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GLOBAL UMMAH SOLIDARITY
#78
THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT OCTOBER 27 1947 IS A BLACK DAY IN THE HISTORY OF KASHMIR AND PAKISTAN BECAUSE OF INDIAN MILITARY OCCUPATION AGAINST THE WISHES OF THE KASHMIRI PEOPLE. HOWEVER, BECAUSE OF THE HASTINESS AND UNFAIRNESS  OF THE PARTITION PLAN BY MOUNTBATTEN THERE WAS NO CONTINGENCY PLAN IN PLACE BY THE LEADERS OF THE MUSLIM LEAGUE AND PAKISTAN MOVEMENT. THIS WAS UNLIKE THE SITUATION IN ISRAEL'S WAR OF INDEPENDENCE IN 1948 WHEN IT WAS READY, PREPARED AND INVADED ARAB TERRITORIES TO SEIZE ILLEGALLY TERRITORY DEMARCATED FOR THE PALESTINIANS. 

INDEED WE LEARN THAT THE BRITISH INDIAN ARMY AND IT'S DIVISION OF ASSETS, MATERIALS ANDS FINANCES  WERE NOT FAIRLY DISTRIBUTED BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN. NOR WAS THE FIRST MILITARY COMMANDER OF THE PAKISTAN ARMY MESSERVY A PAKISTANI COMMANDER. THESE WERE SERIOUS PROBLEMS WHICH IMPACTED DIRECTLY THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PARTITION PLAN FAIRLY. THE REAL STORY OF PARTITION NEEDS TO BE RE-INVESTIGATED. 

NEVERTHELESS TRIBAL ARMIES INTERVENED TO TAKE OVER A THIRD OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR  NOW KNOWN AS AZAD KASHMIR IN PAKISTAN. PM IMRAN KHAN NEEDS TO REALISE THAT IT'S LIBERATION WILL NOT COME FROM THE UN IN NEW YORK AND THAT THE ROAD TO LIBERATE SRINIGAR WILL REQUIRE SACRIFICING BLOOD AND TREASURE. IT IS POSSIBLE AND IT ALMOST HAPPENED IN 1948( AND IN 1962 FOLLOWING THE INDO-CHINA WAR)  BUT DUE TO LACK OF ORGANISATION AND ILL DISCIPLINE FORCES WITHDREW FROM SRINIGAR.  IT WILL ALSO REQUIRE DECLARATION OF A JIHAD AS IT IS NOT JUST A TERRITORIAL MATTER BUT ONE IN WHICH MUSLIM PEOPLE AND A MUSLIM REGION WISH TO LIVE ACCORDING TO ISLAMIC LAWS AND DO NOT WISH TO LIVE UNDER A HINDU NATIONALIST AND COLONIAL REGIME. THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF 1947 ECHOES AGAIN IN 2019 FOR A FINAL SOLUTION.





KASHMIR : HEAVEN IN ASHES 
Center for Global & Strategic Studies CGSS
Mr. Abdullah Hameed Gul - Chairman Tehrik Jawanan Pakistan



        

'ALL OF PAKISTAN STANDS BY YOU ' PM IMRAN TELLS KASHMIRIS ON BLACK DAY  
https://www.dawn.com/news/1513231/all-of...-black-day

Occupied Kashmir has been turned into the "largest prison on the planet", says Prime Minister Imran in his message on October 27. — Photo courtesy of DawnNewsTV 

Pakistanis around the world and Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) observed "Black Day" on Sunday "to reject India's illegal occupation of Kashmir" on October 27, 1947.  A complete shutdown was observed in occupied Kashmir, said Radio Pakistan.   Prime Minister Imran Khan in a recorded statement, aired on Sunday, assured the Kashmiri people that "all of Pakistan is standing by you".   Addressing the Kashmiri people, he said the purpose of his address was to convey a message to them that Prime Minister Imran was their counsel and their spokesperson.  He said that the United Nations had already recognised their right of self-determination and that he would continue his struggle until Kashmiris get their rights.

The premier reiterated that those talking about military support or "jihad" in occupied Kashmir are enemies to Pakistan as well as Kashmiri people.  Addressing the nation, the premier said that the Indian government has stationed 900,000 army personnel in occupied Kashmir toterrorise people. "This is their [the Indian government's] objective," he said.  The prime minister said that the Indian government is looking for excuses to unleash military power on the Kashmiri people. He added that the Indian government wants to stage a Pulwama-style incident.

