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THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA CONTINUES ITS BLACKOUT ON WHAT IS TAKING PLACE RIGHT NOW IN KASHMIR ESPECIALLY INDIAN OCCUPIED KASHMIR. THE BJP GOVERNMENT IN NEW DELHI HAS RAPIDLY EXECUTED IT'S COMMITMENT TO END THE AUTONOMY OF KASHMIR WHICH WAS GUARANTEED BY IT'S ACCESSION TO THE INDIAN UNION IN 1947. MODI HAS DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY AND LOCKDOWN BODES ILL FOR THE FUTURE. THE LINE OF CONTROL- LOC HAS BECOME A FLASHPOINT AGAIN BETWEEN THE INDIAN AND PAKISTAN ARMIES STATIONED THERE.
IS THIS THE PREDICTED START OF THE GHAZWA I HIND IN ISLAMIC ESCHATOLOGY TO LIBERATE NOT ONLY THE OPPRESSED AND OCCUPIED PEOPLE OF KASHMIR BUT THE BATTLE AND LIBERATION FOR INDIA. PAKISTAN'S SECURITY COUNCIL HAS MET RECENTLY AND WARNS OF A REGIONAL CRISIS WHICH COULD LEAD TO WAR. WE NEED TO BE ALERT TO ANOTHER INDIAN FALSE FLAG TERROR INCIDENT CREATED AND MANIPULATED BY THE BJP HINDU FASCISTS WHICH MAYBE USED AS A CASSUS BELLI AGAINST PAKISTAN.
THE INDIANS MAY START SOMETHING WHICH THEY WILL REGRET AND IT WILL RESULT IN THE DEMISE OF THE INDIAN UNION. THE INDIAN UNION NEEDS TO RESPECT THE WISHES OF THE KASHMIRIS FOR A REFERENDUM TO ALLOW FOR SELF DETERMINATION. IF IT MOVES TOWARDS DIRECT RULE FROM NEW DELHI AND BRUTAL VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND ETHNIC CLEANSING INDIA WILL END UP PAYING THE PRICE OF DISINTEGRATION. WATCH THIS SPACE ON THE RIVETTING FUTURE OF THIS REGION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE WORLD.
PREDICTIONS OF NAIMATULLAH SHAH WALI ARE COMING TRUE AT THE MOMENT
A NEW DIRECTION TO BUY LAND ON A DOUBLE PRICE IN VARIOUS PARTS
HARF E RAAZ WITH ORYA MAQBOOL JAN
KASHMIR A BEGINNING OF WAR OR PASSAGE TO PEACE
5 August 2019 | Neo News
WHY WAS INDIA ADMINISTERED KASHMIR's STATUS
REVOKED ?
India has moved to scrap parts of the constitution which grant India-administered Kashmir significant autonomy
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2019/08/india-administered-kashmir-status-revoked-190805175025905.html
[/url]
The disputed territory of Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from the UK. [url=Both countries claim it as their own and control parts of it. India-administered Kashmir was granted special autonomy that allowed it to function largely without direct interference from New Delhi. But that has now changed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist led government has revoked the special status after sending additional troops to the region and putting it on lockdown. It's a move that could have widespread consequences. What's behind this decision and does it abide by the long-standing consensus over the territory?
Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra
Guests:
Barkha Dutt - Columnist and author of This Unquiet Land: Stories from India's Fault Lines
Mirza Waheed - Kashmiri journalist, novelist and author of The Book of Gold Leaves and Tell Her Everything
Victoria Schofield - Writer, historian, South Asia affairs analyst and author of Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War
ERASING KASHMIR's AUTONOMOUS STATUS
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinio...25950.html
PAKISTAN SAYS IT WILL EXERCISE ALL POSSIBLE OPTIONS TO COUNTER 'ILLEGAL STEPS' TAKEN BY INDIA IN IOK
https://www.dawn.com/news/1498236/pakist...dia-in-iok
THE PARTITION: THE BRITISH GAME OF DIVIDE AND RULE
Before leaving India, the British made sure a united India would not be possible
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/08/partition-british-game-divide-rule-170808101655163.html
THE NEED FOR A MUSEUM ON BRITISH COLONISATION OF INDIA
The decolonisation of the mind is among the greatest challenges today's Indians have to face
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinio...32399.html
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PM IMRAN KHAN HISTORIC SPEECH ON KASHMIR IN PARLIAMENT JOINT SESSION
CORPS COMMANDERS’ CONFERENCE PRESIDED BY GENERAL QAMAR JAVED BAJWA, CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF (COAS) HELD AT GENERAL HEAD QUARTERS (GHQ) TODAY ON SINGLE POINT AGENDA OF SITUATION REGARDING KASHMIR
Rawalpindi - August 06, 2019
https://www.ispr.gov.pk/press-release-de...hp?id=5390
No PR-147/2019-ISPR
Corps Commanders’ Conference presided by General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) held at General Head Quarters (GHQ) today on single point agenda of situation regarding Kashmir. Forum fully supported Government’s rejection of Indian actions regarding Kashmir. Pakistan never recognised the sham Indian efforts to legalise its occupation of Jammu & Kashmir through article 370 or 35-A decades ago; efforts which have now been revoked by India itself. “Pakistan Army firmly stands by the Kashmiris in their just struggle to the very end. We are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfill our obligations in this regard”, COAS affirmed.
