Kashmir: Between violent occupation & abandonment by the Ummah!

The occupation is older than in Palestine, but has been no less brutal. The recent terrible events must not be seen in a vacuum.

The recent attack near Pahalgam, in the occupied Kashmir Valley left 26 people dead but has shone a spotlight on a region that has been under a brutal occupation arguably for longer than Palestine. 

Kashmir was occupied during the partition of India, in 1947 -  year before the Zionist occupation of Palestine. Like Palestine it is a beautiful and fertile land, with resilient people. Like Palestine, it has been neglected by governments in the Muslim world.

This most recent event is undoubtedly a tragedy for the families of those who have died. Yet it is important that people do not think that such events occur in a vacuum. 

This region has seen almost eight decades of brutal occupation. Aside from eight decades of occupation, abandonment by the world, the policies of Narendra Modi have shaped recent events, just as it has shaped the response. 

The origin of the problem

The origin of the Kashmir problem lies in the end of British colonialism in India. The British occupation of India began with the establishment of the British East India Company's control in the early 17th century. The company’s private army took significant territorial after the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The British government formally took over in 1858 occupying India until independence and partition in 1947.

As the occupation became more unsustainable and arguments emerged regarding the future of India, a decision was taken to divide the country - with Muslim majority areas being formed into the new state of Pakistan. 

The region of Jammu and Kashmir in the north had a Muslim majority population-estimated to be around 77% at the time. Yet its governor was a Hindu ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh. The departing British decided that Kashmir should be part of India even though it was Muslim majority and even though it was bordering the new state of Pakistan - so sowing the seeds of an irreconcilable conflict. 

Over the years Kashmir became ever more militarily occupied by India to the extent that it is now one of the most military areas on earth. ‏Some sources suggest a troop presence of around half a million permanently stationed troops in the region.

Since 1948, the region has had a terrible history of oppression and abuses against its civilian population. There have been massacres and crackdowns. In 2011 a report by Human Rights Watch documented over 2700 unmarked grades thought to be victims of extrajudicial killing.

The Indian army has a history of using indiscriminate violence against people. In 2016 there were protests following the killing of Burhan Wani. Security forces used pellet guns, injuring over 6000 civilians and blinding many.

There have been numerous accounts of torture and sexual violence. Security forces have long being accused of using rape and sexual assault as a tool of intimidation or retaliation against communities after they have been targeted by resistance fighters.

Similarly there have been mass arrests and arbitrary detentions targeting civilians, including minors.

The Modi Context

Narendra Modi is a populist leader of the worst kind. He and his supporters stoke sectarian divisions, which cannot be divorced from the events in Kashmir - nor from the aftermath of the and the decisions that will be made by the regime of Narendra Modi and his supporters.

For many years Kashmir had significant autonomy within India, in the hope it would give less of a sense of occupation. However, in 2019 Narendra Modi revoked Article-370 of the Indian constitution fundamentally altering and ending its autonomous status. It also revoked Article-35a which restricted people from outside Kashmir taking over land. These changes led to significant concerns that the future of Kashmir was to be like the future of occupied Palestine, in so far as it would allow extremist settler communities to come from the main part of India, changing the demographics, and facilitating a complete occupation of the land through settler colonialism. 

Since Narendra Modi‘s term of office began in 2014, with his Hindutva political ideology, there have been significant concerns about discrimination and abuses towards India’s minority Muslim and Christian populations, as well as the Dalit community. Many Sikh communities in Punjab have raised concerns about injustices and policies towards farmers in 2020-2021 and others. Sikhs have often complained of discrimination in India- facing political and social vilification  when they have sought more autonomy in Punjab.

Muslims have been victims of mob lynching and “cow vigilantism“. There have been various discriminatory laws such as the citizen amendment act of 2019, and the “national register of citizens”. There has been the phenomenon of “bulldozer justice“ - very similar to the way the “Israeli“ occupying force demolished houses in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

There are 200 million Dalits in India, about 15% of the population. They have been more-commonly known as “Untouchables“- a pejorative term applied to those people who are Hindu but who do not form part of the main caste system in India. They have faced attacks and hate speech and discriminatory abuses. 

There are approximately 30 million Christians in India who have faced attacks on churches and people worship.

Modi’s Response to the events in Pahalgam

The Indian government‘s first response was to blame Pakistan - in a barely credible timescale and virtually no evidence - citing the relationship between the organisation that was said to be responsible for attack and the group Lashkar e Taiba - a fighting group that used to enjoy support from Pakistan’s ISI.

However, Pakistan’s policy towards fighting groups in Kashmir changed during the leadership of General Pervez Musharraf, in the aftermath of 9/11 and the so-called “War on Terror”. The ISI stopped its support for these groups, and the Pakistan army focused on its Western Frontier with an unstable Afghanistan and away it from its historical threat from the east.

Such a response suggests that they seek a geopolitical opportunity, in addition to whatever increase in the securitisation of the region.

India suspends the Indus Waterway agreement

The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was a water-sharing agreement to allocate the use of the Indus River system’s waters, signed in 1960 between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank. There are six rivers in the Indus system - and Pakistan was allocated primary rights to the Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) - with India being given limited use for domestic use like agriculture and hydropower- but had to allow unrestricted flow to Pakistan.

Yet the post-WW2 international order has been breaking down - and India has pretensions to become a regional power to rival China.

There is evidence that India has actively sought to pull back on the IWT for some time. This suspension is a culmination of events, with the excuse for an attack.

Pakistan’s claim that this is an act of war is no exaggeration. The control of water via one of the main arteries through Pakistan has huge implications for agriculture, energy production and more besides. It is a vital security issue - which Pakistan cannot afford to ignore. Yet given the history of the past two decades, there is every expectation that Pakistan’s military and political leadership will not take decisive actions about this.

Modi behaves in a way that realises the twentieth-century world-order has passed. He will act as a disrupter, like Trump. Whereas Pakistan’s approach has been to be a compliant state within the international order - even when it has been against its own interests.

Kashmir has been abandoned by the Muslim world

For the past few decades, the approach of the Pakistan government towards Kashmir has not been about liberating a beleaguered and oppressed population - but to use the issue as a stick to beat India with when it suits its national interests.

Similarly, the Muslim world helps India despite its oppression of the people of Kashmir - and other communities in India.

India is energy dependent on the Muslim world.

India imports about 85% of its crude oil and a significant portion of its natural gas to meet its energy demands. Up to 60% of this crude oil comes from Muslim countries - Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Iran, Malaysia - and liquid natural gas from Qatar (45%) and Algeria.

Yet NONE of these countries has intervened to demand changes in how the Indian government deals with Kashmir and its Muslim population.

Conclusion

The world is caught between the failed nation state system that sets country against country, and the failed international order that has not delivered peace, security or justice for anyone.

The people of Kashmir continue to suffer. It is they who remain under a brutal occupation. It is they who have not seen any significant help from any Muslim nation state over almost eight decades.

In the current world there is no leadership in the world that acts on the basis of Islam rather than national interest. So there can be no expectation that these states would use their economic, political and military power to help the people of Kashmir.

It is only when there is a change in leadership that sincerely applies an Islamic system that ALL the people of Kashmir will enjoy real justice and security, without the oppression of the Indian state as it currently is, or the violent backlash that comes from that.

We pray for the sake of the oppressed people around the world that we see the justice and goodness of Islam return as a civilisation in the world.

Abdul Wahid has been active in Muslim affairs in the UK for over 25 years. He has been published on the websites of Foreign Policy, Open Democracy, the Times Higher Educational Supplement, and Prospect Magazine. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AbdulWahid_X.