US report mentions civilian graves in IHK

TACSTRAT

The admission made by an official human rights body of Indian-occupied Kashmir’s “government” in August last year about the existence of over two thousand unmarked graves has been featured in a U.S. report on human rights.

The report, titled “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012″ released by the US State Department, said it was the first time that a government entity — the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Council (JKSHRC) — confirmed that some of the bodies in graves were of civilians and not insurgents, but made no comments about the discovery of so many graves.

The State department report, which was released by Secretary of State John Kerry, noted the occupied Kashmir government’s claim that most of the unmarked graves were known to respective police stations and that the remaining graves were of unidentified militants killed in security force encounters.

“In a report submitted to the state government in July 2011, the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Council had documented 2,156 unmarked graves at 38 different sites at the heart of the 1990s insurgency and recommended an inquiry by an independent body,” the State Department said.

“In December the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-Administered Kashmir documented 2,943 bodies in graves in Kashmir, 87 percent of which were unmarked.” The US report said, “Separatist insurgents and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeastern States, and the Naxalite belt committed numerous serious abuses, including killing armed forces personnel, police, government officials, and civilians. Insurgents were responsible for numerous cases of kidnapping, torture, rape, and extortion, and they used child soldiers. For the second consecutive year, Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast saw considerably less violence than in the past.

“The Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, a Kashmir-based human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO), reported 148 deaths from violent incidents, among other human rights abuses, including the deaths of 35 civilians, 75 alleged militants, and 36 security forces personnel.”
The State Department report also said India’s civil society continues to express concern over the failure of the government of western state of Gujarat to protect people or arrest those responsible for communal violence in 2002.

It said human rights groups continue to allege that investigative bodies in their reports showed bias in favour of Gujarat’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi. “Civil society activists continued to express concern about the Gujarat government’s failure to protect the population or arrest those responsible for communal violence in 2002 that resulted in the killing of more than 1,200 persons, the majority of whom were Muslim, although there was progress in several court cases,” said the State Department report. “Human rights groups continue to allege that investigative bodies showed bias in favour of Modi in their reports,” the report said.

The chapter on India in the report runs into 60 pages, according to which the most significant human rights problems in India in 2012 were police and security force abuses, including extra-judicial killings, torture, and rape; widespread corruption at all levels of government, leading to denial of justice; and separatist, insurgent, and societal violence.

“Other human rights problems included disappearances, poor prison conditions that were frequently life-threatening, arbitrary arrest and detention, and lengthy pretrial detention. The judiciary was overburdened, and court backlogs led to lengthy delays or the denial of justice,” the report said. “Authorities continued to infringe on citizens’ privacy rights,” it said.

The State Department said, law enforcement and legal avenues for rape victims were inadequate, overtaxed, and unable to address the issue effectively. “Law enforcement officers sometimes worked to reconcile rape victims and their attackers, in some cases encouraging female rape victims to marry their attackers. Doctors sometimes further abused rape victims who had come to report the crimes by using the ‘two finger test’ to speculate on their sexual history,” it said, while referring to the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi.

Struggles of Kashmiris, Palestinians are linked: Syed Ali Gilani

The Nation

In occupied Kashmir, veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani has said that the freedom struggles of Kashmiris and Palestinians are linked and appealed the people to register their protest peacefully against the illegal occupation of Kashmir and Palestine by observing August 19 as Yaum-e-Shuhada and August 26 as Yaum-e-Quds.

Syed Ali Gilani in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the dream of making the world a better and peaceful place to live could not be realised until the Kashmir and Palestine were resolved in accordance with aspirations of the people living there.

Drawing parallels between Kashmir and Palestine disputes, the veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader said that both the regions were under foreign military occupation. “Kashmir has been illegally occupied by India through its military and the Israel has used the same policy to hold on to Palestine,” he said and added that people in both the regions had been enslaved by foreign powers through force and their basic rights were being trampled ruthlessly.

India ups state sponsored terrorism against Kashmiri people

Area14/8

SRINAGAR – In occupied Kashmir, veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani has appealed to the international community to come forward in a big way to save the Kashmiri people from stepped up Indian state terrorism.

Syed Ali Gilani was addressing a public gathering at Tappar Pattan, where he had gone to condole the death of an innocent civilian who was crushed to death by an Indian army vehicle, yesterday. He said that the unparalleled sacrifices rendered by the people of Kashmir for securing their inalienable right to self-determination would not be allowed to go waste. People on the occasion raised anti-India and pro-liberation slogans.

Senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi, addressing a function at Zedibal in Srinagar said that India would never succeed in suppressing Kashmiris’ liberation movement by resorting to repressive measures.

Senior APHC leader, Shabbir Ahmed Shah addressing a gathering at Chandrigam in Islamabad said that situation in the occupied territory would not improve till the Kashmir dispute was resolved in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

On the other hand, members of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons staged a sit-in protest at Pratap Park in Srinagar, today, demanding whereabouts of the Kashmiris disappeared in custody of Indian police and troops during the past twenty-two years.

Unidentified persons shot at and critically injured a candidate of the ongoing so-called panchayat elections at Machipora Zaingeer in Baramulla. SRINAGAR, May 11 (NNI): In occupied Kashmir, veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani has appealed to the international community to come forward in a big way to save the Kashmiri people from stepped up Indian state terrorism.

Syed Ali Gilani was addressing a public gathering at Tappar Pattan, where he had gone to condole the death of an innocent civilian who was crushed to death by an Indian army vehicle, yesterday.

He said that the unparalleled sacrifices rendered by the people of Kashmir for securing their inalienable right to self-determination would not be allowed to go waste. People on the occasion raised anti-India and pro-liberation slogans.

Senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi, addressing a function at Zedibal in Srinagar said that India would never succeed in suppressing Kashmiris’ liberation movement by resorting to repressive measures.

Senior APHC leader, Shabbir Ahmed Shah addressing a gathering at Chandrigam in Islamabad said that situation in the occupied territory would not improve till the Kashmir dispute was resolved in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

On the other hand, members of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons staged a sit-in protest at Pratap Park in Srinagar, today, demanding whereabouts of the Kashmiris disappeared in custody of Indian police and troops during the past twenty-two years.

Unidentified persons shot at and critically injured a candidate of the ongoing so-called panchayat elections at Machipora Zaingeer in Baramulla.

Indian troops martyr three more innocent youth in IHK

In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops in their fresh act of state terrorism, martyred 3 more innocent Kashmiri youth in Ramban district.

The martyred youth identified as Abdul Rashid Naik, 36, Nasir Ahmed Naik, 24, and Mushtaq Ahmed were killed by the troops of 23 Rashtriya Rifles, Special Striking Reserve and Special Operations Group personnel during siege and search operations at Manjote-Nachlana in Banihal tehsil of the district.

On the other hand, a civilian was injured in an anti-personnel mine in Suchetpur area of Samba district while police arrested one Ghulam Nabi, 28, from Bumai in Sopore.

Meawhile, three persons identified as Abdul Ahad Wani, Ghulam Qadir Wani and Javed Ahmad Koka were trapped under a snow avalanche in Shangus areas of Islamabad.

Kashmir solution vital for peace in S Asia: JKPFL

Kashmir Global

Srinagar, January 06 (KGN): In occupied Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League has urged the United Nations to take serious and sincere steps for implementation of its own resolutions on Kashmir so that permanent peace in South Asia can be established.

The spokesman of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League in a statement issued in Srinagar said that January 5 was an important day in the history of Kashmir as it was on this day in 1949 that the United Nations adopted a resolution, acknowledging right of self-determination of Kashmiris and giving them the right to decide their future by themselves.
He said that it was a bitter fact that the United Nations could not implement its own resolutions on Kashmir despite the passage of more than six decades. The spokesman said that the people of Kashmir had been rendering countless sacrifices for securing their inalienable right to self-determination and they would continue their struggle till complete success.

JKPM for tripartite talks to settle Kashmir dispute

Jammu, December 30 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement (JKPM), a constituent of All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC), has said that if India is really sincere in resolving the Kashmir dispute it must accept the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir and create a conducive atmosphere for tripartite negotiations involving Pakistan India and genuine representatives of the Kashmiris.

Leader of APHC and the Chairman of JKPM, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, in a statement issued in Jammu, termed the appointment of three-member team of interlocutors as a part of delaying tactics applied by India to prolong its occupation in the occupied territory.

He urged India not to hoodwink the international community. MIr said that the Kashmiri people had strongly rejected appointment of three-member team of interlocutors appointed by India.

Recalling that such attempts had also been made by India in the past, which proved futile and counterproductive, he said that the longstanding dispute could not be resolved through economic packages. “Kashmir is an internationally accepted dispute,” he added.

