Kashmiris 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 contradiction 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 said a republic derives its legitimacy from the will of its people, not from military presence or forced compliance.
“In Kashmir, governance is based on emergency laws, mass surveillance, extrajudicial killings and fear, not on public consent. Celebrating a republic while denying an entire population the right to self-determination reveals a profound moral and constitutional failure,” he said.
He said Kashmir had become a laboratory of coercive governance, where emergency laws, arbitrary detentions and artificial 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 the population.
Dr Irfan Khan highlighted that the erosion of rights in Kashmir did not happen overnight but was the result of decades of policy decisions that ignored international commitments and local aspirations.
“India’s founding leaders recognized that the future of Jammu and Kashmir must be determined 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 deteriorated since August 2019, with the removal of political guarantees in Kashmir; by repealing Articles 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.
Describing the Kashmir struggle as one rooted in political rights rather than hostility, Dr Irfan Khan said the demand for self-determination is neither extremism nor a challenge but a legitimate aspiration recognized by international law.
“Repressing this demand by force only aggravates alienation and prolongs instability,” he stressed. SABAH
