14 protesters shot dead in escalating Kashmir violence
Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir should not use live ammunition except as a last resort to protect against a threat to life, Amnesty International said today.
At least 14 protesters have been killed in shootings by security forces during protests in Kashmir over the last four days. More than 150 people have been injured, including 22 security personnel, in some of the most violent clashes between protesters and security forces in recent years in the restive Kashmir valley.
"Some of the recent demonstrations have turned violent, but the security forces should still respect and protect the right to life at all times," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director.
Security forces should use firearms only where unavoidable to protect life, and to the minimum extent required, in compliance with their own manual and international law and standards, including the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.
"The number and circumstances of fatal shootings suggest that this has not always been the case," said Sam Zarifi.
From Friday 30 July to Sunday 1 August, nine protestors were killed by gunfire from the Jammu and Kashmir state police and the Central Reserve Police Force during demonstrations. Five more deaths have been reported today, including one demonstrator who succumbed to gunshot injuries sustained on Saturday.
Violence by protestors in recent demonstrations has included attacks on a train station and three police stations. Four people died in an explosion when a police station in Khrew, near Srinagar, was set on fire by protestors on Sunday.
Amnesty International recognizes the duty and responsibility of the authorities to protect the public, public property and officials from attack, and to investigate and prosecute those suspected of committing a recognizable criminal offence. The right to freedom of assembly protects only peaceful assembly. Protestors who engage in human rights abuses must be held accountable for their actions.
Similarly, according to international law, all incidents of police shootings should be investigated promptly, independently, impartially and thoroughly. Members of security forces suspected of violating human rights, irrespective of rank, should be prosecuted in proceedings that meet international standards of fairness. Survivors and families of victims should be provided with reparations.
Background
The latest round of demonstrations began in late May over reported extrajudicial executions of three young men at Machil in Baramulla district. Protests increased after the killing of 17-year old Tufail Mattoo by police in Srinagar on June 11. They have intensified over repeated cycles of protests and further killings by security forces. 17 protestors were killed between 11 June and 19 July. Over 300 people, including 45 security force personnel, have been injured in the demonstrations to date.
ENDS/
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org
International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK, www.amnesty.org
Address the roots of indifference
KASHMIR IN WASHINGTON
PARTICIPANTS OF KASHMIR CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON VOICE CONCERN OVER THE DEEPENING CRISIS AND LOSS OF LIVES IN THE VALLEY, WRITES DR MALEEHA LODHI
Several Congressmen showed up at a conference in Washington to express concern over the situation in Indian-administered Kashmir and call for urgent efforts to address the dispute. This served as a contrast to the lack of interest from the American administration – a fact duly noted by Congressmen Joseph Pitts.
The lawmaker recalled that President Barack Obama had not fulfilled his campaign promise to engage with the Kashmir issue. That the administration’s special envoy for the region does not even use the Kashmir word was a “disgrace”, he said. Congressman Robert Aderholt said that the ongoing Kashmiri protests were a fresh reminder that the issue wouldn’t just go away.
The eleventh peace conference, organised by the Kashmiri-American Council and the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers at Capitol Hill, brought together activists, scholars, lawyers, diplomats and journalists from Kashmir, Pakistan, India, the US, the UK and the Kashmiri diaspora. The two-day conference convened last week against the troubled backdrop of renewed mass protests in the Kashmir Valley and the failure of the July 15 talks between Pakistan and India.
The Pakistan-India divide manifested itself at the conference in the sharp clash of opinion among non-officials from the two countries with the Kashmiri participants using this to illustrate how their fate remains hostage to such a deadlock. From the Indian side Kuldip Nayar insisted that as the status quo in Kashmir could not be changed the parties to the dispute should simply accept the Line of Control as the border.
This view was of course challenged by the Pakistani participants especially in spirited presentations by Mushahid Hussain and Munir Akram. Kashmiri speakers were even more vociferous in contesting the Indian view and portrayed the current protests as the latest testimony of popular opinion that sees the present status quo as unacceptable.
It was from the younger members of the Kashmiri diaspora that the conference heard the most impassioned speeches. They offered valuable insights into the nature of the current youth-dominated protests that have raged for the third consecutive year in Srinagar and across the Valley. The speakers stressed that young stone-pelting demonstrators, many in their teens, have grown up in the oppressive environment of barricades and curfews, experiencing the militarising of everyday life.
This new generation is using modern technology including social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate, inform and mobilise. Their anger seems irrepressible as also their will to overcome the hurdles placed in their path with the authorities often shutting down the internet, suspending mobile phone messaging and prosecuting users of Facebook for expressing opposition to Indian rule.