The JKPM Chairman said that Kashmiris had been offering supreme sacrifices for the past 63 years to take the ongoing freedom movement to its logical conclusion and no power could prevent them from achieving their inalienable right to self-determination.

Kashmiri youth shield Geelani from RSS attack

ISLAMABAD: Kashmiri youth on Thursday foiled an attack on leader of a Hurriyat faction Syed Ali Geelani when members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh tried to mount an assault in Delhi at a seminar on Kashmir.

Faction leader of the Kashmiri Hurriyat, Syed Ali Geelani.

The incident was followed by anti-India and pro-liberation slogans within the seminar hall, which lasted more than half an hour.

The event was organised by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners and those who spoke on the occasion included Syed Ali Geelani, Arundhati Roy, Prof Abdur Rehman, Prof Sujatha Rao, Najeeb Bukhari, Dr Sheikh Showkat Hussain, Varvara Rao and Dr N Venu.

The majority of speakers stressed the need for an early resolution of the Kashmir dispute while denouncing human rights violations by Indian troops in the occupied territory.

Meanwhile, Indian troops pressed attack helicopters into service during a clash with militants at Maloora Shalteng in the outskirts of Srinagar. Two Kashmiri youth were killed in the fierce gunbattle.

The authorities imposed a curfew and restrictions in Srinagar and all other districts of the valley to thwart the Lal Chowk March, the call for which had been given by the forum patronised by Syed Ali Geelani.

Indian police resorted to brute force to quell peaceful protests in Habba Kadal in Srinagar, near Cement Bridge in Baramulla town.

On the death anniversary of Agha Syed Yousuf alMoosvi alSafvi, APHC leader, Agha Syed Hassan al Moosvi, said while addressing a function in Budgam that the mission of the late religious leader would continue.

The Norwegian parliament has issued a schedule to debate the Kashmir dispute from November 15, taking a serious note of human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.

The reports said that the Norwegian foreign miinister would release a policy statement on Kashmir after the debate.

OIC Group urges India to stop human rights violations in Kashmir

By Iftikhar Ali, Ali Imran

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23 (APP): Reacting to the ongoing violence against people in the Occupied Kashmir, a panel of OIC foreign ministers asked India Wednesday to stop human rights violations and take steps to resolve lingering South Asian conflict peacefully.Meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, members of the Organization of Islamic Conference Contact Group on Kashmir reaffirmed their support for the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. The meeting was addressed by heads of delegations of leading Islamic countries including Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi renewed Islamabad’s support for the inalienable rights of the Kashmiri people, which have been denied by India.

The U.S. media, meanwhile, criticized New Delhi for being indifferent to aspirations of the Kashmiris. “For more than 100 days, in which Indian security officers have killed more than 100 Kashmiri civilians, the Indian government has seemed paralyzed, or even indifferent, as this disputed Himalayan region has plunged into one of the gravest crises of its tortured history,” The New York Times observed in a front-paged dispatch from Srinagar.

The OIC panel met a day after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon led expression of international concern over the deteriorating situation in the occupied valley, which remains under a state of relentless curfews.

The use of force by Indian security personnel against stone-pelting young protestors has again pushed the disputed Himalayan region into a state of turmoil, as has been the case on several occasions over the last six decades. The UN Chief, in his statement, had called for immediate end to violence and urged calm and restraint.

At the meeting held at the UN Headquarters, the OIC Secretary General and other members expressed their continued backing for efforts towards a just settlement of the UN-recognized dispute.

“I have followed with concern the situation in the Indian occupied Kashmir and consistently expressed my disappointment at the use of force and violence against the Kashmiri people by the Indian forces,” Secretary General of the 57-member body Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said.

“I have also repeatedly stated that a peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute would serve not only th people of India and Pakistan but also the overall interests of the region,” he added.

The delegates urged India to “respect the will and rights of the people in order to help improve the security situation in the region.”

The foreign ministers of OIC countries will hold a full ministerial meeting in the next few days, where they are slated to adopt a document on all issues concerning the Islamic world.

The recent spate of violence in Kashmir has also belied New Delhi’s propaganda that Pakistan has always been behind the crisis in the valley, as duly noted by the New York Times.

“India often views Kashmir through its rivalry with Pakistan, with both countries controlling portions of the region and each claiming its entirety.Yet Indian officials concede that this latest unrest is different, a domestic Kashmiri revolt against Indian rule, unlike past insurgencies sponsored by Pakistan,” the Srinagar-datelined report said.