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OUTLINING THE NATURE AND PARAMETERS OF GHAZWA I HIND WHICH HAS STARTED
RSS IDEOLOGY OF HINDU SUPREMACY WILL LEAD TO SUPPRESSION OF MUSLIMS IN INDIA AND TO TARGETTING OF PAKISTAN
https://www.dawn.com/news/1499293
PM QUESTIONS WORLD's SILENCE ON IoK, WARNS OF SEVERE REPERCUSSIONS IN CASE OF ETHNIC CLEANSING OF MUSLIMS
https://www.dawn.com/news/1499666/pm-que...of-muslims
INDIA’s MUSLIMS QUIVER IN THE NEW DAWN OF AN EMBOLDENED NARENDRA MODI
The Hindu nationalist BJP’s election victory will change the culture of the nation, the prime minister’s critics fear In the past five years violence against Muslims has increased, including at least 36 killings by “cow vigilantes” of cattle farmers and traders
https://nation.com.pk/18-Aug-2019/india-...endra-modi
INDIAN BUSINESS TIES UNDERPIN MUTED ARAB RESPONSE TO NEW DELHI's ACTIONS IN OCCUPIED KASHMIR
https://www.dawn.com/news/1499669/indian...ed-kashmir
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WHERE WILL THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF THE KASHMIR CONFLICT GO NEXT AFTER THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING? THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT THE KASHMIR TRAGEDY HAS COME TO THE ATTENTION OF THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL FOR OVER A GENERATION SINCE 1972. THE OPPRESSION OF KASHMIR IS NOT A BILATERAL ISSUE AND THE POLICY OF VARIOUS PAKISTANI LEADERS HAS FAILED TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF THE HINDUTVA NAZI STATE AND IT'S AGENDA FOR KASHMIR, INDIAN MUSLIMS AND PAKISTAN ESPECIALLY SINCE THE RISE AND COMING TO POWER OF THE HINDU FASCIST BJP PARTY.
PAKISTAN NEEDS TO GO ON A WAR EMERGENCY FULL ALERT AND LAUNCH A GLOBAL CONCERTED DIPLOMATIC CAMPAIGN EXPOSING THE VIOLATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF KASHMIRIS BY THIS INDIAN HINDU FASCIST STATE. THE PAKISTANI ELITE HAS TO DATE BEEN APPEASING INDIA AND THIS CAN NO LONGER CONTINUE AS WE HAVE LONG ENTERED AN EXISTENTIAL STRUGGLE.
WE ARE IN A SITUATION OF A RETURN TO 1947 WHERE THE FUTURE DESTINY OF NOT ONLY KASHMIR BUT THE ENTIRE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT IS AT STAKE. THE EXACT NATURE OF INDIAN IDENTITY AND SELF DETERMINATION OF THE DIFFERENT RELIGIONS, REGIONS AND NATIONS IS AT STAKE.
HOWEVER PAKISTAN NEEDS TO TAKE THE LEAD ON THIS MATTER AND REALISE THAT AS ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION OF PEACE BUT A RELIGION WHICH UPHOLDS JUSTICE IT NEEDS TO BE FULLY MOBILISED MILITARILY TO DEFEND AND ATTACK AN AGGRESSIVE OPPRESSIVE ANTI-ISLAMIC SUPERPOWER. PAKISTAN HAS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED LEAKED INDIAN PLANS OF AN INDIAN INVASION YESTERDAY SO THE WORLD SHOULD BE ON NOTICE IF IT DOES NOT IMMEDIATELY HALT INDIAN TERRORISM AND IMPERIALISM IN OCCUPIED KASHMIR THIS WILL HAVE TO BE SORTED OUT ON THE BATTLE FIELD.
ETHNIC CLEANSING, DESTROYING THE WILL OF A PEOPLE AND ATTACKING A SMALLER NEIGHBOUR IS STATE TERRORISM. THE COMPULSIVE DECEITFUL INDIAN NARRATIVE NEEDS TO BE REJECTED. THE UN AND IT'S PREDECESSOR THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS WHICH AROSE FROM THE ASHES OF WW1 AND WW2 IS AN ORGANISATION WHOSE ORIGINS AND CHAPTER AND VERSE ANTI MUSLIM POLICIES CAN NOT BE RESORTED TO ENFORCE A JUST SETTLEMENT IN KASHMIR.
WE NEED TO BE CLEAR THAT WHEN INTERNATIONALISATION OF THE KASHMIR CONFLICT IS TALKED ABOUT IT NEEDS TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO ONE BETWEEN THE ISLAMIC WORLD AND INDIA. THE HARD REALITY IS THAT THIS ISSUE WILL BE SETTLED BY WAR AS ONLY WAR WILL LEAD TO A JUST PEACE. ALL THE FACTS PERTAINING TO THIS CONCLUSION WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED.
