Petition to UN Secretary General..
DIVERSITY-USA
A National Democratic Think Tank on Minority Issues
3145 Gilbert Ave., Roseburg , OR , USA
Fax & Tel: 541-9578414
Mr. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary General
United Nations Organization Date: April 12, 2012
UN HQ NY , NY
Sub: United Nations betrayal of the people of Jammu & Kashmir , India
Ref: UN demand that India repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
(AFSPA) from militant and terrorist infested areas.
Dear Secretary General,
In a recent public statement Mr. Christof Heyns, a U.N Special Rapporteur, has demanded that India repeal its security related law, “The Armed Forces Special Powers Act” (AFSPA), from militant and terrorist infested areas in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) State and in its other States in the North Eastern Region since such laws had no role in a democracy. Like scores of other UN officials who previously visited Kashmir from the West Mr. Heyns also ignored the existing ground realities and favored Jihadists and terrorists as against the people craving for peace and normalcy. Here we would like to deal with J&K since the UN has been debating and dealing with the Kashmir issue ever since the formation of India and Pakistan . To state briefly, the role of the world body relevant to this issue during the past 63 years has been disgustingly poor, irrational and hugely guided by the wishes and desires of the cold war antagonists. In its latest initiative asking India to repeal AFSPA, which in actuality means restoring the freedom of terrorists, Islamists and militants, the UN has betrayed the peace loving people of Kashmir who have waited for more than six decades for the removal of occupation of their territory by the external aggressors that include Pakistan and China and for unification of the State. The patriotic people of Kashmir have suffered enormous losses of lives and properties at the hands of terrorists yet the UN wants India to restore their freedom. It is clear from this policy that the UN does not hesitate to support terrorists, Islamists, murderers and plunderers if its manipulators ask it to do so. The history of UN betrayals in Kashmir runs deep but here we produce some noteworthy examples:
The UN betrayed Kashmiris by not recognizing the accession of J&K State to the Republic of India legally and constitutionally executed by Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of the state, on Oct. 26, 1947. The accession enjoyed over whelming support of the people and their leader Sheikh Abdullah. The instrument of accession was executed in accordance with the provisions and processes of the Independence of India Act duly adopted by the British Parliament.
The UN betrayed Kashmiris by not removing the illegal occupation of J&K territories by Pakistan and China . Both of these countries in collusion like land grabbers and expansionists had committed unprovoked aggression against the J&K State and occupied nearly half of the State;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris by not acting against the aggressors for radically altering the status quo in the occupied territories. The maintenance of status quo was a binding requirement under the provisions of the Security Council Resolution passed on March 30, 1951;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris by not demanding Pakistan, the epicenter of Islamic Jihad, first demolish and destroy the terrorist training camps, Jihad factories and militant organs set up throughout the PoK and Pak frontiers for destroying peace and tranquility in J&K. Osama bin Laden who resided in Pakistan was the number one enemy of the United States and was one of the front line generals of this civilizational war;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris by not stopping and punishing Pakistan for merging Kashmir’s northern territories with Pakistan and placing that entire area directly under Islamabad administration. By doing so Pakistan had seriously violated the directive of the Security Council;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris by not wiping out Pakistan led Mujahideen, Taliban, Al Qaeda, locally built Huriyat and other Islamist organizations for infiltrating in to J&K, launching Islamic crusade, ethnic cleansing, genocide, expelling more than a million ethnic minorities, becoming instrumental for killing more 100,000 Kashmiris with terrorist, Jihadi and militant attacks;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris when it did not stop Pakistan led Islamists from taking forcible control of all movable and immovable properties, businesses, institutions, jobs and professions belonging to ethnic minorities in the Indian part of Kashmir . The world body did not give a damn when the Islamists destroyed and looted hundreds of temples and places of worship belonging to non-Muslim minorities and took control of their estates and institutions;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris when it did not recognize the ousted non-Muslim minorities of Kashmir as refugees and/or internally displaced persons. It did not provide them necessary aid and relief as it had done in other places nor did it take any action towards restoring their human rights, civil, property, religious and political rights. Even now a large number of them survive as homeless wanderers around India and the globe. Countless appeals, petitions and representations to various organs of the UN including your office and the Human Rights Commission brought no relief;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris when in 1998/99, Mr. Feodar Starcevic, Director UN Information Center stationed at New Delhi, India, declined to take action on an appeal by a delegation of the victims of terrorism and Islamic Jihad for UN Secretary General’s intervention and for recognizing them as IDPs on the pretext that such action would amount to meddling into the internal affairs of India. But now like a hypocrite Mr. Christof Heyns, the special UN Rapporteur, in asking India to repeal its security law did exactly the same.
