By Ghulam Nabi Fai

Sept/Oct 2023

The crisis in Kashmir — and the United Nations ineffectual response — represents an example of the failure of the UN to respond effectively against massive and persistent violations of human rights. Kashmir also represents a failure of the UN to use its mandate to seek an equitable peace and justice. The UN always tries to examine how it can more effectively prevent human rights violations, it is instructive to examine the experience of Kashmir and seek lessons for increasing the UN’s effectiveness.

In 1990, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the massive expansion of freedoms around the world, Kashmiris began to seek their right to self-determination, as promised by the UN resolutions (Res. 47 adopted by the 286th UN Security Council meeting, April 12, 1948). In an effort to suppress this growing sentiment among the Kashmiris, the Government of India began committing massive abuses of human rights.

These abuses, which continue today, include: the systematic use of rape; the arbitrary arrest, torture, summary execution of Kashmiri civilians; firing into unarmed peaceful demonstrators; and the burning of entire villages and communities by Indian troops. Since 1990, the Indian occupation forces in Kashmir have killed more than 100,000 people, while thousands more have been maimed or wounded. Many of the victims are women and young children. Over 10,000 women have been raped by Indian occupation forces. And according to a report published by “The International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian Administered Kashmir,” 8,000 to 10,000 people have “disappeared” in Kashmir. Their wives are known as “half-widows” because they do not know whether their husbands are dead or alive.

After the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A of Indian constitution on Aug. 5, 2019, India enacted the Domicile Law on April 1, 2020 to change Kashmir’s demography. More than 3.4 million fake domicile certificates have been issued to non-Kashmiris to allow them to reside in the occupied state, reported “The Tribune” (of Pakistan) Feb. 4, 2022. Today, India is the worst example of settler colonization. It is reported that the Government of India has earmarked 20,3005 acres of land in Jammu & Kashmir for land grab. Besides, the Indian army is engaged in confiscating local homes and evacuating the locals from their business establishments, in particular from the hotels which have been built in the most scenic areas in the Valley, like Gulmarg – famous for its skiing scenes in Asia. Shinzani Jain wrote that in early 2018, former chief minister of the occupied state, Mehbooba Mufti informed the legislative assembly 6389.5 acres of state land in Jammu and 47,477 acres of land in Kashmir was under the army’s unauthorized occupation (Feb. 15, 2023, under “Land to the Tiller’ to land to the highest bidder: Land grabs in Jammu and Kashmir,” https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/).

All these actions are perpetrated by India with one singular purpose to prevent the implementation of the UN resolutions. And yet, the UN has been unable to respond effectively to this political and humanitarian crisis.

The solution to the crisis in Kashmir lies in dialogue between all parties concerned – the governments of India, Pakistan and the genuine leadership of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. But India has chosen destruction over dialogue, jailing political prisoners, like Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Aalam, Aasia Andrabi and human rights activists, like Khurram Parvez, journalists like Irfan Mehraj, Asif Sultan, Sajad Gul, and Fahad Shah, and implementing a brutal campaign of terror against the civilians in Kashmir.

How long will the world watch in silence as India carries out the genocide of Kashmiris? This is a question the Kashmiris are asking today.

At this guardedly propitious time, the role of global Kashmiri diaspora leadership is pivotal, and its responsibilities are correspondingly great, particularly when leaders like Syed Ali Geelani (d. 2021) and Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai (d. 2021) are no more with us and rest of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference leadership is incarcerated. It is a historical fact that diaspora in other international conflicts have proved essential to political change and direction, like South African diaspora became instrumental in toppling the scourge of Apartheid. An amorphous collection of people, no matter how well intended, have never achieved anything politically significant. The leadership of the global Kashmiri diaspora cannot blithely assume that progress towards achieving self-determination will come spontaneously from the people without their advice, guidance, example and encouragement. The diaspora leadership cannot be summer soldiers or sunshine patriots. History will hold them accountable for success or God forbid of any failure. 

The diaspora’s responsibilities are manifold. First is to teach and practice the adage that if we do not hang together, we will all hang separately. The diaspora leadership must subordinate individual quests for political power, prominence, and other gain to the common good for all Kashmiris.

In addition, what matters is not who obtain public credit, but that success is achieved. Petty jealousy has no place among Kashmir’s diaspora leadership circle. All should accept unreluctantly personal sacrifices necessitated by the urgency of the Kashmir issue. As Dr. Gregory Stanton, chairman, Genocide Watch has warned, “Kashmir is at the brink of genocide” (February 2021). Emulation by the Kashmiri people will follow and generate the dynamics indispensable for the inevitably arduous struggle for self-determination. Time has come that all Kashmiri diaspora organizations, councils, associations, forums, coalitions, missions, movements, foundations, etc. must pursue a single agenda item: unfettered right of self-determination of the people of the State of Jammu & Kashmir. If need arises, we can gladly agree to disagree.

