South Asia Citizens Web

Jammu and Kashmir: The Impact of Lockdowns on Human Rights August 2019-July 2020 Report by THE FORUM FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR

It has been a year since August 5 2019, when the Central government passed the J&K Reorganization Act abrogating Article 370, 35-A and dividing the state into two Union Territories. In early hours of that day, a complete lockdown imposed and mainstream political leaders, businessmen, lawyers and thousands of others were arrested.
A year later, J&K continues to be in a social, economic, political and communication lockdown.

The recent full-page advertisement published in a section of the press by the Peace Party is only one in a series of attacks on the idea of India. It is also a direct attack on the constitution of the country. The advertisement proclaims that the party is ready to ’sacrifice everything to support the mission of establishing the dictate of God (Ahkaam-e-Ilahi) and administration of Mustafa (Nizam-e-Mustafa). It also states that ‘for the past 100 years, mission of Hegdewar, Savarkar, Nehru, Lohia and Ambedkar has been converted into a religion by the Sarkari Ulema’ which is opposed to ‘fundamental principles of Ahkam-e-Ilahi and Nizam-e-Maustafa’. Let us not forget that ‘Nizam-e-Maustafa’ is a phrase coined and popularized by the most fundamentalist and fascistic section under the most uncivilized regime of the most hated dictator of Pakistan, General Zia.

Our cultural institutions are facing a moment of trial. Powerful protests for racial and social justice are leading to overdue demands for police reform, along with wider calls for greater equality and inclusion across our society, not least in higher education, journalism, philanthropy, and the arts. But this needed reckoning has also intensified a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity.

Heard your voice after a long time when you sent an oral press note opposing our Peace initiative. Same voice, same passion…