Kashmir Affairs - Security & Conflict Analysis of Kashmir

Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan’s Address to Strategic Technology Resources Seminar on Kashmir, 02.09.2008, Islamabad

11 September 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Discussions and debates on Kashmir are as important as its dispute is a matter of life and death for us. There shouldn’t be any doubt about that.

Today’s debating initiative on Kashmir by the STR is most timely one. It transmits a strong message from the heart of Islamabad. It is a strong re-assurance, a renewed commitment of moral and political strength. Again the clear message that the brave brethren of Pakistan and the institutions and intellectuals of Pakistan stand politically, morally, diplomatically and institutionally solidly behind the struggling masses of Kashmir is most fortifying reiteration. Kashmir’s is a just cause. It is not one sided. It is the growing offshoot of history.

The cause of Kashmir is intertwined with the evolution of history of South Asia, with the movement for Pakistan , with the ideology of Pakistan and with the ethos of over 160 million people of Pakistan . None of us can stay aloof from this fact. Whatever might be the circumstances, our common belief in this reality issuing forth from history remains unshaken and irreducible.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A variety of ups and downs of times and phases full of cut-throat perils have tested this belief of ours. Kashmiris stood the ground of logic and truth with people of Pakistan resolutely standing behind them. We acknowledge. Because of loyalty of their commitment the Kashmiris are facing unparalleled circumstances; they suffer because they did not make compromise.

Today Kashmir, the occupied Kashmir has been turned into dots of dungeons; every home, every hutment, every street, even animal compounds have been sealed off; the seven weeks of constant curfew, about two months long starving economic blockade; massive arrests of Kashmiri leaders; driving young Kashmiris - males and females - to the torture cells, gang-rapes, molestations and disappearances; piercing the captive human bodies in custody to crying deaths, are incidents which make even the Himalayas to break its stoniness; listen please, this systematized savagery compelled the United Nations Secretary General Mr Ban Ki Moon, the USA and the OIC to denounce massive abuse of human rights and unprecedented oppressive force to quell popular sentiments in occupied Kashmir .

We all of our own vehemently condemn this savagery, and join also the international community in condemnation, because it is condemnable; The gory game is being played by the Indian occupation forces, therefore we condemn them too; these are the inhuman acts of Indian terror forces;

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The prolonged economic blockade of the occupied Kashmir Valley by the extremist communalists of occupied Jammu is the worst form of economic terrorism. It attracts double condemnation that this inhuman practice is being overseen and maintained by the Indian occupation forces; it is no less than an ethnic vengeance; it is utter violation of the Kashmir resolutions of the United Nations wherein peace, calm and safety of life and honor and expression has been made a serviceable obligation;

The land grabbing gimmicks by the occupation forces in Kashmir has an evil design to serve. Its basic aim is to change the demography of the Kashmir Valley. Under the pretexts of holy caves, as the Hindu mythology goes, the forest lands and water springs are being seized in the name of religious practices. The entire region of occupied Kashmir is the source of rivers. Step by step Indian strategists are moving to control and grab the sources of water, be they springs or head-sources of rivers. The Amarnath incident is very much linked to that ill design. The 800 kanals of forest land at Baltal-Domail allotted to the Amarnath Shrine Board meant allowing pollution of drinking waters of springs and denudation of forests creating ecological hazards for the Kashmiri population.

I would like to give a glimpse of the land grabbing appetite of the occupation forces in occupied parts of Kashmir . This matter is most important. The audience should know. Excluding occupied Jammu, Kargil, Leh, Akhnoor and Udhampur, presently over 671 Indian security camps exist occupying over 90,000 acres of farm and orchard lands and over 1500 buildings. In the saffron rich Lethapora in Pampore tehsil the CRPF is grabbing 5000 kanals for its headquarters; Indian army has set its eyes on 10,000 kanals of land for its field depot at Kundroo; Indian airforce possessing 850 acres in Awantipora is grabbing additional 763 acres. These are stray figures.

Occupied Kashmir assembly speaker recently complained that 3500 acres of agriculture land in his constituency in Chhamb in occupied Jammu has been freshly mined driving out 6000 families; in Gulmarg as recently as in October 2007, 400 acres of land has been grabbed; All these are gory chapters of bloodiest Kashmir saga. Sufferings are mounting day by day; we pay homage and all honors to those who resist.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The latest phase of the Kashmir struggle since December 1989 till November 2003 is full of more sacrifices:
more than 100,000 Kashmiris laid down their lives; over 10,000 are missing; innumerable orphans and widows.
In Azad Jammu and Kashmir 13 electoral constituencies along the Line of Control were badly affected by the cross firings during this period. However, a special re-construction package for these areas has been approved by the   Government of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. And it is being put into operation. We are grateful.

