Kammi - Son of a Potter

Kammi; Son of a potter « azharmushtaq

Solidarity with Kashmir from a concerned Pakistani Citizen

Assalaam o Alaikum

Hopefully you will be fine and enjoying the struggle of Kashmir Independence. 

Its nice to see you struggling and striving for the independence of Kashmir which is the paradise on earth.

In my view the only solution of the Kashmir issue is the combine Kashmir and the indian occupied and Azad Kashmir both should be combined to make it a new country. Algamation with Pakistan or India is not possible and that is not the solution.

It is in the supreme interest of Kashmir, Pakistan and India to make Kashmir an independent country and to make is a democratic state.

Infact Pakistani and Indian politicians are using Kashmir as Political weapon and its their vote bank and playing fool with their fellow men.

Every Pakistani and Indian Government has deepen the problems of the Kashmiris and believe me the world powers such as USA< Great brittian and other forces dont want Kashmir's independence and with the solution of this issue there will be no military importance of the area.

Pakistan and Indian governments are using Kashmir to take AID from different countries and NGOs.

I appreciate your sincere efforts and wish you all the best for your struggle.

May! Allah bless you with success. Ameen Sum Ameen.

Married to the Devil

I'm really angry, disappointed and dismayed with AJK journalism's implicit liasion with the forces that block our progress...Here's one good reason why...


As I get ready to sleep after a grueling day that followed a night of working on our national cause (hence no sleep for over 40 hours), I'm still coming to terms with a request cum veiled threat from an AJK Journalist earlier this evening; asking me and then insisting that I delete a Youtube video interview that I done with him. If a journalist in this age of social media wishes to censor his most precious tool (his voice) and restrict his right to freely express his opinion on a public issue, less his coveted job comes into question: then he must change his profession. 


For how much longer are we going to sacrifice our national question (cause), surrender our right to control and own our destiny for fear of personal progress being jeopardised? My final answer to him was a resounding NO. (Details of SMS to him will be up on maloomaat.net shortly) 


A neutral Kashmir 
Zindabad!

Awami Raj in early years (1947) was a complete travesty! (Guest Post)

Professor Manohar Nath Tikoo (Narrator)

The State was under dual control; Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah an emergency Head and Mehar Chand Mahajan the Prime Minister of J&K State, headed by Mahraja Hari Singh Bahadur, Mahraja Jammu Kashmir Ladakh Gilgat ve Tibetha.

Location:              
Anantnag - Kashmir


Characters: 
(i)    Omkar Nath Kachroo from Rainawari - Srinagar. 
(ii)   Mirza Mohammad Afzal Beig (Emergency Head from National Conference.
(iii)  Pundit Rugh Nath Matoo, Dy. Commissioner, Anantnagh 1947 in the Government of the   then Mahraja Hari Singh Bahadur, Mahraja Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh ve Tibet ha.


(iv)  Soom Nath Koul, Office Superintendent to DC Anantnagh - Kashmir : he was from Srinagar and living in close neighbourhood of Prof. M N Tikoo.

(v)   SHO, Ram Chand Kishtwari, a good looking, tall, fair complexioned personality.
(vi)  Nand Lal Reshi who accompanied handcuffed Prof. M N Tikoo to give him moral support.

Prof. M N Tikoo: 
“I chanced to see Omkar Nath Kachroo from Rainawari, one of my classmates (DAV College, Srinagar) in one of the lanes near bus stand Anantnagh. We exchanged pleasantries and parted. I told my father that I met one of my friends and classmate at the bus stand. My father directed me to rush back and invite my friend on morning meal the next day. Next day, I went to some neighbour’s to call one of the family on the morning meal. To my surprise, in the neighbour’s yard, I was surrounded by a team of Policemen. Knowing that I am Manohar Nath Tikoo, they handcuffed me with a grass rope as the iron ones were out of stock. I could understand that I was being shadowed by CID people for the last 24 hours. They asked me if I knew Omkar Nath Kachroo and if he was at my place. I replied that he was my classmate and he was expected any time to have lunch at my place. My father and Nand Lal Reshi accompanied me for moral support. I was taken for interrogation to the hostel of Hanfia School. Many like me had to wait in the courtyard of the hostel for their call by the authorities upstairs. 


