from The Human Impact:
Sri Lanka’s war-traumatised at risk as aid group leaves?
It was with a heavy heart I read the press release this morning.
A desperately needed aid programme run by the charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) – in English, Doctors without Borders – in Sri Lanka's war-torn north has shut down after only 18 months of operation.
I had visited the project last September and I must say what MSF was giving was no ordinary aid.
It was not distributing food to survivors of the Indian Ocean island's almost three-decade long conflict. Nor was it reconstructing the shelled and bullet-ridden homes, schools and hospitals of Kilinochchi district.
It was not even helping war-hit populations with new skills to help them get jobs after their businesses were destroyed and their farms filled with landmines during fighting between separatist Tamil Tiger fighters and government forces.
MSF's aid could not be seen. Yet it was equally, if not more, essential to the tens of thousands of Sri Lankans who witnessed the deaths of their loved ones in the bloody final phases of the war which ended in May 2009.
India no angel in dangerous neighbourhood
By Annie Banerji
Perhaps the finger-pointing at neighbouring Pakistan and the talk of Afghan militancy destabilising the region that New Delhi so often rolls out should be reconsidered. The neighbourhood may well be dangerous, but India is no model pupil.
According to the 2011 Global Peace Index, an initiative of the Institute of Economics and Peace, which evaluates 153 countries based on the level of ongoing conflict, safety and security and militarisation, India is the world’s 135th most peaceful country, falling seven positions from last year.
This year’s rankings, which indicated a decline in the levels of peace for the third consecutive year overall, placed Iceland in the top spot as the most peaceful country and Somalia as the world’s least.
India’s performance is high on some of the indicators, for instance, level of organised internal conflict, political instability, and relations with neighbouring countries, for which reason India is a part of the 20 least peaceful countries in the world along with Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
India’s unfortunate state of safety and security not only emerges largely from religious conflict with active groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Students’ Islamic Movement of India, but also Naxalism, an ideology of militant Communist groups. Terror activity is not concentrated in a particular region in India, but it has poisonously seeped into almost all areas of the country.
Starting from the north, with the perennial conflict of Jammu and Kashmir due to political and religious imbalances to the north-east, where there are tensions between state governments, the central government and the tribal people. Central India is infested with Naxalist insurgency, which in the past week caused the death of nine police officers.
I do not know how authentic these studies are. There is no clear information on how the information was obtained, the sources of the information and whether any verification was done at all. Most of these surveys are done by Western countries where they inject their perceived bias and apprehension into these surveys, thereby projecting a demoniacal image of countries that do not entirely agree with their vision of the world. I’d say, based on this survey, Antarctica is the most peaceful place on earth.
If one takes a country like the USA, gun culture is legally permitted. People can own automatic and semi-automatic weapons, grenade launchers and what not. Once in a while people get shot in shopping malls and work places by frustrated or mentally deranged individuals. Safety is a big concern there. People get shot when getting mugged by school kids. Drug gangs have proliferated across big metros. Cops can shoot and kill anyone. They just have to make up the evidence. In places like Australia, racial attacks have increased. Indians are targeted and attacked. If the world is gauged from an Indian standpoint or that of an African, the rest of the world does not appear that safe.
I do not deny India’s own problems. Things were much worse before compared to now. Every country has its criminals. Therefore I am not so worried about these surveys which are amateurish at best.
Kashmir seeks extradition of accused army soldier
A former Indian soldier, accused of killing a Kashmiri human rights lawyer, has been arrested in the United States on charges of domestic violence.
Major Avtar Singh fled the country in the 1990s after he was accused of kidnapping and brutally killing Jaleel Andrabi, a Kashmiri lawyer and human rights activist.
Andrabi’s decomposed body was found 15 years ago in a river. The killing sparked off massive protests and led to a probe by authorities.
The government of Jammu and Kashmir is now seeking the extradition of Singh from the United States.
A Times of India report said a special investigating team found Singh could have been involved in six more extrajudicial killings in Kashmir.
“The accused is in California police’s preventive custody. He would (be) shifted to Srinagar in 15 days,” said senior police official Raja Ajaz Ali, who is also Interpol liaison officer for Kashmir.
Government forces in the Himalayan state have been accused in the past of murdering civilians in staged gunbattles and passing them off as separatist militants to earn rewards and promotions.
