity Day gets to be distinctly critical in perspective of the above hard substances of history. Let all the peace and equity cherishing countries of the world meet up in communicating functional solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Indian occupied Kashmir.
Babar Khan is a Research Affiliate at the Strategic Vision Institute in Islamabad
