How the U.K. saw Kayani as ‘obstacle’ to deal on Kashmir

Britain’s Labour Government regarded the Pakistani army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, as a major “obstacle” to an India-Pakistan “deal” on Kashmir, WikiLeaks documents accessed by The Hindu have revealed.
 
A cable, dated November 28, 2008 (180571: confidential/noforn) from the U.S. Embassy in London showed that until a day before the 26/11 Mumbai bombings, the view in the British Foreign Office was that India and Pakistan were close to an agreement on Kashmir with a “text” ready, but General Kayani was “reluctant.” He was seen as the only “remaining obstacle.”
 
The view was based on British Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s visit to Pakistan on November 25, 2008.
 
A U.S. diplomat quotes Laura Hickey of the Pakistan Team of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as saying that Mr. Miliband’s assessment was that there was a “deal on paper” and both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari were “ready” to sign it.
 
“Hickey said Miliband concluded during his trip that it was time to get a deal done on Kashmir. Zardari and Singh were ready, and there was a text on paper. Miliband thought the remaining obstacle was Pakistani military chief staff general Kayani; he remained ‘reluctant’ and needed to be persuaded,” the cable said.
 
Ms. Hickey said Mr. Miliband had “resolved to put energy behind an Indian-Pakistan deal on Kashmir.” “She thought the November 26 Mumbai bombings would likely strengthen his resolve. HMG [Her Majesty’s Government] is nervous, however, that over-reaction on either government’s part could result in a hardening of positions over military action in Kashmir, once again derailing any progress,” the cable said.
 
(http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-india-cables/article1594821.ece?homepage=true  03/04/11, The Hindu)

Embarrassing Questions

Assemanand’s retraction of what of his ‘confessional statement’ raises fresh doubts about partisan political games 

B. Raman 

The investigation into the February 18, 2007, explosions on board the Samjhauta Express to Pakistan that killed 68 persons 43 of them Pakistanis returning home after visiting India is becoming messier and messier, thereby further discrediting Indian investigating agencies.

Initial investigation pointed the needle of suspicion to Jihadi terrorists belonging to Pakistani organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET). A finding by the US Department of Treasury, which is responsible for stopping flow of funds to terrorists, also blamed the LET and Al Qaeda.

Subsequently, Indian investigation agencies claimed that further investigation made by them showed that the act of terrorism on board the train was actually the work of some Hindu extremists, who had association with some Hindutva organisations in the past. They went to town with a confession reportedly made before a magistrate by Swami Assemanand with alleged past links to some Hindutva elements. In his confessional statement, which mysteriously found its way into the hands of a journalist of the Tehelka magazine, he had confessed his role not only in the incident on board the train, but also in the terrorist attacks against members of the Muslim community at Ajmer Sharif, Malegaon and the Mecca mosque at Hyderabad.

While his confessional statement, which was prematurely leaked through the Tehelka, was under verification, he is reported to have retracted it. In its issue of March 31, 2011, the Times of India has reported as follows:
 
“In a major twist, Swami Assemanand has turned hostile and has accused investigative agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), of pressurising him to make confessions”.
 
The TOI has quoted him as having told an Ajmer court on March 29,2011, as follows:
 
“I have been pressurised mentally and physically by the investigating agencies to confess that I was behind these blasts.” He is also reported to have told the court that he was threatened and pressurised to become a government witness in this case.

The retraction of his confession came a day before the meeting between Prime Ministers Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr Yousef Raza Gilani at Mohali during the India-Pakistan World Cup cricket semi-final. It coincided with the meeting of the Home/Interior Secretaries of the governments of India and Pakistan held on March 28 and 29. The Indian delegation to the talks was reported to have shared with the Pakistani delegation some details of the confessional statement on March 29. The same issue of the TOI has reported as follows quoting an unidentified member of the Indian delegation to the talks:
 
“Pakistan was given this information with the promise that the updated information will be shared with it once the NIA, which is probing the case since July last year, filed its charge-sheet in the court.”
 
