Dr Shabir Choudhry's blog

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Before the tribal invasion officer of the no 1 army at work

Who killed Babar Qadri Advocate?

Who killed Babar Qadri Advocate?

Dr Shabir Choudhry 30 September 2020

When Baber Qadri was killed, I was among those who condemned it, and demanded very strict punishment for the assassins. Also in my TV programme, My Voice, Abbas Butt and I condemned this targeted murder and demanded that the culprits must be caught and punished.

Baber Qadri was not the first innocent person to die because of his political narrative, and sadly he won’t be the last one. His father in Law, Dr Ghulam Qadir Wani Sahib, a good friend of mine with whom I had lengthy discussions on various aspects of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in Islamabad, was also murdered on his return to Kashmir.

He was killed because he advanced a narrative that was abhorred by Islamabad and their foot soldiers. They wanted to silence all sane voices, and especially voices of dissent that they can impose their agenda on Kashmir.

While talking on this subject and expressing my sentiments with a thinking Kashmiri from the Valley of Kashmir, I said, ‘We both are also among the killers of Baber Qadri’. He was stunned by my remarks, and asked me for clarification.

I said, although I was never part of militancy, however, we both were part of the JKLF. In our own way, we strengthened the JKLF and promoted its ideology. The JKLF, in turn, collaborated with the ISI and introduced a gun culture in Kashmir with disastrous results for the polity of Jammu and Kashmir and people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially people of the Valley.

Hizb ul Mujahideen took the gun culture introduced by the JKLF to the next level. Militancy and gun culture became a lucrative business for some people. Subsequently Al Umer Mujahideen, Jaish e Mohammed, Lashkar e Taiba and other militant organisations took control of the gun culture.

India had obligation to protect life, liberty and property of the people. They failed to do that; and innocent people were killed by men in uniform and militants. No one was safe in Kashmir.

In my opinion, all those who supported militancy, I mean political parties, APHC, Jihad Council, other groups and individuals are also indirectly culpable for death and destruction that is going on since 1988.

We cannot shun our responsibilities by pointing finger at others or by using abusive language. Every human life is valuable, and we have to protect human lives rather than supporting those who want blood and dead bodies to advance their agenda.

Mian Abdul Qayuum and High Court Bar Association.

Generally members of the Bar associations are affiliated to political parties, alliances or groups, but the Bar associations as an organ do not subscribe to any political ideology or become a member of any political alliance to advance a particular ideology.

Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association is unique in some ways that it officially subscribes to a political ideology, and actively advances the political programme of APHC, which people believe was created by ISI to advance their agenda on Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

Is it not better for the Bar Associations to defend rights of citizens and dispense their responsibilities in accordance with the law rather than advancing a particular ideology? Won’t this prejudice rights of those who do not ascribe to this particular ideology, for example, members of National Conference, PDP, Congress and many others.

Coming back to the tragic killing of Baber Qadri, it must be noted that he was very outspoken and courageous man. He did not hesitate to confront and expose those who, in his opinion, were agents of India or Pakistan. Just like political culture of Pakistan, in political culture of Jammu and Kashmir, no evidence is required to accuse people of treason and labelling them as traitors and agents.

Baber Qadri also accused some prominent people, groups and parties. In his view, some known political leaders of Kashmir were ISI agents and some were Indian agents. He accused Jamat e Islami and also accused APHC leaders and Mian Abdul Qayuum, the President of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association.

Baber Qadri contested Mian Abdul Qayyum in the election for the post of President of High Court Bar Association, and badly lost. After 5 August 2019, in protest against what India did, Mian Abdul Qayyum, as the President of the Bar Council declared to boycott the courts.

Baber Qadri defied that by taking up a case of a 12 years old child who belonged to a poor family. They could not afford the court fees. Baber Qadri, on humanitarian grounds (he did not charge any fees) fought his case.

Although what Baber Qadri did was purely on humanitarian grounds, Mian Abdul Qayyum did not appreciate his sentiments, and regarded his action as non-compliance to the decision of the Bar Council and suspended his membership. This further aggravated the situation and embittered already bad relationship.

