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Plea to the United Nations
WSN Bureau
 Meanwhile, in
Washington, a number of Kashmiri activists, led by Ghulam Nabi Fai
of the Kashmiri-American Council, have urged United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to make earnest efforts to bring about
an immediate and complete cessation of military and paramilitary
action by Indian forces against the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The petition, a
copy of which has been also sent to the Indian ambassador in Washington,
demands the dismantling of all bunkers, watch towers and barricades
set up by the Indian military and paramilitary forces in the
valley’s towns and villages. All those imprisoned for offering
resistance to the Indian occupation must be immediately and
unconditionally released and all draconian laws repealed. The right
of peaceful association, assembly and demonstration must be restored
to the people of the state.
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Kashmir: Can it survive as a nation?
“Kashmir
can survive as an independent nation,” Mirwaiz Umer Farooq,
chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, has said.
Mirwaiz was interviewed by a leading English language Indian
daily Hindustan Times. He said, “Much smaller places are
surviving as nations, why can’t we?”
National
Conference president Omar Abdullah has also voiced his support
for a debate on
“independence” for the state. “It is not merely a slogan on the
streets; we have discussed this internally and looked at its
viability. We will be a vibrant independent nation,” the
Hurriyat Conference chief said.
The vast
majority of people in the ‘Azad Kashmir’ area is Mirpuri and
Pahari-speaking. Culturally, they are closer to people residing
in Rajouri, Poonch districts in
Jammu and
the border belt of Kupwara and Baramullah districts in the
Valley.
But despite
the religious affinity, ethnic tensions are high. The area also
has a population of Gujjars, who are profiled differently in
Kashmir. |
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The petition
requests the UN chief to intervene in the situation in
Kashmir under
Article 91 of the United Nations Charter, as failure to do so will
only give aid and comfort to India. During the past two months,
international inaction and unconcern in the face of massive human
rights violations, particularly the valley’s economic blockade, have
gained a new and sinister dimension. “We trust that your personal
involvement in this matter will bring its influence to bear on both
India and Pakistan to initiate a peace with which the UN as well as
the people of Jammu and Kashmir will be associated so as to ensure
that settlement arrived at will be based on the principles of
justice,” the petition concludes.
In
India, the issue
has brought out the worst in many intellectuals. Vir Sanghvi,
celebrated by the Indian elite and with a pride of place in media,
wrote: "This is India’s century. We have the world to conquer — and
the means to do it.
Kashmir
is a 20th century problem. We cannot let it drag us down and bleed
us as we assume our rightful place in the world. It’s time to think
the unthinkable."
Clearly,
India too is
doing unthinkable to its people.
27 August, 2008
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