From: Habib Yousafzai <habibyousafzai@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 1:01 AM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Kashmir civil society seeks Obama's intervention
Srinagar, Nov 4: Accusing India of adopting a military approach to crush the inalienable right to self-determination of Kashmiris, the civil society of Kashmir led by noted human rights defender and co-conveyor of the International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir, Dr Angana Chatterji on Thursday sought the intervention of the US president Barrack Obama and international community to put an end to human rights violations in the Valley and pave way for resolution of the dispute. Kashmir civil society seeks Obama's intervention
ARIF SHAFI WANI
The civil society sent a memorandum 'Present realities, transitions and resolution in Kashmir' to Obama and humanitarian organizations urging them to initiate international and transparent investigations into the killings torture and unknown and mass graves which it said are constitutive of crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the military, paramilitary and police in the Valley.
"On the eve of US president Barrack Obama's visit to India, we want to assert that Indian state has implemented a deceptive peace plan without recognizing the dispute or taking consent or active participation of Kashmiri people, formulated resolution without reckoning loss and designated post conflict status without halting military rule in Kashmir," Dr Angana Chatterji, who was flanked by members of the Kashmir's civil society, told a news conference here.
Dr Angana who is also the Professor Social and Cultural Anthropology California Institute of Integral Studies said the US should act responsibly in seeking access to India's markets and attempting to repose their role in Afghanistan. "We ask that Obama should bring up Kashmir is his discussion with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The United States should not compromise on the rights of Kashmiri people or regional peace and security concern in south Asia which act as deterrents to resolution of past partitions and current conflicts," she said.
Impressing upon India to end hostilities on Kashmiris, Dr Angana said it is high time to formally recognize the right of Kashmiris to determine their future. "In an attempt to convince the global community of its ability to practice power responsibly, the Indian state must practice accountability and atonement with respect to Kashmir. The negligence, indifference and callousness that has delayed the resolution of Kashmir continues to have serious repercussions on the day to day lives of Kashmiris. It has deferred their hope and prosperity as well as entitlements to rights, liberties and freedoms that are universally recognized as inalienable," she said.
On the ongoing movement in the Kashmir, she said, "Protests are indicative of civilian sentiments and responses to the sustained confinement of civil society by the India military and paramilitary forces since 1989 and attendant cycles of violence and the suppression of local demand for the right to self-determination since 1947."
She said though the Government of India recently called for creative solution to resolve the Kashmir problem. "However if we map the events inside the Kashmir, the approach of the Indian state has been and continues to be neo-imperial and aggressively militaristic. India deems (its part of) administered Kashmir to be an internal matter thus refusing transparency, international scrutiny and adherence to humanitarian laws of conflict and war. Besides the civil society in Kashmir remains under the authority of the hostile Army whose reach and power has been established and can be exercised," she said.
She said before the final resolution, India must enforce certain minimum pre-conditions to enable transitional and transformative processes of justice with relevant international oversight. This she said would lead to defining and implementing mechanisms of accountability, reckoning and reparation and resolution.
"We ask India to respect the civil society and civil disobedience processes in Kashmir undertaken by diverse Kashmiri groups and people in preparation to move forward," she said.
Urging the international community including civil society and Governments of the European Union, Organization of Islamic Conference and China to support the Kashmir's for implementation of UN resolutions on it.
She said in order to ensure interim conditions that are facilitative of non-violent conflict resolution and enable ethical civil society participation, the Government of India and Jammu and Kashmir respectively besides the military, paramilitary and police be held accountable to a minimum agenda in Kashmir.
In the memorandum which has been endorsed by the civil society of Kashmir, she has urged the international leadership and global civil society to impress upon India to immediately halt extra-judicial killings, torture, kidnappings, enforced disappearances in Kashmir being perpetuated by the troopers and police.
The memorandum demands agreement to non-interference in exercise of civil liberties in Kashmir, including the right to civil disobedience and freedom of speech, movement, travel, assembly and religion, release of political prisoners, proactive demilitarization, revocation of authoritarian laws, establishment of protective mechanisms for victims, survivors and witnesses.
Dr Angana said there must be transparent identification and dismantling of detention, torture centers including in Army camps. "We also want the establishment of the Truth and Justice Commission for political economic and psychological reparation, permitting spaces for acknowledging the culture in grief and the staggering corporeal and spiritual fatalities of the past two decades to imagine and energize local and civil society initiatives in order to heal and imagine a different future," she said.
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Palash Biswas
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http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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