Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA
RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE
Research Response Number: PAK31088 Country: Pakistan Date: 29 January 2007
Keywords: Pakistan – Kashmir – JKLL
This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
Questions 1. Is there any recent specific information on the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League indicating its current structure, aims, activities, leaders and treatment of its members by the Azad Kashmiri and Pakistani authorities? 2. Is there any information as to how Pakistani authorities treat persons who support an independent Kashmiri state? 3. It is not clear to me whether the ISI is engaged in suppressing pro independence views in the Kashmir area and surrounds, or throughout the whole of Pakistan. Is there anything which suggests that their interest is local, or wider? Is there a large Kashmiri community outside the Kashmir area?
Response
1. Is there any recent specific information on the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League indicating its current structure, aims, activities, leaders and treatment of its members by the Azad Kashmiri and Pakistani authorities?
Information on the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL or the League) follows below. An overview of the 1999 information provided by the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada appears first, discussed in terms of the historical context and sources of the information provided (see The 1999 Canadian IRB Reports) along with an overview of the recent September 2006 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report (see The September 2006 HRW Report). This is then followed by an overview of the available information in regard to: Reports on the mistreatment of the JKLL; Reports on the inclusion of the JKLL in the political process; Reports on the exclusion of the JKLL from the political process; and Information on JKLL Leaders.
The 1999 Canadian IRB Reports As is noted in the background to this response, the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada produced two reports on the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League in 1999. The most recent was published on 26 October 1999 and was sourced from the Kashmir Information Centre in Islamabad, Pakistan, and from the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in Islamabad via the Kashmiri-Canadian Council (KCC) in Toronto. The KCC information reported that the JKLL maintained a pro-choice position on the issue of whether the people of the Kashmir should decide “whether they want to accede with Pakistan or India or remain independent”. The KCC reported that the JKLL were once an important political party but had become a diminished player (the KCC’s information on the movement of former JKLL members to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the JKLL’s relationship with the then governing cabinet is vague in content). Like the KCC, the IPS also reported that the status of the JKLL had diminished. The IPS provided a rather different view of the JKLL’s political position, stating that: “As regards to the struggle in Kashmir it supports the view of an independent Kashmir”. Nonetheless, the IPS also reported that the JKLL was “generally not very vocal against Pakistan like JKLF [Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front]”; adding that: “since the party observes the country’s law there is no pressure of any kind on the party from either AJK or Pakistan government”. It seems likely that these comments refer to the JKLL’s situation under Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) (at the time of the report’s publication the Nawaz Sharif government had just been overthrown by General Pervez Musharraf’s coup of 12 October 1999). The extracts follow:
The following information on the Jammu Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL) was forwarded to the Research Directorate on 19 October 1999 by the Kashmiri-Canadian Council (KCC) in Toronto, which received information on the JKLL from the Kashmir Information Centre in Islamabad, Pakistan, and from the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies in Islamabad.
The Kashmir Information Centre in Islamabad stated that:
1. Once Jammu & Kashmir Liberation League was a prominent political organisation in Azad Jammu & Kashmir, now become the history of past with no vital role in current freedom struggle of Jammu & Kashmir. Its founder president was a Kashmiri migrant from Indian Held-Kashmir namely K.H.Khurshid who was Kashmiri speaking and secretary of Quaid-e- Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
He was a popular leader and first elected president of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. But after his accidental death the party diminished day by day and came to the position that once ruling and reigning party cannot succeed even in a single constituency in the recent elections in which Pakistan Peoples Party came into power.
2. There is no base of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation League in Indian Held-Kashmir and it has nil participation in current Movement.
3. The main ideology of their organisation is that the government of Azad Kashmir should be accepted as an independent government and representative of whole state. In addition to this, their motto is that the people of Kashmir should be given their basic right to decide their future accordingly to their own choice in free and fair atmosphere. It is the choice of the people what they want, whether they want to accede with Pakistan or India or remain independent.
4. Prime Minister of Azad Jammu & Kashmir was once the member and president of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation League. But today he is the president of PPP and there are many ministers in his cabinet who were once the members of Liberation League e.g. Kh. Farooq Ahmed. The current set-up of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation League is as follows: President – Retired Chief Justice Abdul Majid Malik is the president of the party. He is the usual visitor of European countries, collecting funds in the name of movement but doing nothing in the practical field of struggle. He is from Mirpur Azad Kashmir.
Senior Vice President – Mr. Maroof Akhter Abbasi is the Vice-President of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation League. He is cousin of president of Jammu & Kashmir Muslim Conference Sardar Abdul Qayum Khan.
Secretary-General – Mr. Misfer Hussain is the Secretary-General of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation League. He is running his clinic at Rawalpindi and always trying to arrange programs for the projection of a bureaucratic leader Justice Majid Malik but in vein.
There are many other posts/departments of the organisation as Assistant Secretary General, Secretary Finance, Secretary Information etc..
5. Membership procedure – they are always in search of members especially of those members, which can raise funds for them at international level.
The following information on the JKLL was provided by the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies in Islamabad:
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League was established in 1962 by well-known Kashmiri leader K H Khurshid. It emerged as the 2nd largest party in Azad Kashmir in 1970 elections. As regards to the struggle in Kashmir it supports the view of an independent Kashmir. However generally not very vocal against Pakistan like JKLF.
The party is active throughout Azad Kashmir but to the best of our knowledge it has no presence in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
After the demise of party’s founder president K H Khurshid the party has lost the support it used to have among the masses. Presently Justice Abdul Majid Malik (former chief justice AJK Supreme Court) is heading the party.
In the last elections held in 1996, party lost on all the seats it contested. However since the party observes the country’s law there is no pressure of any kind on the party from either AJK or Pakistan government.
Anyone, by simply filling a form can become a member of the party. The party does not issue cards to its members (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 1999, PAK33127.E – Pakistan: Follow-up to PAK32735.E of 24 September 1999 on the Jammu Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL), including its structure, mandate and activities, leaders, current status, and treatment of its members by the Azad Kashmiri and Pakistani authorities (1994 to September 1999), 26 October – Attachment 32).
A note on the IRB’s sources: Available information suggests that the Kashmir Information Centre is a pro-accession organisation which is headed up by Abdur Rashid Turabi, the “former head of Jamaat-e-Islami AJK”. Available information on the Institute of Policy Studies in Islamabad suggests that it is an independent research agency whose views are respected by independent publications like The Christian Science Monitor (for information on the Kashmir Information Centre, see: ‘Kashmir Information Center (An Introduction)’ (undated), Kashmir Information website, sourced from: Internet Archive (12 April 2005) http://web.archive.org/web/20031212133654/www.kic.org.pk/about.htm – Accessed 23 January 2007 – Attachment 28; Turabi, A.R. 2005, ‘Kashmir issue’, The Nation website, 1 January http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/jan-2005/1/columns5.php – Accessed 22 January 2007 – Attachment 27; ‘Kashmir Information Center (An Introduction)’ (undated), Kashmir Information website, sourced from: Internet Archive (12 April 2005) http://web.archive.org/web/20031212133654/www.kic.org.pk/about.htm – Accessed – 23 January 2007 – Attachment 29; ‘Introduction’ (undated), Institute of Policy Studies website http://www.ips.org.pk/ – Accessed 22 January 2007 – Attachment 30; Montero, D. 2006, ‘In Pakistan, the delicate dance of a key US ally’, Christian Science Monitor, 26 September http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0926/p01s02-wosc.html – Accessed 22 January 2007 – Attachment 31).
