Kashmiri people protest in Muzaffarabad on Indian Republic Day. PHOTO: EXPRESS
SRINAGAR:
The Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM) has said that India’s Republic Day celebrations are in stark contrast to the political reality imposed on the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), where constitutional guarantees, civil liberties and democratic consent have been systematically dismantled.
In a statement issued on Sunday, JKSM spokesperson Dr. Irfan Khan that a republic derives legitimacy from the will of its people, not from military presence or enforced compliance.
“In Kashmir, governance is maintained through emergency laws, mass surveillance, extrajudicial killings and fear, not through public consent. To celebrate a republic while denying an entire population the right to self-determination reveals a profound moral and constitutional failure,” he said.
He declared that Kashmir has been transformed into a laboratory of coercive governance, where emergency laws, arbitrary detentions and engineered silence have replaced democratic institutions.
He added that the continued use of preventive detention, restrictions on political activity and criminalization of dissent reflected an administrative structure designed to control territory rather than represent people.
Dr. Irfan Khan emphasized that the erosion of rights in Kashmir did not happen overnight, but was the result of decades of political decisions that disregarded international commitments and local aspirations.
“India’s own founding leadership recognized that the future of Jammu and Kashmir should be decided by its people. The abandonment of this principle has left a permanent stain on India’s democratic claims,” he said.
He added that the situation has further worsened since August 2019, with the removal of Kashmir’s political security measures; by revoking Article 370 and 35A, large-scale arrests and exclusion of Kashmiris from decision-making processes affecting their land, resources and identity.
According to him, these measures have widened the gap between constitutional rhetoric and lived reality.
Dr. Describing the Kashmiri struggle as one rooted in political rights rather than hostility, Irfan Khan said the demand for self-determination is neither extremism nor defiance but a legitimate desire recognized under international law.
“Suppressing this demand through force only deepens alienation and prolongs instability,” he noted. SABAH