"The Modi government wants to hold Pakistan responsible [for unrest in Kashmir] and hide from the world what they are doing in Kashmir," he said.  Prime Minister Imran said that the Modi government wants to crush the Kashmiri people and subject them to cruelty while using this [any military support from Pakistan] as a justification.   "It is a political struggle," he reminded the nation.  Frustration, anger and fear have been   growing in the region since August 5, when the Indian government stripped occupied Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status and imposed a curfew and a communications blackout. With a brief restoration in some call and text services for mobile phone services, the clampdown has now continued for over 80 days.

Black Day observed
Earlier in the day, the premier in a statement on Twitter had said this Kashmir Black Day is distinct from other years, Radio Pakistan reported.  He had said that on Oct 27, 1947, India had illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and on Aug 5 of this year, "it took further steps to unilaterally alter the disputed status of the territory and change its demographic structure and identity".    Through the deployment of additional troops and the "unprecedented media and communications blackout", occupied Kashmir had been turned into the "largest prison on the planet", added the premier.   Prime Minister Imran said that Pakistan demands the "immediate lifting of   the curfew and communications blackout as well as rescinding of India's illegal and unilateral actions in the occupied territory".  

In his message, President Dr Arif Alvi said: "Indian occupying forces are perpetrating unspeakable crimes against Kashmiri people, including women and children, with complete impunity."  Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qurershi assured Kashmiris "that not only do we commemorate their exemplary grit and spirit on the occasion of Kashmir Black Day" but also "reiterate our firm and continued political, moral and diplomatic support to the people of IOJ&K in their grand struggle until they achieve their legitimate right of self-determination as per the United Nations Security Council resolutions".  "India should realise it cannot fool the world forever and that its tried and trite accusations of terrorism, while simultaneously being the principle perpetrator of it, have little import with the international community," said Qureshi in his message.  


The PML-N also held rallies across Pakistan to express solidarity with Kashmiris.  In his message, Leader of the Opposition in the National   Assembly Shehbaz Sharif said that the division of the Indian subcontinent will be complete only with the independence of Kashmir.  Addressing an event in Model Town, Shehbaz said: "If Pakistan is to help Kashmir in gaining independence, we need to fix our conduct.   "The whole country is united for Kashmir's independence but we will need to work hard. Imran Niazi has emptied the economy," he said.

Additionally, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that there were no two views on the Kashmir issue in Pakistan. He added that the Kashmir issue should be solved on the basis of the local population's desires.  To express solidarity with Kashmiris on Black Day, various programmes were planned across Pakistan, Radio Pakistan reported, adding that Pakistani missions abroad were instructed to organise events with the Pakistani diaspora, local parliamentarians, think-tanks and others in order to highlight the significance of the day.


In Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the Kashmir Liberation Cell, Hurriyet and religious organisations organised rallies, demonstrations and   protests. AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider presided over the main event in Muzaffarabad, where a rally was also taken out. The  Punjab  government marked Black Day in collaboration with the federal government. Chairing a meeting of Kashmir Committee Punjab,   law minister  and committee chairman Basharat Raja said the longest and worst curfew in occupied Kashmir was extremely deplorable.



KASHMIR's AGONY FUELLED BY MODI's RIGHT WING REGIME ECHOES ACROSS THE WORLD 
https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articl...-the-world

All it took was a blink of an eye to realize that India's right-wing government outmanoeuvred old-style colonialism by repackaging it as "democracy in action".  Whether described as a double takeover or colonialism squared, the fact is that the governing Bharata Janata Party (BJP), has given effect to subsume Indian Occupied Kashmir. And in true tradition of the erstwhile colonisers of India, the British Raj, Narendra Modi's government resorted to using fork-tongued language in order to justify its colossal crime. 

Describing Article 370 of the Constitution the "root cause of terrorism" and blaming it as regressive and blocking "development" in Jammu and Kashmir, Modi's BJP chief Amit Shah bulldozed it by revoking it. With its abrupt abrogation, Indian Occupied Kashmir no longer enjoys the status it had hitherto. In other words, the teeming millions of its population who to date had opposed efforts by successive Indian governments to prevent the implementation of UN resolutions on a plebiscite, have effectively been captured as prisoners. 

