Kashmiris yet to see democratic face of India: Geelani

Srinagar:  Stating that New Delhi’s broken promises to Kashmiris were the root cause of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani Saturday said Kashmiris were yet to see the democratic face of India.Geelani who addressed the “Kashmir-what next “ debate at the India Today Enclave in New Delhi today reminded the audience of India’s “commitment”  at international forums to allow Kashmiris decide their future.“India is a signatory to 18 resolutions passed by the United Nations regarding the right to self determination of Kashmiris. India’s first Prime Minister, Late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru promised Kashmiris plebiscite and that the Indian army would not stay forever… Even the Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram recently said Kashmir is an issue of broken promises,” Geelani said.Geelani said the demand for right to self determination was for all the three regions of Jammu and Kashmir, and “humanity comes before religion. “On fighting elections under the Indian constitution, the veteran pro-freedom leader said even Congress and Muslim League had fought elections under the British Raj in 1935. “But nobody told them that now that you have fought elections under the British rule you don’t have any right to ask for India’s freedom. We fought elections because we wanted to resolve the Kashmir issue through the democratic process, but Kashmiris are yet to see the face of Indian democracy,” he said.  Terming Kashmir as the root cause of animosity between India and Pakistan, Geelani said the resolving the Kashmir issue would augur well for both the countries.“Lakhs of people have to live life under the open sky in India, lakhs die of hunger and lakhs live below the poverty line. Yet, India is the number one buyer of arms,” he said.Geelani said the people of Kashmir were suffering because of India’s military presence. “Army occupies 5200 kanals of land in Shopian alone, they run wood mills inside their bunkers in forest areas and the timber is smuggled outside the state. In addition, one lakh people have died, 7000 women have been raped, 10,000 have been forcefully  disappeared, 100,000 tortured, 50,000 orphaned, 30,000 widowed, 2,700 lie in unidentified graves,  and there are 1,000 half widows,” he said.He also alleged that youth were being randomly arrested and subjected to torture. “Let me explain to you what kind of torture they have to undergo. They are taken to interrogation centres, where rollers are rolled over them and they are hung upside them,” he said.“There are three kinds of terrorism: individual, group or state.  We are facing all the three,” he said.Meanwhile, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, who turned out to be surprise speaker at the conclave, said that plebiscite was not possible. “I am happy. This is the greatness of the Indian republic that we have the guts to hear that we may not like to,” he said.Farooq, who spoke before Geelani, said that he and his party would accept everything but not the division. “We are not ready for that. There is no question of plebiscite,” he said.  “I will not stick even to our autonomy demand, if that can bring peace. Enough is enough now. We want the cycle of violence to end now,” he said.He also asked Geelani to take cue from Yasser Arafat and Anwar Sadat, who decided to end their struggles in the larger interest of peace. “He should not forget that Kashmir isn’t about Muslims alone but also the Hindus, Buddhists and Christians.”