Srinagar, Nov 08: Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Thursday pooh-poohed Indian parliamentarian, Annu Tandons statement at the United Nations describing the elections in Jammu and Kashmir as a substitute for the right to self determination.
Kashmir is in no way a legitimate part of India and it being held by dint of seven and a half lakh-strong army without any constitutional, legal or moral justification, Hurriyat Conference (G) spokesman, said in a statement, describing Tandons statement as unrealistic and ridiculous.
Because of the heavy presence of troops, the spokesman said, Kashmir was seen as the biggest militarized zone in the world. Any elections staged managed under the shadow of Indias military might cannot enjoy any credibility in a democratic sense, he said, adding the farcical exercise would in no way justify Indian occupation.
The spokesman said that by linking the so-called elections with Kashmir dispute, India was time and again perpetuating the political uncertainty in the region and trifling with its future.
Even as the pro-India politicians within the state always swear by the fact that elections had absolutely nothing to do with the political settlement of the Kashmir dispute but were only meant for running its administrative affairs, their Indian masters exploit the exercise at national and international forums and present them as an endorsement for the military occupation, the spokesman said.
He asked the panches and sarpanches to explain their position in light of the Indian parliamentarian, Tandons statement at the UN, how India is using them to justify her stand and how they are being exploited.
On Tandons assertion that Pakistan had no right to talk about Kashmir, the spokesman said Kashmir was an internationally recognized dispute in which Pakistan was a basic party along side India and the state people. He said no solution to the dispute would ever be possible without the involvement of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, reacting to Tandons statement, JKLF vice-chairman, Advocate Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Thursday said the statement was far from reality and based on mischief.
Jammu Kashmir is an internationally acknowledged disputed territory and Kashmiris have been struggling for its resolution for the past six decades. The UN forum, where Indian parliamentarian, Annu Tandon, is claiming that Kashmir elections are a substitute to self determination, has in 1952 rejected Indias claim and passed a resolution that these elections would in no way be a substitute to the right of self determination,
Bhat said in a statement. Tandon had termed Kashmir as an integral part of India and said that election were a substitute of right to self determination.
Terming her statement beyond reality and based on mischief, Bhat said she needed to revisit history as she seemed to lack knowledge of history about Kashmir.
These people must know that in 1952 when elections were first held in Kashmir, the then Indian representative at the UN said the people of Jammu Kashmir have decided their future and that this election was an alternative to self determination. However, the UN General Assembly and Security Council at that time rejected Indias claim, he said, adding that a resolution was passed at the UN in which it was said that any elections held in Indian held Kashmir or Azad Kashmir should have nothing to do with self determination of Kashmiris and that these elections were merely for the local purpose..
Commenting upon the recent statement of Pakistan interior secretary before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in which it was suggested that Pakistan should take steps to end violence in Baluchistan like India had done in Kashmir, Bhat said, In the said statement the interior secretary has also referred to Kashmir as an Indian state which is condemnable.
Strongly condemning the statement, he said that such statements by Pakistani officials clearly showed that the rulers of Pakistan were extremely indifferent and negligent towards the sensitivity of Kashmir issue.
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