By The London Post –

2nd March 2019
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By Dr Shahid Qureshi l

Pakistani / Kashmiri leaders and media must tell world that “armed struggle and resistance against illegal Indian military occupation and repression in (Indian occupied Kashmir) are not terrorism. In 1982, the UN “reaffirmed the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial or foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle”.

The shooting down of two Indian jets by the Pakistanis and continuous violations of ceasefire at the control Line in Indian held Kashmir is just not linked with the upcoming Indian elections but also have deeper sinister plan. Pakistani leaders and some ministers behaving like clowns should understand the severity of the issue as ‘war is not over yet’. Media should stop scoring own goals and Pakistan need to keep an eye on Pro Indian minority anchors in media who were part of RAW agent Kulbhushan Network.

Modi’s Israeli advisers and Nazi arms dealers are directly involved in the killing, shootings and blinding of Kashmiri protesters with pellet guns as well as attempting to create Palestine like situation in occupied Kashmir by land-grabbing and forced evictions of Kashmiris replacing with Hindus.  Pakistan must tell the UN and world that any changes in special status or attempt change the demography of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir should be taken as an act of war and violation of international law. The UN has rejected India’s claim that Jammu and Kashmir is part of the Indian Union. It remains disputed territory. The right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people has been forcibly denied by the Indian military occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.

Since 1998 over 100,000 Kashmiris were killed, 1045597 detained, 11,111 women raped, 22898 widows and 1007756 orphans and sadly USA, EU and its allies never condemned these atrocities by Indian occupying armed forces in Kashmir which is highest militarized zone in the world.

The question is does India regard the Kashmiri freedom struggle as terror? There is a legal and a political reality. The UN has acknowledged the Kashmiri right of self-determination in 1948-49. In 1974, it reaffirmed “the duty of States not to use armed force to deprive peoples of their right to self-determination”.

Despite all of the above facts, political realities cannot be wished away. Only UNSC resolutions under Chapter 7 are enforceable. It is inconceivable that the UNSC will ever pass a Chapter 7 resolution on Jammu and Kashmir against the wishes of India. None of Pakistan’s friends would support such a development.

Pakistan’s formal position on Kashmir does not need to change at all. But its strategy does need to be revisited to ensure its own policies do not inadvertently harm Kashmiris by allowing India to distract international attention away from its repression. Pakistan should honestly inform its people there is no alternative to a negotiated and principled compromise settlement with India that is verifiably acceptable to Kashmiri opinion.

India blames Pakistan for not fulfilling conditions for the plebiscite. Even if this were so, it could not derogate from the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The fact that UN resolutions on Kashmir were adopted under Chapter 6 in no way reduces the obligation of member states and of parties to the dispute to respect and implement them. Nor does the Shimla Agreement affect Kashmiri rights.

Article 35A and Article 370

Article 35A, which is part of The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) order, gives the state legislature the power to define the “permanent residents” of the state and provide them with special rights and privileges. An NGO, We The Citizens, had challenged the article’s legality in the Supreme Court on the grounds that it was never presented before Parliament and was implemented on the president’s orders.

The Constitutional provision bars citizens from other parts of the country from acquiring immovable property in the state, taking up jobs with the state government, availing of state-sponsored scholarships, or settling permanently anywhere in Jammu and Kashmir.

The article was implemented by former President Rajendra Prasad in 1954. Under the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 1954, the provision appears as an “appendix” in the Constitution and not an amendment.

Article 370 of the Indian Constitution grants Jammu and Kashmir special status. On August 8, the Supreme Court had admitted a plea challenging the legality of Article 370 of the Constitution and the special status it grants to Jammu and Kashmir. The court had issued a notice to the Central government and sought a response.

It is time for Pakistani Government as party to the Kashmir dispute to have an active policy and do damage control to the Kashmir cause by various previous Government. These weekly visits of the Pakistani side Kashmiri leaders to United Kingdom must cut down do some real work in rest of the world. In case of all out war with India on the issue of Kashmir few nukes should also be send to the friends and backers of these atrocities against Kashmiris, as late Gen. Zia ul Haq had a (PAF) Pakistan Air Force squadron ready to go to the Nazi arms dealers’ posts in occupying territories in Palestine.

