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On August 20, 2010, the chairman of Kashmir Council-EU and International Council for Human Development (ICHD), Ali Raza Syed strongly condemned the killing of an 8 year old boy by Indian troops in Islamabad (Anantnag) town of the held Kashmir (IHK). In a statement in Brussels, he said that the murder was an example of the state terrorism by the Indian establishment, in the valley. He said it was a worst kind of the barbarianism and part of the plan to commit genocide of the Kashmiris. The eight-year-old boy namely Milad Ahmad Daar was shot by Indian paramilitary forces CRPF in Laizbal area of South Kashmir’s Islamabad town. The boy succumbed to his injuries on Thursday morning.

Mr. Ali Raza Syed said Indian troops and police personnel were targeting the young boys to suppress the pro-freedom sentiment in the held territory. He termed it genocide of Kashmiri youth and said that the use of brute force couldn’t weaken the ongoing Kashmiri movement. He also denounced the killing of another teenager namely Mudassir Nazir in Sopore. The 18-year-old youth who was injured in the firing of Indian troops had succumbed to his injuries. Mudassir and two other people were injured when the troops of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) opened fire on peaceful protesters in Chinkipora area of the town.
He expressed condolences with families of both the martyred youth and pointed out that the Indian troops were killing the Kashmir people as a calculated design. He said the number of civilians killed by police and paramilitary CRPF personnel during past 70 days of continued unrest in the valley had reached 60.

Chairman Kashmir Council-EU stressed upon the need of a grand initiative by the international community to address the human rights’ crisis created by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir. He urged international human rights organisations to pressurize India to stop the reign of terror unleashed by Indian troops in the occupied territory and redeem the right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

A press statement by ICHD on August 5, 2010 gave salient features of its letter to UK Prime Minister David Cameron at the eve of his visit to India. The letter was critical to the UK policy of silence over the Kashmir issue despite the historic fact that the British Empire was one player of the game that left behind outstanding conflict over Kashmir in Sub-Continent. 

The letter says that the UK as a major power and particularly as important member of European Union should be willing to protect the human rights in the Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) and help in the achievement of a negotiated and peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. The letter emphasized upon the importance of international role in the solution of the issue since the two big nations of the Sub-Continent; India and Pakistan could not solve it during six decades and many wars. 

In the detail of the letter drawing attention of the Britain Prime Minister towards the latest developments in the Indian Held Kashmir (IHK), the Kashmir Leader said, Kashmir is burning, Indian Security forces are killing the kids, and more than twenty people including the eight year old Sameer Ahmed had been killed recently.   Is it not human right violations?   Why is there silence on this state terrorism?   Is it  not your  country's   moral responsibility to  speak against this genocide of  Kashmiri people by  the  so  called biggest democracy  of the world; India?  Are the business interests above the human rights?  Are the Kashmiri not human being by your standards?  Is it not true that Kashmir problem was left behind by your country? If your country can speak about human rights violations in Zimbabway and other parts of the world than why not about Kashmiris’ rights?  Please help the people of Kashmir because the peace with justice for all and rights for all is in the interest of your country and the entire world.  
  
The letter further said, since 1989, Indian forces have killed more than 100,000 Kashmiris and Kashmir was many times described as the most dangerous place in the world. Since May this year, when the fresh wave of protests started, nearly 50 Kashmiris have been killed, many of them were teenagers. Hundreds of civilians have also been injured, which has created perpetual chaos in Kashmiri hospitals as medical supplies dwindle under prolonged curfew and an embargo on goods.

Focusing on the fresh incidents, Mr.Ali Raza Syed added, since this Friday, more than two dozen people have been killed, including an eight-year-old boy Sameer Ahmed, who was allegedly beaten by police. In another incident, a teenage girl, Afroza, was killed when police fired on protesters at Khrew, on the outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of the disputed region. At least 25 people were wounded, two of them critically, when troops resorted to indiscriminate firing and tear gas shelling in Naaman village in South Kashmir. Nearly 100 miles away, in Baramulla, Indian troops fired at another group of protesters, injuring two more youths. During the fresh wave of protests, India has adopted an uncompromisingly militant posture towards Kashmiri civilians protesting against human rights abuses.

Criticizing over UK’s Prime Minister statement about Pakistan, Mr.Ali Raza Syed asked him, Instead of talking about human rights violations committed by the Indian forces    in Kashmir, you blamed Pakistan for producing terrorism. In fact, Pakistan is itself a victim of terrorism. Suicide bombings and other outrages in major cities and fighting with terrorists in the tribal areas caused a huge loss for Pakistan, and according to an estimate 3,021 people died in terrorist attacks in 2009 in Pakistan, compared with about 2,000 in Afghanistan. Since 2001, officials say more than 2,700 Pakistani security force members have died. 

The International Council for Human Development (ICHD) held a peaceful protest in front of the EU Parliament in Brussels on July 5, 2010. The protest was organised to agitate against the killings of unarmed Kashmiri youths in Occupied Kashmir. A large number of Kashmiris and their supporters participated despite heavy rain. The participants were highly critical of the brutality of the Indian forces in Kashmir.
 
