Print Print

Actions Canada must take in Solidarity with Kashmir

9-04-2019

India is holding the Kashmiri people hostage at gunpoint, and sadly, no one wants to talk about it.

Kashmir now has replaced Gaza, Palestine as the largest open-air prison in the world.

Now just imagine for a moment for more than a month a region wide curfew has been imposed upon your area by the state. The telephone and internet services have been cut-off – total black-out. You are not allowed to look outside your window, without being shot at by the military. The only people besides the military would allow to roam the streets are Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) thugs – equivalent of Hitlerjugend (Hitler’s Youth) whom the state have flown in from around the country to rape, maim, torture, and kill Muslim women. These thugs go from house to house and carry out their heinous crimes, while military arrests male youth as young as twelve years old. You have no food, no water, no medicine left in the house. You have no way to contact hospital or seek medical assistance for your loved ones. Death is imminent, and when it occurs, you are not allowed to bury your dead. The only option left for you is to turn your house into a graveyard – bury your loved ones inside your home.

Sounds unbelievable. It is not. This is precisely what is unfolding in Kashmir, as described by the New York Times, seven million “caged, humiliated people, stitched down by razor wire, spied on by drones, living under a complete communications blackout.” Kashmiri Muslims have been subjected to such abusive, draconian and torturous conditions since August 3rd, 2019 – A state-wide curfew without an end in sight. By all accounts, this is the worst humanitarian crises facing the world today – A Genocide!

Unfortunately, the entire world remains deaf-tone to this systematic elimination of Kashmiris at the hands of the Indian government lead by a world-renowned war criminal – The current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.
The International Human Rights Council (IHRC-HK) has issued a statement, “The world can not afford to turn a blind eye towards Kashmiris and their cause. The UN and international human rights agencies must take notice of the atrocities at the hands of the Indian state” The IHRC “calls upon the UN High Commissioner for human rights, UN agencies and other international human rights organization to urge the Indian Government to immediately lift the curfew from Kashmir. The IHRC also urges the Indian Government to reverse its decision of revocation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution. The international community must ensure that the human rights of Kashmiris are guaranteed and that India be made answerable to the genocide of innocent Kashmiris. The UN and other human rights must stand in solidarity with the Kashmiris in their demand for self determination and dignity.”

The United Nations Geneva office issued a statement, ““The shutdown of the internet and telecommunication networks, without justification from the Government, are inconsistent with the fundamental norms of necessity and proportionality.”

“The blackout is a form of collective punishment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, without even a pretext of a precipitating offence.”

Amnesty International, “There are no constitutional or practical safeguards to ensure that human rights violations are excluded from military courts.”

In July 2019 Al Jazeera reported, “According to the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), 586 people, including 160 civilians, 267 rebels and 159 Indian security personnel were killed last year - the highest since 2008.”

According to Human Rights Watch, “In an August 16 letter in the medical journal BMJ, 19 doctors from across India asked the government to ease restrictions on communication and travel, saying they were ‘a blatant denial of the right to health care and the right to life’ because they made it difficult for patients and staff to reach hospitals without hindrance.”

David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, was one among the UN experts who urged India to end the communications shutdown. Kaye states, “A part of the consequence of shutting down communication and internet is to enable the government to have control over the narrative of what is happening in Kashmir,” Kaye said. “That is a real disservice to the people in Kashmir and the whole of India.”

An online petition on change.org states, ““It is a conflict that has robbed millions of their basic human rights and continues to this day to inflict untold suffering.”

Every day we witness numerous such petitions where the petitioners are requesting a third party, such as the UN to compel the perpetrator or human rights violator to stop the abuse, which has proven to be ineffective because non-cooperation from the stakeholders, whether it be Israel, India, China or Syria.

The only effective way to put pressure on such repressive regimes led by war criminals is to ask our own democratic leadership to act against such regimes by way of sanctions, cutting off diplomatic ties, etc.

Therefore, we request our readers to support our initiative to petition our Government. We hope to have it brought before the parliament through an MP who would be willing to sponsor our motion where we will be asking the Canadian government to take certain action against the Indian government, such as:

Canada should ask for United Nations Peace keeping forces be deployed in Indian Administered Kashmir,
Canada should Ask for a United Nations Fact finding mission in Indian Administered Kashmir,
Canada should send Non profits to work in aid relief under UN aid relief in Indian Administered Kashmir and Ask us to Allow international medical organizations like Red Cross and Red Crescent to work in Indian Administered Kashmir.
Canada should Ask for a UN session on Human Rights violations and discussion on Kashmir with a goal of creating a UN Commission of Inquiry.
Canada should cancel all Canadian military supplies to India.
Canada should cancel the Uranium supply to India.
Canada should call for alleged Inquiry into Indian Military violations of for war crimes.
Canada should acknowledge A govt in exile of J&K.
Canada should Ban all Travel of Indian army that has served in Indian Administered Kashmir to Canada.
Canada should call for all Telecom and internet and other comminutions to be restored.
Canada should call for All political prisoners be released.
And Canada should call for All Indian troops be withdrawn, and Indian Administered Kashmir should be demilitarized.
Finally, Canada should call for a plebiscite to allow Kashmiri people to determine their political future.  

Meanwhile, we request our readers to familiarize themselves with the issues of Kashmir, it deserves our attention just as much as Muslim sufferings in Palestine, and China and remember the people of Kashmir in your prayers.

Footnotes:

Article Source: ALAMEENPOST.COM