A Journey in Jammu Kashmir & Allied areas (JKA)............................
from Subject to Citizen
.........autocracy to democracy
.........Dogra Raaj to Awaami Raaj
.........1947 CE to...........................
#WhiteFlags
#Neutrality
#WaterManagement #MirpurtoLondonviaCentralAsia
Visitors
Showing posts with label Global Civil Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Global Civil Society. Show all posts
When one's daily routine comes under attack from within, on one's own volition, disruptions occur. I couldn't sleep until 0500hrs and have just got up a few minutes ago. By fresh instinct, the first task that I am undertaking is to publish this weblog entry.
....
I decided to break down (country-wise) the response we are receiving for this outreach:
2324 - Total
2164 (as follows):
1833 - PK (c.99% AJK) - 79%
117 - UK - 5%
110 - USA - 5%
69 - SAUDI ARABIA - 3%
23 - CANADA - 1%
13 - PHILIPPINES - 1%
27 (as follows):
9 - AUSTRALIA
9 - QATAR
9 - MALAYSIA
16 (as follows):
8 - POLAND
8 - INDIA
12 (as follows):
6 - UAE
6 - ITALY
15 (as follows):
5 - ARGENTINA
5 - SWEDEN
5 - SINGAPORE
20 (as follows):
4 - GREECE
4 - HONG KONG
4 - KUWAIT
4 - BELGIUM
4 - OMAN
15 (as follows):
3 - BULGARIA
3 - PERU
3 - BOLIVIA
3 - NORWAY
3 - FRANCE
24 (as follows):
2 - GERMANY
2 - JORDAN
2 - ESTONIA
2 - CHILE
2 - SRI LANKA
2 - INDONESIA
2 - BRAZIL
2 - HUNGARY
2 - IRAQ
2 - GEORGIA
2 - BAHRAIN
2 - SPAIN
28 (as follows):
1 - TURKEY
1 - UKRAINE
1 - VENEZUELA
1 - HOLLAND
1 - RUSSIA
1 - EL SALVADOR
1 - LITHUANIA
1 - AUSTRIA
1 - EGYPT
1 - MAURITIUS
1 - JAMAICA
1 - ROMANIA
1 - TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
1 - MOROCCO
1 - GUYANA
1 - CHINA
1 - FINLAND
1 - PANAMA
1 - HONDURAS
1 - DENMARK
1 - URUGUAY
1 - LATVIA
1 - TUNISIA
1 - MEXICO
1 - BANGLADESH
1 - IRELAND
1 - PORTUGAL
1 - PALAU
Total: 2322 thus, 2 un-accounted for (perhaps those who signed this petition anonymously)
Here's the link for the petition. We urge all conscientious citizens of the world to empower our stance for bottom-up indigenous governance in the most contested territory in the world by signing and sharing the petition:
Thankfully, our punctuality deficit has reverted back to a surplus. Let's hope it stays that way until the end of this 365 day outing at the Square.
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I felt prompted to watch the following video, given that it is that time every 4 years where a considerable amount of the world's population turns their attention to a sporting competition:
I was then tempted to write the following notes, a part of which I entered as a comment to the video above, indicated in brackets below:
FIFA World Cup
Qatar
Globalisation
(Arabs deserve a respectable place in the world. They have a history and have contributed to global civilisation. They are not all terrorists or spoilt brats with nothing to contribute to the world.
Qatar has proactively used this and various other initiatives to show that they can be as much a part of the solution to humanity's problems as any other nation or people.
Al Jazeera and other institutions have been developed to build this 'soft power'.
Obtaining the opportunity to host the most watched global event in the world at 300 billion US dollars is a very prudent investment.
In the backdrop of the most lucrative and popular sport in the world, we can bring some sport and support similar fair play in geopolitics.)
We began trying to obtain membership of FIFA since the day of the World Cup final in Russia 4 years ago. We were ignored by everybody without exception, despite even asking one of our co-citizens based in Zurich - global headquarters of FIFA - but unfortunately it seems that he ignored us too, although it is possible that he may have a valid reason.