Late in the evening, darkness all around as those days Anantnagh had no electricity, someone called Manohar Nath is called to present himself before the authorities upstairs. I, handcuffed in a grass rope responded and went to the hall in dim light of some gas lamp. In the hall Mirza Afzal Beig was surrounded by DC Rugh Nath Matoo, his office Superintendent Soom Nath Koul, Advocate Damoodar Bhat, Manohar Nath Karihaloo(Koul), SHO Ram Ji Kishtwari. Beigh Sahib questioned my connections with Onkar nath Kachroo, who was alleged to be affiliated with RSS. I humbly said that my articles published in Hamdard and Navyug will speak for  my innocence and without any link with RSS. If Nehru and Ali Mohammad Jinah can share the same dining table what wrong have I done if I invited a friend of mine from the city for a meal as per the age-old tradition of villagers? Beigh Sahib said that I ought to have been a lawyer. I said: “Sir, if will let me go, I will go for LLb. 


Beigh Sahib turned to the SHO and asked him to go through my articles and proceed accordingly. For four days I had to go to the Police station to get myself marked….."


First appeared courtesy of B K Dass (Kashnet Yahoogroups)
- (Video talk of Professor Manohar Nath Tikoo is on his facebook page)

Grapevine

Paraphrasing Slavoj Zizek - 
"We need good old-fashioned Utilitarian egotism to combat greedy capitalism, not Christian morality."


Against


Blind pursuit of profit drives evolution.....

Civil Society Forum AJK: 'Signature Campaign' for attaining the role of DC ...

Civil Society Forum AJK: 'Signature Campaign' for attaining the role of DC ...: As legitimacy always resides in the people and given that since October 1947, our population has by and large adopted the 'blind follower' ...

Details of Non-locals residing, conducting business and acquiring land/property in Gilgit-Baltistan

It is considered that the 1927 State Subject Rule promulgated by the last Dogra Maharajah Hari Singh in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir has been violated, suspended or held in abeyance in Gilgit Baltistan, particularly since the Bhutto era in the early 1970's. The figures cited below have a margin of error not more than 10% of each figure quoted.

District wise data (%)

DISTRICT		CITY	BUSINESS		PROPERTIES
Gilgit
		Gilgit	60.00%		35.00%
		Jiglot	50.00%		20.00%

Ghizer		Gahkuch	70.00%		30.00%
		Gupis	60.00%		50.00%
		Yasin	20.00%		10.00%
		Chatorkhand	20.00%		15.00%

Diamer

Chilas

35.00%

40.00%

Baltistan

Skardu

20.00%

10.00%

Ghanche

Khapulo

15.00%

8.00%

Hunza-Nagar		Aliabad	15.00%		0.00%
		Sost	40.00%		5.00%

Astore

Eidgah

20.00%

15.00%

Major flour mills, petrol pumps, hotels and transport companies also belong to non-locals. While 80% of trade with China trade at Sost border (in Hunza-Nagar), 60% of timber business also belong to non-locals. Needless to add, the demography of Gilgit-Baltistan is at serious risk, if not already heavily undermined.

Being shot at by the Cheat

Indeed....the thought makes my blood boil. 


I'm only just grasping the extent of Pakistani terror in Kashmir. A limit to tragedy weaved by Pakistan there is not. 


I'm straining to avoid over-emphasising the issue for want of people's partiality to ignorance, prejudice towards non-Muslims and predilection for corruption.


Personally, I cannot tolerate Pakistan's presence here any longer.

Un-freezing public opinion (in AJK)

I'm approaching six and a half years of an un-interrupted existence in the Indo-Pak (which I adoringly refer to as Hindustaan) region. The first two years were spent mainly in Pakistan's capital whilst the rest has been primarily in the erstwhile Dogra State of Jammu & Kashmir (specifically AJK). I've effectively spent a little more than a tenth of the period of this lingering dispute (between India and Pakistan at the cost of 'Kashmiri' aspirations) witnessing day-to-day a cloak of falsehood permeating our collective existence.


