RIYADH: Four months into Indian lockdown, the Delhi-administered part of Kashmir is paralyzed politically and economically, with communications channels shut down and independent observers cut out. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told Arab News that the situation will remain hopeless, unless the 8 million people currently kept “in an open prison” are allowed to speak for themselves.

“Never have people seen such a prolonged curfew of day and night, which has paralyzed the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir,” Qureshi said in an exclusive interview in Riyadh, during his official visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

“Eight million people are in an open prison. They have been denied their fundamental rights. Their religious freedom has been curtailed. People cannot go to mosques to pray on Fridays. Young girls are being molested. Boys are being picked up and tortured to instill fear among the community,” he said, adding that detentions are now so notorious that people have been airlifted out of the region as in Kashmir prisons there was already no space to lock them up.

Not only basic human rights and civil liberties have been imperiled by the lockdown, but also the economy.

“The economy of Jammu and Kashmir is totally crippled. In the last three months, they have suffered a loss of over a billion dollars, according to Indian estimates, on account of drop in tourist activity, so the situation is horrific,” Qureshi said.

On Aug. 5, the government of India revoked the special status granted under Article 370 of the Indian constitution to Jammu and Kashmir. The move was followed by a swift annexation of Kashmir, with tens of thousands of Indian troops deployed, phone and Internet networks shut down, and the state’s public figures detained. On Oct. 31, Kashmir was formally taken under direct federal control and split into two federal territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh – bringing an end to its semi-autonomous rule sanctioned by the United Nations in 1948.

While amid other recent developments the takeover of Kashmir has been seen as oppression against India’s Muslim community, the foreign minister said all groups in the region are suffering, be they Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist.

“Obviously, the valley is under pressure because of the dominant Muslim population, but even in Ladakh, Jammu, and Kargil, the situation is not good ... The (Kashmiri) Hindu Pandits think that the measures taken by India on Aug. 5 have reduced their status from an autonomous state to a union territory. People in Ladakh (mostly Buddhists) feel that they have been deprived of representation. Every section of the society, whether it is Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim, is unhappy,” he said, adding that “Kashmiris have never been so alienated as they are today.”

According to Qureshi, India feels that its prolonged use of force will eventually break the Kashmiris. But in his view this is a miscalculation. “The Kashmiris have fought in difficult situations in the past. Look at the struggle of the 1990s. You know under heavy odds, they kept the movement alive, and the movement is (for the) right to self-determination, which was promised to them by India through Security Council resolutions.”

He said India has to honor that commitment and give Kashmiris the right to choose. “Let them speak. Let them decide for themselves, and whatever they decide will be acceptable to Pakistan,” Qureshi said.

The minister observed that the international community, despite recognizing that human rights have been violated in Kashmir, “has for strategic reasons and for commercial considerations” not been as vocal about the issue as it should be.

There is disappointment too toward Muslim-majority countries.

“Kashmiris feel, in general, and Pakistan also, in particular, that the response of the Muslim world was somewhat muted,” Quershi said, and while he appreciated the sympathy toward Kashimiris that came from the Muslim community, he said more was expected. “We are grateful to all the Muslim counties which have been sympathetic to the Kashmiri point of view, but (that is) not enough.”

He said the level of abuse in Kashmir requires a more forceful response and suggested that a meeting of the council of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should take place “to give the Kashmiri people this message that we are standing with you, and you are not alone.”

At this moment, according to Qureshi, pressure needs to be put on India to lift the curfew, restore communications, fundamental rights, allow international journalists in, allow the United Nations Military Observers Group in India (UNMOGIB) to assess the situation beyond Srinagar.

“The immediate requirement is lifting the curfew. The immediate requirement is restoring fundamental rights. The immediate requirement is allowing children to go to school. The immediate requirement is that if you are sick, you can go to the hospital. If there is an emergency at night, you can get an ambulance and transfer your patient to a hospital for treatment,” Qureshi said, adding that “all that is a dream, all that is being denied at the moment.”