Incidentally, we understand that the whole World Cup event has been organised by a Swiss company. This is human capital export of the highest order. We, in Jammu Kashmir & Allied (areas) - JKA - have that capability too but we deny each other, sometimes even before the world denies us.
We - the people of JKA - are losing out because we are unable to organise ourselves as a people representing a country - in the manner that citizens of more than 200 countries are able to do - albeit the global geopolitical chessboard may have been a bit kinder to most of them. For example, citizens of India and Pakistan or even those of Nepal or Bhutan - presuming that most of them are proud of their national identity - have a head start ahead of us. Although for obvious reasons India and Pakistan have an unfair advantage over us.
Google, Facebook and Twitter are earning billions globally including from us in #AJK and throughout #JKA . Yet, they are paying 0 to our territory because we do not have an 'organisational framework' in the shape of a de facto country, to take advantage of opportunities the world is offering us.
Our concept of neutrality in foreign relations can be described as giving each country equal opportunity to engage/trade with us.
Our mutual economic relationships with other countries should be aimed as being 50:50 in terms of mutual benefit. We do understand that this may be difficult to achieve, given that global capital flocks to where there is greater opportunity. However, our neutral status and distinct geography can be an enticement in itself, that may confound traditional economic thinking.
There are countries that are already engaged with our territory and there should be some others that we proactively engage with - as many as have already engaged with us - in order to then create a level playing field for the rest of the world to engage with us.
We want to see #AJK or #JKA host the FIFA World Cup at some point in the next couple of decades, to enhance our 'soft power' credentials, if not anything else.
My punctuality deficit has increased to 580 minutes.
This is my latest arrival yet and it is partly to do with my venture out to Tithrinote yesterday, for the 3rd time in 6 days. We did arrive back in Dadyaal by c.0100hrs but I couldn't sleep until beyond 0400hrs..
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We did warn our people in the early hours of yesterday and also alerted global civil society. We received positive feedback too and then this happens in Rawalakot this evening:
We asked for peace to prevail in #AJK yesterday via #PublicAgency Our own citizens in the police force must stop taking instructions from 'Above'. We - the people - do not pay their salary to attack us 4 demanding our rights. Scenes from Khad in #Rawalakot now.. #JKASovereigntyhttps://t.co/zgif1wBTPZ
A solution requires genuine political representation of the 'titled' inhabitants of JKA at the table, where all interested external claimants from near and afar can understand how those people feel, when you've occupied their land and made a mess of attaining global peace, as enunciated in the UN Charter:
A colonial ride most certainly. Ur concise tweets r n indispensable part of a valuable democratic, ethical, legal & peaceful reference n future negotiations with #China#India#Pakistan#UK#USA - #UN only relevant if it backs an internally created political process in #AJK
As the evening trots on, we are getting further critical news from Rawalakot. This time in Thorar:
Scenes from #Thorar#Rawalakot Now those armoured vehicle(s) noticed in Rawalakot yesterday were not just indicating desperation on the part of the State of #Pakistan to keep a lid on their occupation of #AJK 75 yrs of perhaps the most significant hoax in #GlobalMuslimHistoryhttps://t.co/qTLZu1xbsr
My punctuality deficit has increased to 489 minutes.
....
Earlier in the day, rather in the very early hours of the morning (at 135hrs) I wrote the following note with global civil society in mind, in particular:
The political atmosphere in all districts of AJK at the moment is charged on an unprecedented scale.
Despite everything the public is pointed, disciplined and peaceful in its unrelenting demand for independence.
The manner of demand may be diverse and emerge from a range of emotions and ground realities that all derive from 75 years of neglect.
The inhabitants of AJK - in ever rising numbers - are in a state of defiance but remain pragmatic in the knowledge that their own survival is linked with that of their neighbours and the rest of the world.
#WhiteFlags
#JKASovereignty
#Neutrality
#WaterManagement
AJK Public Agency Note #013524072022
....
The writing is most definitely on the wall. Let me translate the following:
The writing is on the wall. The 'titled' inhabitants can endure no more from the 'claimants', is the report from ground zero in #AJK It is time to restore #JKASovereignty
If in the 15th amendment the word 'State' and reference to the UN are taken out then this would be considered to be a 'Pakistani 5 August 2022'. It will have no constitutional or legal status. The presence of Pakistan in Azad Kashmir has a different jurisprudence than that of India (in Jammu Kashmir).
