Article--LOST IN POLITICAL WILDERNESS

 

Lost in political wilderness

Dr. Syed Nazir Gilani

Benazir Bhutto in her address at the First Indo-Pakistan Parliamentarians Conference held at Islamabad on February 13, 1999 said, "For fifty years, we have been at each other's throats. We have fought four wars, and the last war dismembered my nation. Our troops, as we speak, fire at each other in the frozen wasteland called Siachen, which has become a metaphor for the senselessness that we have allowed to continue for half a century".

A similar interest was inscribed by JKCHR at The Third Global Structures Convocation on "Human Rights, Global Governance and Strengthening the United Nations" held in Washington on 5 February 1994. The appeal addressed to the assembly urged, "It is time that UN re-orients its priorities to accomplish its unfinished agenda in conflicts zones, like Kashmir and deploys resources to assist India and Pakistan to stop being blinkered by "enemy images" of each other and help the People of Kashmir to realise their Right to Participate in a Referendum to Define their Future".

Benazir Bhutto  addressed the question of Jammu and Kashmir in detail. Her opening remarks on the issue were "All of our problems, all our disputes, all our disagreements can be resolved quickly to mutual satisfaction if we address the question of Jammu and Kashmir".

India and Pakistan have been engaged in resolving their disputes including their interests embedded in Jammu and Kashmir. However, there was a generational shift in Kashmiri approach on their Right of Self Determination in early 1990. It was for the first time that three components, namely, politics, militancy and diplomacy were inducted to realise this right. It was the first major drift from the UN mechanism agreed on Kashmir. There is a general complaint that UN did not implement its resolutions and Kashmiris were not treated in equity and fairness by the world community.

It is all propaganda and a lie. In fact Kashmiri people did not raise any voice to have three Kashmiri Governments at Srinagar, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit supervised by UN. The Government of Pakistan with all its hype of providing a political, moral and diplomatic support (and what not) to the people of Kashmir decided not to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN Security Council for 30/31 years from November 1965 to August 1996, until it was hit by Rule 11 of Procedural Rules of the Security Council and seriously disturbed as a regular agenda item.

It is also untrue that UN Resolutions have not been implemented. Cease fire and the deployment of UMOGIP on either side of cease fire line (LOC) is part implementation of UN Resolutions on Kashmir. In fact there has been a generational shift in Kashmiri behaviour since 1990. He has decided not accept the wisdom of Thomas Fuller that, "If an ass goes travelling he will not come home a horse."

Our leaders in Kashmir have taken upon to plug their ears, blind fold themselves and wash the dirty linen of politics at the cost of their life, honour and property and increment the ability of the politicians in AJK to black mail Pakistan or be blackmailed by the secret agencies for a shared deal.

At least three instances namely 1) FIR registered against Syed Nazir Gilani in New Town Police Station, Rawalpindi on 15 August 1979, 2) resignation dated 19 November 2002 by Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayyum Khan as Chairman Musharraf's Kashmir Committee and lastly 3) Criminal Complaint filed against Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai by FBI on 18 July 2011, should have given our leaders a structured wisdom that has evolved from August 1979 to July 2011 around Kashmir.

All the 10 paras of this resignation addressed to President Musharraf would remain an important document of the 'statement of facts' by an elderly leader and history will question the leaders in the Valley to have nudge passed the wakeup call given by Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayyum Khan in November 2002. He would be blamed for playing hot and cold in secret with President Musharraf and for not making the contents of his resignation public on both sides of LOC.

In item 5 of his resignation he states, "Except for a few productive visits at home and abroad the Committee has nothing to offer as its credit. If this inaction has to continue for some time more the very committee becomes a question mark and the entire blame will rightly be put on me as Chairman. More so because I cannot shift or escape the blame". It is not only inaction but also his association in causing the death of a generation and the death of self-determination that he would continue to be accused of. He would also be accused for going along with a plan which has hurt life, honour and dignity, never witnessed in 166 years from 1846-2012.

In item 7 he states, "There has been little realization that while the Movement is a revolutionary one in character, it has all along been dealt with bureaucratically, which is itself a big contradiction". The elderly leader from AJK has spilled the beans in this para. He does not realise that he is 12 years late in making an admission that Kashmir movement was run by bureaucrats from Pakistan. However, he has remained very modest and has failed to summon courage to state whether it was civil or military bureaucracy which had its hand on Kashmir handle.

These important instances from August 1979 - July 2011 should have served as a reason to examine the political, militant and the diplomatic approach handed down to the people as reliable instruments of benefit. It is unfortunate that some leaders in the Valley used Kashmir as a roller skate and were blinded or confused because of a life time exposure to globe-trotting and engineered protocol. The abuse of resources and waste of time in the name of Kashmir cause is documented in para 30 of FBI Affidavit filed in the Criminal Complaint made against Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai. How callous, un-understanding and indulging our Valley leadership has been is documented as, "Among the documents found in the searches was a November 23, 1995 letter from Fai to Abdullah, in which Fai submitted his expenses for reimbursement. The expenses totalled $42,981.45 and appear to have been incurred by Fai in connection with his escort of a visitor to the United States and putting on a programme at the United Nations".

Fai and his handlers have to account for the abuse of not millions but billions of people's money and waste of life time of 25 years in promoting a culture of politics, militancy and diplomacy which has left us with the death of a generation, death of self-determination, injury to life, honour and property and now with a criminalized character in July 2011 in USA. All this has happened without any knowledge or reference to the people (in one or other manner) of Jammu and Kashmir. It has happened behind our backs and para 31 of the FBI Affidavit, puts our national pride to shame. It reads, "Another such document, written by Abdullah to Fai on December 7, 1995, reflected Abdullah's criticism of Fai for renewing a contract with a public relations firm without prior authorization, and notified that Abdullah's organization took no responsibility for his unilateral decision to renew that contract".

The tragedy is that if the three Kashmir Centres of the manner described in FBI Affidavit are the fountain source of the wisdom of Kashmir politics, then one could rightly say that "If an ass goes travelling he will not come home a horse." We are lost in a political wilderness.

Author is London based Secretary General of JKCHR – NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations and can be mailed at dr-nazirgilani@jkchr.com

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Warm Regards

Mir Imran
Co-ordinator
Kashmir Chapter - JKCHR
Peer Bagh, Srinagar
Kashmir - India

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