In his remarks, Foreign Minister Qureshi expressed appreciation for the OIC’s strong and consistent support to the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for the right to self-determination. He focused on the peaceful and non-violent struggle of the Kashmiri people and underlined Pakistan’s diplomatic, political and moral support to the Kashmir cause. Speaking on the occasion, Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmad Khan dwelt on the sacrifices rendered by the Kashmiri people.

He urged India to reciprocate Pakistan’s sincere efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue. Speaking at at the meeting Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, a Washington-based Kashmiri scholar, thanked Pakistani foreign minister Qureshi for coming out with a forceful voice for the Kashmiris’ rights. He said the Kashmiri leaders including veteran politician Syed Ali Geelani have also conveyed their thanks to the top Pakistani diplomat, who, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations Committee, said Islamabad wants a peaceful resolution to the dispute.

Qureshi had also made it clear that occupation of the territory cannot endure.Fai, representing the True Representatives of the Kashmiri People, gave an update on the ongoing situation in Indian occupied Kashmir. He stressed that the Kashmiri leadership including Syed Ali Gilani, Mir Waiz Omar Farooq and Yasin Malik remain under house arrest in Indian occupied Kashmir.

As a result, Mir Waiz Omar Faooq could not come to New York to attend today’s meeting of the Contact Group. He emphasized that need for continued support of the international community to the peaceful and unarmed struggle of the Kashmiri people. Later, the True Representative presented a Memorandum on Kashmir to the OIC Secretary General.

Hurriyat leaders held before talks

HELD SRINAGAR: The All Party delegation of Indian Parliament met Hurriyat leaders in occupied Kashmir on Monday. First, the Hurriyat leaders had refused to meet the Indian delegation. Later, however, members of the delegation met Hurriyat leaders Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik

The Indian delegation met Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at his residence, where he was under house arrest. Mirwaiz had tied black band around his arm as a protest. Mirwaiz was invited for black band around his arm as a protest. Mirwaiz was invited for talks at Sunday night. However, he was put under house arrest at Monday morning. While talking to media at outside his house under strict police security, he termed the meeting of Indian Parliamentary delegation as a joke. He said that on the one hand he received invitation for talks and on the other hand it was the order of the police not to go out from the house.

The Hurriyat leaders want the demilitarisation of the held Kashmir Valley, where India has more than half a million men under arms; they want emergency laws to be repealed; and they want what they call political prisoners to be released and hold talks with Kashmiri leaders and Pakistan for the solution of Kashmir issue.

Unforgivable

Asif Ezdi

The current wave of pro-Azadi demonstrations which began in Occupied Kashmir on June 11 with the death of a teenage boy at the hands of the Indian forces entered its 100th day on Saturday. Nearly a hundred young Kashmiris have been killed by the occupation forces during this period for daring to raise their voice against Indian rule. More than a thousand have been injured, some maimed and disabled for life. Yet, in spite of the use of brute force to suppress it, the “Quit Jammu and Kashmir” movement has been growing and has gripped not only the major urban centres but also remote towns and villages of the Kashmir Valley. It has also spread to some of the Muslim-majority areas of Jammu. Eidul Fitr, and especially the following day, saw an explosion of popular anger against Indian occupation on a scale not seen since the nineties.

What began as a largely spontaneous and sporadic outburst of popular anger at the highhandedness of the occupation forces has now assumed the proportion of a mass rebellion. It has knocked the bottom out of the Indian case that the freedom movement is fed and instigated by Pakistan and that, by participating in the State Assembly election of December 2008-in which India claims that a phenomenal 65 per cent of the electorate took part-the Kashmiri people rejected the “hardliners” who demand Azadi. As APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said, the protests are a form of referendum showing that the Kashmiris want freedom from India.

Another reason for Indian concern is that the “Quit Jammu and Kashmir” movement is a resounding rejection by the Kashmiri people of the “settlement” that Musharraf was negotiating with Manmohan Singh through the backchannel, which would have sanctified the division of the state along the Line of Control and given India permanent control over the occupied part. According to former foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, most of the APHC leadership had been on board and the only significant opposition had come from Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. His lieutenants are now spearheading the current movement and setting the pace of the protests, with the “moderate” faction of the APHC mostly playing catch-up.

