PaK leader leaves for Srinagar to attend wedding

Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, the former premier of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, today left on his first visit to the Jammu and Kashmir to attend the wedding of a friend's son and to meet Hurriyat leaders.

Chaudhry, a leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, was issued a visa by the Indian High Commission to visit Srinagar to attend the wedding of the son of his close friend Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali.

He flew from Lahore to Delhi this afternoon and will travel to Srinagar tomorrow, one of his aides told PTI. During his stay in Srinagar, Chaudhry will meet representatives of the Kashmiri community and leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the aide said. This is the first time that such a senior leader from PaK is visiting the Indian side and the visit will provide an opportunity for interactions and exchange of ideas, the aide said.

Chaudhry is one of the leading Pakistan-based Kasmhir lobbyists.He was continuously elected to the PoK Assembly during 1985-2006. Watali, a leading businessman of Srinagar, has invited other political leaders from PaK, including Muslim Conference chief Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, to his son's wedding to be held on September 17.

British parliament debates Indian Held Kashmir

In a significant development, the first of its nature, a general debate was held on Kashmir in the House of Commons, in London, on Thursday.

The debate was initiated by a conservative MP, Steve Baker, who demanded that an International Commission should investigate the human rights violations in Jammu & Kashmir, KMS reported. Referring to an Amnesty International report MP Baker said, each year hundreds of people are held under the black law, Public Safety Act without charge or trial with many exposed to higher risk of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. tabling the motion, Mr Baker said, we should be strong advocates for the rights of Kashmiris.

A Labour MP, Shabana Mahmood maintained that the Kashmir dispute had turned into one of the most dangerous conflicts in the world, which needed urgent attention. She said that the suppression of an uprising in Indian Occupied Kashmir had led to grave human rights violations.Several MPs including lan Austin, Jonathan Lord and Andrew Griffiths said that the right to self-determination was the only way to resolve the dispute.

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Kashmir panel wants international probe into unmarked graves

A day after the state human rights panel directed the Jammu and Kashmir government to begin a probe into the more than 7000 unmarked graves in various parts of the state, the association of parents of disappeared persons (APDP) maintained that only an international probe would be "credible, independent and representative".

Talking to IANS here Saturday, Khurram Parvez, coordinator of the APDP and liaison person of the International People’s Tribunal on Kashmir (IPTK), said: “The state human rights commission (SHRC) has ordered that an independent, credible and representative probe must be held into the unmarked graves in north Kashmir and those in Poonch and Rajouri districts of the Jammu region.
“We believe only an international probe would be credible, independent and representative.

“The SHRC has shifted the responsibility on the state government. They have ordered the state government to create a structured independent enquiry. We still hold that only an international probe would be impartial.”

The human rights activist and coordinator of the APDP said: “We hope the state government will immediately start DNA profiling of all the nearly 7,000 unmarked graves, 2,730 of which have been found in north Kashmir and 3,844 in Poonch and Rajouri districts.


“The SHRC has not been clear in its order on the forensic examination of those buried in these graves. There has to be a thorough forensic examination of the buried persons because we want to know how and why the buried persons were killed which cannot be found out just through the DNA profiling.”The SHRC had passed on order here Friday directing the state government to start a structured independent probe into the unmarked graves identified by its investigating wing.On the plea of the APDP, the SHRC had also extended its order pertaining to the mass graves in north Kashmir to those the APDP said existed in the Poonch and Rajouri districts of the Jammu region.

The SHRC had also asked for creation of a compensatory mechanism by the state government which must be put in place for the next of kin of the victims. The SHRC order directed the state home department, the director general of the police (DGP) and the district magistrates of the concerned districts to speed up the investigating and the prosecuting process in connection with the unmarked graves.

The security agencies, however, continue to maintain that those buried in the unmarked graves are either foreign or local guerrillas who were killed in gunfights with the security forces close to the line of control (LOC) after infiltrating into the state. “The traditional of marking graves is an urban practice. In majority of rural areas the graveyards are full of unmarked graves.

“When killed, the slain militants are handed over to the locals by the police for burial as per the Islamic practices. Yes, when a local militant was killed close to the LOC, attempts have invariably been made for identification and such identities are recorded with the local police,” said a senior intelligence officer here.