End of translation..
....
I made some notes on the following in-depth article on the 15th amendment by Athar Masood Wani:
A well researched article. A guide for all variables working on 15th amendment and those opposed to it. MLAs in particular should read it. https://t.co/GnseFydCdi
The biggest question looming in every analyst's mind: Who is behind this 15th amendment?
Kashmir Council wasn't audited for 12 years according to this writer.
15th amendment will not only reverse all gains made in 13th amendment, it wll make KC the supreme constitutional authority over AJK, with absolutely no provision for accountability, transparency or merit. AJK government budget will be at their total mercy.
Tourism act will allow any Pakistani institution to take whatever land they see fit, irrespective of environmental or local needs.
According to the 13th amendment only the AJK Assembly can invoke legislation. For the Pakistan State to do so is unethical as well as unconstitutional (as it is trying to do in reference to the proposed 15th amendment). It also contradicts Article 257 of its own constitution.
End of notes....
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Today, I ventured out to Tithrinote on the LOC in Poonch for JKLF's 'Azadi Dharna' (Freedom Sit-in Protest) for the 3rd time in 5 days. The following message is poignant for the international community and global civil society:
The following Urdu post (a character reference about me essentially) written by Shafqat Inqalabi of Ghizer in Gilgit Baltistan appears to have been no-platformed by Facebook, after written complaints we understand:
تنویر احمد کے جدو جہد کو سلام https://t.co/Jw3gvSJj0k Facebook have disallowed this Urdu post about me after complaints
Meanwhile, the second 'AJK Government' sponsored 'Kashmir Conference' provided the following 'empty' spectacle to the rest of the world, from Muzaffarabad. What is bogus is bogus:
میرےخیال سےتصویروں پرتبصرےکی ضرورت نہیں ہےتصویریں خودبول رہی ہیں؟مگرپھربھی یہ کہناچاہوں گاکہ تمام ترحکومتی وسائل کوبروۓکارلانےکےباوجود،کالجوں یونیورسٹیوں سےطلبا۶ کوزبردستی لانےکےباوجودریلی وجلسےمیں لوگوں کاشرکت نہ کرنااس بات کاثبوت ہیکہ عوام نےآپکواورآپکی سوچ الحاق کومستردکردیاہے pic.twitter.com/PCtljvnBEH
Professor Piotr of Poland is a political scientist of global repute, an expert in many fields including covering global conflict zones from ground zero: Be it Uzbekistan to Palestine, from the Panjsher to Dadyaal to Tibet to Urumqi and the list is endless...
I have multiple honours in being his host in JKA, he has been following my action-oriented research work for almost a decade now, he has also become a precious friend and global compass guide to me, amongst many other affiliations and attributes.
His words can be taken as an 'authority' in their own right.
....
AJK PUBLIC AGENCY NOTE: EU 1724-17032022
From AJK to JKA
(Roman Urdu) Azad Jammu Kashmir se Jammu Kashmir wa muttahida ilaaqajaat.
When 99% of the whole population of JKA will directly benefit from the 'Public Policy Workshop' at Martyr's Square Kotli, why would we tolerate a judge from elsewhere?
(Roman Urdu) Jab 99% awaam raazi to kyou karey qabool Shaheed Chowk Kotli me koi aur Qazi?
Note Ref: EU 1724-17032022
....
State aggression in AJK will now almost always meet a reaction in the UK, as the following examples suggest:
A tea (kahwa in my case) drinking campaign for awakening humanity. Each one of us is bound in the humanity of all other humans. A human right violation anywhere is a human right violation everywhere. Although I posted the following on my own Facebook wall, it is encouraging to see others uploading it elsewhere:
Let's begin today by sparing a thought for the other side of the LOC. Indeed, the other side of the proverbial coin:
Release Kashmiri Journalist Fahad Shah Immediately. - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/blaZHl7vEz via @Change I know what he's going through. We can't let #India r #Pakistan take such liberties with our people. Especially those who amplify the 'public reference' promised but never
Let me complete the sentence with the liberty that Twitter strategically doesn't offer.