(Dr Shahid Qureshi is senior analyst with BBC and chief editor of The London Post. He writes on security, terrorism and foreign policy. He also appears as analyst on Al-Jazeera, Press TV, MBC, Kazak TV (Kazakhstan), LBC Radio London. He was also international election observer for Azerbaijan April 2018, Kazakhstan 2015 and 2016 and Pakistan 2002. He has written a famous book “War on Terror and Siege of Pakistan” published in 2009. At Government College Lahore he wrote his MA thesis on ‘Political Thought of Imam Khomeini’ and visited Tehran University. He is PhD in ‘Political Psychology’ and studied Law at a British University. He also speaks at Cambridge University. He is a visiting Professor at Hebe University in China.)

Views expressed are not of The London Post.

— Nair Khan

India and Pakistan are two nuclear-armed countries, and their opposing armies often exchange fire that leads to the deaths of innocent people on both sides of the Line of Control that separates India-administered and Pakistan-administered parts of Kashmir. Kashmiris have been resisting the Indian rule for long. Since 1989, the Indian army has killed around one hundred thousand Kashmiris.

India has 700,000 soldiers in Kashmir to crush those who want freedom from the Indian rule. In case of war between these two countries, there is every possibility they two countries will also resort to nuclear weapons, thus endangering not only the populations of their countries, but also bringing and destruction to all forms of life globally.

— Nasir Khan, February 27, 2019

The irresponsible and dangerous Indian air strikes within Pakistan were calculated to escalate the tensions between India and Pakistan. Now, Pakistan has captured two Indian pilots after shooting down an Indian jet military jet over the Pakistani side of the Line of Control in Kashmir.
Is that what India wanted and asked for? My reply is simply this: All military confrontations are bad and suicidal. Only the innocent, poor working class people join army as soldiers to earn a living and help their large families in these poor countries.. Then when fighting starts by the orders of their rulers for whatever reason, they are thrown into the man-made hell of war to kill and be killed; they become the first victims of the war, and then many ordinary civilians, men, women, children, old and young, sick and disabled also become the victims.
To both Indian and Pakistan civil and military leaders, I ask: If war brings only death and destruction, then what do you think will happen to your people and your fighting forces? They will kill and die. But what good will that do? Do such killings of people and destruction produce any positive outcome? In my understanding of wars and deaths of innocent that take place in such wars, there are no positive resits.
The people of Kashmir do not want you to fight. They want you to find a political solution to the Kashmir Conflict as first envisaged by the U.N. in 1948 and grant the occupied people of Kashmir freedom to decide their future. That’s the only good solution.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47383634?SThisFB=

— Nasir Khan

The Kashmir Conflict is not something new, it is as old as the two independent states of India and Pakistan. It was a conflict that needed some bold steps by the leaders of the two countries to find a workable solution that met the demands of the Kashmiri people.

But there was no real intention to find such a solution, except to use empty rhetoric to appease the populations of the two countries. The latest killing of so many soldiers is also a tragic reminder that the problem of Kashmir has not disappeared. Innocent people are dying in Kashmir, both civilians and soldiers, and they will continue to face such deaths as long as there is no solution to the conflict.

I deeply deplore the death of the Indian soldiers and also the deaths of innocent Kashmiris at the hands of the Indian army.

But something else is needed to pacify the people of Kashmir, not empty words, violence or threats of more violence and intimidation. Any military action by India over the tragic loss of lives of soldiers will not help the situation. Even a war will not do much good to the people of the two countries, or will be helpful to the people of Kashmir.

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https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-india-kashmir-bomber/kashmir-suicide-bomber-radicalised-after-beating-by-troops-parents-say-idUKKCN1Q41M6

Kashmir suicide bomber radicalised after being beaten by Indian troops, parents say

— Nasir Khan, January 30, 2019

With a heavy heart and great sadness, I inform all friends of Dr Shahram Vahdany (aged 59) that he died two days ago in a hospital in Vancouver (Canada). I was informed about his death last night by a friend. The condition of his liver had worsened over the last few months, and no transplant or operation was possible because his physical condition did not allow it. It was only a question of time when he expired, and it happened two days ago.