On 24 September 1999, the Research Directorate provided the following information on the JKLL sourced from the websites of various Kashmiri political organisations, from the press and from other publications on the Web. The information provided suggests that the JKLL had, in the preceding years, sought to remain on agreeable terms with the ruling national governments or regimes. Nonetheless, the report also notes information which suggests that the JKLL maintained a pro-independence position and that it was resistant to accession to Pakistan: “The main, and most controversial, plank of the party’s program demanded Pakistan’s recognition of the Azad Kashmir government as the legitimate authority representing the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir”. A JKLF source, MSANEWS, reported that “Mirwaiz Maulvi Umar Farooq, APHC chairman, as well as the leader of the JKLL”, had been place under house arrest in September 1996 along with other leaders of the multi-party umbrella organisation for Kashmiri independence known as the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). The report also notes the JKLL’s close association with the PPP. The extracts follow:
Political Parties of Asia and the Pacific provided the following information in 1985 on the Azad Kashmir Liberation League (AKLL):
Founded in 1962 by K.H. Khurshid, then president of Azad Kashmir, the AKLL was one of the very few well-organized parties in the territory. Upon winning seven of the twenty-five seats in the Provincial Legislature in 1970, the AKLL established itself as the second largest party-next to the Pakistan People’s Party-in Azad Kashmir. Although it had lost four of these members to other parties by the 1975 elections, the AKLL remained the second party with five of its members sitting in the expanded forty-two member Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly following the 1975 elections.
The main, and most controversial, plank of the party’s program demanded Pakistan’s recognition of the Azad Kashmir government as the legitimate authority representing the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Although a partner in the four-party alliance that won the 1975 elections in the territory, the AKLL merged with the Azad Kashmir unit of the PPP in 1976. Following the military junta’s usurpation of power in 1977, the party, still led by Khurshid, openly supported the regime’s decision to postpone the legislative elections. On the Kashmir issue, the AKLL was prepared to respect the resolutions of the United Nations (1985, 894-95).
According to the Website of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) of Amanullah Khan, 12 Kashmiri political, social and religious organizations, including the JKLL, met in Rawalpindi in July 1989 and formed an alliance called the Kashmir Liberation Alliance (KLA) (JKLF 29 May 1997a). Because some of the members violated the code of conduct, and the PPP lost interest in the KLA following the change of government, the KLA gradually became inactive (ibid.). Although it was revived in 1993, renamed the JKLA and increased its membership to over 30 groups, according to the JKLF, “it did not become active and did not achieve much” (ibid.). Justice (Retd.) Abdul Majeed (Malik) has been referred to as the head of the JKLL (JKLF 29 May 1997b), its chief (Ministry of Information and Media Development 12 May 1999), and its president (Hasan Feb. 1999). On 31 August 1998 Maroof Akhter Abassi was acting president of the JKLL (MSANEWS 2 Sept. 1998).
In December 1995 Chaudhry Mohammed Sadiq from Birmingham was the senior vice president of the JKLL, although the source was not clear whether he held the position in the UK branch of the JKLL or the main group itself (India Abroad 29 Dec. 1995). At that time, Sadiq participated in a meeting of the leaders of several Kashmiri groups that met in Southall to challenge the claims of Pakistan to Kashmir and those of the pro-Pakistani Kashmir groups (ibid.).
The JKLF publication MSANEWS reported in October 1996 that on 14 September 1996 the Indian army had arrested all the leadership of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in order to “make the process of the so-called elections to the state assembly successful” (MSANEWS 8 Oct. 1996). MSANEWS stated that Mirwaiz Maulvi Umar Farooq, APHC chairman, as well as the leader of the JKLL had been “confined to their houses in Srinagar and Islamabad respectively” while Syed Ali Gilani, Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone, Yasin Malik, Javed Ahmed Mir and other Kashmiri leaders had been detained in the Ontipura police station (ibid.).
In mid-May 1999 Justice (Retd.) Abdul Majeed (Malik) was reported by the Pakistani paper The Nation to have stated at a news conference in Rawalpindi that
Kashmiris will never allow the division of Kashmir and they expect pressure from Pakistan and international community on India for the removal of Indian forces from Occupied Kashmir. Pakistan should not indicate deviation from its principled stand on Kashmir (Daily Press Summary 12 May 1999).
The Research Directorate was unable to obtain information on the JKLL structure, current status, or treatment of its members by the Azad Kashmiri and Pakistani authorities (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 1999, PAK32735.E – Pakistan: The Jammu Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL), including its structure, mandate and activities, leaders, current status, and treatment of its members by the Azad Kashmiri and Pakistani authorities (1994 to September 1999), 24 September – Attachment 33).
The September 2006 HRW Report As is noted in the background to this response, Human Rights Watch produced an extensive study in September 2006 which reported that certain Kashmiri political groups and activists were being mistreated by the Pakistan authorities. The report makes no mention of the JKLL specifically (its interviews and case studies tend to focus on the more prominent JKLF and also the All Parties Nationalist Alliance (APNA) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Students’ Federation (JKNSF)) but it is stated, nonetheless, that “anyone who publicly supports or works for an independent Kashmir is persecuted”. And that: “For those expressing independent or unpopular political views, there is a pervasive fear of Pakistani military and intelligence services – and of militant organisations acting at their behest or independently”. According to HRW, it is not uncommon for pro-independence “[n]on- militant political actors frequently experience or are threatened with torture and mistreatment”.
The constitution of Azad Kashmir poses major impediments towards genuine democracy as it bars all those parties and individuals from participating in the political process who do not support the idea of Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan and hence precludes all those who are in favor of Kashmiri independence. To fail to support, or fail to appear to support Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan means to invite the ire of Pakistan’s abusive intelligence agencies and its military. It also entails inviting political persecution, such as ineligibility to contest elections or to seek employment with any government institution, or the curtailing of basic freedom of expression (Human Rights Watch 2006, “With Friends Like These…” Human Rights Violations in Azad Kashmir, September, vol.18, no.2, p.28 http://hrw.org/reports/2006/pakistan0906/pakistan0906web.pdf – Accessed 22 September 2006 – Attachment 35).
Further background from the HRW report follows below. The extracts note: the manner in which the Azad Kashmir is effectively run by the Pakistan military and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency; the manner in which pro-independence groups are marginalised by the authorities, the ISI and the pro-accession Islamist groups which have the support of the Pakistan government; and the manner in which pro-independence groups have been excluded from the 2001 and 2006 Azad Kashmir elections. The report also notes that, unlike previous elections, “widespread claims of poll rigging, physical abuses against candidates and their supporters were not in evidence” during and following the recent 2006 elections. HRW speculates that the “post-earthquake international presence in Azad Kashmir acted as a deterrent to the use of violence usually employed by Pakistani authorities in dealing with the opposition”.