'VOICE OF KASHMIRI PEOPLE HEARD AT THE UNITED NATIONS TODAY' : Maleeha Lodhi
https://www.dawn.com/news/1499832/voice-of-kashmiri-people-heard-at-the-united-nations-today-maleeha-lodhi
AGGRESSION TO MEET POWERFUL RESPONSE, INDIA TOLD
Qureshi says New Delhi must not commit further blunders, Kashmir desk to be established at FO, Our last soldier will fight till his death for Pakistan and Kashmir,” says DG ISPR
https://nation.com.pk/18-Aug-2019/aggres...india-told
CAGED IoK AND HELPLESS UNO
Senator Rehman Malik
August 18, 2019
https://nation.com.pk/18-Aug-2019/caged-...lpless-uno
It has been seventy years three months and twenty days since we are making tall claims about Kashmir but in actual so far we are failed as neither could we get the UNSC Resolutions on Kashmir implemented nor we could create a strong lobby which could have forced the United Nations to at least get its own resolution implemented. Though we are grateful to the China for requesting the UNSC’s closed-door consultations to discuss Kashmir following the India’s unilateral and illegal move to revoke the special status to Jammu and Kashmir but nothing came out of the meeting behind closed doors, as India has not been asked to restore the special status of Indian Held Kashmir. The world knows that Kashmir is disputed area since day first and it is one of the international known disputed subjects and already number of resolutions have been passed on it not only in the United Nations but other international relevant forums. It is absolutely wrong to presume that the issue of Kashmir was internationalized and declared as ‘disputed’ after the UNSC’s closed-door meeting, which I differ as it is very naïve and undermining to think this way. The world was looking forward for some relief in terms of restoration of special status, lifting of complete lockdown, deployment of UN peacekeeping missions and we were also expecting that UNSC will be announcing a date for plebiscite in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK). Our Foreign Office should continue to demand the restoration of special status of Kashmir and restoration of Articles 370 & 35-A.
I was compelled to write a letter to Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shah Mehmood Qureshi to move the United Nations with my six point suggestions. The letter is reproduced here for information.
Dear Shah Mehmood Qureshi Sahib,
I would like to draw your kind attention towards the unprecedented brutalities being committed by Indian Government under the direct command of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Indian Occupied Kashmir since long and unhindered and unfortunately are being consistently ignored by the United Nations and other international relevant forums. The recent unilateral and illegal decision by the Indian Government to revoke the Articles 370 & 35-A basically to scrap the special status of Kashmir, is also a sheer violation of the United Nations Resolutions.
I call upon you to consider to immediately move the United Nations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian Government for committing unprecedented Indian illegal act and ongoing brutalities against innocent Kashmiris in terms of mass murders, mass blinding through pelleting, enforced disappearances, tortures, rapes, political repression and suppression of freedom of speech including total curfew in the area, which is gross violation of international human rights. The International Human Rights Commission has already reported these violations vide its report.
Indian has been persistently refusing the human rights body to visit inside the Indian Occupied Kashmir and is continuously committing human rights violations without any fear and has chosen to ignore the investigative observations of the International community. India being the Member of United Nations is liable to be penalized for above continued violations of human rights and also for not implementing the UNSC Resolutions of self-determination i.e. Resolutions, No.47 (1948), 98(1952) and 122(1957).
I have been fore-warning the ill intentions of India regarding the demographic changes in Kashmir and efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convert the Muslim Kashmiri population into minority and the real planning of India stood exposed with the scrapping of Article 35-A allowing the purchase and allotment of property to the non-Kashmiris. I would like to mention here that I have already issued a Charge Sheet (copy enclosed) against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 5th February, 2018, highlighting the ill-motives of Modi’s government, which he has brought in by scrapping the special status of Kashmir. Kindly use my timely apprehensions which went unnoticed by the UNO.
I, therefore, hereby propose you as Minister of Foreign Affairs/Government of Pakistan to move the United Nations on the following:-
1. The United Nations may be requested to implement its own Resolutions of self-determination by announcing a specific date for holding the plebiscite in Kashmir.
2. The United Nations may be requested to immediately deploy its Peacekeeping Mission in Indian Occupied Kashmir for sustainable peace and to ensure peaceful and free and fair plebiscite within the period announced by UNO.
3. The United Nations may be requested to direct UN Human Rights Council to constitute a High Powered Commission to observe and investigate the sheer violations of human rights by Indian Forces in the Indian Occupied Kashmir and submit a consolidated report to expose the Indian aggression.
4. The United Nations may be requested to immediately restore the original special status of Kashmir by restoring Articles 370 & 35-A.
5. The United Nations may be requested to place India under international Sanctions as penalty for persistently violating the United Nations Resolutions on Kashmir and violating will of International community.
6. The United Nations may be requested to refer the matter under Rome Convention to file a case against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian Army Chief and against the Indian National Security Advisor as war criminals, based on the authentic report already submitted to the UNO by President International Human Rights Commission (copy enclosed). Many Kashmiri organizations, families of the victims, living blind innocent Kashmiris suffered through the pelleting and raped women are ready to testify these Indian ongoing brutalities against innocent Kashmiris in terms of mass murders, mass blinding through pelleting, enforced disappearances, tortures, rapes, political repression and suppression of freedom of speech including total lockdown.
I would like to point out that one close-door meeting of UNSC will not work as it will be used to de-escalate the built-up pressure on India and I propose that Pakistan should once again request the Secretary General United Nations for calling another open session of United Nations Security Council inviting Pakistan to present a proper and consolidated evidences against India to shake up the International community who are not paying any attention to the oppressed voice of people of Kashmir.
I, as a Parliamentarian feel that we need to do much homework to face India on borders, diplomatic and legal front. I would like to put on record that India will leave no stone unturned to propagate high level blame game, pressure on LOC and inflict our economy through hybrid war planned out to assure anti-Pakistan syndrome under the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
I hope that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will immediately appoint a legal team consists of competent lawyers to move the United Nations with above proposals, convincing our friendly countries for their support that the implementation of UNO Resolutions could be ensured and trial against Prime Minister Modi could be referred to International Criminal Court (ICC).
Yours sincerely,
(SENATOR A. REHMAN MALIK)
I have covered all the points to deal this matter and I hope the government will follow which I am writing in my personal capacity and in the greater national interest.
