[Reader-list] International Call to end Humanitarian Crisis in Jammu and Kashmir

[Appu Esthose Suresh]

Dear Vedavati,

Your response badly tempted me to give you a crash course in "meaning of
terrorism"...Courtesy to Oxford English Dictionary.

*Terrorism*- *The unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and
intimidation in the pursuit of political aims*
**
*Terrorist*-*A person who uses terrorism in the pursuit of political aims*.

With this defintition anybody who indulge in terrorizing is fit to be
refferred as terrorist, that very well include shiv sena goons to
VHP-Bajrangal Dal activist who roamed freely killing and raping in Gujarat.
But, they are terrorist; neither Hindu's, muslims, sikhs nor human being.
Terrorist have one religion ie their political agenda. So, why, "Muslim
Terrorist Brothers". If doubt still persist, please recall that some years
ago a few hindus were also caught for being associated with Kashmir based
terrorist organization.
Or did you imply everyone in Kashmir is terrorist? Being dominated by
muslims at any point in history since 12 AD, your refernce "muslim terrorist
brothers" tends to suggest that everyone at present in Kashmir is
terrorist.  Still you insist in believing so , you got a friend in US,
Mr.Bush. A joint effort in Kashmir could find a permanent settlement. As it
is he seems to be very bored without any military adventure.

All these show-downs are only helping in increasing TRP of channels.
Champions of all causes, invariably both sides, I doubt, have been to these
places even once and listened to people. If a few thousands who are in
streets are formulating your opinion in glass houses, please.......Shut Up!
It is easy to throw stones from forts.

