Another youngster
killed in clashes with government forces in Indian Kashmir:
The disputed region
of Kashmir, claimed by India and Pakistan, is in a state of
suspended political
animation. While U.N. resolutions call for a plebiscite for
Kashmiris to choose
whether to join India, Pakistan or be independent, India
asserts that no
voting can occur until Pakistan-backed unrest comes to an end.
The Nation, Pakistan
Finally - Some
American Common Sense on Kashmir
"U.S.
Congressman Joe Pitts has joined the rising chorus of protest against
atrocities being committed against the people of Kashmir by Indian occupation
forces … perhaps because the occupation has become too overt to be
ignored."
A Muslim man in Srinagar, Indian-held Kashmir, throws a rock at a police vehicle after a teenager was allegedly killed after being struck by a rubber bullet fired by police, June 12.
U.S. Congressman Joe Pitts
has joined the rising chorus of protest against atrocities being committed against
the people of Kashmir by Indian occupation forces. And all for merely demanding
that India fulfill its solemn commitment to the international community to allow
Kashmir's people to exercise their inherent right to self-determination. While
speaking about Kashmir on Capitol Hill, Congressman Pitts noted that Richard
Holbrooke, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, hasn't
even used the word Kashmir.
Pitts' speech more or less
coincided with the killing seven innocent Kashmiris by their Indian occupiers, on
what was the third straight day of protest. The day's turmoil brought the
month's death toll to thirty. Congressman Pitts, a Republican, declared that
the Obama Administration , despite the campaign's statements about the
centrality of the issue and the need to resolve it, has failed to promote
Indo-Pakistan peace.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
This has been evidence emerging
of international opinion mounting against the Indian occupation, but world
capitals, because of narrow selfish interests, are too busy currying favor with
India, the latest example being British Prime Minister David Cameron’s
statement [that Pakistan has not done enough to combat terrorism]. The U.S.
wants to build up India as a regional bulwark against China, and thus toes India's
line on Kashmir, no matter how blatant India's refusal to obey the world's desire
for it determine the will of Kashmir's people. There might have been some
expedient arguments in favor of the Indian view, but since today's generation
of Kashmiris have begun to show their readiness to sacrifice their lives, this
won't wash any longer. The Kashmiri people are being made to pay for two
things. First, that their occupiers are Indians; and second, that they
themselves are Muslims. Because of this, the global community has given India a
free hand and allowed this unjust slaughter of the Kashmiri people.
But a change seems to have
begun, perhaps because the occupation has become too overt to be ignored. The global
community continues to ignore its own U.N. Security Council resolutions on the
subject. But U.S. Congressman Pitts has rightly joined U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon in noting the bloody results of India’s illegal occupation, and so
should everyone of good conscience. This isn't just a matter of keeping two
nuclear-armed neighbors at peace (and thus the region and perhaps the entire
world), but of providing justice to a long-beleaguered people.
Map
of Jammu and Kashmir: Perhaps the most
ignored
and least understood potential flash
point
on earth. [click for map jumbo version]
[Editor's Note: India and
Pakistan have fought four wars over what was once the "princely state of Jammu
and Kashmir," and which, from 1846-1947, was ruled by a British Satrap
called a Maharaja. When
India and Pakistan became states, Jammu Kashmir became disputed territory
between the two. While Jammu Kashmir is majority Muslim, it wanted to maintain
its independence, which led to the first Indi-Pak war. Eventually, Maharajah Hari
Singh signed the Instrument of Accession
"acceding to the dominion" of India. Pakistan rejects the agreement
because of the area's majority Muslim population. Other countries that came
into being as a result of the Partition of India
were Burma, Napal, Bhutan, and the Maldives.]
