The Kashmir ‘Intifada’

Ishaal Zehra

India is making desperate efforts to deflect the international attention from situation in Occupied Kashmir. The attack in Uri sector (Indian occupied Kashmir) and its aftermath is the same old “play victim card” drama by India. Even what is more interesting is that despite Indian army Intel and security failures leading to the death of 17 soldiers, Indians are absolute certain about attackers origin? Not over-reacting, but after every terror incident in India, everyone knows what is coming next. The Indian accusations against Pakistan have become as clichéd as Bollywood scripts. It’s easy to put a blame on Pakistan and its army but history is evident they could never prove it with concrete evidence. I mean, come on “toothpaste” cannot be an evidence for indicting a sovereign and a responsible nuclear state in act of terrorism.

Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, while addressing at UNGA called upon the permanent members of the Security Council to fulfill their responsibility with regard to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which is one of the oldest internationally recognized unresolved disputes on the agenda of the UN Security Council. “Burhan Wani, the young leader murdered by Indian forces, has emerged as the symbol of the latest Kashmiri Intifada, a popular and peaceful freedom movement, led by Kashmiris, young and old, men and women, armed only with an undying faith in the legitimacy of their cause, and a hunger for freedom in their hearts”, he added.

The word ‘intifada’ was very aptly used for the Kashmiri freedom strugglers. ‘Intifada’ is an Arabic word literally meaning "tremor", "shivering", "shuddering” and is a key concept in contemporary Arabic usage referring to a legitimate uprising against oppression. The word ‘Intifada’ became famous after the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The first intifada lasted from 1987 to 1993, and the second began in 2000. Today, Kashmir is getting similar to Palestinian struggle in so many ways. The blood-spattered Israeli oppression of Palestinian land is very much equaling to the Indian oppression in Kashmir.

In the backdrop of PM Sharif’s meetings with the world leaders on resolution of Kashmir issue, the OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani, while chairing a meeting of OIC contact group on Kashmir on the sidelines of the 71st session of UN General Assembly in New York, has expressed deep concern over the grave situation in the occupied Kashmir and called for an immediate cessation of Indian oppression and atrocities. The OIC, founded in 1969, is a 57-member organisation which traditionally supports the right of self determination.

Expressing their solidarity with the Kashmiri people, the OIC group reaffirmed their resolve to remain the voice of the Kashmiris' at the international stage. Indian law-enforcement officials are long guilty of extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and enforced disappearances in Indian occupied Kashmir. While Pakistan is committed to peacefully resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council, India should also honour its human rights obligations as well as its commitments to the Kashmiri people.

The Pakistani PM at UNGA called upon the international community and the UN to live up to their promise of the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people. The fact remains that the non resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is a constant source of tension and instability in the region and a threat to international peace and security. The PM also said that Pakistan wants peace with India. "We have gone the extra mile to achieve this, repeatedly offering a dialogue to address all outstanding issues", he said while addressing the United Nations General Assembly.

Official sources however said that they have noted the strong support which Turkey and Azerbaijan extended to Pakistan during the meet that called for “cessation of violence” in Kashmir.

Obviously India would have never allowed Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir go uncontested at the UN, and she did what she had to. The Uri attack was so timely planned and the after act drama was so strongly put up by the Indian media that it overshadowed the legitimate issue of plight of Kashmiris at Indian hands. Furthering her agenda, India has also launched two of her stooge American lawmakers to introduce a bill in the US House of Representatives designating Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism, on the plea that it was time the US stopped paying the country for its "betrayal". The 'Pakistan State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act (HR 6069)’ has been moved by Sen. Ted Poe (Republican) and Sen. Dana Rohrabacher (Democrat). Yes, India can lobby in the US. India has money and we all know how system works in the US. However, from India's investment only few congressmen and senators can be bought and this will produce no results as Pakistan is also immune to India’s wicked tactics now and play her cards well.

From covert to overt

ZAHID HUSSAIN 

The writer is an author and journalist.

THE decision by Brahamdagh Bugti to seek political asylum in India is ominous; it is a dangerous twist to rising regional tensions. The move comes at a time when India has stepped up its aggressive rhetoric indicating it will exploit Pakistan’s “vulnerabilities” in the troubled Balochistan province.

