| PAKISTAN LEDGER | August 12th, 2008 | Moin Ansari | The Kashmiri protests along with the Northeast insurrection combined with the Naxalite insurgency covers more than half of the Indian Union. The protests in Kashmir not only blow up the dream of “Incredible India” they are actually blowing up India. If Jammu is Hindu, then why can’t Kashmir be Muslim. If the state has already faces a de facto division, why not divide it permanently. If the Kashmiris want to trade with Pakistan how long will the soldiers keep killing the innocent civilians?

Insurrection India:India cracks map of insurgency: Naxalites, Maoists, Seven Sisters, Kashmir, Punkjab, TamilThe idea of becoming subservient to India is abhorrent and that of cooperation with India, with the object of promoting tension with China, equally repugnant.” Zulfiqar Ali BhuttoThe genocide of Muslims in Kashmir; Kashmiris want to join Pakistan

Surely this is not the picture New Delhi wants to send to the world’s TV sets.

Kashmiris protesting to join Pakistan: Tehrik e Ilhak be Paksitan is very much alive and cannot die

Kashmiris say protests a ‘wake-up’ call for India

Kashmiris protesting Indian Occupation: Kashmir want to join Pakistan

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — A new wave of deadly unrest in Indian Kashmir is a reminder that a peace process between India and Pakistan has failed to alleviate the frustrations of the region’s Muslims, residents say.

They hope the massive protests will force New Delhi to admit it has not won “hearts and minds” in its part of the disputed Himalayan territory — despite claims it has — and accept the root causes of the conflict must be addressed.

“The protests are the manifestation of an anger that the peace process doesn’t seem to have achieved anything,” said Noor Ahmed Baba, a political science professor in Indian Kashmir’s main university.

“The peace process has not addressed the concerns of Kashmiris. They want to see an end to uncertainty. They want a resolution of the Kashmir dispute,” he said. “The protests are serious and should serve as a wake-up call.”

In 2003, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along the heavily militarised Line of Control that cuts though Kashmir, a region they each hold in part but claim in full.

A year later the nuclear-armed neighbours launched what has turned out to be an extremely slow-moving peace process.

The dialogue was supposed to address all bones of contention, including the status of Kashmir, but has remained bogged down in mutual recriminations over cross-border militancy and terror attacks.

For ordinary Kashmiris, that means they still have to live with a massive Indian army and paramilitary contingent that is visible on almost every road, street corner or hill top of a part of the world once known as the “Switzerland of the east.”

Indian security forces are regularly accused of brutalising locals, and a recent scandal saw several soldiers accused of murdering civilians and passing them off as Islamic militants as a way of winning bonuses or promotions.

India remains unwilling to acknowledge that Kashmir is even “disputed,” let alone consider giving it some autonomy.

The latest protests, which have left close to 20 dead by police firing in two days, were sparked by a decision by the Jammu and Kashmir state government to award land to a Hindu pilgrimage trust.

The order was rescinded after a first wave of protests by Muslims, only to spark rioting and a blockade by Hindu extremists who dominate the south of the state.

On Monday and Tuesday, demonstrations by Muslims over the punishing blockade — which is threatening financial ruin for fruit growers — were met with Indian gunfire.

“Firing on protesters speaks of Indian double-standards. In Jammu, three protesters were killed during several days of curfew, but in the (Muslim) Kashmir valley, six people are martyred on the very first day of a curfew,” said one Kashmiri protester, Showket Ahmed, a university student.

“They love to kill Muslims,” he said of the Indian police and soldiers.

“After these shooting incidents we have lost whatever love we had for Indians,” added housewife Haleema Akhter, as witnesses also reported Indian police beating injured protesters who were being taken to hospital in ambulances.

India is now being hit by some of the biggest protests since the Kashmir insurgency erupted in 1989, and facing the end of years of relative calm brought about by the peace process and ceasefire along the Line of Control.

Separatists say their struggle, which was only recently described by India as burning out, has been given a major boost.

“The rising pro-freedom protests will definitely give impetus to the freedom struggle,” hardline separatist Syed Ali Geelani told AFP.

“What we are seeing is the revival of the separatist movement in Kashmir, which had been in a dying stage,” agreed Tahir Mohiudin, an editor of the leading Urdu weekly Chattan.

“Firing on unarmed civilians will alienate people further and serve the cause of separatists,” he said.

The idea of becoming subservient to India is abhorrent and that of cooperation with India, with the object of promoting tension with China, equally repugnant.” Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

Azad Kashmir is the slice of territory where Kashmiris can breathe freedom. More than 500,000 Kashmiris wanted to cross the Line of Control (LOC) and and reach their brothers and sisters in Muszaffarabad.

Kashmir and Junagarh is Pakistani territory

Kashmir: What was liberated in 1948? What remains?

• Kargil facts
• 1947 impact today: Radcliffs award of Ferozepur and Gurdaspur foretold the hidden scheme for Kashmir

Historical records have to be dug up to discover the background of the crisis. India annexed Kashmir on a forged document just like Russia has attacked and taken over Georgian territory. Kashmir: Does the article of accession exist?

India seems to think that it has swallowed up the fruits of its aggression in 1948.Northern Areas are part of Pakistan and were never part of Kashmir

US resolutions, and Nehru speeches on disputed nature of Kashmir.

• Indus Water Treaty, Kalabagh, Kashmir, & Gurdaspur
• Nehru’s commitments on Kashmir to the world
• India relents: Occupied Kashmiris can travel to Free Azad Kashmir (Pakistan)
• Advani Launching Hindu campaign against Occupied Kashmiris
• Pakistan welcomes the liberty trucks from Indian Occupied Kashmir to Azad Kashmir. Mr. Manmohan bring down the wall: Let freedom reign.
• Jammu vs. Kashmir = Hindu vs. Muslim in “secular” India

Kashmiris protesting to join Pakistan: Tehrik e Ilhak be Paksitan is very much alive and cannot die

India is also waging a water war in the Kashmir region

Maoists insurgents in Nepal and Naxalites in India