The Truth on Kashmir and Terrorism in India

The Truth on Kashmir and Terrorism in India

India has been the most terrorized country in the world

-US State Department Report on Terrorism

India Is an Extraordinary Democracy

Our current Ambassador to India, the Hon. Mr. Blackwill, while being a Harvard faculty and briefing candidate Bush in 2000 on foreign affairs at his Texas ranch, asked him why he was so interested in India. Mr. Bush replied, AA billion people in a functioning democracy! Can you believe it? Can you believe it?@ (from the Times of India.)

On 12-21-01, the British High Commissioner (Ambassador) to India, the Hon. Mr. Rob Young told the press that the British government A... never asked India to exercise restraint@ because AIndia is a highly responsible democracy@, and that Britain supports India's right to self-defense.

US Congress passed a resolution congratulating India for successful elections in 1999. Of 400 votes cast, 4 were opposed. The tiny opposition included Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Don Burton (R-IN), who have spoken out on behalf of khalistan terrorists.


What is the Kashmir Issue?

UN Security Council resolutions 38-40, and particularly the resolution of August 13, 1948, said that Pakistan had attacked Kashmir, and ordered Pakistan to withdraw its forces and its tribals. Pakistan has yet to obey UN Security Council and withdraw from lands (now called POK, Pak Occupied Kashmir) controlled illegally.

Recently released documents reveal that in 1948, the then US Secretary of State Gen. George C. Marshall told the pro-Pak British that Kashmir=s accession with India was legal and final as far as US was concerned.

In 1952, the Kashmir legislature, elected in elections recognized by observers as free and fair, with 100% of the legislators Muslim, voted to ratify Kashmir=s accession with India.


Pakistan gave away large part of the POK to China, which now claims those lands as its own.

Pakistan is a State-Sponsor of Terrorism

In April 1993, then CIA director James Woosley at an open Senate hearing said, A... Pakistan, while not yet on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism,@ but is Aon the brink@.

In December 1999, the Director of CIA George Tenet and State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism Michael Sheen testified before a Senate subcommittee that US has evidence that Pakistan is a state-sponsor of terrorism against India.

In 2000, State Department=s report on terrorism described Pakistan=s official involvement in terrorism against India, but fell short of adding Pakistan to list of countries sponsoring terrorism because that would have automatically triggered severe sanctions against an old cold-war ally.

In 2000, a bipartisan Congressional commission on terrorism recommended to the State Department that sanctions be imposed on Pakistan for its role in terrorism, but this report was ignored.

The British government in Spring 2001 put several Pakistan-supported organizations openly engaged in terrorism on the official list of terrorist organizations, to be followed later by the US.

Major political parties in Pakistan and Pak media have repeatedly asked Pak governments over the years to break bonds with terrorists and get out of the Kashmir issue, because supporting terrorists has resulted only in increasing Talibanization of Pakistan.

Benazir Bhutto, ex-Pak Prime Minister, has said that ISI (Pakistani government's intelligence service) is a force onto itself, and she had no knowledge of what ISI was doing when she was PM.

On 11-21-01, the Hon. Mr. Robert D. Blackwill, US Ambassador to India, told the press that Pakistan-supported individuals involved in killings in Kashmir are terrorists and that AThey are not freedom fighters. No country will be permitted to provide sanctuaries to terrorists.@ He made similar comments again on 2-27-02.

On 11-29-01, the British Parliament was told by the Foreign Office Minister that the British government has told the Pakistani government to cease support to terrorists.

Pak Government=s direct and obvious involvement in terrorism against India over decades has resulted in 50,000 Hindus being amongst 70,000 innocent civilians killed and 500,000 Hindus fled Kashmir in terror; world has been silent about this ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Kashmir.

Pak does not have just Hindu blood on its hands. Pak press reported that one of the first things General Musharraf did after grabbing power in Nov. 1999 coup was to shut down a Pak commando unit being trained by CIA to go after bin Laden. If only bin Laden had been caught in 2000 ...

