Monitoring Desk: The Indian great game of political coercion against UN declared disputed region of IIOJK started with the carefully planned and managed chain of events.
It all started with the replacement of Mehbooba Mufti’s government with governor rule in 2018 through fabricated charges of corruption and a deteriorating law and order situation.
On 5th Aug 2019, India illegally revoked Articles 370 and 35A to bring the disputed region under the Indian constitution. A set of illegal laws were enacted like the provision of J&K domicile etc to alter the demographic balance of Kashmir in favour of the minority Hindu population.
For two years Kashmir witnessed the most brutal and inhuman violations of HRs and Indian forces implemented the illegal policies of the Indian government to subjugate the civilian population with impunity.
India started trumpeting its successes of bringing normalcy, peace, and prosperity in the region, Interestingly Indian state and media have suddenly reverted back to the old narrative of militancy, target killing, and cross-border terrorism.
In a highly illegal move, the Indian government formed a delimitation commission to redraw the electoral boundaries and constituencies in 2020. The Jammu and Kashmir assembly has seized delimitation exercise till 2026.
The delimitation commission through a blatant act of Gerry Mandering facilitated the political aspirations of the BJP to form a majority government in IIOJK.
Since Aug 2019 the political leadership of IIOJK has been languishing in Indian, J&K jails and have been charged with decades-old cases just to deprive the masses of their right to political struggle against Indian political machinations.
The case of the Hurriyat leader is of particular concern as India regarded him as the hurdle in the manifestation of its sinister plans.
The Indian National Investigating Agency court on 19 May 2022 convicted Kashmiri Hurriyat leader, Muhammad Yasin Malik on the charges of conspiracy and waging war against the Indian state.
Yasin Malik has publically accused the judge of behaving like a “prosecuting or police officer” and being denied a fair trial. He stated that “Though I have every legal right to be presented physically before the court, the judge and the CBI at the behest of government are not allowing me to present myself before the trial court physically”.
Tufail Raja, the lawyer representing Malik in the NIA’s fake case, said that cases are being fabricated against him. Raja said Malik has decided that if the government does not offer him a fair trial, he will boycott it.
Yasin Malik, the chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), and all other Hurriyat leaders have been illegally detained by India in a jail in New Delhi for the past several years. The Indian court has convicted Yasin Malik in a 30-year-old fake and false concocted case.
International media has termed the Indian illegal action as political vendetta. The filing of all these cases against the Kashmiri leader has forced many in the disputed region to fear that the Indian state has already decided to “sign his death warrant”. (Al-Jazeera)
The Pakistan government issued a statement regarding Malik’s conviction saying that the “fictitious charges” against him were not only in defiance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) but also attempted to make “conjectural insinuations about Pakistan”.
Khurram Parvez, a leading human rights defender said, “Fair trial is a globally recognized right for everyone. If you are suddenly pulling out old cases and not even allowing the accused to properly represent his case, then there would definitely be question marks over it”. (Al Jazeera)
Human rights groups in IIOJK have also said that the Indian government is unfair towards Yasin Malik.
Faizan Butt, an IIOJK-based independent researcher said, “We have seen that when it comes to Kashmiri political detainees, apart from the Indian state, even their judiciary also bypasses all rules laws and guidelines”. (Al Jazeera)
AJK PM condemned Yasin Malik’s unilateral trial by a “kangaroo court” in India, two days after the incarcerated JKLF chairman was virtually coerced into pleading guilty in a fabricated and politically motivated case of terrorism filed by the notorious NIA.
Former Pakistan ambassador to India Abdul Basit tweeted: Modi Govt is preparing false grounds to hang him as was done in case of Muhammad Maqbool Butt and Muhammad Afzal Guru.
Today on 25th May 2016 Indian court sentenced him to life imprisonment, during the proceedings Yasin asked a few questions from the court which have marked question marks over the fairness of the trial.
The ultimate goal of the Modi regime is to put in place a puppet government in Kashmir that would justify the Indian illegal actions, including delimitation, demographic changes, and illegal merger of IIOJK vis-à-vis India, in violation of international law and UNSC resolutions.
The government of India must reply to the answers to Yasin Malik’s questions
“If I was a terrorist then why had seven Prime Ministers of India come to meet me in the past?
“If I was a terrorist, why was no charge sheet filed against me during this entire case?”
“If I was a terrorist then why was I issued a passport by PM Vajpayee?”
“If I was a terrorist, why was I given the opportunity to give lectures in different institutions all over the world including India?”
Why he has been victimized?
Yasin Malik is being punished for leading a peaceful human rights movement in a region that thrives on the Indian state’s violence & authoritarianism.
The international community is duty-bound to act and challenge India’s shameful denial of his right to a free and fair trial.
Shame on the Indian judiciary. It has sold itself to a fascist regime. It’s a sad day for human rights in the country.
Yasin Malik has been given life imprisonment in a case entirely fabricated at the behest of the Indian government. This is a grotesque abuse of justice and a dark day for the Indian judiciary.
Life sentence for the real hero and freedom fighter highly condemnable act by the coward Indian Government.
Life sentence to Yasin Malik, a blatant Indian effort to silence the voice of Kashmiris.
