Wednesday, November 30, 2011
KASHMIR: Arundhati Roy
KASHMIR: Arundhati Roy: Revoke AFSPA, demilitarise JK: Arundhati,‘People in Kashmir should be given right to self-determination’ New York : Noted Indian ...
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Arundhati Roy
Revoke AFSPA, demilitarise JK: Arundhati,‘People in Kashmir should be given right to self-determination’
New York : Noted Indian writer Arundhati Roy has said revoking the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from Jammu and Kashmir and demilitarisation is required to ensure the right of self-determination to the people of the state. She said a country cannot call itself a democracy if people are forced to live under military rule.
“I want to say unambiguously that I do not think any country that calls itself a democracy has the right to force people to remain in it in a militaristic way, the way that India is doing in order to prove that it’s a secular country,” Roy said at a panel discussion on ‘Kashmir: The Case for Freedom’ at the Asia Society here.
“I think that the people of Kashmir have the right to self-determination, they have the right to choose who they want to be and how they want to be. The first step would be to demilitarise, to withdraw this absolutely unbelievable law the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA),” Roy said.
She said Kashmir is one of the most protracted and bloody occupations in the world and one of the most ignored. “While India brutalizes Kashmir in so many ways, that occupation brutalizes the Indians,” she said and called for demilitarization of Kashmir as a step towards peace in the region. “Why the international community doesn’t see that when you have two nuclear-armed states, like Pakistan and India, there couldn’t be a better thing than a buffer state like Kashmir between them, instead of it being a conflict that is going to spark a nuclear war.”
She lamented that so little is known about the “atrocities being committed by more than half a million Indian troops, the continuing repression and indignities let loose on Kashmiri men, women and children.”
“More than 700,000 troops were concentrated in the tiny valley, with check points at every nook and corner of Kashmiri towns and cities. The huge Indian presence is in sharp contrast with 160,000 US troops in Iraq,” she pointed out.
Roy attributed the apathy towards Kashmir, especially in the western world, to their pursuit of commercial interests in India where they were more eager to sell their goods than human rights.
“Even as the world speaks about the Arab spring—three years ago there was massive unarmed uprising in the streets of Kashmir,” she said, adding that the security forces there were not looking away; “they were killing young children.”
“In Kashmir freedom of speech is non-existent and human rights abuses were routine. Elections were rigged and press controlled and the lives of Kashmiris were made miserable by gun-toting security personnel,” Roy said and added that disappearances were almost a daily occurrence in Kashmir as also kidnapping, arrests, fake encounters and torture. “Mass graves have been discovered and the conscience of the world remained unstirred,” she said.
She reminded that before his election, President Barack Obama had pledged to resolve the international dispute of Kashmir between Pakistan and India. But seeing “consternation” in India over the remark, Obama hasn’t said a word about Kashmir since, she said, adding that he was more interested in selling military aircraft and Boeings to India.
Roy said India had also successfully used the argument that if it it gave up Kashmir, another Islamic state would emerge - a prospect the West feared. “That’s why India had made no effort to bring back to the Valley the Kashmiri Pandits who fled at the height of armed uprising in the state. Aren’t 7000,000 troops enough to protect the Pandits?” she asked.
“I think that the people of Kashmir have the right to self-determination, they have the right to choose who they want to be and how they want to be. The first step would be to demilitarise, to withdraw this absolutely unbelievable law the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA),” Roy said.
She said Kashmir is one of the most protracted and bloody occupations in the world and one of the most ignored. “While India brutalizes Kashmir in so many ways, that occupation brutalizes the Indians,” she said and called for demilitarization of Kashmir as a step towards peace in the region. “Why the international community doesn’t see that when you have two nuclear-armed states, like Pakistan and India, there couldn’t be a better thing than a buffer state like Kashmir between them, instead of it being a conflict that is going to spark a nuclear war.”
She lamented that so little is known about the “atrocities being committed by more than half a million Indian troops, the continuing repression and indignities let loose on Kashmiri men, women and children.”
“More than 700,000 troops were concentrated in the tiny valley, with check points at every nook and corner of Kashmiri towns and cities. The huge Indian presence is in sharp contrast with 160,000 US troops in Iraq,” she pointed out.
Roy attributed the apathy towards Kashmir, especially in the western world, to their pursuit of commercial interests in India where they were more eager to sell their goods than human rights.
“Even as the world speaks about the Arab spring—three years ago there was massive unarmed uprising in the streets of Kashmir,” she said, adding that the security forces there were not looking away; “they were killing young children.”
“In Kashmir freedom of speech is non-existent and human rights abuses were routine. Elections were rigged and press controlled and the lives of Kashmiris were made miserable by gun-toting security personnel,” Roy said and added that disappearances were almost a daily occurrence in Kashmir as also kidnapping, arrests, fake encounters and torture. “Mass graves have been discovered and the conscience of the world remained unstirred,” she said.
She reminded that before his election, President Barack Obama had pledged to resolve the international dispute of Kashmir between Pakistan and India. But seeing “consternation” in India over the remark, Obama hasn’t said a word about Kashmir since, she said, adding that he was more interested in selling military aircraft and Boeings to India.
Roy said India had also successfully used the argument that if it it gave up Kashmir, another Islamic state would emerge - a prospect the West feared. “That’s why India had made no effort to bring back to the Valley the Kashmiri Pandits who fled at the height of armed uprising in the state. Aren’t 7000,000 troops enough to protect the Pandits?” she asked.
