One-Day Conference – Modi Hindutva Nexus & The Struggle of Kashmir
India’s unilateral action of scrapping the special status of the Indian Occupied Kashmir in 2019 followed by administrative and demographic changes, has altered the dynamics of the region. Kashmiris are battling for their rights in the face of Indian communal violence. Pakistan is the only country in the world that actively advocates for the rights of Kashmiris and shows the world the real face of the Modi regime. Keeping in view the overall situation, the Institute of Peace and Contemporary Affairs (IPCA) organized a one-day conference on 4th August 2022 at Islamabad Club. The topic of the conference was “Modi, Hindutva Nexus & The Struggle of Kashmir”. Ambassador Naela Chohan, Ambassador Salahuddin Chaudhry, Group Captain Sultan Mahmood Hali (Retd), Dr. Mujeeb Afzal, and Dr. Mujahid Gillani were the speakers of the conference. The conference was attended by academia, Intelligentsia, media (electronic and print), civil society, and policymakers. A Twitter trend “#Peace4Kashmir” was also generated by the Twitter team of IPCA.
Ambassador Naela Chohan
Former Ambassador of Pakistan to Australia and Canada, Naela Chohan spoke about the history of the Kashmir conflict, the existing situation in Kashmir, and its repercussions for the peace and stability of South Asia. She said that if there was no Pakistan prior to 1947, there was no India as well. This region was established to commemorate Princeton’s fifth state term. However, our Indian counterpart says ‘Our Ray of Mother India.’ Hindu was an ancient time geographic term; it is on the east side of the river Indus, yet there are different narratives, being put forward. Pakistan is a Muslim majority state as Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah clearly stated that “All religions, all faiths, all ethnicities will have to play their role as equal citizens”. The Indian leadership has issues with their approach to their people. In our foreign policy approach, we are inspired by Quaid-e- Azam’s approach of “Friendship with All,” yet our neighbor does not want that. Unfortunately, it must come from both parties and cannot be done unilaterally. It must be noted that Pakistan’s diplomacy has played an important role in various parts of the world, aiding and contributing to global peace and prosperity. Kashmir is not recognized as an international conflict by India. They initially referred to it as a bilateral conflict, but it has now been completely turned into an internal matter. Because any discussion of Kashmir violates Indian laws, they have gone from one extreme to the other without any logical argument. The question now is: How does Pakistan intend to proceed? What is the way forward? The situation on the ground is much adverse and unfortunately, there is no coverage from international media which is questionable. India did indeed censor the media in Kashmir. However, there are increasingly advanced methods of knowing what is going on the ground, and yet there is still a blackout; why is this the case? Is all of this cruelty acceptable to Indians in general? Can the BJP party achieve its objectives with such a strategy? There is an awareness that if Kashmir is not resolved peacefully, the world’s peace will be endangered. Highlighting the ground realities and Indian aggression in Kashmir is a must in these challenging times and our youth play an important role in this complex environment by using digital media platforms.
Admiral Muhammad Haroon
Former Vice Naval Chief and Pakistan’s Naval Attaché to India Admiral Muhammad Haroon started his speech by criticizing people who spoke about “Aman Ki Asha” in 2010 and 2011. He categorically stated that peace with India is not going to happen and the only situation for the Kashmir conflict is war. Muslims in India have been completely marginalized. Pakistan should not trust them for any peaceful acts. All protocols between Pakistan and India for peace and improvement of relations were drafted, written, and edited in Pakistan. Pakistan then sends it to New Delhi, and they would revise it according to their wishes, and if it benefited us, we would sign it. Media in Pakistan is only showing the passive image of the country by highlighting the rift amongst the political parties, yet no one dares to show the ground realities and real situation of Kashmir or Palestine. Our media does not want to speak about them as they do not gain them ratings. Atrocities in Kashmir will continue to happen if Pakistan chooses to remain ignorant about it.
