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News of the UAE real estate company Emaar’s investment in Indian-administered Kashmir has been called a “total betrayal” by activists and Kashmiris in the region and abroad.
Many believe Kashmir will suffer a similar fate as Palestine, with some Arab and Islamic countries withdrawing support for the Muslim population cause in favor of better economic and diplomatic relations with India.
In March, Emaar’s chief executive in India revealed plans to build a shopping mall and office complex in Srinagar, the capital of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir region. The investment worth $60 million will create about 7,000 to 8,000 jobs, Amit Jain said.
The region’s top military general, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, speaking on behalf of the Indian government, said the announcement marked a “historic day” for Kashmir and that “business leaders from the UAE have been invited to invest in J&K and become ‘partners'”.
Kashmir is divided into areas administered by India, Pakistan and China India has been fought over since the partition of India by the British Empire in 1947.
government of india He is accused The region has seen hundreds of thousands of gross human rights violations and extrajudicial killings, and has been accused of brutally repressing ordinary Kashmiris’ decades-long freedom struggle.
India’s soft power
Kashmiri rights activist Ershad Mahmood, executive director of the Islamabad-based Center for Peace, Development and Reform, told Middle East Eye: “I am devastated. This is a complete betrayal of the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir and their struggle. “
“They shouldn’t have done that. This totally strengthens India’s position that it recognizes Kashmir as Indian territory and completely whitewashes our struggle,” he said. “this United Arab Emirates Just sent a message to the people of Kashmir that it doesn’t care about their rights and aspirations. “
Altaf Hussain, another campaigner who runs the Kashmir Institute of International Relations, said, “The message India is trying to send to the Kashmiris is that no one is behind you – even the UAE is investing in us. They want to use this as a A negative impact on the Kashmir struggle”.
Hussain stressed that there is no peace in Jammu and Kashmir and that India “has a long list of human rights violations on hand”.
Fahim Kayani of the British Campaign for Kashmir said the UAE’s investment in Indian-administered Kashmir was an example of Indian soft power and a warning to the Arab world.
“India has made a lot of headway in the Gulf countries…so now if the UAE is showing interest in investing in Kashmir, it is because of India’s so-called soft power in the Arab world,” Kayani told MEE.
“This is a big problem not only for Muslims but for human beings because the Indian ideology does not consider non-Hindus equal. The Arab world had better understand it sooner,” he said.
“Pleasing Controversy”
India’s human rights abuses in Kashmir have made international investment controversial.
Just after Emaar’s announcement last month, UN special rapporteur Mary Lawler called on Indian authorities to halt recent attacks on human rights activists in Jammu and Kashmir.
Referring to the recent crackdown by Indian authorities on a coalition of civil society organisations, Lawler said: “The Jammu and Kashmir Civil Society Alliance has carried out the necessary human rights monitoring work. Their research and analysis of human rights violations has been of great value, including seeking An international organization that ensures accountability and non-repetition of violations.”
India also violated United Nations resolutions to hold an independence referendum in the region and to withdraw the 600,000 Indian troops currently stationed in Jammu and Kashmir.
Andreas Krieger, associate professor of security studies at King’s College London, said the UAE’s relationship with India was of profound strategic importance to both countries, so the reputational damage to incurring a dispute by investing in Kashmir would be negligible.
“The UAE has led a trend of early action and recognition of Israel. They believe that when the rest of the Arab and Muslim world starts to recognize Israel, the UAE will have a strong relationship with Israel and act as a sort of proxy, thus cementing its position as a Regional power status. That’s what they’ve done in Kashmir and India,” Krieger said.
“India and the UAE are each other’s top three trading partners. The relationship has quickly become very strategic. The UAE is advancing its interests in India by building relationships based on trade, investment and corporate interests.”
However, this is not the first time the UAE has sparked controversy over Kashmir. After India abolished Kashmir’s special status in August 2019, the famous Article 370 of its constitution, the UAE did not condemn the move.
Kashmir’s special status allows the local government to set its own rules regarding permanent residency, property ownership and basic rights. Critics say that by stripping Kashmir of its autonomy, India’s federal government is trying to change the ethnic makeup of the region.
“By allowing unrestricted immigration into Kashmir, the Indian government hopes to change the racial composition in case a referendum is held in the future. The vote of Kashmiris for independence from India will be greatly weakened,” Hussein said.
Abu Dhabi awarded the government’s top civilian award to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, just days after the UAE refused to condemn the decision.
“The UAE is fully aware that Pakistan will not be unhappy with its overtures to India, but the UAE is setting new trends and wants to be an intermediate regional power,” Krieger said.
“It calculates the reputational damage this will cause in the Muslim bloc and Pakistan, but estimates the damage is likely to be minimal.”
The UAE’s decision to become the region’s first foreign investor has met with lukewarm response from Pakistan, Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the wider Muslim bloc.
Traditionally, news of this nature automatically draws condemnation from regional and Muslim countries, with Pakistan threatening to raise the matter at the United Nations.
Middle East Eye reached out to a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry and President Azad Jammu and Kashmir for comment, but did not hear back by press time.
“The president is considering your request for a statement or an interview,” the secretary of the president of Pakistan-administered Kashmir told MEE.
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