I know what he's going through. We can't let #India or #Pakistan take such liberties with our people. Especially those who amplify the 'public reference': promised but never delivered by the above or by the original architect, #GreatBritain or by the country that describes itself as the 'People's Republic of #China or by the most evangelical of democracies #USA We bear no grudges but adhere to the Golden Rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
End of sentence...
.....
We can slide out of politics and take ourselves back to the drawing board of culture:
In line with one of our prime public policy goals in #AJK To revive #Sharda as one of the pre-eminent centres of learning and wisdom in the world. https://t.co/nxGLiUNi3f
Here's the letter for international (and regional) human rights organisations in reference to Malik Waseem:
Update 1600hrs:
The torture being meted out by the AJK administration on Malik Waseem is intensifying:
He was given bail for his cyber crime allegation but instead of being released, he was taken to jail!
'Recharged' under 16 MPO (Maintenance of Public Order) once again! He was already on bail for that charge!
Wow!
Dear AJK Government!
You really do think we live in isolation and that there will never be accountability for your crimes. Greed is blind said many a wise man and woman.
Meanwhile, Malik Waseem has been featured in an anonymous newspaper, which refers to his association with me and the punishment he is facing as a result.
.........
“'I am no bird, and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you. '”
I think you are acknowledging that legitimate thought and space and we thank you for that. Now, I wonder if a Pakistani of your profession and calibre can donate the same? #IndoPakBilateralism#JKA
Some respite after the storm........the flow of information doesn't recede though, it gathers pace.
...........
Today's seizure of a large consignment of arms and ammunition in Dadyaal by local police raises a lot of questions, for very obvious reasons in a relatively peaceful territory:
Some family commitments prevented me from departing yesterday. I managed to rejoin the 'Watan Bachao March' (Save our Motherland/Country March) at Dothaan, a few kilometres short of Kaigalla where we received a rousing welcome:
......
Later in the evening, I was invited to a discussion on JKTV involving the 'Let Kashmir Decide' emerging global coalition which had seasoned activists from the UK, USA, Canada and Australia participating in it. Despite the massive difference in time zones they were all able to connect while I. despite participating in the programme couldn't really take active part due to my inferior internet connection. It is telling that an activist who took part from Islamabad had a clear connection while I, on the outskirts of Rawalakot in AJK didn't. This is symptomatic of the one-sided relationship between AJK and Pakistan:
This has probably been one of my most productive days since release from prison on the 19th of June - which seems a long time ago - not least because of my self-imposed seclusion. I needed to clear my head so that I can have the best shot at what remains to be the rest of my life. Long or short, the result must be constant and a pattern of output in tune with the thoughts and actions required for the 21st century.
Here's a tribute to a legend that took me along his path, from the man most qualified to present this tribute, his active son:
As touched on already, it was a busy day at the office today. It took us to Neelam and back but not without some healthy diversions to other parts of the world. We live in the connected age after all.
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A Prime Example of how the Pakistani State indoctrinates our population en masse from a very young age to adopt its nationalist narrative while suppressing our own indigenous nationalist narrative, yet it claims to have a 'principled' stand of advocating self-determination for the people of Jammu & Kashmir
Dudhnial High School - which is housed in the premises of Dudhnial Government Inter College
On the 20th of August at Dudhnial Government High School an assembly took place as usual at 0800hrs. What was unusual was that some students of the 9th class decided to react to the Pakistani State's imposed activity of regularly chanting "Kashmir Banega Pakistan" (Kashmir will become Pakistan) with "Kashmir Banega Khudmukhtar" (Kashmir will become independent) in defiance.
One teacher in particular, namely Saboor Iqbal (16th grade but yet ad hoc meaning that his employment was still tentative) became furious at this reaction and immediately brought out a register and demanded to take down the names of all those students who chanted the latter slogan.