Azad Kashmir is a legal anomaly. According to United Nations (U.N.) resolutions dating back to 1948, Azad Kashmir is neither a sovereign state nor a province of Pakistan, but rather a “local authority” with responsibility over the area assigned to it under a 1949 ceasefire agreement with India. It has remained in this state of legal limbo since that time. In practice, the Pakistani government in Islamabad, the Pakistani army and the Pakistani intelligence services (Inter-Services Intelligence, ISI) control all aspects of political life in Azad Kashmir – though “Azad” means “free,” the residents of Azad Kashmir are anything but. Azad Kashmir is a land of strict curbs on political pluralism, freedom of expression, and freedom of association; a muzzled press; banned books; arbitrary arrest and detention and torture at the hands of the Pakistani military and the police; and discrimination against refugees from Jammu and Kashmir state. Singled out are Kashmiri nationalists who do not support the idea of Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. Anyone who wants to take part in public life has to sign a pledge of loyalty to Pakistan, while anyone who publicly supports or works for an independent Kashmir is persecuted. For those expressing independent or unpopular political views, there is a pervasive fear of Pakistani military and intelligence services – and of militant organizations acting at their behest or independently (pp.6-7).
Human Rights Watch has previously reported that torture is routinely used in Pakistan, and that acts of torture by military agencies primarily serve the purpose of “punishing” errant politicians, political activists and journalists. Azad Kashmir is no exception. Though torture is not commonplace, it is threatened often, and – when perpetrated by the military – is carried out with impunity. Human Rights Watch knows of no cases in which members of military and paramilitary security and intelligence agencies have been prosecuted or even disciplined for acts of torture or mistreatment (p.7).
…Pakistani-backed militant organizations promoting the incorporation of Jammu and Kashmir state into Pakistan have had free rein – particularly from 1989 when the insurgency began to 2001 – to propagate views and disseminate literature; by contrast, groups promoting an independent Kashmir find promoting their views sharply curtailed (p.7).
…As the government-backed militant groups gained strength and dominance, Kashmiri nationalist militants left the movement or were sidelined and eventually began to be persecuted by the authorities and their proxies (p.8). … Azad Kashmir has its own constitution, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act of 1974, and a locally chosen parliamentary form of government, as described above (see Chapter II, Background: Administration). The constitution allows for many of the structures that comprise a self-governing state, including a legislative assembly elected through periodic elections, a prime minister who commands the majority in the assembly, an indirectly elected president, an independent judiciary, and local government institutions.
But these provisions are hollow. Under Section 56 of the Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act (which was drafted by the Federal Ministries of Law and Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad), the Pakistani government can dismiss any elected government in Azad Kashmir irrespective of the support it may enjoy in the AJK Legislative Assembly (p.27) (Human Rights Watch 2006, “With Friends Like These…” Human Rights Violations in Azad Kashmir, September, vol.18, no.2 http://hrw.org/reports/2006/pakistan0906/pakistan0906web.pdf – Accessed 22 September 2006 – Attachment 35).
Further to this: a 2002 study by the University of London’s Yoginder Sikand notes that the Pakistan military’s support of Islamist pro-accession movements, (such as the Jamaat-e- Islami) has led to the violent marginalisation of pro-independence Kashmiri movements of a secular-nationalist nature (the miltant JKLF being the most prominent to suffer). Though secular-nationalist pro-independence Kashmiri movements like the JKLF once enjoyed the support of the Pakistan military, the shift in allegiance effectively disempowered the secular- nationalist pro-independence movement, and left it exposed to attack from its pro-accession Islamist competitors.
The subsequent assistance provided to Islamist groups, the JIJK [Jamaat-i-Islami of Jammu and Kashmir] included, by Pakistan helped in the gradual displacement of the JKLF by the Islamists in the armed struggle as it played itself out over the years. Scores of JKLF men were killed by the Indian forces as well as by rival pro-Pakistan groups, and Pakistani armed support for the Kashmiri nationalists soon dried up, being diverted, instead, to pro-Pakistan Islamist organizations. Thus it came to be that by 1995, the JKLF as an armed group was no longer a force to seriously reckon with, although its agenda for a free, independent Kashmir still fired the hearts of many, if not most, Kashmiris. Pakistani support ensured that Islamist groups advocating Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan gained the upper hand, at least at the military level, a fact that still holds today (Sikand, Y. 2002, ‘The Emergence and Development of theJamaat-i-Islami of Jammu and Kashmir’, Modern Asian Studies, vol.36, no.3, p.748 – Attachment 34).
Reports on the mistreatment of the JKLL Only a few reports could be located which detailed incidents in which activists of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League had been subject to mistreatment by the authorities or by opposing groups. Much of this information is framed in such a way as to suggest that, when JKLL activists have been mistreated, this mistreatment has been brought about as a consequence of the JKLL’s advocacy for an independent Kashmir; a position which has brought the JKLL into collision with the authorities and/or with political movements which advocate Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. In such incidents the JKLL is often targeted in concert with other pro-independence groups like the more prominent JKLF and other members of the APHC umbrella group. An overview of the available information appears below in reverse chronological order.
In October 2004 it was reported that “Mohammad Rafiq Shah, the president of the political Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL), was killed at his house in downtown Srinagar”, which is located in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India (suggesting that the JKLL may be operative in India also). Details on the circumstances which surrounded the leader’s assassination follow below sourced from the ‘Asia-Pacific Daily Report’ of the US Defense Department’s Center of Excellence in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance (COEDMHA):
Moderate separatist leader among 7 killed in continuing violence in Indian-controlled Kashmir (IcK) Unidentified gunmen yesterday reportedly shot dead a leader of the moderate faction of the main political separatist alliance in Indian-controlled Kashmir (IcK), the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). Mohammad Rafiq Shah, the president of the political Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL), was killed at his house in downtown Srinagar. The attack occurred after New Delhi said last weekend said that it was ready for unconditional talks with the APHC, softening its stance that peace talks should be held within the Indian constitution. The APHC held two rounds of talks with the previous ruling government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this year. However, a third round of talks has been postponed by group infighting and the election of the Congress Party to power in May this year. In addition, a major hardline faction of the APHC, which split from the group last year, has also strongly opposed the talks without Pakistan’s participation. In mid-September, the political secretary of the hardline faction of the APHC, Pir Hisamuddin, was shot dead in his home in Srinagar. The hardline faction blamed Indian authorities for the attack, but authorities have denied involvement. In another attack today, 3 civilians were killed and 5 others injured after militants detonated a landmine aimed at an Indian army vehicle in northern Baramulla district. In addition, three militants were killed in clashes in Rajouri district today. Despite composite peace dialogue between India and Pakistan since early this year, officials say violence against civilians in IcK has risen by 25 percent this year in what they say is an attempt by militants to derail the peace process. Earlier this week, India said that Indian and Pakistani military leaders would hold talks to discuss the withdrawal of troops on the Siachen glacier on the disputed Line of Control (LoC), which would be the second talks on the glacier this year. Last month, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh informally met for the first time on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York (‘Asia-Pacific Daily Report October 1, 2004’ 2004, World Health Organization website, source: Center of Excellence in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance, 1 October http://www.who.int/disasters/repo/14844.pdf – Accessed 11 December 2006 – Attachment 1).
