The future of Kashmir
can only be decided by the people of Kashmir. The rulers of India and Pakistan
have no right to determine the future of Kashmir over the heads of its people.
The planned Musharraf-Vajpayee Summit is meaningless unless they involve the
genuine representatives of the people of Kashmir.
The Indian rulers
having totally failed to crush the Kashmiri people’s aspirations for freedom
militarily, are now seeking to stab the movement in the back. What it could not
achieve militarily, is now attempting through ‘peace talks’, summits, Pant-type
initiatives, etc. Whether it is military force or ‘peace talks’ their goal is
the same — to keep Kashmir as a part of India, and, if possible, seize Pak
Occupied Kashmir. Having faced severe losses on the battlefront, and faced with
the increasing demoralisation of its mercenary forces, the Indian rulers are
desperate to tame Kashmir through a combination of military and diplomatic
measures.
Earlier it was the
farcical ceasefire and a call for ‘peace talks’. Today, it is a renewed military
offensive and an attempt to strike a deal on Kashmir with their Pakistani
counterparts.
In the earlier
scheme, under a pretense of ‘ceasefire’ (that never existed at the ground-level)
the Indian Chanakyas sought to split the movement and seek a deal with weaker
elements. They failed miserably as the people of Kashmir saw through their
scheming plots. Militant attacks increased and the masses of the Kashmiri people
demanded not fake peace talks, but a political agenda about their future. The
BJP-led government’s duplicity stood thoroughly exposed.
Now it is upto new
tricks : a new military offensive, the clownish Pant initiative in Kashmir and
talks with the General. While initiating talks with Pakistan it has launched a
massive offensive on the Kashmiri people. In the month after the withdrawal of
the ceasefire hundreds have been killed, Hurriyat leaders were being harrased
and put under house arrest, and Pant was used to widen fissures as part of a
divide and rule policy. Hurriyat and other leaders of the Kashmiri people are
being denied even an audience during the planned summit. Besides, the talks
which are to take place within the framework of the Simla Agreement and the
Lahore Declaration do not take into consideration the will of the Kashmiri
people. After having stated ad nauseum, that they will never speak with an
unelected military General, specifically that person responsible for the Kargil
war; that they will never speak with Pakistan, unless they put an end to
so-called ‘cross-border terrorism’, etc. the Vajpayee government has done a 180
0
somersault. Militant attacks (cross-border terrorism in Indian
rulers’ language) have intensified, and the General is still not ‘elected’, yet
Vajpayee has gone a begging for talks. It is a sign of their desperation to find
some solution. Defeat at the hands of the Kashmiri militants can have a
devastating demoralising affect on the army and para-military forces throughout
the country.
Besides, the
imperialists are panic stricken, that if Kashmir is not silenced it can have a
spiralling affect on the entire region. The US seeks ‘peace’ in South Asia,
under Indian hegemony, in order to tap the vast market and raw materials in the
region more effectively. That the US was a major player in the arrangements for
this present meeting was clear from the fact that the actual dates of the talks
was first announced from Washington, while even the Indian media was in the
dark. Besides, they fear that the growing Maoist insurgencies in the region,
particularly in Nepal and India, can act as a strong support to the various
armed struggles with each assisting the other against a common enemy — Indian
Expansionism.
No deal between
Musharraf and Vajpayee can decide on the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. The
ruling classes of neither Pakistan nor India can give real freedom of the
Kashmiri people. The CPI (ML)[PW] demands that the representatives of Kashmir be
made the centre for any negotiations. The CPI(ML)[PW] demands the end to the
terror and massacre being perpetrated in Kashmir by the Indian rulers. The
CPI(ML)[PW] calls for the withdrawal of all Indian armed forces from Kashmir and
the release of all political prisoners in order to create a conducive atmosphere
for a negotiated political settlement of the Kashmir issue.
The CPI(ML)[PW]
appeals to all democratic-minded people of India not to get fooled by the false
government propaganda, and to support the just struggles of the Kashmiri people
for freedom and liberty. It is the people of Kashmir alone on both sides of the
LoC, who must decide their own future.
Central
Committee
CPI(ML)[People’s War]
1/7/2001
