Islamabad: Terming August 5 as one of the bleakest chapters of the Kashmir history, senior vice chairman Jammu Kashmir National Front (JKNF) Altaf Hussain Wani has said that the day marks the beginning of Indian settler colonialism project to permanently settle Indian nationals in Kashmir to alter its demography.
In a statement issued here on Tuesday, the JKNF leader while highlighting the expansionistic designs of the Indian state said that the Indian move to strip Kashmir of its national identity was a part of its deep rooted conspiracy to change the Muslim majority state into a minority. The abrogation of article 370 and 35-A he said were sought to pave a way for Indian settlers to come and buy property and settle in the region on a permanent basis. “The dangerous move fraught with serious political ramifications is seen by Kashmiris as a conspiracy to change the demography of the state and depriving them of their resources, jobs, identity, cultural, land and above all the promised right of self-determination”, Wani said adding that the lopsided move was a brazen violation of the international law and the Geneva convention, which strongly prohibits the occupying state from altering the status of a disputed territory unilaterally.
Kashmiris he said have never accepted India’s forcible and illegal occupation of their motherland. “The valiant people of Kashmir have yet again refused to accept this forced annexation and bifurcation of the state”, he said adding that this autocratic, undemocratic and unlawful move by the Indian state has only increased the level of public resentment against the occupation. He said that amendments in the state’s domicile law have evoked strong reactions from people hailing from Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. He said that even the Dogra and Hindu community, who feel that they were betrayed by the BJP government, have raised their revolt against the induction of new laws in the state.
“Since 1947 India had extended a number of orders/ordinances to strengthen its unlawful control over the disputed territory of Kashmir but the fact remains that these steps have failed to subdue Kashmiris and break their will to fight for their political and democratic rights guaranteed to them by no less an authority than the United Nations”, he said.
As far as the so-called Jammu and Kashmiri Re-organisation Act 2019 is concerned Wani said that no piece of legislation by the Indian parliament can change the disputed nature of Kashmir issue. “Indian governments can change its own law and constitution the way it suits them but how can they change the international covenants, the UN resolutions that stand witness to the fact that Kashmir dispute is all about the fundamental rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir”, Wani said adding that rather than misleading their own people the Indian rulers should accept the ground reality and resolve the dispute peacefully in accordance with the universally accepted principle of right to self-determination.
Urging the world community to take effective notice of the Indian expansionist designs he said it was high time that the world should respond positively to clarion calls emanating from Kashmir and influence the government of India to reverse and quash these unlawful laws.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement from Srinagar the JKNF spokesman while reiterating his party’s call for Youm e Istehsal on August 5 had appealed masses to observe a complete strike on the day to reaffirm the resolve of fighting illegal and illegitimate rule of New Delhi in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
