Delhi panics over Pro-Pakistani insurrection in Indian Occupied Kashmir

All Bharati forces are in a state of panic, with the BJP blaming the UPA and the military forces pointing fingers at the corrupt and inept Abdullah administration. The analysts seem to confirm that there is no military solution to Kashmir–all brutal means, rape, targeted killing, murder, mayhem, mass incarceration have been tried–they all failed. All Bharatis agree that that the current status quo cannot exist for long, and Kashmir is slipping away towards Pakistan. The Pro-Pakistani movement which started as a slip-slide has now turned into a n avalanche. The Pro-Pakistani leadership of Mr. Geelani, Andrabi led by the Hurriyat, Dukhtaran e Millat, Kashmir Muslim League and a host of other shadow forces which include the Lashkar have overwhelmed the political scene.

The fact that the Kashmiri leader who loudly proclaims that “Hum Pakistan hain, aur Pakistan hamara hai” can raise the temperature to boiling point and then turn the spigot off in one call, gives us ample prof the that the nonsensical poll defined, designed and conducted by the Hindustan Times is bogus. The facts on the ground are not represented by the couple of thousand hand picked people who participated in the poll. Obviously Pro-Pakistani youth would be silly to identify themselves to the Hindustan Times for fear of being hauled away in the next military vehicle to sure torture or death. Geelani, Andrabai and a host of a new generation of Kashmiris have taken the mantle of the the struggle to join Pakistan, and those who want Kashmir to become another Sikkim are running from pillar to post to receive a hearing. Kashmiris support the Geelanis and they taunt the Bharati forces with “Bhago Bhago Lashkar ayah”.

NEW DELHI: All Parties Conference is currently underway to mull over the situation in Indian held Kashmir, as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sad only the negotiations are the only way to make any headway in this regard, Geo News reported Wednesday.

In occupied Kashmir, at least five more people were killed and sores others wounded in India-decimated Kashmir including an incident when Indian police opened fire at a peaceful procession at Mendhar in Poonch.

The witnesses told mediamen that the police fired upon the students, who were staging a peaceful protest against the alleged desecration of Quran in the US. “Firing was unprovoked and uncalled for,” they added.

The deceased were identified as Arshad Ahmed Khan, Alamdar Hussain Shah and Shameem Ahmed. The injured have been hospitalized where condition of a few of them is stated to be critical.

Following the killing of the protesters, hundreds of people took to the streets and staged a massive anti-India demonstration. The demonstrators set ablaze the office and residence of Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) in the area. Indian Army has been called in and authorities have imposed indefinite curfew in the town.

At least 40 people were injured when occupation forces resorted to heavy baton charge, excessive teargas shelling and firing to break up anti-India demonstrations in Bijbehara, Islamabad, Pampore, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam areas.

At least 15 persons got injured, one of them critically, after the police and CRPF personnel opened fire to disperse the demonstrators in Cahdoora and Char areas of Budgam.

People took to the streets and staged pro-freedom demonstrations in Bemina, Boatman colony, Zainakot, Charar-e-Sharief, Khrew, Samboora, Tral, Awantipora, Shopian, Sumbal, Bandipore, Pampore, Tangmerg, Baramulla, Sopore, Handwara, Kupwara, Ganderbal, Pulwama, Kakapora and Islamabad areas. The police and troops swung into action and used indiscriminate force against the protesters, injuring several of them.

Over half a dozen people sustained injuries during clashes between the police and the protestors in Kishtwar. Massive protests also rocked Jammu, Doda, Rajouri and Banihal.

Meanwhile, a teenager, who drowned in Jehlum river after he was hit in his head by one of the bricks hurled by police and CRPF men on Monday at Khanabal in Islamabad town, is still missing. The police and CRPF troops looted money and ransacked house of District Bar Association Islamabad President and Democratic Freedom Party leader, Fayaz Ahmad Saudagar.

Pakistan can and should do more. It can freeze any moves on dialogue, cut off all access to Indian goods coming into Pakistan from vegetables to cotton, as well as the visas regime to get its message across of its foremost commitment to the Kashmir cause. If our policy is to give all moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmir struggle then we should do so on all these fronts. We should also move the OIC.

We have tended to ignore the latest intifada in Indian Occupied Kashmir – much to our shame – primarily at the behest of the US but also because of the questionable proclivities of our leadership. It is time to alter course and expose Indian terrorist designs in Occupied Kashmir. India of course has begun a multi-track propaganda for damage limitation including denying access to the media in Occupied Kashmir. A most devious part of this is the so-called poll by an Indian newspaper that claims to reveal that most Kashmiris favour independence and not joining Pakistan. We should see through such propagandist views and stick to our principled position of the right of self-determination for the Kashmir people which is the only way they can make clear what they want. But it is already clear what they do not want – and generations of Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives to demonstrate this fact – and that is to remain under Indian Occupation.

