How long will India play tricks with Kashmiris?

by Dr. Abdul Ruff writes from New Delhi

(December 24, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) As Indian media are strengthening Indian arrogance & Hindu misrule and anti-democratic & anti-secular maneuverings, state terrorism & external manipulations, a deaf & dumb India cannot see what its terror forces and media are doing in Kashmir and India. India or the alleged Indian democracy alias the high-caste outfits domination autocracy indeed is just the ‘democracy of persecution, terrorism, killings in fake-encounters, rape, humiliation, dehumanization, genocide (an international crime under the United Nations guidelines), of the people of the Internationally Disputed Areas of Jammu and Kashmir under military ccupation of India since 15th August.

Even though it knows the world considers the current polls in Jammu Kashmir, being conducted hurriedly, as a sheer joke in the face of popular uprising and peaceful demonstrations for independence, India still goes ahead with the elections to showcase its power to suppressed Kashmiris and its "democracy" credentials to the West or supporting Indian occupation. Kashmiris vote now thinking that at least the pro-India Kashmiri leaders would lead them to independence soon after the polls.

The nearly two-decade of essentially Kashmir Muslim struggle for independence from occupying India suppressed brutally by terror India and the resultant insurgency in Kashmir has left more than 100,000 innocent Kashmiris, though according to the official count “over” 47,000 people dead. Ever since the Muzaffarabad March several Kashmiri Muslims have been murdered by India . Now the Indian election in JK has already added few more Kashmiri dead bodies to Indian tally Muslim murders.

Currently the Indian polls are in full swing in the occupied Kashmir against their wishes. On 17th Dec, in occupied Kashmir, as before, people held anti-poll march towards the southern town of Islamabad , today, call for which has been given by the Jammu and Kashmir Coordination Committee. Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G), Syed Ali Geelani and the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and have appealed Kashmiri people to totally boycott the farcical polls to convey to the international community that elections can not be a substitute of Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, for which they have been rendering unparalleled sacrifices. Both the leaders continued to remain under house arrest, ahead of the sixth phase of polling drama in sixteen constituencies of Islamabad , Kulgam, Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar districts.

The final stage of voting is scheduled for December 24. Every where in Kashmir there are military forces, perhaps even outnumbering the civilians. They threaten the normal life of Kashmiris who fear for their lives. Recently, on 17 Dec Indian troops killed two top Muslim rebels in the district of Shopian in Kashmir struggling for re-independence from an arrogant India that clashed with anti-poll protesters as terror India held the latest leg of multi-stage elections. Later in Anantnag, police wielding batons dispersed scores of anti-election protesters. On December 21 at least nine persons were injured when anti-poll protesters clashed with supporters of two candidates in Srinagar and indulged in stone pelting at several places on penultimate day of campaigning for the final phase of J-K Assembly elections. Shouting anti-election slogans, groups pelted stones on police and paramilitary forces at Jamia Masjid and adjoining areas including Nowhatta, Gojwara and Rajouri Kadal in downtown Srinagar . Voting was the sixth and penultimate stage of the always tense election process in Kashmir .

Senior Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Geelani reiterated Lal Chowk march call and asked people to head toward Lal Chowk on December 24, when election will be held for eight constituencies in Srinagar . But the JK government under Indian governor says the call as “provocative” and strongly condemnable as it "disturbs the activities related to tourism, education, business and other sectors". What about Indian military occupation, genocides and destructions over decades in JK? India remains the Kashmir problem and not the way around.

Kashmiri Hopes

India has hinted, rather sophistically, about vacating Jammu Kashmir in a peaceful manner, making the freedom leaders to skip violence in preference for a peaceful struggle and consider violence as a better weapon to armed struggles. But then India changes its color and tries another terror strategy to rekindle violence so as to brand, once again, the defenseless Kashmiris as “terrorists”. This double speak from New Delhi cannot fool the world, though the pro-India outfits in JK could be bought with such hypocritical gestures plus some cash.

While the plight of Kashmir has galvanized Islamic struggle & radicalism across South Asia , the decades-long armed struggle is waning in the disputed region itself. India thought it could continue to kill Kashmiris until every Muslim in Kashmir is killed but people’s uprising and direct people involvement in struggles in a peaceful manner has taken the Indian strategist by surprise. Now largely faces a different and potentially more challenging foe here: peaceful campaigners for self-determination, who borrow from Mahatma Gandhi's rule book of non-violent resistance.

India is keen to divert the world attention from the involvement of Hindu and military leaders in Indian terrorism activities and the Mumbai Nov26 is a ploy for that to revisit its “victim" syndrome as the most effective tool. The Islamic “militant group” blamed by India for last month's attacks in Mumbai has vowed to continue its armed struggle against India 's hold over a part of the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir. A spokesman for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) repeated the group's denial that it was behind the Mumbai carnage, as Indian officials allege. Under pressure form Indo-US lobbies, last week the UN Security Council sanctions committee targeted four LeT members for an assets freeze and other sanctions. Under pressure from India and the United States , Pakistan has also cracked down on the group and an Islamic charity regarded as a front organization. But Ghaznavi called on the UN to "review its decision, as our group has no links or relations with al-Qaeda and the Taliban".