Brahamdagh and other Baloch separatist leaders have been living in exile in Europe for the past many years. His decision to move to India apparently came after the Swiss government rejected his request for asylum. Although there is nothing new about the Indian connection with the Baloch insurgency, the granting of asylum would in a way formalise New Delhi’s use of sub-conventional warfare to undermine the state of Pakistan.

Narendra Modi’s speech on India’s Independence Day vowing to raise the issue of ‘Pakistani atrocities in Balochistan’ in international forums highlighted his government’s policy of what is described as ‘offensive defence’. It is meant to be a tit-for-tat campaign against Pakistan’s ‘proxy war’ in Kashmir. The strategy is to press Pakistan’s fault lines to divert attention from the mass anti-India revolt in occupied Kashmir.

Brahamdagh, who leads the Balochistan Republican Party, one of the largest insurgent groups, fled the country after Gen Musharraf’s regime launched military operations against his grandfather Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. A former governor of the province and one of the most powerful tribal chieftains, he was killed in 2006 plunging the province into yet another round of bloody insurgency.

Brahamdagh’s decision to seek refuge in India has closed all doors for a political solution.

Unsurprisingly, Brahamdagh and other exiled Baloch insurgent leaders hailed Modi’s harangue. Open Indian support has given renewed impetus to those leaders who seemed to have lost a lot of ground in Balochistan. Interestingly, just months ago, Brahamdagh had shown his willingness to reach some kind of a negotiated political settlement with the Pakistani authorities.

In fact, last year, Brahamdagh even had talks with the then Balochistan chief minister Abdul Malik Baloch and federal minister Abdul Qadir Baloch in Geneva, raising hopes of his returning to the country and ending his nine-year exile. But it did not happen, as something went wrong somewhere. According to some reports, Brahamdagh sought guarantees, which the security establishment was unable to provide.

Now the situation seems to have reached a point of no return after he rejected any further negotiations with the authorities here. He is now demanding an internationally supervised referendum in the Baloch districts of the province to resolve the crisis. His decision to seek refuge in India has closed all doors for a political solution.

Our flawed policy of support to the Afghan Taliban insurgents has been a major source of tension with Kabul and our Western allies; it has been fully exploited by India to keep the Balochistan pot boiling. Increasingly hostile relations with Kabul have further complicated Pakistan’s predicament. For long, Islamabad had complained about the Baloch insurgents taking sanctuary across the border in Afghanistan and being actively supported by Indian intelligence agencies. Brahamdagh and other Baloch insurgent leaders also lived in Afghanistan for some years before moving to Geneva.

It is true that India has played a role in fanning the flames of insurgency in Balochistan, but we must also reflect on what has led to this situation. Balochistan had remained relatively quiet for almost two decades, after the end of the insurgency in 1980 until the return to civilian rule in 1988, which brought the Baloch nationalists into the political mainstream. What has exacerbated the situation, are our uneasy relations with another neighbour, Iran. Through our own folly, we have made our worst fears of opening up two fronts come true. Moreover, we still don’t seem to have any realisation about how the proxy war in which we have been involved has threatened our own national security.

Since Balochistan became part of Pakistan, Baloch nationalists have led five insurgencies — in 1948, 1958-59, 1962-63, 1973-77 and from 2005 to date — which was brutally suppressed by the state. Unlike the past, the educated middle-class youth, rather than tribal leaders, are leading the current separatist movement. The policy of killing and then dumping bodies of political activists had pushed increasing numbers of people, particularly among the young generation, into the fold of separatist groups.

Although their major demands relating to gas royalties and the allocation of federal resources remain to be fulfilled, democracy provided the Baloch population with at least a sense of political participation. But the killing of Akbar Bugti ended that relative calm. Instead of addressing the genuine grievances of the Baloch people, the military-led government resorted to force causing thousands of tribesmen to flee their homes.

An overwhelming majority of Baloch nationalists had rejected secession and struggled for autonomy within the framework of the Pakistani federation. But state repression blurred the division pushing many moderates to ally themselves with the radicals. The situation improved hugely after the nationalist parties decided to return to the democratic political process and participate in the 2013 elections. Though the turnout of voters in many areas remained low the elections came as a setback to the separatists. The formation of a coalition government led by Dr Abdul Malik Baloch brought some political stability. But powers have still not been fully transferred to the elected government.

The military seems to have contained the insurgency to some extent, but there is still a long way to go before the trust of the alienated population in the province can be restored. The conflict has even divided political families. While Akhtar Mengal is leading his party into the elections, his younger brother Javed Mengal has his loyalties with the insurgents.

