kashmir Campaign

Kashmir has been under occupation since India won independence from Britain in 1947 and became partitioned into the states of India and Pakistan.

Find more information about this campaign below.

Background information

The population of Kashmir was promised a plebiscite to determine which of the newly formed countries it would prefer to join. However soon after Partition, the ruling monarch acceded to India, dragging Kashmir into an enduring occupation against the will of its people.

In the intervening years, tens of thousands of inhabitants have suffered unimaginable cruelty at the hands of Indian forces for resisting Delhi’s rule including extra-judicial assassinations, systematic rape, disappearances, torture and imprisonment.

Recent years have seen the Nazi inspired Hindu-extremist Bharatiya Janata Party revoke the special status of occupied Kashmir as an autonomous state. It is feared the move is the first step in the party’s plan to settle scores of Hindus in the Kashmir Valley to reduce its 97% Muslim majority. Critics have condemned earlier proposals which involved building heavily fortified colonies for Hindus resembled Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Meanwhile the international community seems to have forgotten about the plebiscite promise and the right of Kashmiris to self-determination.

Today, Kashmir is one of the most militarised places on earth with some 700,000 Indian troops occupying the state of twelve million mainly Muslim residents.

Since its inception, IHRC has continuously campaigned for the rights of the people of Kashmir.

Key facts & figures

MUSLIM MAJORITY

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of north-eastern Kashmir is also held by China.

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MAJOR WARS

Kashmir has been the scene of three major wars between India and Pakistan.

DISCRIMINATION

In a letter to the Indian government on March 31, 2021, five UN special rapporteurs accused the Indian government of arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

ATTACK ON FREEDOM

Since the revocation of Kashmir’s special status in 2019, the Indian government has targeted human rights groups in the region, raiding their premises, seizing equipment and arresting staff.

Your support helps our campaign

We work with different organisations from Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds, to campaign for justice for all peoples regardless of their racial, confessional or political background.

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