Calling the conscience of India!

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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, Niyaz Ahmad has his say...

George Bernard Shaw once remarked, “The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them but be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity”.

These words cannot sound any stronger with me today when I watch the otherwise kind and emotional Indian public in general and the sagacious Indian civil society in particular watching the ugly orchestra of death in Kashmir silently and through the blood-tinted glasses provided to them by the Indian state. The indifference and the apathy that has come to define your posture towards the collective suffering of the hapless people of Kashmir as inflicted by the Indian state and its hired butchers in Kashmir is simply soul-shattering to all of us.  

Catching a Kashmiri Terrorist

Ehtesham Siddiqui, facing trial, writes detailed account of cop's alleged brutal techniques.

 I walked over to the local anti terror division in Kashmir and met the top cop there, he was sleeping, I woke him up,

"Whao!" he shouted what are you doing here?"

"I've come to interview you, about your torture methods."

"Sit down here!" he said.

"I'll sit here!" I said.

"No sit here.""But there is no chair there!"

"Sit down!"

"But where is the chair? You want me to sit on the floor?"

"Not on the floor, sit down on the chair!"

"But where is the chair?"

Azadi: The Only Way – Report from a Turbulent Few Hours in Delhi

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By: Shuddhabrata Sengupta

Dear Friends,

I was present and speaking a few hours ago at a meeting titled ‘Azadi: The Only Way’ on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, organized by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners at the Little Theatre Group in Delhi yesterday (21st October). I was not present from the beginning of the meeting as I was traveling from another city, but can vouch for what occurred from around 4:30 pm till the time that the meeting wound up, well after 8:00 pm in the evening.

The meeting took place in the packed to capacity auditorium of the Little Theatre Group on Copernicus Marg at the heart of New Delhi. Several speakers, including the poet Varavara Rao, Prof. Mihir Bhattacharya, Sujato Bhadra, Gursharan Singh, Mr. Shivnandan (?) an activist from Jammu, Professor G.N.Saibaba, Professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain – Professor of Law, Srinagar University, the journalist Najeeb Mubaraki, Dr. N. Venuh of the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights, the writer Arundhati Roy and myself spoke at the meeting. (I may be missing out some names, for which I apologize, but I was not present for a part of the meeting, at the very beginning) The climax of the meeting was a very substantive and significant speech by Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the Hurriyat Conference (G), which spelt out the vision of liberation (Azaadi) and Justice that Syed Ali Shah Geelani held out before the assembled public, of which I will write in detail later in this text.

Kashmir dispute: Myth and reality

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'Kashmir is not a real estate which can be parceled out between two disputants but the home of a nation with a history far more compact and coherent than India’s and far longer than Pakistan’s', Ghulam Nabi Fai gives the fundamental accounts...

Pointing out that (i) “India does conduct a ‘plebiscite' every five years in the form of elections, nobody has ever questioned the elections in Kashmir as fake" and that (ii) "Kashmir is an internal matter of India" The Foreign Minister of India, S M Krishna,  ruled out any (iii) third party intervention.

Earlier, the Home Minister of India, P Chidambaram said that (iv) Line of Control could become an International Border and he also hinted that (v) autonomy could be an option.  

Let us see how grounded these statements are. Both, Krishna and Chidambaram need to be reminded of some historical facts.

Facts we need to know

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Abdul Majid Zargar takes a leaf from history by pointing towards some unknown but startling facts about accession

IT  is extremely  important to reignite the accession debate in view of some recent articles appearing in various Newspapers  notably the One authored by Hashim Qureshi  (Greater Kashmir 29th September 2010). The fierce debate on the subject  in the Legislative Assembly has also generated considerable heat and controversy necessitating a revisit.

 Mr. Qureshi writes that besides the option of Joining Either India Or Pakistan, the Princely States were also extended the Option of remaining Independent. Advancement of this argument is prompted more to Counter Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s argument of  “only two Options” than based on any legal or historical facts.

‘My son died for freedom not money’

Via Greater Kashmir

KASHMIR TRAGEDY

UMER MAQBOOL DAR

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Srinagar, Oct 12: Death of their eldest son Suhail Yaseen Dar, 15, in police and paramilitary CRPF firing during the present unrest has shattered the dreams of Muhammad Yasin Dar and his wife Maryam, who wanted to make him a computer engineer.
Suhail was Yaseen’s eldest son and was studying in Vision Public School Hyderpora. He was a meritorious student and had passed his exams with good marks.
 “Our son didn’t let us down and scored over 90 per cent marks in his previous classes. We were waiting for the day when he would become an engineer,” Yaseen told Greater Kashmir.
“I brought computer and other electronic gadgets as he was interested in it from childhood, but his death snatched our dreams forever,” he added. Recalling the fateful day, he said that his son had left home early morning to participate in the Eidgah march on August 3.
“He too joined procession and when they reached near Fairdeal motors at Parimpora, the police resorted to indiscriminate firing on them. The procession was peaceful and there was no stone pelting or provocation from protesters.  I was shocked to hear that bullet had hit him. I him rushed to SMHS where he was battling for life for more than 5-hours and succumbed later to injuries,” he added.
Quoting eyewitnesses and doctors, he said that Suhail was fired upon from a close range.
“After being hit by a bullet from just five metres range, he lost one major vessel and got multiple gut proliferations,” Yaseen quoted doctors as having told him.
The family has also rejected compensation of Rs 5 lakh offered by the government to the families of civilians killed in ongoing agitation.
 “My son sacrificed life for Azadi and not for money .How can I sell his blood by accepting compensation money from government,” he said.
“We want punishment for the killer cops and no amount of money can return us him back,” he added.

We should be thankful to India

Thank you for awakening us from the deep slumber we are in, for altering the very meaning of our lives, for making us overcome the fear of death, Irfan Ali has his say...

The imposing curfew and restrictions in Kashmir will certainly end up isolating its architects and enforcers. It will spawn more anger and violence on the already blood bathed streets of valley. For a commoner certainly it means living in a climate of sickening uncertainty. It is absurd for government to even toy with the notion that it can stamp out violence and protests with more violence and oppression.