Saboor Iqbal
These 'rebellious' students were separated from the others and expelled from the assembly. Saboor Iqbal further threatened them with expulsion from school and also suggested that the police be called and these students promptly be handed over to them. At this point lab assistant Malik Mumtaz went even further and suggested that rather we should call the Pakistani army and they should lathi (baton) charge these 'offending' students of the 9th class, all of whom were under 16.
Malik Mumtaz
An example of indoctrination at school assemblies throughout AJK below:
Transliteration and translation:
Naaaaara e takbir....Allah o Akbar (Slogan to magnify that God is great)
Islam...zindabad - (Long live Islam)
Islam....zindabad - (Long live Islam)
Pakistan....zindabad - (Long live Pakistan)
Pakistan....zindabad - (Long live Pakistan)
Pakistan....zindabad - (Long live Pakistan)
End...
Note: It is clear from the slogans that Pakistan is conflated with Islam to give children the impression that they are one and the same, whereas Islam is a universal message for humanity and for its adherents a matter of faith, dignity and spirituality. Meanwhile, Pakistan is a country like 200 or so other countries in the world which all have common secular challenges and responsibilities to their citizens, which cannot be abdicated from or wished away under the cover of religious sentiment and affiliation.
What followed over the next few days was tantamount to torture for these students and others (older students) who emerged in their support. Threats from the school administration ensued to not raise the issue/incident elsewhere - including social media - to keep quiet and effectively consider this repression and suppression as the will of Allah (rather than the will of the Pakistani State which when push comes to shove is every bit as suppressive and repressive as the Indian State vis a vis Kashmir).
These children were also censured by their family and some friends to not make an issue of this, as it would lead to further trouble for both students and teachers alike.
This gave the impression in some quarters of civil society that the students were not taking a stand while activity on social media as referenced below mainly gave a feedback of outrage against the behaviour of the school's administration.
FB posts:
Ideally, schools should not be venues for political sloganeering but this is customary and compulsory throughout AJK. The Pakistanis wish to leave no stone unturned to promote and protect their nationalist narrative in this territory, which they describe as disputed. Thus, they are keen to project to the neighbourhood and the outside world alike that everybody here in AJK is keen for Kashmir to become a part of Pakistan. Making Pakistanis out of our children from the outset is thus a primary objective of theirs.
For the majority of the population in AJK (as corroborated by various public opinion polls including the most extensive and representative survey conducted by this writer), this is an insult to our children's freedom to think and on a broader scale the right of the people of Jammu & Kashmir to exist as an independent entity on their own terms, not unlike how India and Pakistan crave to exist.
Students and their close sympathisers in Dudhnial strongly feel that such strong-arm interventions and suppression in AJK's educational establishments should be challenged, otherwise matters will get further out of hand. In particular, that the authorities will take even more liberties with children in future. Thus, they demand that either an FIR (First Information Report) be lodged with the police against the teachers in question, in reference to the threats and harassment received by the students, or that the teachers be suspended or that they apologise to the students.
When enquiries were made before compiling this report we learned that the ad hoc 16th grade teacher Saboor Iqbal who seemingly instigated this issue claimed that an 'official' notification to the effect that only the slogan of 'Kashmir Banega Pakistan' (Kashmir will become Pakistan) can be chanted in school has been circulated. We did try to obtain the aforementioned notification but the school hasn't obliged despite assuring us that they would do so.
We also learned that the children were threatened again on the 24th of August (a day after initially compiling this report). It was reiterated that nobody can raise the slogan of independence inside or outside the college. Further, that if they did so they - the students - would be 'picked up' etc.
Local activists of the region have had detailed interaction with the school authorities as well as the district administration in pursuit of redressal. They feel that there is suppression on both sides of the State of Jammu & Kashmir without a doubt whereby students and teachers alike are compelled to chant slogans in favour of the 'occupiers'. That this is a primary means of controlling their respectively 'held' territories.
According to the school authorities and district administration they are forcefully bound that in any institution no separatist/independent organisation or ideology is to be tolerated. Further, that they are compromised by their necessities of work viz. they are not in a position to resist the instructions given out from time to time by the agents of the Pakistani State. In their opinion, they are not the ones compelling the students given their livelihood compulsions.