As is evident from the above, reportage on the significance of the killing was primarily framed in terms of Mohammad Rafiq Shah’s association with the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). The Daily Times, for instance, reported on the killing of “Mohammad Rafiq Shaheen” by referring to the leader as the “head of the People’s Liberation League…a smaller constituent of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC)”. At the time of the killing the umbrella organisation for Kashmiri pro-independence groups had split into two factions: a pro-independence faction of a secular nationalist nature, known as the moderate faction; and an Islamist faction, which favoured the region’s accession to Pakistan, known as the hard-line faction. Subsequent reporting speculated that the gunmen responsible for the assassination may have been linked to the hard-line faction’s Lashkar-e-Toiba and/or Jaish-e-Mohammad. According to a Tribune (India) report, of 4 October 2004, “activists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad [had] issued a threat to Maulvi Abbas Ansari directing him to tame his colleagues in the APHC, failing which they would be eliminated one by one”. For further background on the APHC, see Attachment 3 (‘Hurriyat leader shot dead in Srinagar’ 2004, Daily Times website, 1 October http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=2004%5C10%5C01%5Cstory_1-10- 2004_pg7_2 – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 4; Kak, M.L. 2004, ‘Shah killed to unnerve Hurriyat, says Ansari’, The Tribune (India) website, 4 October http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20041005/j&k.htm#1 – Accessed 12 October 2006 – Attachment 2; ‘All Parties Hurriyat Conference’ (undated), South Asia Terrorism Portal website http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/jandk/terrorist_outfits/Hurriyat.htm – Accessed 12 December 2006 – Attachment 3).
On 28 October 2003 it was reported from Lahore that the League was one of “[e]leven Kashmiri organisations [who had] slammed law enforcement agencies for clamping down [on the] pro-Kashmiri rally and not letting them reading out joint declaration”. The relevant extract follows.
28 October 2003: LAHORE Oct 28-(PPI): Eleven Kashmiri organizations slammed law enforcement agencies for clamping down pro-Kashmiri rally and not letting them reading out joint declaration. All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference Lahore, All Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party Lahore, Kashmir Centre, Dukhtaran-e-Kashmir, Kashmir Social Welfare Association, Kashmir Wukla Mahaz, Qaumi Mahaz-e-Azadi, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League, Anjuman Falah-e-Kashmiriyan and Jammu and Kashmir Mahaz Rai Shumari arranged the rally and raised brusting slogans against the Indian occupation and atrocities over Kashmiri people. The rally organizers said that police authorities turnning the deaf ears to the their repeated pleading that rally was in Pakistanis interest as well as of Kashmiris created impediments.
They said this unreasonable and adamant attitude was adopted by police despite conferming the assurances that no political issue was involved and only the traditional support of Kashmiris was intended to be expressed. They said that they would like to bring this notice into the knowledge of concerned authorities as it had negatively affected the expressions of solidarity, which Kashmiris expected from Pakistan at this hour of grave peril to their freedom struggle. (‘Politics – Pak-Police denounced for hampering pro-Kashmiri rally’ 2003, Pakistan Press International, 28 October – Attachment 5).
On 5 July 2001 it was reported that “[t]he military was using arm-twisting tactics against the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League and other groups by arresting their leaders and activists”. It was also reported that “the military regime [had] barred political groups in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) not professing allegiance to Islamabad from contesting tomorrow’s Assembly elections”; and that: “Mr Abdul Latif of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League [had] also announced to boycott the election, saying the Election Commission had completely failed to implement election laws and code of conduct”. The report follows:
ISLAMABAD, July 4: At a time when Pakistan is insisting that india recognise Kashmir as a core issue, the military regime has barred political groups in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) not professing allegiance to Islamabad from contesting tomorrow’s Assembly elections.
The military was using arm-twisting tactics against the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League and other groups by arresting their leaders and activists, media reports said.
JKLF Chairman Amanullah Khan was arrested yesterday at Kotli when he entered POK during electioneering, defying Government orders, Zafar Khan, a senior party leader claimed in London.
Scores of candidates from various political outfits who refused to sign a bond declaring “accession of PoK to Pakistan as final” have since been debarred from contesting elections. Mr Khan had called a Chakka Jam last week to protest against the ban on JKLF candidates participating in the elections because they refused to sign the oath that declared their “commitment to agree to Kashmir becoming a part of Pakistan”.
Mr Abdul Latif of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League has also announced to boycott the election, saying the Election Commission had completely failed to implement election laws and code of conduct.
Various Europe-based PoK leaders like Sardar Shaukat Ali Khan have already written to the United Nations, European Union and UN Human Rights Commission protesting against the conditions imposed by the Government on candidates fighting the election.
Mr Shaukat Khan also held a demonstration outside the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva to air his grievances against what he called “the fraud election” in PoK.
The Pakistan Government has deployed platoons of frontier constabulary, frontier crops and Punjab constabulary and several army battalions to oversee the elections to 48 Assembly seats.
The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by PoK premier Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry and the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference have fielded candidates in all the seats. (UNI) (‘Military clampdown on POK parties not professing allegiance to Pakistan’ 2001, Daily Excelsior website, 4 July http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/01july05/inter.htm#6 – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 6).
On 12 January 1993, it was reported that the party of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League, Sultan Mahmud Chaudhry, had been “arrested at Bagh town along with party secretary general Khwaja Farooq Ahmad and some other party officials after he led an anti- government protest march there”. The relevant extract follows:
12 January 1993: Authorities in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir on Tuesday arrested an opposition party leader, Sultan Mahmud Chaudhry, for defying a government ban on public rallies, the PPI news agency said.
It said Chaudhry, who leads the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League, was arrested at Bagh town along with party secretary general Khwaja Farooq Ahmad and some other party officials after he led an anti-government protest march there.
The ruling party in Pakistan-ruled Azad (free) Kashmir also held rallies on Tuesday to protest against a massacre of more than 50 people last week at Sopore town in Indian-ruled Kashmir (‘Kashmiri leader detained in Pakistan’ 1993, Reuters News, 12 January – Attachment 7).
A number of reports were located which referred to the League’s participation in a series of demonstrations over several days in October 1992. The marches resulted in clashes with police and shots being fired. Several demonstrators were reportedly injured and one killed. The reports follow:
ISLAMABAD, Oct 28, Reuter – Opposition groups in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir staged protests on Wednesday against what they called police brutality in blocking their weekend march on an Indian-defended ceasefire line.
Effigies of Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan and Sardar Abdul Qayyum of Azad (free) Kashmir were burned at a protest rally in the town of Mirpur, opposition sources said. Amanullah Khan, chairman of the militant Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), drove into the Azad Kashmir capital of Muzaffarabad defying a government ban on his entry to address a protest rally, JKLF sources said.
The groups were protesting against the use of force by Pakistani paramilitary troops and police to break up marches to the U.N.-monitored ceasefire line dividing Kashmir into Indian and Pakistani zones.
A student activist was killed by police gunfire and about 25 people were injured in a clash on Sunday near the line.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League president Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, in a speech to the rally at Mirpur, blamed Qayyum for the incident, which he said would be avenged.
The police freed 140 protesters arrested trying to cross from Azad Kashmir into the Indian- administered sector to show support for a separatist Moslem uprising there.
However, the authorities expelled Amanullah, Chaudhry and three other opposition activists from Muzaffarabad for a month.
The opposition groups say they have suspended the march and will decide their future course later.
