It was a 10-day visit by a citizens’ group to 10 districts in the Kashmir Valley late last year. But the report by the 25-member group was released last week at the Constitution Club. The report, it was claimed, explained why Kashmiri youth have been hurling stones at the security forces, something which the Government and the security forces seem determined not to address.
The report goes on to make the following points :
A bitter Khurram Parvez of JKCCS declared at the panel discussion that Indians should stop “thinking and speaking for Kashmiris” and instead worry about themselves, for the illegal military occupation in Kashmir is being replicated in various other parts of India.
Senior Advocate Indira Jaising was sharply critical of the way in which draconian laws such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act have been used. She noted how the AFSPA has been continuously used to overawe and take over the civil administration, in blatant violation of the government’s undertaking not to do so, given to the Supreme Court in 1997.
Documentary film-maker Sanjay Kak, whose 2007 documentary Jashn-e-Azadi has been repeatedly censored by the Indian state, said, “We are in a curious situation where the army itself is asking for a political solution in Kashmir”, and hence it is imperative for India to recognise and fulfill the right to self- determination, “else the gangrene set in by India won’t remain confined to the Pir Panjal”.
“Even the percentage of students sitting for the centralized Class X and XII examinations is regularly used by the Indian state to display the degree of ‘normalcy’ in the valley, much like the voter turnout in elections,” the report pointed out.
Published: undefined
Follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, Google News, Instagram
Join our official telegram channel (@nationalherald) and stay updated with the latest headlines
Published: undefined