Take all players into confidence for settlement of Kashmir dispute: Shah Ghulam Qadir
NISAR AHMED THOKAR
Islamabad, Apr 20: Shah Ghulam Qadir, speaker of the Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) Legislative Assembly is also a peace activist and a human rights campaigner. The soft spoken Kashmiri-speaking leader is one of outspoken voices on Kashmir.
He has been active in politics since his college life. He was elected as Councillor Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi in1987 and Chairman Educational Sub-Committee Rawalpindi in 1988. He got involved in AJK politics in 1983 by participating in AJK elections in 1990 but was defeated. However, he won the elections on Muslim Conference (MC) ticket in 1991 and has been elected in 1998, 2001 and 2006.
He was designated as Parliamentary Secretary in 1991 and was later appointed as Secretary General of All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference in 1997. He served on key posts as Minister for Information and Social Welfare in 1994, Minster for Finance, Planning and Development in 2001.
He resigned in 2004 over some differences and created a forward bloc comprising of 12 elected lawmakers of the PaK assembly. Following the reconciliatory process a deal was finally struck that granted eight ministries to his key aides in the MC led government at that time. He did not accept any ministerial portfolio, which he believed was not morally justifiable.
As a human rights activist, Shah Ghulam Qadir, has participated in various international seminars and conferences on Kashmir. He represented the government of PaK in OIC contact group meeting, UN Human Rights Commission’s session in Geneva, and in the European Parliament.
Shah Ghulam Qadir is the son of Ghulam Nabi Shah, a businessman from Jamallata, Srinagar. In 1947 Shah’s father was doing business in Calcutta. Following the partition, he was not allowed to return because of links with Muslim Conference. He went to East Pakistan and after spending a few years there, he some how managed to come to Srinagar and got married in 1955. After some time, he along with his spouse migrated to East Pakistan and stayed there until the Bangladesh debacle in 1971. Later he moved to Pakistan and settled in Rawalpindi.
Born in 1958 in East Pakistan, Shah Ghulam Qadir received his early education in Rawalpindi, completed Bachelor’s Degree from Government Degree College, Rawalpindi and later he did Masters in political science from the prestigious University of Punjab.
Besides political activities, Shah owns a real-estate business. Having roots in Kashmir, Shah Ghulam Qadir is highly concerned with Kashmiris’ rights movement. He also heads an NGO, Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR), a non-profit, non-governmental organization, established in 1993 in Muzaffarabad. Under the motto of “peace through dialogue” the organization is working on conflict resolution and human rights issues.
The KIIR is fully engaged in the activities to ensure peace and prosperity in South Asia thereby involving the policy-makers members of civil society, Parliamentarians, Political Activists, Lawyers, Journalists, Academics and Social Activists from both sides of line control, India and Pakistan.
The KIIR’s basic objective is to facilitate dialogue so as to create congenial atmosphere so as to bring the two nations close to each other thereby alleviating the prevailing hate syndrome that as a matter of fact is one of the key irritants in the way of peaceful and friendly relations between the two nuclear neighbours.
In an exclusive interview with Greater Kashmir, Shah said that the KIIR is primarily engaged in enhancing the capacity of Kashmiri civil society actors in the areas of reconciliation, negotiation skills and conflict resolution as it believes that a durable peace can only be achieved by resolving the long-running Kashmir dispute amicably through a substantive and meaningful dialogue besides involving all the stakeholders in peace talks.
On Kashmir dispute
The issue that was quite simple has unfortunately emerged now as one of the complex issues of the contemporary times. It is basically the issue of fundamental rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir; I believe that like other nations of the world Kashmiri people do have the right to choose their political destiny without any threat, coercion or intimidation and to live with dignity and honour. I am quite sure that it can be simply resolved by allowing the people to exercise their right.
While referring to US President George W Bush’s pronouncements he says presently there are three factors reckoned to be the most important and indeed a principal guideline vis-à-vis conflict resolution, which included the protection of human rights, implementation of international law and democracy. If the same modus operandi is applied in case of Kashmir, the issue could be easily settled without any bloodshed and loss of human lives.
