On October 27, the people of Kashmir and Pakistan observe Kashmir Black Day every year to recall the deployment of Indian occupational forces in Jammu and Kashmir. It commemorates the beginning of the illegal Indian occupation while starting an unprecedented era of massive human rights abuses, especially against Kashmir’s Muslim population.

The combination of force deployment and human rights abuses started in 1947 when the Indian leaders realized the emerging local voices in favor of Pakistan while raising the demands of their right to self-determination. It resulted in the landing of Indian offensive forces in the region on October 27 1947, as India began forcibly occupying the territory, making it one of the most serious issues in the world. The subsequent years saw an unending inhumane treatment by the Indian security forces in the occupied parts of Kashmir, which hampered the values of peace and development in the region.

Subsequently, the dramatically increasing deployment of occupation forces made the state a heavily-militarized zone. Thus, the disputed status of this South Asian region laid the foundations of historical New Delhi-Islamabad hostility in which Pakistan decided to stand with the Kashmiri people, whereas Indian leaders preferred to continue their brutalities in its occupied state.

The illegitimate arrival of Indian offensive rule in Srinagar not only ensured New Delhi’s occupation in the region but also subjugated the local people.

Pakistan’s support for preventing Indian brutal control of the Occupied Kashmir gradually became prominent in regional and international politics because of New Delhi’s desire to continue its illegal occupation. It is internationally considered an effort to ‘Indianize’ the valley through coercive means, which resulted in the disempowerment of the Kashmiri people and the disappearances and forceful detention of local population. In this way, New Delhi’s inflexible and irrational position on the Kashmir dispute mainly started targeting the locals without respecting their age and gender.

The illegitimate arrival of Indian offensive rule in Srinagar not only ensured New Delhi’s occupation in the region but also subjugated the local people, disrespecting the fundamental values of international law. It is dubbed globally as an explicit violation of the universal humanitarian norms.

However, the continuation of Indian unilateral and illegitimate actions turned worse in August 2019 when New Delhi, under the leadership of Narendra Modi, introduced specific legislative steps to meet its desired changes related to the Kashmiri demographic structure. These legislative measures were evidently rejected by the Kashmiris and strongly opposed by Pakistani people due to their solid ideological associations with their brethren.

The arrival of Modi as Indian Prime Minister resulted in the increasing suffering of Muslim people living within India and Kashmir.

Modi introduced legislation (abrogation of Article 370) dishonored the Kashmir-specific United Nations resolutions, which undermined the scope of cooperative intergovernmental frameworks of the international community and their influential roles in addressing the sufferings of people living in disputed lands. While having an explicit involvement in the anti-Muslim bloodshed of Gujarat in 2002, the arrival of Modi as Indian prime minister resulted in the increasing suffering of Muslim people living within India and Kashmir.

It is pertinent to mention here that New Delhi’s efforts under various political administrations proved inefficient and failed in achieving the desired results due to the strong resistance of the Kashmiris and their persistent struggle to secure a democratic right to decide their future.

The genesis of New Delhi’s oppressive policies regarding Kashmiri society can be traced in the Indian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA). The two laws formally allowed its occupation forces to ensure silencing the voices for self-determination. Hence, this scenario dramatically raised the cases of violence in the Indian-occupied areas of Kashmir and dragged the attention of the international community toward South Asia.

Also read: Five Years Since Article 370 and Indian Illegal Occupied Kashmir Enigma

Regarding Kashmir, various inter-government and non-government organizations have issued their impartial analysis concerning the multiplying sufferings of the Kashmiri population. The leading media outlets from diverse backgrounds have also reported the multileveled violations of people living under Indian occupation. It is not a surprise that these violations mainly comprise extrajudicial killings, sexual harassment, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and ferocious displacements.

In this regard, the recent reports of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Amnesty International could be considered significant.

There are various statements from Indian leaders available to assess the growing human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir.

Amnesty International has highlighted in various reports the need to end the Indian government’s repressive behavior in its illegally occupied Kashmiri areas in the form of months-long communication shutdown and the extensive use of pallet guns. The debate on growing infringements of fundamental human rights cannot be completed without understanding the positions of Indian civil society on the sufferings of the Kashmiri Muslim population.

In this connection, one must cite a report “Torture: Indian State’s Instrument of Control in Indian Administrated Jammu and Kashmir”. It is published by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). The document rationalized the widespread use of multileveled violence in Kashmir due to the massive deployment of Indian forces against the will of locals.

Meanwhile, there are several other reports too on this issue: The Structure of Violence: The Indian State in Jammu and Kashmir; JKCCS Annual Human Rights Review; Facts under Ground: A Fact-Finding Mission on Nameless Graves & Mass Graves in Uri Area; and Ambiguous Marital Identity and Conflict: A Study of the Half-Widows in Jammu and Kashmir.

In this regard, continued violence along with internet shutdowns and communication blockades further validated the violent patterns of New Delhi’s Kashmir policy.

Akin to these reports, there are numerous analytical and factual surveys available online to understand the increasing sufferings of the Kashmiri population under Indian occupation forces. These findings played a crucial role in highlighting the massive human rights abuses which have resulted in widespread sufferings in the Kashmiri society. As a result, ordinary Kashmiris are determined to remain loyal to their right to self-determination.

A consensus-based and united position of the international community can make New Delhi to find a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute.

Moreover, there are various statements from Indian leaders available to assess the growing human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir. These accounts reflect critical position of several politicians. Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor of Congress, former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, former leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, and most important Arundhati Roy, an intellectual and civil rights activist. The formal positions of these leaders provide a glimpse of the emerging voices within India on New Delhi’s oppressive policies concerning Kashmir.

There is no harm in saying that the Kashmir Black Day is a powerful reminder of the disputed land between India and Pakistan. Islamabad has always showed the desire for peacefully resolving the issue while respecting the local population’s unchallengeable right to self-determination. In contrast, New Delhi is strong-minded in continuing and augmenting the presence of its occupation forces to curb the legitimate demands of local people.

In this scenario, the international community can play an effective role to protect the rights of the Kashmiri Muslims. In this way, the states having multifaceted bilateral engagements with New Delhi and the supporters of international human rights campaigns are required to pay substantial attention to the sufferings of Kashmiris. A consensus-based and united position of the international community can make New Delhi to find a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute in which the local people will prefer to decide their future independently.