British Foreign Office concerned for human rights situation in Kashmir

OIC calls on India to allow Kashmiri participation

TEHRAN - 8th December, 1997

The Organisation of Islamic Conference Contact Group on Kashmir on Sunday called upon the Indian government to allow the Kashmiri leaders to participate in the 55 member OIC Summit which is starting tomorrow.

The appeal was made by the Chairman of Contact Group and the Secretary-General of OIC in wake of the reports that India barred Mir Waiz Umar Farooq, Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC) and other Kashmiri leaders to attend the Tehran moot. The Indian authorities, on Friday, stopped a top level delegation of Kashmirs' pro-independence APHC from boarding an airplane bound for Tehran.

"The invitation to the Kashmiri leadership to attend the Summit had been issued by the Secretary-General in accordance with the provisions of the OIC Summit and ministerial resolutions," the Contact Group recalled when it met at the ministerial level here. The Kashmiri delegation consisting of Umar Farooq, Molvi Abass Ansari and Aga Syed Hassan Al-Musavi were to address the 8th OIC summit on the plight of the Kashmiris.

The three member team from Kashmir was detained by the Indian authorities at the Indra Gandhi International Airport for about 4 hours and then told to return home when they had complied with all formalities and regulations and had earlier

obtained visas from the Iranian Embassy in Delhi. The APHC has been attending the OIC summits since 1994 when it was given observers status at the 7th summit in Casablanca, Morocco.

Earlier last month, the Indian authorities in Kashmir arrested and put behind bars the entire leadership of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) - a leading component of the APHC. The UK chapter of the JKLF had brought this to the notice of the OIC secretary general, Azzedin Laraki, in Jeddah and had forewarned that the Indian government was planning not to allow Kashmiris to attend the Tehran Conference at any cost. It has since transpired that neither OIC Secretariat nor any of the member countries took timely notice of the seriousness of the situation.

Meanwhile Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has confirmed that he will raise the Kashmir Issue and discuss the volatile situation in Afghanistan, despite India's opposition on the former issue. "The Kashmir dispute and the Afghan crisis were two significant ones that needed to be addressed urgently by the OIC", a Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman was quoted as saying.

The Conference delegates are likely to take up 141 draft resolutions during the three-day summit in Tehran including Kashmir but New Delhi last night reacted strongly to the proposed discussion on Kashmir by the OIC and said that it was a "regrettable step". Ends

Violence erupts in Kashmir valley as leaders are arrested

SRINAGAR, 26 October 1997

Officials in Indian-held Kashmir said yesterday that three Indian soldiers have been killed in two separate incidents involving Kashmiri freedom-fighters in the Baramulla district, north of Srinagar.

Two of the soldiers were killed when shooting broke out during a search operation of a remote village, they claimed. Locals deny the story and say that no one was killed but a number of villagers were arrested by the troops. The third soldier is alleged to have been killed in another village by an explosion, which also critically injured a passing pedestrian.

In another unconfirmed report from the Anantnag district, south of the capital Srinagar, unidentified gunmen kidnapped and killed an employee of a local newspaper.

Meanwhile, there is no further news on the release of detained JKLF and APHC leaders. Two of JKLF's top activists Ghulam Rasool Dar and advocate Bashir Butt, were re-arrest last week by the STF during a raid on their residence. Family members of Mr Dar claim that he was severely beaton up. This is his fourth arrest this year. He was hospitalized after his last detention when he received injuries to his hands and legs. Mr Bashir Butt was also held in custody without any charge for several weeks earlier this year and only released at the intervention of the Amnesty International.

APHC leader, Abdul Gani Lone and Shakil Bakshi were also arrest on Friday during their routine visit to Jamia Mosque in Srinagar.

Over fifty thousand Kashmiris have been killed by Indian armed forces since the JKLF lead rebellion took place in 1988. Thousands of Kashmiri young men, women and children have been imprisoned since then and many are unaccounted for. Ends

JKLF LONDON PROTEST AGAINST APHC LEADERS' ARRESTS

Friday, November 21, 1997

LONDON

Members of the UK-Europe chapter of the pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) held massive pickets at the Indian High Commission in London on Friday to protest against the recent arrest of the APHC and JKLF leaders and their subsequent imprisonment since 4th November.

Kashmiri demonstrators gathered from London, Luton, Watford, Birmingham, Bradford, Accrington and Nelson , displaying banners and posters of JKLF martyrs Maqbool Butt, Ishfaq Wani and Hameed Shiekh Shaeed shouted anti-India and pro-independence slogans for 3 hours and demanded that all foreign troops should be withdrawn from the Jammu-Kashmir territory immediately. They condemned the excesses by armed forces and paid tributes to those struggling for the freedom of their motherland.

