Kashmiris have a duty to interfere: Nazir Gilani
JKCHR accuses Pakistan of proxy politics
By: Gowhar Nazir Shah
Srinagar, June 06: Accusing Pakistan government of playing proxy politics in Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights today said that “short listing of a section of Kashmiri leadership by Pakistan for a maiden trip to Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PaK) via Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road was not an encouraging sign.”The Council for Human Rights said that it took more than half a decade for India to understand that proxy politics was not workable in Kashmir, but unfortunately it was now Pakistan that has started playing proxy politics by extending invitation for PaK visit only to a “chosen few”.The secretary general of JKCHR and chairman of International Kashmir Alliance (IKA), Dr. Syed Nazir Gilani said this in a press conference held here at a local hotel, Monday.The JKCHR secretary general, however, expressed contentment over the Kashmir-centric confidence building measures taken by India and Pakistan and stated that any forward movement toward peace and reconciliation was welcome.Dr. Gilani termed the trans-Kashmir bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad as a good step. He, however, said that the time has come when every individual Kashmiri needs to play a pro-active role in the peace process.“We’ve to position ourselves in the interest of all the three administrations of Jammu and Kashmir. We can’t afford to sit back and watch the proceedings,” Gilani said.“It is our common duty to interfere or otherwise we will be negotiated and short-listed by others,” he said while urging that atmosphere for self-determination ought to be violence-free.“Whenever a Kashmiri dies on a street, one vote is lost to self-determination,” Gilani said.The JKCHR expressed its concern over the daily loss of human lives and property in Kashmir and asked both India and Pakistan to re-visit their claims about Kashmir.He accused both India and Pakistan of not honouring their respective pledges about Kashmir.“As per the provisional accession (disputed by people), India has an obligation to protect life, dignity, honour and property of every Kashmiri individual but she has failed to live up to her pledge,” he asserted.While Gilani was hard on Pakistan, he did not spare Hurriyat leadership too from his scathing attack.“Life in Kashmir, unfortunately, is hostage to proxy war and politics,” he said.Gilani questioned constitution of Hurriyat Conference and dared to ask its leadership: “Who is culpable for the loss of life in Kashmir?”“What was wrong in your constitution that we’ve lost a generation in the last 16 years of armed resistance?” Gilani sought to ask Hurriyat leadership.“The constitution of Hurriyat has failed,” Gilani claimed. (Kashmir Images)