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Kashmir: America is Unfit to Intercede
By Omer Bin Abdullah
16/02/2001
There is a "cease-fire" in Kashmir; however, trouble in the Indian-occupied valley continues.
The term cease-fire makes for good public relations copy for India and, of course, the trouble also makes for good public relations copy for the Islamophobic who are blaming the Muslims that are simply dedicated to emancipating the occupied land.
What are India's real intentions?
Atal Behari Vajpayee, leader of the Hindu-fundamentalist Bharatya Janata Parishad (BJP) government, declares the desirability of finding an early resolution of the Kashmir issue. He says that he is willing to talk to the Kashmiri leaders and Pakistan. However, the ground reality is that India has all along disregarded Pakistani ruler General Pervez Musharraf's repeated offers for talks with New Delhi.
The consummate politician Vajpayee says that he desires "bold and innovative designers of a future architecture of peace and prosperity for the entire South Asian region. In this search, the sole light that will guide us is our commitment to peace, justice and the vital interests of the nation."
This is what the Kashmiris have been struggling to achieve for over half a century. Yet, in their search, they have received nothing but abuse and bullets. Not only that, but concern over the injustices committed against them has not gone beyond being reported by various human rights organizations. The United Nations, the OIC, and even Pakistan's secular forces have failed to hear their cries of pain - cries so shrill that they cannot be contained behind the iron curtain of secrecy that India maintains over this occupied territory.
On its part, India has foisted illegal elections to place quislings over the population. Both the 'elections' and the quislings are poster boys that India is offering its supporters in the West. Kashmir has witnessed a new and more severe form of Indian brutality since the uprising in 1989. U.N. resolutions have called for an exercise of the right of self-determination by the Kashmiris. However, since Kashmir has no oil, the U.N. feels no obligation to enact its resolutions.
The OIC is a cosmetic creation; Muslim countries, especially Arab countries, have shown a total lack of morality. On the one hand, Pakistan and its people have taken a stand of total commitment to the freedom of Occupied Palestine, earning American wrath; however, the Arab member countries have only advanced their 'national interests' and continue to deal shamelessly with India, putting all Islamic values to naught.
Despite Vajpayee's public relations announcements, India continues to delay the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) delegation to Islamabad for consultations with Kashmiri leaders there, indicating its intransigence in skirting meaningful dialogue on the dispute.
Pakistan has indicated that this delay could ruin the opportunity to genuinely address the Kashmir dispute. However, regardless of how India sees it, this should not reduce the imperativeness of reaching a just solution in the dispute or, at minimum, taking sufficient measures to reduce tension in the region.
Pakistani officials are also quick to point out that the international community is pointing at Kashmir as " the source of tension" in South Asia and wants "progress towards its solution through dialogue." However, the reality is that this same international community has done nothing to nudge India toward seeking a solution. In fact, the U.S. and other Western countries have embraced India and its fundamentalist government even more warmly, seeking to benefit from its huge market.
Even with the supposed cease-fire, APHC leaders report that combat operations by Indian Security Forces are continuing in Occupied Kashmir, with the usual daily and custodial killings. In addition, as usual, India continues to allege so-called cross-border terrorism as a pretext for its military efforts to suppress the Kashmiri freedom struggle. And Pakistan is being pressured by the Western powers and, in fact, its own secular elite to cease its support of the Kashmiri struggle.
The American role in Kashmir has been dictated more by commercial and Zionist interests than by morality. The U.S. is quick to condemn the alleged Pakistani support for the Kashmiri movement, while supporting the insurgency in Southern Sudan and funding Contra guerillas itself. Former President Clinton found it "morally reprehensible" to shake hands with General Musharaf because he is military ruler, but he had no qualms about conducting love-ins with Vajpayee who heads a Nazi-like movement. He clearly showed that it is Islamic politics that he hates. The Bush gang - made up of those who decimated Iraq - will be no different.
The reality is that the U.S. will be as honest a broker in Kashmir as it has been in the case of Occupied Palestine. The Zionists and their allies are extremely upset at Pakistan acquiring nuclear technology, and would never reconcile with Pakistan growing in size by virtue of the return of Kashmir to its fold.
It would only be suicidal for the Kashmiris and Pakistanis to seek American, or Western, intercession over Kashmir.
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