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Monday 9 May 2016

KASHMIR FREEDOM STRUGGLE-BACK WITH A BANG

Kashmiris civilian uprisings in Indian held Kashmir waving Pakistani flags 

 The Indian Prime Minister's bribe of 12 billion US dollars did not do the trick for Indian establishment to buy Kashmir's loyalties. Indian administration is hell bent on extinguishing the Kashmir freedom movement which has seen a recent indigenous resurgence led by highly educated youth from well to do respectable Kashmiri families taking up arms against the Indian tyranny. Indian administered Kashmir has been ruled ruthlessly by the Indian state which committed hundreds of thousands of some recorded and mostly unaccounted for,human rights violations including rapes, torture, murder and mass killings of Kashmiri's. India deployed almost half of her military numbering over five hundred thousand to quell the legitimate voices of Kashmir. These military forces have been given unlimited power through the draconian law called the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA). Under the auspices of AFSPA, Indian Army and paramilitary forces played havoc with the lives of Kashmiris, who still refuse to budge down and accept the Indian occupation of their lands. The stark contrast between the lives of Indian and Pakistani administered Kashmir is a point in case which never ceases the desire of Indian held Kashmir to break the chains of slavery and join their counterparts on the Pakistani side. While Pakistan administered Kashmir is a model of human development with comprehensive rights for her citizens, Indian held Kashmir bled feverishly due to the scars of decades of militancy and state atrocities which include severe human rights violations.

Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of the partition of Indian subcontinent from the British rule in 1947. Both arch rivals India and Pakistan claim their right on Kashmir while Kashmir remains divided between them to date separated by a line of control brokered through the UNO based on the physical occupation of Kashmir by both states in 1948. The UNO charter calls for a public plebiscite to determine the fate of Kashmiris. However, India is scared to death for any such plebiscite to take place, because of the obvious results and continues to suppress the Kashmiris on their side of the line of control through any means possible. This Indian attitude saw endless rights violations and heart wrenching atrocities against the Kashmiris by the Indian state over six decades of illegitimate occupation under the UNO charter.

Pakistan supported the armed insurgency in Kashmir starting in the 80s until 2004 when General Pervaiz Musharraf under the US/Western pressure took a U turn on supporting the armed insurgency in Kashmir. This U turn by Pakistan provided India with a desperately required breather. Indian state was allowed thus to consolidate its hold on Kashmir while diverting the huge funds being spent on the counter insurgency towards the economic revival of India in the post cold war era. India accepted to fully embrace the capitalist camp bringing her rich dividends while the Kashmir cause was pushed under the carpet by the powerful Indian state and more so in a shameful display of biased policies by the globally influential Indian media. A sham puppet democratic governance was introduced in Kashmir by the Indian state which was never taken seriously by the Kashmiris. On the other hand the democratic process in the Pakistani administered Kashmir not only progressed gaining popular acceptance and participation but remained uninterrupted irrespective of the various military coups in the Pakistani mainland. This comparison further disillusions the Kashmiris towards the high handed Indian rule in the beautiful valley filled with decades of blood and fire causing immense sufferings to the innocent population demanding their just rights. In recent times, the Indian state exercised restraint after the Pakistani U turn in supporting insurgency in Indian held Kashmir, but the scars of decades long Indian atrocities are too deep to be healed by any cosmetic surgery for this is exactly what the Indian state aspires to do.

Burhan Muzaffar Wani, an engineer by profession and his highly educated compatriots fighting for the freedom of their motherland from the atrocious Indian Rule-True face of the Kashmirs insurgency


Kashmir youth with highly educated and financially stable backgrounds are joining indigenous militant organizations in Kashmir fighting the Indian state demanding freedom of plebiscite acknowledged by the United Nations Organization. This is a direct result of Indian state policies where thousands of Kashmiris are still missing, believed to be killed. Whats more worrisome for the Indian state is the fact that influential moderate Kashmiris so far supporting the Indian rule in the hope of a settlement of the issue through dialogue as promised by the Indian rulers are now supporting the armed insurgency. These prominent Kashmiris including senior lawyers and politicians are terming the recent wave of indigenous armed insurgency by the well educated Kashmir youth as their legal right under the UNO human rights charter while left with no other alternative resolution of their just demands. In the meantime Indian desperate efforts at cosmetically repairing the issue while ignoring the essential question of freedom from repressive rule is failing at every level. Foreign Policy in its article published on May 5th, 2016, titled "India is Losing Kashmir" notes that India is at one hand loosing the public support in Kashmir in an unprecedented manner while the Indian government policies are only further alienating the Kashmirs populace giving boast to the civilian uprisings.

Indian state simply doesn't have an answer to the Kashmiris freedom demands other then throwing in wads of cash, information and media blackout, killing the freedom fighters and globally crying wolf  by pointing fingers at Pakistan.

No matter what the Indian state decides to do, the Kashmir question requires an answer addressing the questions of freedom fighters. Granting autonomy to the Indian held Kashmir on the model of Pakistan is the only solution viable under the circumstances whether India likes it or not. Free trade and movement between both sides of Kashmir divided between India and Pakistan granting complete local autonomy to the Indian side on present Pakistani model while defence policy remains under the control of respective parent state provides the only viable solution to the Kashmir issue which may well be acceptable by all belligerents. This solution would not only ease the tensions in the nuclear armed South Asian states with three all out wars already under their belts but would prove beneficial in enhancing stability promoting trade and commerce in the entire region benefiting the common people inhibiting the most populated region of the world.

                                    

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