"We are grateful to the people and government of Pakistan who never abandoned us in the hour of trial and hope they will continue to do so in future. We hope that their moral, diplomatic and political support will continue till a viable and amicable solution to the Kashmir issue is evolved", Says senior APHC leader Shabir Ahmad Shah in an Exclusive interview with Kashmir Insight.

KI: There has been massive and spontaneous reaction by Kashmiris’ against the illegal transfer of 800 kanals of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). How do you look at it from the point of view of liberation movement?

SS: The incident is a prompt reply to those who say that Kashmiris’ sentiments have slackened down and they are no longer enthusiastic about the Kashmir issue or liberation but instead they talk about employment or unemployment and economic gains. But when the transfer of land issue came to the fore every Kashmiri aged seven years to eighty years old was on the roads to protest against the illegal decision of the puppet regime. They did so consciously to express their resolve not to part with even an inch of their land and hand it over to Indian. The people of Kashmir reaffirmed their commitment to the cause that they have been propagating since 1947. their slogans have been “We want freedom” and “we want our self-determination”. It is noteworthy that a couple of days before the shrine board issue sprung up I had a meeting with APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and the senior Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Gilani where other Kashmiri leaders including Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Ghulam Nabi Sumji and Musarat Alam were also present. A joint declaration was signed on the occasion, which demanded the settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the UN resolutions or through dialogue between Pakistan, India and liberation movement leadership of Kashmiris. An action committee was also constituted on the occasion for taking a consensual and unified stand on the issue of transfer of 800 Kanals of land to SASB. These developments also proved beyond doubt that liberation movement leaders want unity and they are not inclined under any circumstances to associate with India or take part in the sham elections under or outside the ambit of Indian constitution.

KI: The Indian Army is forcibly occupying thousands of kanals of Kashmiris’ land. Is there any possibility of initiating a movement for there retrieval of this land?

SS: The Indian army will have to evacuate and five up control of the Kashmiris’ land under their forcible possession on which they have built concrete structures and buildings. In this connection, Insha Allah APHC through mutual consultation will take a decision which will be indicted to not only the people of Kashmir but the whole world. It is a matter of illegal occupation of Kashmiris land by the Army and we want a complete evacuation that is why we have always supported demilitarisation and will continue to struggle for it.

KI: Unity is taking shape among Kashmir’s freedom movement parties. What is your opinion about it and do you think this unity will be durable and lead to the attainment of Kashmiris’ birth right, the right to self-determination?

SS: I am very hopeful and it was a dream when I came out of jail. I began efforts to bring about unity among the liberation movement parties who are in favour of freedom and look upon Kashmir as a disputed territory and are opposed to the presence of 700,000 Indian troops besides demanding the settlement of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions or tripartite negotiations. One can see the new avenues of unity have opened and the leaders have assembled on the same platform. We will also invite other leaders who are still out of the fold to come and join us so that we will present a unified stand before the world. We must have unity amongst us wherever we go for the negotiations whether these are with India or Pakistan.

KI: A delegation led by APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, which included Professor Abdul Ghani Butt and Bilal Ghani Lone visited Pakistan and Azad Kashmir during June 2008. In your opinion what has been the outcome of the visit?

SS: The delegation headed by Mirwaiz visited Pakistan at a time when a new government took over there which comprised Pakistan Peoples’ Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N as its main components besides other allies. The negotiations held in response to the invitation sent by Pakistan foreign Ministry have been positive and result-oriented. The president of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf, the Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and the government of Pakistan on the whole reiterated their continued moral, diplomatic and political support to the Kashmiris. The delegation also held parleys with the opposition leadership including Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmed. This visit dispelled the erroneous impression that Pakistan was perhaps cold-shouldering the Kashmir problem. But on the contrary the prime minister of Pakistan and the government of Pakistan officially have always reaffirmed their commitment to the Kashmir cause and vowed to never ever put it in the cold storage. A couple of days ago the statement of Pakistan’s foreign Minster Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also very encouraging that he gave during his first meeting with the Kashmiri delegation. Besides the parties in government and the opposition expressed whole hearted commitment to the stand by Kashmiris for which we are grateful to the people of Pakistan, who never abandoned us in the hour of trial and hope they will continue to do so in future. We also hope that their moral, diplomatic and political support will continue till a viable and amicable solution the Kashmir issue was evolved.


KI: Talks have resumed between Pakistan and Indian. How hopeful you are about the outcome of these talks?

SS: you see the world tests on hopes and we the people of Kashmir are politically very conscious and sensitive because we have been at the receiving and for the last 60 years. We admit that Pakistan and India are two parties to the dispute but the people of Jammu and Kashmir are the principal stakeholders. There have been great differences between the two nuclear powers and we realize that unless these differences are not removed there can be no real friendship between them nor any forward movement on Kashmir would take place. That is why APHC has always given highest priority to dialogue and we have always welcomed talks between Indian and Pakistan although there has been no perceptible change in the ground realities in occupied Kashmir as a result of these parlays. The status quo continues to prevail. But even then we want that the two countries should come close that it facilitates a solution of the Kashmir issue. I think unless an atmosphere of understanding and mutual trust is created all the CBMs will be useless. Moreover, without associating the people of Kashmir in the dialogue process there will be no progress on the issue. We have always been supporting the peace process in the hope that the ground situation will change but unfortunately there has been no visible transformation the prevailing situation. Ten thousand Kashmiris abducted from their homes have been forcibly disappeared. The tragedy of unknown graves is also there, which invited attention of the European Parliament. We thin as long as black laws like Disturbed Area Act, Special powers Act, Public Safety Act are there and large number of Kashmiris languishing in Indian and occupied Kashmir jails the peace process is meaningless. These questions were also raised with the political leadership of India but nothing new has come out nor has the Indian government shown flexibility, which makes us believe that Indian is not sincere about talks.

