The history of the world focuses on 1918 as a crucial date, which marked the end of the First World War, often recalled as a year when the world believed that better times were ahead. 1930 marked the “Great Depression” -- an event significantly highlighted in history.
Simultaneously in 1930 coronaviruses emerged and in a parallel world, some young, left-wing Muslim intellectuals formed the Reading Room Party to get together and explore a way forward for Jammu and Kashmir that was free of autocracy and oppression.
The latest form of the coronavirus is the SARS-CoV-2 that culminated into what is popularly known as Covid-19. It was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. As reported by the New York Times on June 1, 2020, the virus has been transmitted to humans from bats.
On March 11, 2020, this extremely infectious virus was declared a pandemic by WHO. According to the worldometer database, 12 million-plus cases have been confirmed and 581 thousand-plus deaths have been recorded as of July 15, 2020.
While even the world’s most advanced healthcare systems are struggling to cope with this pandemic, some countries are allegedly using it as a fog to cover a larger scale of human rights violations. The people of Jammu and Kashmir share such an unfortunate and unwanted fate.
Kashmir has been the main subject of territorial dispute since the partition in 1947, with a heavily militarized line of control (LOC), often addressed as “Asia’s Berlin Wall,” dividing the region into two with thousands of Kashmiris living within the 10-kilometre radius on both sides.
Since 1947 both India and Pakistan have been fighting may wars, with legitimate security concerns in the quest of solely declaring Kashmir as their own, like a child who is adamant to have the last slice of the birthday cake.
Al-Jazeera reported on March 23, 2020, that the medical infrastructure of this disputed region is far from adequate for tackling the ongoing pandemic. The poorly equipped hospitals suffer from acute staff and medicine shortages.
The Conversation UK on May 7, 2020, outlined that the Kashmir Valley has a population of 6.88 million but reports show that there is only one ventilator for every 71,000 people and one doctor for every 3,900 people compared to one-armed soldier for every nine people.
The region lacks people capable of handling the number of ventilators that are currently available. It doesn’t take much effort to realize that the region isn’t even prepared to deal with simple things in normal times, let alone the current unprecedented and undefeatable crisis.
Doctors and healthcare workers have expressed concern as revealed by the Hindustan Times on April 22, over not having enough PPEs to protect them from being infected while treating Covid-19 patients.
Further, since the revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019, Indian authorities imposed an unprecedented lockdown in the region, cutting off all communications.
It has crippled the already broken system for which the doctors cannot still properly access medical literature or communicate with patients who can be treated at home by using the internet.
Evidently, the two countries have so far prioritized conflict management over upgrading and investing in improving the health care system of the region. These factors have led many to believe that the worst is yet to hit Kashmir.
While people are in fact dying due to lack of proper treatment, the military actions did not halt. According to the OHCHR report in 2019, Pakistan had been heavily criticized for detaining Kashmiri separatists in its part of the region and during the pandemic.
Economic Times on April 22, 2020, reported that Pakistan deliberately sent Covid-19 infected militants to the Kashmir region to spread the disease within the community. On May 19, 2020, The Diplomat reported that a 10 hour-long gunfight had killed two rebels and damaged 19 houses in a densely populated neighbourhood in Srinagar.
According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal, through May 18, 10 civilians, 26 Indian Forces personnel and 80 rebels were killed in Jammu and Kashmir while Al-Jazeera on June 8, 2020, reported the recent death of 9 rebels.
According to the US-based Human Rights Watch, on January 17, 2020, the chief of defense staff of India has spoken of putting the children in deradicalization camps and since March 2020, various human rights organizations are advocating for the release of these detainees on both sides of the LOC, amid the current coronavirus pandemic.
With no report reflecting the actual number of people, if any, infected in these camps,the release of these detainees appears essential for the containment of the virus.
The United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch among other organizations have expressed serious concerns over the safety and security of people living in Kashmir under the circumstances. They have urged both the countries to be more respectful towards their obligations under International Human Rights Law.
By virtue of their ratification of many international human rights law documents including, amongst many others, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, amongst they are bound to secure, inter alia, right to health, right to life, the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, right to receive information and fair trial.
The phrase “toothless tiger” has long been associated with international institutions that seek to protect human rights around the world for failing to act when the world needed them to do so for preserving peace and ensuring the safety of innocent lives.
It is our earnest request that healthcare is prioritized and a stronger stance is taken against the continuing human rights violations in both India and Pakistan occupied Kashmir, so that the people living there can avail proper healthcare, and can breathe air that does not give them the smell of gunpowder or the blood of their loved ones in the difficult times of the current pandemic and beyond.
Barrister Mariha Zaman Khan of Lincoln’s Inn is an Advocate of Dhaka District Court, Co-Founder of I Know Right and Principal Tutor at LCLS(South). Arafat Reza is an LLB (Hons) graduate from BPP University. He is currently employed as a teaching assistant at the London College of Legal Studies (South), Dhaka, Bangladesh.