Notwithstanding the general civilisational trend of humanity to engage in democratic processes (to utilise the free will of public opinion to build consensus in any given society), the general response of the international community to Kashmiri aspirations - which desperately wants to engage in this process - has been lukewarm at best.


Bearing that in mind and recognising that the powers-that-be (in our case, Pakistan) has done everything to suppress this process; provides the raison d'etre behind my activities here in AJK. I've recognised our problems to be two-fold - addressing our unresolved national question and adopting the norms of good governance – integrating an outer and inner dimension if you will. To use a metaphor, freedom is our destination while good governance is our machinery; to arrive at that juncture where our aspirations can be fulfilled.


To borrow adjectives from senior activists who've engaged themselves in the pursuit of our national goals decades before I have, the following come to mind in relation to Pakistan's control over our society: stringent – stifling - selfish - crude – ad-hoc – instituting a paymaster culture – malevolent – – pay as you go - death of merit at every stage to boot. My assertion that Pakistan has kept our whole community (including Gilgit Baltistan) ignorant of it's history as well as prohibited institutional reform, particularly on matters related to our abortioned transition from 'Shaksi Raaj' (autocracy) to 'Awaami Raaj' (democracy); begs public scrutiny. One such example should suffice to emphasise my point: If any government servant wishes to introduce reform or a positive initiative into his or her department, they are threatened with dismissal, transfer to a remote location or worse.


Pakistan has had an 'easy ride' in controlling our society. It has linked our welfare to it's national security, it has cultivated the two-nation theory relentlessly at the cost of our society's creativity, development and progress. The people who have unquestioningly supported it (on the basis of Muslim brotherhood) are still stuck with a mind-set more appropriate to the 1940's. Our economy has been deprived of economic opportunity to the extent that virtually each and every individual's freedom of expression is compromised for fear of reprisal. An example from the government sector was cited above. Meanwhile, the extremely limited private sector in AJK is resigned to buying goods/services from the only market it has access to viz. Pakistan. Ostracism on the part of Pakistan is simple and swift.


Given the above scenario, it is little wonder that our society's ability to recognise 'force/s' for positive change is limited beyond reason. For example, last year (from June 2010) I had sent out a document to over 200 citizens of AJK (local and diaspora) via physical contact as well as email. I requested rs1,000 (from working locals) and the equivalent of £20 (from the working diaspora) for the development of civil society and an independent institution. Only thirteen people reciprocated.


If stakeholders do not recognise the urgent need for remedial measures to re-align and categorise our national objectives, yet more creativity and I dare say panache is in order.

A petition for freedom, identity, economy and dignity from Gilgit Baltistan

This was a petition written on behalf of Shafqat Inqalabi who has effectively been reduced to a humbled existence by the Pakistani State for daring to challenge it's legitimacy in Gilgit Baltistan. This follows a similar pattern to the treatment meted out to other notable civil rights activists (Manzoor Parwana and Baba Jaan) in the erstwhile Dogra State of Jammu & Kashmir.

The Interior Ministry of Pakistan has put Shafqat Ali Khan (sobriquet: Inqalabi), an activist from district Ghizer in Gilgit Baltistan on it's exit control list (ECL) without prior notice. The federal investigation agency (FIA) prevented him from boarding a flight from Lahore to Dubai on the 5^th of August. The aforementioned agency confiscated his passport, national ID card and other travel documents whilst questioning him for two and a half hours. Their apparent reason, allowing him to travel out of Pakistan's jurisdiction could impede their national interest.

Whether or not the State of Pakistan's national interest takes precedence over the life and liberty of a human being who is not their constitutional citizen or indeed obliged to defer to their 'national interest', should open up a lively debate. Meanwhile, Shafqat describes the incident as a 'shameful act on the part of Pakistan'. He has been under constant vigilance and endured persistent harassment from the Pakistani State's clandestine agencies. He thus considers his life to be under threat, particularly since filing a writ petition in Pakistan's Supreme Court on the 4^th of March 2010, against the State Executive’s 'Empowerment and Self-Governance' Order for Gilgit-Baltistan, enacted on September the 9th 2009.

“I am a political activist not a terrorist”, Shafqat points out as he beseeches the 'International Community' to take serious notice of this gross violation of his basic human right to travel. He also implores human rights organisations to save his life and for fellow activists to play a positive supportive role.