‘Cyber resistance’ is one dimension of how the third generation of Kashmiri is confronting the crackdown. But stone throwing has become the most visible expression of resistance. Professor Anjana Chatterji, convener of the International People’s Tribunal on Kashmir, described “stone-pelting as the response from a subjugated people whose political expression has been thwarted”. Stone pelting, she said, was not the cause of violence in Kashmir today but the reaction to unchecked police and paramilitary brutality.
The news of the killing of four more civilians in Kashmir on the conference’s second day cast a pall of gloom over the proceedings. This took the civilian death toll to 45 in the last seven weeks alone. The indifference of the world community to these killings was a theme that figured prominently at the conference. The speaker who was listened to with rapt attention explaining this was Yusuf Buch who remains the foremost authority on Kashmir. Now in his 80s Mr Buch was born in Srinagar, served in the cabinet of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and had a long career with the United Nations. Age has neither dimmed his passion nor his encyclopaedic knowledge of Kashmir. Because people in Pakistan have little opportunity to hear him his perspective bears detailed mention.
Would such large and sustained peaceful protests going on in Kashmir today be ignored if they occurred in a western country, he asked. Yet there is indifference by the world’s significant powers to the agony of an entire people. He identified three factors which promoted this – apart from the obvious one of countries seeking to avoid taking a position that annoys New Delhi. The first is that the world has become ‘used’ to a dispute that has persisted for over six decades. Second the UN, which has obligations on this issue, has been marginalised since the end of the Cold War. And three, he described “callousness if not outright cynicism to have become the reserve fund of diplomacy” on the issue.
Elaborating the third point Mr Buch said that the very vocabulary used for the dispute has become the means and justification for non-engagement. Two adjectives, he said, that are routinely used including by US officials are “historical” and “longstanding”. What, he asked, is “historical” about injustices that are being inflicted every day? What is “longstanding” about unarmed teenagers pelting stones to express their opposition to Indian rule?
This language is meant to cultivate a diplomatic culture of evasion. It aims to draw a curtain over present-day reality and “provide a moral justification for inaction”. These misrepresentations are also designed to promote a “tolerant” view of a situation that is “hard and pitiless”. Notwithstanding this terminology, the killings of 90,000 Kashmiris have added a “transformational reality to the dispute” according to Mr Buch.
What about the argument that time has diminished the relevance of solemn undertakings embodied in the Security Council resolutions on Kashmir? To assert this, he said, is to ascribe to the law of the jungle. Does a Constitution lose its relevance because it’s been around for a long time? As for the assertions made during the conference that the Indian Constitution is unalterable, he recalled what Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said on June 26, 1952: “If after a proper plebiscite the people of Kashmir said we do not want to live with India, we are committed to accept this. We will not send an army against them. We will change the Constitution if necessary”.
Mr Buch’s advice to the conference was that the “apparent futility” of diplomatic efforts to find a solution should not diminish the necessity of countering the impression that the issue has lost its urgency. No one at the conference disagreed even if most participants remained pessimistic about prospects for progress even as conditions in Kashmir continue to deteriorate.
The Indian delegates pointed out that the view that gained currency in their country after the Mumbai incident was to de-link the Kashmir issue from dialogue with Pakistan. An Indian speaker drew attention to the lack of consensus within the ruling Congress Party about talks with Islamabad adding that the more hard-line home ministry has the upper hand over a “disempowered” ministry of external affairs at a time when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is reluctant to invest real political capital in the peace process.
Not surprisingly there was little agreement on how to deal with the substance of the issue even as Professor Stanley Wolpert warned about the rising costs of non-resolution. He said Kashmir had taken a greater toll on lives and resources then any “other sub-continental catastrophe”. And he proposed that when President Obama visits India in November he should encourage Prime Minister Singh to resolve the Kashmir dispute.
The conference nonetheless ended with a consensus on the need for an early and just resolution to the conflict in accordance with Kashmiri aspirations. It urged an immediate end to human right abuses, repeal of draconian laws, establishment of a commission to investigate the recent killings and the withdrawal of Indian forces from populated areas.
In his message to the Kashmir Conference former President Bill Clinton urged that “old hatreds” be replaced with a “modern peace”. But this cannot be achieved unless there is a serious effort to resolve Kashmir by addressing rather than ignoring it.