The people know who are the Mujahedeen and who are the terrorists supported by the CIA and RAW. Terrorism is being played out, rather out of proportion now, to advance the global interests of colonial and imperialist countries. India comes just after the USA and Israel in that order.

The changing nature of the freedom struggle makes it increasingly difficult for India to portray the conflict over Kashmir as a clear-cut fight between the world's largest democracy with murderous terrorists. Lashkar which is active in Kashmir to end India ’s illegal occupation of Kashmir clearly said it has no links with al-Qaeda and Taliban and has nothing to do with Mumbai Nov26. "Our fight for Kashmir ’s freedom will continue. It is our only agenda," LeT spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi said in Srinagar , the main city in Indian Kashmir. He rightly accused the Indian government of linking the “ Kashmir freedom struggle with terrorism, to give legitimacy to its occupation of our land". "We want to reassure the international community that we are not in any way involved in the Mumbai attacks. We strongly condemn such attacks, he said, calling on the United Nations to conduct an "impartial investigation into the evidence that India claims to have". Unlike Lashkar's “jihadis” unarmed protesters in Kashmir can muster sympathy from sections of Western and Indian public opinion. But CIA and RAW and the like want to obstruct that.

One of the most important reasons for the pro-India political outfits to participate in the Indian terror polls in Kashmir is the simple fact the new chief Minster would be from the militarized Kashmir valley since Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has already availed himself of the Jammu quota. Hence both PDP and NC are having a neck to neck race to make as many seats as it is possible and make an alliance with Congress party for the CM's chair.

Pro-India parties woo the Kashmiri voters by focusing on independence. Abdullah's party, the biggest in the previous legislature, is currently battling for the right to form the next state government in elections that began last month and end on Dec. 24. Indian focus on the constituencies in Kashmir proper, Srinagar and of those areas where the freedom leaders hail India wants to show to world that people in the areas of freedom leaders love and want to live with India come what may and that the some “separatists” want independence from an innocent India .

Every Kashmiri is a Separatist

That India isolates Muslims from Hindus for pointed killing and torture is no more a secret. Some pro-Indian Kashmiri politicians have been angered by the disparity they say security forces have shown when dealing with Hindu protests in Jammu and the Muslim demonstrations in Kashmir . "Lives are cheap in Kashmir," says Omar Abdullah, president of the National Conference party and India 's former federal minister of state for external affairs. "I'm still struggling to understand how the same chain of command had two completely different approaches to crowd control." Pro-Indian politicians are too keen to come to power.

Indian agencies in JK consider the pro-India outfits in Kashmir as “separatists” too. However, they could be easily controlled by using cash and other privileges including jobs for their candidates and free foreign trips. State and non-state TV and radios stations spread all sorts of anti-Muslim and anti-Kashmiri propaganda just as they fall silent when India loses a cricket match. All India Radio (Anti-Islamic Radio) authorities in the Srinagar station of Indian state TV Doordarshan, the government-run TV network of India , believe that even talking about the concepts like self-rule or dual currency was equal to championing a secessionist cause and amounted to treason and that goes against Indian terror interests in Kashmir . Indian media hint that Indo-Pakistan war has started following Nov26 when Indian Air terror Forces violated the Pakistan ’s air-space and the war is on. Obviously, India deserves a thorough thrash, not in cricket style, but in reality for all that it has been doing to its neighbors, Muslims in particular.

Bulk of media in India and Kashmir are shamelessly anti-freedom and mock the freedom fighters as “separatists”. Look at the way India and its media behaves. India does not consider the fight of Indian settlers in Sri Lanka for a separate country as separatists, but they are known in India as patriots, whereas the Kashmiris who struggle to liberate their Kashmir nation from occupying India are unwittingly called "separatists". India has like wise instructed the pro-India political elements and media to call the freedom fighters of Kashmir as "separatists". And both pro-India elements and media faithfully name the freedom fighters as separatists, so much so even some the freedom fighters call themselves separatists. That is Indian strategy. Even freedom fighters are psychologically coerced to call themselves as separatists if not terrorists.

After cunningly annexing Jammu Kashmir and heavily militarizing it, India hatched strategies invade and infiltrate into all possible organizations in India , Kashmir and around. Indian agents are infesting in every organization in Jammu Kashmir and possibly in freedom organizations too blocking their activities to gain freedom from India back. In occupied Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyet Conference has reacted strongly to the statement of the Indian Foreign Minister, Pranab Mukherjee that Kashmir dispute is India ’s internal matter. The spokesman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference in a statement issued in Srinagar said that Kashmir is not an administrative or border dispute but related to destiny of millions of Kashmiris and had become the cause of wars between Pakistan and India . The APHC spokesman recalled that former Indian Prime Minister, Nehru had brought the issue to the United Nations, which passes several resolutions on the Kashmir dispute and also condemned the continuous illegal detention of Hurriyet leaders.