KI: Do you foresee a solution of Kashmir issue in near future?

SS: The way the people of Kashmir have carried forward their movement and the manner in which they came out on the roads including young and old make me believe that India should read the writing on the wall. Pakistan has shown flexibility and India as a country of 1-5 billion people should also reciprocate. People of Kashmir are always ready for trilateral talks through which modalities can be settled. I am hopeful that Insha Allah we will succeed and there will be progress on Kashmir issue. India has not been able to suppress the liberation movement despite using brute force no has it been able to subdue the sentiments of the Kashmiris. However, associating Kashmiris in the peace process is imperative to make it result-oriented.


KI: India has offered no proposals so far for resolving the issue nor has it given any positive response to Pakistan’s suggestions. What would you like to say about it?

SS: India has not budged from its policy of intransigence whereas Pakistan has been flexible. Although Pakistan gives priority to the right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir so that they could decide their own destiny but in addition to that Pakistan made many proposals as an alternate for resolving the issue. India has given no response to Pakistan’s proposals and its approach remained negative as before. Unless India adopted a realistic approach the lingering dispute will remain unresolved. India has backed out of all the agreements, dialogues and negotiations held during the last 60 years. We Kashmiris are peaceful people and we consider Kashmir a political issue and we want a political solution of it. Pakistan, which is a party to the dispute, also believes in dialogue. India should initiate negotiations with sincerity and associate the people of Kashmir in the process. Bilateral talks held so far have been inconclusive. There can be no progress on the issue unless trilateral talks are held with the active participation of Kashmiris.

KI: An assassination attempt was made on you while you were leading a peaceful demonstration at Shrine Hazratbal. Who are the hidden hands behind his attempt on your life?

SS: We had planned to visit the Darghah Hazratbal at the call of senior Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Gilani and supported by Chairman APHC Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. While Mirwaiz and Gilani Sahib were put under house arrest, I managed to reach the shrine, which is controlled by the Auqaf department headed by the then puppet chief minister Bhulam Nabi Azad. The puppet CM had declared that no Kashmiri Hurriyat leader will be allowed to address the gathering at Darghah. It was a challenge for us because the shrines are our assets and if we are banned from visiting the shrines it is something intolerable and derogatory. The Hurriyat leaders including myself addressed the gathering and defied the puppet regime’s ban. After addressing the gathering while I was getting into the car two political figures and two police officers stepped forward and hit me on the head with gun butt, but I was saved by some Kashmir youth. I myself heard that the officers were giving orders to kill me but Allah saved me. I am being targeted for striving for unity among the people of Kashmir. The attack on me at Hazratbal was a part of a conspiracy to eliminate me.

KI: Thousands of custodial disappearances have taken place in occupied Kashmir and besides large number of innocent Kashmiris are suffering incarcerations in jails. What is Hurriyat’s strategy about these issues?

SS: We have initiated efforts at the grassroots level to associate the people with the Hurriyat conference, a legal office has also been established to provide assistance to Kashmiri youth locked up in different jails in Indian and we are trying to reach them and provide them legal help as far as practicable. Unless the Kashmiri detainees are not released and the black laws are repealed and Kashmir acknowledged as a disputed are the dialogue process can not be result oriented. We are committed to carry on our struggle till final victory and we are prepared to fight with India on every front for securing our liberation. India, which claims to be a democratic country has usurped the right of-self-determination of people of Kashmir but we have planned to create awareness throughout the world in this regard.

KI: The international community has expressed concern over the discovery of hundreds of unnamed grave in different areas of occupied Kashmir. What strategy APHC has evolved to expose the real culprits behind this tragedy?

SS: The APHC is deeply concerned about the discovery of unnamed mass graves in occupied Kashmir and intends to take appropriate and serious measures to expose the hidden hands behind this tragedy. The EU parliament also took cognizance of the issue and asked India to conduct DNA tests for the identification of those buried in the unnamed graves. Around ten thousand Kashmiri youth have been disappeared and it can not be ruled out that those unfortunate Kashmiri youth who were martyred are buried in these graves after mutilating their faces and disfiguring their bodies. People of Kashmir are greatly disturbed after the discovery of unnamed graves in Uri, Poonch, Rajouri and Lolab. The incident has sent a wave of utter sorrow and grief among the families whose near ones have disappeared. We expect that the government of Pakistan will raise the issue of disappearance of ten thousand Kashmiris at various forums and also help determine whether those buried in the unnamed graves were those who had been forcibly disappeared?