Kashmiri Pandits protest against Amnesty International

A worldwide initiative of the Kashmiri Pandit youth "Roots In Kashmir" protested against the international human rights group Amnesty International on the occasion of 60th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Sunday.

The group accused Amnesty of being biased in their human rights reports in the last two decades on the issue of Kashmir and Kashmiri Pandits.

"It has just failed to come to our rescue; Amnesty has failed to rise to the occasion wherein it could have played a greater role in raising the issues connected with the Kashmiri Pandit exodus," said a group member.

To escape persecution, more than 500,000 Kashmiri Pandits had to leave their home and hearths back in the Valley of which more than 50,000 refugees are still languishing in uninhabitable refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi.

"A blind attitude towards the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Pandit community speaks volumes of the discrimination against the Kashmiris," the group further said. The group further asks the Amnesty International to send its representatives to the Kashmiri Pandit camps in Jammu and conduct an on ground survey and a report on the present situation. They claimed Amnesty should also extend the same privileges to Kashmiri Pandits; as they do to other Internally Displaced People across the globe.

The Hindustan Times

The Asian Age

The Hindu

State Times

Rashtriya Sahara

News also appeared at the following links:

1. Merinews

2. Kashmir Live

3. Headlines India

4. India Info

5. AOL News

6. The Hindu

7. Indian Express

8. Daily 1 World

9. E-ref

10. Kashmir News Service

11. Outlook

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13. Congoo

14. The Asian Age

15. Inform

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)

Banished Kashmiris express grief at Benazir’s death - Aastha Manocha

Link: The Indian Express

New Delhi, December 28: Kashmiri Hindus who were forced by militancy to leave the valley more than 17 years ago have expressed their sorrow at the ‘dastardly killing’ of the ex-PM of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto. A group of Kashmiri Hindus called Roots In Kashmir has expressed condolences with the people of Pakistan and reiterated that using violence or terrorism as an instrument of state policy can be counter productive.

‘It was waiting to happen’, said Aditya Raj Kaul, a member.

They have said that they regret that she didn’t stem the cancer of terrorism when she had the chance as the PM of her country rather in some of her speeches extolled the virtues of armed struggles and supported the Mujahids who were to cleanse the valley of so-called ‘infidels’.

‘It is sad that she was consumed by the same monsters who she had once nourished and supported. In her death lies a lesson not only for Pakistan but also for separatists who brazenly support the armed guerrillas in the valley’, they said while praying that her soul rests in peace.

A Lesson in the End.....

The gruesome killing of "The Daughter of the East" sent shivers down our spine.Tragic but only the naive would not have expected this.It was waiting to happen.

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Pakistan for long has used terrorism as an instrument of State Policy and Benazir's regime was no exception. Not only did she not check the spread of this malignancy she actually abetted and endorsed it. She conveniently used terrorism to make "India bleeed through thousand cuts". All that happened in Punjab and what is still happening in Kashmir had her blessings.

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Amit Baruah's column "Pakistan's Darkest Hour" in "The Hindustan Times" today makes for an interesting reading. He writes "The terror the Pak state spawned has claimed one of its last hopes for the future. The cancer is now in its malignant phase"

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Benazir though an English speaking moderate was not alien to process which churned out monsters day out and day in. She was a fellow traveller alongside the armed forces which created these monsters to fight "infidels". When she could have treated the cancer, she looked the other side. Rather she aided in spreading its malignancy. Little did she know then that one day it will come back only to consume her.

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Her lectures particularly the one which almost facilitated the ouster of an entire community of infidels from the holy land of Jehad returned to haunt as I was stuck between grief and despair. She shouted "bacha bacha bolega aazadi,har gali se awwaz aayege aazadi,kashmir ki awam rassol-e-pak ke jehad ki awwaz ko buland karaenge,jab tak har ek kafir kashmir chod kar naheen jayega tab tak chain se nahee rahenge kashmir ki awaam...". (watch the below video) Little did she realise that her adrenalin pumping hateful speech would mean death to many infidels and ethinic cleansing of half a million infidels'.

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As always I was reminded of the Kashmiri saying that I keep using here on this blog "Aenem soy vavem soy lajem soy paanesey" (I sowed the seeds of the poision ivy and got consumed by them.)

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In what happened to Benazir, is a lesson for everyone who wishes to use terrorism as tool for bringing someone to the negotiation table I again refer to Amit Baruah's column "Long used to directing the Bhindrawales to Afgahnistan and Kashmir,Pakistan's formidable military establishment seems helpless in dealing with the jihadis operating with impunity against their own people across the country"
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While I mourn her death,I do hope our neighbours learn a lesson from this and desist from creating more monsters, not for our sake but for their own peace.
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May her soul rest in Peace, Amen!

'Terror outfits in Kashmir suffer major setback in 2007'

Press Trust of India (PTI)

JAMMU: Pro-Pakistan terror outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) has suffered the most among the militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir as it lost 34 top commanders and 307 cadres in gunbattles with security forces in 2007.

"Hizb received a major jolt in 2007 having lost 34 top commanders and 307 cadres in the encounters in 2007," top police officers said today.

As a result, "Kashmir militancy's backbone has been broken and Hizb cadres have gone into hibernation after getting demoralised," they said.

Hizb tops the list of 13 terror outfits whose top commanders were among those killed, they said.

These outfits included Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Al-Badr, Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI), Tahreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM), Al-Umar, Jamail-ul-Mujahideen (JuM), JK Freedom Force (JKFF), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), Hizb-e-Islami (HeI) and Al-Barq.

A total of 77 top militant commanders have been killed by security forces till November this year and Hizb tops the list followed by LeT, JeM, HuJI, Al-Badr, HuM, JuM, TuM, HeI and Al-Barq, according to police data.

The list of militants killed includes 17 commanders of LeT, 13 of JeM, 10 of HuJI and three of Al-Badr.

During past two years of Congress rule in Jammu and Kashmir, 182 commanders were killed and of these 75 commanders were of Hizb followed by 49 of LeT, 18 of JeM, 11 of Al-Badr and 20 of HuJI.

In 2006, out of 105 commanders killed, Hizb lost 41, LeT 32, HuJI 10, JeM five and Al-Badr four.

In 2005, Hizb lost 31 top commanders, followed by 12 of LeT, nine of Al-Badr, seven of JeM, two commanders each of HuM and HuJI, besides one each of TuM, JuM, HeI and Al-Barq.

This year Hizb lost one operation chief commander, four divisional commanders, seven district commanders, nine tehsil commanders, 12 area commanders and company commander, the officers said.

Top among those killed in 2007 include Bilal Afghani, chief commander of Al-Badr on December 3 in Budgham followed by Qari Umar (deputy chief of HuJI for J-K), Abu Hamza (chief operation commander of JuM), Qasim Bhatti (chief operation commander of LeT), Iajaz Ahmed Chopan (chief operation commander of HM), Aby Tallah (operation commander of LeT's Jammu region), Mohammad Younis (commander-in-chief, HMPPR) and Mohd Khalid-ur-Rehman (LeT's India operations head).

In 2004, Hizb had lost three chief operation commanders, Gazi Shahab-uddin, Gazi Naseer-uddin, Saif-ul-Islam, besides deputy chiefs, Abbas Malik, Shakeel Ansari, intelligence chief Tari Aziz.

"Due to crumbling of the top structure of militant outfits like Hizb, LeT, JeM, lower militant cadres are on run in J-K," the officers said.

Source Link: The Times of India

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