The Geelani Farce

The spin doctors told him so and off he went to Vessu to "assure" Pandits who were driven away by his ilk some 22 years back.What he said is here.
Our reply as reported by the media is here.

‘Azadi Bara-e-Islam’ (freedom through Islam)

These were the words of Syed Ali Shah Geelani....and the crowd shouted in unison....

"Pakistan se rishta kya, la illaha illalla", "Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan", "Yehan kya chalega: Nizaam-e-Mustafa" besides the familiar "Ham kya chahte: Azadi".

AND OUR FRIENDS IN THE MEDIA ESPECIALLY THE ENGLISH MEDIA CALL THIS A SECULAR MOVEMENT...IT IS TIME FOR THEM TO HIDE THEIR FACES...LEST THEY WANT TO SHAME THEMSELVES...

This is what he told a gathering of some 20000 people at Srinagar yesterday...

"We are demanding from Pakistan’s rulers, political leadership and Pakistan’s people that Pakistan had been created for the sake of Islam and it should be used only for Islam. Socialism, secularism and America’s world order cannot work there. Only Islam must work there,” he said. “Through the relationship of Islam, we are all Pakistanis and Pakistan is ours”. Then he shouted: “Hum Pakistani hain. Pakistan hamara hai (We are Pakistani and Pakistan is ours).”

Yet strangely the Indian Media wants us not to look at it through the prism of communal politics.A snake with open fangs and we are supposed to worship him.

The Kashmiri Muslims have always been the most communal ,fanatic and barbaric people to have existed on this earth.Yet in a strange way our media loves to call their fanaticism,the voice of the people.They destroy temples and the media looks the other way.Yasin Malik is a darling of the Indian Media although all of them know he has raped,killed and kidnapped.

Dont forget Bitta Karate was received to a hero's welcome by Kashmiri Muslims.Call them secular at your peril.Today it is us,tomorrow it will be you.It is time for the "secular" media to wake up befor their homes become targets of Islamic fanaticism because this is what the Koran says .

"Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drove you. Idolatry is worse than carnage. . . . [I]f they attack you put them to the sword. Thus shall the unbelievers be rewarded: but if they desist, God is forgiving and merciful. Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion reigns supreme. But if they desist, fight none except the evil-doers"(2:190–93)."

The letter from Indian Mujahideen(the bombers of Jaipur,Ahmedabad and Banglore) to the press had this verse as a justification for doing what they were doing.

Rubiya Syed kidnapping case Yasin Malik among others appear in TADA court
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 3: The accused involved in the much publicized Rubiya Syed kidnapping case appeared in the Court of TADA today. However, all the cases including that of one lakh US dollar were adjourned because of the strike of the advocates.
The alleged accused appeared in the TADA court were Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) supremo Mohd Yaseen Malik, Showkat Ahmed Bakshi, Ali Mohd Mir, Javid Mir alias Nalka, Mehraj-ud-Din Sheikh, Mohd Iqbal Gandroo, Mohd Zaman Mir and Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta-Karate.
Other accused Mohd Yaqoob Pandit, Wajahat Bashir Qureshi, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi and Mohd Rafiq alias Nanaji were absent and their names were exempted from hearing on the application filed on their behalf.
The most important case which was listed for hearing today was of kidnapping of Dr Rubiya Syed, daughter of the then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohd Syed.
The other listed cases were killing of five Air Force officials at Batmaloo on January 1990 and seizure of one lakh US dollars meant for the JKLF supremo.
It is worthwhile to mention here that the cases of kidnapping of Dr Rubiya Syed and killing of Air Force personals have been pending before the Court for the last more than 15 years as all the alleged accused involved in the cases were not appearing before the Court.