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Brutish Indian Authorities thrash Indian journo unnecessarily in Kashmir

David Devadas, journalist, and author of In Search of a Future, the Story of Kashmir, was beaten by the police in Srinagar on last Monday. Devadas says that he is worried about his life after the incident.

In a letter written to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Devadas said that on September 5, when he was crossing the Rambagh bridge in his car in evening in heavy traffic, he heard a loud bang at the back of his car. His car was hit by another car.

Image: David Devadas shows the injuries he sustained after policemen thrashed him last Monday

It was a security vehicle which was part of a convoy. One of the vehicles had a car flying the national flag. Devadas claims, "Those who were in this convoy had apparently got the impression that my car was obstructing their way, and became angry with me for this reason."

What followed after was "a terribly upsetting experience" for Devadas. He explains, "How negatively many ordinary citizens of Kashmir experience the State."

Particularly during the disturbed period over the past two decades, the armed forces have too often been the face of the State most visible to the people. Increasingly, over the past few years, it is the Jammu and Kashmir police rather than central forces that have been the leading interface between the State and the people, says Devadas.

After few minutes a traffic policeman stopped his vehicle. They wanted him to leave his vehicle and hand it over to them. He was asked to wait on the road. Devadas requested that he has an appointment with former MP Jaya Jaitley, but the police didn't listen to his plea.

Devadas found that he was illegally detained. He called the Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir Range, SM Sahai. He could not find him. He kept the message with Sahai's assistant who picked up the phone. The policemen kept insisting that Devadas should hand over his vehicle and also go with them to the police station. That was a scary proposal in a city like Srinagar.

In few minutes, more policemen came and started hitting him with hands and metal lathis and abused him. In spite of such serious assault, policemen have filed an FIR against Davadas, saying that he made a `jaan-leva hamla' (lethal attack) against them when their convoy had passed his car.

Devadas says, "At no point of time during this incident did I resort to using force against police persons, even in self-defence. They further made a baseless allegation that I had a pistol. I do not own any pistol, and I made it clear to them that I was not carrying any pistol. On mentioning that I was a journalist, they threatened that they would teach me a lesson in the police station. Further, they continued to use profanities and issued threats."

Devadas believes that "outrageous allegation" that he possessed a pistol was police's excuse to use physical violence against him.

Devadas, who lives in Kashmir since long, knew that it's not wise to accompany policemen to police station. He insisted that he should be checked right there with help of witnesses.

"I requested him to search me on the spot in front of passers-by who were witnesses before taking me anywhere. I told him the men in the security detail had accused me of having a pistol and that I therefore wished for the veracity of this allegation to be established in front of independent witnesses from the public." says Devadas.

However, he was not given any choice. Nobody agreed to search him. He was forced to sit in police vehicle. "Even after having volunteered to board the vehicle, the police personnel, instead of respecting my action, seized me by my hair and pulled, pushed, kicked and forced me into the back of the jeep. My shirt was torn across my torso at this point. In the jeep, I was further beaten, abused and kicked, while my head was held down at the floor of the jeep by my hair. I was unsure of my fate, and what would follow inside the police station."

When Devadas was bleeding in the police station, various policemen kept asking him where his pistol is.

Only when the deputy superintendent of police came the assault stopped.

He was taken into his room. Here Devadas claims that the station house officer completely twisted the facts, and fabricated a false story stating that that Devadas was beaten on the street by people.

Devadas has written to CM Abdullah, "Sir, I am deeply distressed at my discovery thus of the ease and impunity with which guardians of the law utter bald-faced falsehood. I am also concerned, sir, that I was not provided with a copy of my medico-legal examination at the Bone and Joints Hospital at Barzulla. I was taken to this hospital directly from the police station that night."

Devadas alleges that when he was beaten by police mercilessly policemen taunted that, "Get your home ministry to withdraw the disturbed areas order" that gives him such power.

Devadas has written to CM that, "He also told me angrily that what had happened to me was nothing compared to what Kashmiri journalists have experienced. Further, he told me that this sort of thing happens all over India [ Images ]; he knows this, he added, since he has been an 'international police officer."

Devadas has requested that, 'There is an urgent need to address and check the untrammeled abuse of powers by the police personnel, and other arms of the State, in Jammu and Kashmir. In relation to this incident, a strict action may be taken against these erring police personnel, who unleashed violence on a civilian without any provocation or any legal reason."