ZAID HAMID EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ON KASHMIR RIGHTS
OR JANG FOR INDIA
AISAY NAHI CHALAY GA WITH FIZA AKBAR KHAN
16th August 2019 | BOL News
ANOTHER MOVE TO FULFILL THE PREDICTION OF
NAIMATULLAH SHAH WALI
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KASHMIR HOUR A STRONG MESSAGE TO THE WORLD: COAS
https://www.ispr.gov.pk
Army chief visits Gujranwala Corps HQ, says deteriorating situation in IOK is a threat to regional peace. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has lauded a great display of solidarity with the people of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOK), shown by the nation during the Kashmir Hour on Friday, calling it “a strong message to the world”.
He expressed these views while visiting the Gujranwala Corps headquarters, where he was briefed on operational preparedness of the troops, said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
“Solidarity displayed by the nation with Kashmiri brethren during Kashmir Hour today is a strong message to the world. Deteriorating situation in IOJ&K is threat to regional peace,” General Qamar was quoted by the military media wing as saying.
World reaction would have been much stronger if Kashmiris were not Muslims: PM Imran
Earlier in the day, cities across Pakistan came to a standstill as thousands rallied in mass demonstrations protesting New Delhi’s brutalities in IOK in the most ambitious public protests targeting India in years. At noon, sirens rang out across the country followed by broadcasts of the national anthems of Pakistan and Kashmir, while traffic ground to a halt for several minutes in solidarity with the rallies. The events were organised on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s call against New Delhi’s strong-arm tactics. The prime minister has also asked for weekly nationwide rallies until he leaves for New York next month to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he vowed to raise the issue.
COAS visits Strike Corps formations, briefed on army’s ‘operational preparedness’
On Thursday, the army chief visited the formations of Strike Corps, where he was apprised on Pakistan Army’s state of operational preparedness. “Strike Corps has critical and decisive role in war. Your state of preparedness, training standards and high morale are very encouraging which enhance the confidence,” Gen Qamar was quoted as saying. These visits come amid tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours after the Modi government revoked IOK’s special autonomy. The occupied valley is currently in its fourth week of a wide-ranging communications blackout with severe restrictions on movement. Thousands have been arrested thus far.
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WHILST THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT AT THE MACRO AND MICRO LEVELS THERE IS A PARALYSIS AND DISCONNECT BETWEEN THE UMMAH. BUT THERE ARE MOVES BY THE MALAYSIA-TURKEY-PAKISTAN AXIS TO INJECT NEW LIFE AND DIRECTION FOR THE UMMAH REGARDLESS OF THE OIC WHICH APPEARS TO BE UNDER THE CONTROL OF GCC ARAB STATES. THIS NEEDS URGENT REVIEW. HOWEVER, THE UMMAH SOLIDARITY LIVES AND BREATHES ON THE MUSLIM STREET AND MOSQUE AND SHOULD AND MUST NOT EVER BE NEGLECTED AND UNDERESTIMATED. THERE IS A NEED TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE MUSLIM MASSES CAN BE GUIDED AND LEAD THE DESTINY OF THE UMMAH AND TRANSFORM MUSLIM NATION STATES.
DITCHED BY THE UMMAH
https://www.dawn.com/news/1504003/ditched-by-the-ummah
FOR five weeks, day after day, Pakistanis have been tearing their hearts out complaining that the world has turned a deaf ear to India’s forcible annexation of held Kashmir. They were shocked when some of Pakistan’s closest allies — including the United Arab Emirates and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — appeared to either side with India or stay silent. When PM Khan invited the foreign ministers of KSA and UAE to “explain Pakistan’s position”, many hoped that things would be reversed. So what happened?
Not much, it seems. The foreign ministers met with PM Khan and COAS Bajwa in Islamabad on Wednesday. Thereafter FM Qureshi is reported to have said, “We are hopeful that [both countries] will not disappoint us. The ministers of both countries have listened to our stance”.There could not have been a blander statement. No one expected much, but for all three countries it was a good photo-op: Pakistan could claim it had succeeded in engaging KSA and UAE in its promised diplomatic offensive. In turn, without offending India, these two Arab states could be seen as relevant to the region. But this visit will not calm the storm of indignation in Pakistan’s media — unless the media’s minders put the brakes on.
What explains the KSA/UAE tilt towards India? In TV talk shows and from columnists one hears that ours is a dog-eat-dog world where countries care only about markets and trade, not moral imperatives. No one cares about the poor. This explanation is partly, but not wholly, true. From the KSA/UAE perspective, Pakistan is indeed a supplicant for periodic bailouts. Last year it received over $6 billion from each. Saudis lump Pakistanis with other ‘miskeen’ (needy) people from countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines, etc. The term ‘rafiq’ (dear friend), says columnist Khaled Ahmad, is reserved by Saudis only for white expats from Europe and America. Indians presently do not qualify as rafiqs, but KSA might someday consider a relook.
KSA and UAE cannot call for self-determination in Kashmir for fear of consequences at home. India’s growing economic clout, the sophistication of its workforce, and KSA-India cooperation in counterterrorism and military matters resulted in Pakistan’s de-hyphenation from India more than a decade ago. In 2016, the Saudi king personally conferred upon Narendra Modi the King Abdulaziz Sash (KSA’s highest civilian award). Earlier recipients include Shinzo Abe, David Cameron, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The list does not have any Pakistani leader.