Dispossessed, silenced, imprisoned and dejected for being held in limbo without any recourse to access the protection of the UN or any country, the powder keg lit by the BJP regime is likely to explode with devastating consequences.  While Modi and his para-military RSS thugs along with BJP fanatics are celebrating this crude move, it must be noted that many human rights movements within India have adopted a tough stance by opposing it. Along with critics in India's mainstream media they do so at the risk of being ostracized as unpatriotic.

As debate rages on in India and elsewhere, particularly Pakistan, social media trolls in support of the BJP have evidently become intolerant, harsh and scathing. Vile, rude and disgusting memes have begun to spring up, suggesting that their efforts to whitewash the intended obliteration of Kashmir is orchestrated. 


The pattern of attacks has become routine, i.e. to justify the clampdown of Kashmir, follows Israel's lead by conflating resistance with "Islamist terrorism". The vocabulary used is straight out of Benjamin Netanyahu's hymn sheet. That it stinks of Islamophobia is reflective of Modi's rise to power: from the ashes of anti-Muslim Gujarat pogroms as its chief architect to the dispossession of Kashmir. 

Anti-Muslim bigotry is being disguised in language that stresses India's "nationalism", implying that the ideological basis of BJP being an extreme version of Hinduism is the ultimate political goal. Known as Hindutva, it is far removed from secular democracy. Yet by using the instruments that are on offer to the BJP, the Modi regime has struck a fatal blow to Kashmir. Overnight, the Valley has been plunged in doom and gloom. Tens of thousands of Indian troops have been mobilized to join the most militarized piece of real estate on earth. Cut off from each other and the outside world due to Modi's arbitrary suspension of the Internet, and additional measures that restrict movement, the Occupied Kashmiris face relentless ongoing persecution. 

It is thus not surprising that RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat and his second-in-command Bhaiyya Joshi congratulated Modi’s regime for "this bold initiative which was very much necessary in the national interest..."   Indeed it is a reaction to be expected as the war of words escalates between arch-Hindutva paramilitary forces linked to the BJP via RSS and human rights movements. 

Kashmir's freedom struggle has taken on various contours during the last seven decades. Though many of its leaders have been imprisoned, banished or executed, successive generations continue to this day in their quest to gain freedom. In many ways their struggle is mirrored in Palestine. Echoes of Kashmir's pain, suffering and humiliation can be heard across all the Occupied Territories from Gaza to South Lebanon. And no matter to what extent Modi follows in Netanyahu's footsteps to silence the persecuted millions, their cries will be heard. And though the corridors of power in Western capitals may pretend to be insulated from Kashmir's agony, their culpability in crimes resulting from their prized military industrial complex will loom large in their thinking. 

Neither Netanyahu nor Modi are free to act with impunity except with the "blessings" of the United States of America. That these two warlords have and continue to commit gross human rights violations, without any regard for legal imperatives which define rights and obligations, reveals the extent of their contempt for international conventions. 

Dumping Article 370 is Modi's latest act of defiance. Will he be compelled to reverse and reinstate Kashmir's right to a plebiscite, is a question many may ask. The answer unfortunately is an emphatic NO. None of his allies - including South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Russia, are likely to intervene. Kashmir's woes are a tragic reality of how skewed international relations have become. It reflects an endemic corruption that has infested global politics and an unwillingness by the power brokers to enforce justice.


TOP KASHMIRI LEADER ASKS PAKISTAN TO WITHDRAW FROM PEACE PACTS WITH INDIA 
https://www.trtworld.com/asia/top-kashmi...ndia-31304

Syed Ali Shah Geelani urges Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to respond to India's "annexation" of disputed Kashmir by dissolving Tashkent, Shimla and Lahore agreements, and "re-designation" of de facto border to "ceasefire line."

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a 92-year-old influential leader, addressed Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in what he said was "a critical situation. It is possible that this is my last communication to you, ill health and issues of old age may not allow me to address you again." (AP Archive) 


Islamabad must withdraw "from all aspects" of several peace accords with India and re-designate the de facto Kashmir border Line of Control [or LoC] back to ceasefire line, a top resistance leader in the disputed region urged Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday.


Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a 92-year-old Kashmiri separatist leader incarcerated at home for almost a decade, said, "Since India has unilaterally ended all bilateral agreements, Pakistan should also announce a withdrawal from all aspects of the Tashkent, Shimla and Lahore agreements."   "Pakistan should also re-designate the LoC as the ceasefire line since India has now taken the situation back to the status as existed in 1947-48," Geelani said in a rare letter issued by his faction of All Parties Hurriyet (Freedom) Conference.  "India's announcement on 5th August 2019, to forcibly annex the territory of Jammu and Kashmir [India-administered Kashmir] and break up the state is an attempt to physically change its internationally accepted disputed status. This unilateral action is against the UN resolutions that guarantee the people the right to self-determination," he said.


100 days of lockdown 

The statement comes as India's lockdown on the disputed Himalayan region completes 100 days when New Delhi stripped the disputed region's historical semi-autonomous status earlier in August.  New Delhi rushed a decree through parliament on August 5 unilaterally revoking the constitutional status of disputed Kashmir signed under the temporary treaty of accession signed by its ruler in 1947.  That decision was accompanied by a harsh crackdown, with New Delhi deploying tens of thousands of troops in addition to the already 500,000 troops present there, imposing a sweeping curfew, arresting thousands and cutting virtually all communications.  Authorities have since eased some restrictions, lifting roadblocks and partially restoring landlines and cellphone services. They have encouraged students to return to school and businesses to reopen. 


But Kashmiris have largely stayed home, in defiance or fear amid threats of violence.  As the crackdown continues, Kashmiris have quietly refused to resume their normal lives, confounding India at their own economic expense. New Delhi says abrogation of the limited autonomy is meant for the development of the conflict-torn region, but many Kashmiris say India plans to alter the Muslim demographics of the region by settling outside Hindus there.

Relations have been especially tense since then with Pakistan denouncing the "illegal annexation" of the territory and reacting by cutting trade, transport ties and expelling India's ambassador.


Status of LoC 

On Tuesday, Geelani asked Pakistan's Imran Khan to take "all possible measures to change the status of the [LoC] fence that separates the divided sides of Jammu and Kashmir." "These steps should be accompanied by the government of Pakistan taking full measures at the UN, and with the international community, to give the people of Jammu and Kashmir the promised right to self-determination. If India continues to refuse this demand, Pakistan should press for due measures and sanctions against India," he said.  Geelani, an influential leader, addressed Khan in what he said was "a critical situation."   "It is possible that this is my last communication to you, ill health and issues of old age may not allow me to address you again," he said. 



"There come moments in the lives of nations where taking great and brave steps becomes imperative. In such moments, any delays can push nations into decline and defeat," he urged Khan. He said India wants to completely change the political character of Kashmir and "is also looking at snatching our land from us."  "This is exactly like Israeli grabbing of Palestinian land and creating settlements whose residents then further terrorise the Palestinian people while exercising control over the territory."


The Kashmir leader said Pakistan should call for an all-Parliamentary meeting and take some actions at the governmental level. "It should also be made clear that this Indian action of changing the status of this disputed territory, and all further that aim at establishing a new scenario and increased killings and oppression in Kashmir are tantamount to a declaration of war. Pakistan should act according to this declaration of a state of war. The people of Jammu and Kashmir are prepared for any eventuality."


Direct rule from New Delhi

India and Pakistan both administer Kashmir in parts and claim it in full. China also controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistan who have fought three wars over Kashmir since 1947. The region was brought under New Delhi's direct rule in June 2018 after Indian PM Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] withdrew support for its local partner and dissolved the elected local government.


Since then elections for local assembly have been delayed and the region is under the rule of Indian president. Resistance groups demand that Kashmir be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country in a UN-promised plebiscite. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir's mostly Muslim population and most people support the cause of over a dozen rebel groups fighting Indian rule there. Nearly 100,000 people have been killed in the armed rebellion and civil uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown since 1989.



INDIA, KASHMIR AND DETERRENCE 
https://www.dawn.com/news/1521226/india-...deterrence

KASHMIR is generally described as a nuclear flashpoint. Reference to Pakistan and India being nuclear-armed neighbours is often cited in times of heightened tension between the two countries and as a reminder that they must avoid an all-out conflict. The Aug 5 Indian move to annex India-held Kashmir (IHK), the draconian lockdown in the Valley since that date, and reckless Indian claims to Azad Kashmir have created a radically new and dangerous situation which has been the subject of extensive comment.
In a recent Dawn article, my respected senior colleague ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi pointed to an impending genocide in the Valley and suggested that “if the people of the Valley are threatened with genocide, as indeed they are, Pakistan’s [nuclear] deterrent must cover them”. The concept of nuclear deterrence has an inbuilt ambiguity, but given the gravity of the subject matter, it needs further scrutiny.

