The coming Thursday marks the second anniversary of the illegal annexation of Occupied Kashmir by India, and the completion of a 24-month-long military siege and draconian curbs on the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Kashmiri people. The second-year mark of the inhumane and oppressive steps against Kashmiri people should reinvigorate and resurrect the international community to speak up about India’s blatantly illegal actions. However, due to legal developments like India’s temporary presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the likelihood of that happening is scarce.
The timing is coincidental. The presidency of the UNSC rotates on a monthly basis following the English alphabetical order of the names of the member states. India, a non-permanent member of UNSC for a two-year term, would be holding the presidency for the month of August.
While Pakistan is still urging diplomacy and has politely expressed the hope that India would act fairly during its month-long tenure, matters look grim. India has made persistent efforts to stifle any conversation about Kashmir on the international front since there is no legal justification for its illegal annexation and the subsequent human rights violations of the residents of IIOK. Unless there is a strong united push from the 15-member UNSC body, India will try its best not to let any attention be brought to the fact that it has now been outright defying UN law on Kashmir for two years.
It is especially vital that Pakistan, and the international community, ensure that India remains fair in its tenure and abides by the rules of the international body, putting its own biases aside. The situation is not despondent—a day ago, European parliamentarians on Friday wrote a letter to the European Commission on the “humanitarian situation” in Indian-occupied Kashmir, urging the European Union to raise its voice on the issue and take action. This letter indicates that the international community is losing its patience for India’s flagrant violations.
Published in thenation on 2nd August 2021