Mohammad Jamil
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) expressed concern over gross human rights violations and unabated killings in India-held Kashmir, and renewed its call for resolution of the dispute through peaceful means. Addressing a press conference with Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz, OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani noted that the situation in held Kashmir was deteriorating and urged the international community to act. Mr. Madani said: “A peaceful solution to the dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions is an imperative for regional peace and stability”. The recent genocide in IOK has received wide coverage in international as well as domestic Indian media; and even the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the US have advised India to stop violence and resolve the issue through dialogue. It means they recognize the Kashmir dispute as an issue, which has to be resolved otherwise they would not make such suggestion.
They wholesale orgy of death and destruction that its rampaging military has indulged in so freely in the occupied territory has left not even a single home there without a family tragedy. But the Kashmris have not bent; they stand tall; and their tormenting Indian military stands ignobly dwarfed. What bigger humiliation could Indian leaders see in their lifetime than this? It is because of persistent struggle and determination of Kashmiris that international community has started understanding the shenanigans of the Indian government and its repression and barbarism in IOK. Prominent writers and academics as well as journalists, artists, students, doctors and concerned citizens from the UK and abroad issued a joint letter expressing solidarity with Kashmiris following the horrifying events. According to the organizers, over 900 signatures were obtained in less than 48 hours.
Indian hatred and animosity against the Kashmiri Muslims is deep-seated and its reflections can clearly be seen through Indian repressive tactics including torture, extra-judicial killings, rape and fake encounters by Indian Security Forces in IOK that continue unabated. The aim is to deter Kashmiri populace from demanding their right of self-determination. The repression, oppression and atrocities by Indian forces have turned Kashmir into a hell that would stretch Dante’s imagination reflected in his famous poem Divine Comedy. However, these acts could not break the will of Kashmiris. The heroic struggle waged by the people of Kashmir is unparalleled in the history; they are committed to continue their struggle till their objective is achieved. It has to be said that no solution can be found without participation and consensus of the people of Kashmir, and ultimately they have to decide about their destiny.
In fact, after 9/11, even genuine and legitimate struggle was being considered as terrorism. As regards terrorism, the term owes its origin to French Revolution of 1789, and has been defined as the threat or use of violence for political ends on the part of individual or groups without any formal political power. When ‘terrorists’ are imbued with some ideology, or engaged in freedom struggle, they draw on the same symbols of legitimacy as the governments to which they are opposed. Terror, in the sense of the use of violence to intimidate, has been used by governments on a large scale since the French Revolution. The practices of Nazis in Germany, Israel’s Mosad in Palestine or India’s RAW in occupied Kashmir were particularly horrific examples. The resistance movements against Nazi occupation during the Second World War in France, Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia, and the occupied parts of Russia were liberation movements.
Likewise, movement by Chinese leader Mao Tse Tung, Fidel Castro in Cuba, Algerian freedom movement, Ho Chi Min’s movement in Vietnam were all genuine liberation movements. Details of some of the principal terrorists groups active during 1980s have been mentioned on pages 374/375 (Table 11.1) in “Sociology” written by renowned sociologist Anthony Giddens. Out of 26 groups, only 5 were Muslim groups fighting for the liberation of Palestine, which in fact could be counted as one group because they all had a common cause; the rest were all non-Muslim groups operating in European countries and elsewhere like Irish Republican Army (IRA), The Red Brigades in Italy and so forth. It is, therefore, irrational to identify terrorism with Muslims or Islam. However, the US, the West, the pseudo-intellectuals and palmed off writers blame Muslims for every act of terror.