The UN betrayed Kashmiris when it completely disregarded and violated the emphatic declaration of Mr. Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General, to the effect that UN resolutions on Kashmir had lost their force and that the issue of plebiscite was redundant. Clearly a junior official of the UN seriously violated and contradicted the public statement of the Ex-Secretary General yet he was neither disciplined nor was he corrected.
The UN betrayed Kashmiris when it did not direct Pakistan to stop ethnic cleansing in PoK where the population of non-Muslims (Pandits, Sikhs, Dogras, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and others) used to be 20 to 25%. Today there is not a single member of these communities left there. In characteristic Islamist method they were killed, driven out of the country or forcibly converted to Islam;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris by not taking stern action against Pakistan when in 1963 it concluded an illegal boundary agreement with China and bartered away more than 5180 square kilometers forming Kashmir territory to gain Chinese support against India . Islamabad ignored the fact that Kashmir, presently under its illegal occupation, was well within the sovereign domain of India and it had no right to hand over its control to yet another expansionist country. This act of Pakistan constituted a serious breach of the UNCIP resolutions of 13th August, 1948 and Jan. 5, 1949. These serious violations did not bother the lords of the Security Council who deliberately remained hibernating;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris when it did not punish and extract a heavy price from Pakistan nor clipped its wings after it launched one after the other unprovoked wars against India in1948, 1965, 1971, and 1999 to take forcible control of Kashmir . The single ground for Pakistan’s claim upon Kashmir is the Muslim religion of its people yet Islamabad showed no hesitation or reluctance in handing over to China more than 5180 square kilometers of Kashmir’s land without bothering to ascertaining the views of Kashmiris;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris when it did not condemn, intervene and punish
Pakistan for transferring de facto control of Gilgit, Baltistan, Hunza and Nagar regions, (72,971 Km) parts of J&K State within the Indian sovereignty but under the illegal occupation of Pakistan , to China for crushing a strong autonomy movement by Shiia Muslims. These non-Sunni Muslims had launched a popular rebellion against Pakistani iron fisted Sunni rule. To oblige its partner in crime, according to the available reports, China has detailed an estimated 20,000 members of its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) not only to bring rebellious Shiias under control and through brutal means bring them to their knees but also to build a fast rail link, Old Silk Road and Karakoram Highway . These roads will enable China to extend its grip on the region and speed up its tankers from China to the Persian Gulf in 48 hours as against 25 days it takes now. Pakistan has condemned this portion of the Kashmiri Muslim population to be ruled by Chinese PLA (military rule) and democracy, freedom, government of the people and Islamic rule all have been bid good-bye. Furthermore, the Chinese are building some 22 huge tunnels on these roads without disclosing their dimensions and purpose. It is believed that they would be big enough to house missiles and other modern weaponry. For maintaining the occupation uninterruptedly the PLA personnel are building permanent enclaves for housing the occupation authority and administration;
The UN betrayed Kashmiris by tricking India in to accepting its nuclear disciplinary regime thus prohibiting New Delhi from producing and or deploying nuclear weapons for its defense. On the other hand China and Pakistan both possess nuclear weapons and are free from the nuclear disciplinary regime of the UN. Therefore, they can move their weapons freely on the newly built Old Silk Road and Karakoram Highway from Tibet to Baluchistan, very close to the boundaries of J&K State . The presence and close proximity of these deadly weapons to Kashmir and India ’s volatile region seriously jeopardizes the security of the rest of J&K state and India . Clearly the world body has acted absolutely irresponsibly by allowing the Sino-Pak partners to militarize and nuclearise this region.
The UN betrayed Kashmiris by ignoring these extremely important factors and asking India to repeal AFSPA without realizing its consequences in the region. The Islamists, separatists, Pak-agents and militants who welcomed and celebrated the UN announcement are already enjoying freedom to function without any restrictions as long as they remain peaceful and non-violent. Accepting the UN demand would mean allowing them to convert the Kashmir Valley into yet another Islamabad, Kabul and Kandahar. That should not be unacceptable to freedom loving and anti-terrorist people any where in the world.
