Thursday, March 20, 2008

Director Shekhar Kapur on Terrorist Yasin Malik at the India Today Conclave


As he (Yasin Malik) left, a young girl came to me brimming with anger. Along with a man who worked with India Today. Both were kashmiri Pundits who had seen themselves ousted forcibly and sometimes cruelly from their homeland. I have met many Kashmiri Pundit's- some of them my friends who believe they are truly the forgotten people. The young girl was as moving as Yasin as she held back her tears, andgry that Yasin was allowed this platform without the audience being told of the atrocities that he and his comrades perpetuated on Kashmiri Pundits. I could totally see her point of view.
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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.
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I do not see an Independant Kashmir as a viable state. I do not agree with Yasin there. In the current political unrest, stuck as it is between some of the most explosive political arena's in the world, Kashmir will be engulfed in the turmoill of it's neighboring states.
Courtesy:Shekhar Kapur's Blog
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Read more on - Shekhar Kapur's Blog

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Pandit protests spoil Yasin show....

After the good thrashing and the detention that we got at the hands of Delhi Police on Saturday when we protested against "the Goon of Kashmir",JKLF and the sick Indian Government would have thought,"This should be enough for them"
Well I am wrong,JKLF thought one more thing would work.The trick they know the best.Yasin Malik through his cronies got us threatened.The guy who called relatives of one of RIK members said"Tell him to lay off.You will realise only when you receive his body bag.This time around we have brought enough people from Kashmir to put your guys in place"
As I quitely loitered around the venue of Yasin Malik's exhibition I could find out that this crony wasn't wrong.JKLF had indeed got a bus full of people from Kashmir(some ex-militants too).Indeed a Gandhian way of sorting people out!
Sweet are the fruits of non-violence and calm.As we stood quietly outside the venue carrying placards and distributing pamphlets,all his men rendered themselves useless.They had no one to kill or beat.After all Delhi isn't Kashmir where an innoucous man with a opinion can be killed.I am sure Malik understands this.Incidentally the newspapers this morning reported little or nothing about this exhibition....
Here are the news reports about the event.....
Protests in Delhi against Yasin Malik
Aastha Manocha, Indian Express - www.kashmirlive.com
19th March 2008
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New Delhi, March 19: Living with pain is not easy, but it can be done, however, even more tormenting is when the pain-giver is felicitated and the victims are forgotten.
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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’.
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Commenting on the function, one of them Sunilji Bhat said, “It is a shame for India that such secessionist demands are given space right in the heart of the country.
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The activists held banners and placards with slogans like highlighting their plight at the hands of separatists like Yasin Malik, who had carried out the march called ‘Safar-e-Azadi’. They recounted the cases against him like the killing of the director, DD, Lassa Kaul, the shooting of four unarmed IAF officers, the gang rape and gruesome murder of Sarla Bhatt and the most infamous of all, the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
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The activists questioned how the CBI, which has levelled numerous charges against him, wouldn’t initiate any proceedings, even after so many years.
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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’.
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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.
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Displaced Kashmiri Pandits stage demonstration against Yasin Malik
ANI
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New Delhi, Mar.19: Kashmiri Pandits displaced by militancy over the previous 19 years, today staged a demonstration here against Yasin Malik, the leader of the separatist Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), who they alleged was responsible for their misery.
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Yasin Malik is in the Indian capital to participate in a media conclave.The protesters claimed that the plight of Hindus in Kashmir has deteriorated because of people like Malik.
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"I am a displaced Kashmiri. These people have driven us out of our homeland where we have been living since times immemorial. This man, Yasin Malik, has committed many crimes. He has killed four Air Force personnel who were waiting for a bus. He killed Sarala and ....put her body on a saw machine. He has killed many others," said Rashnik Kher, a displaced Kashmiri Hindu.
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They demanded that Malik be arrested immediately.
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"Our demand is to arrest him immediately. Two cases are pending against him with the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). One related to theidnapping of Rubiya Sayeed and the killings of four air force people. For the last 18 years, the CBI did nothing against him," added Kher.
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Officials say over 250,000 Hindus in Muslim-dominated Kashmir migrated to more secure homes across India at the start of the separatists' rebellion in 1989.
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Malik faces anger of Kashmiri Pandits in Delhi
United News of India (UNI)
New Delhi Wednesday, Mar 19 2008
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Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik faced the ire of a group of Kashmiri Pandits as he unveiled a photo and video exhibition here today.
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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.
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Soon after the inauguration, the Kashmiri Pandits held peaceful demonstration against Malik.
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Carrying placards and banners denouncing Malik, the angry protestors chanted slogans such as ''down with dreaded terrorist'' and ''conscienceless killer''.
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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.
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The JKLF chief had named his march as ''safar-e-azadi (journey to freedom)''.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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)




Kashmiri Pandits Protest against Yasin Malik in New Delhi
IANS
Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandit activists protested here against militant-turned-politician Yasin Malik, who was to speak at a conclave in the capital Saturday. Police detained at least 10 of the protestors near the conclave venue at Taj Palace and took them to Chanakyapuri police station before releasing them.

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.
Among others who shared the dais with Malik were Bollywood actor Preity Zinta, politician Sachin Pilot and industrialists Anand Mahindra and Aditya Mittal.
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.
Rashneek Kher of the RIK, who was among the detained activists, said: “We won’t allow a brutal killer to share the stage with the who is who of the world.”
“What will he teach the youth?” Kher asked.


RIK Activists being arrested and taken into custody.



Naumed na ho in se ae rahbar-e-farzana
Kam kosh to hai lekin kam zauk nahee rahee
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Be despaired of them, oh my comrades in arms
Poor in means we may be but not in passion and zest.
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It is disheartening to know that that the liberal English print press has blocked us completely despite a huge contingent of press people being present at the venue.That NDTV images of our protest shows that the battle is on..The Hindi Media has covered us well and the recoil of our protest has been felt in the JKLF headquarters as well as the IB who support this third rate compulsive killer.I have received calls from influential policy makers who have expressed their un-equivocal support to our crusade against this murderer and killer.
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We have set the cat among the pigeons.Yasin Malik was looking like a babe in the wood or shall I say a cat on a hot tin roof.He got a scare when Aditya,Amal and Veer looked into his eyes. Anand Mahindra’s histrionics not withstanding Lalit Ambaradar and Neeru did what was to be done.When Neeru countered him and asked him if remembers Sarla Bhat who he and his goons raped and chopped on a saw mill, he has clearly taken aback. In presence of Shekhar Kapur and others she asked him how he killed 4 IAF officers and Lassa Kaul,the goon of Kashmir simply left without answering.It is a matter of shame for this nation that while a killer,a terrorist,a kidnapper,a rapist and a gun runner shares dais with the rich and famous, his prey,peaceful Kashmiri Pandit protestors were arrested and beaten up by police and the authorities. The scorecard was 25 detained and 3 injured.
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We must not forget that it was JKLF who killed maximum Pandits and in a way it was them he who was almost single-handedly responsible for the exodus of the Pandits. Let us resolve on this given day that wewill leave no stone unturned to expose this mant hrough whatever means we have. We know a lot of the people in the media are not in our favour, the leftists even in their classrooms (where they teach)project us a “lunatic fringe”.
But fear not my comrades….
This is what Mahatma Gandhi has said
First they will ignore you,then they will ridicule you,then they will fight you and THEN YOU WIN….
Live on to fight and win….
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Sangarmalan payee pragash (The sun will shine on the horizon)
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Rashneek
16th of March,08
Other News Reports: