Kashmir: Wake up Pakistan

By Inayatullah

The Kashmir Youth Movement for the liberation of Kashmir is gathering strength by the day. It has, by now, continued for more than three months. More than 100 young men have given the supreme sacrifice of losing their lives.

Brutal repression including curfews and siege of homes, mosques, schools, hospitals and bazaars, besides point blank shooting of protesting teenagers, has failed to stop the indigenous uprising. In fact, it has further boosted it. What has all the more irked the Indian government is the way the world is beginning to take notice of the flagrant violation of human rights and unabashed use of force. New Delhi has further come under pressure from the voices rising within India against the oppression inflicted on the protesting people. In this context, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says that he is deeply worried and distressed. Sometime back he had advised the Indian security forces to deal with the protesting youth humanely. But his advice and concern fell flat on the army and the police. Then much was expected from the all parties post-Eid conference. The meeting did take place without arriving at any meaningful decision.

Hit with bullet from Indian troops still shouts FREEDOM and down with oppression and tyranny

Even the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was not withdrawn, despite an appeal by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. And all that the conference yielded was a move to send a fact-finding group to the “occupied” state. In other words, the meeting was a damp squib.

Although the international media has woken up to the unresolved decades-old festering problem in Kashmir, there is a little of positive reaction on the part of major world powers. This almost criminal neglect is mainly due to the influence India increasingly wields internationally. Indeed, the international community overwhelmingly accords more importance to their economic and strategic interests than human rights and state excesses. (Washington’s latest statement about the nature of the current resistance in Kashmir is totally disappointing).

Indian version of democracy in occupied KASHMIR

Linked to these considerations is the general feeling after Nine Eleven, in the world capitals that agitations or uprisings even for legitimate causes should be discouraged or ignored, as such activities could grow into acts of terrorism and violent behaviour. But in the case of Kashmir – India’s 63 years of occupation, holding of fake elections in the occupied territory, preventing and repulsing of Pakistani attempts to intervene (particularly after the Kargil misadventure), plus the rising stature of the so-called largest democracy with its rapidly burgeoning economy, as well as mounting military prowess – all these factors have served to consolidate its stand on the disputed state.

Till the start of the current movement, India had also managed to convince the international community that the resistance in Kashmir was engineered, to a large extent, by Pakistan. However, this is no longer the case. It is recognised that the present demonstration of the Kashmiris’ struggle is not only totally local and indigenous, but it is also more or less peaceful. The only weapon used by the youth during their protests is pebbles and small stones. It is generally accepted that the intensity, continuity and spreading agitation and unrest has turned it into a formidable challenge for the Indian government.

What indeed is disconcerting is the attitude of the Pakistani government. It has been mostly rhetorical, lacking substance and seriousness of purpose. A few statements have come from the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and the opposition leaders. Even the National Assembly’s Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, has not met. The civil society too has been slow and lukewarm in expressing its concern.

On the other hand, for the first time the Indian society is stirred up and the government has come under severe criticism for its inhuman and unacceptable conduct in the occupied state. Not only are known human rights activists like Arundhati Roy highlighting India’s criminal conduct, but also columnists like Kuldip Nayar are openly asking India to hold talks with the Pakistani and Kashmiri leaders to resolve the issue. Mention may here be made of the statement issued by The Indian People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) which has also condemned the Indian authorities for inflicting “collective punishment” on the Kashmiri people. One may further quote from a recent The Hindu editorial: “By talking big while having little to offer, New Delhi has unwittingly fanned the flames in J&K….Jammu and Kashmir is poised on the edge of an abyss. Firm, generous-spirited action to win over the people is needed, not post-dated promises and grandstanding.”

Hopefully, the new trail blazed by the brave Kashmiri young men should jolt the so-called ultra liberals and peaceniks’ of Pakistan to realise that Kashmir is vital for Pakistan’s economy and even survival. Although they never tire of referring to Quaid-i-Azam’s August 11 speech; however, they remain shy of recalling his perception of Kashmir as the “jugular vein” of Pakistan. Can one ignore India’s building of dozens of dams on the rivers flowing into Pakistan from Kashmir?

Pakistan, as a “party” to the question of the disputed state, has obligations to discharge, especially when the other party has turned the state into a veritable hell by posting lakhs of trigger-happy security forces there.

This happens only in kashmir-Attack on Hospital

Indian Democracy eating DUST in KASHMIR!!!
Armed Forces attack Hospital in Srinagar, Indian held Kashmir!!!

Indian occupied forces attack the hospital and beat the staff and patient their.

