THE Kashmir issue has taken a serious turn. The Indian government has abrogated Article 35-A and 370 without the consent of the Kashmiris. India claims to be world’s biggest democracy but it is strange that it has trampled the rules of democracy.

The Kashmir assembly was dissolved and all the prominent Kashmiri leaders were arrested. People like Mahbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah, who had always supported India unconditionally, have now come to realise that the decision to accede to India was wrong.

The people of Kashmir are being killed and children butchered. The shops are closed and curfew has become the order of the day.

The scared people do not dare come out of their houses and huge contingents of the army have been deployed in the valley. More than 700,000 soldiers have made the valley a hostage.

The total population of the valley is 14.34 million, which means the Indian government has deployed one soldier for every 20 Kashmiris. Is this democracy or a mockery of democracy?

The Indian government does not care a fig for the opinion of the people nor does it give the people of the valley a chance of plebiscite to decide their future.

It is time the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the UN Security Council and its general assembly forced the Indian government to stop genocide and let the people of the valley decide their own future.

Hanif A. Mirza

Multan

(2)

APROPOS Dawn.com’s news item ‘India introduces resolution to end occupied Kashmir’s special status amid strong opposition in parliament’ (Aug 5).

Is it a constitutional amendment or a simple law which can be passed by a majority?

The article is silent on this. If it is a constitutional amendment, doesn’t it require more than a majority to become effective? If so I can only say that previous Indian governments were not foolish to keep the promise made by their founding fathers. The current one has decided to crush the minorities population into submission in Kashmir.

Zuk

Lahore

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2019