The above stated instances establish that the UN has done nothing to render any type of support, assistance or action which could provide any kind of aid, relief or support to the peace loving Kashmiri and victims of Islamic Jihad. And in its initiative under discussion the UN has also disregarded and trampled upon its own aims and objectives and provided support and legitimacy to the very people who have set Kashmir on fire and who are committed to building an Islamic world order in a “world Caliphate”.
We demand that the UN should be supporting the victims of Jihad, militancy, terrorism and those who genuinely aspire for a durable peace and tranquility in the region. If the goal of the UN is to crush and defeat terrorism then despite the short sighted ideas of its keepers and the temptation of petro-dollars the world body’s present policy must be turned upside down.
One of the major steps forward in defeating terrorism in Kashmir would be to resettle the victims of Islamic Jihad back in their traditional habitat, in a territory carved out for their homeland under their own authority and away from militant Wahabi fundamentalism which has been the root cause of communal upheaval and genocide. The creation of such a territory among other things will most certainly serve as a front line fortress for combating Islamic Jihad and terrorism. For the realization of this noble goal the United Nations should stand by the patriotic Kashmiris who are determined to defeat and bury Wahabbism and its Jihadi arms.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely yours
Dr. Jagan N Kaul, Chair
Revealed:How ‘ISI spy’ Fai pushed anti-India agenda in US
In the first such known case in United States’s history, an American citizen — Srinagar-born, Kashmiri separatist leader Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai — has admitted that he acted as an operative of the Inter Services Intelligence.
Fai, 62, admitted to acting on the Pakistani spy agency’s specific instructions and funneling thousands of dollars to try and influence US policy — particularly through illegal lobbying in the US Congress — towards Kashmir. He simultaneously urged US lawmakers, who were the beneficiaries of these contributions, to malign India for its alleged draconian policies in the Valley.
Fai was undisputedly one of the most influential Kashmiri Americans in the country. He was the founder and the executive director of the Kashmiri American Council, headquartered in Washington, DC, that espoused independence for Jammu and Kashmir.
Fai pleaded guilty Wednesday in the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia to one count of conspiracy of receiving at least $3.5 million from the ISI between 1990 and 2011 and to one count of impeding the Internal Revenue Service to collect revenues of $200,000 to $400,000.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Fai admitted that he would submit his strategy plans and budgets to his ISI supervisors, specifically to a point man named Javeed Aziz Khan, who also was known as ‘Brigadier Abdullah’. Khan would then review these plans, revealed Fai, and send back suggested topics to be used at the Capitol Hill conferences the KAC would host to secure Congressional support to influence administration policy toward independence for Kashmir.
Following Fai’s arrest on July 19, after which he was put under house arrest in his Fairfax, VA home in the suburbs of DC, his defence team initially claimed that he was not an agent of the ISI and all the lobbying he did as the head of the KAC was his own. They claimed that the funds received by the KAC were from donors who were Kashmiri Americans and supporters of the separatist cause.
But, facing an iron-clad case, which the prosecutors presented with ample evidence of funds received for his illegal lobbying from the ISI and the unraveling of the network of straw donors through which this money was funneled, his defence team saw the writing on the wall and agreed to a guilty plea agreement. This could necessarily lead to a lighter sentence on March 9, where the judge is expected to also take his ill-health into consideration. Two years ago, Fai had suffered a serious stroke.
Law enforcement sources told rediff.com that if Fai had not entered into a plea agreement and the case had gone to trial, the prosecution with its iron-clad evidence and several affidavits by witnesses could have asked for a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
The sources said it is likely that Fai, now free on bond, would now get off with a considerably lighter sentence. He may be put under a kind of house arrest in a half-way house with a couple of years probation time.
When Fai was arrested in July, Zaheer Ahmad, 63, a US citizen and resident of Pakistan, was charged along with him.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which arrested Fai when he returned from one of his many overseas trips, said in an affidavit that he received approximately $500,000 to $700,000 per year from the government of Pakistan.
As part of the plea agreement, where he pleaded guilty, he admitted to only a generic count of conspiracy and impeding the revenue collection of the IRS, but there was no mention of the violation of Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Fai’s attorney Nina Ginsberg argued that all the lobbying Fai did was of his own volition and not under the specific instructions of the ISI.