Assemanand’s denial of the confession does not absolve him of responsibility for his involvement in the train blast. He can even now be successfully prosecuted provided other suspects who were arrested during the investigation–either on the basis of his confession or through other independent evidence–stick to their respective statements and testify against him in the court. If they do not do so, the entire case regarding the involvement of some members of the Hindu community in the train blast could fail.

The leakage of the details of the confessional statement to the media before the statement had been verified in all material particulars was apparently an attempt by the government to use its investigation agencies to score political gains against the Hindutva organisations. This partisan political game seems to have boomeranged as a result of the retraction of the confession.

Whether jihadi terrorists or some Hindu elements were involved, the forensic evidence collected such as the nature of the improvised explosive devices would be the same. On the basis of the same forensic evidence, jihadi terrorists were initially blamed. Then after the confessional statement, some Hindus were blamed. Now with the confessional statement most probably losing its value because of the retraction, who are the real perpetrators of the crime?

The investigating agencies could find themselves in a very embarrassing situation in answering this question. This is what happens when investigating agencies deviate from the path of professionalism and let themselves be used in partisan political games.
 
B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies
 
(http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?271185  02/04/11, Outlook India)

Kashmir: A humanitarian issue

Dr Raja Muhammad Khan

Upon establishment of the United Nations Organization, Colonialism came into sharp contrast with the right of self-determination. Resultantly, many of the Afro-Asian countries including India and Pakistan were decolonized and got independence. The UN however, failed to give right of self-determination to Kashmiris. Rather, the miseries of Kashmiris, started with the Treaty of Amritsar-1846, had increased many-fold over the years. Earlier, Kashmiri’s peaceful attempt to come out from the clutches of the slavery was brutally crushed, resulted into the worst massacre by Dogra Rule in 1931. Sequel to this, Dogra rulers’ committed worst form of human rights violation of the Kashmiri until Kashmiris revolted in October in 1947 to get their right of freedom. In the process, they gained partial success, with bulk of the state getting under Indian occupation.

United Nations has passed a number of resolutions, all promising them their right of self-determination. These resolutions were accepted by India too. However, subsequently, India denied the right of self-determination to Kashmiris, until their peaceful struggle was forced to convert into an armed resistance movement against Indian occupation in early 1990s. The tactic used by India for the human rights violation include; indiscriminate killings of Kashmiri masses by its security forces, arbitrary arrest and detention, gang rapes of women, torture and even arson and looting of houses. Through inhuman and discriminatory laws, India has given special sweeping powers to its security forces. As per Jawayria’s article, ‘Kashmir: India’s Reign of Terror’, there is a huge concentration of Indian army in Jammu and Kashmir, indeed, unparallel in the world. “From January 1989 to December 2007, nearly 100,000 Kashmiris have been killed by Indian troops in Kashmir and as many disappeared during Indian forces’ custody in various interrogation centers and torture cells. About 113,882 civilians have been arrested without any reason, 22,591 women widowed, 1756 gang-raped and the children orphaned estimate to 107,051, People rendered homeless are beyond calculation as vaguely 105,536 buildings/homes have been destroyed brutally. There is hardly any house in occupied Kashmir, which has not sacrificed one or two or more of its members for the cause of liberation.”

India did not let loose its brutalities even after Kashmiris denounced their armed struggle in 2003. Indian security forces still number over 650,000, continued human rights violation of Kashmiris. In 2008, Indian forces fired on the group of peaceful demonstrators and killed dozens of innocent Kashmiris. These protestors were asking for a safe passage to sell their fruits and other agricultural product either to Indian markets or else to Azad Kashmir. Their movement was blocked by Indian security forces and Hindu nationalists, under BJP, thus disallowing them their legal right of selling their product. Like all other discriminatory acts of the Indian security forces, this was a clear violation of the international humanitarian law. Earlier, India attempted to change the demography of Kashmir, through allotment of Kashmiri land for settling non Kashmiri Hindu population in the garb of extending the space for a Hindu shrine. There have been continuous brutalities on Kashmiris by Indian forces thereafter. In May 2009, India Army rape and murder two Kashmiri women at Shopian area. The incident was seriously resented by all Kashmiris and also invited condemnations from all over.
 
