ISLAMABAD: A latest report revealed that Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) has witnessed new heights of erasure of its socio-political, religious and cultural identity since the abrogation of special status of the region by the Narendra Modi-led Indian government in August 2019.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the report ‘4 years of annexation of Indian occupied Kashmir’ by Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) in its findings painted a very grim picture of the ground situation of the occupied territory. It said the reign of lawlessness in the IIOJK has reached to climax and occupied Kashmir has witnessed a wholesale exploitation of its resources at an unprecedented scale since 2019.
The report maintained that innocent civilians continue to bear the brunt of state terrorism in IIOJK where crackdown on free expression and ruthless suppression of dissent and reprisals against human rights defenders and dissenters continue unabated. It said thousands of Kashmiri prisoners including journalists, human rights defenders, political activists and dissenters continue to rot in jails and detention centers of IIOJK and India. It deplored that the Indian authorities continue to use black laws such as Public Safety Act (PSA) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as tools to persecute Kashmiris and prolong detention periods of the detainees.
The report said the loss of special status and subsequent legislation has resulted in further marginalization and disenfranchisement of the indigenous population in the region. The report said redrawing of political landscape under the guise of delimitation has led to further exclusion of the region’s Muslim majority from political representation and their role in political decision making process in the legislative assembly.
The report pointed out that the forced annexation of IIOJK with India by the Modi regime has given an impetus to the BJP’s dream project of erasing the region’s distinct identity as a Muslim majority area and rewriting its history. It said redefinition of IIOJK’s age-old domicile law and other related laws has lent an additional impetus to BJP’s settler colonialism campaign to completely erase Kashmir’s distinct identity.
The report maintained that contrary to the Indian government’s claims of so-called development, the unemployment rate in Kashmir has swelled to 23.1% in 2023. “Substantial increase in the unemployment rate in the restive region tears apart Modi’s mantra of so-called economic development in the region. Over 218600 Kashmiri people lost jobs in just four months, soon after the region was subjected to a crippling siege followed by abrogation of Article 370. Scores of government employees have been terminated from their services on vague charges of being a “threat” to the security of the state,” it said.
The report noted that occupied Kashmir’s economy suffered a loss to the tune of 1789 billion rupees. Net losses to agriculture and allied services were estimated to the tune of 46 billion rupees, it said, adding that the fruit industry that provides a livelihood for around 60-70 percent of the local population has been at the brink of collapse while tourism, which accounts for 6.98 per cent of the state’s GDP, has been at its lowest ebb.
The report in its conclusion said the Modi-government has been attempting to deflect world attention away from the real issues and hiding these shocking ground realities of IIOJK through peddling lies and projecting its concocted normalcy narrative on Kashmir. It said unfortunately the agonies Kashmiris have gone through these years of trials and tribulations go broadly unnoticed at the international level because of realpolitik, which involves the pursuit of political settlements unencumbered by moral and ethical limitations. However, the report said, this approach runs directly counter to the interests of justice and fair-play. It demanded of the international community and influential world.
