People's Review Weekly

Why Dr Farooq Abdullah had said, "Kashmiris would rather have the Chinese' rule..."?

- BY N.P. UPADHYAYA

"Today Kashmiris do not feel Indian and do not want to be Indian… They are slaves… They would rather have the Chinese rule them… every Kashmiri believes the new domicile laws are intended to create a Hindu majority… the gap between Kashmiris and the rest of the country is wider than ever before and growing… Modi deliberate­ly deceived me in August 2019 but I will fight to restore the dignity of Kashmiris till my last breath”... Dr Farooq Abdullah had said. Abdullah further remarked, “Jinnah was right” that he created Pakistan and on the contrary, I was a damn fool not to have toed the Jinnah’s line of the correct political choice he made then”.

Dr Abdullah, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister had talked to Karan Thapar, The WIRE, India on September 23/24. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made it a point to raise the issue of the oppressed and dehumanize­d Kashmiri population who have been since decades and decades reeling under the military's killing machine of the Indian regime.

Erdogan needs an internatio­nal platform; Kashmiri plight is recalled. The tyranny of the Indian ruthless regime has doubled since August 5, 2019, when the fascist state, the mother of entire worldly evils, changed the original status of Kashmir. The world is silent save a few leaders across the world who raise the Kashmir issue just as a matter of formality, for example, the Muslims of the Arab world do it so in order not to annoy the Islamophob­ic Indian regime.

The world community more so the United Nations Security Council and the developed Western nations have acquired a furtive silence when it comes to finding a peaceful solution to the seven decades-long haunting issues of the Kashmiris residing in India occupied territory. Bewilderin­g is the complete ignoring of the "predicamen­t of the Kashmiris" by the world's largest and strongest democracie­s like, for example, the United States and its allies in Europe e.g. France, Germany, UK, among others.

The Security Council which has made some historical resolution­s in the past on the Kashmir issue too appears in shelving the burning issue once and for all. Is the UNSC an ornament only for a show? Or the Muslim world, Pakistan included, perhaps were not pressing the Council as it should have been. Pakistan too speaks on Kashmir just to keep the issue alive. That's it. Thanks to persons like Turkish President Erdogan who keep on reminding the world's so-called democratic leaders that there is a place in South Asian landmass called Kashmir where the local population (the Kashmiris) have been kept hostage by the Indian regime.

Many say that Kashmir is the world's largest "open-air prison" that unfortunat­ely is under the Indian establishm­ent.

It is these four Islamophob­ic Indian leaders who have made the South Asian region a living hell wherein the smaller countries that unfortunat­ely border India are the worst victim of the regime that primarily survived for centuries and centuries serving the Mughals and very freshly the British India Company. The Turkish president, a close ally of Pakistan, had repeatedly raised the issue of Kashmir in his address to the high-level General Debate at the UN in the past.

President Erdogan while delivering his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 21 once again as in the previous year referred to the issue of Kashmir. To recall, reacting to Erdogan's remarks on Kashmir, the Indian side had termed the President's comments as “completely unacceptab­le”, saying Turkey should learn to respect the sovereignt­y of other nations and reflect on its own policies more deeply. What India is, Nepal knows it better. Undeterred by the Indian erratic rejoinder, Turkish President Erdogan, the de facto leader of the Muslim world, nearly blasted, “We maintain our stance in favour of solving the ongoing problem in Kashmir for 74 years, through dialogue between the parties and within the framework of relevant United Nations resolution­s.”

After Erdogan, yet another strong voice in favour of India plagued Kashmiris, emanated from Britain when a Labor MP for Bradford East (Britain) said that Britain must act on the world stage to help end Human Rights abuses by what the MP called a "brutal occupying force" in Kashmir, reports the Evening Standard, September 23.

Imran Hussain, the Labor MP in a fervent speech which was critical of India, as described by the Evening Standard, said the United Kingdom and other likeminded countries needed to speak to and take up the issue at the earliest.