The North Star for diaspora leadership must be feasible, not the utopian. The world is unsentimental. On the international stage, might is customarily more powerful than right. National interests ordinarily trump intellectual consistency, international law, democratic rights and professed universal standards of justice. But there are exceptions, God only knows why? such as East Timor, Namibia, Southern Sudan. Moral suasion occasionally exhibits teeth. Diaspora must be skillful in orchestrating the complex array of cynical and high-minded motives of nations to achieve a symphony playing the lofty theme of self-determination for Kashmiris. Such orchestration will be more an art than a science and will require sleepless labors and lucubration to succeed. It is not a task for the indolent or dull.

The diaspora must neither stumble nor waver in the task of attaining self-determination for millions groaning under repression and grim privation.

In approaching a Kashmir resolution, the sole non-negotiable issue should be respecting the consensus of the people of all five regions of the state of Jammu & Kashmir with whom sovereignty resides.

The diaspora leadership not only has to maintain its narrative, but narrative should be equally coherent. We do not need to invent it. It is already there with international sanctity. Here is a prime example of the international recognition of Kashmiri narrative.

When India felt that the Kashmiris will never vote to accede to India, its delegate, V. P Krishna Menon delivered speech of record length on Jan. 23-24 1957 at the Security Council where he said, “In any case, the changed conditions since then had made the agreement obsolete, and the merger of Kashmir with India could not be revoked.’ The response to this fabricated narrative came from a person no less important than Professor Joseph Korbel, former chairman, UN Commission for India, and Pakistan (UNCIP), who wrote in “The New Leader” on March 4, 1957, entitled, “Nehru, The UN and Kashmir,” “This new Indian stand raises issues which far transcend the problem of Kashmir. For if a nation which has accepted a United Nations commitment can blithely assert that ‘circumstances have changed’ and the commitment is no longer binding, then the effectiveness of the United Nations has been dealt a staggering blow.”

Korbel added, “More is at stake in Kashmir than the fate of a remote Asian province. On the UN’s handling of this question may depend much of its future moral and political authority.” He also wrote in “Danger in Kashmir ” (Princeton University Press, 1954) “The people of Kashmir have made it unmistakably known that they insist on being heard. Whatever may be their wishes about their future, they must be ascertained directly or through their legitimate, popular representatives.” He added. “If it (solution of Kashmir) is not achieved, India and Pakistan, indeed the whole free world may reap the harvest of shortsightedness and indecision of unpredictable dimensions”. Professor Korbel was the father of Dr. Madeleine Albright, and teacher of Dr. Condoleezza Rice at Colorado University, both former United States Secretaries of State.

Let us take a leaf from Korbel’s vision and move forward unitedly to try to achieve our ultimate objective: the unfettered right to self-determination for the people of the State of Jammu & Kashmir.

Dr. Fai is the secretary general, World Kashmir Awareness Forum and chairman, World Forum for Peace and Justice. Find out more at www.kashmirawareness.org

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The post Kashmir Under Indian Occupation appeared first on Islamic Horizons.

July/August 2023

The situation must have been dire just after the partition of the South Asian subcontinent in 1947. A new country had taken birth and millions of people across both borders were displaced. In India, particularly in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, it was difficult being a Muslim. The atmosphere became grim again in 1965, during the India Pakistan war when Muslims were being asked to prove their loyalties. Are Indian Muslims in a similar situation today?

The ruling coalition is making calls for genocide. Ruling chief ministers of big states are gloating about closing madrasahs. Prominent leaders talk about banning Urdu and courts are upholding bans on wearing head scarves.

The outlook does appear bleak. But what makes it worse is that there is enough evidence of state complicity in all this persecution. Even in the worst of post-partition times, and during the wars with Pakistan, the state was clear on its neutral position. The constitution swore by secularism and the law makers were bound by the law of the land. Today, the government indulges in extrajudicial killings, demolishes mosques despite court orders, and state laws disallow Muslims from buying property legitimately.

There is even more despair when we see the reaction among Muslims. But for a small group of intrepid journalists, mostly women, there is a sense of dread. Most of the Muslim leadership has shrunk into a fetal position, particularly in North and Central India. Prominent Muslim intellectuals and former bureaucrats make feeble and desperate attempts at reaching out to the same organizations that support calls for genocide and argue for a second-class status for Muslims. Nowhere is this pusillanimity more obvious than when judges of the highest court pass controversial judgements, and soon after accept post-retirement positions that reek of a quid pro quo.

Justice Nazeer Ahmed’s case is an eye opener. As a Supreme Court judge, he retired in January this year, after signing off on the most bizarre Babri Masjid judgment. He led the Constitution bench that declared that demonetization was not illegal, even as his colleague Justice Navarathna had categorically ruled that the process was faulty. Demonetization was easily one of the most devastating policy decisions ever taken by Modi. The Prime Minister had announced, without notice or explanation, a sudden ban on some currency notes on Nov. 8, 2016. Within forty days of his retirement, he was appointed the governor of Andhra Pradesh, a position he accepted and occupies today. 

