Kashmir Is Not India’s Internal Matter. It’s an International Dispute

For decades, India has repeated a familiar refrain to the world: that Kashmir is its “internal issue.” But repeating a claim does not make it true—especially when international law, United Nations resolutions, and the lived reality of millions say otherwise. Kashmir is not an Indian province. It is a disputed territory whose future must be decided not by Delhi’s diktats but by the will of its people.

The United Nations Security Council has long recognized the unique status of Jammu and Kashmir. Resolutions 47, 51, 91, and 122—all passed between 1948 and 1957—explicitly call for a plebiscite, a free and impartial vote to allow Kashmiris to decide whether to join India or Pakistan. India agreed to this roadmap. Yet over time, it abandoned both its promise and the people it was supposed to consult.

Today, India not only denies that plebiscite but seeks to erase the very idea of Kashmiri self-determination. The 2019 abrogation of Article 370—stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its limited autonomy—was a unilateral act in a territory whose final status remains unresolved. This wasn’t constitutional reform. It was a breach of international norms and a direct affront to the Kashmiri people’s right to determine their future.

India often invokes the 1972 Simla Agreement to ward off international mediation. But even this bilateral accord between India and Pakistan never negated Kashmir’s disputed status. Nor did it override the UN’s call for self-determination. At best, Simla emphasized dialogue. At worst, India has used it to shut the door on global scrutiny—while altering the facts on the ground.

What is unfolding in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir is not governance. It is occupation. Settler-colonialism, long thought to be a relic of 20th-century empires, is alive and well. The influx of non-local residents, disenfranchisement of native Kashmiris, and redrawing of electoral boundaries are designed to marginalize the Muslim majority and engineer a demographic shift that suits Delhi’s agenda.

This project is not only immoral—it is illegal. International law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibits altering the demographic character of an occupied territory. Yet India’s policies do just that, transforming Kashmir from a homeland into a prison, its valleys militarized and its people silenced.

India cannot indefinitely suppress a population of 13 million into submission. Nor can it rewrite history by bulldozing mosques, imprisoning activists, or flooding the region with soldiers and settlers. No amount of development promises or digital crackdowns can mask the fundamental truth: the people of Kashmir have not been given a voice. And until they are, there can be no peace.

For durable peace in South Asia, the world must move beyond platitudes and engage with the root of the problem. That root is not cross-border terrorism or foreign interference, but the unfulfilled promise of self-determination. The United Nations has a moral and legal obligation to act—not just as a custodian of old resolutions, but as an enforcer of them.

The path forward begins with India reversing all unilateral and illegal actions taken since 1947, including the revocation of Article 370. It requires demilitarizing the region, restoring civil liberties, and, most of all, granting Kashmiris the right they were promised more than 75 years ago: the right to choose.

Colonialism, no matter how cleverly disguised, has no place in the 21st century. Kashmir is not a test of India’s strength—it is a test of the world’s conscience.