THE BJP government has pulled out all the stops since revoking held Kashmir’s special status in 2019 to convince the world that ‘all is well’ in the disputed territory. While the Indian leadership is expected to ramp up propaganda efforts to whitewash its brutal occupation of Kashmir, states and private entities the world over should not be supporting these dubious endeavours. In this respect, representatives of the Miss World Organisation were in IHK recently for a photo opportunity, with the chair of the beauty pageant telling the media that part of the events scheduled to be held in India later this year will include engagements in the occupied region. The chair added that “this is a blessed place for tourism”. That may be so, but tourist events and beauty contests should not be held in a location where the sons of the soil are treated as conquered peoples by the occupying power. There was later some confusion about holding the Miss World events in IHK, as a firm linked to the organisers stated that locations for the pageant had not been finalised. Perhaps this was an afterthought to dispel criticism of holding the event on disputed territory.

Earlier this year, the BJP also hosted a tourism-related event linked to the G20 in Srinagar. That affair was boycotted by G20 members China and Saudi Arabia. The international community must send a strong message to India that holding events in a contested region, where ordinary Kashmiris are suffocated in the name of ‘security’, is unacceptable. It is appalling that foreign organisations are harping on about the beauty of Kashmir as its people suffer at the hands of the Indian military machine. Can New Delhi really claim that IHK has been pacified when hundreds of thousands of its troops remain in the region? Even those within the Indian system acknowledge that the situation in Kashmir is far from normal. While hearing petitions related to the revocation of Article 370 in India’s supreme court, that country’s chief justice asked the government if there was a “time frame” for the return of IHK’s special status. India’s top judge also observed that “it [IHK] can’t be a union territory permanently”. Foreign entities must not support the BJP’s normalisation project in IHK that highlights ‘normalcy’ at the cost of Kashmiris’ rights.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2023