Similarly, Changez Marri one of the brothers of Hyrbyair Marri, the leader of the Baloch Liberation Army, is a minister in the provincial government. Certainly, the government and the security agencies are confronted with huge challenges, but an uninterrupted democratic process is the only way to restore the confidence of the people of Balochistan in the federation. External forces can only fish in the troubled waters.

The writer is an author and journalist.

zhussain100@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2016

Surgical strikes post-Uri?

By Imtiaz Gul

The writer heads the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad and is author of Pakistan: Pivot of Hizbut Tahrir’s Global Caliphate

Within hours of the Uri attack, many Indians began drumming up the idea of surgical strikes into Pakistan. This chorus takes one back to the outrage that the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks had caused across India. Then, the tone and tenor that most Indians, including some of their best writers such C Raja Mohan, deployed was one of punishing lessons for Pakistan through surgical strikes.

And this forces me to recall a conversation I had with one senior military official. Then I had dismissed this as a typical propaganda against President Asif Ali Zardari. But the new situation prompts me to place this conversation on record, particularly because ex foreign minister Khursid Kasuri too narrated an encounter along the same lines.

One late evening in early December on that year, President Zardari summoned a meeting with prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani and the army chief General Ashfaq Kayani. The subject being the furious Indian mood.

At one point, the president threw a question at both Kayani and Gillani; “what if we allowed the Indians a few symbolic strikes at certain insignificant places. This could help in cooling down their rage,” the official had recounted.

A baffled General Kayani, the official said, looked at Gillani for his opinion.

“I think this could be counter-productive for us, politically unwise,” Gilani said.

Emboldened by this, Kayani finally spoke out; Mr President, how can we afford this politically. A single shot fired from across the border would amount to declaration of war and my own army officers, our people will lynch us if did not respond to it.

With this the meeting came to an abrupt end. Once in the car, the embittered army chief  called up the chief and asked him to scramble jets for a round-the-clock aerial patrol of the eastern border regions.

The near corroboration of this came last year from the former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri  who stated in his book “Neither A Hawk, Nor A Dove “ released last year. He says India had planned air strikes in Pakistan following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks to target Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaatud Dawa in Muridke near Lahore.

Kasuri’s source of information was a US Senators’ delegation led by John McCain and Lindsey Graham. They came to Lahore from India and had requested Kasuri for a quiet meeting. President Bush had sent the Senators to sniff the mood both in India and Pakistan.

Kasuri has offered a detailed account of that meeting in his book (Page 428-29).

Senator McCain wanted to know from me……… what the reaction of the Pakistan army and the public at large would be if there was a limited air-raid on Muridke, writes Kasuri, adding he was “horrified at the mere suggestion.”

The Senators, also accompanied by Richard Holbrook, the then special Pak-Afghan Envoy, later travelled on to Islamabad for meetings with the army chief and President Zardari.

The dialogue between Premier Gilani, General Kayani and President Zardari took place only a couple of  days after the Americans had left.

Records also suggest that shortly before the US Senator’s visit, India’s top military, political and intelligence leadership had in a secret meeting on December 2, 2008, mulled the aerial/surgical strikes against targets in Pakistan.

It means the notion of surgical strikes has been an active though – at least in the hawkish civil-military circles for quite some time, the way the US arrogated upon itself the right of preemptive aerial or drone strikes. This despite the fact that such attacks brazenly contravene

the international law. Carrying out such an attack based on mere allegations is not only totally unlawful also against the fundamental principle of national sovereignty of the target country. Even if there were evidence of some mischief, the only sanction for pursuing this mischief in another country is through the United Nations.

But geo-politics of course hardly cares for the international law or the UN approval. Iraq and even Afghanistan represent the telling examples of unilateral action by mighty nations. India’s current leadership also tends to ape the US when talking of Pakistan, often invoking phrases that we used to hear from President Bush, Richard Armitage and Condolezza Rice. Most US Congressmen, too, still peddle more or less the same skewed narrative on Pakistan – shaped mostly by the influence. And if this belligerence continues, normalisation of relations will remain elusive. The entire region is likely to suffer the consequences of this jingoism.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2016.