@ Shahid. If only we had some kind of LeT training camps sponsored by GOI on Indian side Kashmir,then i would realise the need for PA to maintain army in such numbers Sir. Why is it so difficult for local police of NWFP region to do policing job there? From my understanding, army is deployed there because they are much sophisticated and tactical than regular police force. I believe that’s the same with Indian case.
Also Mr.Shahid, please shed some light on this issue to me.why Indian army is tryin to kill Kashmiris? so when you talk about kashmiris,do you speak only for Muslims??
Should forces responsible for over 100 killings be praised for restraint?
India’s Prime Minister praised the work of security forces in disputed Kashmir on Tuesday, in a show of support for troops that killed over 100 separatist protesters last year that risks angering those that resent India’s large military presence in the state.
The remarks represent a seal of approval for security forces that are cited by many Kashmiris as an element of the violence, rather than the preventers of it, and come as a team of interlocutors enters its fifth month of talks in the troubled region, and almost two months after Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said that a political solution to the troubles was likely to emerge “in the next few months.”
But can Manmohan Singh’s praise for the “tremendous restraint” of Indian forces in Kashmir be applauded considering they have been responsible for the death of over 100 separatist protesters in months of violent clashes since last summer?
“It is really unfortunate and sad that despite tremendous restraint shown by the security forces, many young people died,” Singh told a conference of state chief ministers in New Delhi on Tuesday. “As we meet today, the situation in the valley has improved.”
Such rhetoric — regularly trotted out by New Delhi and military leaders — is reviled by many in Kashmir by those who resent the perceived heavy-handed treatment by India’s security forces.
Last month, India appeared to be moving towards a reduction in ground forces in the state, while discussions roll on regarding the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act — much-maligned by Kashmiri citizens.
@Oppressed 1947
***I am curious why kidnapping and killing two teenage sisters by militants did not raise as much hue and cry as the rape and killing in Shopian case where people in the valley were protesting.
Why not protest like that now?
Kashmir calms down, but peace still distant
Winter has come to Kashmir, a scenic valley deep in the Himalayas, cooling tensions in the disputed region after months of violent anti-India demonstrations.
At least 110 people have been killed since June. Dozens were wounded, mostly by police bullets, during the protests – the biggest since a revolt against Indian rule broke out in 1989.
A separatist strike, curfew and security lock-down, that dragged on for over four months and closed much of the region, have ebbed away and the streets across Kashmir are abuzz with activity again.
Authorities say the arrest of some “hard-core” protest organisers and the onset of winter helped to calm the protests.
But there is no optimism across Kashmir valley that peace has returned.
Nayeem Akhtar, chief spokesman of the state’s main opposition People’s Democratic Party says the weakening of anti-India protests should not be mistaken for an end to the problem.
“You cannot expect Kashmiris to be in permanent agitation mode. People are exhausted, they have suffered deaths, injuries, financial losses,” Akhtar told The Hindu newspaper.
Arundhti Roy has talked about it, Pandit Nehru said the same, freedom for Kashmiris can be delayed, but it can not be stopped for ever.
Is Kashmir’s protest leader gaining popularity?
Separatist militancy has waned over the years in Kashmir, but now a radicalised young generation which has grown up in over two decades of violence and strife is driving the massive anti-India demonstrations across the disputed region.
Who is leading months of freedom demonstrations in Kashmir, a fresh unarmed uprising that is proving a huge political challenge for the Indian government?
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the 80-year-old hardline Kashmiri politician who is hated by India and backed by Pakistan, has emerged as the leading face of the present separatist campaign in the region.
Since the crisis started on June 11 when a 17-year-old student died after being hit by a tear gas shell during a protest, Geelani weekly issues a protest calendar that calls for protest marches, strikes and sit-ins.
More than 100 people have now been killed in more than 100 days of protests, the biggest since an armed revolt against New Delhi’s rule broke out in 1989.
The death toll so far includes children, women and teenagers, nearly all killed by police bullets.
Many Kashmiris are not happy with Geelani’s protest plans because the continuing cycle of strikes and government curfews has shut down schools, colleges and offices, made food and medicine scarce and has brought untold misery to the people.
@RajeevDubey,
As long as Pakistan and India have the notion that Kashmir belongs in totality to one or the other, circustances will always keep militancy alive into Indian Kashmir and Kashmiri’s will always get stuck in the middle.
