Peshawar  -  As the sun disappears behind the majestic Mahadev Mountain in Srinagar, Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the atmosphere is laden with immense terror and oppression due to the continued state terrorism unleashed by the Indian occupation forces since they invaded the valley on October 27, 1947.

“As the sun sets behind the peak of the Mahadev Mountains in Srinagar, Indian forces, accompanied by sniffer dogs, enter the homes of Kashmiris under the pretext of so-called search and cordon operations. They assault innocent Kashmiris, including women and children, and keep them almost sleepless in harsh weather conditions,” said Mushtaq Ahmed Shah, Vice Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir’s Peoples League, while speaking to APP.

He said the situation has become even more stark and painful since the Hindutva Modi regime abrogated the special status of IIOJK on August 5, 2019, casting a long shadow of despair and desolation over the occupied valley.

He explained that the oppressive environment has fundamentally altered daily life in IIOJK, where families often refrain from discussing political issues for fear of violent repercussions from the occupation forces, especially during night raids at their homes in Srinagar and border towns.

Schools and businesses mostly operate under the specter of military presence, with many parents reluctant to send their children to educational institutions, mosques, or markets due to the fear of violence or harassment. The Occupied Valley has effectively become the world’s highest-security prison in modern times.

Indiscriminate firing, cluster munitions, sniper attacks, and the excessive use of pellet guns have turned life into a nightmare for over one million Kashmiris in IIOJK.

He said many innocent Kashmiris have been killed in fake encounters in the held valley, where women and children are being assaulted as weapons of war.

Referring to the 43-page report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) from 2019, which exposes Indian security forces’ systematic terrorism and war crimes in IIOJK, he said that India has never allowed independent observers in an attempt to hide cases of human rights abuses and mass graves in the region.

The report testified that Indian occupation forces used excessive force and pellet guns against peaceful Kashmiris in 2016, resulting in the deaths and injuries of numerous civilians, which was a clear violation of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

Referring to India’s Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act (AFSPA) promulgated in Occupied Kashmir in 1990, he stated that the Indian government granted full immunity to its forces from prosecution in civil courts and allowed the detention of Kashmiri leaders without any charges or trial.

This draconian law has been frequently used to detain peaceful protesters, Kashmiri leaders, political dissidents, and other activists. The Indian puppet government in Jammu and Kashmir amended Section 10 of the Public Safety Act in 2018, under which freedom fighters and separatist political leaders were transferred to prisons outside of IIOJK.

Furthermore, India’s apartheid regime did not allow mass rituals or a funeral for the great Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Gillani, whose body was forcefully taken from his grieving family and buried at night. Similarly, prominent leader Muhammad Yasin Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment in a fake case, aiming to silence his strong voice for Kashmir’s freedom and terrorize other Kashmir leaders.

The brutal killing of freedom fighter Burhan Wani and other Kashmiri leaders in fake encounters, along with the issue of over six million illegal domicile certificates granted to Hindus in IIOJK, has exposed the anti-Kashmir policies of the Hindutva regime.

The gruesome violation of human rights, including the forced disappearance of over 8,000 innocent Kashmiris, the discovery of 8,652 unmarked mass graves, and the imposition of the longest curfew on around 10 million unarmed Kashmiris, further exposed India’s ugly secular face to the world, he said.

The Kashmir leader, citing the September 2021 Pakistani dossier, mentioned that around 8,652 unmarked graves were identified in 89 villages across six districts in the held valley. The bodies of 37 Kashmiris, burnt alive by Indian forces, were beyond recognition.

Since 1989 in IIOJK, there have been around 162,000 cases of arbitrary arrests and torture, over 25,000 pellet gun injuries, 11,250 cases of rape of women, 23,000 women widowed, and over 108,000 children orphaned.

The excessive use of snipers and cluster munitions by India to target innocent Kashmiris along the Line of Control (LoC), the use of children and women as human shields by the Indian army during encounters, and forcing people to dig out minefields while tying youth to military jeeps further demonstrate the Modi government’s direct involvement in war crimes and the genocide of Kashmiris.

The burning of mosques, houses, and shops belonging to Muslims by Hindutva groups such as RSS, VHP, and Bajrang Dal in the BJP-led state of Tripura has exposed Modi’s tyranny against minorities, especially Muslims.

He mentioned that mosques in Krishnagar, Dharmangar, Panisagar, and Chandrapur were vandalized by saffron-wearing youth in planned attacks on the Muslim population.

Dr Ejaz Khan, former Chairman of the International Relations Department at the University of Peshawar, stated that India’s illegal occupation of Kashmir has violated multiple articles of the 30 fundamental human rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was drafted by representatives from all regions of the world, including India, on December 10, 1948, and adopted by the UN General Assembly.

“I believe the time has come for the international community to look beyond trade and business interests and take collective action to stop the genocide of oppressed Kashmiris. The international community should pressure the RSS-backed Hindutva Modi government to reverse all its illegal actions of August 5, 2019, and grant the right of self-determination to Kashmiris, which is essential for lasting peace and stability in South Asia.”

He added that despite the severity of the human rights situation in IIOJK, the international community’s response has been muted, which is highly deplorable.

He noted that four wars have been fought over the Kashmir dispute between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, and another war could bring devastation to world peace, especially in South Asia.

Experts have urged the UN and world powers to take meaningful action to address the Kashmir dispute, similar to the resolution of the East Timor issue.

They emphasized that resolving the Kashmir dispute is crucial for the progress and prosperity of billions of people living in the subcontinent.