She also issued a statement by Fai after his guilty plea sating that “the Kashmiri American Council and I have always tried to represent the sentiments of the people of Kashmir, irrespective of the religious background and cultural affiliations.”
The KAC also issued a statement welcoming the court’s decision to not prosecute Fai for the violation of FARA and maintaining that it was independent of the ISI. It also pointed out that the KAC had issued op-ed articles that had strongly criticised Pakistan’s policies on Kashmir as much as it did India’s.
But US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil MacBride, dismissing these arguments, said that it was a no-brainer that Fai was “a paid operative” of the ISI and that his links to the ISI were extensive.
“For the last 20 years,” he asserted, “Mr Fai secretly took millions of dollars from Pakistani intelligence and lied about it to the US government.”
McBride said, “As a paid operative of ISI, he did the bidding of his handlers in Pakistan while he met with US elected officials, funded high-profile conferences, and promoted the Kahsmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington.”
Assistant Attorney General for National Security Lisa Monaco, echoing McBride’s sentiments, said, “Syed Fai admitted his role in a decades-long scheme to conceal the fact that the government of Pakistan was secretly funding his efforts to influence US policy on Kashmir.”
Earlier, McBride had said that Fai’s decades-long scheme had only “one purpose — to hide Pakistan’s involvement behind his efforts to influence the US government’s position on Kashmir.”
The KAC, established in 1990, regularly held press briefings at the National Press Club and hosted conferences, including a major annual conference on Capitol Hill, which was attended by influential US lawmakers, including members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee like Congressman Dan Burton, Indiana Republican and a longtime bete noire of New Delhi, Congressman Joe Pitts, Pennsylvania Republican and Jim Moran, Virginia Democrat who would bemoan the situation in the Valley and the human rights abuses perpetrated by Indian security forces and paramilitary groups.
These conferences would also always be attended by the Pakistan ambassador to the US, and senior Pakistan government officials as well as legislators. Till he was fired a month ago for his role in the Memogate issue, Pakistani ambassador Husain Haqqani was a conspicuous presence at Fai’s Capitol Hill conferences, as were earlier ambassadors like Maleeha Lodhi.
These conferences have also been able to draw some leading South Asian experts and former diplomats like Howard Schaffer, a 36-year veteran of the US Foreign Service and the author of the recently published seminal book on American diplomacy and intervention in Kashmir, The Limits of Influence: America’s Role in Kashmir, published by the Brookings Institution.
Fai has also, over the years, hosted some Indian journalists and Indian American academics.
Indian embassy officials, including the Indian Ambassador to the US, have also over the years been religiously invited by Fai to attend and speak at these annual conferences. But as far as this correspondent can remember, not a single embassy official has attended these conferences, let alone speak at these two-day parleys.
These Capitol Hill conferences have almost always been attended by the prime minister and former prime ministers and senior officials of Pakistani Occupied Kashmir.
Whenever Kashmiri leaders like Mirwaiz Farooq, former Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik or others from the Hurriyat Conference visit Washington, they usually stay with Fai at his Fairfax home. He arranges meetings between them and US lawmakers, administration officials and organises seminars and forums for them at Washington, DC think-tanks.
Fai also constantly traveled around the world, delivering speeches, and regularly visited Vienna and Geneva to appear before the UN Human Rights Council to make a case on behalf of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the constant violation of their human and civil rights by the government and the troops in the Valley. Over the years, he has also been a regular speaker at universities and colleges across the US.
The government’s affidavit submitted with Fai’s arrest in July alleged that although the KAC held itself out to be a Kashmiri organisation run by Kashmiris and financed by Americans, the KAC is one of three “Kashmir Centres” that are actually run by elements of the Pakistani government, including the ISI. The two other Kashmir Centres are in London and Brussels.
According to the affidavit, a confidential witness told investigators that he participated in a scheme to obscure the origin of money transferred by Pakistan’s ISI to Fai for his work as a lobbyist for the KAC in furtherance of Pakistani government interests. The witness explained that the money was transferred to Fai through Ahmad, an American living in Pakistan.
