Yaseen Malik dares BJP, says won’t allow flag-hoisting in Lal Chowk

Srinagar, Jan 05: Terming United Nations a ‘failed Institution’, Hurriyat (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Tuesday said his party cannot expect much from the UN resolutions on Kashmir. Meanwhile, JKLF chief, Muhammad Yasin Malik has dared BJP to hoist tri-colour at Lal Chowk on January 26. The senior separatist leaders were speaking at a seminar ‘United Nations Resolutions-

Don’t push Kashmiris to violence again : ‘UN Has Failed In Kashmir, Appointment Of Interlocutors Futile’

Srinagar, Jan 5: The Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Tuesday warned that Kashmiris will be again forced to take to violence if India continues with its “oppressive” policies to suppress the ongoing movement for right to self-determination and delays resolution of the Kashmir dispute, reports Greater Kashmir

Mirwaiz proposed a resolution at the seminar in which he castigated the United Nations for failing to implement its resolutions on Kashmir and declared Kashmiris as ‘masters of their destiny’ maintaining they will on their own decide the future of Kashmir. The resolution was unanimously adopted.

Addressing a seminar ‘UN resolutions—the legal foundation of disputed nature of Kashmir’ at Hurriyat office Rajbagh here, Mirwaiz said the delay in implementation of the resolutions was taking a heavy toll on the Kashmiris.

On January 5, 1948, the UN had passed a resolution noting that both India and Pakistan had accepted that the question of accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through the democratic method of free and impartial plebiscite.

“By virtue of UN resolutions, the Kashmir dispute has achieved international dimensions. The resolutions have made the case of Kashmiris strong. Ironically, the UN which projects itself as a credible institution has failed to implement its own resolutions. The UN as a failed institution should be disbanded,” Mirwaiz said.

Mirwaiz however maintained that whether India or Pakistan will accept or disapprove the UN resolutions, Kashmiris will remain committed to achieve the right to self-determination. “We won’t let the sacrifices rendered by Kashmir in past over six decades go waste. On the eve of January 5, when the UN passed the resolutions, we unanimously pass a resolution that Kashmiris are masters of their destiny who will on their own decide the future of Kashmir,” he said.

Terming the appointment of interlocutors and formation of working groups as a futile exercise, Mirwaiz said the writing on the wall is clear for India. “If India tries to suppress Kashmiris movement for right to self-determination, they will be forced to again take to violent recourse to achieve their goal. I want to maintain that there is no rule of law or accountability in Kashmir. The troopers and police are killing innocent at their will and whim. Kashmir has been turned into a military and police state. Ironically, the international community including the UN Human Rights Commission has maintained a criminal silence over the killing spree in the Valley.” he said.

Mirwaiz underscored the need for building consensus between pro-freedom parties to jointly take the movement to its logical conclusion.

Stating that India and Pakistan can’t thrust solution to the dispute, Mirwaiz said the conglomerate had been supporting the dialogue process but it failed to make any headway. “Despite being a primary party to the dispute Kashmiris have been kept away from the dialogue process. As a result the process has not yielded any result. Need of the hour is to streamline the dialogue process and make it time-bound on the pattern of dispute in middle-east and other countries,” he said.

Defending the conglomerate’s support to former Pakistani President General Pervez Musharaf’s  four-point formula on Kashmir, Mirwaiz said it was an internal arrangement and not a permanent solution. “Even Musharaf has maintained that the formula was a temporary arrangement for 5-6 years and ultimately the people of Kashmir had to themselves resolve it. We also believe that before the final settlement of the dispute, confidence building measures have to be taken,” he said.

However in the same breath, Mirwaiz accused India of taking Confidence Building Measures to hoodwink the international community. “The cross-LOC trade has been a glaring example of India’s non-seriousness. The CBM which was aimed at restoring trade links between Kashmirs, has turned out to be a mere public relation exercise. In absence of banking, communication and facilities how is the cross-LoC trade possible? India is trying to control everything in Kashmir, from governance to bus service from New Delhi,” he said.

Mirwaiz minced no words in accusing India of hatching a conspiracy to defame the ongoing movement. “Kashmiris have rendered over one lakh sacrifices for the indigenous movement. But India is leaving no stone unturned to defame our sacred movement by saying it is aided and funded. There are more Indian troopers in Kashmir than their NATO counterparts in Afghanistan. Still the alienation of Kashmiris has taken the shape of hatred.”

He said in the survey conducted by Times of India and Jang Group under their Aaman Ki Aasha campaign 70 percent of people of India and Pakistan have maintained that the two countries can’t improve their relations without resolving Kashmir.
“It is high time for India to come out of its denial mode and accept the ground reality in Kashmir,” he said.

‘Paradise lost’
The senior leader of Hurriyat (M), Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, in his typical style termed Kashmir as a paradise which has been turned into a hell.