An Indian writer Pankaj Mishra and a PhD student, Muhammad Junaid, from Kashmir - also deplored the fact that the international community gave such little attention to the suffering of the Kashmiri people. Both Mishra and Junaid read out their respective papers containing moving stories of the Kashmiri victims of brutalities of Indian forces. (PRESS TRUST OF INDIA,with inputs from other agencies)Nov 12, 2011
KASHMIR: MFN
KASHMIR: MFN: http://www.chattanonline.com/epaperadmin/photos/large/97125281511201125799.jpg
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Indira-Abdullah Accord Unfinished, Unsigned:Mustafa Kamaal(Minister & son of late Sheikh Abdullah)
Srinagar, Nov 02: Kicking out yet another brick from Kashmir’s manufactured political narratives, the chief spokesman of the ruling National Conference, Dr. Mustafa Kamaal, on Wednesday described the Indira-Abdullah Accord of 1975 as ‘unfinished,’ asserting that the pact did not even bear the signatures of its architects.
The NC leader continued his furious broadsides at the Congress, accusing its state unit of being a “problem” that “recruited every illiterate it could lay its hands on as its leader, and let him loose to issue statements.”
“The truth of my words is like an atom bomb, but it will not harm the state government,” Dr. Kamaal told newsmen at party headquarters. “I do not need to learn history from the Congress. What can these Johnny-come-lately Congress leaders tell me about history when I know more about it than they will ever learn?”
The ruling party leader said that the NC’s alliance with the Congress was a “bad bargain” but had been compelled to undertake it in the interest of restoring democratic institutions and better governance, and admitted that “unhappy’' with his diatribes against the coalition partner, Dr. Farooq Abdullah had asked him to desist.
“A bad elected government is preferable to good governor’s rule. The NC became a partner in power solely for the public interest,” he said.
Dr. Kamaal said that the supposedly game-changing accord between the then prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, and Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah in 1975 was still unfinished and did not bear the signatures of either of the principles.
“Let any political party come forward with the signed Accord. I will take back my words” he said.
“Let any political party come forward with the signed Accord. I will take back my words” he said.
“The committee led by the late Mirza Muhammad Afzal Beig and G Parthasarthy had prepared a document of 87 laws out of the 92 applied to the state between 1952 and 1975, leaving the remaining five for the two leaders to deliberate and decide upon,” he said.
“Issues like the Supreme Court, the CAG, the Election Commission, the prime minister, and the sadr-e-riyasat had been left for the two leaders to discuss in New Delhi, but Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah sensed the trap and did not leave for the meeting, asking Mrs Gandhi for assurances of the pre-52 position being restored before signing the pact,” he said.
“The two leaders could not meet thereafter, and the Accord remained unfinished,” he said.
“Former chief minister Syed Mir Qasim too has attested in his autobiography that the exercise had remained incomplete,” he said.
The NC leaders expressed fears of delays in resolving the Kashmir issue leading to yet another war.
“It is we who took the issue to the United Nations, but it has not been resolved even after 64 years,” he said.
“The sky had been claimed to be the limit for Kashmir (by New Delhi) in 1996, but nothing moved on the ground. The recommendations of the prime minister’s working groups too have been buried, and now there is no trace of the interlocutors’ final reports as well,” he said.
“The chairman of the Hurriyat (G), Syed Ali Shah Geelani, backed stone-pelting for one full year,” the NC leader said in reply to a question. “But during last year’s agitation, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq declared in a Jamai Masjid sermon that separatists were not involved in the practice, and that it was being instigated by the PDP,” he said.
“Even BJP leader LK Advani has said in Delhi that the PDP was funding stone-pelters in Kashmir,” he said.
In reply to another question, Dr. Kamaal said that grenade attacks had resurfaced mysteriously just when plans to withdraw the AFSPA partially in Kashmir were being finalized.
“The needle of suspicion naturally swung towards the wardi-wallahs, and I had also made a statement to that effect, but asserted that the truth would come out in police investigations,” he said.
“Draconian laws like the AFSPA gave immunity to the uniformed forces from prosecution, and exempt them from appearing in courts,” he said.
The NC leader asked the Congress to stop “plotting and intriguing” against his party, reacting to its leaders’ demands to evict him (from the NC) by quipping: when Congress leaders point one finger at me, the other four get pointed at them.
Dr. Kamaal praised union home minister, P Chidambaram for clarifying on the issue of the AFSPA in Kashmir.
“How is it possible for the state Congress president, Prof Saiffuddin Soz, to be in the dark when the Cabinet Committee on Security has been discussing repealing the AFSPA in Kashmir for the past year,” he said.
KO
TM
1. http://srinagarnews.org/21112011/NewsLink.asp?parentid=67287488&boxid=747447&linkid=46760&pageNum=1
2. http://www.kashmiruzma.net/full_story.asp?Date=21_11_2011&ItemID=22&cat=4
4. http://www.dailydhartiajk.com/viewd.php?std=1721
2. http://www.kashmiruzma.net/full_story.asp?Date=21_11_2011&ItemID=22&cat=4
3. Right to self determination should be given to kashmiris
Srinagar, Nov 20 (KNS): The people of Kashmir should be given Right to self determination as United Nations did it in East Timor and Sudan.United Jihad Council General Secretary and Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen commander, Sheikh Jameel ur Rehman Sunday said that the Indian forces having black laws, modern war-fares and well equipped Army still could not wipe out the aspirations of Kashmiris to get their freedom. In a statement, Rehman said that the Government is creating confusion and threats in the minds of people, while as there are millions of people in India living below poverty line. But Indian Government is buying weapons and using it against the people of Kashmir and North-East states.
Last Updated on Sunday, 20 November 2011 20:304. http://www.dailydhartiajk.com/viewd.php?std=1721
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Wikipedia Kashmir Map
Kashmir is a disputed State and is not part of India or Pakistan. We welcome the stand of Wikipedia in this regard and call up on its founder Jimmy Wales not to bow on the pressure of India and her leaders.
Friday, November 11, 2011
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