Two questions readily come to mind. Will the post-Aug 5 conditions in IHK morph into a genocidal crisis and how should Pakistan respond to such a situation? Second, what broadly underpins Pakistan’s thinking on resort to its nuclear deterrent and how will it apply to Kashmir?

Arguably, the lockdown of eight million Kashmiris represents a most reprehensible human rights violation that deserves the severest international condemnation, but despite the danger, in the general perception, genocide is tied to large-scale massacres, mass exodus and international outrage. The Indians appear to be avoiding that tipping point and are attempting to pursue calculated repression to tire the Kashmiris out and entice pliable Kashmiri individuals to acquiesce in the new diktat. They are embarked on a long haul.
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The Aug 5 move has so poisoned the well that it is difficult to see a path to normal relations with India. Pakistan, on the other hand, is waiting to see how Kashmiris react to repression when they find some breathing space. This policy dilemma is at play in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s warning to those intending to cross the Line of Control. The current impasse is fraught and nothing is clear about its denouement. If, however, the situation deteriorates and there is bloodshed and people start fleeing the Valley, Pakistan’s restraint will come under great stress and become untenable. A stage may come when beyond exhausting diplomatic options, Pakistan would be unable to withhold material assistance to the Kashmiri struggle.

That scenario can precipitate a conflict for which Pakistan must be fully prepared. In all probability, conflict would draw international intervention and activate the United Nations Security Council to call for a ceasefire and dialogue for a political settlement of Kashmir. This could become a new basis for dialogue, since the heart of a meaningful dialogue on Kashmir provided by the Shimla Accords, the Lahore Summit Declaration and subsequent bilateral pronouncements has been knocked out by the Aug 5 move of the Modi government. This could usher in a period of tenuous peace and another status quo over Kashmir. But conflicts can have unpredictable trajectories and far worse, and disastrous consequences cannot be ruled out, which makes the talk of nuclear deterrent relevant.

Pakistan developing a nuclear deterrent was a necessary and understandable response to rectify the qualitative force imbalance created by India’s 1974 nuclear test. Pakistan obviously had no outside nuclear umbrella available and had to rely on its own capacity. Since 1998, Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine has maintained that its deterrent is entirely defensive and meant to be a shield against any intended aggression to destroy its territorial integrity.

India’s Cold Start Doctrine forced further fine-tuning of Pakistan’s thinking as to the practical applicability of its deterrent. Because the Cold Start Doctrine contemplated incursion and lopping off a vulnerable part of Pakistani territory, Pakistan responded by developing tactical nuclear weapons to be deployed against an invading force inside Pakistan. India has reacted by declaring that use of a nuclear weapon, however limited, anywhere (including inside Pakistan) would draw a massive nuclear retaliation. Regardless of the debates swirling around these scenarios, they provide the clearest indication of Pakistan’s determination to go to any extent to defend its territorial integrity.

How does all this apply to Kashmir? In practical terms, Pakistan’s deterrent cannot protect people in the Valley or prevent mayhem in IHK. But a genocide can lead to a conflict between Pakistan and India with its own dynamic and risks, thus Kashmir becoming a nuclear flashpoint. Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent must however cover Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan to thwart any Indian designs to capture any part of that territory. Many among the current BJP leadership mince no words about their covetous intentions and claims over the territory. It is imperative that we leave no one in doubt that we will defend Azad Kashmir and GB as we will defend any part of Pakistan. We cannot tolerate a repeat of Siachen.

Islamabad must also brace itself for Indian-sponsored subversion and disaffection in Azad Kashmir and GB, and, recognising their special status, ensure well-being, development, rights and opportunities for the people of these areas. The Aug 5 move by the Modi government has so poisoned the well that it is difficult see a path to normal relations with India. Imran Khan’s Kartarpur initiative and his call to curb any jihadist impulse along the LoC are laudable. These measures, or any other similar gestures or initiatives, are unlikely to compel India to change course to some form of a policy reversal that respects Kashmiri sentiment and restores an environment for purposeful interaction with Pakistan. Much will depend on the Kashmiris and sensitivity of the international community to their predicament and to sane voices within India. Meanwhile, barring further deterioration, Pakistan has little choice but to maintain only a circumspect functional relationship with its eastern neighbour without expectations of normalisation any time soon.