JKLF and the Human rights activists in London have taken up the issue of recent arrests and harassment with International human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and have drawn the attention of certain members of British Parliament to the plight of Kashmiri prisoners in Srinagar and in Delhi. An Indian workers association known as South Asia Solidarity Group also held a similar picket at the Indian mission on Wedneday to coincide with the Champa-the Amiya and B.G. Rao Foundation protests in Delhi against the resurgent state repression in Kashmir.

The UK-Europe secretary general, Azmat A Khan, has also written to the British foreign secretary, Robin Cook drawing his attention to the reports of raids on Kashmiris leaders houses in Srinagar and about the increasing violations of human rights in the country, which, he claimed had gone on the increase since the British foreign secretary's latest visit to India. END

Champa Foundation protest against repression in Kashmir

JKLF AND APHC LEADERS DETAINED IN SRINAGAR

PROTEST STRIKE IN SRINAGAR BRINGS LIFE TO HALT

KASHMIRIS PROTEST AT COMMONWEALTH SUMMIT

UN SECURITY COUNCIL SEEKS KASHMIR RESOLUTION

Wednesday, October 08, 1997 , JKLF News Service

Unnerved by the outcry in some sections of the Indian media against the most recent remarks by Britains Minister of State for India/Pakistan, Derek Fatchett, the British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who is on tour of Pakistan and then India has told journalists in Islamabad that he will take up the kashmir issue with Indian official next week as Britain has a "responsibility to help resolve this dispute". He has said that it (Kashmir) will be on the top of the agenda for talks with Pakistani leaders foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today.

Mr Cook has said that he was to deliver a message from the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the meeting with the Indian leaders would be in the light of his talks with the Pakistani leaders.

The British foreign secretary has reiterated that his government recognised Kashmir as "an international issue'' and was "ready to play its role for its resolution''.

"Labour party wishes to solve this problem according to the aspirations of the people of Kashmir and therefore the two parties (India and Pakistan) should accept her (British) role in this regard'', Cook was quoted.

JKLF's Azmat A Khan, who met with the foreign office minister Mr Fatchett, last month in his Leeds constituency office, has welcomed Mr Cooks comments which he said "has an important message for India and Pakistan". He said that Indian leaders who are against international mediation on Kashmir are simply displaying the old colonial attitudes but are not willing to learn the lessons from colonial powers.

Meanwhile, in her address to the joint session of Pakistan's Parliament, the Queen who is accompanied by the British foreign secretary has said that the two nations should reconcile after fifty years of conflict. "Reconciliation will take time but the effort must be made. I am convinced it will be worthwhile for the more than one billion inhabitants of the two countries", She said.

Her Majesty, The Queen said that the commitment of both the countries to solve contentious issues through dialogue brought pleasure to the friends of India and Pakistan. She said the economies flourished in a climate of regional cooperation and pointed out that contacts between nations in Europe, North America and South Asia had boosted the prosperity. Queen was of the view that India and Pakistan had a leading role to play in making this vision a reality. "It is surely right, on the 50th anniversary of independence of both countries, to take stock and renew efforts to end historic disagreements. Britain as a friend to both these countries can only urge them for a new spirit of openness and understanding and dedication to peaceful solutions", she said. Ends

50^th anniversary of Azad Kashmir

4 October, 1997 Rawalakot:

As Kashmiris commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first rebel government formed in the then liberated areas of Jammu Kashmir, termed as 'Azad Kashmir', a faction of the pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in Azad-Kashmir (POK) has called upon the pro-independence nationalist groups to join ranks and fight for the common objective of national independence, on this occasion.

October 4^th marks the founding of an historic Provisional People's Republic of J&K - setup by the J & K Muslim Conference headed by Ghulam Nabi Gilkar - which later lost control to pro-Pakistan elements as it was re-constituted on October 24th 1947 and ended up with gradual loss of all self-assumed powers to the government of Pakistan except for the retention of the present day title 'Government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir'. Special sessions are being held all over Azad Kashmir to discuss the loss and gain over the fifty year period since the autocratic Maharaja was deposed. Liberation Front (Rauf faction), which broke ranks with Amanullah several years ago, has invited Kashmiri nationalist and pro-independence activists from all parts of this region to a round-table meeting in Rawalpindi on 4th October, to discuss future strategy and to highlight the plight of the Azad-Kashmir population which awaits the day of deliverance ever since the breakdown in J & K Muslim Conference ranks which lead to internal turmoil and loss of political power.

A spokesman of this group has criticised a recent announcement from another group to commemorate October 24th as 'independence day' for Kashmir and said that this date has no significance in the liberation movement except for the fact that pro-Pakistan element denounced the original 4th October set-up re-organised new government set-up which has played has played a subservient role ever since. The spokesman is quoted as saying that "the intentions behind marking October 24th as independence day by a particularly disgruntled and isolated element is either to sabotage the proposed 'human-chain' program against India or to create confusion amongst the pro-independence supporters in Azad Kashmir who have never taken part in the October 24 celebrations in the past and had always marked the 4th October with respect". The chairman of this group, Sardar Rauf Khan (alias Rauf Kashmiri), along with Mr Hashim Qureshi, helped setup the JKLF in Azad Kashmir in the early 1980s was imprisoned by India in 1990 and is currently held in a Jammu jail along with a number of other former JKLF members.