Most recently, just after India-held Kashmir went into lockdown, Crown Prince MBS vowed to invest $100bn in India by 2021. Earlier this year he had promised to invest $20bn in Pakistan. The differential recognises the different sizes of the two economies. The latest available figures show Pak-Saudi trade in 2017-2018 at $7.5bn while India-Saudi trade in the same year was $27.5bn. Remittances from Pakistani workers in 2018 from KSA were $4.9bn; that from Indian workers were $12.2bn. UAE showed even less concern than KSA by rubbing salt into Pakistan’s wounds. UAE’s ambassador to India, Ahmad Al Banna, defended India’s action as an internal administrative matter and a “step towards further stability and peace”. Then, on Aug 24, UAE awarded Narendra Modi its highest civilian honour, the Order of Zayed. This made Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani cancel his scheduled visit to UAE.
It’s not just because of India; here’s why it is unlikely that KSA and UAE would ever support Pakistan on Kashmir. KSA is a monarchy run by the House of Saud while UAE is an autocracy run by sheikhs from different Emirati tribes. One becomes a ruler in KSA/UAE because of rank at birth, not by election or competence or any other virtue. Therefore, people cannot be allowed to express their will, advocating democracy is a punishable crime, and dissent is quashed well before it can reach the streets. Can you imagine the consequences if KSA and UAE were to advocate the democratic rights of Kashmiris? The very next question would be: what about elections and democracy at home? KSA’s foreign minister was therefore as likely to demand democracy or plebiscite in Kashmir as he was to revealing the whereabouts of Jamal Khashoggi’s remnants.
The ill-fated Arab Spring briefly threatened regional monarchies and dictatorships but withered away long ago. As noted above, the man who helped to crush it in Egypt, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, is also a recipient of the Saudi Sash — alongside Modi. All Gulf countries remain fearful of street demonstrations in any shape or form. Protests for Kashmir in Bahrain after Eid prayers led to several arrests. We must not conclude from this that KSA is uninterested in Kashmir. There appears to be a new kind of religious proxy war in the making. KSA and Iran wish to foist their respective brands of Islam onto Kashmiris; funds for mosques and madressahs and preachers from these countries are going there.
In supporting Kashmiris, national interests everywhere take primacy over all else. The recent strong rebuke to India from Iran’s Supreme Leader was presumably to bolster Iran’s standing with Kashmiri Shias — roughly 15 per cent of the population — although it could also have been an expression of displeasure at India’s de facto acquiescence to US-led sanctions on Iran. Lest we be unjustly harsh on countries hesitating to denounce India’s actions, let us admit that Pakistan too compromises frequently on essential principles. Look at the facts: to preserve CPEC it cannot speak about the forced dispatch of Uighur Muslims to re-education camps; for fear of angering Saudis and Emiratis it dare not speak of the death and destruction taking place in Yemen; and out of greed for military and civil aid it has served America’s interests for many decades.
Will more energetic diplomacy bring dividends to Pakistan? So far nothing supports this. Of course, things could change if violence explodes in Kashmir after the withdrawal of extra Indian troops, or if war seems to be around the corner. Even then, no one expects much from Muslim countries. “The bubble of an Islamic ummah has burst,” said former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani during a discussion on Kashmir in the Senate last week. True enough, but why did it take Pakistan so long to figure that out?
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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 World. Pakistani 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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IT IS TIME TO FIRE THE OPENING SHOTS OF A NEW GLOBAL POLICY WHICH THE UMMAH NEEDS TO TREAD UPON. LET US BE CLEAR THAT THE PREDICAMENT OF THE MUSLIM WORLD IS CENTRED ON SUBSERVIENCE TO THE NWO ESTABLISHED ON THE FOUNDATIONS OF COLONIAL EMPIRES POST WORLD WAR 2 WHICH WERE REPLACED BY A NEW PRISONPLANET.
HOWEVER 1.8 BILLION MUSLIMS CAN NO LONGER ADOPT A POLICY OF COWARDICE AND SURRENDER TO IT'S NONMUSLIM AGGRESSIVE HEGEMONISTIC ENEMIES ENGAGED IN A GLOBAL WAR OF TERROR ON ISLAM AND MUSLIMS. IN TERMS OF NEW LEADERSHIP IT IS ABSOLUTELY VITAL THAT FEAR OF AND SURRENDER TO THE ENEMIES NEEDS TO BE DISCARDED BY THE NEW GENERATION OF MUSLIMS OF WHICH CIRCA 70% ARE UNDER 30 YEARS OF AGE. THE FUTURE IS THERE TO BE SHAPED RATHER THAN BE SWEEPED AWAY BY EVENTS.
THERE ARE TWO DIMENSIONS TO COWARDICE. THE EXTERNAL ONE WHEN FACING AND CONFRONTING THE ENEMY. THE OTHER DIMENSION IS INTERNAL IN WHICH THE MINDSET AND MENTALITY OF MUSLIMS IS COMPROMISED AND SUBVERTED. WHAT THIS MEANS IS SELLING OUT THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF ISLAM AT THE ALTAR OF MAMMON AND FEAR OF DEATH.. THIS IS NOT JUST HYPOCRISY BUT SPIRITUAL TREACHERY. THIS EXPLAINS THE CONDITION OF THE UMMAH AND CONTEMPORARY MUSLIMS.