“India became free on August 14, 1947 but it draped the paradise in its autocratic rule. Till August 15 and 16 Maharaja (Hari Singh) had not taken any decision to decide the future of Kashmir. He was neither with India or Pakistan but wanted to maintain status-quo. On October 26, Maharaja acceded to India and its troopers landed in Kashmir,” he said.

Referring to VP Menon, a senior official of India instrumental in accession of Kashmir, Prof Bhat said in his book ‘Freedom at Midnight’ he had written that “the bastard (Maharaja) has done it. We have it (Kashmir) and we will not let it go.” “This exposes the motives of India. The matter was taken by India to UN, which facilitated truce and passed resolutions giving right to self-determination to Kashmiris,” he said.

Prof Bhat said aim of the seminar is that Kashmiris are prime party to the dispute. “The UN resolution provided legal foundation to the dispute. But Kashmiris were never given the right to self-determination despite wars between India and Pakistan. We want to maintain that Kashmiris are the rulers of Kashmir and they will decide its future,” he said.

‘SHOW SERIOUSNESS’
The senior leader of Hurriyat (M) and chairman of National Front, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, underscored the need of showing seriousness as a nation to achieve right to self-determination.

“India has been trying to suppress the aspirations of Kashmiris by guns. Our movement has transcended from 20th to 21st century. Despite formation of graveyards across the Valley, Kashmiris are fighting with great resolve. The so-called democracy India is doing every undemocratic thing to quell the voice of Kashmiris,” Khan said.

Khan said many teenagers and youth in Pattan, Sopur and Varmul have lost their eye-sight after being hit by pellets by the CRPF during the summer unrest. “This is just a glimpse of so-called democracy. Kashmiris are being selectively killed. When eight people were killed in Humhama no action was taken against the accused cops and troopers, while following the killing of a youth in Mendhar Poonch the DGP and IGP rushed to the spot and suspended the accused cops including SHO,” he said.
Khan maintained that Kashmiris are the prime party to the dispute by virtue of their sacrifices. “Need of the hour is to show seriousness as a nation to achieve our goal. We need to accommodate every voice whether they are for independent Kashmir or merger with Pakistan,” Khan added.

‘FORM PARALLEL BODY’
Hurriyat leader Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam read the paper of Patron Mahaz-e-Azadi, M Azam Inquilabi, who could not make it to the seminar due to illness.

Before the speech, Shahid said he was feeling privileged to read Azam’s paper as he was his teacher when he started his political career in 1984.

In his paper, Azam castigated the UN for failing to implement its resolutions on Kashmir. “We have every right to grumble against the inaction, passivity and in fact dereliction of this world body in reference to its resolutions. Delhi did everything possible to obfuscate the Kashmir issue notwithstanding the promise and pledge of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to facilitate free and fair referendum in Kashmir to decide its political future,” Azam stated.

He said some pacifist and altruistic global leaders were thinking to launch a parallel world body to thwart the trend of UN collapse. “It will become indispensably paramount proposition for futuristic global politics to address all the longstanding disputes like Kashmir, Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said.

‘LANDING OF TROOPS ILLEGAL’
 Noted columnist Dr Javid Iqbal threw light on the controversies and legality of instrument of accession. “Some writers say that VP Menon who had to get the instrument of accession signed by Maharaja, did not reach Jammu on October 26. By virtue of this argument even if the instrument of accession was signed later, the landing of Indian troopers in Kashmir was totally illegal,” Iqbal said.

He said India manipulated the accession of some Muslim dominated areas of Gurdaspur to facilitate construction of a corridor to Kashmir. “The UN resolutions demanded demilitarization of the State to which India did not agree. At some places Pakistan also showed reluctance,” he said.

He termed the appointment of interlocutors as a futile process saying they can only recommended not take decisions. “When everything is clear and majority of people in Kashmir want right to self-determination, the job of interlocutors becomes redundant,” he said.

300cr fall likely in floriculture exports by 2010

New Delhi: India’s floriculture exports are likely to grow to Rs700 crore by end of 2010 against projected level of Rs1000 crore. The shortfall in target is because of bottlenecks like poor infrastructure and plant material, production technology and availability of basic inputs along with insufficient cold storage facilities, REPORTS (livemint.com)

According to Assocham, poor infrastructure facilities and inadequate push from government, has led to domestic floriculture exports not rising to expected standards. Like, the value of exports of floriculture products from India was Rs212,70 crore in 2004-05 which went up to Rs305 crore in 2005-06 and further escalated at Rs390 crore in previous fiscal.

In 2007-08, exports are likely to be around Rs500 crore which by 2010 can go up to Rs700 crore against targeted levels of Rs1000 crore.

Although five agri-export zones have been set up in Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, Karnataka and Maharashtra, Karnataka which contribute 75% of flori production, export quality floriculture is still missing. Resultantly, India’s contribution to world flower trade of about $12 billion (Rs480crore) remains way below its potential.