Similarly, Indian forces killed a nine years old boy without any fault. In 2010, there has been killing of many innocent Kashmiris by Indian security forces, an act totally in violation of the UN Charter and Human Rights Declaration. Until now, there has been a debate whether Kashmir is a political or a religious issue. A dominant class believes that, it is a political issue. It in fact is the issue of the future of a state, having population of over 15 million, spreading over an area of 84471 square miles. A limited class, however, believe on the religious context of the state. Nevertheless, over the years, the humanitarian dimension of the issue has become more glaring then other two. Today, the global community has a realization that, the massive human rights violations in the occupied state has to be dealt as per the provisions of the Universal Declarations of Human Rights of December 1948 and Article 1 of the UN Charter. Under the declaration, the broad guidelines are “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” The declaration prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention of any human being and also declares that, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” The declaration takes a lead from the UN Charter, which aims to, “develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples,” Article 1 of the UN charter, emphasized on the promotion and encouragement of respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction.

Upon Kashmiri uprisings in 1990, Governor Rule was imposed in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and through a special amendment in the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA), Indian security forces were given sweeping powers of arrest and detention of Kashmiris. The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), permits people to be detained for a period up to two years on vaguely defined without trial for simply asking whether the state of Jammu and Kashmir should remain part of India. This contravenes their right to express their opinions guaranteed in Article 19 of the ICCPR a clear violation of human rights by Indian forces as they have never permitted any detainee or arrested person to know the charge or allegation against him / her.

Similarly, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, (TADA) permits the Indian forces to detain the people arbitrarily for just inquiring whether Jammu and Kashmir should remain part of India or discussing the possibilities of plebiscite. This cruel act allows the authorities to arrest and detain people just on mere suspicion and people can be remanded up to 60 days in police custody. Amnesty International has analyzed the provisions of TADA and found it completely violation of important international Human Rights Laws. No guarantee is given for freedom of expression or security for fair under TADA. This Law is a gross violation of Human Rights. Besides, as per Special Power Act, Indian Army and Para-military forces have the power to shoot any individual who is violating or behaving in contravention of the law enforced. Under all these discriminatory laws, Indian security forces could even shoot to kill with virtual immunity. These special legal provisions are in contravene to most important human rights provisions laid down in international human rights instruments to which India is a party. It is therefore, moral responsibility of international community that, India should be forced to abolish these inhuman and discriminatory laws specially designed for human rights violation in Kashmir. After all, in this highly civilized world, Kashmiris too should be given their basic right to live as a free nation. The issue has to be tackled as a humanitarian issue, aiming to reduce the human sufferings.
 
(http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=84563  04/04/11, Pakistan Observer)

Fake-Maoist gang busted in Rayagada

Police have arrested seven youths for extorting money from vehicle owners while posing as Maoists in Rayagada district.

Police said the accused, who are aged between 18 and 30 years, were arrested while trying to fleece a truck driver on a ghat road between Rayagada and Mukundpur in Chandili police station area on Tuesday night. “We had been receiving frequent complaints of loot and robbery from the Chandili police station area for the past few months. During investigation, we found that some youths from Mukundpur village were involved in the crime by posing as Maoists. We accordingly chalked out a strategy to catch the criminals,” said SP (Rayagada) Anup Krishna.

“During interrogation, the gang members confessed that they had no links with Maoists. But posing as Red rebels made it easier for them to loot their already frightened victims,” the SP added. The fake Maoists were identified as Venkat Sabar, Sanjay Kausalya, Susanta Mohapatra, Hemanta Naga, Ranjan Kondagiri, Rabi Kondagiri and Surendra Behera. Police recovered a country made gun, sharp edged weapons, mobile phones among other things from their possession.