Pakistan and Azad Kashmir authorities used force twice early this year to block similar attempts by the pro-independence JKLF to cross the line, and 10 people were killed in February (‘Kashmiri opposition groups protest in Pakistan’ 1992, Reuters News, 28 October – Attachment 8; see also: Asghar, R. 1992, ‘Police seize Kashmir leaders to stop new march’, Reuters News, 26 October –Attachment 9; and: Asghar, R. 1992, ‘Pakistan frees Kashmiri marchers, expels five’, Reuters News, 27 October – Attachment 10)
Yet another attempt was made on Oct. 24, 1992 by opposition parties of Azad Kashmir namely JK Liberation League, Azad Kashmir Peoples Party and JK Muslim League (J) with the help of JKLF. The venture was named as Zarb-e-Haider. This time the march took place from three sides i.e. Chakothi (in Muzaffarabad), Madarpur (in Poonch) and Samahni (in Mirpur) sectors. Chakothi sector march was lead by Amanullah Khan and Chaudhary Sultan Mehmood, Madarpur sector by Sardar Ibrahim and Maj. Gen.(r) M. Hayat Khan and Samahni sector by Chaudhary Noor Hussain and local leaders of JKLF. None of the three columns could reach CFL as the leaders were arrested miles away from it. On Chakothi sector, security forces opened fire near Chinari killing a JKSLF activist Azad Ali Khokhar and injuring many more (‘Historic, Daring Onslaughts on CFL’ (undated), JKLF’s web page on Comsats Domain website http://shell.comsats.net.pk/~jklf/ii19.htm – 14 December 2006 – Attachment 11).
Reports on the inclusion of the JKLL in the political process Although some reports of mistreatment were located it would also appear that representatives of the JKLL have openly participated in consultative seminars on the Kashmir question on a regular basis and, while they reportedly did not participate in the 2001 elections, the 2006 elections certainly saw the JKLL’s participation as an ally of the Jammu Kashmir Pakistan Muslim League (JK-PML) alliance (there is also information to suggest that the JKLL fielded its own candidates in the 2006 polls, though the sources are not clear on whether this was the case). There are also reports of the League doing active relief work in areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) which were affected by the October 2005 earthquake (for information on the JKLL’s exclusion from the 2001 elections, along with other pro-independence groups, see: ‘Military clampdown on POK parties not professing allegiance to Pakistan’ 2001, Daily Excelsior website, 4 July http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/01july05/inter.htm#6 – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 6; for information on the League’s participation in the 2006 elections and its support of the JK-PML, see: ‘Package for affected areas promised: JK PML manifesto launched’ 2006, Dawn website, 30 June http://www.dawn.com/2006/06/30/nat5.htm – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 12; Shaheen, H. 2006, ‘Tough competition in AJK elections’, Pakistan Observer website, 11 July http://pakobserver.net/200607/11/news/national02.asp – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 13; and: ‘AJK elections of exceptional importance’ 2006, Pakistan Observer website, 11 July http://pakobserver.net/200607/11/news/national04.asp?txt=AJK%20elections%20of%20exce ptional%20importance – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 14; for information on the League’s relief work in areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) which were affected by the October 2005 earthquake, see: ‘AJK Liberation League to Provide CGI Sheets in Quake- Areas’ 2006, Baluchistan Times, 22 March – Attachment 17).
The League’s policies would also appear to be more closely in tune with the policies which have been officially espoused by President Musharraf in recent times. On 12 December 2005 “The Jammu Kashmir Liberation League President, Justice (R) Abdul Majeed Mallick…emphasized upon India to accept President Pervez Musharraf’s recent proposal of demilitarisation and self-rule in Kashmir, which, he said would help resolve in settlement of the Kashmir dispute”. Previous to this, Musharraf had mooted the possibility of support for self-rule in Kashmir. On 5 December 2006, it had been reported that “Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf [had said] that Pakistan is prepared to forgo its claim on the disputed territory of Kashmir if India agrees to allow the region to become largely autonomous”. The nature of the motives at work in Musharraf’s moves may, however, be more complicated and less promising for pro-independence groups than they ostensibly appear. One report has observed that Musharraf’s “U-turn on his country’s Kashmir policy” is intended as a means of courting US approval and has been undercut by Musharraf’s subsequent visits to the AJK to assure his Generals of his full support in their ongoing operations. Further to this, the ISI – which is said to effectively administer the AJK and which has historically maintained a fiercely pro-accession position – has a history of acting according to its own policies rather than those of the government or the military (for Mallick’s December 2005 endorsement of Musharraf’s policy, see: ‘J&KLL urges India to accept Pak proposal of demilitarisation’ 2005, Pakistan Press International, 13 December –Attachment 19; for the 5 December 2006 report on Musharraf’s announcement, see: ‘Pakistan open to idea of new Kashmir: Musharraf’ 2006, CBC News website, 5 December http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/12/05/pakistan-kashmir.html?ref=rss – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 20; for a report which casts doubt on the substantive nature of Musharraf’s “U-turn on his country’s Kashmir policy”, see: Shahzad, S.S. 2005, ‘Musharraf ups the ante on Kashmir’, Asia Times website, 8 January http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GA08Df05.html – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 21; for information on the ISI’s historical independence from the government and the military, see: Winchell, S.P. 2003, ‘Pakistan’s ISI: The Invisible Government’, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, vol.16, pp.374-388 – Attachment 47).
An overview of the available source material follows below.
In mid 2006 it was reported that the League would participate in the scheduled AJK elections in support of the JK-PML: 30 June 2006: ISLAMABAD, June 29: The Jammu Kashmir Pakistan Muslim League (JK PML) alliance on Thursday launched its election manifesto promising various relief measures for the quake survivors. The alliance also includes Jammu Kashmir Muslim League led by Major General (R) Muhammad Hayat Khan and Jammu Kashmir Liberation League headed by Chief Justice (R) Abdul Majid Malik (‘Package for affected areas promised: JK PML manifesto launched’ 2006, Dawn website, 30 June http://www.dawn.com/2006/06/30/nat5.htm – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 12).
11 July 2006: Muzaffarabad—In all 24, 19,598 registered Kashmiri voters will cast their votes to elect 41 members for Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, the eighth since 1970 when for the first time a 28-member legislature was introduced in the territory’s constitution. …The chief contesting parties are: the ruling Muslim Conference; 4-party alliance of Peoples Muslim League+Pakistan Muslim League+Liberation League+Awami Party; PPP-AJK; PP-JK; MMA-AJK; and MQM-AJK (Shaheen, H. 2006, ‘Tough competition in AJK elections’, Pakistan Observer website, 11 July http://pakobserver.net/200607/11/news/national02.asp – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 13).
11 July 2006: Mirpur— Peoples Muslim League’s Convener Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry stressed upon the international community to resolve the Kashmir issues in accordance with the UN resolutions and aspirations of the people of Kashmir.
Sultan was speaking at a public meeting held in connection with his election campaign at the Quaid-e-Azam Stadium here Sunday night. Jammu Kashmir Liberation League President Justice (Retd) Abdul Majeed Mallick chaired the ceremony (‘AJK elections of exceptional importance’ 2006, Pakistan Observer website, 11 July http://pakobserver.net/200607/11/news/national04.asp?txt=AJK%20elections%20of%20exce ptional%20importance – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 14).
