Dr Nitasha Kaul and Professor Dibyesh Anand have devoted their work and energies to fighting against the human rights abuses suffered by “stateless” peoples, especially the Tibetan and Kashmiri communities.
Kashmiris and Tibetans can be understood as stateless peoples: their rights of self-determination are continually undermined by the actions of the powerful states that claim authority over the land they inhabit.
Kaul and Anand have used their research to advocate for both groups – helping to win new legal protections and reframe the public global debate around their predicaments.
A tale of two peoples under siege
Spanning 86,000 square-miles across northwest India and northeast Pakistan, the Jammu and Kashmir region has been caught in the middle of a violent territorial conflict since the partition of South Asian subcontinent into India and Pakistan. Since 1950, Tibet has been occupied and annexed by China, with its people unable to govern their own territory and facing persecution.
Dr Kaul is often referred to as “the daughter of Kashmir”. Her work on Kashmir draws attention to the role of imperial cartography and postcolonial securitisation in the longer roots of this conflict. Her voice has been a consistently non-sectarian one, and has opened pathways for understanding human suffering beyond off-the-shelf India vs. Pakistan and Hindu vs. Muslim divides.
She has been a prominent voice on the issue of Kashmir and her innovative research has further articulated a postcolonial and feminist discourse focused on Kashmiri women, highlighting the role of gender in such conflict.
“I admire her advocacy on Kashmir, pursued in spite of deplorable online trolling,” says former BBC India correspondent, Dr Andrew Whitehead. He adds: “No scholar has done more to bring attention to – and promote understanding of – the situation in the Kashmir Valley”.
Professor Anand’s research has challenged dominant narratives about the two regions – arguing the Indian and Chinese Governments are effectively engaging in a form of modern-day colonialism against the Kashmiri and Tibetan people.
Riki Hyde-Chambers OBE, a 50-year champion of the Tibetan cause who passed away in 2021, described Anand as “a major contributor to the Tibet movement”.
“He has, I know, withstood pressure from Chinese interests,” Hyde added. “And indeed, sought to be a bridge of dialogue to encourage understanding between the two communities, which is so crucial for the survival of Tibetan identity”.
US House Resolution 745 and the release of Farooq Abdullah
Dr Kaul’s expert testimony before US Congress in October 2019 formed the foundation of House Resolution 745, which passed a year later.
Reflecting several of Kaul’s recommendations, the Resolution urged India to end its communications blackout in Jammu and Kashmir, which had been in place since August 2019, and to release political detainees.
Stand With Kashmir, an international advocacy organisation, states that Kaul’s “powerful statement at a US Congressional Hearing… has centered the Kashmiri people, their struggles, and their political aspirations”, while Whitehead says “it is difficult to imagine a more important forum for such expert evidence”.
Aakar Patel, Amnesty International India’s former Executive Director, believes the Resolution directly triggered the release of Farooq Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir’s former Chief Minister, who had been detained for 222 days. “There’s never been as much pressure on the Indian government as there is today,” he adds.
Winning the right to claim asylum for Tibetans in the UK
Professor Anand has provided expert advice to lawyers in more than 14 final appeal cases on behalf of Tibetans seeking asylum in the UK – the majority of which have been successful.
“He has been instrumental in the fight for justice for many Tibetan refugees,” says Russell Blakely, Partner at Wilson Solicitors LLP.
Most significant is Anand’s contribution to the landmark 2016 case of “TG (Interaction of Directives and Rules)”, which established important precedents supporting such asylum seekers’ right to remain in the UK under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
The judge drew on Anand’s evidence that Tibetans making asylum claims in the UK typically had been living in India with false registration and residence certificates, and, as such, their previous unlawful residence would mean that they would be treated as stateless on return. This stateless status would violate the relevant ECHR article on human rights as it would lead to restrictions on their exercise of civil and legal rights, capacity to buy property and employment opportunities.
By setting this precedent, this legal case has aided many other Tibetan refugees seeking asylum in the UK.
Changing the narrative on Kashmir
Described by Kashmir Life as a “reckoning Kashmiri voice”, and Kashmiri filmmaker Sanjay Kak as “an influential figure amongst a younger generation of Kashmiris”, Dr Kaul has fashioned her own brand of media activism. Taking her research to leading international news outlets, including BBC Newsnight, The Hindu and Time magazine, she has pushed forward the conversation on this under-discussed subject.
Of particular note is Kaul’s 2015 appearance on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head, in which she vigorously debated Ram Madhav, National General Secretary of India’s ruling BJP Party. This is a rare occasion in which a government spokesperson has been placed under consistent pressure in the public debate on India’s nationalist policies. The social media traction (both positive and vitriolic) prompted the show’s host Mehdi Hasan to Tweet: “I’ve done 30 odd @AJHeadtoHead interviews with guests from around the world over the past 3 years. But never had a Twitter response like this.” He added: “I guess the interview must really have hurt."
Giving Tibetan and Kashmiri activists a voice
Dr Kaul and Professor Anand have worked tirelessly to empower refugee activists, academics and politicians to campaign for the rights of Kashmiris, Tibetans and other oppressed groups in South Asia.
For instance, they have worked closely with the Kashmiri Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP Kashmir), who say the researchers have made “a large impact” on its work surrounding enforced disappearances.
In collaboration with the University of Warwick and the Norway-based Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, Anand brought APDP Kashmir Chair Parveena Ahangar to the UK to give a number of talks aimed at raising awareness of the abuses Kashmiris suffer and reframing international debate on the region.
Anand and Kaul also introduced Ahangar to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Kashmir in 2014, with the researchers assisting in the drafting of the Group’s parliamentary questions and speeches.
In 2012, Anand hosted the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader and former head of state of Tibet, at the University of Westminster, where he gave the C R Parekh Lecture on 'Values of Democracy and Tibet', relating the history and struggles of the Tibetan people.
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Connect with Nitasha Kaul
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