Pakistan, which created, nurtured and protected Taliban, has claimed that Taliban is not terrorist.

Pakistan press reported in Dec. 2001 that Pak dictator Musharraf was a Director of Rabita Trust, a terrorist organization masquerading as a charity, and US had to warn him to step down before adding this organization to a terrorist list.

Pak v. US: CBS News quoted numerous workers to the effect that Osama bin Laden had received his kidney dialysis at their Pak military hospital on the eve of 9-11.

Pak v. US: NY Times reported that Pak had to send airplanes to rescue its army fighting US coalition in Afghanistan; when asked, the Pentagon issued only non-denial denials. CNN reported on 1-12-02, that 50 Pak soldiers, arrested at Kandahar, admitted to fighting under Pak officers.

Regarding Musharraf=s promises about Pak eliminating terrorism, NY Times said that he had to redefine Pakistan's sense of itself Aafter two decades of drift into lawlessness and violence.@

President Bush, British PM Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac, have all demanded that Musharraf act on his promises to root out Pak terrorism against India.

The Daily Telegraph (London) said in its lead story on 2-23-02 that British and American special forces have joined Indian troops to hunt down Osama bin Laden in one of Kashmir=s remote areas Athat are nearly impossible for the Indian Army to police@. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding there with the help of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, one of Pak terrorist organizations.

An editor of the Karachi Herald wrote that Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed, the alleged mastermind behind the abduction of Mr. Daniel Pearl, indicted in US in 1994, operated in Pakistan freely since his release from an Indian prison in exchange for hostages aboard a hijacked Indian airliner.

One week after Omar Sheikh turned himself in to ISI for protection, the Pak military intelligence, Pak lied that the police had arrested him on the eve of Musharraf=s visit to the US, and ABC publicized Pak lies that India was behind the kidnapping of Mr. Pearl.

NY Times reported on 2-26-02 that a Pak Army/ISI Brigadier had a role in nurturing Jaish‑e‑ Mohammed, the terrorist organization behind the kidnapping and murder of Mr. Pearl, and suggested that investigations in killing of Pearl would reveal a great deal about ties between terrorists and ISI.

Newsweek reported on 3-5-02 that Pearl=s killers might have been agents of Pak government=s ISI.

NY Times and the Boston Globe have reported that 4,000 Pak army officers were involved in Pak ISI conducting terrorism against India.


The Ram Temple and Communal Riots in India

Hindus believe that God himself takes birth on earth in times of dire need, and that Ram and Krishna were such human incarnations of God. Places of these births of God are especially holy for Hindus.

Muslim conquerors destroyed over 5,000 temples in North India, including those at the sites holiest for Hindus. They built mosques there instead, which have no particular significance to Islam. In order to reconstruct their holiest temple, Hindu organizations have offered compromises to Muslims.

Bangladesh is also a State-Sponsor of Terrorism

The world is also silent about harrowing abuse and ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Bangladesh. Amnesty International has publicized horrible atrocities against Hindu women in Bangladesh, such as gang-rapes in front of their fathers and husbands, resulting in floods of Hindu refugees from that country. Bangladeshi government does nothing beyond denying facts.

India's War Against Terrorism

The central issue in the world today is terrorism
The reason India is threatening military action against Pakistan is terrorism.
Pakistan has been a state sponsor of terrorism!
Therefore, it is terrorism we want to talk about.

Demographics
Kashmir Fact Sheet
Developed by US India Relations Group
180 million Moslems live in India and 140 million live in Pakistan.
1947: 40% of Pakistan was Non-Moslem. Today ONLY 3 % are left while the world has looked the other way.
1947: 25% of India was Moslem (60 million). 1991: 95.2 million. Despite migration of millions of Moslems to Pakistan, TODAY 18% (150 million ) of Indians are Moslems. This shows that the Moslem population is reaching pre-partition demographics in India.

