From: Habib Yousafzai <habibyousafzai@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 12:13 PM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Seminar on Insurgent Movements in India
APPG on Third World Solidarity & London Institute of South Asia Seminar on Insurgent Movements in India Wednesday July 14, 2010 – 3 to 6 P.M. Betty Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, Westminster Press Release The seminar was presided over by Lord Nazir Ahmed, Dave Anderson MP and Cllr Mushtaq Lasharie, in that order. Papers were read by Brigadier ® Usman Khalid, Chairman LISA; Dr Awatar Singh Sekhon from Canada, Editor Sikh Journal of International Affairs; Professor Gurtej Singh, Professor of Sikhism, Chandigarh, India; V.T.Rajshekar, Editor Dalit Voice, Bangalore; Agha Murtaza Ali Poya, former Chairman of International Institute of Strategic Studies of Pakistan; and the keynote speaker was Alan Hart, author of the landmark book 'Zionism: The Real enemy of the Jews. All the papers are being put on the web site of this Institute - www.lisauk.com Syed Ali Geelani was invited to be the keynote speaker. The British Government refused him visa. He was requested to speak to the seminar by telephone. The India Government has kept him incarcerated ever since he was sent the invitation. We invited Shahid Rehbar, Editor of Rehbar Weekly, Srinagar but he did not get a response to his visa request. But he did send a message to be read out at the seminar. The message was read out by the Chairman. The message: "I am grateful to London Institute of South Asia for the invitation to the Seminar on "Insurgent movements in India". It would have been a good opportunity to put across the point of view of the people of Kashmir. However, I am very sorry not to be able to make it due to reasons beyond my control. The theme of the conference is apt and in sync with the present socio-political scenarios in Kashmir. The current ongoing peoples' rights movement is being termed as "insurgency" but as a citizen of this ill-fated land, I will say that the movement in Kashmir is not like the Naxalite movement or the insurgencies in north-east India. Put simply, Jammu and Kashmir, (including Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and Gilgit - Baltistan) was not a part of British India. It was an independent state, where the rulers were sometimes benign, often brutal, but always repressive. It is claimed by India that at the time of partition, the ruler of Kashmir - Maharaja Hari Singh - acceded to India. But the question that has been asked ever since is: Was Hari Singh in control of Kashmir? Since he was not, how could he represent the people of Kashmir? The fact is that people of Kashmir had already launched a movement against the despotic and cruel rule of Hari Singh; he had forfeited the right to claim to represent the people. The Kashmiris have been fighting against the Dogra Rulers since 1931 for their political rights. In 1948-49 in the wake of fraudulent accession, some of the territory was liberated by the people; that territory is now called Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. India went to the UN to claim that territory in 1948. The UN Security Council did not endorse India's claim and resolved that the people of the State would decide which country they would join – Pakistan or India? The UN Resolution made Pakistan a party to the dispute. Both India and Pakistan accepted the UN Resolutions. The people of Jammu and Kashmir were happy that the UN and Pakistan has become a party in securing the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir for which they had struggled alone since 1931. The people of Jammu and Kashmir waited and waited but the issue of our future was sidetracked by the Cold War in which India got full support from the Soviet Union for its stand. Pakistan ally – USA – was lukewarm in its support to the people of Kashmir. Then in 1971, India invaded East Pakistan. Once again it had full support of the Soviet Union while the USA stood by as East Pakistan was captured by the Indian Army. The Kashmiris came to the conclusion that neither Pakistan nor the World Community had the will to stand up to India – even diplomatically let alone militarily. The political parties who had boycotted elections in the past and demanded a plebiscite, decided to take part in the election in Jammu and Kashmir in 1987. The 1987 assembly elections, in which a joint front of Muslim organizations - Muslim United Front – took part, were massively rigged. The way fraud and force was used to rig the elections, the entire new generation of Kashmiris came to believe that their democratic struggle yielded no results. In utter despondency, they were forced to take up arms. In fact, the present chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, Syed Salahudin was a candidate from Amira Kadal constituency of Srinagar. Likewise, many other well-educated youth, who were participating in those rigged elections, were beaten up and arrested. The Kashmiris took to arms when they saw that democratic means for fighting for their rights were not accepted. After 1989, the Kashmiri struggle went into a different phase. The movement has been continuing through different approaches. The historical facts are well known and need not be repeated; enough has been said on this subject. Put briefly: when all options for Kashmiris were exhausted, they were forced to resort to armed struggle. The present movement in Kashmir is not an insurgency like elsewhere in India were people have grievances with the state. Rather, it is a movement of the people for human and democratic rights – their right of self-determination. The issue in Kashmir is not jobs, bad governance or the economy. The issue is political which has a basis in history and in geo-politics which affects the future of the entire sub-continent of South Asia. We are aware that injustice to us and delay in meeting our rightful demand does not only undermine peace between India and Pakistan; owing to their being nuclear powers, the entire world is affected by the threat of war between them. But the Kashmiris are not ready to be scapegoats and sole sufferers of India's quest for regional supremacy and world status. The Kashmir issue could have been resolved by Indo-Pakistan talks. But the talks between India and Pakistan have gone on for years and decades without results. The reason is obvious; compromises can only be made by the Kashmiris themselves and not by India or Pakistan on their behalf. The genuine representatives of Kashmir have to take part in negotiations. It cannot be overemphasised that the people of J&K should be at the centre of any negotiations. The need for meaningful and result-oriented talks is further underlined by the human catastrophe represented by Kashmir. The indifference of the world to their plight is unforgivable. The people of India have sympathies for the people of Gaza who live in the biggest prison in the world. But out of the spotlight of world press and TV cameras, Kashmir is bigger prison where 13.5 million people suffer for demanding what is their birthright – their right of self-determination - accepted in the UN Charter and by the UN Security Council Resolutions. We request the participants in the seminar, many of who have come from India, to put the spotlight on the suffering of Kashmiris. We waited until 1989 for Pakistan and the UN to deliver us freedom. After 1989, we have depended more on the conscience of the people and the press of India to convince their government that the Kashmiris are not going to let up in our struggle for freedom. India can raise the stakes, fight another war with Pakistan and risk even a nuclear war, but our people are not we are going to give up. Intifada has not just entered the vocabulary of the people of Kashmir; it has begun. One lakh (100,000) people have been killed by the Indian armed forces in two decades. The heavy militarization has made normal life and democratic activity impossible. Nowhere else in the world such a large segment of humanity is kept virtually imprisoned. We expect the international community to take notice; come and see us and see how our lives, honour and property are constantly imperilled. India wants to be known as a civilized state. But it cannot do so while it flouts the principles it invoked to obtain its freedom from the British Raj. I reiterate that both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers who may well go to war once again because of their inability to give justice to Kashmiris that they promised as early as in 1948. The festering sore that Kashmir has been, is going to take more lives and risk even a nuclear catastrophe. It is time to step back from the precipice, and save the already suffering peoples from further suffering. I want to take this opportunity to thank Mr Sami-Ullah Malik for speaking up in favour of the rights of Kashmiris. Through his brave, honest and fearless writings, he is giving a strong voice to the aspirations of Kashmiris. I believe such endeavours by writers and intellectuals go a long way in making the world understand the real issue of J&K. I wish the seminar a success. Warms Regards, Shahid Rehbar Editor Weekly "Rehbar" Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir)
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Palash Biswas
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http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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