Group Captain (R) Sultan Mahmood Hali
Group Captain (R) Sultan Mahmood Hali spoke about the impact of Hindutva on the Kashmiri freedom struggle. He strongly condemned India’s mass killings and violation of human rights in the region. He highlighted that Indian forces use rape as a strategy to demean Kashmiri women. The reality of Hindutva has come to haunt us, as well as India and the entire region. On August 5th, 2019, Modi was granted the authority and violated the laws Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution changing the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. The rest of the world remained silent, with the exception of a few Pakistani leaders who spoke against the Indian act. Modi felt strong and powerful enough to ensure that all of India’s minorities were oppressed and mistreated. For many reasons, Kashmir continues to bleed. Two years ago, the All Party Hurriyat Conference issued a comprehensive report on the atrocities committed by security forces in IOK. According to the report, Indian forces have executed 95,238 Kashmiris since January 1989 as part of their anti-freedom operation, including 7,120 detainees. After growing tired of waiting for Pakistan, the UN, and anyone else, the Kashmiris decided to take matters into their own hands and picked up a gun. However, they were brutally crushed. According to another statistic in the report, 11.107 women were molested by troops yet independent human rights activists are of the view that this figure represents less than 10% of the total that has been committed by Indian forces in the region. It is a fact that Rape is used as a weapon of war in the IOK. There is a distinction between Hinduism and Hindutva that must be highlighted. Hinduism is a religion, but Hindutva is a venomous ideology. Kashmiris have waited far too long for Providence, Pakistan, the UN, and so on. What were we doing at the height of the Kashmir crisis? We had to rely on people to carry out the work of speaking the truth and telling the stories that needed to be told as seminars and conferences are insufficient. We have friends, but we must seek them out. Pakistan must assist Kashmiris in getting information out of the occupied territory and increase the information campaign to show the world what is happening in Kashmir by telling the stories of ordinary Kashmiris who have suffered at the hands of Indian forces. We must reach out to those in the West who still think of Kashmir as a scarf or shawl. Youth have the most powerful weapon, social media, which gathers and spreads the correct narratives around the world. He urged Pakistan to engage in proactive diplomacy on the Kashmir issue.
Dr. Mujeeb Afzal
Assistant Professor Quaid-e-Azam University, Dr. Mujeeb Afzal discussed the conflict resolution methods in assessing the Kashmir issue. Conflict is essentially perceived as a clash of interests; most of the time, we compete for the definition of interest and attach different values, and sets of goals, and we do it all in a zero-sum game, so conflict is a byproduct of this process. Conflict resolution techniques include peaceful means such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration, diplomacy, and innovative peace-building measures. In the case of Kashmir, all of these approaches have been taken, but we have been engaged in wars, civil strife, and civil wars that have lasted for decades. Peacekeeping, diplomacy, behind-the-scenes negotiations, confidence-building measures, and composite dialogues have all failed to change the fundamental nature of the conflict. From India’s perspective, there are two competing goals. The first is Congress, which tries to hold onto territory and integrate its people through the concept of composite culture and secular Indian civilization. They believe that we are one nation and that Kashmir should be included in that. Hindu nationalists disagree with Kashmiris and believe it is a Hindu land; whatever your religion, if you are unhappy, leave or learn to live like Hindus. In terms of Kashmiris, there are three major groups: those who want to stay with India, those who want to stay with Pakistan, and those who believe that Kashmir is neither part of India nor part of Pakistan. Because it is a territory of Central Asia, it should be granted independence. It is not a logical process, but essentially, an identity crisis is at stake: identity as Bharat, which is India, identity as Pakistanis, and identity as Kashmiris. It’s a power struggle. India controls Kashmir, and Pakistan lacks the capability to retake it by force; this is the reality on the ground.