Now I would like to come to the core of the matter: Viable Political Architecture for Conflict Resolution.

Kashmir as everyone knows is a U.N. registered dispute; the resolutions of the UN Security Council and of the United Nations Commission on India and Pakistan , namely of August 13, 1948 and of January 5, 1949 are a clear chapter of proposed action plan signed by the U.N. community including India and Pakistan . Even bilateral accords between Pakistan and India recognize Kashmir as a solvable dispute. It is certain.

I may clarify that the U.N. charter does not preclude bilateral approach or negotiations to explore the intents and possibilities of resolution of any dispute. The people of Jammu and Kashmir, in AJK, in occupied Kashmir, or the Kashmiri Diaspora, are not averse to the bilateral negotiations between Pakistan and India. Rather they wish to make their input to advance the ongoing peace process. But at the same time they do not want that the period of non-decision should be used to suppress them in occupied Kashmir by any means - economic strangulation or by military might.

We should remember that the process of bilateral negotiations over Kashmir had in fact started during the life time of Founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah when he had called Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to talks on Kashmir in the last week of November 1947 in Karachi. That opportunity was lost due to Nehru’s pretended illness. Instead of Nehru himself, the then Governor General of India Lord Mountbatten had come to attend the talks. However the process could not move ahead for reasons obvious. Mountbatten perhaps had no mandate from Pandit Nehru who actually held the helms of governance in Delhi.

In succeeding eras process of talks continued: between Muhammad Ali Bogra and Pandit Nehru; Ayyub Khan and Nehru; Bhutto-Swaran Singh rounds of talks; then at Tashkent, and at Simla. The last one resulted into Simla Accord. Again the process could not move ahead as the Kashmiris were not involved;

The latest phase of Pakistan-India bilateralism started when in November 2003 Pakistan announced unilateral ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir, reciprocated by India. Of course in the initiation of this phase of talks the persuasion of international community was there.

From the year 2004 started formal negotiations between the two countries: the process acquiring the titles of CBMs and the Composite Dialogue Process. India for the first time accepted the existence of Kashmir dispute or issue. The South Asian atmosphere started yielding a glimmer of promise. The biggest snag in South Asian healthy political development friendly diplomatic milieu is unsolved dispute of Jammu and Kashmir. The fate of this region will stay soiled with suspicion and uncertainty unless this core dispute is solved. It concerns the political destiny of a people.

It should not be a part of satisfaction that a two-party solution will suffice. The fact of the matter is that the satisfactory solution of this central dispute must come out via fulfilment of the Kashmiri aspirations, as the Kashmiris themselves are the key party to the dispute. This dispute is not about a landmass, it concerns basically the political destiny of now 15 million people. They are Muslims, Pandits, Hindus, Sikhs and others; but Muslims in dominant majority.

The strategic location of Kashmir is simply un-ignorable. Kashmir today stands surrounded by three nuclear powers. Kashmir wields very sensitive strategic geo-physical and geo-political assets. Therefore its people matter a lot; they are the basic element in any configuration.

On the other hand the roots of this dispute are inseparably deeper into the history of South Asia. This linkage is an ideological asset; that cannot be overlooked or bypassed in any imaginable dispensation.

In physical fact, Kashmir is a tripartite dispute - Pakistan, India and Kashmiris; it has global ramifications; its solution, therefore, cannot be a single track approach; any effort to get nearer to the solution of this six decade old dispute is to make all the three parties sit together around one table of talks or negotiations.

But how to draw nearer that stage? This is the basic question. Can we alone do that in the blink of an eye?

The instrument of wars has been tested; this option now spells no solution but the biggest South Asian disaster, not likely to confine its consequences to the brinks of Asian continent alone, but having the potential to inundate other regions and continents.

So Kashmir, one may accept or reject, is now global in dimensions especially after its being surrounded by three acknowledged nuclear powers. Kashmir is contiguous today to all the three. The solution of this extra-sensitive dispute needs availability of a mistrust-free atmosphere. But that will not happen by itself. That needs conscious efforts.