Indian brutality in Occupied Kashmir continues

Indian brutality in Occupied Kashmir once again came to the fore when its security forces shot and killed sixteen innocent Kashmiris who were in the streets protesting the Quran burning plan of an American priest and the actual desecration by some Christian extremists outside the White House. These protestors were armed with nothing more than stones, but the targeting of the Kashmiri youth by the Indian security forces has been part of the state terrorism unleashed by India, since June this year, against yet another generation of Kashmiris seeking freedom from Indian Occupation. While the Indian leadership goes through the farce of expressing regret over these killings and declares the need to address the grievances of the Kashmiri people, the killings by Indian security forces cannot be taking place without the approval of the same leadership.

Unfortunately, the Pakistan government has shown a bizarre muteness on this latest bout of Indian killings in Occupied Kashmir. There is a new indigenous uprising with a new youthful leadership that has now taken up the Kashmiri cause for liberation from Indian Occupation and for their right of self determination as committed to them by Nehru and the UNSC. Even the women have now come onto the streets and it is evident that despite Indian efforts to subdue the Kashmiris for over six decades the Kashmiris continue to pass the torch of their freedom struggle from one generation to the next. Only after the killings on Monday did Pakistan officially condemn Indian barbarism and asked the international community to stop these killings. But Pakistan can and should do more. It can freeze any moves on dialogue, cut off all access to Indian goods coming into Pakistan from vegetables to cotton, as well as the visas regime to get its message across of its foremost commitment to the Kashmir cause. If our policy is to give all moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmir struggle then we should do so on all these fronts. We should also move the OIC, ineffective though it may be but it can exert some diplomatic pressure on India.

We have tended to ignore the latest intifada in Indian Occupied Kashmir – much to our shame – primarily at the behest of the US but also because of the questionable proclivities of our leadership. It is time to alter course and expose Indian terrorist designs in Occupied Kashmir. India of course has begun a multi-track propaganda for damage limitation including denying access to the media in Occupied Kashmir. A most devious part of this is the so-called poll by an Indian newspaper that claims to reveal that most Kashmiris favour independence and not joining Pakistan. We should see through such propagandist views and stick to our principled position of the right of self-determination for the Kashmir people which is the only way they can make clear what they want. But it is already clear what they do not want – and generations of Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives to demonstrate this fact – and that is to remain under Indian Occupation.

Protests turn violent in Kashmir

At least 15 people have been killed in Indian Kashmir in protests against Indian rule and reports of Quran burning, in the most deadly day of violence since mass demonstrations began three months ago, state police say.

Despite a rigid curfew imposed across the region, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets on Monday, throwing rocks, torching government buildings and chanting “Go India, go back. We want freedom.”

Security forces shot live ammunition at some of the crowds, killing people in at least five different villages, said a police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with media.

n the village of Tangmarg, troops fired on thousands of rock-throwing demonstrators, killing five people and wounding at least 50 others, the police officer said. Earlier, protesters burned at least four government buildings as well as a schoolhouse in the town.

In Budgam, troops tried to disperse demonstrators with tear gas and baton charges but began firing into the crowd after protesters attacked a police station and the government forces with rocks, the police officer said.

At least four people including a young woman were killed and at least 30 others were wounded, some critically, the officer said.

A policeman was also killed during the protests in Budgam after he was hit by a vehicle that then sped away, the officer said. At least four other protesters were killed in three other towns, he said.

‘House arrest’

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the main separatist leader, told Al Jazeera there is no room for political protest in Kashmir.

“I have been under house arrest since Eid, many of my party have been arrested,” Farooq said.

“In many places the protests are very peaceful … [but Indian] troops are firing indiscriminately [at protesters].”

