The EU Report on Kashmir: The World’s Most Beautiful Prison

The News, Sun, September,5, 2004.

Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema


The European Union’s report on Kashmir describing it as world’s most beautiful prison certainly highlights both the beauty of Kashmir and what is happening inside the Indian Held Kashmir (IHK). After having visited both sides of the divide, the European parliament’s Ad Hoc delegation from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy has compiled a report on the latest situation in Azad Kashmir and IHK. One of main objective of the delegation was to meet the people of Kashmir directly on both sides of the Line of Control (LOC) and assess the situation as it exists today.

Not only the report described IHK as the world’s most beautiful prison but it has also made several key recommendations. Each of these recommendations is significant and deserves comments. First, the Kashmir dispute is a tripartite dispute involving India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. ‘We believe that there are three parties which have a legitimate interest in finding a solution to the Kashmir problem, namely the India government, the Pakistan government and the Kashmir people and their representatives, and therefore all three should be fully involved’, recommended the EU delegations.

The recognition of the Kashmir dispute as a tripartite dispute reflects the ground realities. Admittedly the dispute originated between India and Pakistan.  Even the UN resolutions which, were accepted by both India and Pakistan, also recognised the involvement of the two parties. However with the passage of time and intensified struggle of the Kashmir freedom fighters especially after the death of the Cold war along with the massive sacrifices the Kashmiris gave, the recognition of the third party began to gradually gain acceptance by the international community. Indeed no solution would be a lasting one unless and until the Kashmiris are party to it.

The second important recommendation revolves around the holding of a conference, in two separate sessions in AJK and IHK, involving academics and other experts from both sides of Kashmir, India, Pakistan and EU in order to explore and examine options for conflict resolution. This is indeed a very significant proposal. Apart from the Madrid Middle East Conference the current roadmap for Arab Israeli conflict has also proposed the holding of international conferences. The involvement of the academic is primarily meant to enrich deliberations in terms of new ides and suggestions.  

Third proposal that merits attention deals with reactivation of UNMOGIP (United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan). While Pakistan has always facilitated the work of UNMOGIP whereas India has been arguing that UNMOGIP should be terminated. The UNMOGIP is perhaps the best suited for monitoring the infiltration if these are taking place. For obvious reasons Indian invariably grossly exaggerate the number of infiltration but a neutral group like UNMOGIP has no reason to exaggerate the numbers, one can really get to know the exact situation. What India says, the Pakistanis look at it suspiciously. Similarly what Pakistanis stress the Indian does not believe it. Therefore it is imperative to have a neutral group to observe the LOC violations but India rejects the presence of a neutral group. Obviously one tends to entertain thoughts that India has something to hide and therefore it rejects the presence of neutral observers. The EU delegations suggestion to the Indian government to reconsider its position on UNMOGIP and allow it to properly carry out its mandate certainly seems to be logical and befitting.

The next significant recommendation deals with the idea of establishing cross border bodies in order to enable the Kashmiris to control their own destiny. Areas like tourism and environment could be considered. In this connection the Indian proposal to start a bus service from Srinagar to Muzafferabad appears to be in order. However before such a service becomes operative, one has to see that the legitimate and legal stance of the involved parties are not compromised. Perhaps the most important development that can contribute enormously is to allow the Kashmiri leaders from both IHK and AJK to meet and discuss the way out. A committee consisting of various shades of political entities from both AJK and IHK could be formed.

The EU delegation came out with strong support for confidence building measures (CBM) as part of the current peace process and ensuring dialogue between India and Pakistan. It must be stressed that CBMs can facilitate the dialogue and may even contribute towards sustainability of the peace process for sometimes but it would the tangible outcomes of various meetings that could really sustain the peace process.

Another important recommendation of the EU delegation was to put an end to violence and terrorism. The EU repudiated the use of all terrorism and violence in no uncertain terms. The violence in IHK is primarily the product of three sources, the Indian security forces, the efforts of freedom fighters and the infiltrators activities or as the Indians prefers to call it cross border terrorism. Undoubtedly the major portion of violence in IHK is contributed by the indiscriminate acts of violence undertaken by the Indian security forces. However this does not mean that other sources did not contribute towards violence but there exists a vast difference between what has been contributed by the Indian security forces and the other sources of violence.

According to Kashmiri sources more than 80,000 Kashmiris have been killed by the Indian security forces and many more were wounded.  Custodial killings and rapes of Kashmiri women appear to be part of calculated policies of the Indian forces in IHK. Thousands and thousands Kashmiri youngsters are still missing-killed or perhaps languishing in jails. The property and shops of the Kashmiris have been indiscriminately destroyed. It needs to be mentioned here that according to Indian sources the property of only suspected terrorist and those assisting them is put to torch or destroyed. This was not surprising for the South Asians when they read the current EU description of the situation in Kashmir as world’s most beautiful prison.

Apart from Indian authorities, no body really knows how many Kashmiris are languishing in Indian jails. Arbitrary arrests of Kashmiri freedom fighters is not just a daily routine but it seems to be part of well thought out tactics of the Indian authorities.
Perhaps that is the EU report strongly recommended better monitoring the detainees. The presence of over 700,000 security forces by itself is indicative and reflective of intense repression to which the Kashmiris are regularly subjected. The recognition of Kashmiris sufferings and describing the Kashmir as ‘world’s most beautiful prison’ is indeed reflective of the gravity of the situation in IHK.

Whether or not the EU parliament ratifies all the important recommendations remains to be seen but report certainly reflected the reality of the situation as it exists today. Most of the news reports are product of either Indian sources or entities that are known to be India sympathetic to Indian point of view for various reasons. The EU report is one of the few reports which reflect the unbiased and neutral observation of what is going on in IHK.