Politics of deceit

BY: Hassan Zainagiree

That it is lust for power which holds pre-eminence to anything and everything for pro-Indian political parties has once again scripted its unalloyed truth. Witnessed in, what is hailed as, 'August' and 'sanctified' assembly the drama enacted has vindicated the stand of pro-resistance forces who rubbished the idea of joining political process managed and controlled by New delhi.

The manner in which two regional parties {a} NC which champions the cause of autonomy and b} PDP that swears for self rule acted as mute spectators in scuttling an innocuous resolution moved by independent MLA of Handwara Er. Rashid seeking clemency for parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, has brutally exposed their hypocritical and deceitful politics. That both have succumbed to the dictates of New Delhi reveals the value, weight and essence of’ people’s mandate' they say the people of Kashmir have given to them.

The BJP and Congress which have 'national' interests to serve for scuttling the resolution were expected to behave the way they choose. But the facilitating role the two regional parties played have unmasked their pro-Kashmir credentials. It has reinforced the belief that while hunger for power might make them growl and fight over what is thrown from New Delhi-with rulers in Delhi, incidentally , enjoying their head-butting and bull-fighting -they are seen clinching together in a bond of togetherness as and when it serves the political machinations of New Delhi.

Remember the precariously vulnerable positions of New Delhi when it was struggling to provide some semblance of democratic face to its otherwise garrisoned hold in Kashmir but fellt hamstrung. National conference volunteered to play the Trojan horse,. knowing that a party wearing all India nationalistic traits makes Kashmiris take a terrible fright, Mufti Muhammad , till then a staunch Congress leader , changed his political robes and carnated into new political formation , the PDP, where his soul remained the same only the body morphed up into different exterior. PDP did not act differently. It gyrated its hips and played to the tune of its masters as and when New Delhi asked it to do.

Both NC and PDP outsmarted each other to damage the freedom struggle. Delhi used them as political instruments in repressing and suppressing people of Kashmir.

Each of two tasted power and encrypted their profile on the memory genes of Kashmiris. Each one ruled under the blessings of Indian army and the shadow of AFSPA and PSA. The black laws which gave impunity to the armed forces from courts. While the NC helped creating the Shrine Board which helped outside state people to get membership of the Boards, the PDP accomplice in playing deceitful role in a cabinet decision giving forest land to the Shrine Board {which , as people well anticipated its political ramifications, led to the 2008 uprising}. if Dr. Farroq acted as a willing lackey in agreeing to the Chairman of Unified Head quarters comprising of army, police , CRPF and intelligence sleuths, signaling , albit wrongly to the world, that armed forces are sub-servient to the civilian government, Mufti Syed followed the suit.

The fact of the matter is that law-making bodies in JK have always breached the trust of people . The 'representatives' who get elected to these bodies get the 'mandate' of the people on local issues and governance but after getting 'elected' enact laws which they have no mandate of the people and which often tantamount to violating the autonomy of the state and peoples aspirations

So deeply and radically power have corrupted them that even when an unanimous resolution on autonomy is passed with two-third majority and Delhi pisses on it, the NC dispensation opts to bear with the ignominy than give up power. On the other hand, they remain on their toes not to miss any opportunity of showing their loyalty to Delhi. ‘If Farooq Abdullah’, as Syed Geelani says, ‘signed the death warrant of Shahhed Maqbool Bhat, his son Omer Abdullah, keeping alive the family tradition , rejected the Afzal Guru’s application to be shifted from Tihar jail to Central Jail Srinagar’.

The deceptive politics played by the PDP and the NC over Guru’s issue should not surprise us all. It is power and power alone that they are so energetically circumambulating around. For the sake of power, as their track record shows, they won’t mind even if entire Kashmir nation is hanged. They stand de-robed in their double-speak and double cross. People of Kashmir are too mature not to be fooled by their gimmicks.

