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Fwd:
Press Statement of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar)
to the Press Corp of Srinagar on 9th March 2006.
Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) is the political party of Sikh peoples which has high stakes in peace in South Asia, as we feel that in the 1947 partition of the Indian sub-continent the Kashmiri, the Sikh and the Naga peoples were left high and dry and the Attlee government of Great Britain unfairly left us out of our share of the cake.
Our party supports a peaceful, democratic struggle for our piece of the cake in South Asia
through UN charter of the right of self-determination, signed by India and amenable to it by virtue of Article 51 of its constitution.
Our party delegation of a General Secretary Sardar Gursevak Singh Jawarke, Partyâs Youth President Sardar Barinder Singh Mann, Executive Member Sardar Pritpal Singh Doabia, General Secretary of Ludhiana Sardar Randhir Singh Sivia, Kisan Wing Sukhdev Singh Mann and other members of the delegation arrived in Kashmir on 6.3.2006 to probe the heinous massacre of four young Kashmiri lads Shakir(8 years), Abdul Samad Mir (23 years), Gulam Hussant Batt(18 years) and Amir Akbar Hajem(9 years) at Dudipora in Handwara Tehsil, district Kupwara on 22.2.2006.
Yesterday our Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Adip Singh and Deputy
Chairman Jaspal Singh Mangal took us to the site of the carnage- Village Dudipora. Our entire delegation was shocked and grief stricken to meet the parents of the deceased and the inhabitants of the area, their graves, where we paid homage to these innocent youth killed in cold blood by the Major of the Rasthrya Rifles named Rambo whose actual name is Major Sushant Kumar. Unfortunately heâs still at large and no action has been taken against him for these foul murders of innocents. We can only conclude that the Indian state has no respect for law or its international obligations to safeguard the life, property and honour of its minorities. A similar situation prevails in the Panjab.
On enquiry our delegation has found that all the four boys were playing cricket when they were shot dead. As per the Geneva Convention rules of engagement it is a crime on the part of
state forces and the militants to kill innocent civilians. As such we found that the Indian state by killing these innocents is in breach of the Geneva Convention, is indulging in state sponsored terrorism with no political or administrative control over its armed forces and hence committing the crime genocide of the Kashmiri peoples.
Our party feels that the Divisional Commander, the Brigade Commander and the Battalion commander in whose jurisdiction this abominable crime took place should be tried for crimes against humanity in a civilian court, with International Jurists as Observers.
We want the armed forces to be withdrawn immediately from civil duties and the peremptory repeal of draconian laws- Disturbed Areas Act and Special Forces Armed Act
which have no place in a civil and democratic society.
We support demilitarization of both Kashmirâs East and West and the immediate plebiscite as per the Security Council resolution proposed by the first Indian premier Nehru, to decide whether the Kashmiri peoples want an independent status or wish a confederation with Pakistan or India. If Indianâs respect Nehru, thus his seeking plebiscite for the Kashmiri peoples must also be honoured. India must respect its international obligations and its constitutional duties to enforce article 370 in its pre 1953 form.
The brutality and human right violations of the Kashmiri peoples must be brought to an end forthwith. The National Human Rights Commission must be empowered by parliament to bring excesses
by the Armed and para-military forces under its purview and the Union Minority Commission must have statutory powers to probe acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing of Indiaâs minorities.
As promised by Congress premier Narsimha Rao in 1992 the Babri Masjid must be built at its original site by the Congress led UPA government and the Mulyam Singh government in UP to infuse confidence in Indiaâs Muslim population that their lives, honour and property are safe under the 1950 secular constitution. Nothing short of these suggestions will normalize
relations between Indiaâs majority Hindus and its minorities. The Prime Minister must give a relief package of Rs. 10 lakhs each to the dependants or parents of the four deceased in the Dudipora
tragedy.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) will support the Kashmiri peoples struggle for the right of self-determinations. We appeal to all countries who believe in freedom, liberty, human rights and the UN charter to support Kashmiri peoples to become masters of their destiny, irrespective of a countryâs geopolitical interests. All mankind irrespective of their race, religion and colour must be treated as one.
Our party would appeal to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to take cognizance of these dastardly murders suo moto and order a CBI investigation. The state government of Mr. Gulam Navi Azad must exercise political control over the armed forces and immediately order a CBI investigation too. It is paradoxical that in neighbouring Pakistan India
condemns army rule and the lack of democracy but in its own Kashmir rules the populace through brutal armed forces repression and the world applauds Indiaâs so called largest democracy! The so called state government of Kashmir is nothing but a puppet in the hands of the armed forces who call the shots.
Simranjit Singh Mann,
President, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar)
Adeep Singh President,
Jammu & Kashmir State Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar)
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