The 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council was attended by new voices of Kashmiri aspirations who want to change the global perception of Kashmir. Participants included former lawmaker and activist Shuib Lone, Tasleema Akhter, who works for the rehabilitation of terror victims, and Bushra Mahajabeen, a terror attack survivor. Bushra and her sister were attacked by terrorists. Bushra’s sister lost her life and Bushra lost her hand.
Lone highlighted that the year 2022 was among the most peaceful witnessed in the past three decades in Kashmir. Incidents of terror attacks and recruitment registered a sharp decline compared to the situation in the preceding years. The constitutional changes in 2019 and local government reforms are largely responsible for the decline in violence and strong local support for governance reforms.
Also, for the first time, the family members of the victims of terrorism have come out to share their experiences with the international community. Until a few years ago, the prevailing threat environment prevented them from speaking about their sufferings. In her statement, Bushra mentioned that the long silence from thousands of victims had come to an end and more people would come out to speak against the exploitation of the Kashmiris at the hands of militants.
Both Shuib and Tasleema apprised the Human Rights Council of the emerging threat of hybrid warfare in Kashmir. Himself a victim of terrorism, it was Shuib’s prerogative to share his apprehensions with the United Nations on behalf of the people of Kashmir. A new wave of killings was unleashed with women and minorities as the primary targets. Further, Lone highlighted that developments in Afghanistan and West Asia are being used to feed online propaganda in Kashmir. The threat has taken an international dimension as false information about Kashmir is being used by clerics in the United Kingdom to radicalise the youth of South Asian origin.
Tasleema brought the Council’s attention to the growing cross-border drug trade in Jammu and Kashmir. The inability of terrorist networks to foment unrest in Jammu and Kashmir has redirected their investment into the drug trade, and radicalisation of both Kashmiris and the South Asian diaspora through false social media narratives. It was high time that the global media and international community acted on these developments, she said.
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