Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Friday said that now that the guilt of the soldiers in heinous cold-blooded murder has been admitted and established beyond a doubt, Kashmiris together with all Indians, Pakistanis and global citizens who want to see a peaceful solution to the Kashmir so that peace can prevail in South Asia are in their right to point out that the 2010 Machil fake encounter was not just a brazen crime against humanity, it was a crime against peace – a deliberate attempt to derail diplomatic efforts towards resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan.Addressing Friday congregation at the historic Jamia Masjid here, he recalled that on 30 April 2010, immediately after the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan met on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Thimphu and decided to resume dialogue. “The Indian news channels started flashing news stories in which the Indian Army claimed to have foiled a ‘major infiltration bid’ on the LOC, and killed ‘three militants.’ The Machil case is to be seen as part of a systematic pattern to impede attempts for resumption of peace process between India and Pakistan. Such incidents somehow occur whenever such a possibility seems imminent,” he said.
“In this regard, the specific political circumstances and background of the Machil case should be kept in mind and should be an eye-opener for thinking people in India. Today, they should take this as a clear reason why they should not fall prey to the propaganda and dishonest reporting that the agencies and media in India try to thrust on them in an effort to whip up hawkish attitudes and war-mongering hysteria which are an impediment to the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir Conflict,” Mirwaiz added.The Hurriyat (M) chairman said that, while the verdict is a positive step, it is premature to declare it a “watershed moment” as Omar Abdullah and other pro-Indian politicians have been claiming. “We do not congratulate the Government of India and the Indian Army for living up to what is the most minimal and basic requirement expected in a civilized world where every human being is entitled to the right to life. Putting an end to human rights violations in Kashmir and delivering justice in the case of violations that have occurred in the past in Kashmir is not a negotiating point for the APHC. The Government of India should open all cases of human rights violations and killings of thousands of civilians over the last more than two decades – Including massacres such as Gow Kadal, Hawal, Banihal and many more. The killings of unarmed protestors in 2008, 2009, 2010. All cases of enforced disappearances and all other fake encounter cases. It should also reopen the Pathribal fake encounter case in which Indian soldiers have been allowed to go free despite the findings of the CBI. The Kunan Poshpora mass rape and other cases of sexual crimes,” he said.
The Mirwaiz said that it is the inhuman and draconian laws like AFSPA that facilitate a culture of impunity which has enabled the armed forces in Kashmir to repeatedly commit these violations. He reiterated the demand for its immediate revocation.Rejecting the ‘so-called’ electoral process underway in Kashmir as an exercise in ‘deceit and falsehood,’ the Mirwaiz said, “Since 1947 the Government of India has been enacting this drama to mislead its own people and the international community into believing that these elections are a solution to the Kashmir issue and a verdict in favour of India. The fact remains that the Kashmir issue remains unresolved and these farcical elections can never be a substitute for the people’s right to self determination.” (KNS)