Pakistani Flags Hoisted in North Kashmir... Again!

**Awesome** · 08-15-2007 01:51 PM

http://newsblaze.com/story/200708140...1/Kashmir.html

Srinagar, Aug 14: On the occasion of Pakistan Independence Day, Pakistani flags were hoisted at two places in the frontier district of Kupwara in restive Kashmir today.

The Pakistani flags were hoisted in the morning by unknown persons at Krusan and Dooniwari in Lolab in the frontier district of Kupwara. At Krusan, the Pakistani flag was hoisted on a mosque while at Dooniwari, it was hoisted in a shed.

Later the flags were brought down.

The Lolab area is a militancy infested area and the militants affiliated with Pakistani based group, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba are said to be active in this belt.

After the sighting of Pakistani flags at two places in North Kashmir, the strength of Indian soldiers, policemen and para-military soldiers at sensitive places, considered to be a hotbed for militants, was increased.

Meanwhile, pro-Pakistan militant group, Hizbul Mujahideen has claimed that its militants hoisted Pakistani flags at Lolab, Sopore, Zainageer, Pattan and other parts of Kashmir.

It is pertinent to mention here that after the eruption of armed struggle in Kashmir in 1989, militants used to hoist Pakistani flags across Kashmir Valley and arrange march pasts by groups of militants. That trend was checked by the Indian soldiers and now militants occasionally hoist Pakistani flags on August 14, Pakistan's Independence Day.

Fayaz Wani reports on life in Srinagar, Kashmir.

Awesome

**Awesome** · 08-15-2007 01:58 PM

http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showhead...ews=value0news

Why Kashmiris Boycott Indian Independence Day?

By Riyaz Masroor, BBC, Srinagar

India's Independence Day brings in misery rather than celebration for Waheed-ul-Zaman, a 23-year-old Kashmiri shopkeeper who sells provisions near the heavily fortified Bakhshi Stadium in Srinagar. Due to security restrictions put in place before August 15th, when the state government celebrates India's tryst with destiny, Waheed is bound to open his shop late in the mornings and close down before dusk.

"It's the annual routine here. We are rendered prisoners a week ahead of the main event on August 15th. On the afternoon of the 14th, we cannot even think of any business. Troops take positions at the rooftop of our house. It's simply no business for two days," says Waheed.

The state government, which supports Kashmir's largely disputed accession to India in 1947, has all along been organizing flag-hoisting ceremonies and armed parades across the state on the eve of India's I Day. However, even after sixty years of accession to Indian Union, a visible disconnect between the Kashmiri people and the Indian state continues to render the I Day celebrations in Kashmir just to a security drill.

Local elders recall the peace days when the disgruntled youth would try to sabotage the show with little violence.

Waheed's grandfather Muhammad Saleem says, "I was a young boy in 1967. I still remember the incident when the local pro-India parties had managed a small gathering of local people in Bakhshi Stadium. Some youth stormed the venue and hurled a homemade petrol bomb. There was stone pelting and I saw tear smoke shells flying wildly. It was chaos. The Police beat up people indiscriminately. There were random arrests and my aunty forced me to go underground in case I should be rounded up."

Saleem depressingly compares his boyhood memories to the miseries his grandson now encounters. "Then," he adds, "The degree of fear was less. At worst, we could expect an arrest. Now it is the total reverse. You never know what will happen before this day. Now there is an armed movement going on. There are unlimited powers for hundreds of thousands of Indian armed forces to arrest, kill or torture anybody they suspect."

Waheed was born in 1991, when Kashmir was raging with an armed uprising, which had evoked a brute response from Indian armed forces.

"I don't know why the government puts so much into this (Independence Day parade) when people continue to boycott it. They should do something that ensures people's willing participation. That would at least relieve us from all this," Waheed fumes.

The recent government circular making it mandatory for all state employees to attend the August 15th function along with their subordinates, appears to be the official acknowledgment of Kashmir's political situation.

Bakhshi Stadium falls in the heart of Srinagar. It remains awe inspiring while the state prepares for I Day. It involves a multi-tier security set up with all roads, leading to the venue, blocked days ahead of the ceremony. The deserted three-mile strip leaves the press photographers' with limited choices.

Mubashir Khan a local photojournalist says, "When I choose to cover the preparations, I always want to capture life around the Stadium but it is always missing. Then, I decide to have a soldier in the foreground so that I am not dubbed as graveyard photographer."

A top security official told Newsblaze that the security paraphernalia around the venue had been necessitated by repeated militant strikes. "Two years ago, militants had planted a solar rocket there. It did not cause damage yet it was a question mark on security. We have to be doubly sure." About the repeated cordon and search operations, the official says that the measures were aimed at providing security to the people.

