Civil disobedience, hartals and stone pelting?

“The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off”

Since 9 February 2013, Kashmir has again run into turmoil, strikes, arrests, stone pelting and martyring people. People are at a loss to understand why when there is semblance of normalcy rulers in New Delhi or in J&K frantically seek a pretext to reverse the situation. The decision of hanging Afzal Guru was taken all of a sudden. Not allowing him a meeting with his family members, no review appeal of his case, and not returning the dead body to his family, are the acts the like of which disrupt normalcy in Kashmir. The cycle of oppression has been set in motion once again. As a consequence, Tahir Ahmad Sofi of Baramulla was martyred without any provocation. Mudassir Kamran, a student from Pulwama doing PhD in Hyderabad University was found hanged in his room. Instead of resolving the tension, the government imposed strict curfew which added to the difficulties of the people.

A suicide attack took place on 12 March in Bemina which warmed up political instability in Kashmir. The opposition in the Indian Parliament and the extremists raised the slogan of “kill and declare war”. Indo-Pak relations dropped to a freezing point. The outgoing Pakistan National Assembly passed a resolution condemning political execution of Afzal Guru. People ask why for five long years there was no resolution on Kashmir in Pakistan NA and why did a resolution come just two days before the Assembly’s term expired. Maybe it was to win the vote bank of Kashmir’s. Pakistani government demonstrated no reaction nor issued any statement at the time of execution of Afzal Guru.

The era of civil disobedience and violence has not begun just today. Such movements were to be seen in 2008, 2009 and 2010. These ended up without any result. In 2008, more than 68 Kashmir’s were martyred and in 2010, the number of martyred persons rose to 117 which included children. There was five-month long strike and stone throwing events and curfew imposition. All that the Kashmiri community achieved was economic and human loss.

We the Kashmir’s have strange psychology. We begin to bemoan our defeat and loss only after the event and then every person accuses the other for the failure. During 2008 movement, separatist organizations forged a temporary unity among themselves. In reality, there was not unity as such, as it came to an end when the movement died down. The 2008 Movement gave the impression that Kashmiri community will never come out of their homes to participate in the elections. But the elections in 2008 became a big joke. More than 60 or 70 % votes were cast at various places. Media was given the pretext that votes were cast not for the Kashmir issue but for roads, water and electric power and other developmental activities. We were unable to make the people understand that those who failed to provide water and electricity for sixty long years, could not guarantee the supply of these facilities in next six years.

Quayyum Raja's (accused in Mhatre case) letter from UK prison

This open letter was written by Quayyum Raja on 12-11-1990 to JKLF's Central Commitee from a jail in UK and appeared in Weekly Kasheer from Rawalpindi/Muzaffarbad. Quayyum Raja is the man who was falsely implicated in Mhatre's murder case by Amanullah and spent 22 years in UK prison.

Quayyum Raja writes in this letter that Amanullah Khan is a traitor and informer. He also adds that Amanullah used to gather donations in the name of the accused in Mhatre's murder case and used the money for his personal expenses. He further adds that Amanullah was not even surprised when I accused him of the killing of Mhatre and that he actually came to meet me in jail only to know whether I had any proofs against him. Amanullah afterwards hatched a conspiracy in order to get deported, because he was afraid that the truth will come out and he will spend his life behind bars for masterminding Mhatre's killing. He also says that Amanullah Khan is a classical criminal who will do anything for cheap publicity. At the end he says that I am spending life imprisonment because he informed on me.

Handwritten letter of Amanullah Khan - Confession of forming KLA.

This is the 2 page letter by Amanullah Khan written in his own handwriting to Hashim Qureshi and Dr. Farooq Haider. This letter is dated 5 April 1983, just 10 months before Mhatre’s murder. In this letter Amanullah writes to Dr. Farooq Haider and Hashim Qureshi that he has established KLA in the UK and requests them to form a branch of the same in Pakistan. KLA was the organisation which was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Indian diplomat Ravindre Mhatre, which paved the way for Maqbool Bhat's hanging.

Also below this two page letter is a copy of page 150/151 from Amanullah Khan's book 'Jehd-e-Musalsal', which he wrote somewhere mid-nineties. In this book he denies that he ever knew a KLA existed and states that KLA was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Mhatre of which he had no knowledge at all. Why this contradiction? Why writing a letter in his own handwriting stating that he formed KLA and then denying in his book that he had something to do with KLA and even stating he never knew of its existence or actions?

Afzal Guru’s execution and legal aspects

“Some people don’t like telling the truth, others don’t like hearing it”

On learning about hanging an offender in 21st century, one is transported to 8th or 10th century.  In this century, offenders are not given punishment to put an end to their life but to improve and reform them.  In more than 150 countries capital punishment has been abolished. The thinking among intellectuals is that if a government retaliates with same vengeance as the offender acts, it has no better thinking than that of the offender. Thereby the government commits no less a crime. There can be an error in meting out justice. In the process of evolution nations have done away with capital punishment.