A second confidential witness told investigators that the ISI created the KAC to propagandise on behalf of the government of Pakistan with the goal of uniting Kashmir. This witness said ISI’s sponsorship and control of KAC was a secret and that ISI had been directing Fai’s activities for the past 25 years.
When questioned by the FBI about these relationships in March 2007, Fai allegedly stated that he had never met anyone who identified himself as being affiliated with the ISI.
In March 2010, the Justice Department sent Fai a letter notifying him of his possible obligation to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department. In his written response to the Justice Department, Fai asserted that neither he nor KAC had ever engaged in any activities for or provided any services to Pakistan or any foreign entity. In a March 2011 interview with the FBI, Fai again denied having any relationship with anyone in the Pakistani government.
The affidavit alleges that Fai has acted at the direction of and with the financial support of the Pakistani government for more than 20 years. The affidavit alleges that four Pakistani government handlers have directed Fai’s US activities and he has been in touch with his handlers more than 4,000 times since June 2008. Fai’s handlers have also allegedly communicated with Ahmad regularly.
For example, the affidavit alleges that Fai repeatedly submitted annual KAC strategy reports and budgetary requirements to his Pakistani government handlers for approval.
One document entitled “Plan of Action of KAC / Kashmir Centre for Fiscal Year 2009” laid out Fai’s intended strategy to secure US Congressional support in order to encourage the executive branch to support self-determination in Kashmir; his strategy to build new alliances in the State Department, the National Security Council, the Congress and the Pentagon, and to expand KAC’s media efforts.
According to the affidavit, Fai also set forth KAC’s projected budgetary requirements from the Pakistani government for 2009, including $100,000 for contributions to members of Congress. There is no evidence that any elected official who received financial contributions from Fai or the KAC was aware that the money originated from any part of the Pakistani government.
The affidavit further said that Fai and the KAC have received at least $4 million from the Pakistani government since the mid-1990s through Ahmad and his funding network. The money is allegedly routed to Fai through Ahmad and a network of other individuals connected to Ahmad. Ahmad allegedly arranges for his contacts in the United States to provide money to Fai in return for repayment of those amounts in Pakistan.
When Fai was arrested, Schaffer told rediff.com, “If the Inter-Services Directorate or some other organ of the Pakistan government has been footing the Kashmir American Council’s bills, as seems so obvious, it is hard to conclude that they have been getting their money’s worth.”
Schaffer, who was the lead panelist on the session on India-Pakistan Relations: Breaking the Deadlock over Kashmir at the last International Kashmir Peace Conference in August 2010 on Capitol Hill, said, “For all its efforts, the council’s lobbying has had minimal success in persuading the Clinton, George W Bush, and Obama administrations to change their basically hands-off diplomacy on the Kashmir dispute.”
However, Schaffer said, “It is regrettable that the charges against Fai have been raised at a point when US-Pakistan relations face a host of problems far more consequential than alleged wrongdoings by Pakistan’s lobbyists in Washington.”
He recalled that at these Capitol Hill conferences, “Members of Congress play bit-parts. Some of them, such as Representative Dan Burton, Indiana Republican, are familiar with the Kashmir issue, or at least Pakistan’s interpretation of it, and apparently feel strongly about it. But many others appear to have come to the sessions with scant awareness of the nature of the dispute. They customarily appear briefly, read prepared scripts, and hastily depart.”
At the annual Capitol Hill Conference on August 10, Pitts called on President Barack Obama to keep his campaign pledge to help resolve this dispute between India and Pakistan.
Pitts recalled that “during his campaign, President Obama suggested that the US should help resolve the Kashmir crisis. I heard one suggestion that they have a special envoy for Kashmir. And we need to develop that kind of expertise in our own government — in our own State Department. I wholeheartedly agree and hope this administration will engage productively on this critical issue.”
At the same conference, Pitts recalled his several visits to Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir and Pakistan and said he had founded the Kashmir Forum “and we support the idea of self-determination for the people in the area.”
Both Burton and Pitts later claimed that they had absolutely no idea that the funds they received from Fai were sent by the ISI.
Subsequently, they said they had donated these funds to charities, including the Boy Scouts of America.
Burton told the New York Times that he was “deeply shocked” because he had known Fai for 20 years and “in that time I had no inkling of his involvement with any foreign intelligence operation and had presumed our correspondence was legitimate.”
Osama, Geelanis and Kashmiri Pandits….