The dilemma that Muslim political leadership faces now is indeed reflective of the situation. Ghulam Nabi Azad, a member of the Congress Party and a formidable opposition leader for nearly 50 years, speaks helplessly in favor of Modi. Azam Khan of the Samajwadi Party gets a three-year jail term and spends 27 months there before getting bailed out. Religious leaders have been jailed under charges that were as bizarre as that of Muslims spreading Covid in the country. Now there are no Muslims in Narendra Modi’s cabinet. The ruling party does not have a single Muslim member of Parliament. What is even more heartless, is that there isn’t any Muslim member of the BJP in any legislative assembly in any state. 

On the economic front, discrimination against Muslims has been on the rise for the last few years. This moved from a subtle call for boycotts against Muslims businesses to a violent attack on Muslim shopkeepers and hawkers. Muslims continue to lag behind everyone in access to electricity. Nearly 30% of Muslims in the poorest states are living without electricity even today. 

On unemployment, the government’s own data makes a blunt point. Comparing data from the 61st round of the National Sample Survey on employment-unemployment (2004-05) to the Periodic Labor Force Survey in 2018-19 and 2019-20 and the All-India Debt and Investment Survey by the federal government, it is evident that there is a clear increase in inequality and discrimination against Muslims when it comes to access to jobs, income, health and agricultural credit across the country. 

The data shows that unequal incomes are not only due to poor access to education or work experience but predominantly because of discrimination. Discrimination is the primary reason behind the falling Muslim Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in the country. According to the government’s own data, as per the Ministry of Statistics & Program Implementation, among all populations, it is the Muslims that have the lowest share of working people. The LFPR for Indian Muslims has been consistently decreasing from 42.7% in 2004-05 to 30% in 2021. This shows the withdrawal of Muslims from the workforce despite rapid national economic growth in the same period.

In 2019-20, 40% of all non-Muslim populations aged 15 years and more had regular salaried and self-employed jobs. In contrast, these numbers were only 30% for similarly aged Muslims. This number has fallen sharply since 2015, with another sharp decrease seen during Covid.

While Muslims face the most discrimination in today’s India, the numbers also show that the workforce is also unfair to Dalits and indigenous groups. The average income for all vulnerable and marginalized groups in cities in India and are in regular employment is₹15312 ($186). The upper castes doing the same work get paid ₹20346 ($247) a month, at least 25% more, according to government data. It is also important to note that this wage differential is among those who are in regular work, and they comprise just 10% of India’s workforce. 

It is a moot point on what kind of wage differentials exist in the unorganized and the informal economy where a large proportion of the marginalized minorities work. Most Muslims self-employed. The average earning for those self-employed is ₹15878 ($192) for the upper castes and ₹10533 ($128) for Muslims, lower castes and tribal populations. According to a 2022 Oxfam discrimination report, unequal income among urban casual wage workers is because of 79% discrimination in 2019-20.

While there was a general increase in unemployment during COVID, what was alarming was that in rural areas, the sharpest increase of 17 percent in unemployment was for Muslims. While 15.6% of urban Muslims aged 15 and above had regular salaried jobs, 23.3% of non-Muslims had regular salaried jobs in 2019-20. The Oxfam report estimates that the lower employment for urban Muslims is largely due to discrimination (68%) in 2019-20. While discrimination has always existed, the levels were different. The discrimination faced by Muslims in 2014 was 59.3% and has been increasing over the years. 

While much has been written about the rise in hate crimes, lynching and police atrocities, it is important to note the increase in this kind of economic discrimination. The distressing point is that the violence against Muslims now is increasingly normalized. It is either ignored by the state or even encouraged by prominent leaders who support communal forces. It is a rational step for a politician, as it fetches votes and helps majoritarian consolidation.

What then is the solution? Where does hope come from? India is a great country and is growing fast despite all its problems. The solution must emerge from this growth. As the economy becomes stronger, identity issues and ethnic strife automatically take a back seat as we saw during the first decade of the new millennium. There is a constant pushback, within the boundaries of geopolitical realities, from foreign governments and agencies that ensures that the state responds. Just like it did in the hate speech on Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) where Nupur Sharma, a BJP spokesperson, was suspended from the ruling party. 

The recent Karnataka election also shows that maybe, at least in states with higher levels of human development and industrial activities, there is a growing ennui against religious polarization. The voter did categorically dismiss religious slogans and propaganda movies, aimed at stirring the communal pot. Most of the ruling party allies, the Akali Dal in Punjab and the Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the Telugu Desam in Andhra Pradesh have distanced themselves and are in the opposition now. 

Finally, there is the Supreme Court, which under a new and assertive chief, Sharad Arvind Bobde, has underlined the basic structure of the constitution and constantly reminds the government of its duties and obligations. Therein lies the biggest hope for the world’s largest constitutional democracy.

Amir Ullah Khan, Ph.D., is professor of economics at the Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development Institute of the Government of Telangana, Hyderabad, India.

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