Daily Diary (DD) - Day 133 of 2020

0513hrs:

Now, this article was from way back on September the 10th 2019. Which seems a very long time ago and I probably would have remained oblivious of it if somebody didn't Whatsapp me earlier this morning!

I wasn't aware of this article until someone Whatsapped me earlier today. I was urged by a very senior Pakistani to assist him in reforming the Pakistani narrative about a decade ago. I think he's come a long way even without my assistance! https://t.co/nuFeJi7nxm

— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) May 12, 2020

I don't agree with his conclusive paragraphs though. For many years I have strongly felt that the most effective role Pakistan can play in Jammu Kashmir & Allied is to play no role at all! This also means vacating the territories of AJK and GB in a gradual phased manner. Something I've been advocating since 2012.

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It is important for us to understand the extent of pre 1947 governance in Jammu Kashmir & Allied:



For those of you who cannot read the photo caption:

1920-----Amar Singh technical institute Srinagar!


It was started in 1913 and inaugurated in 1914 by Maharaja Partap Singh. Students were taught arts, sculpture, painting, designing, carpentering, architectural techniques and masonry. Fredrick H.Andrew was its first principal and later became principal of Mayo College of Arts, Lahore.

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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 336 of 2019

1500hrs:

Plodding along......still keeping public interaction at a minimum in order to get on top of work that remains pending.

Here's our daily video update explaining our current status:

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After many years - indeed decades - of back-door diplomacy, the Pakistani desire to swallow AJK and GB is now an open discussion on Pakistani TV. This programme on Aaj TV was aired yesterday evening:

Here are some notes I extracted from it:

Air Vice Marshal Shehzad Choudhary rtd - Defence Analyst

- We have a 'principled stand'
- AJK is a part of Kashmir Valley - we can't change that status - keep that in abeyance.
- But we can swallow GB like Indians have swallowed Ladakh..(or we can leave that to China to deal with.

Leuitenant General Abdul Qayoom rtd - PML-N  

- International Law Challenges
- Cannot make our stance weak i.e. We cannot do what India has done 
- AJK is free and has no problems - It is the Kashmir Valley that is suffering HR abuses.
- Problem will not go away until all parties agree on settlement and UN involvement is necessary for that.

Choudhary Manzoor - (Left) PPP

- Plebiscite for all territory
- Kashmir, Pakistan and UN (Agreement needed in that order)

Dr. Talat Farooq - Senior Consultant IPRI

- We need pro-active diplomatic stance
- UN resolutions
- Mobilise diaspora
- We should wait for end of curfew before we take further action
- Look at how China handles Ladakh

Extracted Summary:
Most panelists (including presenter) gave impression that India wants them (viz. Pakistan) to do what they have done to permanently divide the territory of J & K and make LOC International border.  

Of course, the Pakistanis are more calculated than that and will continue using ambiguity to gave us the perception that they have a very principled stand of standing up for the rights of the Valley Kashmiris. Which by extension means that we - the sheep of AJK and GB - are fully behind them.

We are not and hence the absence of our voice in the Pakistani State narrative.

The following was my comment on Youtube:

A very self-serving and self appreciating programme which stinks of hubris and has very little reference to the sentiments of the people that are the legal inheritors of the territory in question.

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The quest for re-opening Sharda continues from the other side of the LOC:

@DrJitendraSingh @DrSJaishankar @MOS_MEA @Tarunvijay @vinay1011 @AdityaRajKaul @sonalkalra @subhashkak1 @KiranKS @KashmiriPandit7 Called on MoS external affairs in parliament house today to take forward Sharda mission in light of LoC permit- whether applicable now. Jai sharda ! pic.twitter.com/CHdUmTzgCx

— Ravinder Pandita (@panditaAPMCC63) December 2, 2019

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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 266 of 2019

1240hrs:

"The time has therefore come for Pakistan’s bonzes – immersed as they are in their own troubles, and incapable as they are of looking beyond their noses – to display boldness and declare that Pakistan’s basic position is tied to the UN resolutions but that if the Kashmiris so desire, and they want to be on their own, then so be it. Pakistan will respect their wishes, even if it means Azad Kashmir becoming part of an independent Kashmir."

