Shun Your Utopian Dream of United India
by Habib Yousafzai
Many important facts have been highlighted in the article entitled above. The dominant ruling classes of the Indian state still dominate according to the Hindutva ideology. Although there is much verbal rhetoric of secularism and equality; in practice the Indian state apparatus operates in accordance with Hindu extremism. India refuses to accept Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists as distinct religions and is strategically assimilating these religions under Hindu family law in article 25. The Indian government’s behaviour with Indian Muslims, Kashmiris, Sikhs, Buddhists, Dalits-Harijans, and above all with the Bangladeshis since 1971 unequivocally revealed that there are no other state as bigoted and extreme in communalism as the Indian state. Cruelty and oppression in order to perpetuate the idea of a collective Indian identity which is marred by Hindu dominance has magnified after 1947 as compared to pre-47 British era. If the Indian state was really secular, the Architect of the Indian Constitution Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, a Dalit, would have never converted to Buddhism. He even went as far as to urging all other Dalits to shun Hinduism. Kashmiris (Muslims) which have attained liberation in 1947 and acceded to Pakistan are in an extremely blessed situation. However, the liberation of Azad Kashmir must not lead us to ignore the occupation of 42,000 square miles and enslaving more than 14 million people in the State of Jammu and Kashmir [also known as Internationally Disputed Areas of Jammu and Kashmir (IDA:JK)] who are living under an oppressive Indian occupation.
The atrocities committed by more than 700,000 Indian forces again the citizens of IDA: JK leaving the state virtually devoid of all human rights cannot be forgotten. The Indian regime and its armed forces have killed more than 202,802 citizens, made 215,994 arrests, 110,117 have disappeared, 115,782 homes demolished, leaving 122,792 widows and 207,335 orphans. Indian forces have been committing crimes such as rape, torture, and gross human rights violations; acts which are state sponsored in order to suppress the Kashmiris. These cruelties have been documented by international human rights organizations such as United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Educational Development, International Tribunal on Kashmir and many others. Yet despite widespread acknowledgement by the international community, there has been no serious response to attend to the agony of the Kashmiri people since the alleged Indian democracy occupied Jammu and Kashmir 64 years ago.
It is evident from the facts that Muslims along with all other minorities are being treated as second class citizens. They cannot live alongside Hindus under one state dominated by Hindu ideals, and thus, India should withdraw its troops from all occupied territories. The treatment of minorities in India, despite paper claims and lip service of secularism in the Indian state shows that this claim is a mere façade. India is not a secular state. It is one dominated by the Hindutva ideology which favours certain citizens based on religious orientation. This is a fact which the Indian government has been trying to suppress for more than six decades, and was the primary reason behind the partition in 1947.
Thus, The Kashmir Diaspora Alliance asserts that the division of the Indian state is the only equitable solution given the current governing status quo which seeks to dominate, humiliate, and oppress minorities in order to maintain illegal claims over territories that the Indian state has occupied for the benefit of its dominant ruling class. Hence India must withdraw its occupation forces from forcibly occupied territories such as the Sikh Homeland Punjab (Khalistan), Munwadar, Junaghar, Hyderabad, and Kashmir (IDA: JK) as the only equitable solution to wide scale oppression by the Indian state.
