EDITORIAL: The very fact that two years have passed since the Modi administration in New Delhi illegally and in utter violation of international law abrogated the ‘special status’ of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir and not one big or powerful country has been too troubled about it goes to show, in and of itself, how little things like human rights and international law matter to leaders who’ve been busy salivating at the prospect of tapping India’s giant consumer market. Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken this issue to all corners of the world, and to as many important forums as he could, yet neither international organisations that make a living from fretting about human rights all over the globe all the time nor powerful capitals who have made a habit of policing the world, to introduce democracy, respect for international law, and all that, have so much as lifted a finger about it.
The Americans have been even more hesitant than usual, not that they were much of a help at any time over the last 70 years, but this time the reasons are also more obvious. For about a decade now Washington has been working on what it calls the Pivot to Asia policy, the prime focus of which is to ‘contain’ China, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. When President Obama signed off on the policy, his administration declared pretty openly that one of the ways in which they would achieve their aim would be to bolster India as a counter-balancing force in the area. And since President Joe Biden was then vice president, and played a central role in working out this arrangement, it wouldn’t really be wise or smart to count on his administration to give much thought to India’s blatant excesses in the occupied valley.
So Prime Minister Modi can more or less sit comfortably in Delhi, carte blanche in the pocket, and watch his nefarious designs of not just brutally crushing whatever dissent sprouts in the region but also changing its demographics altogether by turning it into a Hindu-dominated valley come to fruition. Needless to say of course that the Kashmiri people will never accept such brutality and betrayal and Modi’s iron hand will only strengthen their determination. And it is also clear as daylight that Pakistan will never abandon their cause. There can be no denying that the present Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) administration has broken all precedents and raised this issue at the international level like never before. Yet India is able to get away with its usual line that it is an “internal matter” in which no outside interference will be allowed, because it is hand in glove with all the powerful countries of the world since its big market gets them the kind of top dollar that siding with poor, oppressed, occupied Kashmiris can never match.
It is also very unfortunate that except perhaps for Turkey, Iran and Malaysia no Muslim country has so far stood by the people of Kashmir or the government of Pakistan on this issue. Sadly, despite seeing for far too long how countries like India and Israel have been getting away with rape, theft, murder, genocide and all else that comes with brutal occupations, because their powerful lobbies in big capitals buy them the right kind of favours, we remain a house divided. Islamabad must, therefore, be credited all the more for walking alone where it must. The government must never stop raising its voice and showing the people of the world, even as their governments look the other way, that all countries that do not make India stop its illegal occupation, restore Kashmir’s ‘special status’, and obey UN resolutions, are bystanders in the war crimes of Delhi. As things stand, it is precisely the failure of all powerful countries to act that is proof enough, if any was still needed, of their passive part in this miscarriage of justice.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021