[Imc-zimbabwe] {KAC-LIST} Memorandum Submitted to the Indian Ambassaor on Kashmir

[kacouncil at kashmiri.com]

August 22, 2008   

His Excellency
Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary General
The United Nations
New York, NY – 10017.

Excellency:

On behalf of the people of Jammu & Kashmir, we take this opportunity to draw your kind attention to the following:

The Kashmir issue has been pending on the agenda of the Security Council since 1948. At that point, an agreement took place between India and Pakistan, endorsed by the United Nations and supported by the international community that guaranteeing the right to self-determination to the people of Jammu & Kashmir. The people of Kashmir who have never lost hope in the United Nations have since that date sought to freely exercise their right to self-determination. This denial of the United Nation Charter and thus the denial of the right of self-determination has lead to bloodshed, pain, rapine and suffering in Kashmir.

As a result of India’s reign of terror, Kashmir that was once considered a virtual paradise on earth has been reduced to a killing field. This sanguine situation has only been accentuated since the July 2008 when the monumental peaceful protests throughout Kashmir, bringing together hundreds of thousands of people from all racial and cultural backgrounds, began as a response to the Indian Government’s attempt at confiscating 100 acres of Kashmiri territory for Indian settlements, the recent gruesome unearthing of 4600 mass graves – to which the European Union has passed a unanimous resolution, and desperate Indian dismissal of Kashmiri aspirations for self-determination. The powerful protests resulted in a magnificent revolt forcing Indians to meekly withdraw and rescind their erstwhile theft of Kashmiri land.

The rescinding of the land-grab by Indians resulted in the immoral and inhumane closure of the main highways into occupied Kashmir, Pathankot-Jammu and Jammu-Srinagar, by the Indian authorities in collusion with Hindu fanatics – Bhartiya Janata Party & Rashtriya Sewak Sangh.  The result was crippling for Kashmiri civil society and coerced them to seek alternative trade routes to secure their basic necessities of life. Undeterred and forever vigilant, Kashmiri men, women and children, in exercise of their democratic right for peaceful congregation, came on the streets in tens of thousands to express their sentiments toward the right of self-determination.  Without provocation, the Indian soldiers opened indiscriminate fire killing more than 30 Kashmiri civilians including senior Hurriyet leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz. The bloodshed continues.

The people of Kashmir still continue to hope in the United Nations. They see it working, they see it enforcing Security Council resolutions, they see the United Nations taking leadership roles in various trouble spots of the world. The people of Kashmir believe that the time has come that Your Excellency use your good office to: let India and Pakistan know that if talks between these two countries are to mean anything, they must be accompanied by practical measures to restore an environment of non-violence, free from state terrorism. If a response to the gravity of the situation is intended, we firmly believe that the following measures are essential:

1.  There must be an immediate and complete cessation of military and paramilitary action by Indian forces against the people of Jammu & Kashmir;
2.  All bunkers, watch towers and barricades set up by the Indian military and paramilitary forces in towns and villages must be immediately dismantled;
3.  All those imprisoned in connection with resistance to the Indian occupation must be immediately and unconditionally released;
4.  The draconian laws must be repealed immediately;
5.  The right of peaceful association, assembly and demonstration must be restored to the people.

We appeal to you, Excellency, to intervene in the situation in Kashmir under the Article 91 of the United Nations Charter. It is because, first, atrocities continue to give aid and comfort to India. During the past two months, the international inaction and seeming unconcern in the face of massive violations of human rights and particularly the economic blockade has gained a new sinister dimension.

We place the trust in the statesmanship of the Excellency, as the Secretary General of the United Nations that you will not countenance any attempt to ignore the wishes of the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and bypass the expression of those wishes.

We trust that your personal involvement in this matter will bring its influence to bear on both India and Pakistan to initiate a peace with which the United Nations as well as the people of Jammu & Kashmir will be associated so as to ensure that settlement arrived at will be based on the principles of justice.

With profound regards,

Yours sincerely,


Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai
Kashmiri American Council, Washingotn, D.C.


Mr. Ehtisham Kiyani
Free Kashmri Campaign, Maryland


Dr. Ghulam N. Mir
World Kashmir Freedom Movement
Ohio


Mr. Tahir Iqbal
Jammu Kashmri Peopels Party, Virgina


Mr. Zubair Khan
Jammu Kashmir Muslim conference, Virginia 


Mr. Sardar zahoor Khan
Kashmri American Welfare Society, Maryland


Mr. Zulfikar Khan
Peoples Muslim League, Azad Kashmir, Virginia


Mr. Zahid Kiyani
Jamaat-e-Islami Azad Kashmir, Virginia


Mr. Sardar Ishaq  Khan
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front Virginia


c.c.


His Excellency Ambassador
Ronen Sen Indian Ambassador to the United States
2107 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.Washington, D.C, 20008.