I am deeply sad over the death of a noble and great friend who had devoted his life to the cause of truth, peace and justice. His well-known website Media With Conscience contributed enormously to inform about the issues that weak and oppressed people and nations suffered at the hands of the powerful and oppressive powers and regimes.

Thank you Shahram what you did, and what you stood for. You knew that you would not live for long, as you had written to me a few months ago about it, but you faced the situation calmly and bravely. We all thank you. We will miss you. You will live in our minds and hearts.

The Chinese poet Wang Wei (699-761 AD) expresses the feelings of one who was parting company:

AT PARTING – Poem by Wang Wei

I dismount from my horse and I offer you wine,
And I ask you where you are going and why.
And you answer: “I am discontent
And would rest at the foot of the southern mountain.
So give me leave and ask me no questions.
White clouds pass there without end.”

—2 Comments1 share10

The following article is from 2015. What I said about the former king is also true about his successors. Now the effective ruler of Saudi Arabia is Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) because of his father, King Salman’s ill health.

The Palestinians are being killed and victimized by Israel as before. The Saudi rulers remain indifferent to what happens to the occupied and colonized people of Palestine.

The Saudis have been busy in the war in Yemen, with the help of their allies for the last four years, causing immense suffering and destruction, while doing their utmost, with the help of Israel, to instigate America to attack Iran, thus paving the way for the total Israeli hegemony over the whole region with the support of Saudi Arabia.

—
On the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

Nasir Khan, January 23, 2015

All the devils in Hell were much excited today to welcome a newcomer. Guess who was coming? A great king was coming to join them. When the short worldly sojourn ends here a long and upward journey to a new life starts, I was told as a child. Today was one such day for a great king to go upward.

So that was the end of that short worldly sojourn for the mighty king. There will be no more displays of gold, diamonds and emeralds to please any. That will be a task for his successor now. But any fabulous gifts of golden chains and garlands with diamonds were only for the influential and the mighty ones. Not for any ordinary people. No worker from Asia or Africa received any such gift. They were mere workers, the raw material to keep the oil industry going.

The children of Gaza, hundreds of them, and thousands of adults were massacred by Israel in the summer of 2014. There was not a single concrete step taken by the great mighty king of Saudi Arabia to stop the killing of the Palestinians of Gaza. Netanyahu knew the great king was his ally, not an opponent. So the job of killing a besieged people and destroying Gaza’s infrastructure – its buildings, homes, hospitals, mosques – and causing misery in a captive people could go ahead unhindered. And it did.

Netanyahu wanted to do it. He had the support of America and his Arab allies, including the mighty king. So Israel did what it wanted to do. The reactionaries were all on one side. They had no fear from any quarter. Everything was crystal clear for the kill, the big kill. No problem. Some voices around the world? Some bloggers and internet activists included. But who cares when you have America and Saudi Arabia on board. Therefore when Israeli military and air force were in ‘full action’ the great king, didn’t stir a finger to stop the massacres and destruction of Gaza.

But his friends may have something to add. I have nothing more to add today. Sometime later, perhaps.

 

A former Facebook friend, Mr Kushal, once commented that Jejuri (Hindu) Temple seemed more like an Islamic piece of architecture than a Hindu building. This was my reply to him:

— Nasir Khan

Both Hindu and Islamic architecture have influenced each other in many ways. By its appearance, Jejuri Temple seems to be a clear example of this interaction in architecture.

Regarding your views on the division of Hindus and Muslims, my reply is: If these people, Hindus and Muslims, regard one another as human beings first where people’s religious beliefs are left as their personal matters and nothing more, then a common human and humane bond will emerge that will allow cultural diversity but wherein all people will stand for common humanity and common political, social and economic rights and obligations.

But in India and Pakistan things are working in the reverse order. In these countries, the first consideration is towards religious identity while what is obviously common, our common humanity and our oneness as human beings, is pushed out of sight! The result is fanatics and fundamentalists in Hindus and Muslims have made living for ordinary people difficult.