“The gang had also looted some schools in the area. More details regarding their involvement in other cases will be known once we complete our investigation,” Krishna said. Last week, two youths in Malkangiri district were arrested while trying to extort money from a trader in Chitrakonda by posing themselves as Maoists.

Miscreants committing crime by pretending to be Maoists is not a new phenomenon in this part of the state where the Red rebels rule the roost. Criminals are well aware that people’s fear of Maoist reprisal will prevent the victims from approaching police and this lets them carry out their nefarious activities with impunity.
 
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Fake-Maoist-gang-busted-in-Rayagada/articleshow/7828976.cms  30/03/11, The Times of India)

Public awarness camp on naxals held in Maha district

A public awareness camp highlighting evils of Naxal ideology was held here to enlighten locals and tribals on how their assistance can help police nab outlaws in this Maoist-infested region of Maharashtra. The camp was held at Manora village in Ballarpur tehsil of the district yesterday, organised in association with Mahatma Gandhi Tanta Mukti Samiti, Gram Panchayat, Manora and the district police department.
 
Addressing a gathering after inaugurating it, Prabhat Ranjan, Special Inspector General of Police, Nagpur Range said, “Naxals are trying to spread their ideology by emotional blackmailing tribals in naxal-affected areas of the district. Don’t fall in prey to their bait and help the police to eliminate this evil.” He said naxals criticise the existing system but themselves fail to adhere to any kind of principles or system when it comes to working with people. “Hence, we have been organising such awareness camps in every tehsil of the district to instill confidence among tribals and villagers on the government and especially on the police department,” he said.
 
The IG further urged people to help the police battle the Naxalites and their ideology while assuring implementation of all possible development works via district administration, Gram Panchayat and other agencies in the rural parts. He also requested villagers to openly share information about any Naxal activity in their area, promising them protection and secrecy.
 
(http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/public-awarness-camp-on-naxals-held-in-maha-district/629357.html  30/03/11, IBN Live)

Maoist wanted for police killing arrested in Jharkhand

A Maoist wanted for the killing of three policemen was on Thursday arrested in Giridih district of Jharkhand, a senior police officer said. Following a tip-off, Jawar Murmur alias Talo’da was arrested from Kuar More of the district, superintendent of police AB Homker said at a press conference here.
 
Murmur was wanted in connection with the killing of Jama police station in-charge Sadanand Singh and two other policemen during an encounter in Dumka district last year and another gun-battle at Ramgarh in the same district in 2008, he said. “Murmur confessed during interrogation that he was heading the Maoist ‘firing squad’ in the encounters and that the CPI (Maoist) had asked him to expand its network in Jharkhand’s Santhal Pargana and bording districts of West Bengal,” the police officer said. Murmur hails from Majildih village of Giridih district.
 
(http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_maoist-wanted-for-police-killing-arrested-in-jharkhand_1526654  31/03/11, DNA India)

698 politicians among 13,215 civilians killed in JK

Jammu and Kashmir government today said that 13,215 civilians, including 698 politicians, were killed in terrorist attacks in the state since 1990. 13,215 civilians, including 698 politicians and political leaders and workers, were killed by terrorists since 1990 in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a written reply in Legislative Council here today. Giving a break up, he said that 12,517 civilians and 698 politicians and political leaders and workers were killed between 1990 to February 25, 2011. He said the highest numbers of 1,275 civilians were killed in 1996 and highest number of 101 political leaders and workers were killed in 2002. In 2010, there was a decrease in killings as 33 civilians and 4 politicians were killed as compared to 59 civilians and 3 politicians in 2009, he said. In two months period of current year, 4 civilians and a political activists were killed.
 
(http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/698-politicians-among-13215-civilians-killed-in-jk/631966.html  31/03/11, IBN Live)

Geelani concerned over ‘rising’ crime in society

Expressing concern over rising crime in the society, the Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Thursday condemned the recent killings of civilians including National Conference activist by unidentified persons in south Kashmir.

