Kashmir is an int’l recognized dispute & successive Pak govts have been trying their best to resolve it peacefully: Qamar Zaman Kaira
ISLAMABAD, Oct 12 (SABAH): All Parties Hurriyat Conference – APHC-AJK chapter and Legal Forum for Kashmir – LFK jointly organized a report launch and press-briefing on the imminent situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in the wake of India’s settler colonial program.
Colonial Diary – a repository of settler colonial diktats in IIOJK was launched to apprise the international community of Indian machinations political, legal, and economic subjugation of Kashmiris which amounts to war crimes under International Law.
The report has been compiled by the team of Legal Forum for Kashmir (LFK). It includes the around 220 legislations, administrative changes, orders, notifications, and press releases by the Indian State in the last three years (August 2019 – August 2022) after the abrogation of Article 370.
The repository includes various laws, articles, and bills on different issues and with diverse themes including Land acquirement for military purposes, the Roshini Act, Termination of government employees under 311 (2) (c), Waqf properties, Pandit Migration, Jammu Kashmir Reorganization Act (2019), Domicile Certificate, Delimitation Commission, etc.
On August 05, 2019, the Parliament of India unilaterally passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 containing provisions to reconstitute the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories (UTs) called Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, and became effective on 31 October 2019. The Reorganization act consists of 103 clauses, extends 106 central laws to the UTs, repeals 153 state laws, and abolishes the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council.
Kashmiri Lawmakers believe that it is a pathway paved for replicating the Israeli model of occupation and colonization of the West Bank in Kashmir towards disempowerment and dispossession of the locals, particularly Kashmiri Muslims, to exercise hegemonic control through new settlers.
The RSS-backed BJP government delimited the Legislative Assembly electoral constituencies on the basis of geography instead of the population in order to allocate more seats to Hindu-dominant areas of Jammu, further oppressing Kashmiri Muslims by minimizing their political representation. Accordingly, 43 seats were reserved for Jammu and 47 for Kashmir, whereas, population-wise there should be 51 constituencies for Kashmir (6.8 million population) and 39 for Jammu (5.3 million population). This delimitation will pave the way for a Hindu CM in a Muslim-majority region.
Post-August 5, 2019, the Indian government introduced many new laws and amended several others to facilitate the issuance of domicile and land-owning rights to non-Kashmiris, mostly Hindus. Until June 2022, 4 million such certificates have been issued, making it very clear how India is wantonly altering the demography of Kashmir.
The new laws also allow the lands acquired by the government for industrial or commercial purposes to be disposed of or sold to any Indian. These also authorize the Indian Occupying Forces to declare any area as “strategic” for operational and training purposes. This is a form of land-grabbing as the Indian Occupying Forces are already occupying thousands of hectares of land in the occupied region.
Legal experts assert that India violates Article 2 of the Genocide Convention and Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits occupying forces to “transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
It also violates 85(4) (a) Additional Protocol I, ICC Statutes Article 8(2) (b) (viii) and 22 (3) (b) of the International Law Commission’s Draft Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind.
Above all, Indian actions in IIOJK violate the multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Chaudhry Qamar Zaman Kaira, Adviser to Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, attended the report launch as Chief Guest. Qamar Zaman Kaira stated that Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute and successive Pakistani governments have been trying their best to resolve it peacefully. The present Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan are continuing their best efforts to highlight the Kashmir issue and the atrocities perpetrated by Indian Occupying Forces in IIOJK especially after the abrogation of special status.
He further appreciated the Colonial Diary published by Legal forum for Kashmir in which all the legislative changes have been documented including the abrogation of special status, demographic changes, delimitation act, termination of Government employees. Qamar Zaman Kaira stressed that history is witness that some nations got independence after a short period of time and some had to sacrifice a lot. He is of the view that war is not an option now in contemporary world, the war of narratives and opinions is going on. Kashmir is a humanitarian issue as well, we have to respond it in humanitarian context as well.
The other speakers included: Mehmood Ahmad Saghar, Convener All Parties Hurriyat Conference, as Guest of Honour, Advocate Nasir Qadri, Executive Director Legal Forum for Kashmir, LFK, as host and organizer, Sheikh Abdul Mateen, General Secretary, APHC, as guest, Altaf Hussain Wani, Director KIIR.
LFK simultaneously launched a Dossier titled Indian Fake Encounter in IIOJK. The report contains preliminary investigation pertaining to extra-judicial killing of Muhammad Ali Hussain on 17th August 2022.
Muhammad Ali Hussain was in Indian custody for more than 15 years after being arrested in 2006 by Vijaynagar Police. This extra-judicial killing has been termed as a blatant violation of human Rights and disregard to Geneva Conventions. This is third such extra-judicial killing of Pakistani prisoners in Indian custody, notably to mention Zia Mustafa, whose case was filed under Universal Jurisdiction at Metropolitan War Crime Court, UK.
The press-briefing was also attended by APHC leadership including Imtiyaz Ahmed Wani, Secretary Information APHC; Sheikh Yaqoob, Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat; Mian Muzaffar; Sheikh Abdul Majid; Manzoor Ahmad Dar, Bashir Ahmad Usmani; Mukhtar Ahmad Baba, Spokesperson Masarat Alam Bhat, Chairperson Muslim League JK.