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So, is new media only reinforcing old stereotypes?


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http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?265666

The first-ever survey on both sides of Kashmir threw up some startling results: only 2 per cent of people in Jammu and Kashmir want to join Pakistan, and 43 per cent of Kashmiris overall prefer independence. But what’s even more startling is that the survey, titled ‘Kashmir: Paths to Peace’, is the brainchild of Saif al Islam al Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The report was prepared by Dr Robert W. Bradnock of King’s College London and a senior fellow at Chatham House, the UK’s most influential think-tank. Nishtha Chugh spoke to Bradnock. Excerpts:

What interest did Gaddafi’s son Saif have in conducting the survey?

We first came in touch in 2002. Saif was then running a charity in Libya which was trying to help (among others) Kashmiri refugees, mainly in Pakistan. He had visited the refugee camps in 2001, when Kashmir was dominated by militancy. He was concerned with the humanitarian nature of the crisis. In his early 30s then, he had embarked on his post-graduate degree in the London School of Economics. That PhD (completed last year) and his research interests were concerned with the role of civil society in resolving disputes. He became interested in Kashmir during his studies. Saif was also concerned with the global implications of the spread of terrorism, and that Libya should be seen as a peacemaker.

How did Saif come up with the idea of a survey in Kashmir?

The idea of the survey was entirely his. He had written a paper about Kashmir in ’02 which hasn’t been published yet. He wrote about it as he was interested in the historical nature of the dispute itself. But as we discussed its complexities in the modern period, he felt the Kashmiris should be consulted, to know how they thought on the issue of self-determination, and how they perceived their problems. The survey became a joint effort of the King’s College London, IPSOS-Mori and their associates in India and Pakistan. Chatham House came into the process only when the report was ready.

How were the surveyors recruited? Could there be a margin of bias creeping in?

They were all locally recruited and trained in Srinagar, in Jammu and Muzaffarabad. The real acid test of independence is in the results. In many respects, the results are not what people would give under duress. For example, on the Indian side where the military presence is very strong, you won’t expect there will be pressure from the government on respondents to say, “I will vote for independence.” Yet the vote for India in J&K was only just over 28 per cent. In Pakistan, you won’t expect only 50 per cent of Azad Kashmir (*** to Indians) to say they wanted to join Pakistan.

Have you visited the region?

I went to the Valley in India in ’03. The military presence was obvious. I had gone to AJK in 1998. Many people in India think AJK is more backward. It doesn’t strike a visitor like that. Pakistan has put a lot of money into infrastructure. The environment does not look any worse than on the Indian side. It’s very difficult to say unequivocally which side is better. However, the visible signs of the dispute are undoubtedly more on the Indian side.

Why do more people in *** support violence as a way to end the dispute?

There may be two reasons. On the Pakistan side, militants have always been talked about as freedom fighters. They are fighting on the other side and not within their community. Secondly, it’s producing a very big counter-terrorist reaction from the forces. And that leads to its own brutality.

One result that will surprise people in AJK is that the support for joining Pakistan in J&K is just 2 per cent overall. And particularly outside AJK, in Pakistani Punjab, there’ll be a sense of disbelief.

What policy suggestions would you make to the Indian government?

The most startling thing in the poll is that a very large proportion of Kashmiris don’t like the LoC as it stands today but would be happy to have it if it were opened up and if there were genuine free movement of goods. I wouldn’t suggest turning the LoC into an international border as this takes away the option of making it more porous—and that’s what the Kashmiris want. The diplomatic challenge for India and Pakistan is to ensure that any liberalisation of the border is not accompanied by a resurgence of terrorist/militant movement. And this highlights in essence that the solution to this problem doesn’t lie just in Kashmir, it lies in relations between India and Pakistan and a building of trust.
 
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Was arms racket being run to execute fake encounters?

Three Kashmiri villagers were killed in an alleged fake encounter a month ago. The Army had labelled them as militants, claimed to have seized five AK rifles and over 200 rounds of ammunition from them.

But questions are being raised about the recovery shown by the Army in the alleged fake encounter.

The police are now investigating if an arms racket was being run to execute fake encounters. The rot seems to have set in long ago.

In 2001, the Army claimed to have killed five Lashkar-e-Toiba militants in Pathribal, seized five AK rifles and ammunition. Later, a CBI probe indicted five Army officers for a staged shootout.

In 2005, 27 villagers from Charar-e-Sharief were made to surrender in Nagrota, Jammu. A police probe indicted a Brigadier and a Colonel but didn't say where the arms came from.

Two years later, in Ganderbal, Police and Army killed five people, dubbed them as foreign militants and claimed recovery of arms and ammunition.

And just two weeks before the Machil encounter, the Army killed a 70-year old beggar in Handwara, claiming that he was a foreign militant who had an AK rifle and ammunition.

Despite probes into fake encounters, the source of arms and ammunition shown as recovery has seldom been established.

"Almost every encounter now has a question mark," said Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister, Jammu and Kashmir.

As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits the Valley on Monday, the Chief Minister plans to take up the issue.