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5 years after 9/11, US terror threat now 'home-grown'

WASHINGTON: Fifteen years after the September 11 attacks, US anti-terror officials say the country is hardened against such well-developed plots but remains as vulnerable as ever to small and especially home-grown attacks.

Counter-terror operations are under huge pressure to ferret out and disrupt plots by sympathisers of the militant Islamic State (IS) group and Al Qaeda hidden by less centralised networks and new communications technologies, they say.

“Our job is getting harder,” said Nick Rasmussen, the powerful director of the National Counterterrorism Center, at a stock-taking this week in Washington.

The explosion of ways extremists can communicate with each other, many of them via popular smartphone apps and easy access to powerful encryption, “gives them the edge” against the US intelligence community, he said.

The 9/11 attacks gave birth to the US War On Terror, which initially focused on Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

But 15 years later, the target is a different group, IS, which has seized territory in Syria and Iraq and shown the ability to plan and inspire home-grown attacks in Europe and the United States, smaller-scale than 9/11 but nevertheless deadly and demoralising.

Meanwhile, Al Qaeda still exists without former leader Osama bin Laden, with affiliates, spinoffs and rivals of both groups operating from the Philippines to West Africa, posing a more complex threat.

“The reality is that it has metastasized” from the Iraq-Syria region, said Frank Cilluffo, director of the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University.

“The threat persists and is in some cases more complex.”

A series of surprise attacks have placed “HVEs” — homegrown violent extremist — as much in the focus of intelligence agencies as threats from abroad.

Among them, a 29-year-old American of Afghan descent believed to hold radical sympathies shot dead 49 people in an Orlando gay nightclub in June.

And in December, a US-born man and his wife, both with Pakistani roots, killed 14 at a Christmas party in San Bernardino, California.

The George Washington University Program on Extremism counts 102 people who have been charged in the United States with offenses related to IS, many of them lured online.

US intelligence is strained by the more than 1,000 cases of possible extremists it is following, Rasmussen said. Moreover, plots are now developed and carried out much more rapidly, and in smaller networks, making it much harder for counter-terror operations to discover them.

US officials say they are confident IS will be defeated on its Iraq-Syria turf eventually, but that that won't end the overall extremist threat.

A breakup of IS could send hundreds of sympathisers underground around the world, lying quietly in wait for years to build new networks and plot attacks, they said.

“The threat that I believe will dominate the next five years for the FBI will be the impact of the crushing of the caliphate,” or the IS group, said James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

That will release “hundreds of hardened killers” into the general population, many of them going north to hide in Europe, he predicted.

“We are facing this 'going dark' phenomenon where we cannot see these people,” he said.

The other big challenge, the officials said, is the weakness of European intelligence to identify and track threats, which they tied to still-weak cooperation between agencies in the different countries.

Rasmussen said that he had been more confident a decade ago in the ability of the US and other countries to work together in fighting terrorism.

Today, he said “I feel like we're pushing uphill,” and cooperation remains strongest on a bilateral basis.

The core fight is in ideology, officials also say, and the US has made little progress in combatting the propaganda that draws sympathisers to the IS group and Al Qaeda.

Real progress requires a longer-term strategy involving social media, said Michael Leiter of defence and intelligence contractor Leidos.

Only a little money is being given to people on the ground to fight radicalisation, he complained.

"There are no silver bullets here. Banning Muslims is not going to do it."

‘Surgical Strike’ can be India’s Choice but not a ‘Limited War’

 By Sohail Parwaz

There is a quick development in Indo-Pak relations during last few days, especially after the Uri attack drama. The events need a serious analysis which I shall be writing soon. However what plans they have now is the point I dare discuss here. I wrote a predictive fiction “The Cornered Rogue” back in 2012. While analysing many events of the past I drew fictional events. Among those Kulbhushun Yadev’s arrest, Indian attempts for a surgical strike, Cold Start doctrine’s trial and many other are mentioned.

What the Indians have the plan for now, as I read it is to have a face saving in front of their public whom Modi promised to teach Pakistan a lesson. Unfortunately his forces commanders have bluntly warned him against any misadventure and not to take Pakistan lightly. I am quoting few excerpts from the chapter seven of my book where the readers may find the Indian Air Force having a temporary victory. However, it is for certain reasons; to qualify that the Indians were and they are aggressors, they raided the field hospitals in Muzaffarabad which were raised for the survivors of 2005 earthquake and the attack was unannounced. Rest assured that it was to make the things look natural. A good soldier never under estimates his rivals. When my book was published our pride JF-17 Thunder was under trial hence the Indians had a slight edge over the PAF, so keep that in mind but reading the complete novel will make the things clear.

