Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Activists urge India to shun ‘defensive’ Kashmir policy


 


New Delhi, OLR, There is simmering discontent among Pakistani Kashmiris against Islamabad’s misrule, activists from the region said Wednesday, urging India to shun its “defensive” Kashmir policy.

“Azad Kashmir (as Islamabad terms Pakistan-administered Kashmir) is free, of course. But free for Pakistanis only,” Mumtaz Khan, a Canada-based Pakistani Kashmiri activist, said at a seminar here on the status of the area.

Khan, who heads the International Center For Peace and Democracy (ICFPD) a Canada-based NGO, alleged that no politician could talk independently about the Kashmir issue in Pakistan because it is directly under the military’s control.

He said the people of the region, including Gilgit-Baltistan, had pinned their hopes on New Delhi but “India has been defensive in its Kashmir policy”.

“This has allowed Pakistan to take an aggressive stance,” he said, reminding the Indian government of a parliament resolution saying that Pakistan “must vacate the areas of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which they have occupied through aggression”.

“India has faulted. You have violated your own constitution that says Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir is a disputed territory. You have to demonstrate something practically,” the activist said.

Senger Sering, another activist based in Washington and originally from Gilgit Baltistan, said people from his region wanted an independent republic and “that is why Pakistan is treats us worse than enemies”.

“There is institutionalized slavery. Pakistan has been eating out our resources and this slavery has been legalized by an ordinance,” Sering said, referring to the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order, 2009.

He alleged that “target killings” were rampant in the strategically located region rich with natural resources, particularly with a great potential for hydroelectricity.

The territory, where China has shown keen investment interest and is in fact developing many hydroelectricity projects and roads, is also a gateway to Central Asia.

But the area is ridden by violent incidents that Islamabad blames of sectarian groups, both Shias and Sunnis.

But Sering denied this, saying: “Target killings are done by mercenaries hired by (Pakistani spy agency) ISI.”

“They (killers) are coming from outside,” he said.

He alleged that the area is hugely militarized and the Pakistan Army controls everything.

“We have a bakery, the only bakery in the region. It is named Askari Bakery but is known as Military Bakery because it is run by the army,” he said.

Asking India to engage with activists from Pakistani Kashmir, he added that India should allow a symbolic representation for the region in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.

“Let some activists be allowed to represent the region in the Kashmir assembly and legislative council,” he said, adding this was possible because constitutionally, they are citizens of India.

 http://onionlive.com/2012/02/22/activists-urge-india-to-shun-defensive-kashmir-policy/

Azad Kashmir : Neither Azad Nor Kashmiri


With the swearing in of Sardar Mohammad Yaqub Khan as President of the so-called Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), which is more aptly termed as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has, in accordance with tradition, established its stranglehold on the region. Historically, it is always the ruling party, or a Pakistan Army sponsored party when the country is under military rule, which forms a government in POK. Recently, in a sham which passed off as elections, the PPP, predictably, established a majority in the legislative assembly and installed its senior member, Choudhary Abdul Majeed, as the Prime Minister. Sardar Muhammad Yaqub Khan, an erstwhile member of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, joined the PPP a little before the assembly elections and has been rewarded for his defection by being appointed the President of AJK alias POK. Thus the stranglehold is once again complete. The newly appointed President has not taken too long to establish his intention to toe the PPP line despite being in an apolitical appointment. In his address after taking oath, he roundly condemned the arrest Ghulam Nabi Fai despite it having been established that Fai was involved in underhand lobbying sponsored by the ISI . He further said that his top priority would be the Kashmir issue as his ancestors had liberated the territory of Azad Kashmir and their mission has to be completed, so much for reconciliation.

A different version to the entire ballgame has been presented by Altaf Hussain, the exiled leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), whose Mohajir party members are being selectively targeted in the ongoing violence in Karachi. In a telephone conversation with Sardar Atique Ahmad Khan, an ex-Prime Minister of POK, the MQM chief said, Everyone in Pakistan is aware of the fraud in the recent Azad Kashmir elections. The current government is authoritarian and not a democratic government, he added.