The Hindutva fanatics in India have poisoned the minds of vast numbers of Hindus and have made them anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan by their continuous propaganda. Many feel that is the only way to make India a purely Hindu state by preaching the mantra of Akhand Bharat. There is so much hatred against Muslims and Islam in Indian right-wing Hindus, which I find hard to believe.

In Pakistan, the right-wing religious and political parties have equally viciously poisoned the minds of millions of people for establishing a theocratic state instead of a modern democratic state.

Consequently, their continuous indoctrination and misleading information against the non-Muslims has relegated religious minorities in Pakistan to a secondary status. The victimization of some innocent people for having violated the so-called blasphemy laws of Pakistan under concocted charges is a living proof of the cancerous fanaticism and primitive mindset that once flourished in the early middle ages.

— Nasir Khan

“I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.”

― Great church reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546).
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The great church reformer, Martin Luther, would be glad to know if someone can pass on this information to him, no matter wherever he may be at present, or in whatever form he may be, that schools and the educational systems in many European countries have faithfully followed his ‘pious prescriptions’ for many centuries. However, some independent thinking was also allowed in European educational system because of the great struggles in the last century by educationists and thinkers.

Meanwhile in other parts of the world – especially in Asian and African countries – people have followed the age-old teaching methods where children and youngsters have been taught in their old dogmas and stories as eternal truths. Such a schooling had and still has a lasting effect on them that can’t be shaken off. Because of such a traditional indoctrination, for most people dogmas and dogmatic thinking are more like their second nature; they cannot liberate themselves from such ways of thinking. Any dogmas internalized at a young age take a permanent hold on the minds of the people.

— Nasir Khan

Renowned American writer Saul Bellow (1915-2005) says: “A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance.” This pithy saying speaks volumes if we analyze it at greater length. But I will offer only a few fleeting remarks here.

It may surprise some if I say that ignorance is not a simple matter. In fact, a complex phenomenon serves various social, political and religious interests. It is directly related to influence common people and their consciousness of the social reality that surrounds them. However, the task of the brainy purveyors of ignorance is not to inform, but to raise the barriers that would not let any truth slip into the masses! That means if the particular interests are to be protected and masses duped then ignorance has to be institutionalized, fortified and perpetuated by the powerful and the influential people who are at the helm of affairs.

Who can buttress the citadel of ignorance better than the people who are dubbed as intelligentsia, intellectuals and the ‘educated’ ones that separates them from the ordinary people? There is no doubt, they do an excellent job when they have rich and resourceful people to patronize them and institutions to hire their services. They are closely attached to upholding the interests of the ruling elite and justify their actions and policies. I call them modern-day gladiators!

— Nasir Khan

Socialists are not non-believers. The people who believe in social justice, social equality of men and women, believe in a just and non-oppressive social, political and economic organization of society in the interest of all, believe in the advancement of knowledge free from the power of the ignorant people who keep society back, and who stand for humanity and human values for all without showing favour to any one religion, one special colour or race are believers on a higher level than the followers of dogmas and superstitions beliefs, worshipping stones and all sorts of natural or man-made objects.
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A former Facebook friend of mine (she is no longer on my friends’ list) and some other readers have come up with some strong criticism of Communists and their crimes under Communist leaders. In fact, her views are quite common in many parts of the world. I am adding my reply to her for other readers to see as well:

Dear XY: My piece is not about Stalin or Hitler and their actions. In it, I clarified in a summary form that socialists are also believers, and not non-believers as some people falsely assert. How are they believers that I’ve discussed. It is about the principles on which socialism is based and the principles which are the core of socialist thinking.

If a socialist or a communist has committed such crimes as you mention, then the fault does not lie with the principles of socialism but with any person who misuses the principles of socialism. In the same way, as Hitler, Franco, Pinochet, George W. Bush killed millions of innocent people; these leaders were Christians. The principles or dogmas of Christianity or even Jesus Christ did not stop them from killing millions of people for their political objectives.

The conquistadors in the New World (America) wiped out millions of the native Americans. All these killers were Christians from Europe. The same thing happened in Australia. The people who wiped out the native populations were Christians. But as a socialist, I do not blame Christianity for what these killers did. I can add to the list a lot more. But I wanted to give you only a short reply.