Similar discussion meetings of various pro-independence groups are taking place in Srinagar, Karachi, Bradford, New York and Belgium. ENDS

Kashmiri lawyer abducted by Indian agencies

Kashmiri APHC hold successful Jammu Convention

Monday, September 22, 1997, JKLF News Service

Kashmir's major pro-freedom platform the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a conglomeration of 24 political, social and religius organisations, has held its first regional convention on Sunday in Kathua, a border town in Jammu and has vowed to bring together Dogras of Jammu, the Kashmiri Pandits and Buddhists of Ladakh into mainstream movement to achieve their national objective.

The convention was held under the chairmanship of Mr Karan Singh not Dr Karan Singh) who is also the head of APHC for Jammu region and a political activist of the People's Conference. The Hurriyat Conference, earlier this year, formed its Jammu branch which is now run by local Hindus and Sikhs supportive of the independence movement.

Senior APHC executive member Yasin Malik, speaking at the convention said that "the Hurriyat would take all people, irrespective of caste, creed or religion in its fold". Seeking to give a new orientation to the movement, Mr Malik who is also the chairman of the pro-independence JKLF clarified that the Hurriyat was not fighting for an objective on communal lines as was being 'projected by certain vested interests'.

"We are fighting for the people of Jammu, Ladakh, Kashmir, AK, Gilgit and other parts of our motherland" , he said and made it clear that Hurriyat stood for the right of self-determination for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing the convention, leader of the People's Conference, Abdul Ghani Lone, said that the bilateral talks between India and Pakistan were of no use unless the representatives from Jammu and Kashmir were involved in the discussions. " Talks are futile, whether they are held at secretary level or prime ministers' level if the Kashmiris were kept away'', Lone said.

Referring to the meeting between Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers in Washington, it was suggested the meeting was a result of 'pressure tactics' by the United States and that the had less interest in Kashmir crisis and more in its global agenda which included economic interests.

The APHC leaders made it clear that it was in both Indian and Pakistani interest to refer the matter to the Kashmiri people than to seek a solution through the American channel which may have long term implications for all of us in the region.

Speaker after speaker, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims alike, condemned the Indian attitude towards the Kashmiri plight and saluted all those who had laid down their lives for the cause and called for withdrawal of armed forces from all parts of Jammu Kashmir. ENDS

Kashmir separatists say India, Pakistan "colonial''

Jun 26, 1997, By Sheikh Mushtaq

SRINAGAR, India, June 26 (Reuter) - A leading Kashmiri separatist alliance on Thursday criticised talks between rivals India and Pakistan and accused them of taking ``a colonial attitude'' towards the region they dispute.

The outburst stemmed from a decision by the two nations to hold discussions on various issues, including Kashmir, without inviting the Kashmiri representatives to the talks.

"This is a colonial attitude of both the countries towards Kashmir that they want to decide the fate of the Kashmiris in our absence,'' Abdul Gani Lone, a senior leader of All Parties' Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, told reporters in Srinagar, summer capital of the Jammu and Kashmir state.

The Hurriyat is an umbrella organisation that bands nearly 30 leading political and religious groups in Jammu and Kashmir, mainly Hindu India's only Moslem majority province.

India and Pakistan on Monday announced an agenda for peace talks that includes their dispute on Kashmir, over which the two nations have fought two wars since independence from Britain in 1947. India controls two-thirds of Kashmir and Pakistan the rest. Pakistan denies Indian charges that it arms separatists, but says it provides moral and diplomatic support.

Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif have pledged to improve ties between the two neighbours.

"We have not sacrificed our lives for the friendship of some Inder Kumar Gujral and for some Nawaz Sharif. We have not offered the sacrifice of more than 50,000 Kashmiris for building good relations between India and Pakistan,'' Lone said. ``We are just fighting for freedom,'' he said. Police and hospital sources say more than 20,000 people have been killed since 1990 when simmering discontent erupted into a full-blown separatist rebellion by guerrillas seeking independence or merger with Pakistan. Separatists say the casualties are far higher. Lone accused the Indian government of harassing Hurriyat leaders.

"Last night Indian security forces raided several houses of Hurriyat leaders and supporters and harassed them. Yasin Malik's house was raided and his sisters and mother were beaten up by the police,'' Lone said. But a police spokesman denied the charge. ``These allegations are false, we have not raided any Hurriyat leader's house,'' the spokesman said.

Malik is a leader of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), one of Hurriyat's constituents. ^REUTER@