By Sarah Saeed

The Kashmir Martyrs Day (Youm-e-Shuhada–e-Kashmir) is to be observed on 13 July each year to pay homage to 22 Kashmiris who were martyred by Dogra Forces within the premises of Central Jail Srinagar on the same day in 1931. Similarly, in November 1947, killings carried out by the Hindu ruler’s army, backed by the Indian army, was a “state-sponsored genocide” to bring out demographic changes in Jammu; a region that had an overwhelming population of Muslims.

According to an estimate, four to five thousand people were present outside Central Jail in Srinagar during the court proceedings against Abdul Qadeer who had asked Kashmiri people to defy the Dogra rule. Meanwhile as a young boy started calling for prayer (Azaan) but was shot dead by the Mahraja’s soldiers. Consequently, 22 youth sacrificed their lives till the completion of Azaan. The tragic day is ahallmark in the history of Kashmiri’s struggle against foreign occupation.In November 1947, thousands of Muslims were massacred in the Jammu region by mobs and paramilitaries led by the army of Hindu Dogra ruler Hari Singh, backed by the Indian Army and Hindu extremists. The exact number of casualties in the killings that continued for two months was around 237,000. A British Publication, “The Times of London” verified that 237,000 Muslims were exterminated in the Jammu massacre. The Muslims, who constituted more than 60 percent of the population of the Jammu region, were reduced to a minority after the killings and displacement of November 1947.

Historians write that the killings carried out by the Hindu ruler’s army and Sikh army were a “state-sponsored genocide” which had an overwhelming population of Muslims. Muhammad AsrafWani- professor of history at the University of Kashmir said, this is the worst tragedy in the history of Kashmir but unfortunately no one talks about it because the state doesn’t want anyone to remember it.

According to the latest report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service on 30^th September 2022, “Indian troops in their continued acts of state terrorism martyred 17 Kashmiris in only the month of September alone”. Moreover, the report added that “From January 1989 till September 2022, Indian security forces have killed 96,148 civilians in the fake encounters and 16,5400 were arrested during this time period in IIOJK”.

Amnesty International in its report published on 10 June 2022 titled, “Increased in Unlawful Killing in Jammu& Kashmir” reported that “for decades, people of Jammu & Kashmir have suffered from gross human rights violations and abuses committed by both state and non-state actors. It stated that 87 civilians were killed by armed groups in IIOJK from August 2019 to November 2021”.

The removal of 35A is aimed at affecting a demographic change, which BJP considers prescriptive for controlling the territory. Kashmiri fear what they call BharatiyaJanata Party’s “Israeli Model” to establish settler colonies that will favourIndian rule in the disputed region. The Hindutva government is using its age-old tactics to hoodwink the world by distorting the historical facts about Kashmir by holding the presidency of the G20 summit.

The murderous campaign against Muslims by Hindu extremists continues to this day. In the past 75 years, millions of Kashmiris have lost themselves to Indian tyranny and terrorism.The international criminal court needs to step up in Kashmir’s case as it did in confronting situations in Yugoslavia andRwanda where judicial structures had broken down. Years afterestablishment of ICC, India has deliberately stayed away from becoming a party to the Rome Statute.

Kashmiris firmly believe in their fight against Indian encroachment despite impoverished conditions and fear. India’s fear of a free Kashmir has further forced it to deprive the region of its autonomous status in an undemocratic and illegal move to abrogate Article 370 in 2019, which is a clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions on Kashmir namely UNSC 38, 47, 51, 91 and 122. Even though Kashmiris often experience torture, extrajudicial executions, house detention, false encounters, sexual assault on Kashmiri womenand journalists abductions, India is actively striving to persuade the world that the situation in the disputed territory has been normalized, prominently by holding the G20 summit in Srinagar. India's decades-long rule of cruelty in the Kashmir must be held accountable by the world community and those battling daily for Kashmir's independence must have a secure future.