Author: Samuel Baid
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: April 30, 2004
URL: http://www.samachar.com/features/300404-features.html
The focus of debates on Kashmir
at the annual meetings of United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva
(UNCHR) has certainly changed over the past about 10 years. Ten years ago
the Commission heard mainly what the Pakistan funded non-government organizations
(NGOs) had to parrot about the right of self-determination of Kashmiris
in the part of Kashmir that is on the Indian side of the Line of Control
(LOC) and India's alleged violations of human rights.
One remembers the furore the Prime
Minister of Pakistan kicked off in March 1994 when she moved a resolution
on alleged violations of human rights in Kashmir. Ms. Bhutto had hoped
that at least Muslim countries would support this resolution. Pakistan
had to withdraw it because no support came from the Muslim countries. This
was a serious setback to Pakistan's diplomacy. But worse was the fact that
since Pakistan was not willing to stop trans-LoC terrorism, it began to
lose its credibility in the world community specially after the killing
of some tourists in Kashmir in 1995 by Al Faran, which was really Pak-based
Harkatul Ansar. The report of these killings came when the Sub-Commission
of the UNCHR was in session in Geneva. The delegates were shocked. Some
of them very vehemently spoke against demand, such as the right of self-
determination when national boundaries had already been settled.
There were a number of young who
had run away from occupied Kashmir. They also attended the session but
were too afraid to tell the UNCHR about inhuman conditions in their part
of Kashmir. They whispered to this writer that Kashmiris in "Azad" Kashmir
and Gilgit and Baltistan were treated as serfs by Pakistan. Gilgit and
Baltistan are parts of that region in occupied Kashmir, which Pakistan
calls its Northern Areas but is not willing to give the locals any constitutional
identity and civil rights. Any body protesting against this treatment would
be called an Indian agent and then he would disappear, they said. They
were not exaggerating. A Belgian human rights activist Ms. Claire Galez
who had visited "Azad" Kashmir with the permission of Sardar Abdul Qayyum,
had shocked delegates (in 1994) by her tales of human rights violations
in "Azad" Kashmir. She told this writer that she had been threatened of
dire consequences by some Pakistani supporters after she spoke out the
truth before the delegates.
But Kashmiris from occupied Kashmir
have taken some time to pluck courage and rubbish Pakistan's demand for
self-determination for them. At the 60th session of the UNCHR, which started
on March 15 and finished on April 23, 2004, the Commission heard a number
of representations from Kashmiris from occupied Kashmir. In his intervention
on behalf of European Union of Public Relations, Mumtaz Khan said the demand
for the right of self-determination for Kashmiris was hypocritical because
Pakistan, through its imposed constitution of 1974, has already provided
for pre-determination in favour of Pakistan. The said constitution says:
"No person or political party in Azad Kashmir shall be permitted to propagate
against, or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to, the
ideology of the State'' accession to Pakistan." He requested the Commission
to examine the human rights situation in "Azad" Kashmir and Gilgit and
Baltistan. The Secretary General of International Kashmir Alliance (IKA)
Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmir, who also intervened on behalf of the European
Union of Public Relations gave details of human rights violations in occupied
Kashmir where 4.2 million people lived in subjugation. He made the following
points :
a) In these inaccessible areas,
away from the gaze of the international community, the security forces
and intelligence agencies of Pakistan continue to violate the locals' human
rights.
b) The people of occupied Kashmir
are deliberately kept in illiteracy, ignorance, poverty and backwardness.
These problems have been compounded by the infiltration of jehadi outfits
by Pakistan. The students who go out to Pakistani cities for education
get no job when they come back.
c) Despite so-called elections in
"Azad" Kashmir, it is the Chief Secretary and Inspector General of Police
who are the defacto rulers.
d) Political workers are constantly
persecuted.
e) There is no economic development.
f) No proper educational facilities.
g) The construction of the Mangla
Dam rendered 100,000 people homeless. They have not yet been given any
compensation. The state is denied royalty from this Dam.
h) The people of occupied Kashmir
are forced to only listen to Pakistani propaganda on its official radio
and TV.
i) The ISI has made Gilgit and Baltistan
a safe haven for international terrorists. Speaking for Afro-Asian Peoples'
solidarity organization (AAPSO), Amir Shah said "Religious discrimination
has been sought to be institutionalised by manipulating the school syllabus
and deleting all references to the Shia tradition. Students protesting
against the imposition of this biased syllabus have been beaten up and
jailed."
Gul Nawaz Khan who spoke on behalf
of the Interfaith International related stories of atrocities on the population
in Gilgit and Baltistan alleged that the Sunni majority in Pakistan had
tried to "sunnise" education through its Ministry of Kashmir Affairs.
Human rights activists such as Haider
Shah Rizvi and Basharat Shafi of Balwaristan National Front (BNF) have
remained detained for more than one year on fabricated charges of sedition.
Other prominent leaders such as Nawaz Khan Naji of Balwaristan National
Front, Ghazi Anwar Khan of the Karakoram National Movement and Shafqat
Ali Inqalabi of the Karakoram Students Organisation have also been subjected
to intimidation and harassment and attempts made on their lives by Pakistani
agencies. Similar views were expressed by Dr. Shabir Choudhry, spokesman
of the International Kashmir Alliance and chairman of Diplomatic Committee,
JKLF, UK and Europe who had recently visited Gilgit and Baltistan. The
"Azad" Kashmir High Court in 1993 had ordered that Northern Areas be reverted
to "Azad" Kashmir as they were not part of Pakistan.
This view was upheld by the Supreme
Court of Pakistan in May 1999. These judgments also called upon Pakistan
to ensure that people of Northern Areas enjoy their fundamental rights,
including right to be governed by their chosen representatives. But so
far Pakistan has not shown any inclination to obey these orders.