Pakistan's Role in Terrorism
December 1999: George Tenet, Director of CIA and Michael Sheen, State Department Coordinator for Counter Terrorism, Michael Sheen testified before a Senate Sub-Committee that :
US intelligence has sufficient evidence that Pakistan is a state-sponsor of terrorism against India

Pakistan & Terrorism
In 2000, the State Dept's report on terrorism described Pak's official involvement in terrorism against India.
But fell short of adding Pak to list of countries sponsoring terrorism to avoid triggering severe sanctions against an old cold-war ally.

Pakistan & Terrorism
Year 2000: a bipartisan congressional commission on terrorism recommended to the State Dept that sanctions be imposed on Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism.
Spring 2001: The British put Pakistani organizations openly engaged in terrorism
on their official list of terrorist organizations.

Pakistan is a State Sponsor of Terrorism
November 2001: According to Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan:
Non-Kashmiris engaged in killings in India are terrorists. “If I had been Prime Minister of Pakistan, (the events of) Sep. 11 would not have happened” – Benazir Bhutto, November 2001.

Pakistan and Terrorism
Our own American Taliban, John Walker, has admitted to fighting in Kashmir. This could not have happened without the help of ISI, which created and nurtured the Taliban.
Robert Blackwill: US Ambassador to India, Nov. 21, 2001 New Delhi, stated in a press conference for foreign media that “all persons involved in killings in Kashmir were terrorists and that they were no freedom fighters.”

Ethnic Cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir
Pakistani government’s direct aiding and abetting of terrorism in Kashmir has resulted in:
20,000 Hindus killed and 500,000 Hindus have fled Kashmir in terror. The world has been mostly silent about this ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Kashmir.

Musharraf as Army Officer
Musharraf as Dictator
Dec 2001: The “Kunduz Airlift” sent airplanes and helicopters to rescue Pakistanis fighting with the Taliban/El Quaeda against the US coalition.
Seymour Hirsch New Yorker Feb 2002)

Musharraf as Chief of Army Staff
Recent Documents have Revealed
1948: US Secretary of State Gen. George C. Marshall told the British that Kashmir's accession with India was legal and final as far as US was concerned.
Therefore the lie of “Kashmir being a disputed territory” is very disturbing while it has further emboldened the position of Islamic militants.

THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE CRISIS IN KASHMIR
Struggle between two conflicting value systems.
1) To India just like the US, secularism with a peaceful co-existence with cultural, ethnic and religious diversity is the most important issue.
2) Pakistan calls itself an “Islamic Republic”, and its stated raison d’etre is the “two nation theory” that Moslems cannot and must not be allowed to co-exist with other religions.

1947: Result of this Dichotomy
One section of Muslims led by Jinnah and his Muslim League Party demanded and agitated for a separate country.
Nearly as many Muslims rejected this, and firmly believed in India’s secular policy. They opposed partitioning India on the basis of religion. They chose to remain in India after India achieved its independence from the British. Today they are full citizens of India.

Important to clarify
There were two categories of pre-partitioned India
1) British India that was partitioned based on religion
2) Princely States where the ruler had full autonomy to join India OR Pakistan by signing the Instrument of Accession, in which Kashmir joined with India.

1947: India
When the British left, the 584 princely states, constituting 45% of undivided India became sovereign entities with 2 options:
1) Join Secular India
2) Join Moslem Pakistan

National Conference Party
Was the largest political party of Kashmir with a preponderance of Moslems with Hindus and Buddhists as members under the leadership of a Moslem - Sheikh Abdullah.
This party had consistently since the 1930s expressed opposition to the two nation theory and in 1947 urged that Kashmir join secular India.

Sheikh Abdullah: 1947
Leader of the opposition to Maharaja Hari Singh.
Jailed by Hari Singh.
BUT: Insisted on joining a secular India so that Kashmir would remain secular and multi-ethnic.
Rejected Pakistan and its Islamic bigotry.