(Courtesy: The News)
(The writer is a former envoy to the US and the UK, and a former editor of The News)
International Kashmir peace conference in Washington
Washington: 30 July 2010. For ending the perennial suffering of the people of Jammu and Kashmir
expeditious resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute on permanent basis
has become urgent and essential was the consensus of the
Parliamentarians, scholars, writers, former diplomats and academicians
on the last day of the two day international Kashmir peace conference in Washington organized by the Kashmiri American Council and Association of Humanitarian Lawyers.
Hopes were pinned with the visit of the United States President for persuading India for resolving the Kashmir dispute during his visit to New Delhi towards the close of the year.
The Conference was being held at a time when Jammu and Kashmir was
once again on the edge. To take out the beleaguered state out of the
predicament it continues to suffer four eminent scholars made their
theme presentation on the subject “Kashmir: A Way Forward.”
The scholars that made theme presentations included Prof. Stanly
Wolpert, University of California, Los Angeles, Prof. Joseph E
Schwartberg Distinguished International Emeritus, International
Emeritus Professor, Amb: Kuldip Nayar, Former Indian High Commission to UK, Amb: Muhammad Yusuf Buch, Former Senior Advisor to the UN Secretary General. The presentation was followed by thorough discussion by an eminent group of panelist.
Prof. Stanley Wolpert
in his presentation called upon the United States to do whatever it can
to expedite the resolution of Kashmir conflict, which has taken a
greater toll of human suffering and wasted resources than any other
South Asian Catastrophe since the partition of British India.
He hoped that when President Obama visits India in November he will assure Indian Prime Minster, Manmohan Singh of America’s commitment to assist him in way possible to expedite the resolution of Kashmir.
Prof Schweartberg called upon India and Pakistan to resolve the dispute
without adding needlessly to the streams of the blood and tears that
have so far been Kashmir’s unfortunate lot.
Amb: Kuldip Nayar dwelling in detail on the birth of the problem and
mistakes committed in the past that delayed the resolution of the
problem called upon India and Pakistan to hold talks on the resolution
of Kashmir issue and Involving of people of the state in the dialogue
process.
Amb: Yusuf Buch in his presentation emphasized the need for involving the United Nations
in the dialogue process between India and Pakistan resolution. He said
that no solution could be successful that does not carry within it the
spirit of the United Nations Resolution on Kashmir.
The theme papers were discussed by a group of eminent panelist that included Mr. Ved Bhasin, Justice Rajinder Sachar,
Dr. Attiyah Inyatullah, Dr. Maleeh Lodhi, Sentator Mushaid Hussein,
Zahid G Muhammad, Prof. Anagana Chatterji, Ms. Rita Manchanda, Mr.
Muhammad Afzal Sindhu, Advocate Sareer Fazili, Dr. Khalid Qazi, Prof.
Hafeez Malik, Prof. Faizanul Haq, Prof. Richard Shaparo, Ahmed Bilal Soofi, Jitender Bakshi, Dr. Nisar Chowdhary, Senator Akbar Khawaja, Dr. Farhan Chak and Muhammad Aslam Khan, Sareer Fazali. Muzzammil Thakur, Professor Maqsood Jafri, Ali Shahnawaz Khan, Dr. Wasiullah Khan, Dr. Mohammad HafeezNiaz Hussain, Ms. Attiqa Akbar, Mr. Malik Nadeem Abid and Mr. Zubair Khan .
The concluding remarks were given by Dr, Ghulam Nabi Fai , Executive Director Kashmir American Council/Kashmir Center and Dr. Karen Parker of the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers.
Prominent British Writer and Kashmir Expert Victoria Schofield summed
up the proceeding of the two-day conference followed by unanimous
adoption of a resolution.
***************************************
Washington: 30 July 2010:
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director, Kashmiri American
Council/Kashmir Center said that a one minute silence was observed by
about two hundred scholars, parliamentarians and diplomats in memory
of the teenagers and youth killed in police firing at Srinagar and Sopore on Friday here today.
On the second day of the eleventh International Kashmir Peace
Conference in the Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room, Capitol
Hill rich tributes were paid to the young men who were killed in the
police firings in various parts of Kashmir during past few minutes.
A deep anguish was expressed over ‘jailing’ of the six million people
of Kashmir valley for past one month by imposing restrictions and
curfew without any let up. Participants in the conference expressed
their solidarity with the beleaguered people of Kashmir who have been
suffering an interrupted curfew and called upon the Amnesty
International and International Red Cross to come forward for providing medicine and food to the besieged population.