Appu Esthose Suresh


On 8/13/08, Vedavati Jogi <vedavati_jogi at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Champions of Human Rights,
>
> I request all of you to please go to Shrinagar, spend some time with our
> dear muslim terrorist brothers and then only you publish such type of calls.
>
> Vedavati
>
> --- On Wed, 8/13/08, Kashmir Affairs <kashaffairs at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> From: Kashmir Affairs <kashaffairs at yahoo.co.uk>
> Subject: [Reader-list] International Call to end Humanitarian Crisis in
> Jammu and Kashmir
> To: reader-list at sarai.net
> Date: Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 12:24 AM
>
> Justice Navanethem Pillay, High Commissioner
> Dr. Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner
> Ms. Gay McDougall, Independent Expert on minority issues
> Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
> United Nations
> Palais des Nations
> CH-1211 Geneva 10
> Switzerland
>
> Subject: Humanitarian Crisis in Jammu and Kashmir
>
> August 12, 2008
>
>
> Dear Justice Pillay, Dr. Kang, Ms. McDougall:
>
> We
> write to bring to your attention the profound humanitarian crisis
> continuing in the Kashmir Valley due to the ongoing blockade of the
> Srinagar-Jammu highway by religious nationalist groups from India. This
> has resulted in severe shortages in the Kashmir Valley of food and
> other vital provisions. We are reliably informed that petrol and
> essential medical rations, including blood, are in critically short
> supply, as well as newsprint, and that communication services and
> infrastructure are severely disrupted.
>
> The situation in Jammu,
> where the Muslim minority is facing violence on a scale that can be
> described as ethnic cleansing, is alarming. The Government of India and
> the military and paramilitary forces have shown themselves unable
> and/or unwilling to take any effective action, either to end the
> blockade or to stop the violence against Muslims in Jammu. Meanwhile,
> military and paramilitary forces have opened fire on
> counter-demonstrators in Kashmir, using live bullets and mortar. A
> communiqué from the Kashmir Valley states that:
>
> "The
> situation here on ground is that essential commodities have started
> getting dried up, diesel is already out of stock and petrol at its
> verge of end. The people here are very much concerned as if the same
> continues for next few days there will be nothing left to eat with the
> people of Kashmir. And on the other side the Army is supporting the
> mobs who have allegedly beaten up the drivers stranded on the national
> highway. The drivers who were beaten up reported that they asked Army
> to help them but all went in despair and the Army people in return
> handed them over to the mobs. The target is only the Kashmiri Muslims
> and some sources from Jammu say that it is the outsiders who have come
> to Jammu and are doing such attacks on the Muslims and it is quite
> evident that the Hindu fundamentalist groups viz. BJP, RSS VHP, etc.,
> are all sponsoring the planned attacks onto the Kashmiris like it was
> done in Gujarat. Here in Kashmir we feel the history seems to be being
> repeated by the Hindu fundamentalists who had earlier in 1947 killed
> about 250,000 Muslims in Jammu."
>
> On
> August 11, 2008, approximately 100,000 Kashmiris, including fruit
> growers and others gravely affected by the blockade, marched toward the
> Line of Control toward Pakistan markets in protest. They were met with
> gunfire and tear gas from the military and paramilitary forces, and
> Sheik Abdul Aziz, an All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader, was shot
> dead, intensifying the situation. Police reports stated that three
> others were killed and over 200 injured, enervating health systems
> already low on supplies. Other sources we contacted stated that as many
> as 18 others may have been killed in Kashmir on August 11. By early
> evening of August 12, as we write you, reports stated that as many as
> twelve persons were killed in Kashmir on that day as armed forces fired
> on demonstrators. Other reports stated that civil society groups,
> students, and labor unions participating in non-violent civil
> disobedience and peaceful protests are being targeted by the forces, as
> curfew conditions prevail.
>
> The
> Srinagar-Jammu highway is the only land route linking the Kashmir
> Valley to India and the sole conduit for essential supplies as well as
> for exporting horticultural goods, which are among the Valley's chief
> products. News updates on the state of the blockade and situation can
> be found from leading Kashmiri newspapers, which are online at
> www.greaterkashmir.com; www.kashmirtimes.com; www.risingkashmir.com;
> www.etalaat.com/english/.
>
> About
> 95-97 percent of the population of the Valley is Muslim, while Muslims
> are a minority in India. This has made Kashmir the target of
> increasingly aggressive campaigns by Hindu nationalist groups since
> 1947, despite guarantees of autonomy written into the Indian
> Constitution. The Government of India has failed to take measures to
> prevent these campaigns, consisting of marches and demonstrations, and
> culminating in the current blockade. Since 1989 there has been an armed
> pro-independence struggle in Kashmir, together with other and
> non-violent movements for self-determination. Indian counterinsurgency
> operations have resulted in grave abuses of human rights with social,
> economic, psychological, political, and environmental consequences,
> which meet the definition under international law of crimes against
> humanity. To a population suffering the effects of nineteen years of
> armed conflict, the economic crisis caused by the blockade comes as the
> last straw.
>
> We
> urge that you respond expeditiously to this situation in accordance
> with the mandate to uphold human rights as enshrined in the charter of
> the United Nations.
>
> Recommendations:
> 1. The Government of
> India should immediately end the economic blockade and ensure that
> goods and services, including emergency medical and food supplies, can
> move in both directions along the Srinagar-Jammu border.
> 2. The
> Government of India should open the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, a
> promise repeatedly reiterated by successive governments of India and
> Pakistan, though never implemented. This would ensure that the current
> crisis situation is not repeated as well as mark a concrete step
> forward in addressing injustices and the peace process.
> 3. Take immediate action to stop the violence against
> the Muslim minority in Jammu and bring those responsible to justice.
> 4.
> Put an end to ongoing human rights abuses by Indian forces and
> pro-India militias as repeatedly promised by the Indian Prime Minister
> and expected of democratic governments.
> 5. Take steps for a
> long-term resolution of the conflict by beginning talks with all
> sections of the Kashmiri leadership and civil society.
> 6. Take steps
> to hold the Indian state accountable under the provisions established