AFSPA in Kashmir: "Armed Forces' Say Prevails Anyway"

By: Gowhar Geelani

There is a lot of noise in the media over AFSPA. Ask any senior Indian security official, a turn-coat politician or a retired Army General what AFSPA stands for. "Armed Forces Special Powers Act," they will say. Now pose the same query to an ordinary Kashmiri living there in the hapless Vale for the past two decades. The answer perhaps would be: "Armed Forces' Say Prevails Anyway".

Many experts on India's TV news channels and newspapers are debating the pros and cons of the proposed partial annulment of this draconian Act from a few selected areas of the Kashmir Valley. Much is being said about the "fissures" between the coalition partners in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference and the Congress, over the "abrogation" of the AFSPA.

The glamour scenes of this staged drama are interesting. The lead role is being enacted by none other than Mr Omar Abdullah, the embattled Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Saif-ud-Din Soz, President of the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee, seems satisfied with the role of a supporting actor. The people of Kashmir continue to be the real victims.

According to the Gazette of India, the Armed Forces [Jammu and Kashmir] Special Powers Act received the approval of the Indian President on the 10 September 1990. The Act, however, was deemed to have come into force on the 5 July 1990. What exactly is this Act? Basically, it is an Act that gives certain special powers to members of the armed forces in the disturbed areas in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. "Disturbed area" means an area which is for the time being declared by notification under section 3 to be a disturbed area.

There lies the root of the problem. How is an area declared disturbed and by whom?

The Governor of the state or the Central Government, may, by notification in the official gazette, declare the whole or any part of the state to be a disturbed area. In relation to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the Gazette of India explains, if the Governor of that state or the Union Government, is of the opinion that the whole or any part of the state is in such a disturbed and dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary to prevent- "activities involving terrorist acts directed towards overawing the Government, striking terror in the people or any section of the people, questioning or disrupting the 'sovereignty and territorial integrity' of India, or causing insult to the Indian national flag, the Indian national anthem and the constitution of India; etc.

Special Powers conferred upon members of the armed forces under the AFSPA can roughly be summarized as follows:

(a) Any commissioned officer, warrant officer, non-commissioned officer or any other person of equivalent rank in the armed forces may open fire if he/she is of the opinion that any person is acting in contravention or breach of any law or order;
(b) he/she may destroy any arms dump or any structure used as training camp for armed volunteers or utilized as a hide-out by armed gangs wanted for any offence;
(c) arrest, without warrant, any persons who has committed a cognizable offence or against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that he/she has committed or is about to commit a perceivable offence;
(d) enter and search, without warrant, any premises to make any such arrest as aforesaid;
(e) stop, search and seize any vehicle reasonably suspected to be carrying any person who is a proclaimed offender;
(f) power of search to include powers to break open locks; etc.

At a time when top Indian politicians are selling the news to the entire world about a record number of tourists visiting the Kashmir Valley this season, the massive voter-turn out in the just-concluded Panchayati polls, the successful completion of the holy Amarnath pilgrimage, the presence of only a few hundred gun-wielding youths where there were once thousands, and the state government's focus on the issues of "governance", "development" and "employment generation" in the state, how come many "wise men" in the Indian Parliament and Cabinet then justify the AFSPA in the same breath? Amazing.
Quite amazing is also the fact that as soon as Mr Omar Abdullah made his hasty and controversial announcement in a public meeting [he termed it as "good news"] about the partial withdrawal of the AFSPA, grenades were showered on the few bunkers of the paramilitary force, the CRPF, in Srinagar and South Kashmir. Though the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, a pro-freedom militant group in Kashmir, claimed responsibility for these attacks, many pro-India politicians in the Valley, including the General Secretary of the ruling National Conference, Mustafa Kamal, raised fingers of suspicion towards the vested interests in the Army, the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party as well as pro-freedom leaders. How come a place that was being described as the one fast returning to normalcy can all of sudden go volatile just because of one announcement made by a mercurial Chief Minister?
By the way, many wonder about the status of the judicial probe ordered into the death of a National Conference sympathiser, Haji Syed Mohammed Yousuf Shah, in Police custody on the 30 September. Two fellow National Conference workers, Muhammad Yousuf of Ganderbal and Abdul Salam Reshi of Kokernag, had accused the 61-year-old deceased S M Yousuf Shah of Anantnag, of taking Rupees 1.18 crores from them for "assuring them a ministerial berth and a berth in the J&K Legislative Council".
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of a faction of pro-freedom alliance, the Hurriyat Conference, has said that the Army will not allow revocation of the AFSPA for obvious reasons. Addressing a group of people at Charar-e-Sharief, Budgam, he said: "If pro-India political parties in Kashmir are really sincere, they can repeal the Disturbed Areas Act on the floor of the J&K Legislative Assembly to make the AFSPA null and void."