As is noted above, there have been reports of the League’s participation in pro-independence seminars (such as a recent November 2006 seminar “organised by All Parties National Alliance (APNA)”) in AJK; reports of the league doing relief work “among the quake- affectees in the quake-hit areas” of the AJK; and reports of support from the League for “President Pervez Musharraf’s recent proposal of demilitarisation and self-rule in Kashmir”. Examples follow below:
RAWALPINDI – The nationalist parties from Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir demanded of the government to include the leadership from Gilgit-Baltistan in the negotiations on future of Kashmir as they are also one of the stakeholders in the dispute. The demand was put forth at the seminar organised by All Parties National Alliance (APNA) in which all the nationalist parties from Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir participated. Through another resolution adopted at the seminar the leadership of these parties termed the Northern Areas Council a puppet in the hands of Federal Government and demanded a full-fledged legislative assembly on the pattern of AJK Assembly to give constitutional powers to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The seminar was chaired by APNA Chairman Mirza Wajahat Hussain Khan while the programme was conducted by the Secretary General of the alliance Sardar Arif Shahid and Sardar Ishtiaq. Prominent among those who attended the seminar included Liberation League President Justice (Retired) Abdul Majid Malik (‘Inclusion of NAS People in Kashmir talks Stressed’ 2006, The Nation, 26 November – Attachment 15; for background on the formation and pro-independence position of the APNA, see: ‘New all-party alliance in PoK’ 2003, Jammu-Kashmir.com website, source: Hindustan Times, 22 June http://jammu- kashmir.com/archives/archives2003/kashmir20030622d.html – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 16).
MUZAFFARABAD: The Liberation League of Azad Jammu and Kashmir has distributed CIG Sheets among the quake-affectees in the quake-hit areas. According to details the head of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League Ejaz Zurgar has distributed a large quantity of CGI sheets among the affectees in quake-devastated areas of AJK other day.
On the occasion he said that the provision of shelters to the affectees is our top priority and the Liberation League would utilize all its resources for this purpose and our struggle for of providing relief to the affectees would continue till the rehabilitation of quake-affectees (‘AJK Liberation League to Provide CGI Sheets in Quake-Areas’ 2006, Baluchistan Times, 22 March – Attachment 17).
12 December 2005: MIRPUR, December 12 (PPI): The Jammu Kashmir Liberation League President, Justice (R) Abdul Majeed Mallick has emphasized upon India to accept President Pervez Musharraf’s recent proposal of demilitarisation and self-rule in Kashmir, which, he said would help resolve in settlement of the Kashmir dispute (‘J&KLL urges India to accept Pak proposal of demilitarisation’ 2005, Pakistan Press International, 13 December –Attachment 19; previously to this, on 5 December 2006, it had been reported that “Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf [had said] that Pakistan is prepared to forgo its claim on the disputed territory of Kashmir if India agrees to allow the region to become largely autonomous”, see: ‘Pakistan open to idea of new Kashmir: Musharraf’ 2006, CBC News website, 5 December http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/12/05/pakistan- kashmir.html?ref=rss – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 20; some reports have, however, cast doubt on the sincerity of this move, noting that Musharraf’s “U-turn on his country’s Kashmir policy” has developed as a means of courting US approval even as Musharraf has visited the AJK to assure his Generals of his full support in their ongoing operations, see: Shahzad, S.S. 2005, ‘Musharraf ups the ante on Kashmir’, Asia Times website, 8 January http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GA08Df05.html – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 21).
On 11 July 2006, it was reported that JK-PML had won only four seats in the election; that the League was one among a number of parties not to have won a seat at all; and that the election had been won by the incumbent Muslim Conference.
The All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference emerged as single largest party in AJK Legislative Assembly elections by winning 18 seats in the 49-member House.
According to unofficial results of 36 seats, announced by the AJK Chief Election Commission Wednesday, the Muslim Conference bagged 18 seats, the PPP AJK seven, Peoples Muslim League four, Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party and MQM one each and independents got five seats. The result of LA-33 was withheld by the returning officer.
The poll was held on 41 seats, out of which 29 are in Azad Kashmir and remaining twelve seats are of Kashmiri refugees living in Pakistan. The overall turn out remained over 60 percent.
The names of party-wise returned candidates include All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference: Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, Raja Muhammad Naseem Khan, Shah Ghulam Qadir, Raja Nasir Ahmed, Chaudhry Muhammad Ismail, Muhammad Sanaullah Qadri, Rukhsar Ahmed, Malik Muhammad Nawaz Khan, Muhammad Shafique Jiral, Hamid Raza, Chaudhry Muhammad Yusuf, Raja Naseer Ahmed Khan, Syed Shaukat Ali Shah, Syed Ghulam Murtaza Gillani, Muhammad Naeem Khan, Dr Muhammad Najeeb Naqi Khan, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Tahir and Sardar Abdul Qayyum. Pakistan Peoples Party AJK: Muhammad Ishaq Zafar, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, Sardar Qamar-Uz-Zaman, Sardar Ghulam Sadiq Khan, Muhammad Hanif Awan, Abdul Waheed and Chaudhry Latif Akbar.
Peoples Muslim League (Alliance): Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq, Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan and Muhammad Rashid. Sardar Khalid Ibrahim Khan of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party and Muhammad Tahir Khokar of MQM also won the elections.
Independent candidates who won the elections include Ali Shan Chaudhry, Abdul Majid Khan, Muhammad Akbar Chaudhry, Haji Muhammad Yaqub Khan and Begum Naureen Arif. MMA, Jammu and Kashmir Awami Tahreek, Kashmir Freedom Movement, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Kashmir Liberation League and Pakistan Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Jammu and Kashmir have failed to win any seat in the Legislative Assembly Election (‘MC emerges as single largest party in AJK polls’ 2006, Geo Television website, 11 July http://www.geo.tv/important_events/ajkelection/english_news.asp – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 26).
On 6 January 2006, it was reported that the “Jammu Kashmir Liberation League Secretary General Kh. Manzoor Qadir” had – along with the “AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar” – addressed crowds attending a “public gathering in Muzaffarabad” on the occasion of Kashmir’s “right to self determination day” (‘Kashmiris pledge to continue struggle for self- determination’ 2006, Pakistan Times website, 6 January http://pakistantimes.net/2005/01/06/kashmir1.htm – Accessed 22 December 2006 – Attachment 42).
Reports on the exclusion of the JKLL from the political process There have also been reports which suggest that the League has been excluded from free and fair participation in politics. As is noted above, the JKLL was reportedly excluded from the 2001 elections. And although it was reported that the League participated in the recent 2006 elections by giving its support to the JK-PML, there were reports of attacks on supporters of the JKLL backed JK-PML during the election. Further to this, in the aftermath of the election, the JKLL participated in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir All Parties Conference (AJKAPC) which “fully rejected the results of recently held AJK elections and accused Federal Government of committing worst polls rigging”. It has also been reported that opposition leaders have subsequently been excluded from official functions in the AJK. An overview of the relevant reports follow below (for reports of violent attacks on JK-PML supporters, see: (‘Supporters of AJK lawmaker protest’ 2006, Dawn website, 14 July http://www.dawn.com/2006/07/14/nat5.htm – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 24; for information on the AJKAPC’s rejection of the election results, see: ‘AJK: APC rejects poll results’ 2006, Pakistan Press International, 20 July – Attachment 23; for a detailed report on the rejection of the elections by the opposition parties, see: Sadiq, M. 2006, ‘Elections in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir: A Farce’, Jammu-Kashmir.com website, 13 July http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/insights/insight20060713a.html– Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 25;
On 8 October 2006 it was reported that “[o]pposition Parties including former AJK PM [had] expressed their deep annoyance over not being invited in a grand ceremony organised by AJK Government in Muzaffarabad on Sunday to express solidarity with the quake affectees”:
Those who were not invited in the ceremony include President Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Muslims League Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, President PPP Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Khalid Ibrahim and Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, President Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League (‘Opp Parties Slam AJK Govt for not Inviting them in Quake Ceremony’ 2006, Frontier Star, 8 October – Attachment 22).