The writer is an author and a former foreign secretary of Pakistan.
Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2019



BOTH INDIA AND PAKISTAN 
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/indepe...stan-30590

Although Islamabad has always supported Kashmir's UN-sanctioned Right to Self Determination, it has also been wary of Kashmiri nationalism that envisions a state free from both India and Pakistan. On two different occasions in the recent past, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged the people of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which is locally called Azad Kashmir, that they should not cross the contentious Line of Control (LoC) and enter the other side of Kashmir, held by India since 1947. 

The people in Azad Kashmir are deeply moved by the fast deteriorating human rights situation in India-administered Kashmir, where New Delhi instigated a political crisis on August 5 by ending the semi-autonomous status of the region. It scrapped a legislation that largely acted as a guardian of its majority Muslim demography as well as giving Kashmiri people some exclusive property rights. The unilateral move was accompanied by a strict military curfew and complete communication shutdown, with the internet and mobile telecommunications being completely cut off in the disputed Himalayan region.  

The impact of the siege not only affected an estimate of eight million people of India-administered Kashmir but also hurt the emotions of the people of Pakistan-administered Kashmir since the two divided sides share strong familial, religious and cultural bonds. In the last two months, several large processions were held in Azad Kashmir to show solidarity with the people of besieged Kashmir. On a couple of occasions the protesters attempted to cross the de-facto LoC, without appearing to care much about their safety, as the Indian army stationed across are always ready to open fire on a whim. 

On October 4, Khan had a strong message for the people wanting to cross over in desperation. He warned them against much such move, saying they “will be playing into the hands of India”, the country which he said is hellbent on labelling the indigenous Kashmiri struggle as Pakistan-backed “Islamic terrorism”. The statement came on the day when thousands of members of a pro-independence group in Pakistan-administered Kashmir were marching toward the LoC in condemnation of the lockdown in India-held Kashmir. 

Since the Indian repression in besieged Kashmir increased manifold following New Delhi's draconian move on August 5, major pro-independence political groups in Azad Kashmir, which has as a nominally self-governing jurisdiction over four million people, have fast mobilised. The movement has drawn large crowds and raised the call for the complete independence of the entire Jammu and Kashmir region from both India and Pakistan. In the past protest rallies, only anti-India and pro-freedom slogans including “Kashmir banega Pakistan” (Kashmir will become Pakistan) were chanted, but this time it's different. The emotionally-charged protesters, mostly youngsters, are asking both New Delhi and Islamabad to leave their "motherland" and allow the people of Jammu and Kashmir to have an independent nation state.  

Although Pakistan has always supported the UN-sanctioned plebiscite for Jammu and Kashmir and even fought three wars with India over the disputed territory, Islamabad did not allow protesters to go near the LoC, blocking the procession with large containers, barbed wire and wooden planks. The protesters are however determined to move forward. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a political group devoted to the independence of the disputed region, decided to hold an indefinite sit-in at Jiskol, a hilly region just a few kilometres away from the dividing de-facto border line. Their sit-in entered ninth day on October 14. 

On September 7, another JKLF faction led a long march to a region close to the LoC in the neighbouring Poonch district. As the marchers attempted to cross the line, Pakistani police used tear gas shells to disperse them and arrested at least 30 protesters. To justify the police action, the government said it was done “in the interest of their protection from the risk of Indian shelling”. The detainees were released a few days later. Analysts believe that rallies organised by pro-independence groups such as JKLF —  that attracted a few dozen protesters in the past —  are now attracting large gatherings, in thousands.

In the past three decades, the JKLF has made three attempts to cross the LoC. In one attempt in February 1992, 12 people were killed and more than 150 injured after Pakistani law enforcement agencies opened fire to restrict them from getting closer to the dividing line. Some security analysts argue that such adventurism could harm Kashmir's struggle for freedom from India's rule.  “Pakistan is very much careful not to give any pretext to India that dire situation in India-held Kashmir is the outcome of any militancy allegedly sponsored from the outside,” Jan Achakzai, an Islamabad-based political commentator, told TRT World. “Islamabad will never fall back on old ways. There is already huge pressure on India due to Western human rights diplomacy asking India to normalise the situation in India-held Kashmir.”