Running out of steam

Massive Protests against Indian Occupation Forces in Srinagar, Indian Occupied Kashmir

Soumitro Das,
Hindustan Times

Journalism is not about patriotism. It is not about ‘my country right or wrong’. Journalism is about the Truth. In India, however, far too often a journalist’s first commitment is to his country rather than to the truth. Nowhere is this more evident than in our reportage on Kashmir and Pakistan. To talk about Kashmir first, we are in complete denial, we toe the government’s line unquestioningly: that everything in Kashmir would be hunky-dory if Pakistan stopped meddling; that Kashmir is actually madly in love with the Indian Army and it is only Pakistan which is holding Kashmiris back from expressing their true feelings about the army, the paramilitary forces and the J&K Police in good measure; that India has done nothing to deserve the violence and turbulence in that state; that the stone-pelters are just paid agents of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba.

What is the truth? The truth could be that many Kashmiris are sick and tired of the Indian security forces; the truth could be that Kashmiris are looking for deliverance from the cycle of brutality in which they are caught. The truth could be that India had for years foisted corrupt and venal regimes in Srinagar through rigging and other acts of skullduggery. The truth could be that India had a chance to redeem itself when it brought in Sheikh Abdullah as chief minister of the state, but apart from fostering yet another political dynasty, the Abdullahs have had little impact on the climate of political feeling in the state. The truth could be that the stone pelters are the vanguard of a ‘revolution’ whose immediate political expression is the rejection of India and everything that India has come to represent in Kashmir.

As far as Pakistan is concerned, our media are even more slavishly patriotic. All the usual clichés and stereotypes are summoned whenever our journalists and intellectuals write on the subject. Pakistan is a rogue nation; it is a failed State; it is almost a criminal enterprise; its democracy is a sham…

Everything we say about Pakistan speaks of our hatred and resentment against the country. And yet, we see that Pakistan does not disappear from the map of the world and definitely won’t in a hurry. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) may not be accountable, but how accountable is India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and the Intelligence Bureau?

It’s also the naivete of it all. I remember a journalist on national TV saying, “We (India) are better than them (Pakistan).” What does that mean? That Pakistan is an Islamic republic and India, even with its pogroms against Sikhs in 1984 Delhi and against Muslims in 2002 Gujarat is a shining example of democracy? It is India, if my figures are right, that has more than 50 per cent of its children suffering from various effects of malnourishment. India’s regular free-and-fair elections may be the only thing that should genuinely make us proud as citizens.

History has been kind to us. It has provided us with a stick with which to beat Pakistan: cross-border terrorism. So, we can use it as a pretext for not talking about Kashmir where our position is weak. Take the ruckus over Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafeez Sayeed. We want him gagged, arrested, tried and, ideally, executed, no matter what the legal position might be in Pakistan. We insist that Pakistan knows everything about Sayeed’s involvement in 26/11 and that Pakistan is resorting to lies and deception to evade taking responsibility. However, now, according to Home Secretary G.K. Pillai’s recent statement, it’s not Sayeed but the ISI “from start to finish”. What is germane is that no court in the world will convict a mass murderer only on the basis of what two major felons have to say about him. Ajmal Kasab’s and David Headley’s statements need corroboration.

‘Atrocities can’t wipe out Kashmiris’ commitment to Pakistan’

Kashmiris holding a Pakistani flag during a protest in Srinagar, defying strict curfew imposed by occupation authorities.

Islamabad, July 19 (KMS): In Islamabad, the APHC-AJK in a session, today, described 19th July as a historic day because on this day in 1947 the people of Jammu and Kashmir had decided that the state be acceded to Pakistan.

The session was presided over by Convenor, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar and the participants said that Indian state terrorism had failed to wipe out the Kashmiris’ commitment to Pakistan.

They said that India had forcibly occupied the Jammu and Kashmir and over 800,000 Indian troops deployed in the occupied territory couldn’t suppress the ongoing indigenous liberation movement. They expressed serious concern over the gross human rights violations by Indian troops in the territory.

The participants of the session strongly condemned the illegal detention of Hurriyet leaders and activists including Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Mian Abdul Qayoom and Zafar Akbar Butt. They urged the international human rights organisations to put pressure on India to top cruelties on the innocent people of the occupied territory.

They also described the killings of innocent civilians and use of brute force on peaceful demonstrators by Indian troop as the worst form of Indian state terrorism. They said that Kashmiris had been fighting for securing their right to self-determination for the last several decades and they would take their liberation struggle to its logical conclusion at all costs.

India conducting genocide to suppress Kashmiris’ struggle

Srinagar, June 20 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, APHC leader and the Chairperson of Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Khawateen Markaz (MKM), Yasmeen Raja, has said that by killing innocent Kashmiris, India is pursuing the policy of genocide to suppress their liberation struggle.