Dr. Mujahid Gillani
Dr. Mujahid Gillani, President of the Kashmir Youth Alliance, spoke about Modi’s RSS regime and the Kashmiri freedom struggle. He said that India has a consistent policy regarding the repeal of Articles 35A and 370. Both of these articles were gradually eroded and abolished in India’s illegally occupied Kashmir beginning in the 1950s. India was and still is an occupier. Kashmiris were only protesting to demand their constitutional rights from India. Unfortunately, we Kashmiris, have only been recognized as an Indian minority from 1950 to 2022. A single Kashmiri stands with only one identity: we are not Indians, and no Indian soldier has authority on our soil or the authority to unveil or enforce a single Indian law in Indian-occupied Kashmir. We have rebels and warriors, but we are only painted and portrayed as victims. At the same time, we are warriors and victims who have challenged Indian hegemony with the pen, words, and gun barrel. Indeed, Indian forces killed many of our unsung heroes, including Burhan Muzaffar Vani, Manan Bashir Vani, and others. We have been saying for the past 12 years, ‘Hum Pakistani hain yeh Pakistan Hamara hai.’ In the end, we get oppression and hegemonic Indian rule. Today, as a native Kashmiri, we are not protesting human rights violations; we are not seeking special status under an Indian dominion or the Indian constitution; we have only one agenda as a native Kashmiri or an IOK Kashmiri and that can be said in the words of Syed Ali Gillani, ‘Hum Pakistani hain yeh Pakistan Hamara hai.’
Hassam Ahmed Siddiqi
Executive Director IPCA Mr. Hassam Ahmed Siddiqi spoke about India’s demographic and administrative changes in the region since removing the special status of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, as well as human rights violations committed by Indian forces in the region. As according to the Kashmir media service, over 96000 people have lost their lives against the Indian aggression since 1989, however, these are the reported figures while the unreported tragedies remain a mystery. During the last three years, targeted killing of Youth in Kashmir has become a regular phenomenon and is part of India’s nefarious agenda, while unfortunately, the global community has also turned a blind eye towards the human rights atrocities being committed by Indian forces in the region. Creating communication barriers is another regular agenda of the ruling administration as Kashmiris raise their voice against India’s state-sponsored terrorism in the valley. At least six journalists were killed, another 108 were attacked and 13 media houses were targeted in 2021 while the spotlight from the international organizations on the denial of media freedom continued to be on the region. With the rising influence of Hindu nationalism in India, the future of Kashmiris who are living in fear is even more miserable. While Kashmiri youngsters are being blinded with pellets, women are being sexually abused, and Kashmiris are being arrested, the current situation in Kashmir is despairing. The BJP has fostered an environment that encourages hate speech and hate crimes directed at Muslims, often under the banner of Hindu nationalism. Polarized politics in South Asia between Pakistan and India has a dangerous tendency to lead both states to the brink of a nuclear conflict. Yet, Kashmiris are determined and so are the people of Pakistan, for the freedom of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from the aggressors. The slogan chanted by Syed Ali Gillani (RA) ‘Hum Pakistani hain-Pakistan Hamara Hai’ still burns the fire in the hearts of Kashmiris. Till to date, Pakistan is the only country in the world that has actively advocated for the right of self-determination for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Sacrifices given by Dr. Qasim Faktoo, Mohtarma Asiya Andrabi, Musarrat Alam, and others will not go in vain, yet we have to act for it. Today, it’s now or never. It is time for the global community to pay attention to the Kashmir conflict. Kashmir deserves peace. Kashmiris have the same right to normalcy as the people of the rest of the world. While the Government of Pakistan fights for Kashmir’s cause politically and diplomatically through multilateral strategies, it is time for us to think and act out-of-the-box solutions. It is time for the people of Pakistan to show the world the real face of India. Write against the Indian brutalities against the Kashmiris. Write against the Modi-led-Hindutva ideology and the polarized society India has transformed into. Impact the national and international media. Your power of a pen is what is needed today. The world sells narratives and so do we have to. For Kashmir, For Pakistan, and for the greater peace and stability of the South Asian region.