“There has been manifold increase in incidents of crime in our society. The recent killing of civilians by unidentified persons indicates that our minds have been polluted to such an extent that we can’t even tolerate each other,” Geelani said. He condemned the recent killings including of a girl in Kupwara and a contractor Ghulam Mohiddin Bhat in Tral. Bhat was a block president of ruling National Conference and was killed by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday.
 
“Islam teaches us to respect each other. Killing of even a person tantamount to murder of humanity,” he added. “In Islam, a state has been authorized to award death sentence in unavoidable circumstances but there is no scope for an individual to kill any human being by himself ignoring judicial procedures and state authority,” he added.
 
I urge the Kashmiri society to develop tolerance and follow the teachings of Islam which teaches to respect each other,” Geelani said. Meanwhile, Geelani’s spokesman said the veteran leader will address a gathering at Baramulla after Friday prayers at Masjid-Baitul-Mukaram Baramulla on April 1.
 
(http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2011/Apr/1/geelani-concerned-over-rising-crime-in-society-60.asp  31/03/11, Greater Kashmir)

ULFA calls for Assam Bandh to protest PM’s visit on April 02

In a press release sent by Arunudoy Dahotiya, publicity in charge of the Paresh Baruah section of the ULFA, the outfit has called for a twelve hour long Assam Bandh on 2nd of April to protest against Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to the state. However all emergency services has been allowed to continue with their work as usual during the Bandh, the press release stated. Criticizing the Prime Minister for not keeping his words, the outfit further accused that the head of the country visits the state time to time as a propaganda to impart further colonialism in Assam and create rift between the different indigenous tribes and communities of the people.
 
The ULFA had earlier called for the Bandh on 28th March to protest against Prime Minister’s earlier plan to visit Assam to campaign for the state congress in coming elections and had accused that the Prime Minister had not kept his word to the people of Assam of discussing all issues with the ULFA to bring a solution to Assam’s burning problems through lateral talks with the outfit. However, the strike was called off and postponed by the outfit after the news of the Prime Minister’s visit getting canceled. However the Ministry was quick to declare that Manmohan Singh’s visit was not canceled due to fear of ULFA’s strike during this visit, but because of certain other urgent tasks.
 
The Bandh called by the outfit has made the security agencies to be on high alert during the period. The Paresh Baruah fraction of the ULFA has already attacked the Congress Headquarters in Guwahati recently to warn the party and is expected to create other mishaps during the election period. On the other hand, the pro-talk leaders of the ULFA led by its Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who had recently met the Prime Minister at Delhi to initiate the process of lateral talks with the Government of India, has not commented on the Assam Bandh. It would be worth mentioning that the pro-talk fraction of ULFA had recently decided in their council meeting in Sivasagar to keep a neutral position during the coming state elections.
 
(http://www.timesofassam.com/headlines/ulfa-calls-for-assam-bandh-to-protest-pms-visit-on-april-02  31/03/11, Times of Assam)

Does the west have a death wish?

PREM SHANKAR JHA

The aerial attack on Libya undid the gains of the calibrated approach in other Arab states
 
WHEN TUNISIA exploded, the West was caught by surprise and didn’t know what to do. So it stood by and found, to its amazement, that people there wanted democracy, not an Islamic theocracy — to step into the future and not return to the past. So when Egypt exploded, US President Barack Obama overruled his closest advisers, backed the democracy movement, advised Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down and urged the Egyptian military to ensure a smooth transition to democracy.
 
The entire world applauded. Quite suddenly, the US ceased to be the Great Satan it had been for decades in the eyes of the Arab populace and became a country they could live with and even emulate. So when Libya exploded — and instead of negotiating with the protestors, Col Muammar Gaddafi started shooting and bombing them from virtually the first day — it was not only do-gooders on comfortable sofas around the world but the Arab League that urged the US and EU to declare a no-fly zone over Libya in order to halt, or at least limit the carnage and, just possibly, force Gaddafi back to the negotiating table. That initiative has gone so horribly wrong that it could well sound the death knell of western hegemony and plunge the Arab world into irretrievable chaos.
 
