It was a Sunday yesterday..............so some slack was warranted.....however.......it was still intense at times......
1131hrs:
Into the final stages of my preparation for a 'do or die' hunger strike in Muzaffarabad. This will be the banner describing my rationale.
In a territory which describes itself as a democracy and bases its existence on securing the right of its people to decide their future, there appears to be zero scope for peaceful activism which can lead to resolution of matters in public interest. Hence, a 'do or die' scenario emerges whereby one either commits the 'powers that be' to seriously engage or.............
And here is that letter for the international community:
end.....
Into the final stages of my preparation for a 'do or die' hunger strike in Muzaffarabad. This will be the banner describing my rationale.
In a territory which describes itself as a democracy and bases its existence on securing the right of its people to decide their future, there appears to be zero scope for peaceful activism which can lead to resolution of matters in public interest. Hence, a 'do or die' scenario emerges whereby one either commits the 'powers that be' to seriously engage or.............
And here is that letter for the international community:
The Territorial Enigma that is AJK
(AJK is ‘officially’
translated as the ‘free’ part of the State of Jammu & Kashmir)
This is a letter addressed
in particular to the:
1)
United Kingdom (UK)
2)
United Nations (UN)
and the
and the
3)
European Union (EU)
Subject: An indefinite hunger strike till death or
resolution in Muzaffarabad - AJK
By: Tanveer Ahmed (An independent researcher/activist based
in AJK, un-interrupted since 2005)
Date: 09/04/18
Dear All,
I’ll begin by quoting a UK citizen in recent correspondence:
“I concede, as someone very comfortable with a Pakistani
identity but unhappy with Pakistan’s political culture, that AJK is a sham
democracy. This is not in dispute, numerous Pakistani journalists have reported
on the status of your State as not “free”. Numerous books and NGO reports exist
to that effect.”
By 2018, the human race has evolved to an unprecedented
level of sophistication in communications technology and consensual governance.
Despite which, I am writing this letter to emphasise that the territory which
I’ve inherited along with my co-citizens in 1947, remains amongst the most
deeply regressive and enslaved, in conscience as well as in physical structure.
Having lived in the UK for about 28 of my 46 years, whatever
I have been doing in terms of research and peaceful activism here for the past
13 years, is a consequence of my upbringing in a democratic environment; where
diversity of origin and expression were considered to be the binding strengths
of that society. Where multiple narratives invoked intellectual curiosity and
institutions facilitated economic opportunity, provided free justice based on
merit and protected our life, wealth and honour as equal citizens.
AJK is usually described as “Pakistani-administered Kashmir”
by the international community at large. Without legal or constitutional basis,
its governing system adheres to a de-facto imposed mono-narrative whereby
Pakistan’s perceived ‘national interest’ is strictly adhered to. This system is
no less fascistic than Hitler’s Germany or Mussolini’s Italy, only that it
doesn’t advocate racial supremacy but rather a contorted ‘version’ of Islam,
which assumes in its ultimate analysis that only Muslims have an exclusive
right to govern and dominate the world.
Western civilisation made a concerted effort to address
their dilemma through instruments such as the UN Charter. Britain and other
European colonialists gave access to their former ‘subjects’ to enter the
‘mother’ country and participate in their economic prosperity post World War 2.
However, what we are experiencing today in AJK is a direct legacy of the
British Empire. What the UK enjoys in terms of a tolerant multi-religious
society is exactly the opposite of what they left us with.
Those of us who
migrated bore fruit while those of us left behind inherited an inhumane
structure, whose ill-effects are so deep that one sees no scope for a peaceful
resolution, even after 13 years of consistent activism on the ground.
We also understand that the global structure of nation-states
necessitates that other countries or global institutions – inadvertently in
some cases perhaps – provide no recognised institutional framework for
resolution of conflict. Contemporary frameworks only recognise nation-states
- irrespective of their legitimacy or otherwise - and do not recognise people or
nations occupied. Democracy is practiced in the developed world but not
measured when assessing the role of transgressing nation-states in other
territories.
We, as a disenfranchised people in AJK want to take control
of our own public affairs - on a live and let live basis - not unlike
Switzerland which has been neutral between much more powerful neighbours. We
don’t want to be dragged deeper into a proxy war between our neighbours, who are
essentially fighting over control of our water resources, under the ideological
guise of ‘Pakistani nationalist Islamism’ vs ‘Indian nationalist secularism’.