Yasmeen Raja expressed these views during her visit to the residence of Muhammad Rafiq Bangroo, a Kashmiri youth who was severely tortured by Indian troops and succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Srinagar. She sympathised with the bereaved family.

The APHC leader paid rich tributes to the martyred youth and condemned the stepped up Indian state terrorism in the occupied territory. She flayed the occupation troops for killing the innocent Kashmiri people.

The MKM Chairperson said that her party was planning a protest programme against the increased acts of human rights violations by the troopers. She said that a memorandum would be sent to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), international human rights bodies and the world leaders to inform them about the rights abuses in the territory.

Dozens of protestors including Yasmeen Raja were injured when Indian police resorted to heavy baton charge and excessive teargas shelling to quell the demonstrators who were protesting the killing of Bangroo. Another youth, Javed Ahmad Malla, was killed when the police indiscriminately sprayed bullets on the participants of Bangroo’s funeral procession.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of Jammu and Kashmir Mahaz-e-Azadi, in a statement issued in Srinagar, strongly condemned the killing of two youth and use of brute force on demonstrators in Srinagar. He appealed to the world community to help stop Indian state terrorism in the territory.

Crackdown against youth in Indian Occupied Kashmir, dozens arrested

ISLAMABAD : Indian police and paramilitary personnel have arrested dozens of youth from occupied Srinagar, Pattan, Sopore and other areas during the house raids in the past several days in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

According to Kashmir Media Service, the residents of Nowhatta, Hawal and Gojwara in Srinagar staged protest demonstrations against the arrests. They demanded removal of the bunkers of the paramilitary CRPF troopers from the areas.

Residents of Srinagar, Palhalan, Sopore and other areas said that police and paramilitary CRPF troopers during peaceful demonstrations barge into residential houses, beat up inmates and smash their windowpanes without any rhyme and reasons.

“The troopers and police want to crush the voice of the people by atrocities and harassments, which made the life of people unsafe and insecure,” they said.

The residents demanding removal of the bunkers said, “This is not the case in isolation. Every time there are protests in the areas, CRPF personnel from the nearby camps and bunkers damage houses and beat up locals.” APP

Latest Indian gimmick to milk USA

Islamabad—It seems India has tailored a new gimmick to milk United States of Ameica by raising friction with China. India says “China is encroaching into the land (J&K) to grab a particular area to extend its control till Indus river”. New Delhi has been using “China card” for procuring western arms since her 1962 NEFA debacle.

Observers say that this is typical Nehruvian way of raising ‘friction’ to extract military hardware from USA/West.India has recently struck a big deal with USA for purchase ten state-of-the-art Globemaster aircraft for military purposes.

Kashmir is the key

Indian Occupied Kashmir

The designated British envoy to Pakistan has correctly recognised the centrality of Kashmir in the Pakistan-India dynamics. As he has stated, resolution of the Kashmir issue is necessary for peace in the region. He has also declared that his government would be prepared to mediate between the two antagonists if they so wished. While all offers of mediation to resolve the Kashmir dispute should be welcomed, the problem is that there already exists a UNSC framework for the resolution of this dispute. The stumbling block is India, which took the dispute to the UN and then reneged on its earlier commitment to allow the Kashmiri people their right to self-determination.

If Britain is prepared to mediate, it can also push for the UN framework to be implemented. After all the issue is not simply one of territory where arbitrary lines can be drawn. The issue is about allowing the Kashmiris their right to self-determination as promised under the UN Charter itself and also in UNSC resolutions specifically in the case of Kashmir.

Ironically, Indian pressure on major powers like the US is so great that they are loathe to even say the right thing lest they upset India. That is why we have had a bizarre statement from Holbrooke saying the US was not trying to ease tensions between Pakistan and India – as if that was undesirable to begin with!

It is time the major powers woke up to the reality of over sixty-two years of Kashmiri resistance to Indian occupation. Generations have given their lives to rid themselves of Indian tyranny and the graveyards of the martyres bears testimony to this as well as dispelling Indian propaganda that the entire freedom struggle was being waged by external jehadis. What the Kashmiris want can only be gauged through the UN-supervised plebiscite; but what they are still not prepared to accept is Indian occupation and the accompanying tyranny.
–The Nation

The Kashmir issue

Kashmir protest

The American President’s Special Envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, has said that the USA has decided on a roadmap to solving the Kashmir dispute between the two South Asian neighbours, and this will be presented to the two countries soon. Ambassador Holbrooke, in an interview to a US magazine, also disclosed that he would visit both countries soon in order to get the stalled composite dialogue process started once again. Ambassador Holbrooke was also quick to say that the USA recognised that both countries did not want outside interference, but since they were both nuclear-armed, the USA was working behind the scenes to make sure they resolved their disputes peaceably.