Washington Declaration
July 30, 2010
The Kashmiri-American Council and Association of Humanitarian Lawyers held its 11th Annual International Kashmir Peace Conference in Washington, DC from July 29th- 3oth July 2010 entitled “India-Pakistan Relations: Breaking the Deadlock over Kashmir”
Over 300 participants including over 50 academicians, scholars, parliamentarians, journalists, human rights activists,
diplomats from India, Pakistan, Jammu & Kashmir, England, Europe
and the United States, with different viewpoints, had frank and free
deliberations. The participants unanimously adopted the following
resolution at the end of the conference:
1. That there must be an early, just and durable resolution to the
Jammu & Kashmir dispute taking into account the aspirations of the
people of Jammu & Kashmir;
2.
That the said resolution must be with the participation of all the
three parties to the dispute i.e. India, Pakistan and people of Jammu
& Kashmir ;
3. The participants acknowledged the right of
Kashmiri Pandits and all other migrants and displaced persons who have left the State since 1947 to return to Kashmir with dignity and honor;
4. That the normalization of relations between India and Pakistan will
go a long way in finding such an amicable solution to Kashmir;
5. The participants acknowledged that Pakistan
and India have a common stake in addressing long neglected issues of
poverty, deprivation and hunger in their respective countries;
6. The participants expressed grave concern over the deteriorating human rights situation
in Kashmir and urged the Indian government to withdraw its armed forces
from civilian populated areas and establish an impartial commission
with immediate effect to investigate the recent killings in a
transparent manner.
7. The
participants condemned the efforts to muzzle the press and further
expressed need to restore the right to assemble and freedom of
expression;
8. The participants also condemned the draconian laws like the Indian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSAPA), the Disturbed Areas Act and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act and demanded withdrawal of these laws.
The draft committee composed of the following members:
1. Ambassador Kuldip Nayar;2. Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi;
3. Dr. Khalid J. Qazi;
4. Mr. Mohammad G. Zahid. and
5. Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai (host).
Kashmir catches world media attention
Valley Crisis On Facebook, Twitter, Orkut
FAHEEM ASLAM
Srinagar, July 19: After the 2008 Amarnath land row, which killed at least 60 people in three months, the ongoing crisis in Kashmir is again catching the global media attention.
The internationally reputable newspapers and magazines, which have covered the recent killings and protests in Kashmir, include the Foreign Policy Magazine, Newsweek, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times (London), The Christian Science Monitor, The Times, Arab News, Al-Jazeera and Los Angles Times.
The issues which have been covered, extensively or briefly, by these media organizations include the recent killing of youngsters in Kashmir, the protests thereof, the problems with dialogue process between India and Pakistan, the controversy over the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), curfews, Army’s Flag marches in Srinagar, and the joblessness among youth of Jammu and Kashmir.
In its report on July 17, The Washington Post, wrote: “The stone-throwing this summer began June 11, when a 17-year-old student, Tufail Mattoo, was killed by a tear-gas shell that shattered his skull, making him an instant martyr. The tactic has a long history in Kashmir, but many here say that this year; it has taken on a new resonance for Kashmir’s youth, who make up 70 percent of the population.”
A day before, Arab News wrote: “The first step to peace and normalcy in Kashmir is a normal approach to the state: That is, stop treating it like a war zone and get more than half a million troops deployed there out. Secondly, and more importantly, start talking to both Kashmiri leadership and Pakistan to sort out this mess once and for all. Real and meaningful talks, not the kind of photo opportunities we have had so far. This is the only way to bring peace to this breathtakingly beautiful, but cursed land.”
Apart from hogging the headlines in international newspapers, the situation in Kashmir is being discussed and debated threadbare on social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut and Twitter. Videos of the day-to-day happenings are also being uploaded on YouTube.Com.
While journalists, students, academics and others are openly discussing vital issues concerning the state on the networking cites, even the political leaders like Sajjad Gani Lone of Peoples Conference are seen joining in.
According to political analysts, Kashmir catches the global media attention for varied reasons. “One that you have a situation that Kashmir figures in that part of the region where you have two big states in the SAARC fraternity, both have fought wars, both possess nuclear weapons. During the Kargil War, there were around 15 threats of nuclear exchange during the Kargil War. This news was suppressed by official media in both countries. So the two countries view Kashmir as something which is to be resolved. Both are committed to final resolution of dispute. For that reason, naturally major countries including USA remain focused on developments in Kashmir,” said Prof Gul Muhammad Wani, who teaches political science at the University of Kashmir.