On 20 July 2006 it was reported that:
Azad Jammu and Kashmir All Parties Conference (AJKAPC) Thursday fully rejected the results of recently held AJK elections and accused Federal Government of committing worst polls rigging. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (AJKMMA) convened the All Parties Conference here in a local hotel.
President, AJKMMA Ejaz Afzal, President, Azad Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party (AJKPP) Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, Secretary General AJKPP Chaudhry Yaseen, President, Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party (JKPP) Khalid Ibrahim, Ali Raza Bukhari of Milli Tehrik (MT), Gen. E Hayat of Jammu and Kashmir Muslim League (JKML), leaders of Liberation League, Awami Tehrik and others participated the conference (‘AJK: APC rejects poll results’ 2006, Pakistan Press International, 20 July – Attachment 23; for a detailed report on the rejection of the elections by the opposition parties, see: Sadiq, M. 2006, ‘Elections in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir: A Farce’, Jammu-Kashmir.com website, 13 July http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/insights/insight20060713a.html– Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 25).
On 13 July 2006 saw the report of PML claims that its supporters had been attacked in “Langarpura village” and that police were doing nothing to ensure security. There is also a suggestion that the violence took place along ethno-communal lines.
At least 70 supporters of a newly-elected member of the AJK Legislative Assembly blocked a main road in the capital on Thursday in protest against what they called the “hostilities” of their “disgruntled” electoral rivals.
Eyewitnesses said police used batons to disperse the protesters of PML’s Ch. Mohammad Rasheed who was declared winner from LA-29, Muzaffarabad VI. Five protesters were injured in the police charge.
The police also arrested 12 people on charges of rioting and attacking government servants.
The protesters alleged that the supporters of an independent candidate attacked and injured them in Langarpura village on Tuesday, but the police did not take any action despite a complaint lodged by them in writing.
Meanwhile, Ch. Rasheed told Dawn that their rivals could not digest his victory.
“They are constantly threatening my supporters and harming them. They are stopping vehicles to check whether any Chaudhrys are on board. If they find any, they start thrashing him,” he alleged, adding that since the announcement of unofficial results on Tuesday night, at least 15 of his supporters, including a woman, had been roughed up.
“But the police and administration have turned a blind eye to these excesses,” he said.
A source in police said the situation in the constituency was tense with rival political groups launching attacks each other.
PML convener and former AJK prime minister Barrister Sultan Mahmood also condemned the situation. “The government should provide protection to our supporters otherwise the law and order situation can worsen,” he said.
Ch. Rasheed is the first Gojar to have won election from the mentioned constituency during the last three decades. Prior to him, Ch. Raj Mohammad was the only Gojar who had won this seat in 1975 on the ticket of Jammu Kashmir Liberation League. Even though the constituency has Gojars in majority, it has a history of electing Mughals and Awans turn by turn (‘Supporters of AJK lawmaker protest’ 2006, Dawn website, 14 July http://www.dawn.com/2006/07/14/nat5.htm – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 24).
Information on JKLL Leaders Prominent among those persons who have been tied to JKLL leadership positions in present and past reports include: Abdul Majee Malik (or Majid Malik or Majeed Mullick), Kh. Manzoor Qadir, Chaudhry Raj Mohammad and Sharif Tariq. Typically these figures are simply referred to as leaders, although the prominent Malik is sometimes referred to as the JKLL president and one report refers to Kh. Manzoor Qadir as the JKLL Secretary General. Some examples of reports referring to these identities follow below:
On Abdul Majid Malik Jammu Kashmir Liberation League headed by Chief Justice (R) Abdul Majid Malik (‘Package for affected areas promised: JK PML manifesto launched’ 2006, Dawn website, 30 June http://www.dawn.com/2006/06/30/nat5.htm – Accessed 14 December 2006 – Attachment 12).
Prominent among those who attended the seminar included Liberation League President Justice (Retired) Abdul Majid Malik (‘Inclusion of NAS People in Kashmir talks Stressed’ 2006, The Nation, 26 November – Attachment 15).
On Kh. Manzoor Qadir The public rally was also addressed by Senior Minister Syed Mumtaz Gilani, Jammu Kashmir Liberation League Secretary General Kh. Manzoor Qadir (‘Kashmiris pledge to continue struggle for self-determination’ 2006, Pakistan Times website, 6 January http://pakistantimes.net/2005/01/06/kashmir1.htm – Accessed 22 December 2006 – Attachment 42).
On Chaudhry Raj Mohammad Jammu Kashmir Liberation League leader Chaudhry Raj Mohammad (‘Demand for plebiscite in rallies across AJK’ 2005, Dawn website, 27 January http://www.dawn.com/2005/01/27/top13.htm – Accessed 22 December 2007 – Attachment 37)
On Sharif Tariq In Mirpur, Mr Abdul Majeed Mullick, a former judge who delivered the famous judgment directing the Pakistan Government to hand over control of the Northern Areas to the ‘Azad’ Kashmir Government, and his colleagues in the Liberation League like Mr Sharif Tariq are among those in the forefront of pro-liberation movement (Saraf, P. 2005, ‘Beyond the Line of Control-II’, Daily Excelsior, 4 December http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/04dec05/news.htm#top – Accessed 22 December 2007 – Attachment 36).
2. Is there any information as to how Pakistani authorities treat persons who support an independent Kashmiri state?
The 2003 assessment UK Home Office advice that “[r]elocation within Pakistan is a viable option for any Kashmiri having Pakistani citizenship”, and that “[t]he holding of Kashmiri political opinion would not normally cause any problems for a Pakistani Kashmiri in Pakistan”, is sourced from the “US State Department’s Office of Asylum Affairs, Pakistan, June 1996”. The content of the originating source and the evidence supporting this advice could not be located. It may be significant that the advice does not appear in the UK Home Office’s most recent assessment for Pakistan (for the 2003 report, see: UK Home Office 2003, Pakistan Country Report For October 2003, October, section 6.208 – Attachment 38; UK Home Office 2006, Country of Origin Information Report for Pakistan, 27 October – Attachment 39).
Little information could be located which addressed the question of whether pro- independence Kashmiris in Pakistan (ie: outside of Azad Kashmir) are targeted by the authorities. As is noted in response to Question 1, a report was located which referred to an October 2003 police clamp down on the activities of Kashmiri pro-independence movements (including the JKLL) in Lahore. More recently, on 11 August 2005, The Press Trust of India reported that: “The President of Pakistan-based JKLF’s Punjab chapter has alleged that he was illegally detained by police, who tried to force him to confess that he was the caretaker for a London-based religious outfit in this country” (for the October 2003 report see: ‘Politics – Pak-Police denounced for hampering pro-Kashmiri rally’ 2003, Pakistan Press International, 28 October – Attachment 5; for the 11 August 2005 report, see: ‘JKLF leader alleges torture by Pak police’ 2005, Press Trust of India, 11 August – Attachment 46).