Since last 25 years, Davadas has been writing about conflict in Kashmir when he was working for India Today, Economic Times, Business Standard and Gulf News

To do research for his book he left his regular job and moved to Kashmir. Currently, Davadas is associated with Jamia Millia Islamia and the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.

For Devadas life will never be same again. He writes to Abdullah that, "After this experience, I am apprehensive about my safety. Through that evening, it became clear to me that rules, procedures and court guidelines are treated with contempt by the police force. I would be grateful, sir, if you would kindly advise me on how best to proceed and whether you consider it safe for me to remain in Kashmir."

On advise of fellow journalists, Devadas didn't file any FIR, although the police has filed FIR accusing him of 'lethal attack' on them.

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‘Kashmir will erupt if Afzal Guru is hanged’

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chairman, Hurriyat Conference (M), tells Baba Umar why a peaceful protest is not possible in Kashmir

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced the release of 1,200 youths arrested for stone pelting. Do you welcome it?
Not at all. It is political gimmickry. ‘Granting amnesty’ is a wrong term used by Omar. These youths are not criminals. They were reacting to the situation created last year in which over 120 people, mostly students, were shot at. There is no concept of peaceful protests in Kashmir. The state government never allows it. Kashmir isn’t Delhi where Anna Hazare can lead peaceful protests.

You talked about Anna Hazare. Are you impressed with the way he led protesters?
It was good to see one man leading a war against corruption. But let’s say we start following Anna by launching peaceful protests to demand our basic right, how will the government react? They won’t allow it. They have different stands when it comes to Kashmir. Many things have been done here in the name of nationalism and security. You see, no newspaper carried the issue of mass graves. The media walks only a certain distance in Kashmir.

There has been no reaction from the separatists over Anna’s movement. In Manipur, Irom Sharmila has called upon Anna to visit and support her crusade against the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA)...
We can always ask Anna to come to Kashmir and raise his voice against human rights violations in the state. We will discuss it in the next meeting of Hurriyat members. We may even send a letter to him asking him to join our crusade. If he is a Gandhian, he should see what has been happening in the Valley for the past 22 years.

The CM said youngsters were used and then forgotten.
I resent this statement. Remember 2008 and 2010 was a people’s movement. Leaders were led by people. The youth was angry. The government choked the movement by force.

You’re suddenly talking about corruption and release of employees’ arrears. Many say your separatism is now restricted to civic and social issues only?
We can never sideline the main issue, which is the Kashmir dispute. But at the same time, we can’t keep our eyes shut to other things. The Kashmir dispute may take time to settle but we have highlighted other issues like the illegal construction of the Kishanganga power project in Gurez.

But Pakistan is also constructing a dam on the same river on its side of the LoC?
We are not okay with that. On this issue, both sides have treated us badly. I remember the World Bank was ready to invest in power projects in the state. Why should we give these projects to NHPC? We are not against development but we are for better deals. It’s simple economics.

In his visit to J&K, US Senator John McCain met Governor NN Vohra and the CM, but no separatist leader. Do you see a change in US policy on Kashmir?
The US has its own interests in India developing economically. It was a reversal of what Barack Obama had said when he was elected president. The world is talking about Arab Spring and Libyan uprising, but we aren’t seeing similar terms for Kashmiris who have been fighting for 63 years. This is double standards.

You recently warned New Delhi over hanging Afzal Guru.
Hanging Afzal would be disastrous for Kashmir. There is a strong sentiment in Kashmir against it both in the way his case was handled and how it was politicised. Kashmir will erupt if he is hanged.

Baba Umar is a Correspondent with Tehelka.
babaumar@tehelka.com

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Forget Libya or Syria. Worry About Kashmir

By : Eric Margolis

Does anyone remember Kashmir? Well, we certainly should. If nuclear war ever breaks out, the most likely place would be in Kashmir.

The fabled state of Kashmir lies in majestic isolation amid the towering mountain ranges of the Himalayas and Karakoram that separate the torrid plains of north India from the steppes and deserts of Central Asia.

Nineteenth Century geopoliticians called Kashmir one of the world’s primary strategic pivots. My book War at the Top of the World was written to help warn of the manifest dangers coming from this complex, little-known confrontation which is the world’s longest running border conflict.