Meanwhile, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons [APDP] has demanded to end the "culture of impunity" in Kashmir. In its press release, the APDP has said: "In Jammu and Kashmir, the 8000 people who were subjected to enforced disappearance have not disappeared because of the imposition of draconian laws like AFSPA, but due to an institutional policy of repression, where even the draconian laws were defied. AFSPA requires the arrested persons to be brought before the district magistrate within 24 hours, which of course has never happened in Jammu and Kashmir."

Some reports suggest that besides other recommendations the group of interlocutors on Kashmir have also called for a review and phased withdrawal of the AFSPA. Many political commentators in Kashmir have described the trio comprising of Mr. Dileep Padgaonkar, Prof. Radha Kumar and Mr. Ansari as a "bunch of jokers" who wasted one full year to compile a "laughable" report. Mr. Padgaonkar said that the separatists had "missed the bus", but in reality not a single passenger in Kashmir boarded this bus of interlocutors with "one driver, a conductor and a cleaner". Neither did the interlocutor's bus move beyond the main station [the Union Home Ministry] nor it had the fuel in the tank [the petrol prices have seriously gone up!] to take any serious decisions. It did not have a mandate to do that.

Omar Abdullah may be right in his claim that he has Union Home Minister, Mr. Palaniappan Chidambaram in loop on the issue of the AFSPA. But, there is all-powerful Ministry of Defence. Those army personnel found guilty of killing five innocent civilians in South Kashmir area of Pathribal, in 2000, are yet to be punished. That is why many wonder whether Omar Abdullah has the mandate to take any unilateral decision on the issue as contentious as the removal of the AFSPA. When it comes to Kashmir, the Indian Army has the final say!

Need of Conflict Resolution

By: Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai

The issue of ‘Conflict Resolution’ is indeed a pertinent topic especially in this volatile world of ours. I would like to share the prospects of peace for one of the longest continuing conflicts on our planet - kashmir

I am confident that all of us are aware that there are multiple ways by which we can resolve conflicts. The most pragmatic being through dialogue and negotiations, whether that be through the auspices of Track I [official dialogue with state representatives] or Track II Negotiations, which are considered to be un-official, but have become an effective medium to finding solutions to many conflicts, both violent ones and others.

Obviously, the most prevalent perception about ‘Conflict Resolution’ is that it is dependent upon the political process of negotiation, mediation, and other forms of non-violent dispute resolution. However, while this is a correct assumption, it is important for all of us, who are considering venturing into the domain of ‘Conflict Resolution’ as practitioners, to take note that firstly, the greatest hurdle is to get all parties involved in a conflict to come to the negotiating table.

Secondly, the terms of reference should be formulated in such a manner so that they are seen to be fair and amicable to all stakeholders. These are daunting tasks, bearing in mind that stakeholders are often entrenched in their various positions and are inclined to stick to their demands before finally opting to come to the negotiating table.

Signs of progress in any ‘Conflict Resolution’ can be measured only if all parties involved in a conflict choose to come to the negotiating table. Even if the parties do not achieve a final solution to their problems, the parties concerned would have at least been able to establish contact with each other, with the aim of discussing the various contending issues, which may well end up by them agreeing to disagree.

