A Free Kashmir: Random Thoughts

Kashmir: Self-Rule, Autonomy, Independence, Sovereignty, Freedom

From self-rule to full and complete freedom a freedom movement is a cumulative corpus of phases in a popular struggle of a freedom loving society and the end result or final achievement is complete freedom for the populace. That means complete freedom from foreign occupation, their invasions, oppression, exploitation, violence, threat of terrorism, including state sponsored terrorism. Even though many nations are not ruled by foreign forces they suffer under the yoke of domestic oppressors and exploiters, supported by foreigners. India is a case in context. This India has killed Muslims in Jammu Kashmir under its military rule.

India government occupying Jammu Kashmir illegally and immorally has, against the will of the people of Kashmir, decided to hold the polls in Kashmir to make believe India democracy in Kashmir. This arrogance on the part of hegemonic India is condemned by people of Kashmir and freedom leaders have decided to boycott the Indian poll designs.

Kashmiris, meanwhile, rightly marked Oct 27 as Black Day. Indian troops landed on Jammu Kashmir on fictitious pretexts some six decades back, on 1947 Oct. 27, and converted the then beautiful valley of the world into ever bleeding landscape of the region. Despite the imposition of curfew, hundreds of youth in this north Kashmir's township took to streets and clashed with Police and CRPF personnel on Oct 27 Monday. The call had been given by Coordination Committee (CC) of Hurriyat Conference to mark the arrival of Indian army in the state sixty one years ago. The clashes left twelve people injured including some police and CRPF men. Earlier, curfew was imposed in the area after a local youth was killed in Police firing on Sunday.  On Monday, the entire town looked like a garrison with hundreds of police and CRPF personnel patrolling the streets. In old town, important exits to the area were blocked with concertina wires.

The clashes started early morning when hundreds of youth tried to march towards civil lines area amid pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. The police fired dozens of tear gas canisters to disperse the protestors resulting in violent clashes which continued throughout the day. Thousands of motivated Kashmiri came out on the roads against presences of security forces in Kashmir. Five individual martyred and many injured in the clashes with Indian security forces in Srinagar, Baramullah and other towns of Kashmir. The People of Kashmir took to the streets and held big demonstrations against Indian illegal occupants. There was complete shut down.

The Governor, sources said, is upset over the brutal killing of Kashmiris by "terror forces"; he had given clear instruction to avoid human loss while dealing with the protests by the people. He has asked the authorities to observe maximum restraint and use all other means but firing to quell the demonstrations as the loss of human life puts the government on defensive. But the Governor is adding new battalions to the already existing trained terror troops in Jammu Kashmir. Hindus control Kashmiris as do the Muslims in India.  Director General of Police (DGP) Khoda told reporters in Srinagar that the Government of India has given consent for the sanction of 452 additional para-military companies for security duties in connection with assembly elections in the state". This makes it amply clear the Indian and Governor's terrorist intent in Kashmir. After all, Governors are agents of central government.        

PDP Freedom program          

Highly influenced by the ongoing freedom mood of Kashmiri population, one of the pro-India parties, PDP which was a coalition partner in the last Congress led ministry in JK, has surprisingly released its self-rule program as a shocking treatment to India busy with JK poll preparations. The document discusses issues like Concept, Design and Operation of self-rule with Demilitarization as the corner stone of its resolution.

PDP, which did not boycott the Indian JK polls and has already announced its candidates in some constituencies, seems to be for an interim JK self-rule regime, before proclaiming its independence and becoming an independent nation. Setting the tone for his poll campaign, former Chief Minister and Patron of PDP, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed on 25 Oct proposed a Greater Jammu and Kashmir (GJAK) comprising all the regions of the state as it existed before 15 August 1947. The PDP's self-rule proposal seeks "˜shared sovereignty' which includes economic integration, constitutional restructuring including an elected Governor, removal of Article 356 which gives the President of India authority to dismiss a State government and demilitarization. Explaining the contours of self-rule the PDP patron said economic integration that transcends borders is a critical element of the proposal. The process of economic integration of the two parts of Kashmir including Pakistan administered Kashmir can start with the easiest form of economic integration in the form of Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA)."

Sayeed said that in the PTA, India and Pakistan would offer tariff reductions, which should not be confined to the geographical boundaries of the State. "It should not be restricted to some product categories. This will pave way for medium of exchange of Indian and Pakistani currency in the State. Kashmir issue has to be resolved and for that a better atmosphere has to prevail. We have been finally able to make our self-rule document public after years of hard work. Our self-rule proposal will help us come out of the siege that Kashmir is witnessing since 1947." 

They are yet to decide the poll participation issue and as such have not sought freedom and independence from India as a condition for part-taking in the Indian poll in JK and, therefore, they stand somehow betrays the aspirations of Kashmiris who just want freedom for Indian terror forces and its constitution.

National parties like Congress and communal BJP play with the sentiments of innocent people of Jammu and Kashmir and try to work for the peace in State which suffered a lot due to turmoil since India annexed Jammu Kashmir in 1947. The Congress also dismissed the demand of PDP leaders of withdrawal of troops saying that first of all they should leave their security cover provided to them by government. They support Indian state terrorism in JK and genocide of Muslims in that nation occupied by India.