Alternatively, a number of recent reports were located whose details suggest that Kashmiris living in Pakistan (in places like Lahore) are openly participating in the political activities of pro-independence movements. The JKLF, for example, appears to operate openly in Lahore and continues to criticise the policies of the Musharraf-led Pakistan government. Some examples follow:
• On 22 January 2007 it was reported from Lahore that “Sardar Sagir Ahmed Khan, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has rejected President General Pervez Musharraf's four-point proposals for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute and has announced countrywide protest rallies against the expected visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Pakistan” (‘Kashmiri group rejects proposals, opposes Indian PM’s visit to Pakistan’ 2007, BBC Monitoring South Asia, source: Daily Times, 22 January – Attachment 44).
• On 21 November 2006, it was reported from Lahore that “Kashmiri freedom groups [had] denounced the India-Pakistan peace talks [for] ‘not involving Kashmiri representatives’, in a seminar organised by the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) at the party’s headquarters on Monday” (‘JKLF slams peace talks without Kashmiris’ 2006, Daily Times, 21 November http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C11%5C21%5Cstory_21- 11-2006_pg7_45 – Accessed 22December 2006 – Attachment 41).
• On 6 August 2006 The Nation reported that “Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Sardar Rauf Kashmiri” had “address[ed] a meeting arranged in his honour by JKLF Punjab on Sunday at Lahore Press Club. Kashmiri [had] spent 15 years in Indian jails and was released some months ago”. Kashmiri was detained by the Pakistan authorities after his release but he reportedly has not claimed to have suffered mistreatment of any kind: “About his detention after release from India, he said he was not interrogated. ‘They detained me in Lahore for 45 days but nobody misbehaved with me,’ Kashmiri maintained” (‘India has no option but to leave Kashmir’ 2006, The Nation, 6 August – Attachment 45).
• On 6 January 2006, it was reported that “Kashmiris living in Pakistan as well as on both sides the Line of Control and expatriates abroad [had] observed the right to self determination day” (‘Kashmiris pledge to continue struggle for self-determination’ 2006, Pakistan Times website, 6 January http://pakistantimes.net/2005/01/06/kashmir1.htm – Accessed 22 December 2006 – Attachment 42).
• On 5 January 2006 it was reported from that the JKLF had organised a demonstration in Lahore. “Punjab JKLF President Syed Faisal Shah Nazki said that Kashmiris had the right to continue their armed freedom movement. He said that an independent Kashmir would be in the best interest of Kashmir, India and Pakistan” (‘Kashmiri groups want sovereign Kashmir’ 2006, Jammu-Kasmir.com website, source: The Daily Times, 5 January http://www.jammu- kashmir.com/archives/archives2006/kashmir20060105c.html – Accessed 22 December 2006 – Attachment 43).
One report provides information which suggests that some Kashmiris, who were formerly members of the hard-line pro-accession Islamist movements, are now also sympathetic to the peace process and are comfortable in expressing such views in places like Lahore and Karachi. In May 2004, in the aftermath of the announcement of the ceasefire on the Line of Control, Dawn reported that “[m]ost Kashmiris living in Pakistan welcome the recent thawing of ties with India, and dream of the day when they will be able to meet their relatives in occupied Kashmir”. According to this report, many “former jihadis” from the Islamist side of the struggle had given up hopes of forcing Kashmir’s accession and were seeking re- integration into society: “[a] number of activists told [the reporting] correspondent that with the shift in policy, their lives have been made redundant”. The report interviewed a former jihadi from Lahore and another from Karachi (Ali Mehkri, I. 2004, ‘A new beginning’, Dawn website, 20 May http://www.dawn.com/weekly/review/archive/040520/review10.htm – Accessed 22 December 2006 – Attachment 40)
3. It is not clear to me whether the ISI is engaged in suppressing pro independence views in the Kashmir area and surrounds, or throughout the whole of Pakistan. Is there anything which suggests that their interest is local, or wider? Is there a large Kashmiri community outside the Kashmir area?
The ISI and pro-independence groups outside the Kashmir area While there is an extensive body of information available on the influence and operations of the ISI in the Azad Kashmir, no reports could be located which addressed the extent to which the ISI has pursued pro-independence activists outside Azad Kashmir. It may be that the operational structure of the ISI works to localise the activities of the ISI in such matters. Responsibility for the Kashmir region is delegated to the ISI’s Joint Intelligence North (JIN) section, while responsibility for counter-intelligence operations in Pakistan proper are the responsibility of the Joint Counter-Intelligence (CI) Bureau (for a general overview of the ISI’s operational structure, see: Raman, 2001 ‘Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)’, South Asia Analysis Group website, no.287, 1 August http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper287.html – Accessed 22 December 2007 – Attachment 48; for an extensive study of the role and activities of the ISI, in the Kashmir and elsewhere in Pakistan, see pages 379 to 385 of: Winchell, S.P. 2003, ‘Pakistan’s ISI: The Invisible Government’, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, vol.16, pp.374- 388 – Attachment 47).
Nonetheless, there are reports of persons disappearing all over Pakistan, allegedly after being detained by the ISI, for a variety of reasons (see for instance: ‘Indian Express: Look who’s disappearing in Pak: prisoners freed by India’ 2006, Indian Express, 16 July – Attachment 49; and ‘No operational control over ISI and MI, defence ministry tells court’ 2006, Dawn website, 12 July http://www.dawn.com/2006/07/12/top3.htm – Accessed 22 December 2007 – Attachment 50).
Kashmiri communities in Pakistan According to a 2003 study of Kashmiri displacement, the largest concentrations of Kashmiris in Pakistan are to be found in the Punjab cities of Lahore and Sialkot. There are also said to be concentrations in Karachi and Peshawar:
Information sources on Kashmiri refugees are diffuse and frequently difficult to authenticate. The internationally accepted source for refugee statistics is the UNHCR, the official organisation for refugees. No record is held of Kashmiri refugees by the UNHCR. At the international level, the United States Committee for Refugees (USCR) is the main source for statistics on those who currently could be described as Kashmiri refugees or internally displaced persons. Refugee statistics issued by Pakistan and India omit Kashmiris in spite of the flows of people resulting from the Kashmir conflict.
…Approximately 350,000 Muslims crossed from Jammu Province, and a smaller number from the Valley, into Pakistani territory, particularly into the Punjab (Sialkot, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwalla, Sarghoda) and the territory now known as Azad Kashmir, as well as Karachi and Peshawar (Ellis, P. & Khan, Z. 2003, ‘Kashmiri displacement and the impact on Kashmiriyat’, Contemporary South Asia, vol.12, no.4, pp.527-8 – Attachment 51).
Internet Sources: Search Engines Google search engine http://www.google.com.au/
Databases: FACTIVA (news database) BACIS (DIMA Country Information database) REFINFO (IRBDC (Canada) Country Information database) ISYS (RRT Country Research database, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Department of State Reports) RRT Library Catalogue
List of Attachments
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