The crucial task in getting the parties to the negotiating table is through the initiation of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), prior to embarking upon the negotiating process. This would allow all parties to attain a sense of trust and gain confidence that their negotiating partner would at most act in good faith if a resolution to their dispute were to finally be endorsed through the negotiation process.

We have seen CBM’s succeeded in forging an element of trust between New -Delhi and Islamabad. The international community commended both these countries on their flexibility throughout the CBM initiative and hailed that initiative as a stepping-stone towards lasting peace between the two countries. However, some Kashmir centric CBM’s need to be initiated to create an atmosphere for dialogue, i.e., demilitarizing Kashmir, repealing of black laws, releasing of political prisoners, and allowing the right of freedom of expression & assembly to the people.

India and Pakistan can make peace with each other. I have no objection to that materializing, and nor would anyone else, as all of us would like to see peace in that region. However, what needs to be highlighted is that a major stumbling block in resolving the Kashmir conflict is the failure of the two disputing states to recognize Kashmiri Leadership as a legitimate partner in the peace process. One cannot loose sight of the fact that the Kashmiris are the ones who are most affected in the ongoing conflict. They are the ones who are shouldering most of the casualties. It is thus pertinent to ask: “Why isn’t the Kashmiri Leadership regarded as an equal partner in the negotiating process, bearing in mind that the conflict is of paramount importance to determining the future of their land and people?” Thus their basic human rights too need to be taken into consideration and not just the establishment of peace between India and Pakistan.

The Kashmir Issue needs to be resolved once and for all to the satisfaction of all three parties - the Governments of India & Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. All sides involved in this most unfortunate and tragic dispute must come to terms with the reality that the time for peace is now. The reality is that flexibility must be exercised by all parties in order to act in good faith, and that the playing field must be leveled at the negotiating table. Because it is almost impossible to find a solution of the Kashmir dispute that respects all the sensitivities of Pakistan, values all the sentiments of India and keeps in tact the whole State of Jammu & Kashmir. Yet an imaginative solution demand flexibility from all parties concerned.

AFSPA debate meant to overshadow mass grave issue: Bar

Kashmir High Court Bar Association Monday said that debate over revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) by ruling coalition partners was meant to overshadow the growing public and international opinion about unmarked mass grave issue.

General Secretary the lawyers’ body, Ghulam Nabi Shaheen said that association wants complete demilitarization of the state. “Neither National Conference nor the Congress Party is interested in withdrawal of AFSPA but have enforced a debate on an issue to over shadow the gravity and increasing public and international opinion about unmarked mass grave issue,” he said, according to statement issued here.

It is pertinent to mention, he said, that even the European Parliament and the British Parliament debated upon the mass grave issue which has become a cause of concern for the government of India at international level.

“The international attention with regard to the unmarked mass grave issue has caused embracement to the Indian establishment in Jammu and Kashmir and across the globe; therefore, the so called state Govt. has been used to enforce a debate to mesmerize the public opinion and create a mirage to deceive the international opinion,” he said.

Shaheen said that the denial of the 15th Corpus Commander of Indian Army General Syed Atta Husnain about the discussions with regard to the withdrawal of the AFSPA in unified command meetings belies the Chief Minister Abdullah’s assertion that the sensitive issue was discussed in the unified command council meetings.

|Kashmir Dispatch|

Kashmir's children 'mistreated in adult jails'

Kashmir's children 'mistreated in adult jails'

