By Shahid Shah 

The plan of India to hold the G-20 meeting IIOKJ is a blatant violation of the various UNSC resolutions on IIOJK. Through such a controversial proposal, India is tricking to seek international legitimacy for an illegal and tyrannical occupation continuing for over seven decades. India’s plan to hold G20 meeting in IIOJK violates the UNSC Resolution of 1948 that mandates a plebiscite in the disputed territory. With this step India is trying to achieve another step towards its malicious designs of subverting the struggles of Muslims in Kashmir. Anti-Muslim agenda of fascist Modi regime is visible to the world but no one is paying heed to it. India that portrays itself to be a secular state has a history of passing anti-Muslim laws, targeting Muslim population and planning to corner the people who follow Islam in the country.

An analytical report released by Research Section of Kashmir Media Service on 19 July 2021 revealed that over 500,000 Kashmiris have laid down their lives for Jammu and Kashmir’s freedom from Indian occupation and its Accession to Pakistan during the last over seven decades.

In its World Report 2022, the Human rights watch (HRW) said, “Allegations of torture and extrajudicial killings persisted with the National Human Rights Commission registering 143 deaths in police custody and 104 alleged extrajudicial killings in IIOJK in the first nine months in 2021.”

Police, security forces and intelligence agencies use torture in the form of assault, physical abuse, custodial deaths, rape, threats, psychological humiliation and deprivation of food, water, sleep and medical attention. For the first 10 months, until October 2021, the National Human Rights Commission reported 77 deaths in police custody, 1,338 deaths in judicial custody, and 62 alleged extrajudicial killings.

According to Srinagar-based Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), 105 people were killed in the period following protests that spread across the Kashmir Valley after 8 July 2016. It claims deaths were caused by injuries from pellet shotguns, bullets, tear gas shells, as well as by drowning, inhaling chemical shell fumes and shooting by unidentified gunmen.

WikiLeaks confirmed that torture is rampant in the state of IIOJK and is commonly used against civilians. The various forms of torture enumerated in WikiLeaks including use of rollers, electric shocks, sexual abuse, beating, suspension from ceiling, crushing of muscles, and other methods and forms of physical assault.

Four Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations released a letter written in May 2020 on “Torture in Jammu and Kashmir before and after 5 August 2019” in which it was written that they had confirmed information “concerning the continued deterioration of human rights conditions” in IIOJK after 5 August, “in particular citing arbitrary detentions, violations to the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment and rights of persons belonging to minorities”. According to four Special Rapporteurs of UN, India had violated seven sections of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which India ratified on 10 April 1979, and two sections of the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

In the third Joint Letter by the UN experts on 4 May 2020, relayed their deep concerns to India over the continued deterioration of human rights conditions in IIOJ&K since 5 August 2019, in particular citing specific cases of continued arbitrary detentions, excessive use of force, torture, custodial torture and ill-treatment, and death in custody, especially targeting Kashmiri Muslims.

In the eleventh Joint Letter Dated 1 October 2021, three UN Special Procedure Mandate-Holders expressed ‘deep concerns regarding the apparent unnecessary and excessive use of force and torture against Kashmiri journalists and human rights defenders by Indian Security forces.”

For years, international human rights organizations have stated that Indian troops intimidate and control the IIOJK population with torture, physical and sexual abuse and unjustified arrests. Abuses documented since 1989, include torture, hostage-taking, rape, waterboarding, electric shocks to the genitals, burns, and sleep deprivation.

On August 29, 2019, the BBC reported that civilians in IIOJK had complained of being tortured by the Indian security forces since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. Moreover, the sinister designs of Modi in Gujrat that resulted in the killing of thousands of Muslims, and passing anti-Muslim laws at both national and state-level is a clear example of India following Islamophobic ideology.