Around thirteen years back, My friend who was my classmate met me after a gap of year or so in Bangalore, a self confessed moderate Muslim from Kashmir Valley . He was feeling ebullient because he could feel the absence of Fear and uncertainty which has become synonym with Kashmir since last 21 years. There was a visible change in his physical appearance and he was looking weak , his face had lost that healthy pinkish tinge which was found ubiquitously on the face of Kashmiris-whether Hindus or Muslims. I asked him the reason for his cadaverous looks and he said,” I was picked by the Police in Kashmir for being hand in glove with the terrorists and I was beaten mercilessly and even some of my bones were cracked”, I asked sympathetically ,” Is that True?” He said,” No, I was framed by a former terrorist who has now become an informer”.
We had a good time together until the word “TALIBAN” popped up in the discussion. Taliban was new at that time and I had no interest in another Extremist Muslim Group operating in Afghanistan. But my friend bubbled with joy at the name of Taliban and said,” Taliban is doing good work in Afghanistan, they are adhering to the tenets of Islam and I pray to Allah that their ideology spread to every part especially Kashmir.” I thought he calls himself moderate,yet he is visibly exited about “Talibanis” and got lost for a while thinking of those who don’t call themselves moderates!!!
Yesterday Prime Minister of Pakistan Yusuf Raza Geelani came out with clarification for the first time after the death of Osama Bin Laden who was hunted down by the American navy seals in the Backyard of Military establishment of Abbotabad in Pakistan . Pakistan just got “exposed” and It was sheer shame and a slap on the face of Pakistan, Many wrote that Pakistan’s golden Goose is Dead. No longer can they extract Billions of Dollars from U.S.A ,the way they used to, on the name of Osama Bin Laden.
Prime Minister Geelani flayed Al-Qiada with some strong words but Tactically omitted out the other Devil namely the Taliban. It is widely believed that Taliban is the creation of Pakistan’s I.S.I and whole world knows the relation of Al-Qiada with Taliban.The terminologies or names such as Jamat-ul-dawa, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen or Taliban may sound different but they are just the different facets of the same epidemic which has killed tens of thousands of innocent people and ISI has been supporting these groups for a long time now. The whole episode of “Laden” made it evident the role of I.S.I in giving shelter and other strategic tools to Osama Bin laden and thereby Al-Qiada.The other Islamic extremist groups are safe in Pakistan as long as they don’t challenge directly U.S.A the way Al-Qiada did.The role of Pakistan as the center of Islamic terrorism as well as outsourcing of terrorism on the name of Islam has become crystal clear…
Meanwhile Another Talib of Kashmir, Syed Ali Shah Geelani lead the funeral prayers for the most wanted Terrorist of World and declared him a “Martyr” an Hero of Islamic world and said at the same time,” Kashmir is not a battle of religions”. If it is not the battle of religions then why on Earth did he led the funeral procession of a man from Middle east!! …By the way he has scored a point by restricting the duration of Amarnath Yatra to 15 days which was previously extended to one month.
Ethnic cleansing of Minorities is widely prevalent in every Country where Islam is A Major religion. Taslima Nasreen’s Book “Lajja” which was written in the Backdrop of Babri Masjid demolition has captured the mind and Mood of Islamic zealots Photographically. I had read that Book long time back and I still remember the names of the protagonists family like suranjan, Sudhamoy, Kironmoyee and Maya, while Maya does,nt come back to his family and It is presumed that she has changed her faith to Islam in order to live, the other three at the end flee to India in order to survive. Isn’t it the same thing which happened to Kashmiri Pandits, we left our homes and properties too in order to live. We left our everything in order to escape the Bloody ideology of Islamic fundamentalists, which had long time back left us with two choices-convert and embrace Islam or Die. At the time of our exodus there was nothing like Babri Demolition, or any other Hindu-Muslim riot in India but still, Kashmiri Pandits were ousted because they happened to follow a different faith.
Kashmiri Pandits-the victims of Jihad ,know very well the devious designs of fundamentalists and separatists. The Crocodile tears of Former terrorists and separatists has little effect on us. They may act to be friendly and laugh with KP’s but their laughter is like the laughter of Hyennas-Deceptive ,cunning and dangerous for the lives of K.p’s.