Hundreds of youths detained in state prisons during protests in Indian-administered Kashmir last year say they have been abused and mistreated by the authorities, reports the BBC's Riyaz Masroor in Srinagar. Umar, 16, responds with a blank look when asked to recall his 35-day stay in prison last year. Jailed at 15 for throwing stones at policemen near his hometown of Pattan, 35km (22 miles) north of Srinagar city, Umar now fears any man in uniform. Umar and dozens of his fellow protesters say they were first detained in an abandoned matchstick factory. The place, they allege, served as a forced interrogation chamber of the paramilitary Special Task Force (STF) which has consistently denied all allegations that it has mistreated detainees. Those who were held say that they were later shifted by the authorities to a district jail in Baramulla, 30km (19 miles) from their homes. Umar is now out on bail, but he still faces several charges, including arson and attempt to murder, which he and his family deny. He is among hundreds of boys who were detained during the 2010 protests. Local rights groups have long criticised the state government's policy of lodging boys in adult jails. In the rest of India, offenders under 18 years are treated as juveniles and sent to separate detention facilities. 'A joke' But in Kashmir, boys above 16 are treated as adults. Rights groups have been demanding that the state government amend the detention law to make it similar to the rest of India. Kashmir-based child rights lawyer Abdul Rashid Hanjura says that the current system of dealing with juvenile offenders is "little short of a joke". "They jail boys aged between 16 and 18 and then claim they have no juveniles [underage boys] in detention," he said. "We want the state law to be on a par with the Indian law." Rights activists say holding an underage person in an adult prison amounts to a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to which India is a signatory. Umar and hundreds like him say that they were detained in adult prisons even when they were under 16. Umar says that while he was not tortured, he was initially beaten with a bamboo stick at the local police station. But he shivers when recalling his five-week ordeal in prison alongside convicted thieves and hardened criminals. Umar's parents and siblings say that they have noticed a change in his behaviour which sometimes is marked by violent outbursts. Mr Hanjura says detaining teenagers in the absence of a juvenile justice system is only going to create more trouble in future. "When the boys spend time with convicts and adult criminals, they undergo psychological trauma which creates a sense of revenge," he says. 'Rebellion' Umar aspired to become a doctor before he was arrested, but now he has lost interest in studies. He is required to appear before a trial court every month. "Every time, the judge asks me my name and marks the date for the next hearing..

I wish he would listen to me." He says life has changed for him after his jail term. "Earlier I used to play unmindfully. Now I need to remember the date of the next trial. If I miss it, the policemen will knock on the door. I am scared." Leading psychiatrist Dr Arshad Hussain says young detainees tend to pick up adult behavior faster when in jail. "When they are out, parents complain of rebellion but they don't realize the scale of the psychological impact," he said. The state's Internal Security Minister Nasir Aslam refused to comment on the allegations. But officials say the government has tried to remedy the problem, recently setting up a "juvenile home" on the outskirts of Srinagar. This secluded and quiet three-storey building is situated in the scenic surroundings of the famed Harvan Mughal garden. But its picturesque qualities are lost on the teenagers who are lodged here. They argue that they would be better off in mainstream prisons because they feel so lonely. 'No rehabilitation' "No sports, no education. We only sleep," says a boy facing murder charges. The home now houses fewer than 10 juveniles - most of them booked for throwing stones at the security forces or for shouting anti-India slogans. "We'll soon offer sports and other fun activities besides moral education," says its administrator Bashir Ahmad. Campaigners say that besides setting up the home, the authorities have done little to rehabilitate juvenile offenders rounded up during last year's anti-India street protests. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah recently announced an amnesty for those not facing serious accusations, but many of the boys charged with stone-throwing or attending a procession either remain in jail or are on bail facing trial. Offenders are generally charged under the draconian Public Safety Act which allows police to detain a person for longer periods without trial and recommend a minimum two-year prison term. The government says it wants to soften the law to reduce this punishment to six months. But that has not impressed separatist groups who blame the government for inflicting "mass punishment" on the people of Indian-administered Kashmir for "rising against injustice and repression".

|BBC|

Dr. Ali Jan: The Lukmaan Of Kashmir

Medicine And Ali Jan Sound Synonymous In The Kashmiri Context Writes Dr Javid Iqbal

