Srinagar: A Round Table Conference was organized by Kashmir Centre for Social and Development Studies (KCSDS) on Saturday on the topic ‘Need for demilitarization and Restoration of civil liberties.
The conference chaired by KCSDS chairperson Prof. Hameedah Nayeem was participated by cross section of society including social activists, academia, writers and columnists, lawyers, traders, industrialists, hoteliers and students.
During the deliberations the civil society members from all walks of life in Kashmir noted that for last three decades, a macabre & disconsolate situation has been prevailing in the State which has taken such a terrifying turn for the past two years that it has posed a serious existential threat to the entire population.
The arbitrary brutal and savage killings of our young boys on the slightest pretext and mass blinding have become the order of the day.
The Shopian carnage has once again brought the spotlight on the oppressive, unwarranted and un-called for heavy military presence in the civilian areas of Kashmir whose only purpose is to keep tabs on citizens and to keep them in line.
The slipping of Kashmir under the shadow of virtual military rule in early 90s in response to people’s rebellion against the Indian state’s repression and murder of democracy here marked Kashmir’s descent into a ‘state’ of militarization that has been gradually reinforced and fortified with the consent of successive puppet state Govts against their own people.
The transformation of military into an agent of domestic repression, arbitrary killings, extra judicial killings, fake encounters, arbitrary detentions, torture, rape and sexual abuse constitutes part of the process of militarization besides arbitrary land grab from the citizens to erect camps in the midst of residential areas.
The military is embedded in Kashmir society like cancerous cells in human organism which have suppressed its natural movements, its twists and turns, its daily freedoms and eroded its sense of privacy in the most predatory manner.
The patience of citizens has come full circle and every one today demands an end to this military rule and repression through democratic facade.
At the end of the conference it was unanimously resolved that Govt. Of India should be told:
To immediately demilitarize the entire civilian space to let the citizens live and breathe freely.
To initiate criminal proceedings against the forces who have committed crimes against humanity, brutally killed boys every now and then in a bid to show their power over people. including the latest savage killings in Shopian.
To withdraw immediately the draconian & anti human Act, AFSPA which affords total immunity to the trigger happy forces & puts them beyond the purview of law.
To restore all civil liberties and the right to protest against govt forces, its high handedness and its anti people policies.
To initiate a time- bound, result- oriented process of negotiations with Pak and kashmiri leadership to resolve the kashmir issue to the satisfaction of kashmirs, the primary party to the dispute.
To impresses upon the govt to substitute its militarized, anti human mind set with a human and humane attitude and fascist and authoritarian political posturing with moral vision and ethical mindset, to let a people live their lives according to their own thinking without having perpetual surveillance over them. They too have a right to live their own way. How long could you hold a people against their will? How long will you carry the burden of colossal sins you commit on Kashmiris? The sooner you listen to your conscience, the better it would be.
The conference among others was also attended by Prof. Gul Wani, Prof. Noor Baba, Dr. Bilal, Abdul Majid Zargar, Shakeel Qalander, Z. G Mohammad, Anwar Ashai, senior journalists Riyaz Masroor, Mehmoid ur Rashid, Hilal Saqi, Parvez Bukhari, Peerzadah Ashiq, Waseem Khalid, President CCIK Zahoor Tramboo, FCIK President Er. Mukhtar Yousuf, former President Meraj Qureshi, KTMF President Bashir Ahmad Rather, KHARA representative Mohammad Afzal Parray, industrialists Syed Fazal Illahi, Dr. Zain ul Abideen, Zubair Bhat, and others. (CNS)
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