Pak sets free 4 hijackers
ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Pakistan today freed four Palestinians convicted of the 1986 hijacking of an American airliner in Karachi that ended with the death of 22 people including an Indian flight purser Neerja Bhanot, who helped passengers aboard escape.
The hijackers, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, were set free from Adiala jail in Rawalpindi and put on an international flight to the Gulf region, local TV channels reported.
A group of Palestinians hijacked a Pan Am Boeing 747 carrying 400 passengers while it was being parked at the Apron in Karachi in September 1986. The cockpit crew escaped through the emergency hatch but senior flight purser Bhanot stayed on helping passengers escape.
Twenty-two people, including Bhanot, died when Pakistani commandos stormed the flight to end the 16-hour siege. Bhanot was awarded Ashok Chakra posthumously by the Indian Government. She was at that time the youngest and till date the only woman Ashok Chakra awardee.
The Palestinians were handed down the death penalty during the regime of late Gen Zia-ul-Haq for hijacking the plane. One of the hijackers, who was injured in the commando operation, died in jail.
The sentence of the others was later converted to life imprisonment in 1988 when slain Premier Benazir Bhutto was in power.(PTI)

Chinkara gazelle or Kashmiri Hindu? by Lalit Kaul(Rediff.com)

(http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/dec/19guest.htm)

December 19, 2007A Chinkara gazelle is killed in Rajasthan in 1998. The alleged killer, actor Salman Khan, is charged and the prosecution is under process.
Many Kashmiri Pandits are killed in Jammu and Kashmir [Images] in the late 1980s and 1990s. The killers, who have admitted the killings, roam free and have not even been charged yet.
Anything wrong with this picture?
Not if you ask the ministry of home affairs (Kashmir division), government of India.
Using the privilege available under the Right to Information Act, Kashmiri Hindu youth filed a petition (click here to see the petition) to get the status of the pending cases against Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate.
Bitta Karate started his terror career as a Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front member. During the early days of terrorism in the Kashmir valley, he killed many innocent Kashmiri Hindus.
After waiting for two weeks, these youth got a reply from the director and central public information officer at the ministry of home affairs (Kashmir division), government of India (click here to see the official response).
The following was the stock response:
'...The information you have asked for is not available in the Kashmir Division of Ministry of Home Affairs...'
Not only are terrorists not charged and prosecuted, but the Kashmir division of the ministry of home affairs actually claims not to have any records about these killers and killings.
Am I convinced? Hell, No! Should you be convinced? Hell, No!
This ministry of home affairs has a separate Kashmir division within its ministry and it does not have any information about these merciless killers? Who is fooling whom?
Bitta Karate admitted the to the killings in a television interview. Please click here to see for yourself.
Common people like me have access to these videos and transcripts but the Kashmir division of the ministry of home affairs does not. What a shame!
Bitta Karate spent many years in Indian jails but was eventually released by a TADA court on bail on October 23, 2006. While granting bail, the presiding officer of the TADA court, N D Wani, observed that the court was aware of the fact that the allegations leveled against Bitta Karate are of a serious nature and could carry punishments of death or life imprisonment. The fact is that the prosecution (read the government of Jammu & Kashmir and India) has shown total disinterest in arguing the case, which is in complete violation of Article 21 of the Constitution.
And now Bitta Karate, who admitted killing scores of Kashmiri Hindus, is not only roaming free but is now playing the role of a politician on the Kashmir political scene. It is not inconceivable that there soon might be a day when he will become a state minister in the government of J&K, maybe even chief minister.
Do you feel it is okay for government agencies to let these terrorists roam free and be more concerned about Chinkara gazelles? Please do not get me wrong. I don't have anything against Chinkara gazelles and I do not advocate the killing of these endangered animals. But if I am ever given a choice between saving a human being and a Chinkara gazelle, you know what my choice will be. So where are the government's priorities?
How come terrorists are not being prosecuted as per the laws of the land? What is preventing the law enforcement agencies from implementing the laws and putting these killers behind bars so that they cannot harm any more innocent civilians? Isn't providing security to its citizens the first and foremost responsibility of any government? Am I missing something here?
While pseudo-secular human rights activists continue to scream about the Gujarat riots and clamour for face time on Indian 'progressive' media outlets, they have their lips sealed and pens dry about the horrendous ethnic cleansing of 400,000+ Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir.
I guess gone are the days when journalists used to stand up against injustice and fight for the rights of ALL human beings, irrespective of the religion they belonged to. These days, it seems they get their stories handed over to them by their politician masters who only care about their kursi and 'votes' that get them that kursi. After all, it is a kissa kursi ka.
All I can say is that if there is life after death, I wish to be reborn as a Chinkara gazelle. At least, I will be assured that I am protected by the Indian Wildlife Act and wildlife activists who will fight for my survival.