The purpose of the no-fly zone should have been to prevent Gaddafi from using his air force against defenceless opponents; it should have been to send an unambiguous message to all current and would-be dictators that the world would not stand by and allow any regime to use weapons intended for the defence of the State against external threats, against its own people. Last, it should have been to level the playing field in Libya just sufficiently to make the cost of military subjugation unacceptably high for the Gaddafi regime.
 
This required a carefully calibrated and restrained use of actual force. Libyan planes that took to the air should have been warned to return to their bases; only those that did not obey or attacked the enforcing aircraft should have been shot down; Libyan retaliatory attacks that did no significant damage to the enforcers should have been ignored, and more serious attacks should have been responded to with pinpointed attacks on a few military targets. Instead, the US Navy responded to a single Libyan attack on a US ship by unleashing a storm of cruise missiles. No one knows how serious the Libyan attack was, or whether there even was one; no one knows what the cruise missiles were aimed at, and no one knows how many of them hit their targets. Therefore, no one knows how many Libyan civilians the US Navy has killed.
 
By its very nature, aerial bombardment is imprecise. In the first Gulf war, 76 percent of the precision-guided US missiles fell outside the target area and killed thousands of civilians. It is a safe bet that the same thing has happened in Libya. But even if the civilian casualties have been much fewer, the Libyan rumour mill will magnify the number of civilian deaths and the populace will believe every word it is fed. In sum, the US Navy has done precisely what it and NATO had, under the UN Security Council’s mandate, set out to punish and prevent. What is more, it has destroyed the moral high ground on which international intervention had sought to position itself.
 
The effect that this botched intervention is likely to have upon the already disintegrating international political system is too grim to contemplate. First, Libya is not Egypt. The latter is not only richer, but has a 5,000-year history of settled civilisation. The Libyans, by contrast, are mostly Bedouin tribals and still belong to the desert. From the start, the Libyan civil war was more of an inter-tribal conflict than a struggle between an autocratic State and a growing, economically empowered, civil society yearning to flex its political muscle. If Gaddafi chooses to fight, he will be followed to the death by the majority of his tribe. If they are driven out of Tripoli, they will take to the desert and continue to fight a guerrilla war. As we have seen in virtually every country from Pakistan to Lebanon, they will paralyse any alternative government by assassinating their leaders, their judges and policemen, and any tribal chiefs who are prepared to work with it. They will also blow up oil pipelines and installations.
 
WORST OF all, just as the US’ intelligent restraint strengthened democratic forces and weakened the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the unbridled use of force in Libya will end by doing the opposite. It has severely damaged the standing of the Arab League, which had only wanted a no-fly zone to prevent civilian deaths, and thereby weakened one of the few moderate regional organisations left in the Islamic world. In the end, these countries will have spent another half a trillion dollars on a war that none of them can afford, only to hand over at least the western half of Libya to al Qaeda’s affiliates and further strengthen their most implacable enemy.
 
Does the West have a death wish? Have David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy and Obama learned nothing from own bitter experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon? The answer is that they have lost not their senses but their control of foreign policy. Today, foreign policy is increasingly being made by the media. Every leader dreads the moment when caution, or inaction, by his or her government, even when dictated by the most powerful logic, will be presented on TV sets in billions of homes as cowardice or insensitivity to human rights. The weaker the government, the less is it able to withstand such pressure. This is why it was Cameron and Sarkozy and not Obama who took the lead in attacking Libya. The development of the mass media has democratised the world in a way that nothing else could have done. But the world has yet to learn that like every other great technological advance, this too has a dark side, which, if it isn’t understood and controlled, can turn into a deadly threat to the future of the human race.
 
(http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Op020411Does.asp  01/04/11, Tehelka)