Civil Society members continue to resent various forced events. Besides being loath to official celebrations across the state, Sumaya Qadri, a young social activist resents the way Indian paramilitary forces hoist the Indian flag in the City's central market, Lal Chowk. She says, "This is broadcasted on TV. We see armored vehicles, guns and sandbags. Only human presence there is of the uniformed soldiers. What is the fun? Do they want to convey that they have conquered us? This will give a wrong message. It is provocative. If India is swearing by the peace, such measures are blemishes on Indian pronouncements about peace."

Top security officials insist that the armed militants find it a handy opportunity to make news. "They want to become heroes by attacking the Independence Day parade. They have made bids in the past. There was a bomb blast in Jammu (Kashmir's winter capital) in which the then Governor had a close shave with death. If militants don't strike now it is because of proper arrangements we put in place."

Separatist politicians have been calling for a total strike on August 15th ever since the armed insurgency broke out in 1989.

Many here believe that the separatists hardly need to sponsor a strike for the war-like security measures that throw life here out of gear.

Observers perceive that the Indian Independence Day in Kashmir is a grim reminder of the world's oldest disputes craving for attention.

After six decades of uncertainty and of late two decades of violence, armed resistance forces and Indian security remains tied down in an unending "war for victory".

"Militants could not secure Kashmir even after 17 years of armed resistance. India remains fixed, even after sixty years. New Delhi has a firmer control over Kashmir now yet it lacks legitimacy and every year the preparations for August 15th provide a bitter reminder," said a top pro-India leader who did not wish to be quoted by name.

Although the four-year-old lazy peace process between India and Pakistan has allowed a cease-fire along the Line of Control that divides the pre-1947 Kashmir state between India and Pakistan, the region seems wrapped in a state of lifelessness on the India's sixtieth Independence Day.

Riyaz Masroor is a Srinagar-based BBC correspondent

[Source: News Blaze]

[Note: Jammu and Kashmir is the disputed state under the illegal occupation of India since 1947.]

**Bull** · 08-15-2007 05:59 PM

Well you have an Indian paper openly publishing controversial data about Kashmir, but when it comes to hoisting a flag you have are forced to quote some unheard sites .

**PakSniper** · 08-16-2007 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by Bull

Well you have an Indian paper openly publishing controversial data about Kashmir, but when it comes to hoisting a flag you have are forced to quote some unheard sites .

My God, here we go with some baseless comments, Lol. For your information:

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_s...temID=26&cat=1

Is also saying something similar, forcing some to love you guys, Lol.

**Bull** · 08-16-2007 03:32 PM

Originally Posted by PakSniper

My God, here we go with some baseless comments, Lol. For your information:

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_s...temID=26&cat=1

Is also saying something similar, forcing some to love you guys, Lol.

Didnt you just prove me right by posting that link.

**aksingh** · 08-17-2007 06:40 AM

BULL is right you know!!
I don't really care to whom Kashmir goes but I would like to see Jammu, Ladakh and a few of the districts which were inhabited by the Kashmiri Hindus prior to their exodus (Panun Kashmir, hope I got the spelling right) come to India. Rest its upto the Kashmiris. I would also like to see Northern Areas and Azad kashmir becoming a part of Kashmir.. I think the Indian govt. would also like Aksai Chin and Trans Karakoram pact being returned to them.

Having an actual independent state will be determinetal to the Kashmiris because of extermisits from Pakistan and to some extent in India creating havoc and trying to extend their influence.

A pakistan pro Kashmir will be determintal to an extent to the Indians unless they don't have control over the rivers and can result in becoming another taliban/extremist hotbed as it already has many terrorists and is very backward.

An Indian pro Kashmir will still be a terrorist hotbed though can be economically powerful.

If Kasmir ascends to India it can be a cause of trouble for India as many Pakistan funded terrorists will create havoc in the Indian territory.

If Kashmir accedes to Pakistan the Hindu, Sikh and Buddhists will be under an islamic theocratic govt. which is hostile to the So-called infidels...

Therefore I feel India is being magnanimous by declaring LOC to be the permanent border as the buddhist and hindu ethnic areas are with a secular state and the muslim ethnic areas are with Pakistan. Further seeing the first hand results of an erstwhile partition it is not advisable to partition Kashmir.

The panthers party, national conference and congress government are pro-India whereas the PDP the ruling co-alition major in Kashmir is either pro-india or pro-kashmir.

The Hurriyat Conference are more interested in amassing power and wealth and internal squabbling.

From an Indian POV it is best to maintain the status quo and seal the border which it is doing...

**haviZsultan** · 08-17-2007 09:55 AM