Interview with Dr Asia Saif Alvi — a dynamic young political analyst
[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Profile:
Dr Asia Saif Alvi is a dynamic young political analyst from Lahore. After finishing her school and college education, she went to Islamabad for Masters from Quaid-e-Azam University. After doing her Masters, she joined a local college in Lahore for teaching. Simultaneously, she got admission in Government College University Lahore for her MPhil in the political science department.
Meanwhile, she quit her college job and started working at the Virtual University of Pakistan in 2009. After doing her MPhil, she enrolled in the PhD program at Punjab University. While doing her PhD, she worked as a Lecturer in the UET Taxila for one year in 2012 and then moved to Lahore College of Women University. After six months, she got selected as an assistant professor in the Department of Politics and IR at the University of Sargodha in 2013.
At the University of Sargodha, she has attended more than a dozen National and International conferences. The University of Sargodha, where she is currently serving, sent her to China in 2017 for a teaching diploma. She has written more than a dozen research articles in Pakistan’s renowned journals. She is HEC approved supervisor in the field of Social Sciences. Currently, she is the Head of the Department as well.[/box]
PAKISTAN & GULF ECONOMISTÂ had an exclusive conversation with Dr Asia Saif Alvi about Indian Occupied Kashmir. Excerpts of the conversation are as follows:
India’s Kashmir Conundrum: Before and After the Abrogation of Article 370
The highest military to civilian ratio is found in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). Half of total active Indian armed force i.e. approximately seven hundred thousand troops have been deployed in IOK. The narrative that has been told to the world and Indian nation by those at the helm of power in India is that this huge army deployment is to curtail the terrorist and separatist element found in IOK.
Indian foreign office and media outlets have alleged that the number of terrorists are not more than four to five hundred. The question is that whether this huge state imposed lockdown is meant to change the demographics of the region and spread the Bhartia Janata Party’s (BJP) fascist designs? A region that as per United Nations is designated as a disputed territory. In the face of Indian Prime Minister Narindera Modi the world in general and the South Asian region in particular has come to know of the “Hindutva” ideology which is diagrammatically opposite to India’s claim of being the largest democracy and a huge question mark on its secularism. The interlinkages between Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Indian Prime Minister were made evident in the backdrop of Gujrat massacres.
Ministers like Amit Shaw are adamant to pursue the ultimate end of a united “Hindustan” (land of Hindus). In this very context on 5 August, 2019 through a presidential order Indian President Ram Nath Kovind revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
Significance of Article 370, 35-A in the Indian Constitution:
In order to understand the Indian Conundrum before and after the abrogation of Article 370 fist this very article has to be understood.
Article 370: India’s attempt to pull off a secular narrative
“Article 370 was the basis of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to the Indian union at a time when erstwhile princely states had the choice to join either India or Pakistan after their independence from the British rule in 1947. The article, which came into effect in 1949, exempts Jammu and Kashmir State from the Indian constitution. It allows the Indian-administered region jurisdiction to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defense, foreign affairs and communications. It established a separate constitution and a separate flag and denied property rights in the region to the outsiders.
That means the residents of the state live under different laws from the rest of the country in matters such as property ownership and citizenship.
Article 35A: An extension of the Article 370:
Article 35A was introduced through a presidential order in 1954 to continue the old provisions of the territory regulations under Article 370 of the Indian constitution. The article permits the local legislature in Indian-administered Kashmir to define permanent residents of the region. It forbids outsiders from permanently settling, buying land, holding local government jobs or winning education scholarships in the region.
The article, referred to as the Permanent Residents Law, also bars female residents of Jammu and Kashmir from property rights in the event that they marry a person from outside the state. The provision also extends to such women’s children. Essentially, as per the interpretation given by the Indian Supreme Court the women who marry other than a Kashmiri resident would have their property rights intact. However, the offspring’s from such marriage would not have any right to the inheritance of their mother.
After effects of the revocation and the Indian narrative:
Firstly, the administrative apparatus of the Indian occupied Kashmir has changed. The valley has been divided into two Union territories, Kashmir and Ladakh. In turn Ladakh territory also comprises of the territory of Leh. Declaring this occupied region as Union territories means that the Indian constitution which was not applicable in the region before the revocation of article 370 is now applicable.
Secondly, on the social spectrum the revocation of 370, 35A would mean that the Muslim majority region would gradually become a Hindu majority region. Under the aegis of the United Nations it has over and again been emphasized that the ultimate solution to this disputed territory lies in a free plebiscite, whereby, the people of Kashmir would decide whether to join India or Pakistan, or remain independent. The result of this imminent change in demographics can be foreseen in context of the BJP’s fascist ideology of Hindutva.
India’s Kashmir Conundrum: A Critical Analysis
“As per the United Nations Human Rights report of 2018-2019, out of 160 civilians killed in 2018, 29 civilians were killed because of shelling and firing along the Line of Control with Pakistan. 43 civilians were killed by members of armed groups. The remaining 71 persons were allegedly killed by Indian security forces.
India has since seventy years claimed that it is the largest democracy on the face of earth. Alongside this claim India takes pride in its secular values. It is not that before 2019 things were good in Kashmir. The martyrdom of the Kashmiri youth Burhan Wani in 2016 and the subsequent upheaval of events can be quoted as an example. However, what the revocation of Article 370 has done is that it has laid bare the ground reality about the highhandedness of the Indian government.
Prime Minister Narindera Modi has dissolved the high hopes Indians had developed of becoming the Asian Tiger during the time of erstwhile Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The plausible way that the BJP government could think of was to get the attention of the world diverted. Indian government has over the years used the Pakistani context in order to get the sympathies of its public at large.
In order to understand India’s design inferences can be drawn from the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands. The persecution of Muslims and other minorities in India make one remember the atrocities that were propounded in the Germany of Hitler. This is high time that India be brought onto the questioning table.
Does not the revocation of Article 370 puts a question mark on the morals of the Indian State? The true conundrum of India lies in its irony. On one hand are its far-fetched claims and a dream to unite the crumbling state. On the other hand are ground realities that speak otherwise. The Indian media has desperately tried to find the moral authority that could enable the government to undo the harm. Incidents like Pulwama and others were allegedly staged to gain back the lost goodwill. Even a flop false flag operation was carried out against Pakistan, everyone knows of the case of Abhinandan.
Concluding remarks of the conversation are:
Revocation of Article 370 was just the beginning. The Indian Citizenship Act, the passing of agricultural laws and the ensuing protests in Indian Punjab clearly demonstrate the tilt of the state apparatus towards securing Hindu majority and its sympathies. Historically the fault lines in the Indian state can be understood by how the operation blue star was carried out by the Indra Gandhi government or the involvement of India in Tamil Nadu. However, the incumbent government of Pakistan has put in due effort to raise awareness of the world on the plight of Kashmiris. Yet the response of the world is not a significant one, the world order today is about economics and India provides a huge market. Therefore, in India’s Kashmir conundrum lies the test of the world.