Here I quote those interesting paragraphs:

“In the wee hours of a morning of March 2012 in Kashmir on Pakistan side, the dawn was still a little far off. Mostly the people in Pakistan, India and Kashmir on either side of the LOC (Line of Control) were still asleep or the Muslims mostly were preparing for their Fajr Namaz at that time. A flight each of SU-30s and Jaguars were preparing to take off from Srinagar airbase of the Western Air Command. Though the winters were gradually departing yet it was quite a chilly morning at a base situated 5458 feet ASL. The crew was silently but actively arming all the aircrafts. The two SU-30s, armed with BVR missiles were supposed to take off first and to act as the fighter sweeps. They were to enter the Pakistani airspace, challenge air defence elements of PAF19 if any and to shoot them down due to their sophisticated weaponry. The four Jaguars were to follow for the strike and finding no opposition, were to hit the target, alleged terrorists camp where according to the Indians the culprits of November 2008 Mumbai and February 2012 Delhi carnage were trained.

The aircrafts started roaring and soon they were airborne. Maintaining a strict radio silence as the sweep aircraft neared the LOC, their airborne intercept radars started painting the hostile birds on the other side of the LOC. Not that they were not expecting a welcome but this sudden switchover from the mock combats to the sphere of true combat backdrop made them sweat under their oxygen masks. The sweep leader as briefed designated the lead element of what appeared as a two ship CAP20 while his number two took the other one; they waited for the range to reduce so that they could unleash their deadly BVR missiles. At the same time, stress made their breathing heavy, as now they could feel the sweat trickling down their foreheads. They were praying for an end to this as soon as possible. The thought, that the weapon system akin to theirs was not possessed by the challengers thus lacking the first shoot capability, brought them little relief. The leader was thinking of launching the missiles before his targets could get the wind of their presence. He decided to initiate a defensive maneuver, known as ‘Beam and Drag. ‘This would complicate their task and who knows Pakistanis might turn the tables on them. As the leader was gripped by his thoughts he suddenly noticed that his formation was only a mile short of the gory LOC, for they were flying at250 feet above terrain to dodge the low air defence radars. He knew he would be in a position to launch his missiles shortly. Just then his worst fears turned out to be a reality as he saw the antagonists turning left and executing a beam. Damn! This meant that the Sukhois would have to ingress further inside hostile territory to claim the lives of their alert enemy, he thought to himself. Meanwhile the strike package entered from a southern entry point for their intended target.

The sweep leader instructed his number two to punch the extra fuel tanks, a certain liability in event of a dogfight. He knew that the surprise was ruined and now either they had to make a short work of the CAP and give an all clear signal to the waiting strike package or suffer the humiliation of being bounced off by an inferior gladiator. The leader instructed the formation to hit the after burners and attain maximum permissible speeds. With this done his plane started talking, gaining precious speed and the distance between the combaters reduced further. He now closed on to the adversaries, before he could launch his weapon he saw the enemy CAP executing a drag maneuver. The leader bellowed out of frustration. He knew he was up against a determined and skilful pair, any further pursuit would mean pushing his luck. He decided to let it go, called for his wingman to start an extrication maneuver. They turned hard right and hit the deck to press home while looking at his GPS which showed their position to be 25 miles inside hostile territory. As he was looking inside his cockpit for navigational cues he heard his wingman reporting a chasing rival bird. The leader looked for a threat in his RWR and was scared to see that radar was painting them from real close, hence they had no option except to order a defensive turn to pick tally with two F-7Ps of PAF in their hind quarters. He turned effortlessly as his Sukhoi had superior thrust to weight, allowed extreme maneuvering and launched his AA-11 archer IR missile against one of the two adversaries who looked to be in a menacing position to launch his inferior sidewinder missile which required the shooter to be in a tight cone behind enemy to score a kill. Soon he could witness his missile impacting the enemy and thanked his stars and the government for endowing him with a cut above technology to maintain supremacy in air. During the punch-up he lost sight of his number two, before he could call him he saw a blazing streak in the air and then heard his number two’s voice over radio confirming the dispatch of the second CAP aircraft. They took a sigh of relief for not only surviving a closes have but also achieving their primary task of facilitating the strike package. The Jaguars meanwhile reached their target, one by one expended their payload and turned back for their base. The result of Indian aircrafts ‘surgical strike ‘was an outcome of the itch they had since November 2008Mumbai attack and then February Massacre of 2012. The victory brought a faint smile on the leader’s face.