Congress party JK criticized the document of self rule of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) saying that the government should take serious note of this and disband PDP for its anti national activities. The leaders like Lal Singh maintained that PDP was working on the line of "separatist" and its concept of self rule was nothing but just a cheap political gimmick to gain vote in Kashmir Valley. JK Congress, represented most by Hindus, says that Kashmir is an integral part of India and there is no need of rollback of central laws as these laws are applicable in all other states of India; criticized PDP and its Patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and president Mehbooba Mufti for working against the Constitution of India saying that they should not be allowed to harm the "sovereignty and interests", funnily forgetting that JK remains a stolen property under India custody.

NC has alleged that PDP's self rule was aimed at sabotaging greater autonomy. According to a press release, NC spokesman said that until this time there is no alternative for greater autonomy accepted in Indian constitution. Any solution other than autonomy would not be possible unless borders are altered. He said that Mufti Sayeed was instrumental in delaying and weakening the concept of greater autonomy in the state. He blamed Mufti Sayeed for facilitating implementation of Article 356 in the state.

Senior most Kashmiri patriot and Hurriyat Chairman (G), Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that people of Kashmir have already rejected the 'self rule' formula of PDP and even today, they do not accept it. He ridiculed Mufti Sayeed's statement that there was no relevance of 'right to self-determination' and that it was propaganda. Geelani said that only recently lakhs of people have demonstrated before the world that they still stand by the 'right to self- determination' demand for which they would not hesitate in sacrificing their lives. Chairman Hurriyat (G) said that Mufti was playing election politics and asked people to reject him. He said that PDP, NC, Congress and other pro-Indian leaders have always proved to be traitors and people should not believe them and reject them. Geelani appealed people not to vote in all circumstances and asked them not to get demoralized by the arrest of Hurriyat leaders and make the election boycott program a success. Farooq Abdullah that people should not come to him if they boycotted polls. Geelani said that this attitude from a Kashmir leader like Abdullah speaks volumes of his character and sympathy towards people.

The pro-India Kashmir leaders have their own hidden agenda, just as India has got only hidden agendas for Jammu Kashmir. 20690 people were injured during recent valley wide protest demonstrations and it supports the fact that people of Kashmir reject self rule or any other rule that does not allow them the right to self-determination. Youth, traders, employees, students, transporters and students can play a vital role in achieving the right to self-determination and nullifying election exercise in the state.

An independent Jammu Kashmir is viable  

An independent Kashmir has a great economic potential and there are many sources to generate revenues. Zones of economic potential of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit and Baltistan are important. But an independent Kashmir can survive but cannot flourish as it should if India and Pakistan and the international community do not guarantee its independence. If India tries fresh tricks to invade Kashmir on fictitious pretexts that could signal death knell to Kashmiris, unless UN, UNSC and other world bodies like ICJ guarantee Kashmir's right to existence and govern by itself.

There have been studies about the feasibility of oil/energy extraction in Jammu Kashmir region. A research done by Kashmir Foundation for Peace and Development claims, that if we concentrate on Hydro Potential of Indian side of Kashmir, then we can generate 20,000 mega watt of electricity from there. The cost to generate one unit is only 20 paisa, and it is sold at 2.50 rupees. It means a net profit of 2 rupees and 30 paisa per unit. This source alone, according to the research, is sufficient to make Jammu and Kashmir self reliant; and it will pay back all the costs of the project within three years.

India and Pakistan have always ensured that the Kashmiri leadership is not part of any dialogue on Kashmir; and to support their policy they sometimes say Kashmiris are divided, and there is no one suitable person to represent them. But it is true, the Kashmiris are divided, hopelessly divided, but India is the cause of that.

Indian state terrorism has caused enormous loss of lives and belongings for Kashmir. In order to ward off the genocide threat form Indian terror forces occupying Jammu Kashmir, in the long Kashmiri struggle, a military aspect was off and on introduced and once again re-introduced in 1988/9, and leaders of the JKLF have been proudly taking credit for this, this could some what served as a shield against Indian state terrorism.

A Word

Occupying Jammu Kashmir since 1947, India has just one point agenda: kill the Kashmir Muslims in a sustained manner. The decision of Indian government to hold polls in Jammu Kashmir is deplorable as it is being slated against the wishes and will of the people. India has, as always, used its chess board moves very cautiously. They depend on pro-India elements in Jammu Kashmir to support Indian cause and its "democratic drive' and see a government is placed for the sake of the UN reference. Since the patriotic freedom leaders have decided to not only to boycott the Indian nuisance in the form of corruption oriented polls, but also launch a campaign against the conduct of the poll. They would campaign to educate the masses against voting. Since the Indian fix for the poll and freedom leaders fight to disrupt the Indian polls, there is going to be a show down that would cause a lot of misery for the pole of Kashmir. A couple of terror forces would not be problem for the government because they are paid for the "job', but the heavy causalities of  Kashmir Muslims is a mater of grave concern., It is therefore expected that India cancels the showy and tricky polls preparation in Jammu Kashmir with immediate effect before some more lives are taken off the region.  

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