The Day Freedom Was Caged

The Day Freedom Was Caged


Black Day, observed on October 27 annually, signifies the emergence of a painful chapter in the history of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir State. India violated the Indian Independence Act, a document that ended British Colonial Administration in the Indian Subcontinent & subsequently granted independence to India & Pakistan, through military invasion in Jammu & Kashmir, a former princely state. This blatant breaching of the IIA marked the beginning of a dark era, as Maharaja’s controversial accession with India, signed on October 26, 1947, outlawed local people’s aspirations and the State’s demography.


Thus, it provided India a legal ground, although controversial, for military deployment in Srinagar the following day, on October 27, resulting in prolonged bloody resistance of Kashmiris against Indian oppression and the foundation of decades-long political and territorial dispute. The dispute got international attention after India took the matter to the UNSC on January 1, 1948. About a dozen UNSC resolutions have been passed for a fair plebiscite in Kashmir, as emphasized by Resolution 47, particularly, but never implemented till today, leaving Kashmiris with broken promises of self-determination opportunity. Since 2016, the State has been heavily militarized with approximately 1 million troops, undermining civil liberties with severe human rights violations happening now and then.


It was not until the 1972 Simla Agreement that India declared Kashmir a bilateral issue. It used brutal force against local resistance in 1990, their troops committed sexual violence in 1991’s Kunan Poshpora incident, killed a freedom fighter named Burhan Wani in 2016, and attempted to breach theirIdentity in 2019 by revoking articles 370 and 35A. It violated UNSC Resolutions (91 and 122) and outlawed its constitution’s part XXI, which outlines that the relationship between India and the IIOJK is temporary, transitional, and special provisional.


A recent report on human rights violations disclosed that since 1989, there have been deaths of 93,274 innocent Kashmiris, 6,969 custodial killings, nearly 3,000 unnamed graves, 117,345 arrests, and 105,861 destructions of houses by the Indian Army and its paramilitary forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir. Indian brutal security forces have orphaned over 107,351 children, widowed 22,728 women, and gang raped 9,920 women. Displacement, economic challenges, and a pervasive sense of insecurity have become part of daily life for many. Since July 8, 2016, IIOK has been under curfew by the Indian troops & their struggle is at its peak. It reflects the failure of the international system, where geopolitical concerns have ignored such human rights violations. Kashmir has become South Asia’s nuclear flashpoint due to its geopolitical reasons, as emphasized by former US Secretary of State Josef Korbel in 1954 in his book “Danger in Kashmir”.


For Kashmiris, October 27 reminds them of the fractured history and uncertain future. A day when past grievances are heard and justice is recalled. It exposes intensified sufferings that Kashmiris are facing and a recommitment to continue the struggle for self-determination. I hope that the international community will one day recognize and support their movement for freedom and justice. Despite the ruthless occupied administration & draconian laws like the Public Safety Act, Kashmiris will continue their struggle for self-determination while observing a louder black day every passing year. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it”, which sets a reminder for India.

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