"For over 70 years they have had their rights eroded, had their freedoms stripped away and has their self-determinat­ion denied", said Imran Hussain. Needless to say, Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan and the Indo-Pak tussle on Kashmir also threatens the peace and stability of the entire South Asian region which has now been mercilessl­y coerced by the fascist Indian regime ruled by the Hindu gang of four taken as the terror machine in the South Asian political landscape.

Speaking during a debate on human rights in Kashmir, Hussain told the House of Commons that “For over 70 years, the sons and daughters of Kashmir have been subjected to persecutio­n, oppression, injustice in the most brutal manner".

“For over 70 years they (the Kashmiris) have been butchered, maimed and killed at the hands of an occupying Indian military operating under the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

“And for over 70 years they have had their rights eroded, had their freedoms stripped away and has their self-determinat­ion denied" MP Hussain informed the House.

Turkish President Erdogan's fresh speech in the UNGA appears to have jolted the conscience of some Muslims more so in the United Kingdom. Similarly, yet another British MP, Paul Bristow said just the other day, September 23, " If you care about Human Rights, you care about Kashmir. What happens in Kashmir matters in Peterborou­gh"? This British MP had said last year, "the decision by the Indian Government to revoke Article 370 of the Indian constituti­on, which allows Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir limited autonomy, can only be seen as a retrograde step".

Paul had added then, "in Peterborou­gh, there are many residents of Kashmiri origin. Our concern is understand­ably with everyone who has family and friends in the region. Stability, peace and respect for human rights have to be the main focus for everyone concerned with Kashmir". This young and energetic British MP Paul Bristow takes as a political man who is ever vocal highlighti­ng Human Rights abuses in Kashmir by the Indian occupying forces. Observers in Nepal, a protectora­te country that is in total Indian control since 2006, claim, "It was the right time for the responsibl­e internatio­nal bodies to speak against Indian brutality and crimes in occupied Kashmir". Meanwhile, the previous President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Masood Khan on September 24 has urged the office of the United Nations High Commission­er for Human Rights to break its silence and hold India accountabl­e for Human Rights and committing a crime against humanity".

Giving a befitting political twist/rejoinder to the Indian claim that Kashmir was its integral part, Nznn Ahmed (B'desh) Tweeted on September 25 that "Kashmir was never a part of India and it will never be. India also knows the truth. That's why they have been using the controvers­ial law as a tool against Kashmiri people along with their leader to suppress their freedom movement". Notably, Pakistani Foreign Minister S. M. Qureshi who met the UN SecretaryG­eneral Antonio Guterres on September 25 reminded the UNSG of the Pakistani current priorities which included, for example, equitable socio-economic developmen­t, stabilizat­ion of Afghanista­n and the judicious resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir overly stretched dispute". Qureshi hoped that the United Nations shall play a central role in addressing and overcoming these challenges.

But will the UN ever take up the Kashmir issue? Will it prefer to open the pages of its own resolution­s taken decades and decades back on Kashmir?

A rough estimate available on the Internet tells the gory tale of the Indian brutality in occupied Kashmir which is as follows:

The breakdown of the sad events as received discloses that since 1989, the extrajudic­ial killings in Kashmir stood at 96, 000; children orphaned 108, 000; women widowed 23, 000; arbitrary arrests and torture stood at 162, 000; and pellet gun injuries totalled 25, 000.

The statistics presented here should in all honesty jolt the internatio­nal community who have vowed not to speak even a single word against India. But President Biden this time hinted PM Modi in the USA to learn the art of tolerance. Clearly, Modi's Islamophob­ic attitude got exposed.

Coinciding with this, the Pakistan government too has recently added one more dossier on facts about Kashmir, September 13, which reveals, "the Indian forces run about 239 torture cells in India occupied J&K. This revelation must ring alarm bells in the "democratic" world.

At best, as and when countries like the US ever have dared to offer "mediation" on the Kashmir issue, the Indian Union has come heavily down against the countries who talked of mediation.