Is their a civil society of Kashmiri Muslims who have ever raised their voices in support of K.p’s? the answer is “NO”. There are some moderates, but what is the use of those moderates who like the three monkeys of Gandiji-see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil whenever it is a question of Kashmiri Pandits. But when it comes to the Human right issues of Kashmiri Muslims, suddenly from Gandhiji’s Monkeys they transform into torn out loudspeakers and cry and scream for the violations.
The mainstream political parties are to some extent better than the separatists but till now there has been no sincerity, synergy and cohesiveness in their words and actions. Their lip service underline their unctuousness and their political interests and more so over they have to water the garden of their vote bank .
Since last 21 years time has stood still from the KP perspective, Kashmir –The land of our ancestors is still far, our deserted homes tell the story of our forced exodus, our depilated temples tell the story of the battle of our faith, The lakes and mountains of Kashmir silently recognize us as their own but cannot utter a word and those who have the power of speech have never spoken for us. we may go to visit Kashmir as many of us do But none, not even those who are working there under PM employment package can call it “SWEET HOME”…..not under the present circumstances……..
Kashmiri Pandits seek US govt help in the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in Panun Kashmir
International Kashmir Federation (IKF) marked the 20th year of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus which began in January 1989 on the U.S. Capitol Hill. IKF met with the State Department officials and members of Congress and Senate on January 20 and January 21 for assistance with the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits. A memorandum was submitted to the Secretary of State which read:
Kashmiri Pandits hail from Kashmir, the northernmost area of India and have been struggling for past two decades as refugees in their own country. “In fact, today marks the day two decades ago, when 350,000 Kashmiri Hindus, called Kashmiri Pandits, were driven away after thousands were murdered and raped.
We call it the Exodus Day for Kashmiri Pandits, which is recognized throughout the world to remember those unfortunate people as well as bring awareness to this issue. Right at the moment, thousands of these uprooted people are living in other parts of India as refugees. In direct violation of the Constitution of India and the United Nations Charter, the Kashmiri politicians have denied the basic human rights to Hindus.
They have also purposely created an atmosphere of uncertainty and insecurity so that like Hindus, Sikhs and secular Muslims of Kashmir region, the Hindus of Jammu and adjoining cities feel extremely unsafe and helpless and are forced to leave their homes and hearths en mass.
The Government of India has not made an effort to rehabilitate the Pandit refugees in their own country. It has been only talking about their return without any consideration for their safety. The only thing the Government must do is to carve out a safe haven for this minority community in Kashmir. This safe haven, also called ‘Panun Kashmir’ meaning ‘My Kashmir’ will allow the Kashmiri Hindus promote their culture in safety.
The first requirement is survival, culture comes later. Kashmiri Pandits want to return to Kashmir because, first, they have lived there for thousands of years; second, because their jobs are there; third, because the backdrop of their ethos is there.
This community is scattered all around India and is very quickly losing its culture and heritage. By carving out this land in the Indian State of Kashmir, the Government of India would be allowing this intellectual and very educated community to live without fear of persecution.
The Government of India needs to address the question of the social, political and economic aspirations of the community, which must be considered as an indispensable component of any future settlement on Kashmir.
“Twenty years have passed and our people are still disenfranchised politically, socially and economically. More than 45,000 people are still in camps. The State Government of Jammu and Kashmir has been busy making false promises while Government of India has been consistent with a policy of appeasement”, said Jeevan Zutshi, the Chairman of International Kashmir Federation, an international body of Kashmiri Pandits fighting for the survival of their community. IKF delegates came from New York, California, Washington, D.C and Florida.
They met with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael Owen on the morning of Thursday January 21st for more than an hour. Maharaj Kaul, IKF delegate from New York started the meeting with the history of ancient Kashmir up to 1947 and Pakistan’s insurgency and indoctrination of the muslim majority community in Kashmir, which otherwise was an example of religious harmony and co-existence.
Deepak Ganju, IKF delegate from Florida and the past President of Kashmiri Overseas Association (KOA) talked about the deplorable state of the Kashmiri pandit refugees in camps in Jammu. Mr. Owens was familiar with the Kashmir Problem but was appalled at the level of adversity faced by Kashmiri Pandits.
Jeevan Zutshi talked about various resolutions and declared that the only solution to the present crisis was to carve out a separate land for Kashmiri Pandits and other nationalistic and peace loving Indians within Kashmir.
