Later as I was having tea with Priety Zinta she also expressed apprehensions about being on the same platform as Yasin. her father died in the Army and her brother has been fighting and risking his life in Kashmir.
"Roots In Kashmir" is an initiative launched by us, the Kashmiri Pandit Youth, to reclaim our Roots that identify us. Even though we have been hounded out of our homes and hearths in the Kashmir valley, our "Roots" are very much anchored in the Vitasta Valley. This is an initiative to protest and raise the general awareness of public to a level where our "fight for our roots" is felt, heard and acted upon. rootsinkashmir@outlook.com
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Director Shekhar Kapur on Terrorist Yasin Malik at the India Today Conclave
Later as I was having tea with Priety Zinta she also expressed apprehensions about being on the same platform as Yasin. her father died in the Army and her brother has been fighting and risking his life in Kashmir.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Pandit protests spoil Yasin show....
This was the under running sentiment at the silent protest staged by Kashmiri Pandits activists against the Safar-e-Azadi function in Delhi. They had earlier staged a protest against Yasin Malik’s presence at a media conclave where he had shared the dais with prominent personalities to give his vision for the future, for which they had even been detained by the police, yet here they were, again protesting against the man they say is responsible for their ‘ethnic cleansing’.
The activists questioned how the CBI, which has levelled numerous charges against him, wouldn’t initiate any proceedings, even after so many years.
Their main aim, they said, was to create awareness about the past of the likes of Malik, who had not renounced violence because of any remorse but because he had no option as him and JKLF had been ‘decimated by the Hizbul Mujahideeen’.
To some extent this was successful too as they got the opportunity to talk to Justice Sacchar too, who while sympathising to their cause said that no solution would be possible without talking to the other side. To this the activists reminded him that Yasin Malik had till now not condemned a single act of terrorist violence and had never asked his ex-comrades to give up arms.
The Kashmiri Pandits had gathered under the banner of 'Roots in Kashmir,' an organisation of displaced youths from the Valley, outside the venue of the exhibition at the Indian Social Institute near Lodhi Road here.
Soon after the inauguration, the Kashmiri Pandits held peaceful demonstration against Malik.
Carrying placards and banners denouncing Malik, the angry protestors chanted slogans such as ''down with dreaded terrorist'' and ''conscienceless killer''.
Earlier, Malik unveiled the photo and video exhibition titled ''Voice of Peace, Voice of Freedom'' on the JKLF's 114-day non-violent march across the Kashmir valley.
The JKLF chief had named his march as ''safar-e-azadi (journey to freedom)''.
Before the inauguration, Malik said Kashmir was not a border dispute between India and Pakistan, but involved the sentiments and aspirations of the people of the troubled state.
He said the bilateral peace process would be meaningless if the representatives of the people of Jammu and Kashmir were not involved in the dialogue.
The JKLF chairman advocated resolution of the Kashmir issue through peaceful means. ''There is no substitute to peace. There cannot be a military solution to the Kashmir issue. It can be resolved only through peaceful means,'' he added.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Kashmiri Pandits launch signature campaign against Yasin Malik
By Sarwar Kashani
New Delhi, March 17 (IANS)
An online signature campaign by exiled Kashmiri Hindus against militant-turned-politician Yasin Malik is receiving an overwhelming response from the community the world over. Close to 550 signatures from Kashmiri Pandits have been registered at http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?ymalik8 seeking “just trial” of the cases pending against Malik, chairman of the pro-independent Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
A US-based Kashmiri Pandit is behind the campaign that was launched Saturday when Malik was in Delhi to address the “Youth Forum - If I Could Change The World”, organised by the India Today media group.
Inviting Malik to address youth had apparently angered the Kashmiri Pandit activists, prompting them to also hold protests, besides the online campaign.
The JKLF chairman is accused of masterminding the killing of many Kashmiri Pandits in the late 1980s and the early 1990s that led to the exodus of around 300,000 ethnic Hindus from the terror- hit valley.
There are dozens of cases pending against him, which are currently under Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
The cases include the killing of four Indian Air Force officers in 1989 and the murder of Lassa Koul, director, Radio Kashmir, Srinagar, in 1990.
Malik is also accused of masterminding the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of then union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
The Kashmiri separatist leader, who gave up armed struggle in 1994 and re-launched the freedom movement from a political platform, was arrested in these cases but was set free for want of evidence against him.
However, the Pandit activists allege that the government has been too soft on Malik and no proper trial has been conducted to “give justice to the hundreds of families of the victims”.
“We believe the cases against Malik did not have a fair trial. We wonder how he is roaming free, travelling abroad on an Indian passport,” Rashneek Kher, a Delhi-based activist, told IANS.
“The families that fell victim to Malik’s await justice and in fact nobody listens to their plight,” said Kher, who also registered his signature in the online campaign.
Rahul Thathoo, the California-based student who initiated the signature campaign, said: “There is no crime known to mankind that Yasin Malik has not been involved in. You name it and he has done it all…killings, kidnappings, hawala, gun running.
“He and his JKLF goons are singularly responsible for the largest forced exodus of the modern history - that of the Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley,” Thathoo said inviting signatures.
Many others have also written their comments alongside their signatures on the website.
A.K. Raina said: “They (militants) meet the criteria laid by the UN as unlawful combatants, and not just ordinary criminals, who are involved in heinous crimes against peaceful citizens resulting in their ethnic cleansing and other worst crimes against humanity.”
“They need to be tried as warlords, criminals as in 9/11 (terror strike in the US), London blasts, Sydney swoop etc.”
S.R. Kaul said: “Yasin Malik and many like him would have been non-entities if the government (of India) had sincere intentions of eliminating the menace of terrorism in the country.”
“Yasin Malik should condemn terrorism and condone for being an agent of terrorism. He should apologise for having killed innocent Kashmiri Pandits,” Brij Krishen Moza said in his comments.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
To my friends…. (Kashmiri Pandits protest against Terrorist Yasin Malik of the JKLF)
Police manhandled Kashmiri Pandit Youth
RIK Activist Aditya Raj Kaul was injured in the clash with Police (Bruised Neck & Torn shirt)
The invitation to the chairman of the pro-independent Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front had angered the activists.
Malik was a guest speaker at “Youth Forum - If I Could Change The World”, organised by the India Today media group.
Even inside the venue, a member of the audience objected to Malik’s presence, saying he was a terrorist and shouldn’t be allowed to speak.
Malik is accused of killing Kashmiri Pandits that led to the exodus of around 300,000 of them to other parts of India in 1990.
“Yasin Malik has scores of criminal cases from murder to kidnapping to hawala (money-laundering) racket pending against his name,” said Aditya Raj Koul of the Roots in Kashmir (RIK) that had organised the march.
“What will he teach the youth?” Kher asked.