After a yearlong hiatus the Indian government yet again arranged a trip of foreign envoys to the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The guided tour is widely viewed as an Indian ploy to keep the charade of normalcy alive to convince the world that all is well in Kashmir. This is probably the third visit by a group of foreign diplomats stationed in New Delhi since the India’s fascist regime led by Narendara Modi stripped the region of its semi-autonomous status in August 2019 and enforced the change by subjecting a population of over 14 million to a harsh crackdown coupled with a complete communications blackout. This time around over a two-dozen diplomats, mostly from European and African countries were invited for a curated visit to the region to help India project it’s “all is well in Kashmir” narrative and to ward off the growing calls for an independent probe into human rights violations. It has been more or less a replica of the past visit wherein the delegates were taken on a brief tour of “Naya (new) Kashmir”, which was skillfully carved-out from the war-torn city overnight and decorated as per the visitors’ contentment by removing temporarily the barricades, barbed-wires and bunkers that one can normally see dotted all around the city.
The
delegates, however, met a bunch of very less-known hand-picked people, who
played a double role as ‘public representative as well as cheerleaders’ to
greet the visitors. Not even a single prominent political, trade or civil
society group was invited by the authorities to meet the 24-member foreign
delegation during its New Delhi-controlled two-day visit to the territory. As usual the
delegates were taken to boat-ride in picturesque Dal-Lake. Interestingly, the
visiting delegation did not even care to venture out of the comfort zones to
have a glimpse of the real Kashmir that remained largely shut on the occasion.
No
efforts whatsoever were made to meet common people on the streets of Srinagar
to have a firsthand knowledge of the actual situation the people of Kashmiri
have been stuck in for the past several years. Barring a few official
briefings, delegates were not allowed to meet the main political stakeholders.
No meeting was sought with human rights activists, members of the civil society
and the political leaders. Not to talk of Hurriyat the so-called mainstream
political leaders were ridiculously ignored.
This is what has made
the visit highly controversial besides drawing serious criticism from political
leaders from across the political spectrum. Other than the Hurriyat
(pro-freedom camp) the mainstream politicians including former chief Ministers
Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah, Ms Mehbooba Mufti and Senior Congress leader
Professor Saifudin Soz expressed their strong resentment and anger against the
EU envoys planned trip to Kashmir saying that such “guided tours” would serve
“no purpose”.
“We’ve seen these
guided tours in the past particularly, in the immediate aftermath of August 5,
2019. They serve no purpose because the visiting delegation is allowed to meet
only hand-picked individuals. If this proposed delegation is going to do the
same thing, this visit will be as pointless as previous ones. Mr. Abdullah told
news men in Srinagar.
The former chief
minister of Jammu and Kashmir and PDP chief, Mehbooba Mufti while reacting to
the ongoing visit of a delegation of European Union envoys to J&K said,
"Delegations will come and go but the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is
not good. The approach that has confined the movement of Jammu and Kashmir's
leadership is not good. We are being caged in our own homes," the PDP
chief told reporters on the sidelines of her visit to north Kashmir’s Kupwara.
Hurriyat leaders and
organizations, who have appealed to the masses to observe complete shutdown on
foreign envoys tour to the region, made it clear that “Curated tour of foreign
dignitaries to showcase normalcy in the valley to the outside world is
misleading”.
While
on the other hand deserted streets, shuttered shops and an absolute silence in
the valley on the occasion was yet another gentle reminder to the international
community that what Indian government wants to sell as “normal” is nothing but
a travesty of truth and justice. The silent protest was an eye-opener for is an
eye-opener for New Delhi in particular the visiting team of European envoys.
One
hopes that this silence of lurking death witnessed by the visiting delegates
would stop them from becoming a mouthpiece of the Indian state that has
brazenly violated the UNSC resolutions and other international laws by usurping
fundamental rights of the people of Kashmir.
It
is for sure that India would use this visit to achieve its strategic
objectives. The question, however, is whether they (foreign dignitaries/envoys)
will allow the Indian state to get themselves used as tools to give legitimacy
to the illegitimacy?
Will
they allow the Modi led regime to use them as its ‘brand ambassadors’ to
project its baseless normalcy narrative without giving an iota of importance to
wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people?
But apart from
India’s policy of deceit and deception, what exactly the world needs to know
about the Kashmir is that it has been classified as the world's most
militarized zone as well as the largest region occupied by Indian forces
illegally. It happens to be the largest open jail on the
surface of the earth, where Kashmiris feel literally caged in their own houses;
where they live without human rights.
The
world needs to know that India has made Kashmir a living hell for its people
where they feel exiled in their own homeland, they feel robbed of their rights
and identity, they cannot even mourn the death of their loved ones killed in
fake encounters, they cannot even eat the food of their choice, cannot complain
or support the victims of oppression, cannot raise their voice against the
reckless state violence, they cannot share a tweet, cannot publish a post on
Facebook, cannot have an opinion despite being an expert in field and cannot do
anything creative without attracting an FIR. Journalism in Kashmir is state of
repression, journalists cannot write the truth or publish stories without the
government censorship. The people in Kashmir live in a constant threat of
settler colonialism.
Unfortunately,
this is what defines the life in the BJP’s so-called Naya Kashmir today. Would
the government of India dare to showcase this shocking and dreadful aspect of
life in Kashmir to the world? If the BJP government is
really sincere and serious in showing what it has done for Kashmir and the
Kashmiris there is perhaps no better option for it other than accepting the UN offer
and allowing its fact-finding mission to visit the
region to assess the situation in the region.
And let it be known
that holding curated visits of selected envoys and making them to tour a
particular area in Kashmir and arranging their meetings with hand-picked people
of their own choice and taking them to a boat-ride in picturesque Dal Lake
won’t really change the reality and the situation on the ground. And the
reality remains that Kashmir is a political issue that needs to be resolved in
accordance with the universally accepted principle of right to
self-determination.
Hope this reality
would soon dawn on the visiting delegates; after enjoying sightseeing in
Kashmir and getting back to their respective countries they might find some
time to read what the Indian state has done with Kashmir and Kashmiris for the
past 30 years. An estimated 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
Thousands have been “disappeared,” and tens of thousands have passed through
torture chambers. Thousands of Kashmiris lay buried in unnamed mass graves
scattered in within and outside Kashmir valley. While thousands of political
activists mostly youth who have been arrested before and after 5th
August 2019 continue to rot in Indian jails.
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