Baber Qadri did not hesitate to call Mian Abdul Qayyum and Jamat e Islami ISI agents. Baber Qadri and supporters of Mian Abdul Qayyum and Jamat e Islami publicly spoke against each other.

Baber Qadri and his friends felt that his life was in danger. Sources close to Baber Qadri’s family confirm that there was a serious threat to his life. He talked to his friends about the threats and intimidation. He shared nature of these threats on the social media; and he twice requested the concerned authorities for security.

It is believed that the concerned authorities were seriously evaluating the situation to provide him some security. Alas, those who were responsible to provide security were still deliberating on the issue, and assassins silenced another dissenting voice.

One Kashmiri person from the Valley of Kashmir said, no one came from Delhi or Islamabad to kill Baber Qadri. Someone from here did this. We need to stop accusing India or Pakistan for every murder that takes place in Kashmir, and find the culprits who live among us.

Some critics point fingers towards supporters of Mian Abdul Qayyum, others accuse Jamat e Islami and other local outfits. The authorities need to investigate this matter and arrest the culprits and punish them in accordance with the law.

If this gun culture and terror infrastructure is not eradicated, I am afraid more innocent people will die unnecessarily. We need to rethink wisdom of our policies and rectify mistakes of the past.

Writer is a renowned writer and author of many books. He is also President Foreign Affairs Committee of UKPNP; and Chairman South Asia Watch, London.

Email: Drshabirchoudhry@gmail.com Twitter: @Drshabir

Saturday, 26 September 2020

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Monday, 21 September 2020

Another attack of Pakistan on Jammu and Kashmir State, by Dr Shabir Choudhry

Pakistan has started another operation against former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. This operation is designed to annex Gilgit Baltistan. Capturing of Gilgit Baltistan will make this region fifth ‘Province of Pakistan’; and may start a new war or a cold war in the region.

“After consultation with all stakeholders, the federal government has decided in principle to give constitutional rights to Gilgit-Baltistan.” He accentuated that ‘deprivation of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan of 73 years would come to an end. Besides the constitutional rights and the provincial setup, important steps were also being taken for the development of the region’. 1

Is India responsible for the ‘deprivation’ of these people. Did India oppress them and treated them like sub human beings?

Mr Gandapur, it was your Pakistan who has ruled this region with an iron fist since 1947. Pakistani rulers oppressed people and denied them of their fundamental rights; and no one stopped Pakistan to empower these people.

Yes, India has to share some responsibility. The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, after the Pakistani military attack on Jammu and Kashmir on 22 October 11947, was forced to accede to India. India acquired responsibilities under the accession treaty and the UNCIP Resolutions. India had a duty to protect life liberty, property and honour of all citizens of Jammu and Kashmir, including Gilgit Baltistan and so called Azad Kashmir.

India failed to discharge this responsibility honourably, and left people of these two regions at the mercy of rulers of Pakistan. Furthermore, India even failed to protect life, liberty and property of people in the areas of Jammu and Kashmir under their control. However, this is a topic for some other time.

It is difficult to predict what will happen after Pakistan provide a ‘legal’ cover to its invasion of Gilgit Baltistan. Some people think Pakistani brand of Islam and the redundant Two Nations Theory can only survive if their country has five provinces. Sadly, they lost East Pakistan due to their oppressive and unfair policies, and one way of compensating for that loss is to make Gilgit Baltistan part of Pakistan.

Since their first attack on Jammu and Kashmir on 22 October 1947, they have fooled people of Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir in name of religion. Because of that, all their attacks on Jammu and Kashmir and wrong doings are perceived as halal – legitimate, justified and appropriate.

Minister of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur, while talking to
media said:

Pakistani attack of October 1947 was designed to capture Jammu and Kashmir. It resulted in death and destruction, loot, plunder and rapes of women and forced division of our motherland. Sadly, still many Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan believe that Pakistani attack was designed to liberate Jammu and Kashmir and help Muslims.

