11-03-2006, 08:53 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Kashmir Event at George Washington University
Washington, D.C. October 28, 2006. A presentation and discussion on
the subject âKashmir: Future Approachesâ was organized at George
Washington University, Marvin Center by PSA George Washington
University Rising Leaders, PALC and Kashmiri American Council /
Kashmir Center. The speakers included Mr. Tahir Iqbal, Minister of
Kashmir Affairs, Prof. William Baker, author of âKashmir: Happy
Valley, Valley of Deathâ; Prof. Angana Chatterji, Professor of
California Institute of Integral Studies, Mr. Mohammad Aslam Khan,
DCM, Embassy of Pakistan, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director,
Kashmiri American Council / Kashmir Center, Ms. Hafsa Kanjwal and
Sadia Sindhu, Georgetown University and Najm Haq of George
Washington University. The auditorium was full to capacity with
listening patiently, many standing for two and half hours.
Mr. Zafar Iqbal, Minister of Kashmir Affairs said that the movement
in Kashmir is not terrorism but a movement for independence of the
people of Kashmir . It is a movement to secure self-determination
that the UN Security Council pledged to provide the people of Jammu
and Kashmir as fat back as 1948. Mr. Iqbal emphasized that the
solution of Kashmir has to be reached by all parties, viz, India,
Pakistan and more importantly the people of Kashmir . He said that
the United States can play a very vital role in resolving the issue
of Kashmir . Kashmir being a nuclear flash point for war between
two important states both friendly to the USA .
Mr. Mohammad Aslam Khan, DCM, said that there cannot be peace in
occupied Kashmir as long as there is such intimidating presence of
troops - 700,000 Indian military and paramilitary forces.
Demilitarization, he said, will bring relief to the inhabitants of
the State of Jammu and Kashmir . He emphasized that Pakistan has
not changed its principled stand on Kashmir , which is to secure
the exercise of the right of self-determination. However, Pakistan
is ready to explore gradual steps by which the right of the people
of Kashmir can be secured.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai said that the people of Kashmir endorse the
CBMâs initiated by the leadership of both India and Pakistan
because CBMâs have diffused some of the tension between hostile
neighbors. But the CBMâs, Dr. Fai said, have entailed a problem.
They can lend an appearance of normalcy to the situation in Kashmir
. He agreed with Mr. Kuldip Nayar, former Indian High Commissioner
to the United Kingdom , who wrote that: âtrappings of normality
should not be mistaken for actual normality. True, the atmosphere
is better than before. But this should not make us infer that we
have found a solution to the Kashmir problem. If this were so, the
alienation in the valley would have largely disappeared. The army
would have withdrawn its forces in a larger proportionâ.
Dr. Fai warned that we do not need to invoke principles if that
would not help launch the peace process. We have seen all too
often how easily principles can be twisted and misinterpreted. But
some fundamental principles involved in the Kashmir dispute cannot
be ignored. There are two: 1) it is the inherent right of the
people of Kashmir to decide their future according to their own
free will; 2) it is impossible to ascertain that will except
through a vote under impartial supervision in conditions free of
coercion, fear and intimidation.
Dr. Fai reiterated that Kashmir is not and cannot be regarded as an
integral part of India because under all international agreements
between India and Pakistan, negotiated at the United Nations,
endorsed by the Security Council and accepted by the international
community, Kashmir does not belong to any member state of the
United Nations. If that is true, then the claim that Kashmir is an
integral part of India does not stand.
Prof. Angana Chatterji said that over 500,000 Indian troops remain
deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, including from paramilitary forces,
federal armed forces, and Jammu and Kashmir Rifles. The
army-civilian ratio in Kashmir of approximately 5.5 million people
is one soldier per 11 persons. There is an absence of transparency
connected to decision-making processes utilized by the armed
forces. She emphasized that there is growing concern among civil
society groups about human rights crises in Indian-occupied Kashmir
in the areas of social, political, cultural, religious, and
economic rights. The premise and structure of impunity connected to
military rule and corresponding human rights abuses bear witness to
the absence of accountability inherent to the continued occupation
of (certain areas of) Kashmir by the Indian state.
Prof William Baker said that Kashmir today is locked in a death
struggle for survival and the right of self-determination. This
historic Valley of beauty has become a Valley of death. He said: a
country of thirteen million inhabitants face on a daily basis, the
bullets and brutality of an occupation army of Indian soldiers.
One is hard pressed to discover any comparable contemporary
conflict capable of possessing an equal amount of naked brutality,
inhumanity and intolerance as that experienced by the Kashmiri
people over the past fifty nine years under occupation.