Further more
The religious composition of the Princely States was not relevant at the time per British policy.
Pakistan did not ascertain the will of the people of the princely states that acceded to it in 1947.


PAKISTAN Invaded Kashmir
October 22, 1947
Commanded by General Akbar Khan, later promoted to Chief of Pakistan's army.
“Tribesmen” included many Pakistan Army officers and men, in and out of uniform. C3I and artillery provided by regular Pakistan Army
- Just like the Taliban Army, 2001.
Entire villages e.g. Baramula, Rajouri and Poonch were destroyed by the Pakistani army while committing murder, rape and plunder.
Rather than any negotiated settlement, Pakistan chose the route of brute force in 1947.
Is this out of concern for Kashmiris?

Pakistan attacked Baramula
Kashmir: October 1947
Killing 7,000 in a town of 10,000 people
Especially brutal to Sikhs, whom the Pakistani army labeled as "Ball Walle Kafir", the non-believer with hair.
Destroyed the hospitals, Hindu and Sikh temples and the church of Baramula.
Skardu (POK): Radio message from Pak Commander to Pak HQ: “Skardu liberated. All Sikhs killed. All women raped”.

Ruler of Kashmir appealed to India for help
Why? Because Kashmir's small state army was no match for the Pakistani army.

Instrument of Accession to India was signed
October 1947: Lord Mountbatten, the Governor General of India accepted the Kashmiri ruler's request to join the Indian Union
A legal document called the Instrument of Accession was signed between India and the Kashmiri ruler.
This same document was also signed by the other 584 princely states.

Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir - updated reprint 1995
“Sounder than Texas's accession to the USA, Kashmir's accession to India is legal, final, binding and irrevocable”.
Source: A S Anand Chief Justice of Supreme Court of India - p. 96

Kashmir is saved from Pakistani invasion
October 1947: Lord Mountbatten asked India to send its troops to save Kashmir from Pakistani aggression.
Indian Premier Nehru insisted on Sheikh Abdullah being freed from prison as condition for Indian intervention.
Indian troops were sent with the enthusiastic consent of Sheikh Abdullah
Source: Lord Mountbatten's diaries

Sheikh Abdullah
October 1947: Kashmir's popular Moslem leader Sheikh Abdullah supported Kashmir's accession to India
Of interest: Earlier Sheikh Abdullah had demonstrated against the Kashmiri ruler for greater democracy & civil rights.
Now: Sheikh Abdullah expressed the sentiments of the majority of Kashmiri people in a famous speech.

A key point of Sheikh Abdullah's speech
"We the people of Jammu and Kashmir, have thrown our lot with the Indian people, not in a heat of passion or a moment of despair, but by a deliberate choice.” Sheikh Abdullah: October 1947

First Muslim leader of Kashmir was appointed by India
October 31, 1947: Sheikh Abdullah a Moslem was appointed Head of the Kashmir Emergency Administration
Then was made the first Prime Minister of Kashmir. His was the first people's popular government in Kashmir.
For most of the time since 1947, AND TODAY, “Indian-Kashmir” has been ruled by the National Conference Party of Sheikh Abdullah and always headed by a Moslem.

Pakistan’s pattern of aggression
Initially Pakistan denied having sent troops into Kashmir in October 1947
Subsequently admitted by Pakistani leaders and army officers.
This is a consistent Pakistani pattern in 1947, 1948, 1965, 1971 and recently in 1999in Kargil.
Same tactic used in Afghanistan, where 40% of the Taliban's Officer corps and 30% of its troops were Pakistani, until Operation Enduring Freedom began.

United Nations: Jan 1, 1948
India complained to the UN so as to get Pakistan to end Pakistani aggression against India in Jammu and Kashmir.
Noteworthy
Despite military superiority even in 1947 India did not want to use force to vacate the Indian territory in Kashmir occupied by Pakistan.
Instead, India turned to the UN. If India had believed in a military solution on Kashmir, it could have done so in 1965, 1971 and 1999. And today.