Some called him Luqman, the age old medical legend. Many considered him the finest physician Kashmir has ever had; the ones who worked with him conceded the highest pedestal in the profession to him without dissent. The ones taught by him - I have had the privilege to be one of them - remember him for the lessons that remain imprinted in memory, four to five decades from the date his grace descended on the lecture halls of GMC. The tale and the trail of the legendary physician live on, and it is highly unlikely to fade away in foreseeable future! Prof (Dr) Ali Jan was born in an age of rapidly changing times. The period itself is significant, a period of transition, a period of change, and a period of high drama, as centuries without much of a change yielded to rapidly changing times. European renaissance had taken the occident to heights of glory, though some moral questions remained in the West. The orient, the East might have retained its chastity; quest for moral perfection, however, deprived it of material comforts, and it did not translate into taking educational strides. Western education was erroneously taken to be a polluting influence, hence resented. In such a scenario, to qualify for lower grades in any academic stream was a quality, few could attain. To attain the highest grade in the highly rated profession of medicine, few could dream of! It was given to the selected few to aim for and attain it. SMHS Hospital! Old hands much before GMC came into being in 1959 related with relish the tales of earlier years…of early fifties when Fazl-ur-Rehman the surgeon wielded his scalpel deftly and Dr. Jan solved medical mysteries. Diagnosis, the chief element of medicine came to him as easily as the breath of fresh air. What eluded others, he could read like the palm of his hand. By the time, GMC got established; Dr. Jan was already a legend. Profession apart, his social stock soared to dizzy heights. Healing touch apart, he had developed a rapport with high and the mighty, to an extent where even power corridors started having a feel of his grace. Recently I was wonderstruck when an old hand in politics related to me an episode, wherein some political bigwigs entrusted Prof. Jan with drafting an important political document. Mirza M. Afzal Beg, the constitutional expert, the old political hand of Kashmir who would normally do it was missing. Dr. Jan offered to try; later Beg could hardly believe that this could come from a doctor in medicine. Such was the diversity of Prof. Jan-the legend carries on, as more and more water flows down Vitasta. He is remembered, related, and renowned to the extent that medicine and Prof. Jan sound synonymous in the Kashmiri context. Precisely in that context, he could easily be placed in the galaxy of famous Kashmiris. Scores would attest to the fact in the nook and corner of the vale. With all the accolades, a controversy of sorts developed. Sangh Parivar leader Shama Prasad Mukerjee’s death in custody in fifties, while he was under Dr. Jan’s treatment has been adversely commented upon in some political narratives. Mukerjee had been booked for venturing into J&K State without a permit, as was the regulation in early fifties. It would be beyond Dr. Jan not to give his patient the best he could, Mukerjee or anyone else. To cast aspersions on the manner of treatment could only be the handiwork of a sick mind. Dr. Jan’s fair name was needlessly dragged into controversy, which hardly affected his high professional standing and societal rating. Professional standing! He was an epitome of excellence in clinical medicine, in an age when para-clinical diagnostic tools were limited to laboratory investigations and radiological techniques, few could afford. The modern imaging techniques—ultrasonographic [USG] computerized topographic [CT] magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] were unknown. With barely a stethoscope as the diagnostic tool he would pick up, what eluded others in clinical examination; often merely the history of the patient had him make an impression. Some attributed it to his sixth sense; others would relate it to his constant study. As his students, we would often see him engrossed in study in his SMHS hospital chambers. Societal Rating! My father Prof. Saif-ud-Din - an academic- was his batch mate in S.P.College and a life long friend, he predeceased him and Prof. Jan paid him glowing tributes on radio Kashmir. It remains a prized taped possession. I remember an occasion when my father cajoled him to visit a relation on death bed, as he was retiring after a tired day’s work. “Saif” protested Prof. Jan [as he would always call him] “didn’t I see him and tell you that it is terminal case of cancer with no hope for remedy”. “Yes, you did, that was in your clinic” retorted my father “but his sons say if you do not visit him before he dies in his home, people might accuse them of allowing their father to die without Dr. Jan seeing him”! Could there be a greater tribute to the genius, whose students we have the privilege of being! The road that takes us to the tertiary care center SKIMS bears his name—rightly so, as long as he lived he provided the ultimate care!