India continues to occupy Jammu and Kashmir, killing innocent people living there for ages. Since 1947, when through an act of aggression India attacked and occupied Jammu-Kashmir, thousands of Muslims have been killed. Yet, the United Nations does not find it urgent to urge Indians to stop state terrorism in Jammu-Kashmir. Indian crimes go on unabatedly. Many foreign investigators have been refused entry into Kashmir to hide the torture and other human rights violations committed by the Indian armed forces on the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. This is just one reason why the ongoing Indian state brutalities in Kashmir are not reported globally.

For the outside world, India is one of the best democracies in the world, whereas in reality, it is killing Muslims, both openly and secretly. In order to hide the state’s crimes in Kashmir, the Indian state created secret graveyards where the slaughtered Muslims were buried. Hundreds of secret graveyards (at least 2,700) have been unearthed in the recent months in Jammu and Kashmir. The use of torture has been the top Indian tool to intimidate and force Kashmiris to tell lies about fellow Muslims. Several families have claimed their relatives had vanished from their homes in Srinagar while in the custody of the Indian security forces.
Bandipora, Baramulla and Kupwara are not the only regions where secret graves were located but the trend has been pervasive. In one cluster of 50 villages, more than 2,000 extreme cases of torture were documented. India has not made any statements about these graveyards.
Thousands of Kashmiri Muslims are jailed for demanding independence from India. Even in jails, they remain the target of brutality. An estimated 20,000 Kashmiri Muslims are languishing in various jails of Jammu-Kashmir and India, not knowing what fate awaits them. Whether they are free or jailed, Kashmiri Muslims are terrorised and tortured, at least emotionally.
COL DR ABDUL RAUFF,
Lahore, July 15.