The United Nations Security Council
UN avoided taking sides between India and Pakistan.
UN did not even question the legality of Kashmir's accession to India.
Doing such would be like questioning the legality of the very partition of British India into India and Pakistan.

United Nations Appointed a Commission: 1948
Under Charter 6: to mediate between India and Pakistan
UN stated the issue is for India and Pakistan to resolve & these resolutions are NOT a directive, only recommendations.
Four UN resolutions were issued on April 21, 1948, August 13, 1948, Jan. 5, 1949 and March 14, 1950.

UN Resolution: Jan 5, 1949
Called for three actions in this sequential order
(1) First, Pakistan must withdraw all its troops and all non-Kashmiris from Kashmir.
(2) Next India should withdraw bulk of its troops RETAINING those required for law and order; all those who had left Kashmir (on both sides) as refugees should be allowed to return.
AND ONLY THEREAFTER ascertain the wishes of the Kashmiri people in both portions of Kashmir under UN supervision.

Pakistan violated the UN Resolution
Pakistan is non-compliant: has not withdrawn its occupied forces thereby violated the first of the 3 actions outlined by the UN resolution.
ON the contrary India has only permitted Kashmiris to own land in India's Kashmir per Article 170 of the Indian Constitution and per UN resolution.
2 Questions
1) Is Pakistan willing to implement step one even now by withdrawing its military from the portion of Kashmir it has occupied by aggression in 1947?
2) If refugees are allowed to return and claim their lands, would that include the non-Moslem citizens?
These are Kashmiri Pandits - 400,000 to 600,000 are still living as Displaced Persons today.

Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK)
Lacks all democratic institutions. Administered by a Pakistani “minister for Azad Kashmir" or Military Governor appointed by Islamabad.
Pakistan officially disallows the option of an independent Kashmir. If anyone in POK raises that demand, it is an act of treachery and punishable by death. POK residents must sign Oath of Loyalty to Pakistan to get ration cards.
Residents of the “Northern Areas” of Gilgit/Baltistan are afforded no citizenship rights

Pakistan Refused to Withdraw
Pakistan has consistently refused to withdraw its forces from the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir portion.
Instead, Pakistan joined big power blocks and received massive military and economic aid from the West.

Pakistan Attacked India in 1965
Dictator Ayub Khan sent 34,000 Pakistani soldiers into Kashmir and Gujarat in massive land and air attacks against India.
Targets: (1) Jammu-Kashmir, (2) New Delhi
Of 3 Indian soldiers awarded the “Param Vir Chakra” (all posthumous) for heroism, one was Moslem – Havildar Abdul Hamid.
Pakistan was defeated by India and signed the Tashkent agreement with India.

Pakistan Attacked India in 1971
Pak Dictator General Yahya Khan killed 3 million Pakistani citizens in East Bengal after rejecting election results, and launched air-land attacks on India - which led to the birth of Bangladesh.
In all three wars, Kashmiris rose to the defence of India. They joined the Indian army to defeat the Pakistanis.


Birth of Bangla Desh
Buried the two nation theory of dividing nations on the basis of religion.
July 1972: Pakistan signed the “Simla Agreement” with India.
Simla Agreement: Pakistani PM Z.A. Bhutto, who replaced Yahya Khan, agreed to resolve all issues peacefully through bilateral negotiations.

Furthermore
1971: India had captured vast areas of Pakistani territory and 93,000 POWs.
India agreed not to let Bangla Desh try the Pakistani POWs on War Crimes charges.
India returned captured territory in both '65 and ‘71, even in Jammu-Kashmir - proof that India is: (a) not interested in acquiring foreign territory; (b) willing to settle all disputes through negotiations.


The Simla Agreement
Supported by the UN and the US the “Simla Agreement” required all disputes between Pakistan and India to be resolved bilaterally and not to resort to aggression to solve problems.
A Line of Control was established in 1972 as a result of the Simla agreement between Indira Gandhi and ZA Bhutto.