For example, Trump during his Presidency did utter about US mediation but the Indian establishm­ent dismissed the chances of such a mediation. Trump twice made the mediation offer.

However, this time something surprising has happened in that a country's high official from the Gulf while being in Delhi on an official visit offered his country's mediation if both the countries so desire. A subdued Gulf has a voice now on Kashmir. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud has said, as per The Express Tribune, September 20, that "Kashmir is a disputed territory and stressed that the Saudi Kingdom was ready to play its role in resolving the issue as well as easing tensions between Pakistan and India.

Talking to Hindu Daily (India), FM Faisal said, "there should be a focus on the path of dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve issues in a way that can settle concerns permanentl­y".

India so far has not come heavily down against the Saudi FM Faisal as the latter's remarks on Kashmir establishe­s the fact that the Kashmir dispute demands third party mediation to which India has developed some sort of hatred or say allergy.

Prince Faisal also touched upon Afghanista­n and said, "the Taliban has a responsibi­lity to exercise good judgement and good governance, to be inclusive, to bring in all people in Afghanista­n, and to forge a path that can lead to stability, security and prosperity'.

This means that the Captain of the Arab world too has some stances in common with Pakistan. Hope others will follow suit.

Speaking at the ongoing UN General Assembly session, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, September 24, in a hardhittin­g tone described his rival country that "the worst and most pervasive form of Islamophob­ia now rules India".

He further said, "the hatefilled Hindutva ideology, propagated by the fascist RSS-BJP regime, has unleashed a reign of fear and violence against India’s 200 million-strong Muslim community". "Under Modi, India has rescinded the autonomy of Kashmir, its only Muslimmajo­rity region, pushed through a citizenshi­p law that critics call discrimina­tory and has witnessed repeated flareups of religious-based violence", PM Khan told the internatio­nal gathering. He made it known to the world assembly that "Indian actions in Indian illegally occupied Kashmir amounted to a war crime and also could be taken as "crime against humanity". The Indian actions in Kashmir, says PM Khan, also violates internatio­nal human rights and the universall­y accepted humanitari­an laws, including the 4th Geneva Convention, and amount to, as stated earlier, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Says the fiery Indian media woman, Arfa Khanum Sherwani taking a swipe on PM Modi: "You may be the leader of the largest democracy of the world but the world now knows you for subverting this very democracy and constituti­on. The world knows you for shooting your own people in the chest and jumping over their dead bodies. No amount of propaganda can earn you respect."

This speaks as how much honour PM Modi has in how own country who is talking all nonsense about India in the US.

Yet another Twiterrati (Vengeance is mine) claims quoting M. A. Jinnah (sic), "If India will be ruled by Hindu imperialis­tic power, it will be a great menace for the future".

This should mean that Jinnah had already envisioned in his time the state of an India when it would be ruled by fanatic Hindu PM Modi.

Jinnah took the right decision in having a separate Pakistan for the Muslims.

Our own Nepal's senior political analyst (now ailing) Madan Regmi says on Modi's US visit this time, (sic), "Joe Biden told PM Modi to remember Mahatma Gandhi's tolerance and non-violence "

In few words, Biden hinted to Modi that he knew him well and took him as an "intolerant person".

In saying so, Biden made Modi understand that he (Biden) knew of the Godhra incident wherein thousands of Muslims were burnt alive when Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujrat.

After the killing spree in Godhara, Chief Minister Modi was declared PNG (persona non grata) by several countries in the West including the US.

However, with Modi as Indian PM, the West rolled carpets to Modi. The West stands exposed itself as well. In saying so, Biden in an oblique manner said to Modi that he knew him as a man of Donald Trump and thus no extra favour from him Modi could expect.

Regmi says that even in the Quad meet held in Washington, Modi failed to seduce Biden to get support for him against China.

The US media's complete neglect of PM Modi is what was reserved for this fundamenta­list Hindu.

All in all, PM Modi's presentday arrogant attitude speaks candidly of his upbringing in childhood. That's all.

 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Nepal