The reactivation of the backchannel negotiations has been a key element of Delhi’s Kashmir policy and it has been working quietly with Washington’s discreet support for this purpose. But the Zardari government has been dithering, not so much by design as by default. Kashmir is not on its radar screen because its main preoccupation is to hold on to power and save Zardari from corruption charges. With the upsurge in the Azadi movement, a return to the backchannel will become even more difficult to sell to the Pakistani public. Even Kasuri, the most persistent and ardent advocate of the backchannel in Pakistan, has fallen silent on this issue.

The popular rebellion in Kashmir has upset also the “domestic” part of Delhi’s Kashmir agenda which is focused on engaging the “moderate” APHC faction led by the Mirwaiz in talks on some form of autonomy within the scope of the Indian constitution. On Aug 25, Indian home minister P Chidambaram expressed the hope that in the next few days Delhi would be able to “restart the process of dialogue that will lead to a solution.” In response, Geelani laid down five conditions, which have been endorsed by the Mirwaiz. These include terms that are totally unacceptable to Delhi, like acceptance of Kashmir as an international dispute and the commencement of complete demilitarisation of the state. This has pushed back the prospects of the internal dialogue with Kashmiri parties sought by Delhi, especially after the massacre of a score of peaceful demonstrators in one day last week.

In short, the Kashmiri intifada has wrecked, or at least severely compromised, three main elements of Manmohan Singh’s Kashmir policy: the showcasing of the election to the State Assembly as an endorsement of Indian rule; the resuscitation of the backchannel deal; and the activation of the “internal” track of dialogue with the “moderates.” Besides, this summer’s popular uprising shows once again that even six decades of repressive Indian rule have not succeeded in suppressing the freedom movement. The baton has now been taken up by a new generation of Kashmiris. Instead of the armed struggle of the nineties, they have turned to mass street protests, often organised by educated young men through Facebook and mobile phones. It is no wonder that the Indian establishment and political parties of all hues have been unnerved.

There is every indication that in its desperation, Delhi will resort to even more violence to quell the popular agitation. This was signalled also by the deliberations of the all-parties meeting called by Manmohan Singh last week. All that the meeting decided was to send a delegation of politicians to Kashmir to meet all sections of the people and assess the ground situation. The meeting could not agree even on a token relaxation of India’s iron grip, such as a proposal by Omar Abdullah, the state’s beleaguered chief minister, for a dilution in the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFPSA). Nobody imagines that a change in the law would ease Indian repression in Kashmir, but even such a purely cosmetic measure was vetoed by the Indian armed forces.

An even harsher crackdown against the civilian population is now imminent. The Indian authorities have begun deploying the army to support the state police in enforcing the curfew and to prevent popular protests against the Indian occupation. Large numbers of “miscreants” are being rounded up and a manhunt has been launched to arrest Masarrat Alam Bhat, deputy leader of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, who has played a key part in organising anti-India protests.

The international community has been a silent spectator to the reign of terror unleashed by India. One reason is to be found in the geopolitical plans or strategic interests of the US and other countries of the West. The last time Obama uttered the K-word was nearly two years ago. The Indian reaction was immediate. Since then the US president has carefully steered clear of Kashmir.

Another reason, one even more deplorable, for the indifference of the international community to India’s brutal repression of the Kashmiris, is the failure of the Pakistani government to raise the issue at the international level. In his recently published memoirs, former British prime minister Tony Blair recalls his surprise when during his visit to Pakistan after the 9/11 attacks Musharraf asked him to resolve Palestine rather than the Kashmir issue. The present government has also given the same low priority to Kashmir. In fact it is doubtful if it has a Kashmir policy. Its only response to the recent earth-shaking developments has been to issue two blandly worded statements. One of them calls for “restraint” by the Indian government, suggesting that if less force were used Pakistan would have no objection. The other statement refers to the occupation forces as “security forces” as if they were engaged in a legitimate activity to provide security.

Issuing statements from Islamabad will not be enough. The government must also devise a proactive policy to mobilise international support for the peaceful Azadi movement in the occupied state. Its failure to do so is unforgivable. As an immediate step, the government must forcefully take up the issue at international fora and bilaterally with Washington and other key countries. The prime minister (but please not Zardari) should address the UN General Assembly during the general debate beginning this Thursday and urge the international community to take steps to safeguard the human rights of the Kashmiris. The prime minister should also write letters to key heads of government. In addition, the foreign minister should address the Human Rights Council meeting currently in Geneva. Like the government, our parliament and political parties should also wake up to their responsibility to the people of Kashmir as they face the onslaught of the 700,000-strong Indian occupation force in the state.