Have travelled quite a bit since my last blog entry yesterday morning. From Dadyaal to Mirpur, then from Mirpur just beyond Ban Khurma on public transport. There I joined the foot brigade of JKLF (Rauf Kashmiri Group) which had entered its second day of marching from Bhimber to Muzaffarabad; to generate awareness amongst the public of AJK about Pakistani attempts to emulate India; in permanently integrating the area of Jammu & Kashmir that it controls into its own federation:
Yesterday's travelling was followed by another trip on public transport from Mirpur to Kotli. It isn't easy carrying luggage and sitting in a vehicle squashed between others for 3 hours.
Just before arriving in Kotli, I learned that the function that I was about to attend has been cancelled. It was an all too familiar story: Someone from abroad comes to engage and learn about the Kashmir dilemma from the horse's mouth so to speak viz. from the public on the ground. The clandestine agencies of Pakistan who operate here primarily to protect their own country's narrative as an occupying force become active and target the hosts of the foreign guest/s. The agencies spin a frightful yarn about security issues and urge the hosts to take their guest/s back to Islamabad where the Pakistani narrative on Jammu & Kashmir faces much less competition.
On this occasion, it was Claire Bidwell; a political activist from Scotland who has worked very diligently and energetically in the last couple of years to 'Let Kashmir Decide' its own present and future. She was hoping to launch the next phase of her movement by announcing a global coalition in solidarity with the people of this territory today - at 2pm - at the following venue:
I did try and convince our guest to not get swayed by these oft-repeated shenanigans by Pakistan's clandestine agencies but I do understand that she she was concerned about her hosts facing possible repercussions, if they ignored the demands of these agencies to ensure that she not meet or mingle with the local people here.
I will upload a couple of videos (1 each in English and Urdu) that I took at the venue: Chai Khana (or Chai Kada to be more precise). I haven't published them yet, at the request of colleagues in the UK who are monitoring the situation and urge that any material should be published once Claire Bidwell is back in the UK.
From one agency shenanigan to the next: A major faction of the JKLF led by Toqeer Gilani had their literature seized on Friday. This was done via a raid on a local activist's home whereby the local police and administration were apparently informed by Pakistan's clandestine agencies that this property had dangerous material (including bomb making equipment etc.).
What they - the local police - found were a few activists of JKLF stapling together pamphlets related to their 'Declaration of Independence' at Palandri on September the 4th. The local police also seized the activist's phones and despite lengthy discussions with the local administration on Friday and Saturday, the literature and communications equipment has not been returned. The local administration agree that the material is not objectionable and they also want to return it but.........they feel helpless against Pakistan's clandestine agencies, who are of course accountable to nobody. The most they can do is 'pass the buck' between various individuals in the local administration (from SHO to AC to SP etc.), which only infuriates the public even further.
This gave me an opportunity to provide some coverage to their sit-in protest at Shaheed Chowk Kotli, which is into its 3rd day:
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