As it stands, all efforts by Pakistan to forge better relations with India have gone, once again, in rough waters, because India , eager not to lose Kashmir, is quite insincere about peace with Islamabad that insists on surrendering sovereignty back to Kashmir and is trying to try all tricks, including terrorism, to scuttle any peace moves.

Post-Script

India, its intelligence-cum-media harped on Islamic and Pakistani “terrorism” following Mumbai Nov26 and did not hesitate to point out that Hindus are the victims, even though the facts suggest the involvement of Indian agencies in the terror events. Nearly 50 Muslims killed another 40 odd Muslims seriously injured in Mumbai terrorists attacks but the Indian media both print and electronic did not highlight that fact because they all wanted to pass judgments against Muslims by blaming them for the Mumbai Nov26. That is Indian secular and democratic media and intelligence fairness toward the major minority section of Indian community. Investigations are of farcical nature to protect the state criminals and Nov26 cannot be expected to be different and the death of Karkare, whose leadership produced solid evidence against Jehadi terrorists from the Hindu community during its investigation of Malegaon September 29 terrorism (bombing case) will surely affect Malegaon Investigation.

Indian weapons and cash, therefore, are of immense use in Jammu Kashmir. Under the pro-India circumstances prevailing in Jammu Kashmir, though weaning gradually, the Indian strategists would suggest to Indian government to instruct the Reserve Bank of India to print more currencies, mostly with fake numbers, to throw some them at pro-India Kashmiris and make the occupying terror forces to go rampage on Kashmir soil leaving none unaffected, including women and children. After all, Indians have proved that they are good makers of graveyards secretly. That is the main principle of Indian secularism and democracy.

Curfews, both undeclared and declared; both short-term and indefinite imposed now and then have caused immense problems for Kashmiris, just as the Israeli blockages and genocides in Palestine and genocides, to thwart the freedom movement and people didn’t know what to do now. As the agitation was at its peak, attention of the freedom leaders was diverted and they cold not intensify the struggle.

Some Kashmiris have expressed anguish over the lack of any true spirit of freedom from India that the popular uprising provided. The freedom leaders must intensify the struggle by espousing the spirit of freedom. So what is more important than freedom struggle is true spirit for attaining freedom. It is the spirit of freedom struggle, the intention which underlies it, and the treasures which it contains hidden within it but which must be brought out and realized by the people of Kashmir. People should have both faith and true spirit, but must abandon pretensions of any kind that they want freedom if that comes their way any way. Already a senior freedom & People’s League’s leader Shaikh Abdul Aziz fell to an Indian bullet got from abroad. Mirwaiz and Geelani were secured release from house arrest by protestors. Even some of the leaders are not clear about the purpose of the calls. India indirectly threatens further killing of Kashmiris if such calls are repeated. Some Indian media reports say people are attending the calls just to have some fun; the idea is to make the world have false impression of Kashmiris.

True, Kashmiris have been coerced by India to accept this slavery by choice. One Kashmir puts the situation quite candidly: “We participate in the freedom struggle rallies of Mairwaiz and Geelani and if tomorrow PDP, Congress or NC invites us, we go there as well”. That is indeed the Indian strategy of diluting the freedom pulse of Kashmiris and silencing their urge for re-independence form India . But Kashmiris should realize that it is not for fun that India has militarized Kashmir and killed nearly one lakh innocent Kashmiris.

There is a strong feeling that even Geelani fails to provide strong leadership. And this resulted in showcasing how good slaves and hypocrites Kashmiris are. Over decades of Indian military occupation and brute methods of silencing Kashmiris, Kashmiris have developed inferiority complex. One word to describe today’s majority Kashmiri’s is “slave” They are slaves by choice, because they forget the contribution of people toward the freedom struggle. Geelani should consider leader all Kashmiris for the freedom struggle and use second level leaders to lead the struggle in all parts of Jammu Kashmir.

Notwithstanding the continued Indian atrocities and back-stabbing from pro-Indian leaders, Kashmiris have been struggling to achieve complete independence from Indian precisely because Kashmir is not an internal matter of the occupiers, Indian bogus assertion about it being a part of India . Ask the British leaders if India is also a part of UK or USA just because they occupy or control Indian affairs and policies and even intelligence now. Illegal occupation does not give India permanent authority over Jammu Kashmir.

As it is slowly coming to the light, it is still the Kashmir issue that caused the latest Mumbai carnage because India wanted to stall the Indo-Pakistan talks between the foreign ministers of both sides underway in New Delhi . Immediately after the terrorism in Mumbai the foreign ministers halted the talks and Pakistan ’s external affairs minister was asked to leave India . But can India continue this style of terror manipulations to keep the Kashmir issue at bay for ever? This question is being asked in Kashmir , Pakistan and elsewhere. UN should offer an appropriate answer.- Sri Lanka Guardian