This time was over 3 years ago!

This is perhaps the most practical article I ever remember reading by a Pakistani on Kashmir:

This is rare Pakistani wisdom from over 3 yrs ago but even more relevant 4 #JandK #OBMs 2day:
2 paraphrase 1 of his sentences: When our leaders claim #Kashmir 4 #Pakistan we insult Kashmiri opinion because they r not facing Indian bullets 2 join Pakistan.https://t.co/GJjGjSNCGv

— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) September 23, 2019

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Remaining on the theme of Pakistanis who display genuine empathy for the sovereign aspirations of Jammu & Kashmir,  here is the first of a two part Urdu video whereby Dr Arif Mahmud Kisana makes some unusual arguments for a Pakistani:



For example, he reminds us that Iqbal in his Allahabad Address in 1930, while outlining a vision of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India never mentioned Kashmir. 

There was no such mention in the Lahore Resolution (which some describe as the Pakistan Resolution) either, 10 years later (1940). 

Pakistan had recognised the independence of Hyderabad, which had remained independent for 13 months until September 1948 when the Indian State took over, after many months of internal as well as external intrigue. Hence, M A Jinnah's interpretation of the Indian Independence Act was practically followed through viz. that the Princely States could remain independent or accede to any one of the 2 dominions.

I was particularly surprised at Dr Arif's elaboration on the Standstill Agreement which many Pakistanis wish to obliterate from memory, except to mention in passing where convenient.

He rightly mentions that Pakistan was enjoying favour with the Maharajah of Jammu & Kashmir and his subjects after signing the Standstill Agreement - which India didn't do - so why did Pakistan begin obstructing essential supplies to J & K under that agreement? 

In other words. why enrage others and make enemies of those who favour you or don't bring you harm?

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This is a first hand account of what happened on the 13th of September when the Pakistani prime minister made his 3rd trip to AJK in 39 days since India bifurcated and downgraded its controlled part of Jammu & Kashmir on the 5th of August. 

21 year old Khwaja Mujtaba Bandey explains how he and a few others were raising slogans in favour of Kashmir's freedom in the crowd (and not the sort of freedom that would enslave us to Pakistan). They had garnered the attention of the crowd at K. H. Khursheed Stadium for over 20 minutes before the AJK police took action. 

Mujtaba then explains how he was arrested and subsequently tortured in custody, by those who were 'senior' to the local SHO (Station House officer). Again, this is a euphemism for Pakistan's clandestine agencies:

Here's the FIR (First Information Report):

Translated thus:



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Random thoughts:


The aspiring citizens of AJK have to convert the wealth of the territory itself into the means of holding it.

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Daily Diary (DD) - Day 141 of 2019

1652hrs:

When some of my co-citizens insist that the state of public affairs in AJK is at a much lower level than what I criticise it for, I have to accept them at their word:

Take this following video for example:

لوکل گورنمنٹ بورڈ کے جانب سے جریدہ آسامیوں پر لیے گئے ٹیسٹ میں سرعام نقل کرائی جارہی ہے.@tariqfarooq60 @igillani @farooq_pm @sardarattiquemc @ChLatifAkbar#AJK #Kashmir #GoodGovernance pic.twitter.com/YBkIrhEcR7

— Saqib Ali Haidri (@SaqibAliHaidri) May 21, 2019

A case of openly 'supervised' copying of answers and no procedure for verification of ID at this Local Government Board test centre, whereby the 'applicants' were being 'tested' for their suitability for advertised government vacancies in the press.

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It's about time that certain aspects of Gilgit Baltistan's people's struggle for basic rights is addressed. Many academics and writers of global repute who take interest in the region have also succumbed to tropes generated by the Pakistani establishment:

This following news story exemplifies how sensationalist and misinformed the Pakistani media is and how uncouth Pakistani State agencies are in patrolling national interest: RAW plot to sow anarchy in Gilgit-Baltistan busted https://t.co/rTCvSDPFuP

— Tanveer Ahmed (@sahaafi) May 21, 2019

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