Another expert on the 70-year conflict and a native of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir region, Ershad Mahmud, said locals crossing over to Indian-held Kashmir would give the far-right BJP government an opportunity to shift international focus from the crippling curfew and human rights crisis to cross-border 'intrusions'. So far the United States has welcomed Khan's “unambiguous and important” statement warning Pakistanis against going to Kashmir to wage an armed insurgency. A large number of Kashmiris in Pakistan are however unhappy with Khan warning them against crossing over to the other side of the LoC. Jameel Hussain, a 25-year-old student from Poonch, said three of his family members participated in the JKLF rally because half of their extended family lives across the LoC. “The LoC would be a border for India and Pakistan, but Kashmiris do not recognise it,” he told TRT WorldPakistani journalist Hamid Mir said in a tweet that Khan’s statement had been creating misconceptions and he should take Kashmiri leaders into confidence after attending the United National General Assembly’s meeting last month.
“Kashmiris do not accept the LoC. AJK’s all political parties want to break the LoC. Then how did it become India’s narrative?” Mir questioned.

The pro-independence groups also demand that Pakistani should hand the responsibility of diplomacy on the Kashmir issue over to the federal government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir since its legislative assembly is capable of lobbying in the West, with a vibrant and well-educated diaspora, some among the parliamentarians in the US, Canada and the UK, backing it up in Europe and North America.  


Political discourses in Azad Kashmir

The political arena of Pakistan-administered Kashmir is dominated by three schools of thought.
First, Pakistan’s mainstream political parties run their offices in the region and take part in elections for its local parliament – called the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly. These parties are under severe pressure from Kashmiri residents for not formulating a bold Kashmir policy, something that could have put India on the backfoot. 

Second, militant groups, such as Hizbul Mujahideen, Jammat-ud-Dawa and Jaish-e-Muhammad, which India considers terrorist organisations for waging a guerilla insurgency against New Delhi in Kashmir. But in recent crisis, most militant groups operating in Kashmir have preferred to remain silent because any major assault against India's military is likely to trigger another round of hostility between India and Pakistan, putting the latter in a difficult position. Pakistan is already on the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list, dealing with allegations of "sponsoring terrorism" to target India.  Complying with its promise of cracking down on various radical armed groups,  the Pakistani government has already shut down the offices of several militant organisations after the February Pulwama suicide attack in India-administered Kashmir. Third, several smaller pro-independent political groups who do not take part in electoral politics and instead seek a separate state free from Indian and Pakistani intervention. 

From Pakistan to national freedom

The nature of armed rebellion in India-administered Kashmir has changed from being one fighting for an independent Kashmir in the early 1990s to one wanting to merge the region with Pakistan. In the last few years, according to some observers, the militancy has once again started to gravitate toward the idea of a free, independent Kashmir. With radical militant groups losing popularity and support base in Pakistan, the Kashmiri insurgency is also changing. After the killing of 22-year-old Kashmiri militant commander Burhan Wani, who'd become  a social media sensation in the disputed region, the radical militant groups present in Pakistan-administered Kashmir were fast becoming irrelevant, said a Qari Abid Ali, a cleric in Rawalpindi, who has been observing the Kashmir insurgency since the 1980s.

Wani was instrumental in reviving the local militancy and popularising it through his video messages highlighting India's bad human rights record in the region and asking Kashmiri youth to stand up to Indian repression. In view of Pakistan's growing hostility toward radical armed groups operating in the country, Ali, the cleric, said many militant organisations that fought for Kashmir's merger with Pakistan are no longer thinking along the same lines. When Pakistan supported Kashmir's armed group JKLF in 1989, providing training to its fighters in light of an armed uprising, the idea of a free Kashmir without India and Pakistan did not go down well with major decision makers of the Pakistani political and military establishment, Ali said.  “After realising that JKLF’s key agenda of ‘free and democratic Kashmir’ could pose a threat to Pakistan’s strategic interests in the region, Pakistan started working on a policy of marginalisation of pro-independent groups in Pakistan-held Kashmir,” he added. “Even Jihadi groups on both sides of LoC are now talking about ‘independent Islamic Kashmir’ and it is worrying both Pakistan and India.”
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GLOBAL UMMAH SOLIDARITY - by moeenyaseen - 08-23-2006, 11:07 PM
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