Brigadier ® Usman Khalid
Director London Institute of South Asia
www.lisauk.com
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Washington, D.C. October 28, 2006. A presentation and discussion on
the subject âKashmir: Future Approachesâ was organized at George
Washington University, Marvin Center by PSA George Washington
University Rising Leaders, PALC and Kashmiri American Council /
Kashmir Center. The speakers included Mr. Tahir Iqbal, Minister of
Kashmir Affairs, Prof. William Baker, author of âKashmir: Happy
Valley, Valley of Deathâ; Prof. Angana Chatterji, Professor of
California Institute of Integral Studies, Mr. Mohammad Aslam Khan,
DCM, Embassy of Pakistan, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director,
Kashmiri American Council / Kashmir Center, Ms. Hafsa Kanjwal and
Sadia Sindhu, Georgetown University and Najm Haq of George
Washington University. The auditorium was full to capacity with
listening patiently, many standing for two and half hours.
Mr. Zafar Iqbal, Minister of Kashmir Affairs said that the movement
in Kashmir is not terrorism but a movement for independence of the
people of Kashmir . It is a movement to secure self-determination
that the UN Security Council pledged to provide the people of Jammu
and Kashmir as fat back as 1948. Mr. Iqbal emphasized that the
solution of Kashmir has to be reached by all parties, viz, India,
Pakistan and more importantly the people of Kashmir . He said that
the United States can play a very vital role in resolving the issue
of Kashmir . Kashmir being a nuclear flash point for war between
two important states both friendly to the USA .
Mr. Mohammad Aslam Khan, DCM, said that there cannot be peace in
occupied Kashmir as long as there is such intimidating presence of
troops - 700,000 Indian military and paramilitary forces.
Demilitarization, he said, will bring relief to the inhabitants of
the State of Jammu and Kashmir . He emphasized that Pakistan has
not changed its principled stand on Kashmir , which is to secure
the exercise of the right of self-determination. However, Pakistan
is ready to explore gradual steps by which the right of the people
of Kashmir can be secured.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai said that the people of Kashmir endorse the
CBMâs initiated by the leadership of both India and Pakistan
because CBMâs have diffused some of the tension between hostile
neighbors. But the CBMâs, Dr. Fai said, have entailed a problem.
They can lend an appearance of normalcy to the situation in Kashmir
. He agreed with Mr. Kuldip Nayar, former Indian High Commissioner
to the United Kingdom , who wrote that: âtrappings of normality
should not be mistaken for actual normality. True, the atmosphere
is better than before. But this should not make us infer that we
have found a solution to the Kashmir problem. If this were so, the
alienation in the valley would have largely disappeared. The army
would have withdrawn its forces in a larger proportionâ.
Dr. Fai warned that we do not need to invoke principles if that
would not help launch the peace process. We have seen all too
often how easily principles can be twisted and misinterpreted. But
some fundamental principles involved in the Kashmir dispute cannot
be ignored. There are two: 1) it is the inherent right of the
people of Kashmir to decide their future according to their own
free will; 2) it is impossible to ascertain that will except
through a vote under impartial supervision in conditions free of
coercion, fear and intimidation.
Dr. Fai reiterated that Kashmir is not and cannot be regarded as an
integral part of India because under all international agreements
between India and Pakistan, negotiated at the United Nations,
endorsed by the Security Council and accepted by the international
community, Kashmir does not belong to any member state of the
United Nations. If that is true, then the claim that Kashmir is an
integral part of India does not stand.
Prof. Angana Chatterji said that over 500,000 Indian troops remain
deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, including from paramilitary forces,
federal armed forces, and Jammu and Kashmir Rifles. The
army-civilian ratio in Kashmir of approximately 5.5 million people
is one soldier per 11 persons. There is an absence of transparency
connected to decision-making processes utilized by the armed
forces. She emphasized that there is growing concern among civil
society groups about human rights crises in Indian-occupied Kashmir
in the areas of social, political, cultural, religious, and
economic rights. The premise and structure of impunity connected to
military rule and corresponding human rights abuses bear witness to
the absence of accountability inherent to the continued occupation
of (certain areas of) Kashmir by the Indian state.
Prof William Baker said that Kashmir today is locked in a death
struggle for survival and the right of self-determination. This
historic Valley of beauty has become a Valley of death. He said: a
country of thirteen million inhabitants face on a daily basis, the
bullets and brutality of an occupation army of Indian soldiers.
One is hard pressed to discover any comparable contemporary
conflict capable of possessing an equal amount of naked brutality,
inhumanity and intolerance as that experienced by the Kashmiri
people over the past fifty nine years under occupation.
Brigadier ® Usman Khalid
Director London Institute of South Asia
www.lisauk.com
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->