Muzaffarabad : In a statement issued by UJC spokesperson Syed Sadaqat Hussain today, five brave freedom activists of Kashmir sacrificed their lives in Kulgam, driven by the fervent desire to witness our besieged homeland break free from the chains of foreign Indian occupation. We pay homage to these fallen soldiers of resistance, who inscribed their verdict with the sacred ink of their own blood.
Our war-ravaged homeland, unfortunately one of the world’s most underreported war zones, is on the brink of a genocide. Perhaps, advocating for Kashmir’s cause does not align with the interests of certain global players, or India, our occupier, has, over the years, evolved into a significant player in the global geo-economic landscape.
While global powers may have turned a blind eye to Kashmir and its suffering populace, we, the Kashmiris, have exemplified an unparalleled resilience in the face of ruthless oppression.
We pledge to persist in our struggle for freedom and justice, unwavering, until the last drop of blood is shed. Against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Palestine, where thousands of innocent lives, mostly children, have been killed, and the world powers’ inability to curb the Israeli aggression, India seizes the opportunity to mimic the Israeli model in the Kashmir. From seizing land rightfully owned by its inhabitants and redistributing it to outsiders, to the demolition of public and private properties, India seems to be borrowing every page from Israel’s playbook.
While we are grieving about Israel’s relentless military campaign in Gaza, and the human toll in the Ukraine-Russia war, a Fascist power is and has been carrying an analogous campaign in Indian Occupied Kashmir. Human pain and agony can’t be compared and refuted, as the denial of basic rights of life continues to be trampled underneath the military boots of fascists in Gaza, Kashmir, and elsewhere. We the occupied and enslaved demand to be heard. India does what Israel accomplishes but our sighs go unheard as they trample us down. We are victims of an Occupier who carries war crimes and can maintain its pacifist image. More so it seeks opportunities in every calamity, it sneaks a chance in every fascist brutality. It denies us the right to mourn by using the excuse of Covid-19.
Similarly, while Israel is busy slaughtering our brothers in Gaza, India is carrying out an additional campaign in Kashmir to convey to the world that, “If the blood of children on your hands is justifiable and celebrated, then we, as the outpost of fascism in South Asia, can match you— escaping the hue and cry of the world community!” In fact, the Indian model of Fascism is an example for all occupiers in the world to carry out blatant war crimes and brush it under the garb of “democracy” and its collective consciousness. It has turned our tortured bodies, wrecked homes, and our socio-political aspirations into memorials of war. It has galvanized popular opinion in the world community that a Kashmiri Muslim body is dispensable, that a Kashmiri Muslim aspiration is nonsense, and that the self-determination movement is terrorism.
Yes we are terrorists for we have been killed, we are indeed terrorists as we are denied funerals, yes we are terrorists as we have 10,000 disappearances, yes we are terrorists as our home is a beautiful prison marketed by the fascist as a tourist destination – heaven on Earth, yes we are terrorists as 30 percent of our population has been declared suffering from mental health issues, yes we are terrorists as our human rights defenders and journalists are in prison, yes we are terrorists as Indian forces are involved in blatant torture and have used sexual violence as a weapon of war. Yes we are terrorists! We are writing this not to beg for mercy from our occupier, as it is bound to do what it does! We expect a breath of sigh, a word of solidarity from the conscious people of the world! Israel is a fascist state and it acknowledges itself! India’s fascism in Kashmir is no less but the world does not care !! Are we lesser human beings? Do we not sell in the marketable activism of activists who talk about the rights of animals and insects!? Do our bodies fetch you lesser visibility on International media? Do the eyes of our children, blinded by pellets not fetch you recognition on social media? Who we are we, what is our crime? What is our identity?
The newly appointed counter-insurgency head’s grandiose claims of a faux normalcy and “winning hearts” are nothing more than attempts to please his superiors in Nagpur. The disproportionate use of force, arbitrary detentions, confiscation of civilian properties, pervasive surveillance, and the stifling of Kashmiris, reducing them to captives, continues unabated. This Machiavellian politics of the Indian state in our homeland is not novel. They have been employing these tactics for decades, and we unequivocally want to make it clear that we will continue to fight until our right to self-determination is realized, come what may. Though our oppressors may draw confidence from global geopolitical conditions, they shall never succeed in quashing our indomitable spirit. We are resolved to fight until the last person stands, for our freedom, justice, and the right to determine our own destiny. We urge Pakistan to play its role in such searing times as the country is a principal party to the dispute of Kashmir. Pakistan has to has to accelerate its efforts to expose the ongoing brutalities in the region.