While a probe is on in the Machil fake encounter, Army sources have told NDTV:

* They are going to be totally transparent in this case
* It will maintain high standards of compliance with human right laws and regulation
* Will extend full cooperation
 
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:blah:


:tdown: Kargil for Lahore declaration! Nice


The "difference" is that the people of AJK dont mind the army being around ,while the people in IOK do mind the army being around......you dont get large groups of paramilitary-military people roaming the streets with guns in AJK trying to suppress the people.
Likewise the people support the freedom fighters and after all it about what the people want.

yea, even the people of AJK dont mind of islamic terrorist being there. FREEDOM:pakistan: FIGHTERS !, Are you talking about the freedom fighters like LET, JeM, Talliban,Pakistan-Taliban, Al Qaeda, Sipah-e-Sohaba Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi , who are paying back their master PA in a nice manner :rofl:
 
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so much violence on Indian side of Kashmir. Yet when you go to Pakistan's side of Kashmiri there is PEACE.

Hmmm, has India ever thought about this. They need to back their bags and leave.

Daily protests in Indian occupied Kashmir, daily rape of women in Indian occupied Kashmir.

This is the so called "peaceful and loving" India.

The artifical violence is created by so called FREEDOM :pakistan: FIGHTERS, for which PA is harvesting heavily. Even in Balochistan locals dont like PA army. Why can the PA army pack their bags and leave?
 
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Canada denies visa to ex-Indian army officer for IHK abuses

NEW DELHI: Just days after Canada refused visa to a retired Indian trooper of Border Security Force (BSF) on charges of involvement in human rights violations in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK), one more incident of a denial of visa to a retired Lieutenant General of the Indian army by the Canadian Home Office on the same grounds has come to light.

A retired Lieutenant General of the Indian army, AS Bahia, who served as a member of the Defence Appellate Tribunal, told the media that the Canadian Home Office refused to grant him a visa because he had served in the sensitive location of IHK and his unit, the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), was involved in human rights violations in IHK.

The issue first came to light when the Canadian High Commission denied visa last week to a retired Border Security Force (BSF) trooper Fateh Singh Pandher on grounds that he was associated with a notoriously violent force that indulged in human rights violations in IHK. Canada has denied visas to a member of the Indian Armed Forces Tribunal, three serving Brigadiers, a retired Lieutenant General and a former senior IB official on the grounds that their organisations have been engaging in violence. In another revelation, two Brigadiers were denied visas in 2008 and another in 2009. A retired Lieutenant General RN Bhatia was also refused visa in 2008.

Separately, India said on Thursday it had summoned Canada’s high commissioner and lodged a strong protest after several officials linked with its security establishment were denied Canadian visas.

The visa rejections, on grounds of human rights records, came to light just weeks before Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to travel to Toronto for a G20 meeting. Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna expressed hope that Ottawa would solve the issue appropriately. iftikhar gilani/agencies

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

For you knowledge, Canada had officialy aplologized for this?

Canada apologizes to India over denial of visas

By CHARMAINE NORONHA
Associated Press Writer
updated 3:21 p.m. ET, Fri., May 28, 2010

TORONTO - Canada apologized to India on Friday for denying visas to some of its serving and retired military and intelligence officials.

The Press Trust of India news agency had reported that Canada rejected the visa requests on the ground that these Indian officials had served in the Indian portion of Kashmir, where rights groups have accused Indian forces of human rights violations.

Reports about the visa rejections come just weeks before Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to travel to Toronto for a G-20 summit meeting.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

Canada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in a statement Friday that his country has the highest regard for India, its government institutions and processes.

"The government of Canada therefore deeply regrets the recent incident in which letters drafted by public service officials during routine visa refusals to Indian nationals cast false aspersions on the legitimacy of work carried out by Indian defense and security institutions," said Kenney.
 
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Atrocities Of Pakistan’s Mercenary Army

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

17 April, 2010
Countercurrents.org

More than 70 civilians were killed and scores injured in an air raid on April 10 by the Pakistani jet fighters in the tribal region along Pakistan’s northern border with Afghanistan. According to eyewitness accounts, a bomb was dropped on a house in the remote village of Sara Walla in the Khyber tribal agency. The fighter jets returned as villagers tried to dig out people from the rubble two hours later.

According to Ikramullah Jan Kukikhel, a tribal elder, the death toll is likely to reach up to 80. He said between 20 and 30 others were injured when the house of Hameed Khan Kukikhel was bombed by the jets, killing women, children and elderly people. "All of those killed were civilians, 100% innocent," he told the press.

Ironically, the Kukikhel are with the government. Two sons of Hameed Khan Kukikhel (whose house was bombed) were serving in the para-military Frontier Constabulary. “We have never joined the Taliban or any other fundamentalist group. We are normal people who just want peace for the country," said Ikramullah Jan Kukikhel.

However, the Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas insisted that any of the dead were civilians, saying the army had intelligence that militants were gathering at the site of the strike. As army was adamant not to concede the civilian casualties, an embarrassed civilian administration offered compensation to 71 victims of the tragic incident.

According to a survivor of the attack an official from the Khyber administration visited him and gave him a check of Rs 20,000 ($220) to compensate for the loss of four relatives, including his brother.