> by the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, Constitution of India, the
> Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and International Laws and
> Conventions.
>
> We, the undersigned, are academics, social
> activists, writers, filmmakers, artists, lawyers, and concerned
> citizens. Our work and conscience connects us to Kashmir and its
> people. We hold no political affiliations. Please do not hesitate to
> contact us if we may be of further use.
>
> Contact persons:
> Dr. Angana Chatterji,
> Associate Professor, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology,
> California Institute of Integral Studies, Office: 001-415.575.6119,
> Mobile: 001-415.640.4013, E-mail: achatterji at ciis.edu.
> Dr. Haley Duschinski, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and
> Anthropology, Ohio University, Office: 001-740.593.0823, E-mail:
> duschins at ohio.edu.
> Dr. Shubh Mathur, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of History,
> Richard
> Stockton College of New Jersey, Office: 001-347.404.2238, E-mail:
> Shubh.Mathur at stockton.edu.
>
>
> Yours Sincerely,
> Signed [Institutional information noted for affiliation purposes only]:
>
> Dr.
> Angana Chatterji, Associate Professor, Department of Social and
> Cultural Anthropology, California Institute of Integral Studies, San
> Francisco
>
> Dr. Haley Duschinski, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and
> Anthropology, Ohio University
>
> Dr. Shubh Mathur, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of History,
> Richard
> Stockton College of New Jersey
>
> Dr.
> Paola Bacchetta, Associate Professor, Department of Gender and Women's
> Studies, and Director, Beatrice Bain Research Group, University of
> California, Berkeley
>
> Dr. Srimati Basu, Associate Professor, Department of Gender and Women's
> Studies (and Anthropology), University of Kentucky
>
> Medea Benjamin, Cofounder, Global Exchange, San Francisco, and
> CODEPINK
>
> Dr. Purnima Bose, Associate Professor, Department of English, Indiana
> University
>
> Dr. Jeff Brody, Professor, College of Communications, California State
> University Fullerton
>
> Adem Carroll, Chair, Muslim Consultative Network, New York Disaster
> Interfaith
> Services
>
> Dr.
> Lubna Nazir Chaudhry, Assistant Professor, School of Education and
> Human Development, State University of New York, Binghamton
>
> Huma Dar, Doctoral student, Department of South and South East Asian
> Studies,
> University of California, Berkeley
>
> Dr. Geraldine Forbes, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of
> History,
> State University of New York Oswego
>
> Dr. Sidney L. Greenblatt, President, Central New York Fulbright Association
>
> Dr. Sondra Hale, Professor, Department of Anthropology and Women's Studies,
> University of California, Los Angeles
>
> Dr. Lamia Karim, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology,
> University of
> Oregon-Eugene
>
> Professor Ali Kazimi, Department of Film, Faculty of Fine Arts, York
> University
>
> Dr. Omar Khalidi, Aga Khan Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
>
> Rafique A. Khan, Community Development Planner, CRA, City of Los Angeles
>
> Tasneem F. Khan, Kashmir Relief, Los Angeles
>
> Dr. Amitava Kumar, Writer and Professor, Department of English, Vassar
> College
>
> Rabbi Michael Lerner, Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives,
> Berkeley
>
> Barbara Lubin, Executive Director, Middle East Children's Alliance,
> Berkeley
>
> Dr. Sunaina Maira, Associate Professor, Department of Asian American
> Studies,
> University of California, Davis
>
> Dr. Lise McKean, Senior Research Specialist, Learning Sciences Research
> Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago
>
> Dr. Abdul R. JanMohamed, Professor, Department of English, University
> California, Berkeley
>
> Dr. Swapna Mukhopadhyay, Associate Professor,
> Graduate School of Education, Portland State University
>
> Dr. Richa Nagar, Professor, Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality
> Studies,
> University of Minnesota
>
> Dr. Vijaya Nagarajan, Associate Professor, Department of Theology and
> Religious
> Studies, University of San Francisco
>
> Annie
> Paradise, Doctoral student, Department of Social and Cultural
> Anthropology, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco
>
> Dr. David Naguib Pellow, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of
> Minnesota
>
> Faisal Qadri, Human Rights Law Network
>
> Dr.
> Mridu Rai, Associate Professor, Department of History and Whitney and
> Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, Yale
> University
>
> Dr. Cabeiri Robinson, Assistant Professor,
> International Studies & South Asian Studies, Jackson School of
> International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle
>
> Dr. Sabina Sawhney, Associate Professor, Department of
> English, Hofstra University
>
> Dr. Simona Sawhney, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Languages and
> Literatures, University of Minnesota
>
> Dr. Kalpana Rahita Seshadri, Associate Professor, Department of English,
> Boston
> College
>
> Professor
> Richard Shapiro, Chair, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology,
> California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco
>
> Murtaza Shibli, Editor, Kashmir Affairs, London
>
> Dr. Magid Shihade, Visiting Scholar, Middle East/South Asia Studies,
> University
> of California, Davis
>
> Snehal Shingavi, Doctoral student, Department of English, University of
> California, Berkeley
>
> Dr. Ajay Skaria, Associate Professor, Department of History and Institute
> of
> Global Studies, University of Minnesota
>
> Dr. Nancy Snow, Associate Professor, S. I. Newhouse School of Public
> Communications, Syracuse University
>
> Dr. Rachel Sturman, Assistant Professor, Department of History & Asian
> Studies, Bowdoin College
>
> Dr. Fouzieyha Towghi, Visiting Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies,
> University of California, Berkeley
>
> Sandeep Vaidya, India Solidarity Group (Ireland)
>
> Saiba Varma, Doctoral student, Department of Anthropology, Cornell
> University
>
> Feroz Ahmed Wani, Social activist
>
> David Wolfe, Human security and conflict resolution specialist
>
> Pei
> Wu, Doctoral student, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology,
> California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco
>
>
>
> Cc:
>
> Ms. Helene Flautre,
> Member, European Parliament
> Chair of the European Parliament's Sub-committee on Human Rights
>
> Mr. Geoffrey Harris
> Head of Human Rights Unit, European Parliament
>
> Ambassador Richard A. Boucher, Assistant Secretary
> Timothy Fitzgibbons, India Desk
> Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs United States Department of State
>
> Mr. David J.
> Kramer
> Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
> United States Department of State
>
> Ms. Felice D. Gaer
> Chair, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
>
> Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
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