“Kashmir is the home to 750,000 Pandits and making an enclave for them within Kashmir will provide a legal territory and they can feel a high level of security so they feel they belong in their ancient land where they have been for thousands of years. This land will be administered by the Central Government of India.”
IKF then had a candid discussion with Congressman Mike Honda who admitted only knowing of the Kashmir Problem through an international Symposium convened by Mr. Zutshi in 2003 and attended by Jim McDermott, Terrista Schaffer, Congressman Pete Stark and various think tanks.
Mr. Honda was very receptive to the plight of Kashmiri Pandits in India and promised his support.
IKF then briefed Republican Congressman Ed Royce, Congressman Frank Pallone, Congressman Jerry McNerney and Senator Sherrod Brown of the Kashmir Problem and the Panun Kashmir movement.
“It was a very successful set of meetings in which the plight of Kashmiri Pandits was front and center. It was also an achievement that they were further educated on the Kashmir Problem and Panun Kashmir solution”, said Jeevan Zutshi.
source:http://newsblaze.com/story/20100124130852zzzz.nb/topstory.html
‘Pak is told to target the Muslim bomb against India’
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi believes that the United States and Israel are creating sharp differences between India and Pakistan, so that the latter could not target its ‘Muslim bomb’ against the West.
“The Pakistanis are told that their enemy is the Hindu, not the Jew or Christian, and therefore their bomb should be directed towards them, the Pakistanis’ immediate enemy, and not anyone else,” he wrote in The Washington Times.
Similarly, the Indians are led to believe their real enemy is Pakistan and that the Pakistani bomb was directed toward them rather than the Israelis or Americans, Gadhafi said in an opinion piece published last week.
“This policy aims to preoccupy Pakistan with India and India with Pakistan. Perhaps this is why America has not been willing to contribute to solving the Kashmiri problem, whereas the Israelis will try to always keep it flammable,” he said.
Gadhafi pointed out that if Islamic extremists affiliated to al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden took over the government in Pakistan, “the key to the nuclear bomb would be in their hands. This has created the Pakistani quagmire for the Americans and Israelis.”
To address this potentially dangerous situation, they have attempted to further drive a wedge of hostility between Pakistan and neighbouring India,” Gadhafi said. “Truly, the Pakistani nuclear bomb is a Muslim bomb,” he wrote in his piece.
“On the other hand, if political parties such as the Pakistan People’s Party or even the army ruled, things would be relatively safe because they presumably constitute responsible institutions. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that they can form sustainable governments,” he said.
Observing that there can be no Pakistan without Islam, as Islam was the basis for its separation from India, he said, “Islam for the Pakistanis is not a question of faith only but also a question of identity.”
Pakistan, he argued, is witnessing dramatic changes because of its complex demographic structure. Socially, it is composed of various ethnicities and fierce tribes — bordering Afghanistan — that have no loyalty to either Pakistan or to Afghanistan, Gadhafi observed
“Pakistan faces challenges even within its region. It is threatened by the Shiaite Muslim state of Iran and the Hindu India. This is the reason behind the formation of violent Muslim groups affiliated with the fierce tribes in Afghanistan as well as with the al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden,” he said.
source:rediff.com
FREE US FROM PAKISTAN:BALOCH LEADER TO INDIA,U.S.A
LAHORE, Apr 16 (Agencies): Baloch Republican Party chief Brahamdagh Bugti has urged India and the United States to help the Baloch people attain freedom from Pakistan.
Bugti said Baloch people were being suppressed by the Pakistan Government which wants to take control of natural resources of the region.
“We will welcome India’s help for the Baloch people. We do not recognise the Constitution of 1973. We only want freedom,” The Daily Times quoted Bugti, as saying.
He charged the Pakistan government of discriminatory behaviour, and particularly targeting Baloch people in the military offensive being carried out in the region.
“The Baloch people have always been considered as slaves. They had been forced to put up resistance against the usurpation of their rights,” Bugti added.
Baloch people have long been demanding their right and control over the large deposits of natural gas and other resources which lies under the province’s geographical territory. They believe they are being bluffed by their government as the region still lacks basic amenities despite being rich in natural resources.
“Isn’t it a wrong that the people of the very district from where gas is being explored have to use wood for fire while the facility of gas is available in every house in Punjab,” Bugti said.
source:kashmir times
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