Simla Agreement
The 1972 Simla agreement was later endorsed in the 1999 Lahore Declaration between Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif stating that all differences will be resolved by bilateral negotiations.
Musharraf then army chief and his ISI did not like this action by Nawaz Sharif and continued the terrorist acts against India.

UN and Kashmir
"Unless the two sides approach us, we cannot get involved. If India and Pakistan approach the U.N. on this (Kashmir) issue, it will be ready to help. The best solution lies in direct contact between the two countries.” Boutros B. Ghali, the U.N. Secretary General, March 1992

FOURTH Invasion by Pakistan 1999 Kargil War
When Prime Minister Vajpayee went to Lahore, Pakistan for signing a peace agreement in a BUS-Diplomacy tour, the Pakistani army secretly invaded India and even occupied a portion of Indian territory in Kashmir.

Pakistan Violated Simla Agreement
The 1999 Kargil War was a violation of the “Simla Agreement”by illegally taking control of part of Indian portion of Kashmir territory.
Subsequently Clinton & Nawaz Sharif met at Camp David & Clinton asked Nawaz Sharif to withdraw Pakistani army from Kargil, India.
With support of the world community India went to a limited war and had it vacated.

Lahore Declaration
Musharraf refused to be present when Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif signed the “Lahore Declaration”.
He was the Chief of the Pakistani Armed Forces at the time; said he would not want to salute Vajpayee.

Current UN Secretary General
December, 2000
UN Secretary General Kofi Anan has said: “I call upon both India and Pakistan to retain the spirit of the Lahore Declaration.”

Pakistan's obsession with Kashmir
Madrassas of Pakistan: In last 12 years, unemployed youth educated in the religious madrassas of Pakistan are trained by Pakistan’s spy agency ISI to infiltrate into Indian Kashmir and ethnically cleanse the Hindus, Sikhs and secular Moslems, destroy schools, hospitals, and basic infrastructures.

September 11, 2001 & Pakistan's Madrassas
These same “madrassas” are also the breeding ground of terrorists who supported Al Queda and the talibans and were responsible for the 9/11 attacks on US.

Loss of Lives in Kashmir
Today, of the 2,400 militants active in the Kashmir valley alone, 1,400 are foreigners. In last 12 years 20,000 lives have been lost and the world has remained silent.

Informal Observation
Pakistan & US anti-terror coalition
Was not a change of heart by Pakistan
It was due to the ultimatum given by US after the September 11 attacks.
The recent promise by Musharraf of cracking down on Kashmiri terrorists operating from Pakistan needs to be matched with REAL actions.

LA Times Editorial: January 15, 2002 “Pakistan's Moderation”
The Times Editorial rightly states “India welcomed the address (by Musharraf) but rightly demanded action as well. The key will be Pakistan's dealings with the border guerrillas that it considers fighters for freedom of the disputed territory. India considers them terrorists.”

Core of Indian Nationhood
President Bush has said the September 11 attacks were an attack on the US spirit of freedom and democracy;
Likewise the terrorists activity going on in Kashmir is an attack on the principles of multi-cultural pluralism. This is the core of the Indian nationhood.
The world community must insist Pakistan stop attacking India's principles of multi-cultural pluralism.

Conclusions
India and the US are the twin tower's of the world's democracies. Therefore it behooves the US to insist that:
Pakistan dismantle ALL its terrorist training complexes and not just move them.
Pakistan bring about a change of attitude in its army to honor the present line of control with India.

Summary
Kashmir must remain an integral part of India. US must support India's secular position on Kashmir.
Loss of Kashmir could result in the slow disintegration & talibanization of India.
India must remain a proud secular democratic republic like the US.

Acknowledgement
The author profusely thanks the following persons for contributing information & for carefully critiquing this presentation:
Damodar Sardesai, PhD Professor Emeritus of History UCLA
Dr Kalpesh Desai
Chandrakant Panse
Narayanan Komerath