Pakistan’s mercenary Army is conducting massive operations against the militants in the tribal region behind a smoke screen. No journalists are permitted inside the war zone. Reports about the fighting and casualties of the so-called Taliban and army as well as civilian victims are primarily based on the information, misinformation and propaganda released by government or military spokesmen.

About 150,000 Pakistani army troops have been involved in operations in Swat and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghanistan border, including Bajur and South Waziristan. A major operation was launched in Swat in November 2007. Another operation in Bajur commenced in August 2008. South Waziristan operation began in October 2009.

Under US pressure, the latest operation was launched last month in North Waziristan where more than 300 alleged militants have been killed in three weeks of constant air-strikes and occasional ground clashes. The North Waziristan operation is seen crucial for U.S.-led forces across the border in Afghanistan. The United States and its NATO allies long have been pressing for action in North Waziristan, an alleged base for al-Qaida and the Haqqani network, described as one of the most powerful insurgent groups in Afghanistan.

According to Pakistan Army’s website, over 3,000 militants have been killed and almost 4,000 apprehended in the military operations in the tribal region. Pakistan Army and paramilitary Frontier Corps suffered more than 1400 fatal casualties. The army has neither released the names of those arrested nor the killed militants. After any encounter or raid there is a terse statement by the Army Public Relations Department giving the number of casualties without any names. Since the region is a no-go area for the media, the army claims cannot be confirmed.

A recent Human Rights group report provides an insight into the US-backed brutal Army operations in the volatile region. Since 2002, the United States has provided $11.6 billion in military aid and $6 billion in development assistance, according to Congressional Research Service figures. The administration has requested an additional $3 billion in combined aid for 2011.

Extrajudicial execution

The Human Rights Watch said earlier this month that it had documented the extrajudicial execution of as many as 300 alleged Taliban supporters and sympathizers in the area around Mingora, the Swat capital. The group was able to interview more than 100 Swat families in February and March. A report on the alleged abuses, including torture, home demolitions, illegal detentions and disappearances, is scheduled for release later this month.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the Army was targeting civilians who had voiced support for the Taliban when they controlled Swat or were suspected of providing them food or shelter. "People are taken away, and sometimes they turn up a few days or weeks later having been tortured. Sometimes they disappear. Sometimes their body is dumped with a bullet in the head," said Tom Malinowski, director for the Human Rights Watch.

He also described cases of illegal detention. "A son has gone off to fight with the Taliban, and so another son is taken as a hostage," he said. "And the father is told: We will release son No. 2 when son No. 1 turns himself in."

The army is holding about 2,500 detainees from the operations in Swat and elsewhere in the north and west, about 1,000 of them in Swat. The military has no judicial arm to prosecute them and has complained that Pakistan's slow-moving civilian judiciary was unable to handle them. Ali Dayan Hasan, the Human Rights Watch’s senior South Asia analyst, said the military has not released the names of those being held or allowed outside access to them.

Accusations of rights abuses by the Pakistani military are not new. In September 2009, two months after the Pakistani Army wrested control of the Swat Valley from the militants scores of bodies were found dumped on the streets. Human rights advocates and local residents said it is the work of the military.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) sent a fact-finding mission to Swat which documented accounts of not only extrajudicial killings but also the discovery of mass graves.

The exact number of alleged killings was impossible to calculate because the presence of human rights monitors was limited by the authorities, the commission said. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which investigates illegal killings, was ordered by the military to leave Swat in August last year over matters unrelated to the killings.

Bodies, some with torture marks and some with limbs tied and a bullet in the neck or head, have been found on the roads of Mingora and in rural areas that were militant strongholds. Reports on Sept. 1 in two national daily newspapers, Dawn and The News, said the bodies of 251 people had been found dumped in Swat.


“The number of killings suggests that the military is seeking to silence any enthusiasm for the Taliban and to settle accounts for heavy army casualties,” the New York Times quoted an unnamed senior provincial official.

If the army atrocities in May-July 2009 operation against the militants in Swat are any indication then we may find extra-judicial killings and mass graves in South Waziristan, North Waziristan and other tribal regions as uncovered in Swat.

Refugees crisis

Pakistan army’s operations in the tribal territories have caused a big humanitarian crisis. At least 1.2 million people have been displaced by the latest operations. Last year more than three million people were displaced from the Swat Valley.

Jalozai, which shelters more than 100,000 homeless, remains the largest displacement camp in Asia according to the U.N. "It's still one of the largest displacement crises in the world, and it has been forgotten," says Kilian Kleinschmidt, of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Ten refugee camps are now operating in NWFP which is recently renamed as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Executive Editor of the online magazine American Muslim Perspective: American Muslim Perspective email: asghazali@gmail.com

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Terrorist should be killed, but is this the way for a so called professional Army?. Even the Mumbai attackers were buried not thrown away in to peaces.
 
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*** women on streets opposing pakistani army's atrocities.

 
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Not for the fainted.....

They are forcing the man to accept that he has connections with taliban

 
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i am again saying "everything is fair in war and love



this show army ethic,and its true face of there country
 
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