Profile of Shafqat Ali Khan

He was born on the 4^th of March 1978 in Village: Bubur, Tehsil: Punial, District: Ghizar in Gilgit Baltistan. He resides with his family in Gahkuch city which serves as the district headquarters of Ghizar. His father (Nizat Bahadur) works as a government contractor and his family is considered amongst the most renowned political families of District Ghizar.

Shafqat passed his matriculation in 1996 from Al Azhar model school in Gilgit before moving to Hyderabad in Sindh (Pakistan). He completed his FSC exams in Pre-Engineering from Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayat Ullah Higher Secondary School in Hyderabad. He was nominated for admission in Civil Engineering at the University of Engineering & Technology in Taxila from where he graduated in 2003.

Shafqat Ali Khan's political career commenced in 1997 whilst still a higher secondary level student. He worked as president of GQM (a district based organisation in Ghizer that stood against corruption) from 1997 to 1999 before becoming President of Karakorum Student Organisation - Punjab Zone in the same year up to 2002. Chairing this organisation in the capacity of Central Chairman from 2003 to 2005. Shafqat also played an active role in university union politics from 1999 to 2003. His active role in the national politics of Gilgit Baltistan commenced soon after graduation. A period of self-exile in Kabul (Afghanistan) ensued from December 2003 to June 2004.

Political pursuits included contesting district council elections twice. Shafqat Inqalabi has also written numerous articles on Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan focussing on their pending national question. He married in 2009 and has an 18 month old son.

Shafqat narrates that the Government of Pakistan through it's agencies began harassing him about six years ago. Their pursuit intensified after he submitted the writ petition against the Pakistani State (4^th of March 2010) in it's apex court. When they (the agencies) failed in bringing him round to their line of thought, that infuriated them further. Wary of the impunity they enjoy, Shafqat Ali Khan kept the media informed whenever he endured the ire of Pakistan's secretive state apparatus - via press conferences in Islamabad, Muzaffarabad (AJK) and Gilgit. Please read the following for some background:

http://www.countercurrents.org/tahmed150410.htm

In April 2009 what outside observers may rightly find bizarre, the Home Department of Gilgit Baltistan expelled Shafqat from his homeland and banned his re-entry for three months. His right to earn a living was cruelly devastated by the very same agencies in May 2009 when they halted his construction business in Muzaffarabad and prevented other contractors from conducting business with him. He lost 17 lakh rupees (equivalent to around 10,000 US dollars) in the project that he was forced to abandon.

In an effort to quell his freedom of speech and association, the agencies had carried out a well rehearsed tactic that had served them so well in the territories they control but do not legally own - since 1947 - namely economic suffocation. Building momentum to raise the 'national question' of Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir, in order to advance his motherland's identity and hence dignity using the tool of freedom was viciously halted. The agencies didn't stop at that, they made his life difficult for him even in his home territory.

In the manner of any other human being who desires freedom, recognition of their identity, the right to earn an honest living and the dignity to enjoy equal rights, Shafqat Ali Khan's options to exist with his conscience intact became impossible. Leaving his beloved homeland and the adjoining State that occupies and rules it, was and is the only feasible option left to him and he's been denied that too.

Finishing with a recap of the event on the 5^th of August (earlier this month), as Shafqat was undergoing the process of boarding a flight to Dubai from Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore at 1830hrs, he had checked in his luggage, cleared customs, received his boarding pass and had just the emigration counter to pass, he was stopped and informed that he had been on the dreaded ECL since March 2011 (though no legally imperative notice had been given to him). He was escorted to an FIA cell and not released until the completion of a two and a half hour interview and confiscation of his travel documents.

Shafqat Ali Khan (Inqalabi) is now left with no documents for travel, internal or external. He is effectively an alien and a prisoner, languishing in his home territory at a loss as to how to confront the predicament Pakistan has put him in. His, as well as his family's telephone/s have been tapped for the past two years. His suffocation and humiliation is complete. Any institution or country that sincerely believes in freedom and the richness of civilisation that it entails must take notice and act.

Written:

Friday

19/08/11