While there must be significance attached to Ambassador Holbrooke’s desire to assuage Indian sensibilities, he is merely reflecting President Barack Obama’s campaign rhetoric, which did not see peace coming to the subcontinent until the Kashmir issue, which is the core bilateral dispute, was resolved. However, the USA does not have a track record of successful resolutions of disputes, especially if they involve Muslims, Palestine being a case in point. The USA needs a resolution to avoid nuclear war for the country it hopes will be a counterweight to China in future, and the one it needs to carry on its ill-fated War on Terror. For the time, because of its goals in the region, it will try to work for a solution that suits India.

However, the USA and the rest of the international community should recognize that India only holds on to a part of Kashmir through a forced occupation that involves a million troops, and that the only just and lasting solution is the holding of a plebiscite to determine the will of the Kashmiri people, as laid down in the UN resolutions on the subject. Ambassador Holbrooke has merely shown himself as willing to serve the Indian agenda, not just in Afghanistan, but also Kashmir.– The Nation

Kashmir not integral part of India: World Bank

World Bank refuses to accept Kashmir as Indian Territory

—Says ‘NO’ to release funds to India for project in disputed region

NEW DELHI, India—The World Bank has refused to accept Indian Occupied Kashmir as an integral part of India and has rather insisted upon a disclaimer from the Jammu and Kashmir government that funding for a project will not be seen as recognition of India’s territorial claim on the state.
The agency has put a ‘disclaimer clause’ for bankrolling a key project in the disputed state which indicates that funding of projects in disputed areas should not be used to endorse territorial claims.

“If you have a query on World Bank’s decision on J&K, Ask Prabhu now”. This has been communicated to New Delhi by the occupying state government which wants the World Bank-funded Rs 740 crore ‘Participatory Watershed Management Project’ to be completed.

Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s Forest Minister Mian Altaf Ahmad, along with MPs from the state met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently in New Delhi to discuss the issue.

Jammu and Kashmir’s occupying government wants the New Delhi to settle issue with the World Bank, which has refused to fund more projects in the state, treating it as disputed territory between India and Pakistan. Ahmad said the World Bank had raised the disclaimer issue last year after assessment of the project which was then at the funding stage.

He said if the Centre pursued the matter; the bank could be convinced to give up the disclaimer condition. Despite Ahmad’s views to the contrary, this is a shocking development. The World Bank was instrumental in committing India to allow the waters of the state’s three principal rivers – the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab – to flow unimpeded under the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.

Article XI of the treaty is quite emphatic in that it will deal with only the water-sharing issue and its implementation will not acknowledge or waive any other rights other than those specified in the treaty. In other words, it will have nothing to do with the territorial dispute between the two parties.

In the troubled history of India-Pakistan relations, the Indus Water Treaty stands out as a major success for which the World Bank, the third signatory to the treaty, deserves great credit. As party to the treaty, the bank created an $895 million Indus Basin Development Fund to which India contributed some $174 million.

This is the second time this year that India has had friction with a multilateral development agency over project funding in a state that has a border dispute. An Asian Development Bank (ADB) country loan to India had run into trouble because it included funding for a watershed development project in Arunachal Pradesh – a point that was objected to by the Chinese at the ADB meeting. The World Bank had funded two projects in Jammu and Kashmir under the integrated Watershed Development Programme with Rs 90 crore from 1990 to 1999 and Rs 198 crore from 1999 to 2005 without bringing up the disclaimer issue.

A team of the World Bank headed by Norman Piccioni had visited the occupied state from May 5 to May 12 last year to assess the feasibility of the Participatory Watershed Management Project.

The project is likely to cover 3,14,705 hectares for adopting integrated watershed management to reverse the degradation of the natural resource base and improve the livelihood of poor rural households in the project area.

The World Bank will finance 80 per cent of the project and the state government 17 per cent. Participatory communities will contribute 3 per cent.

If implemented 1,74,250 households will be covered while 50,675 households will directly benefit from the project. Overall, it is expected to benefit over 10 lakh people and generate 45 lakh person-days of wage employment besides providing jobs to 2,000 people regularly for seven years.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah first raised the issue in a June 24 letter to the Union finance minister.

He said the project was appraised by the World Bank for international development assistance credit of US$ 120 million equivalent in May 2008. After the appraisal, the director of the World Bank sent a letter on May 21, 2008 announcing the tentative dates of negotiation for the project in June last year. But no final date was conveyed by the bank.

The Chief Minister said the state government also did not get any communication from the department of economic affairs of the government of India in the matter. “I therefore request you to have a special consideration for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and ask the department of economic affairs to immediately take up the issue with the World Bank so that the project can be negotiated and taken up for implementation during the current financial year itself.” Efforts to contact World Bank officials in Delhi on Sunday failed.