Lalit Koul is the editor and publisher of Kashmir Herald, an online news journal available at http://www.kashmirherald.com/. He can be reached at editor@kashmirherald.com

Sickness in a New Frame

We received a mail from one Nishat Khan which read this "Ase Gache Pakistan,Batew varaay ti batenevsaan"

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For those of you who wonder what this email from a Kashmiri Muslim friend who wrote to Roots in Kashmir means. It means "Muslims of Kashmir want Kashmir without Pandit men but with Pandit women".

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Such is the colour of Aazadi or sickness whichever way you look at it.With such sick souls around which honourable person would like to live in Kashmir.More than independence ,Kashmiri Muslims like this Nishat Khan need to be humanised but then who can humanise such masses whose leaders are buy synonmys of Sikander Butshikan and Nero.

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When we last received a mail form one Yahya Khan (another Kashmiri Muslim friend) exhtolling the virtues of being a "Bitta Karate" we presumed sickness cant go farther than this but we were terribly wrong. Kashmir's psyche in the absence of Pandits,its original inhabitants,has gone to perverse positions.

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I can only request God to forgive people like Nishat and Yahya and maybe he re-considers the desicion of who to be sent as a part of Ashraf-ul-Makhlooq'.

Press Coverage of Protest by Pandit Children under the banner of "Roots in Kashmir"

TIMES OF INDIA-HYDERABAD
UPROOTED! Activists and children of Kashmiri Pandits participate in a candlelight protest organised by ‘Roots in Kashmir’ at Indira Park in Hyderabad on Sunday, on the eve of International Human Rights Day to bring to light the injustice meted out to the Kashmiri Pandits

Frustated Pandits look for their Human Rights-Aastha Manocha(The Indian Express)

New Delhi, December 9: Hundreds of young Kashmiri Pandits marched from Jantar Mantar to B K Ganjoo Park via Bangla Sahib on the eve of Human Rights Day to protest against the relative silence of NHRC on their plight as they have been left to fend for themselves in exile for the last 18 years.
Led by mostly children and youngsters under the banner of Roots In Kashmir the protestors shouted anti-NHRC and anti-terrorist slogans. Many children marched ahead, carrying banners with slogans pleading to save their community from extinction and joining an endangered species list.
The march proceeded from Jantar Mantar to Bangla Sahib to pay their respects to the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur who had vowed to protect the Kashmiri Pandits back in the 15th century. From there they marched to B K Ganjoo Park, named after a telecom engineer brutally killed at his home in the valley during militancy. After saying a small prayer at the park in memory of the friends, families and homes lost to militancy, the meeting commenced.
By means of this march the displaced community also looked to raise awareness about the atrocities committed on them.
‘Last year we had submitted a memorandum, we were assured action but nothing has been done about it, the NHRC has been proved to be a toothless tiger, there is no use of such kinds of so-called watchdogs’, said Rashneek Kher, a member at the march.
‘The least they could have done was to initiate proceedings against the people we had named.’
Similar protests and similar sentiments were seen all over the country in cities like Hyderabad, Chandigarh etc.

NHRC fails to provide succour: Kashmiri Pandits (THE TRIBUNE)

Pandits criticise Rights Panel - The Asian Age

New Delhi, Dec. 9: "Roots in Kashmir", a youth group from Kashmir, held a protest rally on the occasion of International Human Rights Day here on Sunday to bring to light the alleged injustice perpetrated on Kashmiri pandits.

The activists marched from Jantar Mantar to Shaheed B.K. Ganjoo Park at Gole Market. The protesters also paid obeisance at the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, signifying the importance of the martyrdom given by Guru Teg Bahadur for the pandit community. "Roots in Kashmir" has condemned the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for not coming to the rescue of the Kashmiri pandits. "It has been 14 years since the formation of NHRC but it has completely failed to address the grievances of the Pandit community, which is living in its 18th year of exile from its homeland," said Roots in Kashmir media coordinator Aditya Raj Kaul.