The people of Kashmir continue to be divided; The masses of Kashmir have not inter-mixed for over 60 years;
geo-physically they stand regionalized into at least five regions; there is a need to let them meet among themselves first; their inter-communications should be restored; they should be allowed to inter-trade, and inter-mingle and interact; this is absolutely necessary if a durable, equitable and pacific solution of Kashmir dispute has had to emerge from within.

Therefore it is advisable that first the internal atmosphere within Jammu and Kashmir should enable all the three parties - Pakistan, India and Kashmiris - to think forward, move forward from base one.

Base one is the acknowledgement of Kashmir as a dispute. Indian leadership in joint statements with Pakistan leadership in September 2006 in New York and in Havana had accepted the disputed nature of Kashmir. It was from this Base One that some Kashmir specific CBMs were taken. For instance, the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar highway was re-opened for Kashmir Passengers Bus service plying fortnightly; five intra-Kashmir contact points were agreed and three of them were actually opened; intra-Kashmir travel was made visa-free; Occupied Kashmir APHC leadership traveled to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan; held a series of talks with Pakistan leaders and media; international Kashmir conferences are being held in Washington DC , London , Brussels and elsewhere in which Kashmiris from occupied and Azad parts participate besides diplomats and opinion makers from Pakistan , India and international community.

This is an openness. Kashmiris welcome that. I myself participated in several such international conferences as far away as in Montevideo in Latin America in July 2007.

We have three Kashmir centers - in Washington DC, in London and in Brussels. Kashmir has been brought as unsolved dispute on the agenda of the European parliament. The parliament holds annually Global Discourses on Kashmir. Therefore we should not view all the time that Kashmir remains unattended in the rest of the world. It is international from all angles.

The viable political architecture for moving towards a solution of Kashmir dispute is provided by the UN resolutions: That provides a frame of function. But how to take in hand that frame? I propose that within the ongoing peace process a space should be carved out.
(1) Thinning out troops from occupied areas to the stage of gradual withdrawal,
(2) letting free Kashmiri detenues and also those whom the courts of law have acquitted but not freed by the authorities,
(3) opening of Line of Control for mass intra-Kashmir contacts and travels, trade and tourism can infuse confidence and take the process ahead.

The latest decision by the governments of Pakistan and India to allow intra-Kashmir cultural activities, simplification of travel documents and exchange of visits of officials of chambers of commerce and industries and reduction of fortnightly period to weekly basis for intra-Kashmir bus service should be viewed as welcome moves.

Recently I had suggested in a civic function held in Islamabad in the presence of APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooque that the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir should be reduced into a Line of Commerce. The idea attracted both views - for and against. That is natural.

The idea behind this was that unless we in the free parts of Jammu and Kashmir afford opportunities which help change and improve the economic conditions of our brethren in occupied Kashmir, how can they sustain and neutralize the ever burgeoning onslaught of Indian repressions? Who would come to relieve them of worst economic conditions? The only outlet to them is that they are allowed massive trade across the LoC via Azad Kashmir and Pakistan.

We should mind that economics matter a lot in any enterprise. The recent economic blockade of the Valley has proved my fears true. Today our Valley brethren stand cut off; their stores and services completely depleted.

And added to that repression is the killing curfew. Which strategy will let them out of this mire? Only the internal economic resilience, I must repeat. Therefore I would like to sum up myself as this:

1. Kashmiris from all regions must be allowed to meet freely and discuss how to facilitate the process of ongoing negotiations between Pakistan and India leading to final settlement of Kashmir dispute;
2.   Thinning out troops from occupied parts of J&K State;
3.   Termination of human rights abuses;
4.   Release of Kashmiris imprisoned under any pretext;
5.   Association of Kashmiris with Kashmir-related Peace Process between Pakistan and India;
6.   Opening of intra-Kashmir trade, tourism and restriction-free travel across LoC;
7.   Formation of a Common Group of Kashmiri political parties representing all sectors of Kashmiri life - Muslims, Pandits, Hindus, Sikhs and others. The elective/selective choice should be left to the respective communities.
8.   The Common Kashmiri Group should sit with the summit leadership of Pakistan and India for exploratory approach towards Kashmir solution seeking measures.
9.   Association of Kashmiri militancy with the Common Kashmiri Group.

It is obvious that moves will have to be made to allow a solution-oriented environment in Jammu and Kashmir.