Refocus on Kashmir Accession to Pakistan Day

By Sajjad Shaukat

Every year, Kashmiris living on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and their Pakistani brethren, and rest of the world observe July 19 as the Kashmir Accession to Pakistan Day. On this very day in 1947, the historical resolution was adopted by the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (MC) in Abi Guzar, Srinagar with 59 prominent leaders in attendance.

The resolution was unanimously adopted, indicating that existing religious, geographical, cultural, economic ties and the aspirations of millions of Kashmiri Muslims warrant accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with Pakistan.

During the partition of the Sub-continent, the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) which comprised Muslim majority decided to join Pakistan. But, Dogra Raja, Sir Hari Singh, a Hindu who was ruling over the J&K in collusion with the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Governor General Lord Mountbatten joined India.

The Radcliffe Boundary Award gave the Gurdaspur District—a majority Muslim area to India to provide a land route to the Indian forces to move into the J&K.

Indian forces invaded Srinagar on October 27, 1947 and forcibly occupied the J&K in utter violation of the partition plan.

When Pakistan responded militarily, on December 31, 1947, India made an appeal to the UN Security Council to intervene and a ceasefire ultimately came into effect on January 01, 1949, following UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir.

On February 5, 1964, India backed out of its commitment of holding plebiscite. Instead, Indian Parliament declared Kashmir-an integral part of the Indian union.

Since 1989, various forms of state terrorism have been part of a deliberate campaign by the Indian army and paramilitary forces against Muslim Kashmiris. It has been manifested in various ruthless tactics.

On August 5, 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi-leader of the BJP-led extremist government revoked articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution, which gave a special status to the

disputed territory of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu (IIOJK). Indian government bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to be ruled by the federal government.

Due to Modi’s pressure, the verdict of the Indian Supreme Court on December 11, 2023 upheld the decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status in 2019.

While, the deployment of more than 900,000 military troops in the IIOJK, who have martyred tens of thousands of the Kashmiris, including women and children through brutal tactics-fake encounters, and closure of mosques, shortage of foods, medicines for the patients have further increased the plight of the Kashmiris.

In order to hide human rights violations, communication services have been cut off from the world and foreign journalists are not allowed to enter the Kashmir region.

And under a well-planned hidden agenda, Modi-led regime has intensified measures, bringing ethno-demographic changes in the IIOJK. In this context, Indian various moves such as introduction of new laws, amendment of the laws to facilitate non-Kashmiris and outsiders in order to usurp the rights of the Muslim Kashmiris—issuance of domicile certificates to more than 800000 non-Kashmiris, registration of almost 2.5 million new non-local voters in the IIOJK—failure of fake drama to host G-20 summit on May 22-24, 2022 in the IIOJK might be cited as instance.

Despite the use of chemical weapons—the pellet guns and phosphorus bombs, Kashmiris have accelerated their struggle for independence.

Notably, Indian forces have been also availing various draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), the Public Safety Act (PSA) etc. in martyring the Kashmiri people, and for arbitrarily arrest of any individual for an indefinite period.

Western media, human rights groups and leaders of various countries and UNO have repeatedly condemned Indian illegal measures and human rights abuses which keep on going in the IIOJK.

In this context, US House of Representatives Terry Meza participated in a recent event organized by Kashmir Global Council (KGC) and South Asia Democracy Watch in Frisco Texas—Ms. Terry Meeza was the chief guest and the symposium was attended by well-known social activist Ms. Beverly Hill, and various entities.

Endorsing Kashmirs’ freedom, Meza said that she is against any form of oppression and stressed the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir—a resolution was passed which stressed for upholding the human rights of Kashmiri people and appealed to allow the UN Human Rights Commission to verify the report compiled by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2018-19.

Now, at the global level there is growing noticeable awareness regarding Indian brutal acts and atrocities in the IIOJK.

Continuing his anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan approach, Indian PM Modi sworn in as India’s prime minister on June 9, this year for a rare third term.

BJP together with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has won a majority, despite a sharp reduction in their seats compared with the 2019 elections. Modi has been elected leader of the NDA alliance.

Critics say “Modi undermined India’s democracy and its status as a secular nation with attacks by Hindu nationalists against the country’s minorities, particularly Muslims”.

Modi unveiled his coalition government’s 30 cabinet posts especially including anti-Pakistan Ajit Doval.

Meanwhile, at least 10 people have been killed on June 9, this year after a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in the IIOJK was attacked by Kashmirs’ freedom fighters.

Most of the Indian media entities allegedly blamed Pakistan for the assault on the bus.

Ronak Shahi, a resident of Hyderabad, shared his anxieties with DW, stating, “Modi administration has strained relations with neighboring countries, and there is concern that these conflicts might escalate further. The situation in Kashmir, which lost its special status during Modi’s rule, is particularly tense and is expected to deteriorate further”.

However, the newly elected Modi can arrange another false flag operation against Pakistan to keep his coalition (NDA) united, and to divert attention from his weak government.

India regularly accuses Pakistan and its superior intelligence agency ISI of supporting and arming rebels in Kashmir, a charge Islamabad always denied.

Since Modi became Indian PM, he started implementing ideology of Hindutva (Hindu Nationalism). Again, during the election campaign of 2024, Hindu majority had been mobilsed especially on ‘hate Muslim’ slogans.

Very tension escalated rapidly between New Delhi and Islamabad in the aftermath of the false flag Pulwama terror attack in the IIOJK—when on February 27, 2019, in response to the Indian so-called pre-emptive air strike near the town of Balakot, close to the border with Pakistan’s sector of Kashmir, which resulted into no causalities, Pakistan Air Force shot down two Indian Air Force fighter jets and launched aerial strikes at six targets in the IIOJK.

Once again, by ignoring the danger of nuclear war, India wants to recreate the Pulwama drama to obtain political goals. Global media reports also confirmed that Indian forces are spreading terrorism along the Line of Control (LoC) to achieve political ambitions.

In this respect, BJP leader Dr. Subramaniam Swami had stated that India needed only two years to defeat Pakistan militarily, and the only solution of Kashmir was war, as “there is no peaceful”.

Pakistan’s civil and military leaders have repeatedly stated that Pakistan’s armed forces “are ready to respond any Indian aggression with full might”.

So, without bothering that full-scale conventional war with Pakistan may culminate into atomic war, enveloping the entire region and probably the whole world, Modi can stage another false flag operation against Pakistan to strengthen NDA coalition government.

Nevertheless, Kashmir Accession to Pakistan Day gives a greater impetus to the Kashmiri freedom fighters, who continue their struggle, demanding their legitimate right of self-determination, as recognized by the UN resolutions.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

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