To escape persecution, more than 500,000 Kashmiri pandits had to leave their homes in the Valley and out of that, more than 50,000 are still languishing in uninhabitable refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi. "The NHRC has ceased to exist for us. We have submitted memorandums, fought cases and even met all senior bureaucrats and officials to appraise them of the situation but no results till date," said Ms Neeru Kaul, an activist from the group.
"It continues to work as a biased forum," she added.

Roots in Kashmir is also unhappy with the Indian government over the issue of terrorism. "In spite of cases of serious nature pending against terrorists, they roam free, but Pandits continue to live a life of refugees in their own land," Mr Aditya Raj Kaul said.

Roots in Kashmir chief coordinator Amal Magazine said, "The international recognition of our issues is the result of the struggle launched by the Pandit group during the last 17 years of exile. Roots in Kashmir holds that terror has become a pan-India phenomenon now with global linkages and the group endeavours to bring to light the real culprits and murderers of innocent Kashmiris."

Chandigarh Screening: All Roads lead to RIK Event...

Picture from Times of India

(Please scroll down for more pictures)-

Some months back when a supposedly well known documentary maker had gone to Punjab University , Chandigarh to screen his “magnum opus” he had less than a dozen people to see his documentary. So embarrassed was the “genius” with the dismal turnout he decided not to even mention this on his blog.

With this fear in our hearts and minds when we reached Chandigarh on Friday morning we saw posters of our screening at almost all departments of the Punjab University.-
Cut to 4.30 Friday 21st of Sept,07. It seemed all roads lead to the English Auditorium, Punjab University. An unrelenting stream of students, doctors, faculty and members of the civil society kept pouring in. By 5 PM the auditorium was overfull. Just to give the reader a measure, the auditorium with a capacity of 325 people had more than 500 people waiting for the movie to begin and more than 200 waiting outside the hall to get in. The auditorium didn’t have air conditioning and yet people stuck to the places, whether standing or sitting refused to move out. There were many who had to be seated near the backstage so that they could see the movie.

We finally started at 15 minutes past 5, the press was there in full attendance which can be easily seen by the coverage of the event (links and pics posted on the blog).Mr.Atre,IAS and Director of PR for UT of Chandigarh also graced the occasion.The screening was followed by a panel discussion in which Mr.Vikram Chaudhary of NDTV, Professor Brar of Poltical Science Department and Sqn.Ldr(Retd) Sadhu took part. Yet again there was a vibrant Q&A session. In the Q&A session most questions directed at Vikram. The audience wanted to know why the English Electronic Media was in a way silent about the forced exodus of Pandits and their plight.
As always the discussion did not stick itself to Kashmir with issues like terrorism and role of the State coming into focus. While all this was happening more than 400 people were queuing outside the auditorium for a second screening which we had to announce seeing the turnout of people.

Once again we were overwhelmed by the response. More than 400 people participated in the second screening of the movie and later in the Q&A session. Many wanted to join the movement called RIK. Many more from Media wanted to know what they can do help Kashmiri Pandits get what they rightfully deserve. But that’s not to say there weren’t people who did not question our motives for screening what they thought was a one sided view of the Kashmir issues. A friend from the media wanted to know why we called terrorist of Kashmir as Islamic terrorists. As always our answer was the so called movement in Kashmir is Pan-Islamic expansion in the garb of so called freedom. Ironically when Rashneek (the moderator for the program) asked this gentleman as to why none but Indonesia was the only Muslim Majority nation being secular in character the friend sat quietly without an answer. Probably he and us will both search for them in days to come……

We are thankful to all our friends in Punjab University, Career Launcher ,all our friends and sponsors for such an excellent event.-
PS: Many had to be given CD’s of the documentary, as we failed to accommodate them in the auditorium.

RIK Cavalcade on way to Chandigarh.

A part of the audience at the first screening.

People watching the RIK Photo Exhibition outside the auditorium.


Humidity doesn't make any difference.


Another view of the audience.

Panel Discussion: Rashneek Kher (Moderator), Vikram Chowdhry (NDTV), Sq. Ldr. B.L. Sadhu.

A notice board outside the venue.

An eager student with a query.