Despite a rigid curfew across the region tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets [Reuters] Monday’s toll includes at least seven people killed in police clashes after thousands of Muslim protesters set fire to a Christian missionary school and government buildings in two Kashmiri districts to denounce reports on the Iranian state-run channel, Press TV, that copies of the Quran had been damaged in the US over the weekend. Though a Florida pastor called off his plans to burn the Muslim holy book, the channel showed footage of a different man destroying a Quran. The protesters chanted “Down with Quran desecrators,” and protest leaders denounced the alleged desecration in speeches to the crowds. The death toll was the highest since separatist protests broke out in June against Indian rule in the northern state. In a statement at the end of a special cabinet meeting on Kashmir, on Monday, the Indian government said it was “deeply distressed by the turn of events” and appealed for calm. However, it decided against heeding calls from some in the government to partially lift a 20-year-old army emergency law, that gives sweeping powers to security forces in Kashmir. The government offered to take part in talks with all peaceful groups in Kashmir, which would cover the “trust deficit and the governance deficit”. It also called an all-party meeting for Wednesday in New Delhi “to take certain initiatives and measures that will build confidence of people.” ‘Incoherent policy’ Saeed Naqvi, a political commentator based in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera that Delhi has been preoccupied with other problems and ignored the Kashmir issue. “There is a trust deficit [between India and Kashmir] and it has been addressed by inaction, unimaginative policy, even absence of policy, on the part of New Delhi,” he said. “There is angst and anger [in Kashmir]. After three months of bloodshed and agitation … [the struggle] has acquired an intensity and velocity. All they had to do was tone down the profile of the army. “Nobody likes a foreign army and the Indian army looks like a foreign army to them.” Pankaj Mishra, a political commentator, told Al Jazeera that India has never had a coherent policy on Kashmir. “They have basically instituted a policy of watching things, letting things go on and not doing anything about it,” he said. “And in that, they have been rewarded by the indifference of the rest of world to this conflict which is hardly ever covered or talked about. “Manmohan Singh [India's prime minister] has been making these kinds of noises for quite some time, but nothing comes of it.”

At least 18 people have been killed in demonstrations in the last 24 hours alone.

But the long simmering dispute over independence was not the only fuel for Monday’s fury.

Anger about threats to burn the Quran in the US – led to attacks on Christian schools in the territory.

Al Jazeera’s Paul Brennan reports from Srinagar.

Young Kashmiris Hoisting Green Flags atop recently refurbished / redesigned Clock Tower at Lal Chowk in the city center of Srinagar, Kashmir.
Government of India spent huge amounts of money to redesign the clock tower in such a way so that the Flag Hoisting on it becomes impossible. But Kashmiri brave-hearts made it possible once again !!!

Kashmir issue internationalised!

Over the previous months, Kashmir has increasingly become a subject of international attention. Comity of nations is no longer ignoring the Indian brutalities, and the ensuing loss of innocent lives. Recently, Amnesty International has once again urged the Indian government to allow UN’s special representatives to visit occupied Kashmir for making a spot study of the cases of fake encounters and extra-judicial killings in the territory. It has also urged Indian Prime Minister to fulfil his promise of zero tolerance to human rights violations in the occupied territory by the Indian security apparatus.

While recently reporting on Kashmir, ‘Wall Street Journal’ has indicated that if India does not heed to the popular demand of Kashmiri people for their right of self-determination, the ongoing spate of protests would continue to intensify. Indian security forces have tried to suppress these protests with their typical brutality and state terrorism, which has led to the loss of life of over 60 peaceful protestors since June. To deceive the general public, Indian security forces have been conducting these acts of brutality while wearing blue headgear resembling UN forces’ headwear. UN has already launched its protest with the Indian government on this act of impersonation and has demanded that Indian security forces must desist from this practice.

Gradually, the international community is beginning to realise that it is the Indian state which is terrorist, and not those who are struggling against the Indian occupation of Kashmir. India should see the writing on the wall, and move towards UN-supervised plebiscite which it itself had agreed to, in the shape of acceptance of relevant UN Security Council resolutions. It is quite evident that its illegal occupation cannot continue, indefinitely. Recently, China denied visa to an Indian military delegation because delegation because it included Lt-Gen B S Jaswal, a senior filed commander of IHK. India’s Army chief was to head the delegation. As a consequence, India had to cancel the defence exchange visit to China. China has persistently maintained its principled stance over Kashmir issue and has a legitimate claim over Arunachal Pradesh. Chinese border dispute with India dates back to a 1914 conference, hosted by British colonial rulers. The ensuing demarcation of the border came to be known as McMahon Line. Ever since, China has never recognised this arbitrary line, and hence it rightfully claims around 90,000 sq km; inclusive of nearly entire landscape of Arunachal Pradesh. From Chinese perspective, McMahon Line is a legacy of colonial encroachment on their country. To counter balance China’s claim, India put forward a farce claim that China has occupied 8,000 sq km of its territory in Kashmir. By taking this position, India virtually axed her own feet by making China a party to the Kashmir dispute. China has always condemned Indian acts of state terrorism against peace loving people of Kashmir. India has always tried to draw a wedge between China and Pakistan. These days, a travesty claim is being raised that Chain has moved its troops into Gilgit-Baltistan area. A sponsored report authored by one Selig Harrison, an analyst well known for presenting Indian point of view, forms the basis of this claim. Moreover, RAW has since long been involved in target killing and harassment of Chinese workers commissioning various civil sector developmental projects in Kashmir. Now even an increasing number of US Congressmen are raising their voice about the gravity of Kashmir issue. They are frequently mentioning the issue of Kashmir and the urgent need for its settlement. ‘The Kashmiri-American Council and Association of Humanitarian Lawyers’ held its Annual International Kashmir Peace Conference in Washington. Theme of the conference was “India-Pakistan Relations: Breaking the Deadlock over Kashmir”. Conference unanimously adopted the Washington Declaration, its main thrust was: ‘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’. As a by product of Kashmir issue, water issue has emerged as another irritant between the Pakistan and India. Pakistan has to frequently refer these water disputes to neutral arbitrator for adjucation. Diversion of Pakistan’s share of water by India has surfaced so many times. Every time water issue is raised at international fora, the Kashmir dispute is highlighted automatically.