India must win the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people and they will wholeheartedly choose the Indian union over Pakistan. India has the time, money, the resources and patience and above, intelligence of ideas. A heavy hand will not win the hearts of Kashmiri’s only a gentle, methodical, intelligent and persistant approach will work.
Kashmiri leaders must be kept constantly accountable and at the table and those leaders must hold their people accountable as well. Concurrently, India needs to do a better job of policing the LOC, educating Kashmiri youth and creating jobs and infrastructure for them and bring the down the hammer of justice on militants that cross the LOC.
With enough time, Kashmiri’s will realize that India is the ONLY one, that cares to preserve their culture and their state and language, because if India does not, Pakistan will swallow, assimilate, displace Kashmiri’s by settlements.
Indian politicians need to take a more pro-active role in this regard and start creating a more friendly atmosphere and put these idle, useless mouthpieces like Geelani out of business for good.
India can take Kashmir by winning Kashmiri hearts, force will create more separatism and militantism. Again, India has the resources, money and patience, just lack of political will to engage this issue with some greater vision and spine.
India offers fresh peace talks to Kashmir
New Delhi has expressed its willingness to hold talks with ”any group” from Kashmir where protests against Indian rule have mounted in recent weeks and government forces have killed at least 65 people, mostly stone-throwing protesters.
The civilian deaths have fuelled anger in the disputed Himalayan region where anti-India sentiments run deep though militant violence has gone down.
“We hope to restart the dialogue process. We will talk to any group, any political party which is willing to talk to us,” Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.
According to Hindustan Times, the government will soon come out with specific meaures to address some issues which may bring relief to the people of Kashmir.
A nearly three-month-long separatist strike, curfew and security lockdown has kept the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley on the boil, shutting down much of the scenic region.
“Few days means few days…government hopes that it will be able to re-start the process of dialogue in the near future,” Chidambaram said.
After several failed rounds of peace talks between moderate separatists and New Delhi in the past decade, locals say India is only buying time and is not serious about resolution of the dispute.
Mr. Sheikh Mushtaq,
The offer by India of talks and the reaction by Kashmiri leaders has left no doubt that Kashmiris should be ready for a long haul.
3 parties (the leaders) are equally responsible for the mess India-Pak-Kashmir are in.
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waleekamil said: “basic problem with Delhi is what to offer Kashmiris politically”
***Agreed. But do you believe there is a mature leader on Kashmir’s side who can hold his/her own and navigate Kashmir to peace.
Is New Delhi working on Kashmir solution?
At least 64 people have been killed across Kashmir during anti-India demonstrations, one of the worst outbreaks of unrest since a separatist revolt against New Delhi broke out in 1989.
Frequent curfews, security lockdown and separatist strikes have kept the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley on the boil, shutting down much of the region for the past two and a half months.
New Delhi has been criticised for failing to respond to violence that has wounded hundreds, closed down schools and colleges also.
But now Kashmir’s chief minister, Omar Abdullah, has hinted at a political solution of the crisis by New Delhi in the coming days.
“The Union government is actively working for a political solution,” Abdullah said and expressed hope that an “amicable and peaceful” settlement would not be too far off.
After several failed rounds of peace talks between separatists and the Centre in the past two decades, India will find it difficult bridging the “trust deficit” between New Delhi and Kashmir, a region seen as key to the stability of a broad zone ranging from India to Afghanistan.
Abdullah expressed hope that New Delhi will take positive steps in addressing the political issues of Kashmir in a sustained dialogue process avoiding the “re-occurrence of mistakes done in the past.”
i doubt if India is really serious about resolution as there is no leader of that caliber who would take risks involved in such resolution as politics of India at this time is not statesmanship oriented…..but let us watch what India is going to offer????????
Manipur blockade highlights India’s northeast dilemma
An entire state held to ransom for the past three months. And a central government that seems helpless to stop it.
Naga groups on Tuesday said they were extending for another 25 days their blockade of the two highways linking landlocked Manipur to the rest of the country.
This follows almost consecutive 20 days and 69 days of similar blockades, leaving the northeast state surviving on army-escorted supplies for the past three months.
Before a recent deployment of security forces for escorting food supplies, the state faced acute shortage of essential commodities like live-saving drugs. Petrol was priced at 200 rupees, LPG cylinders at 1,500 rupees and a kilogram of rice at 60-70 rupees.