We reside in a physical space just below the highest
mountain ranges of the world and lie central to not only most of the world’s
population but between various civilisations. It is simply un-natural for us to
abide by a mono-narrative whilst continuing to act as fodder to a conflict that
can quite easily be resolved by water management technology; a field of
knowledge that even the developed Western world has not paid sufficient
attention to. Human evolution requires us to be pro-active to avert future
conflict.
Our narrative as described above is not merely an
individual’s opinion but a summary of 13 years of accumulated collective wisdom,
derived from each and every category of citizen residing throughout this
territory. We are also proud to have conducted the most comprehensive citizen
public opinion survey (in proportion to the population) ever conducted
throughout the world, although I remain open to correction if warranted.
In 1947, the last autocratic ruler of this territory -
Maharajah Hari Singh - wanted the whole of his inherited State to be a neutral
country like Switzerland, where he would transfer all matters of governance to
an elected assembly of political representatives while remaining a symbolic
monarch, not too dissimilar to Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom. When the
Maharajah wrote to the Governor General of India for military assistance to
quell the tribal invasion from Pakistan, the response from Louis Mountbatten
was pre-conditioned with a proviso that when peace is restored in the
territory, then the question of the State’s future would be decided by its
inhabitants. In 1948, when India made its opening argument in the UN in
reference to its complaint against Pakistan, it specifically and category
expressed its desire for the State’s future to be decided by its people:
whether they wanted to accede to India or Pakistan or remain independent. 71
years later, the people’s will is yet to be considered as the exclusive arbiter
of the State’s future.
From historical context to today’s letter - which in all
probability could be the last letter that I ever write - recent events in our
territory have forced my hand and I am left with no option but to adopt the
tool of last resort for peaceful activism viz. a hunger strike till death or
resolution. I don’t want to physically fight with my immediate occupier (Pakistan)
and I have no bone to pick with the world. I want our political
representatives, our judiciary and our administration to be free of external
influence and exclusively accountable to the citizens of this territory, which
constitutes barely 6% of the whole of the erstwhile Princely State of Jammu
& Kashmir. I understand that there is no single member of the AJK
Government who can successfully wrestle back our usurped rights. Any politician
who tries, is immediately or gradually marginalised. Indeed, the current ‘Prime
Minister’ of AJK appears to be suffering from this very predicament.
Two recent events have shaken me and brought me to this
juncture:
1)
Naeem Butt – Was a dedicated political worker
representing JKLF. He was shot on the 16th of March by AJK police,
for peacefully protesting against the mounting deaths of civilians caused by
cross-LOC firing between India and Pakistan. He succumbed to his wounds on the
21st of March.
2)
Mahmood Ahmed Musafir – Is a seasoned activist
since 1984 who annually conducts a ‘creative’ public event in favour of the
basic rights of the citizens of this territory. On the 27th of
February, he began a walk for 300 kilometres from one end of AJK (Bhimber) to
the other (Muzaffarabad), armed with 32 demands in public interest and
accompanied by 3 donkeys and a camel, in search of humans who may assist in
creating genuine legislation in AJK. On the 5th of April, Mahmood
was prevented from proceeding about 35 kilometres short of the capital
Muzaffarabad. The police were directed to forcefully stall his efforts and
return him and his animals to his home district of Kotli. He remains in
hospital fighting death with life, after the enormous amount of mental torture
he was put under. As the AJK Government doesn’t possess the necessary
legislative powers to consider his demands, they felt it expedient to brush him
‘under the carpet’.
This pattern of repression, consistent since 1947 motivated
me to forego my journalistic career covering other global hotspots and settle
in the territory of my birth. Activism in pursuit of public interest in this
territory is the most difficult, dangerous, time-consuming and expensive (in
terms of opportunity cost) activity to do here. Society as a whole is nurtured,
engineered and structured to assist the imposed mono-narrative by only paying
attention to issues from which private/individual monetary benefit can accrue.
This applies to all walks of life and is precisely what sustains the
occupation.
We, the citizens of AJK are in search of humans to
understand our plight....and recognition from the outside world that we are
proactive in trying to create an appropriate forum to resolve our issues with
our neighbours.
Best wishes
Tanveer Ahmed
Contact: 00 92 (0) 345 5044252
Email: sahaafi@gmail.com
Blog: tanveerandkashmir.blogspot.com
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/sahaafi
Twitter: @sahaafi
end.....
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