Mansoor Qutub
While the world is celebrating the international human rights day today, life in Kashmir has been made hell for the local Muslims by the Indian occupation forces. Ever since the Kashmir’s special status was revoked by the Indian government on August 5, 2019, over 900,000 Indian troops are present in the region to terrorize people taking the cover to “ensure the locals do not rise in rebellion”. The oppression by the forces has risen to a level where torture against the Muslim population in Kashmir, has become almost a norm.
The human rights watch in its recent report has documented at least 15 cases of rapes, 44 cases of executions, and at least 8 cases of torture by the military, and that too against non-combatants. They also documented that approximately 80% of these acts were committed during, or in the 10 days leading up to the survey from Amnesty International. After this report was published, Indian troops stormed the offices of Amnesty International to stop them from covering the Kashmir issue.
A new wave of terror was unleashed when in mid-November this year, a retired General and member of the ruling BJP in India Maj. Gen ® SP Sinha advocated rape of Kashmiri women on TV. The news sparked outrage across the country, and the video made big rounds on social media. It is abysmal to see how shamelessly he went on to defend himself for the heinous comments on a TV channel.
The Public Safety Act (PSA) has also become a massive problem for the Kashmiri people under which they can be detained without taking them to trial for 2 years. The unjust arrest of at least 300 people in Srinagar, in October, through this act has already been reported. Under this act, the Indian forces arrested a 33-year-old man suffering from cancer, in August who is still missing.
The amount of control the Indian government has over the region can be seen through the very little amount of press freedom in the region. There is very little documentation of incidents. Several organizations and doctors offered their services, which the government declined. Medical facilities are not being provided properly. After 4 months of isolation, people were provided access to telephones.
Kashmir is a humanitarian crisis in itself. It not only presents signs of physical torture, but emotional distress through curtailing human rights and civil liberties, is a form of torture that is now common in the region.