Saner voices from within India are advocating a political settlement to the dispute. There is a growing realization within Indian intelligentsia that use of brute force is not likely to bring peace to Kashmir. During a recent conference in New Delhi, high ranking participants have acknowledged the home grown nature of the uprising. They have expressed their consternation over the Indian establishment and the media for following a beaten approach of blaming Pakistan and cross border militant groups for sponsoring violent acts in Indian held Kashmir.

However, Indian establishment and a handful of Kashmiri politicians who are direct beneficiaries of Indian rule, continue to support status quo. Such politicians are fully aware that whenever people of Kashmir are given a chance of making a free and fair choice, their political business would be over. Therefore, they continue to support the suppression of movement through application of force. Though India has fielded around 700,000 troops in IHK, the best they could claim is a shaky stalemate.

Current surge of resistance owes its sustenance to the resilience of the people of Kashmir, who are now better aware of their legitimate rights. There is no indication that the UN will act in this regard in a foreseeable timeframe. United Nations’ protracted indifference towards implementation of its Kashmir related resolutions has attached a negative tag of impotence to UN in the context of resolution of this dispute. People of Kashmir feel that they have to themselves rise to the occasion, yet once again, to secure their inviolable right of self determination. Likewise, people of Kashmir view with utter dismay how the US has given up its effort to solve the issue; they also express their utter disappointment the way ‘Candidate Obama’ committed to the resolution of Kashmir issue has cowed down, as ‘President Obama’, in the face of expediencies.

Onus for solving the Kashmir dispute lies with India, Pakistan and the leadership of Kashmir. However, international community will have to exert its pressure on India. There is an urgent need that India adopts a clear approach to the dispute and effectively engages the Kashmiri leadership along with Pakistan. Gimmicks of farce negotiations on the Israel-Palestine pattern will not work.

A genuine political process would certainly provide yet another opportunity to work out a solution acceptable to all parties to the dispute. People of Kashmir are struggling to keep the issue alive. Pakistan needs to undertake a supportive campaign to correct the international perception and facilitate un-knotting this legitimate freedom struggle from an unjust stigma of terrorism. Likewise, UN needs to wake up to the reality and implement its resolutions on plebiscite.

COAS visits flood-hit areas

Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited the flood affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan on Monday.

According to ISPR press release here, COAS flew over the flood affected areas of Sindh including Manchar Lake and stopped over at Thatta where he visited Saudi and Chinese hospitals established for the flood affectees. He also went to Tori Bund, near Pano Aqil, and witnessed repair of the Bund by Frontier Works Organization.

Later, he visited Turkish hospital and flood relief camp being run by the Army at Dera Murad Jamali. COAS interacted informally with the troops involved in the flood relief activities and appreciated their role in providing relief to the affectees. He also thanked friendly countries for their support.

72,400 of US heavy weapons ‘missing’ in Afghanistan

At least 72,400 U.S. supplied AK-47s, hundreds of heavy machine guns and RPG launchers delivered to Afghan police have gone missing.

There are fears that some of the missing weapons of Afghan Police and security forces might have ended up in the hands of the Taliban while several thousand may have been intentionally smuggled into Pakistan for promoting terrorism.

The U.S. military newspaper Start and Stripes quoted “NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan” as saying that a massive hunt is on for tens of thousands of rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers that the U.S. government procured for the Afghan National Police but are unaccounted for.”

According to Logsdon, the U.S. Department of Defence procured more than 72,400 AK-47s, as well as heavy machine guns and RPG launchers for Afghan police. Coalition forces are attempting to track exactly where the weapons are amid allegations by the military and others that some police weapons may have ended up in the hands of the Taliban.

Security experts fear that there was a grand mafia working in Afghanistan with the help of Indian intelligence and transporting arms and drugs into Pakistan as well as into some Central Asian states.

Experts say that recent reports have confirmed delivery of fresh weapons to terrorists of Tehreek-i-Taliban to launch new terrorist actions and attacks inside Pakistan. It is important to note that during recent weeks there have been more than eight terrorist actions launched by foreign-backed terrorists inside Pakistan.

Pakistan recently complained to Western states about support provided to anti-Pakistan terrorists’ networks in Afghanistan but NATO officials were reluctant to take necessary action to curb infiltration from Afghanistan into Pakistan.