WORLD / UPDATE 11:15 AM / 24/01/2012

KASHMIR’S TRAGEDY

INDIA: For all those inspired by India’s democracy and its hollow claims of a modern secular entity on the move in international arena, the extra-judicial killings of 8,000 Kashmiris at the hands of Indian security forces during the past 22 years should leave no doubt that the country is instead guilty of state terrorism.

   The Indian army came down hard on the masses and the youth particularly during the recent intifada when tens of thousands of people came out on the street protesting the withdrawal of the armed forces.

    A significant number of those killed were youngsters. The Indian army has also been using crimes against women particularly rape as a tool of state coercion and terrorism. Also recently the discovery of over 2,700 mass graves containing bullet riddled bodies of Kashmiri men in northern part of the Valley came as a shocking disclosure.

   These graves only showed the human rights abuses perpetrated by New Delhi showing that it neither has any intention of giving up its illegal occupation nor reining in its savage army. It also bears pointing out that the total number of those killed in the Valley since departure of the Britain is nearly 100,000.

   Footages showing how the Indian army pounces upon the protestors in the street, wherein women are dragged by their hair, and indiscriminate and unprovoked fire is opened on the protestors itself constitute a proof of Indian state terrorism. It is a pity that the Western media tends not to notice these videos and reports ostensibly under pressure from various Indian lobbies and also because the crimes being perpetrated happen to be against the Muslim masses.

   Today a number of protests are also taken out against the disappearing persons and largely it is the womenfolk who are in the vanguard of such demonstrations.

The Kashmiri people do not have a voice or access to the corridors of power in the international community except for Pakistan that had had a military confrontation with India on more than one occasion for a just settlement of the Kashmir issue. However, the dispute itself is becoming rather a serious national security issue for India.

    The Kashmiris are undaunted despite thousands of deaths and would fight for their right of self-determination regardless of the consequences. It is in India’s own interest to let the people of the Valley decide their fate through an impartial plebiscite that is long overdue – THE NATION.