In POK, every action of the civilians is scrutinised by the hawk-eyed army and the ISI. This is because the entire administration is in the hands of the Pakistani army. The army runs the schools, the water department, the power stations, and the transport. Mohammed Mumtaz Khan, a senior leader from Rawalakote has gone on record to state: 'Pakistani army is using POK as a training camp for terrorists, as for development, the area lags behind Jammu & Kashmir by ages, where development had moved at almost the same pace as that of other cities in India.' In POK, no freedom is granted to the media, in fact there is no media at all. Whatever public opinion is there gets squashed immediately. There is no way you can go out and hold a protest march since an action of this nature invites retaliation with firing by troops.


The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRPC) has opined that people in POK have suffered gross violations of their rights, from being continuously 'watched and monitored' by Pakistan's ISI to denial of basic fundamental rights including access to judiciary and fair trial. As per HRPC 'People feel that their and political rights have been infringed under the guise of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, which prohibits activities that are prejudicial to public safety. The residents of POK lack a constitutional status in Pakistan even more so than the Mohajirs, the Balochis, the Pashtuns and the Sindhis who are now in open revolt against the government seen to be Punjabi (Army) dominant. Presently, there is no semblance of a Nation state in the geographic area which passes off as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In this turmoil the biggest victim are the people of POK and Northern Areas who are undergoing rampant colonisation. The recently held elections and the installation of the puppet government has laid the framework of continued exploitation in the long run.


Deep beneath the layer of deceit and blatant opportunism that has enveloped POK since the last six plus decades there is a very palpable disgust for Pakistan. Many in POK, including its large Diaspora in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world, find India's handling of its part of Kashmir more commendable. There is a growing awareness that while India has respected Kashmir's age-old practice of not allowing outsiders to settle down in the valley, Pakistan has allowed over 28,000 Afghan families to settle down and fleece the local populace in the name of Jihad. With regard to socio-economic parameters everyone is aware that Kashmiris in the valley are better educated and better skilled due to the better education facilities that are available to them. On the political front, India has held fair elections in the Valley right down to the Panchayat level while the Pakistani government not only indulges of gross manipulation of elections, it also has the gumption of dismissing installed governments at will.


Azad Kashmir is neither inhabited largely by Kashmiris nor is it Azad. There are voices of protest coming up; those actively involved in this crusade to obtain justice are Shabir Choudhry's Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Abdul Hamid Khan's Balawaristan National Front, All Party National Alliance, Karakoram National Movement, Karakoram Students Organization and Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization and many others. These political organisations have, time and again, reiterated their demand for empowering the people of POK and Northern Areas to decide their future both political and economic outside the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The time has arrived for the world, led by India, to intervene in this highly oppressed region and pressurise the government of Pakistan to pay cognisance to the just demands of the people.

India needs change in approach in dealing PoK: Experts

 

MAYANK SINGH | New Delhi, February 23, 2012

 

The experts on Pakistan blame India of handling the issue related to the territory which is under Pakistan occupation with apologetic approach and lack of understanding of the strategic importance of the areas like Gilgit and Baltistan.

Captain Alok Bansal, Security analyst and expert on the PoK and Gilgit and Baltistan says, “The strategic importance of Jammu and Kashmir emanates from the Gilgit and Baltistan, not the Valley and Jammu either.”
 
Professor Siddiq Wahid, historian and former Vice-Chancellor, Kashmir Islamic University, Srinagar says, “It took us 60 years to know that there is Gilgit-Baltistan too.” It not only highlights the lack of priority given to the issue of the Indian territory under Pakistan occupation. Most of the experts believe that the discussions primarily talk of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and this has never been on the status of the Gilgit and Baltistan which is around six times the area of Azad Kashmir which is 13, 297 sq. km.

Mumtaz Khan, Executive director of International Center for Peace and Democracy, Canada points to a different kind of game plan. He says, “Democracy in Azad Jammu and Kashmir is only for the parties which favour the Pakistani ideology of exploiting these areas of J&K. India has adopted an apologetic attitude.” Mumtaz belongs to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and is currently based in Canada.

Another issue which has come to the fore in the recent times is the conspicuous presence of Chinese troops in these areas and according to Mumtaz Khan it is all being done under a long term plan. He says, “Pakistan is getting unstable and if this leads to disintegration India will be the inheritor of these areas and to keep any such possibility at bay Pakistanis are negotiating and trying to increase the Chinese presence in these areas.