The second thing, Prof Wani said, “if you take South Asia with inclusion of Afghanistan, the volatile situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan also keeps Kashmir under limelight.” “Many US efforts in Afghanistan are generally focused on Indo-Pak reconciliation because Obama administration feels that unless India and Pakistan’s geopolitical perspectives are not reconciled in Afghanistan, you cannot bring peace to the war-torn country. Kashmir in the strategic community is now being looked at as almost an extension of the larger geo-strategic position inclusive of Afghanistan. In that perspective Kashmir would continue to get of international attention,” he said.
He said there are people in the separatist camp who wanted that Kashmir should get international media attention. “Because they feel that unless international community gets involved, you just cannot see a resolution of the problem. But I personally feel that sustained and deeper India, Pakistan engagement is the key to resolution of Kashmir,” Prof Wani said.
US Congressmen Call For Resolution of Kashmir
Washington 29 July 2010: The underway youth led, indigenous and spontaneous movement, non-violent pluralistic and resilient youth for right to self-determination in Jammu and Kashmir is at a critical juncture calls upon the United Nations to ‘lead the effort to achieve a fair and lasting settlement of the Kashmir dispute’, were the opening remarks of Dr. Ghulam Nabi at the inaugural session of the two day Eleventh International Kashmir Peace Conference organizaied by the Kashmiri American Council/ Kashmir Centre and Association of Humanitarian Lawyers in Washington wall.
The conference held in glittering hall of the Cannon Building in the Capitol Hill was attended by large number of delegates from India, Pakistan, both the sides of Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir Diaspora from all over the world, United State’s thinks, Congressmen, diplomats from various countries stationed in Washington D.C., prominent US columnists and opinion makers.
Congress men who spoke at the inaugural function included Congressman Dan Burton, Congressman Alderholt, Cingressman Danny Davis, Congressman, Dannis Kuchinich, Congressman Yvette Clark and Congressman Joseph Pit. The Congressmen expressing their deep concern and dissatisfaction over the situation prevailing in trouble torn Jammu and Kashmir called upon ending the persecution of people in the state and respecting human rights in the state. They called upon India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute to the urges and political aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir without causing any further suffering to people in the state. The Congressmen were unanimous in their approach that for bringing peace in South Asia the resolution of Kashmir dispute has become imperative. Some of the Congressmen said the President Obama was fully aware about the importance of Jammu and Kashmir for peace and stability not only in Afghanistan but for entire south Asia.
Highlighting the objectives for the Conference Dr. Fai, was to achieve the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute through peaceful dialogue between all parties concerned and to do so in the spirit of reconciliation, not confrontation, equality, not discrimination; hope, not despair.
Mr. Hussein Haqani, Ambassador Huessin Haqani Ambassador of Pakistan speaking on the occasion reaffirmed the policy of Pakistan government of supporting Kashmir struggle for right to self-determination, morally, politically and diplomatically. Others who spoke at the inaugural and emphasized for renewing efforts at all levels for finding solution of the Kashmir problem in sync with the internationally laid out principles included Ms. Victoria Schofield, Mrs. Rita Manchandi, Mr. Ved Bhasi and Amb: Maleeh Lodhi.
The first technical session of the conference India- Pakistan Relations: Breaking Deadlock was presided over by Author and Columnists Zahid G Muhammad, those who made their presentations in this session included Mr. Kuldin Nayar, Former Indian High Commissioner, in the UK, Mr. Muhammad Afzal Sindhu, State Minister, Law and Justice Govt of Pakistan, Prof. Stanely Wolpert, Historan, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed and Ambassador Yousuf Buch. T
The consensus that evolved at this session was that the people of Kashmir suffering for India and Pakistan remaining caught in the web of the blame game and there was need for moving beyond the blame game and resumption of composite dialogue between two countries and holding Kashmir focused dialogue involving people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The second Techencial Session titled The Impasse over Kashmir was presided by Mr. Ejaz Sabir, Attorney at Law. Those who made their presentations in this session included Dr. Karen Parker, UN Delegate, Intl.Ed. Development, Dr. Attiya Inaytullah, Member Pakistan National Assembly, Zahid G Muhammad. Author and Writer, Prof. Angana Chateerji and Dr. M.A. Dar, Ohio
The Time Correspondent who was recently in Srinagar exhibited a small documentary on recent developments on Kashmir during the session.
The third session on Kashmir Issue: Its impact on Regional and International Security was Presided over by Barristor Sareer Fazili Esq. Those who made their presentation at this session included Amb: Munir Akram, Former Ambassador of Pakistan to UN. Justice Rajinder Sachar, Dr. Rodeny Jones, M. Ahmed Bilal Sufi Presideny Ressearch Society .