In no time the news about Indians surgical strike against a ‘Militants’ Camp’ near Muzaffarabad emerged as breaking news on dozens of news channels around the world while the Pakistani channels were showing the live coverage of the site, a totally destroyed set up in the environ of Muzaffarabad, the Pakistani part of Kashmir. Since Kashmir is a disputed land ever since 1948, crossing over to both parts by the Kashmiris is a very common practice, hence establishing of the camps by the freedom fighters on either side of the Line of Control was also not a strange practice. It was the Indian forces’ atrocities on their side of the Kashmir that compelled the militants to crossover to Pakistan side of Kashmir make the training camps and send the guerrillas across for countering the Indian military actions. A handsome number of people present in the camp were killed in this air raid while hundreds of them were wounded. The global analysts were asserting it as result of some sheer grudge nurturing in the Indian hearts since the Mumbai and Delhi episodes. General Muhammad Khalid met the Prime Minister immediately. It wasn’t a small event. The adventure could have escalated into a full fledge war as the strike by the Indian air force was sudden and reckless. Makhdoom talked to the Indian PM on hotline immediately after his meeting with the Army Chief. He gave his unambiguous and explicit mind to his counterpart. Just before noon the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad was also summoned by the foreign office and a strong worded formal protest was handed over to him. There was an abnormal diplomatic movement in Islamabad, where the seasoned diplomats and the ambassadors from the European Union and some Middle East countries were running to and fro to calm down the Pakistanis. The Americans and the Chinese were also quite disturbed over it. Since morning they were shuttling between the PM secretariat, GHQ and some embassies while in Delhi notable diplomatic activities were taking place. Amidst this, Americans were trying to appease the enraged Pakistanis while advising the Indians to refrain from provoking the former. On the other hand, Chinese in very plain and bitter words warned the Indians to face the consequences in case if they ever thought of any such adventure in future. Most of the Indians took it as a successful revenge; however a notable number of Indian intellectuals, columnists, analysts and representatives of the civil society were perturbed over the killing of innocents. They strongly condemned and criticised this indefensible surgical strike. They called this a mindless and inexcusable adventure! According to them the Indian high ups had asked for trouble.”

I may be sharing few other interesting chapters in the coming days corroborating to the developing situation in the Subcontinent. Although I have shared what the desperate Indians have in their minds to do but one shouldn’t forget what the Indian forces’ chiefs have suggested to their extremist prime minister. Their advice was, “This is not the Pakistan of 1971”. The Indians can be fool enough to go for some face saving surgical strikes but only if someone assures them that Pakistan will keep the war limited and unfortunately no one is ready to extend that surety to them because that would be purely Pakistan’s prerogative.

India You Need to Do Better This Time

Ishaal Zehra

India is making desperate efforts to deflect the international attention from situation in Occupied Kashmir. The attack in Uri sector (Indian occupied Kashmir) and its aftermath is the same old “play victim card” drama by India. Even what is more interesting is that despite Indian army Intel and security failures leading to the death of 17 soldiers, Indians are absolute certain about attackers origin? Not over-reacting, but after every terror incident in India, everyone knows what is coming next. The Indian accusations against Pakistan have become as cliched as Bollywood scripts. It’s easy to put a blame on Pakistan and its army but history is evident they could never prove it with concrete evidence. I mean, come on “toothpaste” cannot be an evidence for indicting a sovereign and a responsible nuclear state in act of terrorism.

Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, today at UNGA called upon the permanent members of the Security Council to fulfill their responsibility with regard to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which is one of the oldest internationally recognized unresolved disputes on the agenda of the UN Security Council. The fact is that despite the passage of more than 68 years since the adoption of multiple resolutions, the people of Jammu and Kashmir still await their implementation which promised them the right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices.

In the backdrop of PM Sharif’s meetings with the world leaders on resolution of Kashmir issue, the OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani, while chairing a meeting of OIC contact group on Kashmir on the sidelines of the 71st session of UN General Assembly in New York, has expressed deep concern over the grave situation in the occupied Kashmir and called for an immediate cessation of Indian oppression and atrocities. The OIC was founded in 1969 is a 57-member organisation which traditionally supports the right of self determination.