Senge Sering, President, Institute for Gilgit and Baltistan Studies, Washington DC says, “Pakistan has adopted policies to change the demography and for this it has passed an ordinance that anybody from other parts of Pakistan who agrees to take up job in Gilgit and Baltistan will be paid double the normal salary.” Senge Sering added, “Political representatives from Gilgit Baltistan should be given the chance to represent themselves in the Kashmir Assembly where more than 22 seats lie vacant and reserved for the representatives of the people of Gilgit Baltistan.”

The area of J&K under the control of Pakistan sizes up to approximately 85,793 sq km and was further divided in 1970 into two separate administrative divisions, namely, Mirpur-Muzaffarabad (commonly referred to as Azad Jammu and Kashmir, AJK, by Pakistan) and the Federally Administered Gilgit-Baltistan. It was way back in 1963 that Pakistan had illegally ceded a huge portion of territory of the Shaksgam Valley of PoK, which is 5,180 sq km to China in a border agreement of 1963. Gilgit and Baltistan covers an area of 72,971 Sq. km. Gilgit Baltistan is rich in Uranium, Gold and Copper.

Pakistan is indulging in demographic engineering says, Captain Alok Bansal and as a result large scale influx of people belonging to FATA, North West Frontier Province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is taking place and the business is being occupied by them.

According to these experts, there is a need of increasing the people-to-people contact. Professor Siddiq Wahid says, “Borders should be opened and trade be promoted. This will let the people from that side come and see the kind of life people have on this side, in India.

Also, these experts believe that India needs to put its case emphatically on Gilgit and Baltistan before the world community and diplomats. Gilgit and Baltistan has borders with Afghanistan in its northwest, Xinjiang Province of China to its east and northeast, Azad Jammu and Kashmir under control of Pakistan to the southwest, and a 480 km-long Line of Control (LoC) running alongside India in the southeast. Thus one can easily realize the strategic importance of the Gilgit and Baltistan with it connecting parts of West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia and China.

 http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/india-needs-change-in-approach-in-dealing-pok-experts/254/30409/

‘India should stand firm on PoK issue’

Former External Affairs Minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said that India should shed its defensive posturing on the issue of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and Northern Areas and raise its pitch against the neighbour in the international forum. 

Sinha was airing his opinion at the inaugural address of a day-long international seminar ‘POK and Northern Areas-Present Status and Way Forward’ organised by Centre for Security and Strategy.

“India has for long been one of the good boys in the international arena. Now is the time to behave like a bad boy on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and send the message loud and clear that India means business,” he said stressing on the need for the country to vehemently decry the “ceding of these regions by Pakistan” and press for its undoing.

Lamenting the fact that the world did not know about the plight of the people of POK and the “brutal suppression of dissenting voices there,” the BJP leader termed these areas as “dark and secluded.”
While the international community knew about Tibet “thanks to the stature of Dalai Lama, it is unaware about POK as there is no Dalai Lama there,” he said adding people in India also did not talk about so-called Azad Kashmir or Gilgit and Baltistan which are parts of the Northern Areas.

Tracing the history of the dispute between India and Pakistan on POK and Northern Areas, he said that after India approached the UN in 1949 for resolving the Kashmir issue, the UN passed a resolution. It called for immediate ceasefire between the two countries, vacation of POK and Northern Areas by the Pakistan Army and then a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir. However, Pakistan is yet to toe that international line and has instead been aggressively demanding that people of Jammu and Kashmir be allowed the right of self determination, he said.

Initiating the debate, Rajya Sabha MP Dr Chandan Mitra said successive Governments in India followed a “pusillanimous” policy on the Kashmir issue. Moreover, “POK and Northern Areas are hidden away from the world and people are not aware about torture of locals there,” he said.

Mitra said these two regions had become “chambers of experimentation” for the Pakistan regime and “there is little knowledge about our neighbourhood in India, leave alone the world.”

Mumtaz Khan, a native of POK who had to flee to Canada due to persecution, urged India to play a more pro-active role in drawing the attention of the world to plight of locals and the forcible changing of demographic profile of the region by Islamabad.

 http://dailypioneer.com/nation/44830-india-should-stand-firm-on-pok-issue.html

‘No point talking to Pak till Army in control’

At a time when India has resumed backchannel talks with Pakistan, on Sunday, two political activists — originally from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan — cautioned New Delhi regarding the peace process with Islamabad, saying that it doesn’t have a future unless the Pakistan army gives up its control over the State. 