On their part, they reason that they explained to the students to not do anything that will become a problem (danger) for both of them viz. the teachers/admin and students alike. As indicated earlier, relatives of students also play a role in scaring children against resistance and independent advocacy, not least because they are well aware of what possible repercussions may emerge on the part of the deep Pakistani State.
In conclusion, this writer would earnestly advocate that schools are not a place for political propaganda, irrespective of whatever ideology is being propagated. Enforced chanting of political slogans will cause a reaction like it did in Dudhnial, Neelam Valley. Resistance in AJK is now beginning from a younger age and even in the remotest and most 'sensitive' of areas, where hitherto resistance had proved most expensive for locals (viz. being 'picked up' tortured and denied habeas corpus by Pakistan's clandestine agents). That fear is rapidly eroding in the digital age.
(Update ref. above issue posted on 19/09/2021):
It emerged that the teachers and admin staff at Dudhnial High School decided to apologise for the harassment they meted out to the students referenced above. They said that henceforth no political slogans (irrespective of ideology) will be shouted at the school and that they sympathise with the student's aspirations. In fact, they hold similar views - viz. Kashmir should be an independent territory - but for the over-riding governance structure in AJK - viz. a compulsion to promote and adhere to Pakistan's nationalist narrative on Jammu & Kashmir - thus, such unfortunate incidents occur.
We on our part, hope that the rest of AJK's educational fraternity can take lessons from this incident and refrain from making students shout political slogans in educational institutions throughout AJK.
.......
The following declaration was announced on the 13th of August at Malmo in Sweden. I consider this to be a significant step enacted by global civil society in recognising our status:
Here's the text of the declaration:
Malmö Declaration 2021
Nordic Kashmir organisation's Malmö Declaration, after launching the international campaigning for Free Kashmir.
13-08-2021
We live in interesting and scary times. In many ways, numerous things around us, whether in Europe or the Americas or South Asia, echoes the early twentieth century.
A time when fascism had just begun to rear its ugly head on many fronts. Unfortunately, such things are not history anymore; they should have been had we taken much-needed lessons from such events of the past.
Today, we again stand at the intersection of history, and our options are simple -fascism or freedom.
The pandemic has only highlighted what we have known for a long time, i.e., the working people of the world are nothing but a source of energy meant to be expended at the altar of capitalist surplus making.
Precarity has become the new normal, and the precariat are ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ of our time. And these are not the issues of people only in some regions of the world.
These are people’s issues – from Detroit to Malmo, from London to Lahore, from Milan to Mumbai, from Bolivia to Balochistan, from Bastar to Belarus, from Catalonia to Kashmir, from Palestine to Tibet.
In keeping with these developments on a global scale, the people of Kashmir (from both Indian Occupied/Administered and Pakistani Occupied/Administered Kashmir, hereafter Kashmir), especially those who are in the diaspora, must shun their timidity and ostrich-like behaviour and firmly situate and locate the struggle for Kashmir’s freedom within this paradigm.
In the spirit of global solidarity and freedom, all progressive and pro-independence people of Kashmir must support this declaration (hereafter Malmö Declaration) and endorse that:
1. Kashmir is neither an integral part of India nor a jugular vein of Pakistan. Instead, Kashmir belongs to the people of five regions of the erstwhile State of Kashmir, i.e., Kasheer, Jammu, Gilgit-Baltistan, Ladakh, and ‘Azad’ Kashmir.
2. Kashmir is a multicultural, multireligious, and multilingual nation.
3. UN resolutions, as they stand, are vague and outdated as they treat Kashmir as a border dispute between India and Pakistan, whereas it is fundamentally an issue of the people’s socio-economic and political aspirations.
That the partisans of the people’s movement in Kashmir, especially in the diaspora, pledge to pursue the following objectives:
1. Uphold and spread the vision of an Independent, Secular, Democratic United Kashmir as the only honourable way forward from the impasse.
2. Endorse the right to return and right to dignified living for all Kashmiri citizens (state-subjects) who were forced to migrate from any part of Kashmir to either India or Pakistan due to direct violence or threats thereof since 1947.