RIK Chandigarh Team Volunteers outside the venue.

RIK Chandigarh Volunters

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For any other query mail us at: contact@rootsinkashmir.org

Media Stories - :

1. IT Chandigarh - http://itchandigarh.com/index.php?itemid=2198

2. Tribune - http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070922/cth1.htm

3. Total TV Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPm3DZZXVc8

"Sleeping at Home" by Pramod Kumar and Rahul Pandita(in THE SUNDAY INDIAN)

The civil society and the media is doing its best to raise the decibel level on how a dreaded killer is roaming free.The voice somehow still doesnt seem to have reached the eternally "deaf and dumb" Indian State.One more Special report in THE SUNDAY INDIAN focussing on how criminals,terrorists have a free hand while the Home Minister finds India "too big".Here is a report by Pramod Kumar and Rahul Pandita.

Bitta Karate? The Home Ministry is clueless about this dreaded militant. But does it have a clue about anything else? Pramod Kumar and Rahul Pandita find out…
The phone rang late in the night. In two rings, Fatima picked it up. “Your son is free,” said a police officer on the other side. Next morning it was celebration time in Srinagar’s Guru Bazaar area. By afternoon, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate was at home. He was garlanded, and kisses were planted on his forehead. He had been set free after sixteen years in prison.
876 kilometres away, a distraught man watched these images beamed on his television set. For years, Ramesh Tikku had waited for justice. Sixteen years ago, his brother Satish was waylaid by Dar outside his home in Srinagar and shot dead in cold blood. Satish was Dar’s first victim. In the next few months, he would kill many innocent people – most of them Kashmiri Pandits. Some of them were gruesomely murdered in front of children and women. In a television interview soon after his arrest, Dar – a martial arts expert, hence the name Karate – had confessed killing 20 people, though many believe that the number is almost twice.
While ordering him to be released on bail, the TADA judge had remarked: “The court is aware of the fact that the allegations levelled against the accused are of serious nature and carry a punishment of death sentence or life imprisonment but the fact is that the prosecution has shown total disinterest in arguing the case, which is in complete violation of Article 21 of the Constitution.”
Meanwhile, Satish Tikku’s father died remembering his son.
Cut to 2007. It was on July 6, 2007 that a young Kashmiri activist filed an application under the Right to Information Act (RTI) with the Ministry of Home Affairs, seeking information about Bitta Karate. Among other queries, the application sought answers to following questions:
What is the total number of cases registered against Dar?
Is the bail granted to Dar of any specified time frame or is it indefinite?
What action has been taken against the State Police for what the designated judge ND Wani called “total disinterest in arguing the case?”
Is it true that the designated officer/s (both public prosecutor and police officer) on behalf of the State was/were absent on the day of final hearing of arguments in the case? If so, please explain the reasons for absence of the designated officer/s in the court on the day of final hearing of arguments in the case?
In a letter, dated July 20, 2007, the Kashmir Division of the Home Ministry replied back. The six-line reply, a copy of which is available with TSI, said: “The information you have asked for is not available in the Kashmir Division of Ministry of Home Affairs.”
How is it possible that the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is responsible for the internal security of the country, has no information about the whereabouts of a dreaded militant? Did the ministry have no wherewithal to keep a tab on a former area commander of the JKLF? Or it just didn’t care? Looking at the recent series of events, it looks like a bit of both.
After the Hyderabad blasts, when the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil was asked about whether his ministry had any prior information about the blasts, he replied, “We had some intelligence inputs, but then, you see, India is a big country.” While Patil struggles with the bigness of India, his junior minister, Sri Prakash Jaiswal parrots a readymade answer in front of media persons, after every terrorist act. In the security meeting after the Hyderabad blasts, as Jaiswal sat briefing the Prime Minister, his national security adviser, MK Narayanan expressed unhappiness about the lax attitude of the Home ministry. In response to that, Patil replied, “We have sent a strong-worded letter to the state governments.”
The Home Minister may have taken refuge in a few ‘strong-worded’ letters but it is a fact that India is bogged down by insurgency while the Home ministry has no clue about how to tackle it. In the security meeting, the issue of terrorists using the Samjahuta Express to smuggle explosives and fake currency also came up. Narayanan was also angry that the issue of terrorists using the Myanmar route to sneak into India – it was revealed by a suspect arrested after the Hyderabad blasts – has not been taken up with the Myanmar’s government. In Uttar Pradesh alone, an alert has been sounded for around 250 missing Pakistani citizens. To identify such people, living illegally in India, the ministry has released 47 crores to make I-cards for Indian citizens in 12 states and Union territories. The pilot project was supposed to be completed by July 2007 but the fact is that it is yet to take off.
For years now, security experts have been stressing upon the need for coordination between various intelligence agencies like the Intelligence Bureau and the Military Intelligence. But nothing concrete has been done so far. A senior army officer posted in Kashmir says that often various agencies don’t share information due to ego issues.
The Home Ministry claims that as compared to last year, civilian casualties in Assam have reduced by six percent while casualties among security personnel have come down by 37 percent. But, perhaps, the ministry has chosen to ignore the fact that in the last month alone, extremist group ULFA has conducted fifteen major operations in Assam, killing scores of Hindi-speaking people. It is a known fact that ULFA’s top leaders like Paresh Barua are based in Bangladesh where they run many businesses. But even after providing more than enough proofs to successive governments in Bangladesh, India has not been able to lay its hands on these leaders.
The number of naxalite-affected police stations in the country is increasing. Out of 12,476 police stations, 400 have come under the red shadow. This year till June, 209 people have died in 395 naxalite attacks. Prominent among them is the murder of JMM MP Sunil Mahato and a bid to blow up the vehicle carrying former Andhra CM, N Janardhan Reddy. MOS Home, Sri Prakash Jaiswal admits that till 2007, 1605 crores have been released for tackling naxalites in eight affected states. Says Mohammaed Salim of the CPI (M): “The naxal problem is a socio-economic problem but it is also true that the government has not done enough. Naxalites are now touching Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.”
Even an extradition treaty with Pakistan hangs in balance. The Home Ministry says it is Foreign ministry’s job. As a result, people like Dawood Ibrahim, Maulana Masood Azhar, and Abdul Karim Tunda are roaming free. And the Home Minister says that India is a big country.