Was Afzul Guru a culprit or not, can be a contentious issue. We shall have a look at its legal aspects. We take into account his interrogation during imprisonment. Radio Pacific Network correspondent Vinod K. Jose had interviewed him in Tihar jail on 19 January 2013. Guru had talked at length about STF Kashmir, BSF Kashmir, 22 RR and Delhi Police. He had also given details of his case to Human Rights and Civil Society organizations. He also said how Delhi police had blackmailed him from time to time. He had not seen his lawyer or his family members for six months. “I saw my family at Patiala House Court but only from afar. I gave names of four lawyers to plead my case. Court judge S.N. Dhengra said they could not plead my case. The lawyer given to me by the court filed many prosecution papers without telling me which were accepted and at the end of the day he began pleading the case of another accused and not mine. The court appointed Amicus quadric. He was not appointed to defend me but to help the court and he never met me. Initially I didn’t have a lawyer available,” is what Guru had told the correspondent.

High Court acquitted S.A.R. Geelani and two more accused but upheld death penalty to Afzal Guru.

No direct witnesses were available in this case from the early beginning. It maintained his death sentence on the basis of circumstances. It was perhaps for the first time that such a high ranking court said this in its judgment:

“The incident which resulted in heavy casualties has shaken entire nation and collective conscience of the society will be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender.”

We don’t intend to open any legal commentary on the court verdict but let it be said that more than two hundred intellectuals, writers and film makers wrote to the President of India as this:

“We believe that you made a grave error in rejecting the Mercy Petition of Afzal Guru”. They said that the offender is given the right for judicial review once the Mercy Petition is rejected. Afzal Guru was denied this right.

J&K caught in whirlpool of problems

“You are weak when you lie because you aren’t strong enough to face the truth”

Politics literally means serving humanity or making service to humanity as one’s profession. Unfortunately, in the sub-continent, and some Arab and Asian countries, politics carries only one meaning viz. oppression, tyranny, bribery, loot and pushing people to the whirlpool of complex problems. This generally has led to unrest and turmoil in these countries.

During 2008 election all mainstream political parties like NC, PDP, Congress, CPIM, Awami National Conference, BJP and other pro-Indian organization had made promises of redressing the grievances of people, especially the problems of power, water supply and employment. On these promises they obtained votes.

Actually the people of the State also changed their stance overnight like chameleon and took part in that election on the presumption that participation was not for solving Kashmir issue but addressing day to day problems. Prior to election nearly 63 Kashmiri youth laid down their lives in Ragra Movement.

The question is that when these parties made promises of redressing the grievances and sough the vote, why people did not ask them that they were not able to provide basic necessities like electricity, water, roads and employment during past sixty years. What magic wand had they now in their hands that they would do in just six years what they could not do in sixty years.

The people given to sentimentality were made scapegoats during past sixty-five years. I give a simple example. If anybody is able to make little progress by dealing in handicrafts like paper mache or wood carving etc. others want to follow suit, of course quite blindly. The result is that they have paved the way for decay of Kashmir crafts. Hundreds of thousands of people who had flocked to this business blindfold are in a wretched condition. Loans were taken from banks apparently for doing some business and self-employment. Instead they bought Maruti cars and scooters and ignored the original purpose of taking loans

Whenever elections were held, people willy-nilly participated in these. Yet in spite of that gun was very much with the militants. People did not care to put questions to them where the gun would be taking them to. And when the gun was taken up not one but few scores of them came into being. It is amusing to note that the gun that was imported to be used against the Indian troops has been used more against Kashmiris and by Kashmiris. When Kashmiris began to surrender, this also became a precedent followed blindly by the gun-wielders.

The Pakistan visit - Of Hurriyat initiative and the hard realities we must not ignore.

“Telling the truth is the right way to act. Living with lies is harder than living a truthful life. Being truthful and honest is important”.

I am back to my esteemed readers with good will and love after a gap of three months. I was not keeping well and went abroad for treatment.

Kashmir did not witness any big or small change of significance during this period. However during harsh winter days people braving the chill of winter stood in long queues on the roads and lanes to collect their quota of gas and kerosene oil. Government machinery sadistically enjoyed playing with the comfort and necessities of life of ordinary people. We shall very soon take up this subject.

But suddenly during this period the soft and delicate coalition called Hurriyat (M) had to face a jolt from its recent visit to Pakistan. The main reason for our nation not reaching its objective and remaining tied to slavery, and suffer loot, oppression and suppression, tyranny and use of muscle power is only the disunity among political parties.

I would like to clarify that my only intention of making comments or dragging the facts for analysis is to place before the public facts that remain locked up by suppressive elements in safe vaults of secrecy.