Official sources however said that they have noted the strong support which Turkey and Azerbaijan extended to Pakistan during the meet that called for “cessation of violence” in Kashmir. The Foreign Minister of Turkey emphasized the urgency of resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, especially in the wake of the recent events while the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan stated that OIC should think of innovative means to highlight the human rights violations happening in the Indian occupied Kashmir.

Expressing their solidarity with the Kashmiri people, the OIC group reaffirmed their resolve to remain the voice of the Kashmiris' at the international stage. Indian law-enforcement officials are long guilty of extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and enforced disappearances in Indian occupied Kashmir. The Pakistani PM at UNGA called upon the international community and the UN to live up to their promise of the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people. The fact remains that the non resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is a constant source of tension and instability in the region and a threat to international peace and security. Pakistan is committed to peacefully resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council. India should honour its human rights obligations as well as its commitments to the Kashmiri people.

Obviously India would have never allowed Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir go uncontested at the UN, and she did what she had to. The Uri attack was so timely planned and the after act drama was so strongly put up by the Indian media that it overshadowed the legitimate issue of plight of Kashmiris at Indian hands. Furthering her agenda, India has also launched two of her stooge American lawmakers to introduce a bill in the US House of Representatives designating Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism, on the plea that it was time the US stopped paying the country for its "betrayal". The 'Pakistan State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act (HR 6069)’ has been moved by (Republican) Ted Poe and (Democrat) Dana Rohrabacher. Yes, India can lobby in the US. India has money and we all know how system works in the US. However, from India's investment only few congressmen and senators can be bought and this will produce no results as Pakistan is also immune to India’s wicked tactics now and play her cards well.

Uri Attack: Tailored Terrorism

Sarah Khan

On 18 September 2016, Indian coward and shrewd agency RAW stage managed an attack against its own Brigade Headquarters in Uri Town of Baramulla district of Kashmir, a territory that it has been unreasonably occupying for decades. The timing of the occurrence has raised many questions about perpetrators of the attack as it came ahead of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s address to the United Nations General Assembly’s 71^st session. During the address, PM raised the issue of Kashmir and ongoing brutality of Indian forces in occupied territory which goes unchecked since ten weeks resulting in hundreds of casualties.  

India, habitual of wrongly alleging Pakistan of every terror attack on its soil, has revisited its pigheaded attitude with the latest attack on Brigade Headquarters in Uri. As usual, Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, held Pakistan responsible for the attack in his statement. It should be noted here that no investigations have been done so far and no committee formed to probe the incident.

Similar was the case of the terror attack executed in January this year at Pathankot airbase in Indian Punjab near the border after which Narendra Modi-led administration leveled allegations against Pakistan without any substantial evidence. Responding to unfounded allegations, Foreign Office has declared the allegations a part of anti-Pakistan propaganda that India has been following ever since independence. Director General Military Operations of Pakistan also contacted his Indian counterpart through hotline and rejected the unjustified allegations. Meanwhile, Inter-Service Public Relations of Pakistan military has stated that infiltration was impossible across the border owing to tight security on both the sides of Line of Control as well as the Working Boundary.

Indian brutal use of force against innocent civilians of Kashmir enhanced in the recent days remains unchecked after lapse of almost ten weeks. The UN and so called champions of World’s peace so far remain lip locked over Indian atrocities in Kashmir. Nearly 100 Kashmiris have been martyred while at least 700 have lost their eyesight to use of pellet guns by Indian troops in the series of latest curfews one of which lasted for at least 74 days. Pakistan has several times urged UN and international community to play their part in cessation of Indian brutalities in Kashmir. The issue has been raised this time again in 71^st session of UNGA by Pakistani delegation headed by Prime Minister. Pakistan has also conveyed its concerns over Indian state terrorism in Kashmir during bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State and British Prime Minister.

Despite Indian coward attempt of tailored terrorism in Uri, Pakistani delegates in UN have forcefully urged US and international community to address Indian state terrorism in Kashmir and play an effective role in cessation of use of force against innocent Kashmiri civilians. Now its high time for so called champions of peace and democracy i.e. UN and US to seriously address and check ever growing Indian brutalities in Kashmir and play its role in peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue by giving right of self determination to Kashmiris as per UN resolutions.