MUSLIMS NEED TO RE-ESTABLISH THEIR ISLAMIC IDENTITY FULLY AND COMPLETELY. THIS MEANS REJECTION OF RELIGION AS A SET OF DOGMAS AND RITUALS. IT NEEDS TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO ESTABLISHING THE ISLAMIC SHARIAH AND THE MADINA ISLAMIC GOVERNANCE MODEL. THIS INCLUDES THE SHARIAH LAWS PERTAINING TO PEACE AND WAR IN THE CURRENT CONTEXT.
AS WAR HAS BEEN DECLARED BY ENEMIES THE TIME TO RESPOND TO AND ANSWER AGGRESSION BY THE ENEMIES OF ISLAM HAS ARRIVED. THEIR SATANIC PLOY INCLUDES ALIGNING ISLAM WITH TERRORISM COMMITTED BY THEIR OWN HANDS. THIS IS TO DEMONISE ISLAM AND MUSLIMS AND JUSTIFY ISLAMIC COUNTER TERRORISM AND ISLAMOPHOBIA.
WE SHOULD NOTE THAT WE ARE LIVING AT A TIME WHEN THE OPPRESSION OF MUSLIMS AND ISLAM DOES NOT REGISTER ON GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE NONMUSLIM WORLD BEHAVES LIKE THE DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND. THE TIME TO ANSWER AND RISE AGAINST THIS HAS ARRIVED AS THERE IS NO HIDING FROM THIS FACT AND NO MATTER WHAT THERE CAN BE NO TURNING BACK.
THE PROPHETIC COMMAND OF UPHOLDING JUSTICE AND ENDING OPPRESSION MEANS ARMED RESISTANCE AND JIHAD. PEACE CAN ONLY BE ESTABLISHED IF INJUSTICE AND OPPRESSION IS ELIMINATED. THIS IS THE COMMAND OF THE QURAN AND PROPHETIC MODEL AND EVEN THE UN UPHOLDS THE RIGHT OF SELF DEFENCE AND SELF DETERMINATION. THE GLOBAL PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN BY NONMUSLIM POWERS PRESERVING THE UNJUST STATUS QUO NEEDS TO BE REJECTED TOTALLY. THEIR NARRATIVE NEEDS TO BE SHREDDED AND FUEL THE BONFIRE.
THE LEGACY OF KHALID BIN WALEED, MUHAMMAD BIN QASIM, TARIQ BIN ZAYED, YUSUF BIN TASHIFEEN, BAYEZIT, NURUDDIN, SALAHUDDIN, SULTAN MEHMET , TIPU SULTAN, IMAM SHAMIL, ILTUTMISH, SHIHAB UD DIN GHAURI HAS TO BE RESURRECTED. IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT THIS LEGACY IS THERE IS A NEED FOR A CRASH COURSE ON GHAZWAT IN ISLAMIC HISTORY.
MORE DETAILED RESEARCH WILL BE DEVOTED TO THIS. MUSLIMS NEED TO LEARN HOW TO FIGHT FOR THEIR SELF DEFENCE, DIGNITY AND RESPECT. LIVING ETERNALLY FOR ONE DAY IN DEATH AND SACRIFICE THAN CHAINED TO THE OPPRESSION OF NONMUSLIMS. IN THE CONTEXT OF INDIAN OCCUPIED KASHMIR WITH OVER 100 DAYS OF CLAMPDOWN AND CURFEW IN THE KASHMIR VALLEY PEACE CAN ONLY BE TALKED AFTER THE LAST SINGLE ARMED INDIAN SOLDIER IS FORCED TO DEPART KASHMIR.
MODI THE BUTCHER NEEDS TO BE GIVEN 48 HOURS TO LEAVE OCCUPIED KASHMIR AND IF HE DOES NOT THE PAKISTAN ARMY NEEDS TO BE ORDERED TO ENGAGE IN THE NOBLE ETERNALLY BLESSED JIHAD TO LIBERATE AN OPPRESSED MUSLIM PEOPLE SEEKING LIBERATION FROM THE CRUELTY AND OPPRESSION OF AN INVADER SEEKING TO ELIMINATE THEIR IDENTITY.
THE AGE OF DAJJAL AND ITS MACHIAVELLIAN POLITICS OF COERCION NEEDS TO BE CHALLENGED BY THE MORALITY OF JIHAD. THERE IS NO OTHER SOLUTION FOR MUSLIMS IN THE CURRENT ERA BUT TO MOBILISE THE UNITED STATES OF ISLAM ARMY. THE LIFE AND DIGNITY OF A MUSLIM COMMITTED TO ALLAH'S SOVEREIGNTY IS MOST PRECIOUS AND OPPRESSIVE NONMUSLIM RULERS NEED TO DESIST OR FACE JIHAD.
LET US BE CLEAR THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR AL BAGHDADI'S ISIS 2.0 WHICH IS A USA-NATO-ISRAELI PROXY. WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IS THE REAL MCCOY. THIS FORCE IS ABOUT TO MATERIALISE AS THE WORLD IS IN DIRE NEED OF THIS JUST LIKE A SCORCHED DESERT AWAITS THE IMPENDING RAINSTORM TO ERUPT. HASBUNALLAH AND TAWAKULLAH.
GENERAL HAMEED GUL'S ABDULLAH GUL, COMPLETE SPEECH IN TLP CONFERENCE
at Minare Pak Lahore on Nov 2, 2019
KHITAB ALLAMA KHADIM HUSSAIN LIVE
LABBAIK YA RASOOL ALLAH CONFERENCE
from Minar e Pakistan Lahore
MUKAMMAL KHUTBA E JUMMAH MUBARAK
ALLAMA KHADIM HUSSAIN RIZVI
15 November 2019
HUM KASHMIR KE SATH KHARAY HAIN AUR KASHMIR KA TAMASHA DAIKH RAHY HAIN
WE ARE STANDING WITH KASHMIR OR ARE WE JUST WATCHING THE KASHMIR DRAMA?
Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi
ISLAM KBI B JUNG ME PEHAL KI IJAZAT NAI DETA MU TOR JUWAB
ISLAM IS NOT FOR AGGRESSIVE WARFARE OR DOES IT ORDER A JAW BREAKING RESPONSE
ALLAMA KHADIM RIZVI VS IMRAN KHAN
ALLAMA KHADIM HUSSAIN RIZVI
Dr ABDUL QADEER KHAN KO SADRE PAKISTAN BNAEN GE
KHADIM HUSSAIN RIZVI BAYAN
MUKAMMAL KHITAB YAKJEHTI KASHMIR RALLY
9 Aug 2019
BABRI MOSQUE AND KARTARPUR CORRIDOR DETAILED ANALYSIS
Zamana Gawah Hai Ep 182
IS KASHMIR BECOMING PALESTINE?
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2019 LOOKS AS THOUGH INDIA UNDER MODI HAS MOVED TO BECOME A HINDU RASHTRA- WHAT ARE IT'S IMPLICATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES FOR MINORITIES ESPECIALLY INDIAN MUSLIMS. ALSO IN THIS DAY AND AGE IT IS ALSO RELEVANT FOR MUSLIM NATIONS TO ESTABLISH A POLICY FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS AS MANY OF THESE PEOPLE ARE THE FLOTSAM OF CIRCUMSTANCES INTERNATIONALLY. THIS WILL BE REVIEWED HEREAFTER .
INDIA UNDER MODI IS MOVING SYSTEMATICALLY WITH A SUPREMACIST AGENDA SAYS PM IMRAN
https://www.dawn.com/news/1521876/india-...s-pm-imran
Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday that India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been moving systematically with a Hindu supremacist agenda.
The prime minister was referencing the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill passed by India's upper house amid protests on Wednesday. The bill will let the Indian government grant citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants who entered India from three neighbouring countries before 2015 — but not if they are Muslim. Modi's government — re-elected in May and under pressure over a slowing economy — says Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan are excluded from the legislation because they do not face discrimination in those countries.
Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Imran stated that the bill was the latest of Modi's attempts to promulgate his supremacist agenda, "starting with illegal annexation and continuing siege of IOJK [Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir]; then stripping 2 million Indian Muslim in Assam of citizenship, setting up internment camps; now the passage of Citizenship Amendment Law; all this accompanied by mob lynchings of Muslims and other minorities in India".
He warned that bowing down to a "genocidal supremacist agenda", propagated by Nazi Germany, had once before lead to World War II. "Modi's Hindu supremacist agenda, accompanied by threats to Pakistan under a nuclear overhang, will lead to massive bloodshed and far-reaching consequences for the world," he warned. "As in Nazi Germany, in Modi's India dissent has been marginalised and the world must step in before it is too late to counter this Hindu supremacist agenda of Modi's India [that is] threatening bloodshed and war."
The Citizenship Amendment Bill, seeks to grant Indian nationality to Buddhists, Christians,
Hindus, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs who fled Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh "because of religious persecution" before 2015. It does not, however, extend to Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled persecution in Myanmar.
Home Minister Amit Shah said it was not anti-Muslim because it did not affect the existing path to citizenship available to all communities. Amnesty India, however, said the legislation legitimised discrimination on the basis of religion and stood in clear violation of the India's constitution and international human rights law.
AS INDIA BECOMES A DE FACTO HINDU RASHTRA ,
BJP LOOKS FOR NEW WAYS TO POLARISE VOTERS
The opposition’s surrender to Hindutva has only raised the bar for what can polarise voters. Enter NRC and CAB.
https://theprint.in/opinion/india-becomes-de-facto-hindu-rashtra-bjp-looks-for-new-polarisation-ways/331220
INDIA's CITIZENSHIP BILL HAS ONLY ONE AIM: PROTECT NON-MUSLIMS AND HARASS MUSLIMS
https://www.dawn.com/news/1521496/indias...ss-muslims
TUMULT IN INDIA
https://www.dawn.com/news/1523502/tumult-in-india
OVER the past week, Hindutva backed by the brute force of the state has bared its fangs in India. Hundreds have taken to the streets to protest the BJP-led government’s ill-planned moves of passing the Citizenship Amendment Act — which allows only non-Muslim refugees from some of India’s neighbouring states to apply for citizenship — and the introduction of the National Register of Citizens, widely seen as a fig leaf for stripping Indian Muslims of citizenship.
Clearly, there is an Islamophobic agenda behind these diabolical moves by the Modi clique, which is why India’s Muslims as well as conscientious citizens from other communities are protesting. Violence continued on Friday; at least 13 people have been killed in various cities so far, while hundreds have been temporarily detained as the state tries to put a lid on the protests. Curfew has also been enforced in certain areas, while the internet has been shut down in many cities.
While the Sangh Parivar was largely shunned in the post-independence era, because M.K. Gandhi’s assassin was an ideological child of the RSS, in today’s India, the storm troopers of Hindutva control the levers of state. It is no surprise then that ever since coming to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to remake India in the image of the Sangh — a Hindu rashtra to be built on the model of a fabled Vedic golden age. In this programme, there is no place for minorities, specifically India’s Muslims, hence the legal efforts to disenfranchise the community. However, though the Sangh ideologues are trying their best to label Indian Muslims as ‘outsiders’, history points to another reality. Islam has existed in the subcontinent for over a millennium, while Muslims have been living in what is now India for centuries. That should remove any lingering doubts about the right of India’s Muslims to citizenship of that country. No bigoted law can be allowed to deprive them of their identity and dispossess them from the land of their ancestors.