What was the logic for the Hurriyat (M) to visit Pakistan when the sitting government there will be quitting after a couple of months only and the clarion for new elections has already been sounded? One would like to know the reason behind Hurriyat (M) being invited to Pakistan for a visit. What is the logic for the Hurriyat to have accepted the invitation when Pakistan is embroiled in internal problems? We like to know why a Hurriyat leader living in Indian controlled territory of Kashmir has been invited to Pakistan?. The amusing thing is that the Hurriyat (M) accepted this invitation when its partners like Shabbir Shah and Naem Khan said “that since elections were round the corner in Pakistan they would not think it proper to accept the invitation for the visit. They said they should undertake the visit only after the new government was formed in that country.” Gilani Sahib, too, was of same opinion. Many conscious people in Kashmir also corroborated this statement.

Guest post: Maqbool Bhat - an Untold story by Zafar Meraj

It was one of those chilly evenings of winter of 1984 and I as usual was trying to gather news reports for next day’s issue of AINA which I was associated with, then. The budget session of the state assembly was on in winter capital Jammu and I would call Kashmir Times offices in Jammu to have the latest news about the day’s developments in the assembly. We, at AINA and Kashmir Times, had an understanding for exchanging the news. Kashmir Times had no one in Srinagar to look after the news and so was the case with AINA, without any correspondent in Jammu. Ved Bhasin, happened to be like part of our family, being one of the closest friends of late Shamim Ahmad Shamim and so the two papers decided to share the information on daily basis.

On that evening, if I remember correctly, it was February, 6, that I called Kashmir Times office, and my uncle, and a senior journalist, Mohammad Syed Malik, who was working then for Delhi based English daily Patriot and used to move to Jammu with annual durbar, picked up the phone. After briefing him about Srinagar items, I inquired from him the day’s developments in the assembly. “Zafar Ji, there is a big news, but you have to keep it as a secret till morning, when the paper comes out.......Maqbool Butt is being hanged on February, 11..... and this is our exclusive story. No one else (from amongst journalists) has any clue of this”, he told me in a hushed tone, as if none else could hear him.

And the details of that ‘great exclusive’ story were like this: Earlier in the day, while he assembly was in session, a special envoy from New Delhi landed in Jammu and drove straight to the legislature complex that is situated in civil secretariat complex. The envoy carrying a small black bag, was whisked inside the chief minister’s chambers, where the two remained closeted for about half an hour. In the meantime, chief minister summoned his law minister, chief secretary and the police chief and the closed door meeting lasted for another half an hour. No one could make any guess as to what was going on inside the chief minister’s chamber, had it not been the dramatic entry of a senior judicial officer of the state in the official chamber of the chief minister. It was when Thakur Pavitar Singh, then holding the office of the Sessions Judge of the special court was escorted by one of the close aides of the CM that one of the close friends of Ved Bhasin called him up and told about the high drama that was going on in the legislature complex. And it was from here, that Ved Bhasin and Mohammad Syed Malik picked up the threads to get that ‘exclusive story’.

Will Kashmir tourist spots survive?

Why not, provded we have a will to do so!

Hundreds of thousands of tourists come to Kashmir every year. We have a Tourism Department with budgetary allocations to maintain the standard of tourism in Kashmir. But all is not rosy about Kashmir tourism. The ground situation of tourist spots and tourist culture as a whole in the State is depressing. Human contribution to the grand natural beauty of Kashmir is almost zero.

In Kashmir we lack basic philosophy of tourism: we consider the tourist a money bag only to be looted. We never pursue the idea of how to develop the industry for the benefit of our future generations. Let us proceed item by item.New tourist culture in our state should be called yatra-tourist culture. Home tourists come partly for visiting holy shrines and partly to enjoy themselves the beauty of Kashmir. We have two groups of yatris (a) to Swami Amarnath Cave in Kashmir, (b) to Mata Vaishnov Devi in Riasi.

Swami Amarnath yatra
The number of pilgrims to Amarnath Cave this year has been about 4 lac. The Yatra began on 25 June and will terminate on 2 August (incidentally today). Out of four lac yatris, 99 per cent come by road, some in their own vehicles and others hire local transport. The journey from Lakhanpur to Baltal--the beginning and the end points-- takes at least two days. Imagine the quantum of litter, refuse and garbage left behind by a crowd of 5 laky souls while moving on the wheels. The entire path of nearly 400 kilometers presents a look of desolation with refuse littered on both sides of the road.There are no urinals, toilets and bathrooms along this 400 kilometer length not even for women. Males and boys urinate or defecate wherever they like to and women go behind the dense bushes or trees to ease themselves. Imagine the pollution and dirt it causes. Is this tourism? Is this Yatra? Whole River Sindh is polluted from Baltal.Tourists who travel by their private vehicles would like to pass the night inside their vehicles in case accommodation is not available in hotels. But they need toilets, and in absence of these, they defecate or urinate in open. It is such an ugly and shameful scene.