Addressing the protestors, Ali Raza Syed, Chairman of ICHD expressed his anguish and anger about the deteriorating situation of human rights in occupied Kashmir. He condemned the killings of 12 innocent youths in the previous month. Giving the details, he said that a 17 year old boy Tufail Ahmad Matoo was killed on 12th of June, a 24 year old man Mohammad Rafiq Bangroo was killed on 19th of June, Javaid Ahmed Malla was killed on 23rd of June, Firdous Ahmad Kakroo was killed on 25th of June, 22 year old Bilal Ahmed Wani and 17 year old Tajamul Ahmed Bhat were killed on 27th of June, a 9 year old boy Tariq Ahmed Rather was killed on 28th June, a 15 year old Istiaq Ahmad Khanday, 17 year old Imtiyaz Ahmed Itoo and 19 year old Sajjad-ul-Islam were killed on 29th of June. He told that the fake encounters were common practice in occupied Kashmir and the recent ‘fake encounter’ had killed three innocent Kashmiris. 
   
“Whatever tactics India may adopt to silence Kashmiris inside or outside India, the ICHD shall persist and continue to lobby in the EU for the promotion & protection of the Kashmiris human rights and for the implementation of their inalienable right to self – determination”, said Ali Raza Syed. He said that despite the fact that Kashmir were under occupation by India, they deserved the respect to their basic rights and freedoms in accordance with international law to which India is a signatory.  He said that their struggle will continue until the killings of innocent people by the Indian security forces stops. He appealed to the EU to use its influence to stop the genocide of the Kashmiri people. 

The speakers demanded that the trade relation between EU and India should have been suspended. India should be asked to respect their international obligation to let people of Jammu & Kashmir exercise their Right to Self-Determination and to respect international human rights norms and the treaties to which India is a signatory including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 

The speakers demanded that India should undertake an independent and impartial investigation in all the killings, custodial deaths, disappearances, fake encounters, rapes and other human rights violations under international law and international auspices. They demanded an open access IHK for major human rights NGOs and humanitarian organizations in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The International Council for Human Development (ICHD) and IPC (IKV PAX) jointly organised a seminar titled as "Kashmir: the Key to Peace in Afghanistan" at Belgium Federal Parliament in Brussels on 26th January 2010. It was the first seminar organised in the national parliament of a European country on Kashmir issue. Belgium has key role in European Union and its capital Brussels is definite headquarter of the Union legislating activities.

Kashmiris in all over the world denounce the 26th January as black day to protest on atrocities in Indian held Kashmir. India celebrates the day as republic day but the Kashmiris reject the lofty claims of the Indian democracy while citing the grave human rights violations and brute atrocities being committed by the Indian forces in the held Kashmir. 

In the beginning, the organiser of the seminar, Ali Raza Syed, Chairman of ICHD, explained the importance of denouncing the Indian Republic Day as a Black Day. Marjan Lucas of IKC Pax Christi als spoke on the question. The prominent Kashmiri figure from Norwey, Sardar Ali Shahnawaz Khan also attended the first seminar on Kashmir at the Belgium parliament.

A number of European and Belgian parliamentarians and intellectuals including Mr,Georges Dallemange,  Ms. Danielle Caron, MP (Brussels Parliament),  Mr. Andre De Bus, MP (Brussels Parliament)and as well as Mr.Sajjad Karim, the prominent figure of EU parliament were among the speakers of the seminar. A conclusion of the seminar emphasized over the end of atrocities against the innocent people of Jammu and Kashmir and peaceful solution of the long lasting Kashmir dispute.

The Netherlands, 11-2-2010

Condemning the Kashmir Discourse of 26th January 2010: India’s democratic deficit                 
 
It is unfortunate that India, claiming to be the largest democracy in the troublesome Asian region, condemns the fact that an international seminar on Kashmir took place, on 26th of January, in the heart of Belgian Democracy, being the House of National Parliament?
 
Two days before the International Conference on Afghanistan in London of January 28th , we as international scholars and members of Belgian and European Parliament, gathered in Brussels in the seminar titled: ‘Kashmir, Key to peace in Afghanistan’.  IKV Pax Christi co-organized the seminar that was eagerly welcomed and warmly applauded.
 
We aimed to identify essential roadblocks for international strategies to stabilize the South Asian region, interconnecting the debate on Afghanistan with the Kashmir Dispute.  The fact that the Kashmir Dispute is a serious roadblock in the way forward to stability and peace in South Asian is a notion any no longer denies in Europe. The European Parliament adopted various Resolutions on Kashmir, acknowledging Kashmir as India’s democratic deficit and disputed Indo-Pak nexus. 
 
A wide variety of sections of European political and civil society often formally and informally reiterate the urgency to keep Kashmir on the agenda in international discourses as, inter alia, the London Conference on Afghanistan.   Therefore, we (co-)organized the seminar ‘Kashmir: Key to Peace in Afghanistan’ on the very eve of that London conference: 26th of January, a day known a Black Day for anyone who advocates to resolve the dispute over Kashmir according to the promises that were, over six decades ago, given to the people living, working and dying in the very region of Kashmir.
 
As IKV Pax Christi we would expect a democracy like India to cherish and encourage debate and dialogue, and acknowledge our genuine democratic endeavors for conflict analyses and conflict-resolution.  It is sad however to be informed that India condemns our successful and well performed seminar, an evidence of democracy, in Brussels on 26th of January.        
 
We are grateful for, and pay respect to the Belgian Parliament to host us and participate in the session and thus show their support for dialogue as roadmap to peace.       
 
Signed as co-organizer of the seminar:
 
Drs. Mrs. Marjan Lucas
Senior Programme Officer
PO Box 19318, 3501 DH Utrecht
The Netherlands
lucas@ikvpaxchristi.nl
www.ikvpaxchristi.nl