The state of Jammu and Kashmir has been under the unjust occupation of India for the last six decades. As predominantly Muslim majority state, the Jammu and Kashmir, under the Partition Plan of the subcontinent at the demise of the British colonialism, had to decide on its own whether it would accede to Pakistan or India. Under the Plan, it was also obligatory on both Pakistan and India not to coerce any of the more than 500 princely states for their decision. The Partition Plan resulted into the emergence of Pakistan and India as two sovereign states on 14 and 15th of August 1947, respectively. As per the plan, the princely states were allowed on the basis of their demographic and religious backgrounds, to decide their own future. How the Princely States would choose their future had to be decided under a Boundary Commission, constituted with the consent of India, Pakistan and the Britain.

But as Pakistan followed the Plan, India did otherwise and manipulated the Boundary Commission in connivance with the British. The city of Gurdaspore was a Muslim majority area and its people were willing to live with Pakistan but India backed by the British, occupied Gurdaspore and not without a motive. It indicated that India would use the same tactics on other Muslim majority regions. As expected, after occupying Gurdaspore, Indian armed forces raided the state of Jammu and Kashmir on October 27, 1947, flagrantly violating the Partition Plan, the Two-Nation Theory and the international humanistic norms. Kashmiris' aspirations to decide their future were trampled then and there. The occupation became the cause behind launching of the liberation struggle by the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This arbitrary attack on the sovereignty of another state by India was largely facilitated by the then Dogra ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh. India's occupation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir was coupled with its efforts to turn the Muslim majority state into Muslim minority state by carrying out Kashmiris' massacre on large-scale.

Before going into the details of the aftermath of Indian occupation, it is necessary to know the geography of Jammu and Kashmir. It comprises three regions Valley, Jammu and Ladakh, surrounded by Pakistan in the southwest and India in the south. Previously these three regions had fourteen districts, with total population standing at 10,069,917. An overwhelming majority of the people of these regions is Muslim who since the very beginning desired to be a part of Pakistan.

Kashmiris' newly launched struggle against Indian occupation successfully got some part of the state liberated, which is now known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently, in the midst of this struggle in 1950, India enforced its constitution, which termed Jammu and Kashmir as integral part of India, in total disregard to the wishes of the Kashmiri people. The enforcement of the Indian constitution could not deter Kashmiris from going ahead with their selfless struggle, which had once reached at the verge of regaining control over Srinagar in 1948. As the brave Kashmiris were approaching Srinagar, India rushed to the United Nations with a nefarious motive. The World Body passed successive resolutions in its Security Council on Kashmir stipulating ceasefire line, demilitarization and holding a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir under the supervision of UN's Military Observer Group to determine whether Kashmiris want to live with India or Pakistan. But the implementation of these resolutions by the UN could not be carried out due to the deceptive policies of India. India remained obstinate not to follow UN resolutions and never allowed Kashmiris to exercise their birthright nor it allowed any neutral observer to take stock of the ground situation in occupied Kashmir.

Dispute over Kashmir is a legacy of the unfinished agenda of the Partition Plan and a result of the misappropriation of the so-called Boundary Commission. Since the occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, India has applied every inhuman tactic to silence Kashmiris' voice for their basic right but it has miserably failed on all accounts to put Kashmiris' resolve on the backburner. Kashmiris' liberation struggle intensified in 1989, prompting Indian troops to pace up their killing spree. Since 1989, nearly 100,000 Kashmiris have lost their lives in this struggle and as many disappeared during Indian troops' custody in various interrogation centers and torture cells. Thousands of women have been molested, thousands of children orphaned and properties worth billions burnt. There is hardly any household in occupied Kashmir, which has not sacrificed one, two or more of its members for the cause of liberation.

Since the invasion of Jammu and Kashmir, India continued to install its puppet regimes in successive intervals to cement its stranglehold on Kashmiris. Kashmiris' right of speech and assembly was snatched, their places of religions so often attacked and a bar put in place to prevent them from performing their religious duties. The world was kept in total oblivion of all the mess in occupied Kashmir, where election dramas were staged to hoodwink the international community's opinion towards Kashmiris' genuine cause. As the adage goes, 'you cannot win the sympathies of a people by coercing them but by offering them what they want'. This is why, India failed. Kashmiris, despite all odds, have been fighting out a much larger and bigger enemy with all the zeal and firmness.

The concentration of Indian army in Jammu and Kashmir is as massive as one soldier stands for four Kashmiris, a ratio to be found nowhere in the world. Even the bloodiest of insurgencies anywhere in the world are countered with minimum of force. To further enhance the power of its army, India has enforced various black laws in occupied Kashmir, which give Indian troops' immunity to carry out acts, which may make one shudder. Under the cover of these laws, the personnel of Indian Army commit worst crimes against hapless Kashmiris. But all these tactics have not shaken Kashmiris' resolve and steadfastness to carry forward their mission.

As a matter of fact, India has failed to suppress Kashmiris' voice for liberation, as tyranny cannot rule the hearts of a people. History of the world is replete with several examples of peoples' liberations after long struggles where the oppressor failed to rule over a people against their aspirations. The reason why Kashmiris have not still been able to get their homeland liberated from Indian occupation is that they are vis-à-vis a cunning enemy, who doesn't let the world know that occupied Kashmir is at peace, contrary to the ground situation.

The world community must come to the help of Kashmiris in a big way otherwise the dream of a secure and peaceful world would not be cherished and the volatility of its nuke-loaded one-fourth part would continue to disturb peace and calm of the entire globe. It is the need of the hour that India should reciprocate Pakistan's positive overtures, particularly, President General Pervez Musharraf's four-point formula on Kashmir so that some headway is made. Pak-India peace process launched for this very purpose in 2004 has yet to take off due to Indian rigidity. India, which claims to be the biggest democracy of the world, is morally bound to provide Kashmiris a space where they could exercise their fundamental rights. For a lasting friendship and sustained economic, commercial, trade, and cultural ties with Pakistan, India need to address the core issue of Kashmir in accordance with Kashmiris' desires.