Srinagar: J&K High Court Bar Association on Sunday condemned RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement, underling ‘Shakti or Yukti’ was not going to alter the ground reality in Kashmir.
“The Bar Association maintains that the people of Kashmir are seeking the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions, which guarantee them the right of self-determination. It is the same security council, which has not accepted the claim of India that Kashmir is its integral part and instead has asked, both, India and Pakistan to withdraw their forces from Kashmir to facilitate the holding of a plebiscite in the State under UN auspices, which India has tactfully avoided for the last 70 years, by use of military might,” reads a statement issued by the lawyers’ body here.
“It is also the belief of Bar Association that torture inflicted on human beings, whatever the circumstances, is forbidden by law and the people of Kashmir who have been subjected to humiliation and torture on regular basis, in a planned and systematic manner and the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators and the support and backing extended to them by the fascist and communal forces, has also earned them the right of self-determination under International Law and it is therefore the duty of the international community to ensure the implementation of International Covenants to enable the people of Kashmir to exercise their right of self-determination.”
It said killing, blinding, maiming, arresting, detaining and torturing the people of Kashmir has been going on for the last 70 years with impunity but it has not brought any change in the situation on ground. “The use of “Shakti or Yukti”, as suggested by Mohan Bhagwat, “is also therefore, not going to alter the ground reality.”
“It is not only in the interests of people of Kashmir but also in the interests of the people of India, whose more than 50% population is living in abject poverty, to settle the Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the wishes of the people, so as to establish peace and tranquility in the region.”
The lawyers’ body also denounces the statement of RSS Prant Sanghchalak Brig (retd), Suchait Singh, who has supported the demand of the ‘fascist and communal forces’, seeking deportation of Myanmar and Bangladeshi refugees, from Jammu . “The Bar Association maintains that the Rohingya Muslims have taken shelter in Jammu only because of the ruthless policies of the government of Myanmar, which by use of brute military force, has massacred them in thousands and have driven out of their homes,” the lawyers’ body said, adding, “These refugees therefore deserve to be treated with love and affection and allowed to remain in Jammu till such time they are able to go back to their country honourably.”