3. Actively work within UN mechanisms and lobby UN officials to acknowledge the need to update the UN resolutions to reflect that the people’s right to self-determination cannot be confined to joining either India or Pakistan; instead, the option of independence should be duly recognised by the UN framework.
4. Promote the various languages and cultures of Kashmir.
5. Establish people-led and people-centric institutions geared towards building a platform that will promote inter-regional dialogue to ensure that the issues of each region of Kashmir are highlighted in their specificity and solutions to address them are chalked out jointly.
6. Highlight the catastrophic consequences wanton urbanisation and the neo-liberal development agenda can have for Kashmir, especially for agriculture and water resources, and actively work towards making green policies a central concern for all economic activity in Kashmir.
7. Actively pursue gender equality in all spheres of Kashmir’s society.
8. Reject all forms of bigotry, discrimination, and parochialism by not engaging with actors who pursue such an agenda and methodically demonstrating such agendas’ untenable and destructive character.
9. Support independent research and scholarly work that prioritises the aspirations of the people of Kashmir and illuminates how both India and Pakistan, in their own ways, have and continue to obfuscate the reality of Kashmir and silence all forms of dissent.
Finally, our demands from Pakistan and India, respectively, who both claim to have the best interests of the people of Kashmir close to their hearts.
Our demands from Pakistan are:
1. Reverse all demographic changes that have been orchestrated in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan Administered Kashmir.
2. Validate its claim of being a supporter of the people’s movement in Kashmir by actively supporting the independence of Kashmir as a matter of its diplomatic and state policy in the UN and beyond.
3. Immediately stopping arming proxies that use violence to further the objective of annexing some parts or entire Indian administered Kashmir to Pakistan.
4. Put an immediate end to the curbs on the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement in the parts of Kashmir (AJK and GB) under its control.
5. Cease all measures that seek to annex Gilgit-Baltistan to Pakistan under the pretext of granting them rights and instead create the conditions for an autonomous system of governance that guarantees and safeguards the socio-economic and cultural rights of the people of AJK and GB without any interference from Pindi or Islamabad until the final resolution of the issue.
6. Stop all proposed infrastructural projects that have catastrophic environmental consequences.
7. Pay for the resources that have been extracted from Kashmir since 1947 without the people’s informed consent.
8. Transfer ownership of all active infrastructural projects to the people of Kashmir and negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement with the people without any coercion or duress.
9. Liaise with international monitoring groups and the people’s representatives in Kashmir to gradually demilitarise Kashmir and transfer the responsibility of security, law, and order to institutions that enjoy people’s confidence.
10. Liaise with UN and SAARC to make the LoC irrelevant and ensure freedom of movement for the people of Kashmir from IaK to PaK and vice-versa.
Our demands from India are:
1. Immediately reverse the annexation and partition of Kashmir that was executed on the 5th of August 2019.
2. Cease all measures that will change the demography of Indian administered Kashmir.
3. Put an immediate end to the curbs on the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement in the parts of Kashmir under its control.
4. Stop all proposed infrastructural projects that have catastrophic environmental consequences.
5. Pay for the resources that have been extracted from Kashmir since 1947 without the people’s informed consent.
6. Transfer ownership of all active infrastructural projects to the people of Kashmir and negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement with the people without any coercion or duress.
7. Liaise with international monitoring groups and the people’s representatives in Kashmir to gradually demilitarise Kashmir and transfer the responsibility of security, law, and order to institutions that enjoy people’s confidence.
8. Liaise with UN and SAARC to make the LoC irrelevant and ensure freedom of movement for the people of Kashmir from PaK to IaK and vice-versa.
Unfortunately, we are certain that these demands will be dismissed by both India and Pakistan as delusional.
However, these demands are at the same time directed at the conscientious people of India and Pakistan and in the spirit of justice, freedom, and peace, we hope they will endorse these demands unconditionally as we believe that this is the only way forward to ensure peace and prosperity in South Asia, and keep the forces of destruction and violence at bay.
Nordic Kashmir Organisation, NKO
My comment on this declaration:
The declaration as well as the photo with the placard are succinct, appropriate, timely and universal in appeal. On the global stage it is a perfect reference.
