Every year on 5 February, Kashmir Solidarity Day is observed in Pakistan and by Kashmiri communities around the world — not as a ceremonial date but as a powerful reminder. Even in this age of human rights and international law, the people of Jammu and Kashmir are still denied their inalienable right to self-determination, a right long acknowledged in United Nations Security Council resolutions but unrealised on the ground.
Since its formal observance began in 1990, Kashmir Solidarity Day has served as a platform to draw global attention to a conflict that is not merely political but profoundly humanitarian. International concern intensified after August 2019, when India unilaterally revoked articles 370 and 35A of its constitution. This move stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its limited autonomous status, accelerating demographic and political changes designed to disempower Kashmiris and erode their identity. Legal experts and international observers widely viewed this as inconsistent with international law and contrary to India’s commitments at the UN.
Rather than easing tensions, the post-2019 period has been marked by intensified repression. Prolonged lockdowns, communications blackouts, mass detentions and sweeping restrictions on civil liberties have reshaped everyday life in the occupied territory. Human rights advocates, academics, international NGOs and Kashmiris themselves report that these measures have deepened alienation and suffering instead of resolving longstanding grievances.
International human rights organisations and independent observers have documented a disturbing rise in abuses, including arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, custodial mistreatment and severe curbs on freedom of expression. Journalists and civil society activists operate under constant pressure, while foreign media and international observers remain effectively barred. In such an environment, accountability weakens — and truth itself becomes a casualty.
South Africa’s own history offers a powerful lesson. Having endured decades of apartheid, South Africa understands that prolonged injustice cannot be sustained indefinitely. Its moral authority has allowed it to speak out consistently against oppression beyond its borders, including in support of the Palestinian people. That same moral clarity should extend to the people of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Just as apartheid could not be normalised by time or silence, neither can the systematic denial of human rights in Kashmir.
Supporters of Kashmir Solidarity Day maintain that durable peace cannot be imposed through force, coercion or demographic engineering. Stability can only emerge from dialogue, respect for fundamental freedoms and genuine adherence to international law. As the day is observed once again, the responsibility of the international community is hard to ignore. Expressions of concern alone have proven insufficient. Continued silence risks normalising suffering and, in doing so, undermines the credibility of the international human rights system. An enduring peace in South Asia will remain elusive as long as this reality is left unaddressed.