Kashmir Bound To India By Sturdy Laws: Indian Civil Society

New Delhi: A group of ‘eminent’ citizens of India on Monday issued a statement expressing distress over the ‘disturbances in Kashmir’.

“We as thinking citizens of the world’s foremost democracy have been deeply distressed by the disturbances afflicting Kashmir since July,” a statement signed by over a dozen citizens said.

“We have watched with grave foreboding as Kashmir has descended into turmoil for the past several months. A grave and unfortunate situation developed and nearly a hundred people have died and many others injured. Most regrettably for our country, most casualties have been from among the youth, even children, many of whom could have been our leaders into the future. Yet there has been no accountability thus far,” the statement said.

“We, as fellow countrymen, grieve with the families of those who have suffered the loss of their near and dear ones and too many of whose children have even lost vision. We have been emotionally wounded by these unfortunate developments, and feel the agony of our brothers and sisters in Kashmir. As a nation we need to do everything possible to assuage their pain even when we cannot undo their loss.”

The statement said, “Kashmir is bound to India by sturdy laws. But only bonds of love and understanding will bind India together. These can be secured only by giving all our citizens voice and the feeling that this is their country as much as Kashmir is part of us. It is undoubtedly the duty of the democratically elected government of the State of J&K to create a peaceful and humane environment in Jammu and Kashmir. But on this day as we observe the martyrdom of the Father of our nation we would do well to remember that this is also the responsibility of all citizens of India to their fellow citizens as that alone can help lead to meeting the aspirations of all.”

Signatories

• Justice A P Shah, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court

• Aruna Roy, Founding Member, Mazdur Kisan Shakti Sanghatan

• A S Dulat, Former advisor on Kashmir to NDA Government

• Chinmaya Gharekhan, former Ambassador to UN

• Darius Forbes, Industrialist

• H KDua, former member Rajya Sabha

• Prof H D Muni, Author & former professor in International Relations, JNU

• I H Latif, former Air Chief Marshal & Begum Bilqees Latif

• Irfan Habib, Historian & author

• Julio Ribeiro, Former DGP Punjab

• Smt Kapila Vatsayan, Chair, Asia Project, IIC

• Kalpana Sharma, senior journalist and author

• Prem Shankar Jha, Senior Journalist and Author

• Ramchandra Guha, Historian, Author & Biographer

• Ronen Sen, former Indian Ambassador to USA

• Salman Haidar, former foreign secretary

• S K Lambah, former Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of India

• Shyam Saran, Former foreign Secretary

• Shekhar Gupta, Senior Journalist & Author

• Gen (r) VP Malik, former Army Chief

• V Balachandran, former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat

• Prof Zoya Hasan, Centre for Political Studies, JNU

• Yashwant Sinha, former foreign minister

• Wajahat Habibullah, former Chairman Minorities Commission

• Kapil Kak, Air Vice Marshal(R) 

• Bharat Bhushan, Editor, Catch News

• Sushobha Barve, centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation.
   

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