THE PANDITS's OPEN WOUND-by Iftikhar Geelani(in PIONEER)

Bitta Karate, who murdered dozens of Kashmiri Pandits, walked out of court laughing this month when another attempt to convict him failed.It wasn't his victory, but the failure of the Indian state

One winter evening, late in 1989, a zooming Ambassador slowed down in the Chanakhan locality of Sopore town. A person wearing a Kashmiri gown (phern), apparently a Pandit, was thrown out and gun shots rentthe air. The bleeding person had not lost his senses. Holding hisbullet wounds he crawled to take shelter under a closed shop. Lawlessness had taken over the Kashmir Valley. Nobody would listen to anything but Azadi, to achieve which it was necessary to clear theValley of "informers" and leaders having the potential to "sell-out". The man who lay dying slowly of bullet wounds was crying for water inhis feeble voice. But the people of the neighbourhood, who were used to being hauled off by the security forces for harbouring anybody deemed a "militant" were in no mood to help. Instead of rushing to his rescue, they carried him by his arms and legs and tossed him into the Jhelum river which flowed nearby. That ended his misery.Till date, nobody has any answers for this strange behaviour -- a summary execution of sorts. The only explanation given was that thedead man used to live in a nearby village. He was a Kashmiri Pandit who had been kidnapped for providing information about militants tothe security agencies.

A contrast came a few months after this incident in a nearby SofiHamam locality, when militants raided the homes of Pandits in broad daylight. Almost all Pandit families had left for Jammu by then,barring a young boy. Ashok, who had stayed back for some unknown reasons. Militants believed he was helping the security forces bypinpointing targets. People literally gheraoed the whole locality and shoed the militants away. But, in the dead of night, they returned.This time, they cut off the roof of the house to drag out Ashok. After few days his dead body was found on the banks of river Jhelum.

The neighbours of the Pandits for centuries, the Muslims of KashmirValley were not particularly happy about the killings of Pandits. Onoccasions they remonstrated the militants. Even today, the full separatist spectrum consisting of hardliner Syed Ali Geelani tomoderate Yasin Malik recognise the Pandits as part of Kashmiri society. Their migration out of the Valley has disturbed Kashmiri society, they admit.