Mumtaz Khan (left) and Hasnan Sering



Mumtaz Khan from PoK migrated to Canada more than two decades ago because of alleged persecution and Senge Sering of Gilgit currently lives in Washington, US. They were here to attend a conference on “PoK and Northern Areas: Present Status and way forward”.

Khan, who runs the International Centre for Peace and Democracy in Toronto, said, “I don’t know when India is going to learn. Pakistan is smart... it has initiated wars and terrorist attacks. But New Delhi still wants to talks with them.”

Sering, who heads the Institute of Gilgit-Baltistan Studies in Washington, said, “Pakistan is only buying time. India has the memory of a goldfish, which lasts only seven seconds. New Delhi should realise that they are dealing with a State which is not trustworthy.”

Both the activists, who have their families in PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan, respectively, slammed the Pakistan government for denial of basic political freedom and lack of civic amenities in these areas.

 http://www.indianexpress.com/news/no-point-talking-to-pak-till-army-in-control/917181/

Activists seek India support to 'save' Pakistan Occupied Kashmir


Mumtaz Khan (left) and Hasnan Sering.



India is not the only one concerned with China's increasing presence in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), especially the Gilgit-Baltistan region formerly known as the Northern Areas.

Two political activists from the region also seem to be edgy about the involvement of Chinese companies in different projects there.

The duo, in the Capital to attend a conference - "PoK and Northern Areas: Present Status and way forward" - organised by the Centre for Security and Strategy (CSS) of India Foundation, stated that there is a pressing need for a more proactive diplomatic approach by New Delhi in resolving the political and economic issues in PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Attending the conference were Mumtaz Khan, a native of PoK, who fled to Canada more than two decades ago because of alleged persecution and Senge Hasnan Sering of Gilgit, who currently lives in Washington.

Khan runs the International Centre for Peace and Democracy in Toronto while Sering heads the Institute of Gilgit-Baltistan Studies in Washington. Both are well-known political activists in North America and Europe.

Speaking about Chinese intervention in the region, Khan said: "Chinese companies are doing a lot of work in Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PaK). It needs to be taken seriously as it has its impact on the changing power politics in the region."

The activist claimed locals have no say over the natural resources of the region. His sentiment was echoed by Sering, who is busy advocating a cause of 'genuine autonomy' for Gilgit-Baltistan on different platforms across the globe.

Sering claimed that the natural resources in Gilgit-Baltistan are being exploited by Pakistan.
"All the mining sites in the region were given to Chinese companies who are strengthening their bases there," he said.

Media reports said that in 2011 around 11,000 Chinese troops were believed to be in PoK. 

The duo felt the international community and India in particular should play a proactive role in resolving many political and economic issues in the region.



"If Pakistan can pass the 18th amendment and give more powers to the provinces, why can't it think of giving more powers to the government in PaK? Even the leadership in PaK is vocal about its unhappiness with Pakistan," Khan said.

Taking a dig at Pakistan, Khan said the country never wanted to resolve the issue.

"The control of so-called Azad Kashmir lies in the hands of the Kashmir Council run by Pakistan. The Muzaffarabad assembly has been rendered useless," Khan said.

He stressed that people in PoK are living in fear and there is no freedom of expression. "At least we hear some news from the Indian side of Kashmir, but from our side there is complete blackout. PaK has been turned into a cantonment and nobody can escape from the eyes of the security agencies."

Sering argued that Pakistan can do nothing for Gilgit-Baltistan as constitutionally it is not a part of the country.

"It (Pakistan) just exploits our resources and wants to continue with its political hegemony. Even the latest empowerment package is a farce as the power centre continues to be in Pakistan," Sering said.
"It has given us a pseudo provincial status but all our matters are decided by Gilgit-Baltistan Council that is controlled by the Pakistan establishment," Sering said.

He added that he is frustrated with New Delhi's stance.

"It needs to be more proactive and practical rather than confining itself to issuing statements," he said.

When asked if they see any hope in Imran Khan, both Khan and Sering smirked.

"He is an extension of the Pakistan establishment," Sering said and Khan was quick to add: "He is a clean-shaven Taliban."

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/activists-seek-india-help-to-save-pakistan-occupied-kashmir/1/175005.html