The state human rights commission of the Indian-ruled portion of divided Kashmir just reported its investigators had found 2,156 bodies buried in unmarked graves in 38 different locations. Most were young men. Many bore bullets wounds.

Grisly and horrifying as this discovery was, there was hardly a peep from India’s allies, notably the United States and Britain, who have raised such a hue and cry over alleged civilian deaths in Libya, Iran and Syria. India shrugged off the report.

There may be many more bodies to be found. Most, or all, were the product of the decades-old uprising by Kashmir’s Muslim majority against often brutal Indian rule that the outside world has largely ignored.


Historic Kashmir, with its distinctive Indo-European and Tibetan-Mongol peoples, has ended up divided between three nations: India, Pakistan, and China.

Some nine million Kashmiris live in the Indian-ruled two thirds of Kashmir; over three million in the Pakistani portion, known as "Azad Kashmir," or in Pakistan proper, and small numbers in the frigid, 15,000-20,000 ft high Aksai Chin plateau which is controlled by China.

Kashmir’s Tibetan-race people mostly live in Indian-controlled Ladakh, long called "Little Tibet." There, Tibetan culture has fared far better under Indian rule than in Chinese-ruled Tibet.

When Imperial Britain divided India in 1947, the Hindu maharaja of Kashmir opted to join the new Indian Union. But 77% of his people were Muslim (20% were Hindu, 3% Sikh and Buddhist). Muslim Kashmiris wanted to join newly-created Pakistan. Fighting erupted. India and Pakistan rushed in troops.

The cease-fire line that ended the fighting has become the de facto border between the Indian and Pakistani ruled parts of Kashmir. India claims all of Kashmir, including Chinese-occupied Aksai Chin. Pakistan also claims all of Kashmir. In 1948, the United Nations called for a plebiscite in Kashmir to decide this issue. Pakistan accepted; India refused the UN resolution.

India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars over Kashmir and innumerable border clashes, some of which I have witnessed. Last week, three Pakistani soldiers were killed on Kashmir’s de facto border (called the Line of Control) by Indian fire.

Today, hundreds of thousands of Pakistani and Indian troops confront one another on Kashmir’s cease-fire line, and further south in the plains of Punjab. They are backed by growing numbers of tactical nuclear weapons that are on a three-minute hair-trigger alert, making Kashmir the world’s most dangerous border.

Kashmiri Muslims have resisted Indian rule since 1947. In the early 1990’s, massive uprisings erupted against Indian rule, which was enforced by 500,000 troops and ill-disciplined paramilitary police. Pakistan’s intelligence service, ISI, began training Kashmir "mujahidin" and sending them across the border to reinforce the uprising. But Pakistan’s covert support waned after 9/11.


Indian authorities blamed the uprising on "cross-border terrorism." Indian security forces struck back with maximum brutality, leading India’s human rights groups to denounce the repression.

Muslim villages were burned; suspects were tortured; Muslim women were gang-raped by Indian border police; large numbers of young Muslim men were taken from villages and simply disappeared.

Now we know where they went - filling many of the unmarked graves discovered last month.

An estimated 80,000 Kashmiris have so far died in the uprising, the majority Muslims. Muslims also committed bloody atrocities against Hindus and Sikhs. Now, Indian rights groups are demanding that India’s high courts investigate the crimes that have been committed in Kashmir, put an end to them, and punish the guilty parties.

Continued selective moral outrage on our part is unacceptable. India’s allies must encourage Delhi to face this ugly issue and end this blight on India’s democracy and good name. The outside world has to tell Delhi that if it wants to be a respected world power and have a seat on the UN Security Council, it must end the killing and torture in Kashmir. Pakistan must be reminded to stop stirring the pot.

Resolving the Kashmir dispute will eliminate the gravest danger faced by mankind: an India-Pakistan nuclear exchange that could kill an estimated 2 million initially, 100 million thereafter, and spread clouds of radioactive dust around the globe.

Kashmir has poisoned relations between sister nations Pakistan and India who are hopelessly locked in this sterile conflict. Desperately poor India and Pakistan waste tens of billions on military spending because of Kashmir. Clever Indian diplomacy has long kept the Kashmir conflict in the shadows.

Time now for the world to get involved. The solution: let all the borders fade away. Turn Kashmir into an autonomous, demilitarized free trade zone.




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