The unrest started in April when Naga students protested amendments to a law governing the state’s autonomous district councils, which they say took away vital rights of the hill people, and intensified it when Naga separatist leader T Muivah was barred from visiting his birthplace in Manipur.
The United Naga Council, which is leading the agitation, says the blockade is being extended because the Centre has not fulfilled their demands, which include demilitarisation of all Naga-inhabited areas.
The Nagas, who are demanding a ‘Greater Nagaland’ state which include chunks from three neighbouring states, are also angry at the home minister’s statement in parliament ruling out division of Manipur.
How very sweet is the demand of cessations in the east by Naga, in the middle by Assam and on the west by Kashmir and on south is the Tamil. In addition, who knows how many more will pope in due course, as the days pass by?
Already it a country of innumerable Ethnic groups with cast system and numerous linguistic combination and cultural mix it is a land of Questions.
These demands for independence has given birth to home grown terrorists. It should have long been declared a terrorist country had it not been for the mercy of USA, may be request from Russia with held the declaration.
However, Political Observers opined that US must take the stocktaking and declare it as a terrorist country whether homegrown terrorist country or an International terrorists country that can be decided later.
The International press people may ask the Investigative journalists to go to these people to ventilate to the world as to what is going on behind the scene of the largest democracy.
The danger in an Ocean is not judged by its surface current water it has to be judged from the undercurrent water.
Therefore, there is no alternative than to send Investigative Journalist to go to those places, find out information, and apprise the world community of the facts
In Kashmir, India now struggles with “children of conflict”
Kashmir has been seething since early June. Life across the Muslim-majority valley has been completely disrupted by curfews and protest strikes since some of the biggest anti-India demonstrations in two years erupted a month ago.
Seventeen people, mostly teenage protesters, have been killed by security forces in near daily pro-freedom demonstrations fuelling anger across the disputed Himalayan region.
India blames Pakistan-based militants for the ongoing Kashmir protests but Kashmiris say the protests are spontaneous.
Who are these people organising freedom rallies and have discovered the power of mass protests that have dumbfounded the entire government?
They assemble in hundreds – and in some cases thousands, shouting, “Go India go”, “We want freedom” and take to the streets, pelting stones at police and paramilitary forces.
On Facebook, YouTube and other social networking sites, they are spreading creative ideas for civil disobedience to challenge Indian rule.
They are Kashmir’s new generation of radicalised separatists, a new generation that has grown up in the shadow of the two-decade-old violence between Indian troops and separatist guerrillas that has killed tens of thousands of people.
Ban Ki Moon criticises Indian atrocities
But its not only Ban Ki!
In recent UN statement, Ban Ki Mon has shown “concern over the prevailing security situation in Indian Kashmir” and “encouraged both sides (India and Pakistan) to rekindle the spirit of the composite…and make renewed efforts to address outstanding issues, including on Jammu and Kashmir.” An article “KASHMIR: Cameron, Could You Not See Blood On Manmohan’s Hands?” dated 01 August 2010 states “David Cameron, the British Prime Minister was in Dehli completely blinded by the dollars that he wanted for his ailing economy back in the UK. He showed no concern for the daily falling bodies of the Kashmiris for their right for self determination.” On issue of additional troops deployment in Kashmir, Sumit Ganguly, an American Professor of Indian origin, wrote in an article published in the Wall Street Journal that” the Kashmir problem had no military solution. He said: “The army will resort to a colonial relic, the ‘flag march’, to display military might and cow the protesters off the streets“ Yet while this might work in the short term, the army’s deployment is no panacea,”. The desperate state resulting in desertion of Indian forces and police, number of troops and police officers are resigning. Hindustan Time wrote, “The situation in Kashmir seems to be spiraling out of control and no one seems in charge.” Kashmir has Gaza like state of affairs, height of atrocities can be witnessed during July when 33 Kashmiris were killed, eight of them were children, death toll in the valley sum up to 93,307 since 1989. Defence analyst, B.Raman states, “We are facing an Intifada of the Palestinian model in J & K for the first time. It is a spontaneous outburst of anger by sections of the youth over what they allege is the disproportionate use of force by the police and the CRPF ( Central Reserve Police Force). ”. I recently visited my relatives in Kashmir and realities forced me to think like a normal human for a minute and not just an Indian.
Krishna Das Pandit