Besides, setting up of cold storage and cargo handling facilities at key airports like New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Trivandrum and Coachin are still under active consideration of the Government and prove to be inadequate to take floriculture exports to the desired direction.

Recommendations :
* If India has to achieve the ambitious export target of Rs1000 crore by 2010 key issues need to be addressed: economies of scale, product range, incorporation of latest varieties and quality control and certification and creation of effective cold chain management.

* Bottlenecks like inadequate infrastructure, inappropriate plant material and good production technology and non-availability of basic inputs would have to be removed and promotion activities of flori products exports would have to be taken up.

* For boosting its floriculture export, India should go in for potential export items like cut flowers, dry flowers, seeds potted plants and micropropagated plantlets. Intensive mobilization of resources should be left on those that are engaged in such exports with financial institutions allowed to come forward for flori exporters.

*Efforts like setting up the export promotion council, establishing appropriate marketing and distribution channels, abolishing import duty on inputs and reducing existing airfreight tariff structures are needed to promote flori export particularly to countries like Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and Japan.

Indian scenario

In India,floriculture industry comprises flower trade, production of nursery plants and potted plants, seed and bulb production, micro propagation and extraction of essential oils. Though the annual domestic demand for the flowers is growing at a rate of over 25% and international demand at around Rs90,000 crore, India’s share in the international market is negligible.

With enormous genetic diversity,a varied agro climatic condition and versatile human resources, India can tap its huge floriculture reserves.

As per estimates, the per capita consumption of flowers is the maximum in Norway ($146) followed by Switzerland ($126) and Germany ($88), though the maximum consumption of flowers is in the USA ($12,500 million), Japan ($5465 million) and Italy ($4270 million).

Though floriculture industry has been the monopoly of a few countries (mainly Netherlands), the largest trader of floricultural products, with a lion’s share of 70% followed by Columbia and Israel with 12% and 6% share of the global floriculture trade.

Opportunities :With production in traditionally strong markets (Netherlands and US) have reached threshold levels, developing countries like Columbia, Israel, South Africa and Kenya have emerged as new production centres. Most flowers are grown under protected conditions in covered structures like green houses and poly/glass houses in European and other countries. Due to intense cold, high energy cost, production in these countries is limited during winter months. Thus they have to depend largely on imports to meet their domestic demand as most of the festivals fall during this period when the demand of flowers is at its peak.

Against this backdrop India which currently has only 0.3% share of the world market with export of around $30 million, it has a strong chance of entering the market and creating a strong position for itself. 

The Jammu and Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre (JKMPIC) set-up in January 1996 in Srinagar has the primary mandate of coordinating all matters relating to medicinal plants and support policies and programmes for growth of trade, export, conservation and cultivation and introduction of new plants  

For more details: jkmpic@gmail.com
home: http://jkmpic.blogspot.com

Ph: 09858986794

Contact person : Sheikh GULZAAR (Head)

Police arrested 5 ex-HM militants in Pampore

Pampore, January 3: Family members of Muhamad Maqbool Dar who were kidnapped by Hizbul militants in 1995 claimed that a human skeleton that police recovered from a house here on Sunday was of the missing youth. Police arrested 5 ex-militants of Hizbul in connection with killing of Mohd. Maqbool Dar.
After recovering it from a migrant Kashmiri Pandit’s house here, skeleton has been sent for forensic examination while police has initiated investigation into the family claims.

Police recovered it from a house in Ladoo village of Batpora area after a local, who had purchased the house, spotted it.

“The house was gutted in a fire incident in 1992 and it was purchased by a local who was now reconstructing it. During earth excavation, a human-skeleton was recovered from the debris of the house,” said a police official. The locals said that the skeleton was recovered from the storeroom of the house.

After the news spread, the family members of Muhamad Maqbool Dar alias Bulla, who was allegedly picked up by Hizbul Mujahideen militants in 1995, claimed that the skeleton was his.

Speaking to Writer-South Asia, Maqbool’s family members said, “Maqbool’s elder brother, Muhammad Yaseen Dar who was the one of the top commander of Al-Umar-Mujahideen was killed by the forces in a gun-battle in 1994. Later, in 1995, Maqbool was picked up by the  Hizbul Mujaheeden militants and went missing.”

They said Maqbool was putting on the same clothes and shoes which were recovered from the spot today.

“Even the amulet and the black head band he often used to wear, that were found from the spot belonged to Maqbool,” they said.

The family members demanded a thorough probe into the case. When contacted, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), South Kashmir Range, Shafqat Ahmad Watali, while confirming that police recovered the skeleton said, “Yes we have recovered a human-skeleton which was later identified by the family. We have sent it to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for scientific examination and are waiting for the report.”

He assured a probe into the issue. “A special investigating team headed by SDPO, Awantipora will be constituted and a transparent investigation would be carried out.  We will go by the version of the family and will also take the locals along,” Watali said.