Human Rights Forum, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh coordination committee member, V.S. Krishna, said what the the Central government is doing in Kashmir is a mockery of democracy and constitutional principles.
This “outrage” was perpetrated by the Centre on August 5 by abrogating Article 370 and Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir and by dividing the State into two Union Territories.
Accompanied by an unprecedented lockdown, it has pushed people to extreme distress, he said while addressing the fifth HRF annual district conference here on Sunday.
Dwelling at length on the history of Kashmir, including the contours of specific historical cultural identity known as Kashmiriyat, he touched upon the nationalist movement in the State and also on the promise of plebiscite made to people of Kashmir by India in 1947 during the signing of the Instrument of Accession and thereafter.
“The accession was predicated on the assurance by India to the people of Jammu and Kashmir that their view would be taken in a free and fair referendum or plebiscite. Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave this assurance not only to the people of Kashmir, but to the world. The plebiscite was never held in spite of efforts by the United Nations to persuade India and Pakistan to agree to the modalities or referendum. The crux of Kashmir movement is the demand that the right of self-determination guaranteed by the promise of plebiscite should be honoured,” he said.
Mr. Krishna said the developments in the State are consequences of the sense of alienation of its people and refusal of the Centre to recognise this reality. Rather than a genuine political response, an overwhelmingly military solution was sought to be imposed address the alienation of the people, he added.
He said that the ongoing lockdown is causing unparalleled misery to people with the security forces functioning with total impunity. HRF State president Gorrepati Madhava Rao said that the country is becoming more and more totalitarian.
Forum district president Y. Krishna Gopal Rao presided over the meeting.