All subsequent attacks were also designed to grab Kashmir. They showed no interest in empowering people of Jammu and Kashmir living under their control, but they never stopped shedding crocodile tears for the people of the Kashmir Valley.

How many times Pakistan has attacked Kashmir, I don’t know. However, I can safely say that they have beaten the record of Mahmood Ghaznavi, Afghan warrior who attacked India seventeen times. His each attack resulted in death and destruction and loot and plunder.

India was building some infrastructure in Ladakh. The Pakistani secret agencies believed that this new infrastructure will help India to attack Siachin and endanger the CPEC route. They persuaded the Chinese that if India is allowed to go ahead with their plans then there will be serious consequences for the Pakistani and the Chinese interests in Gilgit Baltistan.

It is believed that after some serious consultations between Beijing and Islamabad, it was decided that China should engage India in Ladakh and in other areas that they forget their plans to attack Gilgit Baltistan.
Experts who keen interest in the region are of the opinion that China agreed to engage India at various points on LAC for multiple objectives. However, they urged Pakistan to annex Gilgit Baltistan by making changes to their constitution, most likely by amending article 257 of the Constitution of Pakistan, as that will provide a legal cover Pakistan.

China can intervene to protect areas which are ‘legally’ part of Pakistan; but it will be unwise for China to intervene in Gilgit Baltistan if the status of these remain disputed.

All the signs are that Pakistan will go ahead with its plan to annex Gilgit Baltistan. They will find many foot soldiers and mental slaves to welcome this action, and regard it as halal action, which is designed to enhance quality of life of the people.

India is unlikely to take any risks in view of the Chinese and Pakistani collaboration and vested interests in the region. People of Kashmir Valley have their own problems, and at best, they can issue a statement opposing this action.

Like other imperial powers, Pakistan has also a strong network of collaborators, foot soldiers and military might, and in my opinion, subjugated people of Gilgit Baltistan

will not rise up and they will acquiesce. People of so called Azad Kashmir will strongly oppose this on the social media, and in accordance with their past history, will accuse each other and call each other a traitor.
The Pakistani action will, once again provide a solid evidence that they are only interested in territory and resources of Jammu and Kashmir State; and welfare of the people is not on their priority list.

Sadly, this action of Pakistan could prove to be the last nail in the coffin of Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which is now known as India Pakistan problem. It will give more credence to this theory that both India and Pakistan are on the same page as far as division of Jammu and Kashmir is concerned. Dr Nazir Gilani, in his recent article on the topic wrote:

‘The action would bring Pakistan at par with Indian actions of 5 August 2019, would be a violation of UN Resolutions on the future of the State, would be a departure from Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir and above all would be considered as a betrayal by the people who have sacrificed a generation of their loved ones. Pakistan would lose trust of the people of the State and there would be unfolding challenges in the courts, at the UN and it would dislodge the Pakistani constituency in Kashmir.’ 2

Constitutional experts believe that India has a legal title in Jammu and Kashmir, because the Ruler of the State acceded to India. Pakistan has no such title. They had a Standstill Agreement with the Jammu and Kashmir State, which they violated and attacked the State with intention to capture it.

In view of this, legal positions of both countries cannot be same. Therefore, all actions of Pakistan, for example, to give away Shaksam Valley to China or to annex Gilgit Baltistan are illegal, and against the UN Resolutions of Jammu and Kashmir.

In conclusion, Pakistan created this dispute by attacking the Jammu and Kashmir in October 1947; and Pakistan will kill the dispute now by Euthanasia. Of course, to give respect to the dead body, and to honour sufferings of other victims, Pakistan will wrap them in the required constitutional changes.

Writer is author of many books on Jammu and Kashmir, TV presenter and a political analyst. Also he is President of Foreign Affairs Committee of UNPNP.

Reference:
1. https://r.tribune.com.pk/…/…/g-b-to-be-made-province-soon-1/ 2. https://dailytimes.com.pk/…/dont-burn-your-fingers-in-gilgi…
baltistan/