The dispute about the final status of Kashmir continues to be on the agenda of the UN Security Council. Ironically, the Kashmir problem was brought to the notice of UN by India itself! In spite of Indian claim that Kashmir is an integral part of India and the Maharaja’s accession is irrevocable, the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir continues legally to be a disputed area and remains unnaturally divided between the two neighbouring countries of the sub-continent. It has been repeatedly emphasized by the Indian Government in UN Security Council that the State Elections are not a substitute for Plebiscite and the final status of the disputed State would be decided by the free will of the people once the situation settles down. Even a person like Jawahar Lal Nehru has committed umpteen times about the upholding of the promise given to Kashmiris even if they vote against India which may be painful but India would accept it. Anti-India actions of Pakistan cannot be constituted a ground for denying Kashmiris their basic right. One may try to cover the truth under multiple layers of falsehood but it has the habit of bursting out in the end. Dr.Paul Josef Goebells, the propaganda chief of Hitler has said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic, and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” India has been religiously following the same dictum and has been taking some more cues from Kautilya’s Arthshastara to reinforce its false claims. Very often a plea is advanced that the circumstances where under a plebiscite had been agreed to have changed. It is also given out that the Pakistanis did not fulfil their part of total demilitarization from Kashmir which was an essential pre-requisite for plebiscite. Because of the conflict, the Kashmiris have been deprived of their basic right to determine their own future. Both the countries have divided the erstwhile State among themselves and Pakistanis have ceded a portion to Chinese also. India may be happy with the status quo as they have the best part of the state. Pakistanis will not like status quo as the Indian part is of utmost strategic importance to them. All their rivers flow from here. All these nuances of the simple basic dispute about the rights of Kashmiris have converted the problem into an intractable one. It is like the proverbial “Gordian Knot”. It is now made out to be, what the Ambassador Yusuf Buch in an International Conference in Washington said, a “longstading” and “historical” dispute. According to him, it is no longer “longstanding” as the recent peoples’ uprising has made it a current dispute with the entire valley of Kashmir on fire. Nor is there anything “historical” about injustices as these continue to be committed against Kashmiris everyday!

Disregarding all the facts given above and for the sake of an argument, let us say Kashmir is a part of India. Now let us examine what is happening right now in this supposed to be the “integral” part of India? The article 21 of the Constitution of India states, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”. However, in Kashmir we have the notorious Armed Forces Special Powers Act which empowers the security forces to kill any Kashmiri on the mere suspicion of being a militant and this killing cannot be challenged in any court of law. The Act gives total impunity to security forces for killing people at their sweet will. Similarly, under the Public Safety Act any person can be detained by the government at its sweet will for a period of two years without any trial. The article 19 gives freedom of expression to every citizen. However, this article too has ceased to operate in Kashmir. Already two private TV channels have been banned. The news coverage by private TV channels has been curtailed drastically. The movement of journalists has been repeatedly hampered especially during declared and undeclared curfews. Some have even been manhandled by the security forces. The taking out of any peace rallies and marches is totally banned. These marches are dispersed even before the same could even start. Sometimes to prevent the rallies, people are virtually imprisoned in their homes for days on end. Leaders are under house arrest for months together. And whenever people try to defy curfew or try to take out a march, they are shot. There have been regular protests in different parts of India but nowhere peaceful marchers are shot with live ammunition and that too above waist. Most of the bullet injuries in Srinagar hospitals, according to attending doctors, have been on vital parts. The intention is clearly to kill. Sayed Ali Shah Geelani, the supposed to be hardliner leader of the separatists gave a call for peaceful protests. He specifically asked the youth to desist from stone pelting and violence against public property. There was an appreciable effect of his call. In spite of this the government refused to allow peaceful protests. All these facts vividly demonstrate that the intentions of the Central Government are to ruthlessly suppress any peaceful movement for the right of self-determination. They are prepared to go to the extent of unleashing genocide on the new generation of Kashmiris after having decimated the last one. How can such actions of a state against its own people be called an “Internal” matter?

It is a pity that the torch bearers of liberty claiming to be the leaders of the free world are endorsing such undemocratic declarations! Unfortunately, in the present world scenario the upholders of liberty and equality have turned into merchants and traders as part of the global economic revolution. In their view point, these finer qualities of life are not permissible for the people of the developing countries. They see these countries as huge markets for their goods including lethal arms. One would not mind such actions in totalitarian and dictatorial regimes of South America or nearer home in Burma. But these totally shatter the projected image of India as the largest democracy in the world. There was an interesting anecdote showing the arrogance and intransigence of the authorities in Delhi. Some of the Rapid Action Force troopers sent to Kashmir for controlling the protests wore the blue helmets and carried blue shields with UN tags. According to news reports the Secretary General’s office has taken a serious note of this gross misuse of UN symbols. Who knows this may be the nature’s way of rousing the sleeping UN from its slumber and forcing them to discharge their obligations before it is too late? They say coming events cast their shadows in advance!