As India drops the facade of a secular democracy and champions the politics of hyper-nationalism, the international community needs to speak up. Under the Modi regime, Muslims have been lynched by vigilante mobs on suspicions of consuming or transporting beef and the world has kept silent. Under the BJP dispensation, India-held Kashmir has been under lockdown for months and its people held prisoner, but the world has looked away.
Now, as New Delhi lights the fires of communalism by disenfranchising millions of Muslim citizens, will the international community still keep silent? Moreover, questions of identity and citizenship are best left to academics to discuss. If zealots — guided by imagined histories — are put in charge of such sensitive matters, and worse, given the legal powers to decide who is and who is not a citizen, disaster is sure to ensue.
ITS NOW OR NEVER: WHY YOUNG, URBAN INDIAN MUSLIMS PLUNGED INTO THE ANTI-CITIZENSHIP ACT PROTESTS
https://www.dawn.com/news/1523363/its-no...t-protests
Rehan Sheikh had been disturbed by the prospect of a nationwide National Register for Citizens since April when he first heard Indian Home Minister Amit Shah announce plans to bring in the Citizenship Amendment Bill. Addressing a public meeting then, Shah said the legislation would grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and then flush out “infiltrators” through the NRC. In the following months, as the NRC was implemented in Assam and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government became more vocal about a nationwide citizenship register, Sheikh realised how closely it was linked to the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
Yet, when the Bill was passed by Parliament and became an official Act on December 12, Sheikh was taken by surprise. “It happened so suddenly,” said Sheikh, a 30-year-old investment advisor working with a bank in Mumbai. “I always knew this was going to be a dangerous law, but I did not expect to be passed so quickly after they tabled it in Parliament.” Since then, like almost every other Muslim he knows, Sheikh has been brimming with feelings of anger, indignation, dread and a sense of urgency. These feelings have intensified after December 15, when the Delhi police unleashed an unprovoked assault on students of Jamia Milia Islamia University in Delhi, and students around the country began to protest in response.
For young, urban, middle-class Muslims like Sheikh, who had been more invested in their community’s educational and economic development than politics, the Citizenship Amendment Act and the police crackdown on protests have been an eye-opening jolt. “We have been silent about a lot of things for the sake of peace, including the Supreme Court verdict about the Babri Masjid,” said Sheikh, referring to the court’s decision on November 9 to hand over the disputed land in Ayodhya to the Hindu side. “But now it is a question of our very existence in this country. We have to speak out now.”
‘I cannot believe this is happening’
This “now or never” sentiment was palpable at Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan on Thursday, when thousands of people across communities turned up to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act. Several protesters had never considered stepping out on the streets to raise slogans before, but now, for the first time, they felt compelled to raise their voices. “My family has never been interested in politics before,” said Alam Khan, a travel agent in his 30s. “My wife did not watch the news even when the Ayodhya verdict came out or when Article 370 was removed [in Jammu and Kashmir].” “But this time our community is directly being targeted, so many of my family members wanted to protest,” he said.
Khan’s personal desire to be vocal is rooted in both fear for his community and a rising sense of patriotism. “Muslims from my grandparents’ generation were not literate enough to preserve documents. How will people like us show proof of residence in India from the 1950s and 70s?” he said. “I cannot believe this is happening in my country – we cannot let it happen.” Firdos Farooqui, a medical doctor from South Mumbai, said that the protest at August Kranti Maidan was only the second time she ever felt the need to participate in a public agitation. “I had protested triple talaq last year because it is an un-Islamic practice, and now I am protesting CAA and NRC because they are against India,” she said. “I did not expect that the law would be passed so easily, without much opposition in the Parliament.” Like Farooqui, Farzana Khan, who had travelled for the protest all the way from the northern suburb of Mira Road, was also rattled by the idea of Indian Muslims being asked to prove their citizenship. “My father was a freedom fighter who won medals for this country,” she said. “What more do I need to prove?”
Wearing religion on one’s sleeve
According to 39-year-old Javed Sayed, it is the support of non-Muslim Indians that helped Muslims across the country to step out in large numbers and protest visibly in public. “I think Muslims had resigned themselves to a lot of injustice towards the community, so there were hardly any protests against NRC in these last few months,” said Sayed, a graphic designer from Mumbai. “But after CAA [Citizenship Amendment Act] was passed, when so many non-Muslims came out to speak for us and to support the students of Jamia, we found it easier to protest.”
Indian Muslims’ discomfort with public dissent is rooted in a history of bitter experiences with street protests, particularly since the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. But some Muslims are now ready to discard the past and take control of their narratives. Journalist Humaira Ansari, for instance, said that after the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed, she decided to “stop giving a damn” about how other people perceive her political stances. “Earlier, whenever there were terror attacks and Muslim groups went out of their way to condemn the violence, I always felt uncomfortable about it,” she said. “I always questioned, why should we have to do it? Why should I have to wear my religion on my sleeve?” Ansari, 33, has had sleepless nights since the Act was passed. “Now I feel it is time for us to embrace our religion, to step out and say yes, I am a Muslim and I have a problem with the way Muslims are mistreated and targeted in this country.”
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