At the start of armed movement in 1989, strategists in both India and Pakistan disallowed any Kashmiri leader to take the centre-stage,which could have at least controlled the events. While India detainedleaders, militant groups at the behest of Pakistani agencies launcheda venomous campaign against them. They even resisted staunch pro-Pakistan Kashmiri leaders to ensure that the levers of control were with Islamabad and to avoid the re-emergence of a Sheikh Abdullah. Baring some honourable exceptions, this vacuum got to be filled by ruffians and street stalkers who had procured guns. They began to regard themselves as leaders and mujahids. They killed more civilians than they confronted the security forces.

Among such characters, Farooq Ahmed Dar, alias Bitta Karate, emergedas one of top leaders of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).The then Governor, Mr Jagmohan, later wrote in justification of the detention of traditional leaders and providing ascendancy to theelements in the JKLF: "I wanted to weaken the hold of the fanatics and fundamentalists, and also the pro-Pakistani groups by facilitating the ascendancy of those elements in the J&K Liberation Front who had thelatent disposition to be moderate and whom I could subsequently tackle to accept my idea of security real freedom for the Kashmiri masses, within the larger framework of the Indian Constitution.

"But, on Bitta Karate's emergence, Mr Jagmohan's policy went all wrong.Blamed by the Pandit community for a string of killings of itsmembers, Bitta Karate walked free on October 27, 2006, after 16 years of incarceration. An anti-terror court while granted him bail, arguedthat there was "no justification in continuation of his incarcerationwhen other co-accused facing the same allegations are enjoying fruitsof liberty".

Earlier, in 2001, Justice GD Sharma of the State HighCourt had ordered the transfer the cases against this notorious killerof the Pandits to Jammu.Farooq Ahmed Dar, against whom 23 FIRs -- mostly related to murder --had been lodged, was a martial arts practitioner. That gained him fameas "Bitta Karate". What earned him the wrath of Pandits was the "confessional statement" run by the official media soon after hisarrest, in which he accepted his role in the killings.

Even the separatists and the dominant JKLF faction-led Mohammad Yasin Maliknever espoused his cause, or even asked for his release for several years because of the negative image he had earned.Since then, there has been stiff opposition to his release, promptingthe Government to repeatedly slap the Public Safety Act (PSA) -- apreventive detention law that provides for detention without trial for a maximum of two years -- on him. Each time the term expired, it wasrenewed.Despite filing various cases against Karate for the killing of 30Pandits in 1990 and creating a fear psychosis, the State Government failed to file a chargesheet against him. His release may be treatedas a failure of our criminal justice system. The Pandit community,which is now thronging the streets seeking his re-arrest, failed toprovide a single witness against Karate in the court of law. There can be no excuse of lack of security, because the trial was going on in aspecial court in Jammu, where witnesses could have felt much safer.

The State Government, too, totally relied on the invocation of the Public Safety Act (PSA) rather than resorting to investigations andprocuring witnesses for convictions. For over two decades the rampant use of the PSA with ease quite dampened the investigation capabilitiesof the Jammu & Kashmir Police. It is used on all and sundry, from timber smugglers to terrorists, because the PSA is such a short-cut to the end of the troubles of the police force.

The policemen have become lazy, for no longer are demands of securing prosecution placed on them. It has not only completely shattered the investigating machinery of the State police, but the law also falls short of the fundamental requirements of justice. There is no such concept as equality before Law. The police could rest assured thatthere was no need to present an accused person before a magistrate, what to talk of looking for witnesses to examine.Bitta Karate eluded justice because the criminal justice system inJammu & Kashmir is quite dead. The State's failure to bring to justicea mass murderer and ethnic cleanser like him should not be viewed in narrow terms. It is high time the security agencies are reminded ofthe fundamental duty of their craft - to secure convictions.--

The writer is a noted expert on Kashmir issues

AAJ TAK exposes Home Ministry,Government of India on the basis of an RTI filed by RIK

AAJ TAK Editor Mr.Deepak Chaurasia

TV Grab mentioning how government is unaware of the dreaded terrorist

RIK Activist Aditya Raj Kaul

TV Grab showing Bitta Karate after his release from the Jail.