As you see there is no human rights protection in Indian administered Kashmir, people are being killed, humiliated and tortured terribly. If infamous laws prevalent in the territory are repealed and Indian troops deployed massively across the state are pulled out and sent back to the barracks, the human rights situation will improve automatically.
Second one is the implementation of international law; as a matter of the fact United Nation’s resolutions on Kashmir do have the eminence as international law. As per the resolutions people have the right to choose their destiny and once these resolutions get implemented Kashmiri people can be able to exercise their democratic right, the right for which they have been striving for several decades. Last but not least is the democracy, once real democracy is restored in the troubled region certainly there would be no dispute at all. So it was quite simple issue but ironically on the pretext of so-called terrorism, sovereignty and some times by linking it to religion it has been portrayed as extremely difficult to get resolved.
Indian stand
India is not basically sincere in resolving the dispute as it did not respond the flexibility demonstrated by Pakistan to the contrary it remained stick to its traditional stand that is why no break through in talks regarding the resolution of Kashmir dispute. Despite the ongoing peace talks human rights violations continued and there was no change whatsoever on ground in the held territory. However, there is a slight change in Indian stance and the people in India generally feel that the dispute should be resolved amicably so as to ensure durable peace in the region.
The armed struggle
Surrender is no solution. People involved in the movement should hold back their guns and let the political leadership to negotiate. During the course, I think it is also the responsibility of Indian troops not to provoke the freedom fighters so that a congenial atmosphere can be created for the talks. Armed struggle is an important component of the ongoing movement. History is witness to the fact that so long as the British called Sinn Fein as terrorist there was no forward movement in talks between Britain and the separatist leadership in Ireland. Likewise, when you are talking about peace and settlement of Kashmir dispute, you have to take all the players in confidence. You cannot suddenly abandon the role of those who have been contributing to the movement for the last 20 years. They have a role in the resolution of the dispute. So these are the issues which need to be discussed threadbare by taking all the stakeholders on board that I believe is the key to success.
The peace loving people all over the world want India and Pakistan to resolve the longest ever dispute amicably. If India wants to have a special status in the region, it is not possible unless the dispute is resolved peacefully to the satisfaction of Kashmiri people.
President Pervez Musharraf’s 4-point formula
I have fully supported the idea but I think this is not a solution but it can be a step towards the final settlement. Identifying the regions and withdrawal of troops from troubled region are relatively simple steps to follow provided that both the countries agree on the formula. Sixty per cent of the problem gets automatically resolved in first two phases. However, there is lot of ambiguity so for as the self-governance and joint-management are concerned. It is not clear as what sort of self-governance will be in various regions there are legal as well as constitutional issues, what will be its practical shape, whether it would be under the ambit of Indian constitution or not. If under Indian constitution who will give Kashmiris the guarantee that India shall not repeat the same story as it had done with Kashmiri leadership in the past. As India first promulgated the Constitution order in 1954 allowing the applicability of the other provisions of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir and later in 1956 the state was included as one of the States of India. In 1975, Jammu and Kashmir was declared as “Constituent Unit”, giving Indian Parliament the right to legislate on any matter concerning the territory. Similarly the status of prime minister and Sadr-e-Riyasat were transformed into chief minister and governor respectively.
Kashmiris have had a very tough experience with India so there are many reservations over these issues. In Azad Kashmir (IAK) we have our own constitution as well as the Supreme Court and there is no direct interference of Pakistan, whereas the situation in Indian administered Kashmir is quite different.
Similarly the issue of Joint-management is debatable that needs to be discussed.
Policy of Pakistan’s new government on Kashmir
The new democratic dispensation at the helm of affairs in Islamabad would certainly discuss the issue in the parliament so as to take all the political forces into confidence. Political leadership can not afford to deal this issue single-handedly. There is no indication that it would change the policy.