Vaishno Devi
The influx of Yatris to Mata Vaishnov Devi shrine has crossed 1.1 crore annually. But because there are not adequate arrangements of accommodation, toilets and bathrooms for them, they respond to the call of nature on the roadside, in open space available, in parks and by the water bodies and forests. Thus from Lakhanpur up to the Vaishnov Devi shrine, the road on both sides is littered with garbage. There is no dustbin to deposit the used stuff in it. When visitors are in such a large number one can imagine how much pressure does it means on the environment and services. Most of the human refuse goes into water bodies and pollutes it.In absence of private or government accommodation for the pilgrims hundreds of thousands of yatris are forced to spend a night or two on verandas, in the forests or roadside. They are forced by non availability of adequate arrangement to spend the nights in open. There are no sarais or dormitories in which the yatris would spend the night. Common sense says that only such number of yatris should be allowed to enter as can be accommodated by this existing accommodation. Alternatively, for all incoming pilgrims-tourists adequate arrangements in essential services should be provided.

Understanding UN Resolutions on Kashmir

“The truth is what it is, not what should be: What should be is a dirty lie” (L. Bruce)

We are talking of UN Security Council Resolutions on Kashmir. What is their import?India lodged a complaint under Article 35 (Chapter VI) of the U.N Charter in the U.N Security Council on January 1, 1948, charging Pakistan with “aiding and abetting” tribal invasion of Jammu and Kashmir which it said had acceded to Indian Union through an instrument of accession signed by the then ruler.

In its first resolution of 17 January 1948, Security Council called upon India and Pakistan to exercise restraint. Three days later through another resolution (Resolution 39), it created the UN Commission for Indian and Pakistan (UNCIP) to investigate the dispute and mediate between the two countries.

In another resolution (Resolution 47) of April 21, 1948, SC called for cessation of hostilities, withdrawal of all Pakistani troops and tribesmen and bulk of Indian troops (except for a minimal number required for maintaining law and order), allowing return of refugees, release of political prisoners and holding of a U.N supervised Plebiscite in the princely State of Jammu and Kashmir under a plebiscite administrator to determine the aspirations of her people. It was supported by another resolution of June 3, 1948.

After deliberations with Indian and Pakistani leadership in July 1948, the UNCIP produced a proposal calling for an immediate ceasefire and a truce agreement between India and Pakistan, withdrawal from the J&K of all Pakistani tribesmen and nationals and the bulk of India's troops. India rejected it saying the Security Council failed to blame the aggressor in Kashmir. Pakistan also rejected the proposal saying that Sheikh Abdullah, Prime Minister designated on March 5, 1948 was an ally of India and by, implication, able to influence the plebiscite in India's favour. Pakistan had reservations also about she withdrawing all forces from Kashmir while Indian retaining some of her troops. She argued it could potentially lead to coercion or intimidation of voters by Indian forces jeopardizing the result of the proposed plebiscite.

The leadership crisis?

Have our leaders failed us and are we the victims of this crisis?

Peter Druker said, “Leadership doesn’t mean just delivering speeches that are liked. It is not evaluated by its characteristics but by its results”. Only sincere leadership and systematized organizations can bring better future, prosperity, development, peace and security to a community. How many sacrifices does the leadership and organizations demand from the community and how many sacrifices have a nation made cannot be construed as a proof of the sincerity of leadership. Leadership and organizations are evaluated along the criterion of the nation making minimum sacrifices and minimum losses in order to arrive at the destination. This is a universal principle. How does the world look at the leadership and the organization? That will speak of the sincerity and sacrifices of leadership.

Going through the history of national struggle in 20th and 21st century, we must speak about Russia and China. In Russia, Lenin as the leader of the Bolshevik Party united his nation against the tyrannical regime of the Czar and brought about Socialist revolution. Similarly, under Mao Tse Tung’s leadership, China ushered in a revolution that brought the country in line with the progressive nations of the world. This is the same nation that had been paralyzed by the British colonialists by making it addicted to opium.

A cursory look at Pakistan will show that the creation of that country owed more to the leadership of Quid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah than the efforts of the Muslim League. Of course, at the core of the creation of Pakistan was the factor of religion.

Vietnam’s freedom was the result of priceless sacrifices made by the people of that country and impeccable sincerity of its leadership. It was only then that a small country could stand up to a mighty power like the US and forced her to vacate their land in total disarray. At one time Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese leader was working as a menial on a French ship. Of course, Palestine’s struggle for freedom has not as yet been crowned with success. But notwithstanding that, Palestinian freedom struggle is recognized by the entire world and they are by and large supporting it. Some of their supporters are even sacrificing their precious lives for their freedom.