That Bitta Karate is a dreaded compulsive killer was always known to us.Yet when we tried to ask the Ministry of Home Affairs,Government of India,all they had to tell us that they have no information regarding the dreaded terrorist.

We are thankful to AAJ TAK for exposing the laxity with which this government handles issues related to terrorism.You will all be surprised to know that the state government hasn't even framed charges against the dreaded terrorist.The TADA designated judge Mr.Wani while giving his judgement on releasing Bitta Karate said the following"The court is aware of the fact that the allegations levelled against the accused are of serious nature and carry a punishment of death sentence or life imprisonment but the fact is that the prosecution has shown total disinterest in arguing the case, which is in complete violation of Article 21 of the Constitution, Wani observed"

Excerpts of his interview with "Newstrack"

NT: Whenever you used to murder someone, was it always Ishfaq’s Ahmad Wani’s order or did you kill people on your own as well?

BK: No. I never used to kill anybody on my own. We used to get orders from higher up. Leader used to give orders.

NT: So you used to get orders to kill anybody and you used to kill them?

BK: Yes.

NT: Whosoever it would be?

BK: Yes. Whosoever it would be.

NT: Even if he would have asked you to kill your real brother?

BK: Yes. I would have killed.

NT: Even if he would have asked you to kill your own mother?

BK: Yes I would have killed.

He is a free man today waiting to kill more people.Through this blog we wish to create public awareness about this compulsive killer.Help us bring this dreaded killer to justice.

Screening at Center for Media Studies-Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

We were over cautious this time around,we did not post the screening venue and date on our blog prior to the screening.We are aware that a lot of "Champions of Free Speech" are out with their arsenal ready to pounce upon and scuttle any of our screenings.We are scared of them,I must admit.Who wouldnt be!With the communists forming the core of our government even the PM has to eat the humble pie time and again.The seventh most powerful woman on the globe has to bow to the nuissance called Communists.We are small fries after all.So we were tight lipped until it would happen.

It was the turn of MMM Students(Master in Mass Media ) at the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University to see what this nation has turned a blind eye to.Most of the students were well informed about Kashmir and the plight of Kashmiri Pandits but the magnitude of the plight had still to dawned on them.What equally surprised them was the apathy of the Government.Bitta Karate roaming free was something that a lot of the viewers were very uncomfortable with.

The movie screening prompted a discussion session wherein students aired their views and asked questions.While most questions centered around Kashmiri Pandit exodus and their plight there were questions about the role of armed forces,human rights violations and rights of Kashmiri Muslims.

We could only share our knowledge and pesrpective on the various questions,issues,frenzy and expression of freedom.

As one left the auditorium one was left with more questions than answers.But then that is how vexed the Kashmir issue is.It is and will be RIK's endeavour to take the issue to the audiences and then let them decide for themselves as to how they view the Kashmiri Pandit exodus and their present plight.

RIK would like to thank Arunabh Sen and Pawan Atri for their help in making the screening successful.Screening pics ....we apologise for the poor quality of the pictures.We did not take any cameras with us because we werent very sure till the last minute that these"Champions of Free Speech" would not have used their CONTACTS for blocking our screening.

Successful Screening at IIMC

A screening of our presentations,video's and interview of the terrorist Bitta Karate was conducted at the Indian Institue of Mass Communication in New Delhi. An audience of 50 mass communication masters students gathered with much interest to see the woes and plight of this displaced community. We thank Mr. Sunil Bhat, a student of prestigious IIMC who through his tireless efforts conducted this screening single handedly.

In words of Sunil; he sums the entire event as follows: "After the screening was over we (students) engaged in a disscussion on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits. Everybody was moved by seeing the K.Ps. living as refugees in their own country. Many of them raised their voices against Bitta Karate."

He continues further, "Some of the students got emotional and said that the K.Ps. have been subjected to genocide. They further said that the psuedo-secularism in the country is responsible for the present plight of K.Ps. "

Few pictures from the IIMC Screening...