1 week Ago By Amina Amin Kanju
Dear neighbours, a war between us isn’t going to be like a Bollywood movie starring Deepika and Hrithik; this can never ever be the solution between us. War is not a joke. It brings death, suffering, and destruction.
What happened in Pahalgam was inexcusable and deeply disturbing. However, I despise the fact that they’re making this about religion and, within minutes and without any evidence, Pakistan is being blamed. The attack was not carried out in the name of religion; it was a response to occupation.
The Kashmir Resistance, an infamous militant group which claimed the horrendous attack, expressed discontent that more than 85,000 outsiders had been settled in the region, urging a demographic change. This group, in the past, mostly targeted Kashmiri Muslims who they accuse of being informants for the Indian government. Since 2019, India has brutally killed many of their men.
In point of fact, Modi and his government want to change the demographics of the 90 percent Kashmiri Muslim region. Kashmiri land and farmland have been forcefully and violently occupied or bought by the Indian military and Indian developers. It is largely only sold to Indians who are not Kashmiri.
This is their occupation policy. Earlier, before 2019, Kashmiris had the liberty to fly their own flag and their land couldn’t be sold to outsiders. However, Indian Prime Minister Modi removed that status.
Schools told to get licences for motorcycle riding students There are many soldiers and checkpoints in Jammu and Kashmir. It has the highest policing ratio in the world. There is one Indian soldier with a weapon permanently deployed to control and police every 18 Kashmiris.
That’s the highest policing ratio in the world: 1:18. This leads to daily violence for Kashmiris. They are being picked up by Indian security forces, their homes being barged into and ransacked, their internet and text messages periodically being cut off and slowed, beatings, and sometimes rape, torture, and deliberate killings.
The Kashmir Media Service claims security forces raped 11,224 girls and women between 1989 and 2020, including an 11-year-old. Kashmiris live under constant occupation, blockades, surveillance, and violence. Moreover, the Indian soldiers have been targeting the eyes of Kashmiris with rubber pellets at protests, which has led to thousands of Kashmiris losing their eyes.
This is an unfortunate reality for 10 million Kashmiris in the Indian-occupied region if they peacefully protest. Furthermore, tourism in Kashmir is largely accessible to Indians only from the mainland; most Kashmiris don’t have access to tourist regions, they don’t get tourism jobs, and, in fact, some tourist spots are particularly marketed for employment to Hindutva groups only. Affordable Healthcare The Indian government always professes that Kashmiri resistance movements are funded and led by Pakistan.
However, their claims don’t make it true. Pakistan has denied any links to the group. India always comes up with names and intelligence that point to Pakistani complicity so fast one wonders how is that possible? How do they get intel answers so fast? Likely, it is appropriate feed for larger geostrategic goals; of course, we’re the best scapegoat for anything and everything.
India has now threatened to pull out of the Indus Waters Treaty, which was signed in 1960. If India follows through this time, it could restrict the flow of water that is used for most of our crop irrigation and human consumption. Agriculture represents one-fourth of our economy and it will have a devastating effect on it.
However, it is a binding international treaty and doesn’t have a unilateral withdrawal clause. This means India cannot walk away without violating international law. It will draw major international criticism and weaken India’s credibility in honouring international agreements.
Common Interest Amina Amin Kanju The writer is the Founder of Made in Alipur, a writer and an entrepreneur. She can be contacted at [email protected] Tags: war.
