If The Red Line Is Crossed

The Indo-Pak Simla Agreement transformed the ceasefire line along Jammu and Kashmir as the Line of Control (LoC). Both India and Pakistan committed to respect the sanctity of the LoC and not alter it unilaterally. Following the August 5 revocation of Article 370, the status of the LoC is questionable as well as the legitimacy of the Simla Agreement.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a pro-independence movement on both sides of the LoC, rejects the border terming it similar to the Berlin Wall. Now, the JKLF has vowed to dismantle the LoC and emancipate the besieged eight million Muslim Kashmiris in IOK by launching the “Kashmir Freedom March”. Reports of serious human rights violations by the Indian security forces against Muslim Kashmiris tend to further augment the popular sentiment in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) as the people can no longer tolerate the ethnic cleansing and genocide of their brethren in IOK.