Just another day of more political lies will never solve Kashmir

http://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/eu-parliamentarian-slams-pakistan-for-terrorising-kashmir-lauds-india-for-appointing-interlocutor/115914

               Every day I wake up and hope that there would be one person less today who hates Pakistan's guts on an international platform and everyday I am disappointed to see one person more vocalizing his or her phobias against my beloved homeland. Petras Auštrevicius is a EU parliamentarian and finds it imperative to demonize Pakistan for trying to save its people against Indian aggression. You have to really hate Pakistan to blame it for the current Kashmir conflict brewing between India & Pakistan for the last 70 years. When Indian army got written up for its draconian laws in Kashmir by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, was it Pakistan's fault? When Indian army chose rape as a weapon of war in Kashmir being condemned by leading humanitarian organizations, was it Pakistan's fault? When Indian army recently made hundreds of Kashmiri children blind with pellets, was this Pakistan's doing? Propaganda has no basis and Petras just reiterated that his credibility as a knowledgeable politician on the Kashmir crisis is highly questionable. If there were even 1 cent of a truth in his slander, he wouldn't have blamed Pakistan for the smoldering Kashmir crisis. Pakistan has a history and that history is full of heroism and valor. 
                    Pakistan played as an important ally of US/NATO forces in the war against terrorism. Pakistan deployed thousands of soldiers to fight extremism and terrorism not just regionally but internationally as well. How many soldiers did India provide to US/NATO in its war against terrorism? Pakistan lost lives of thousands of civilians due to its engagement in this war against terrorism. How many people has India lost in trying to help US/NATO combat terrorism? So blaming Pakistan for using extremism in Kashmir is just another day of political lies and guess what! 
Political lies will not solve Kashmir. 
Humanity will. 
              There are two kinds of politicians. One kind takes a 3rd man's word as the truth & makes a judgment based upon what that person has to say without investigating the truth himself. The other kind is that of a leader who does his/her own thorough search before using his/her platform to attack one side. Petras seems to have done negligible research on Kashmir. What is the most important point here is that he has totally ignored the fact that Kashmiris boycotted Indian-held elections. Kashmiris have faced intolerable brutalities just because they have peacefully asked for a fair plebiscite per UN Charter. Kashmiris commemorate Indian republic day as their black day. They wave Pakistan's flag and even bury their families wrapped in Pakistani flag. They cheer when Pakistan defeats India in cricket. They have been waiting for generations to accede to Pakistan once a fair plebiscite is held as promised to them by the UN resolution.         
                 Pakistan has made every possible effort on international forums to engage India in a political & diplomatic dialogue. If Petras had done his homework, he would have found that it was Pakistan not India that has been asking India for years to engage in trilateral talks with the Kashmiri leadership. So, if India just appointed an interlocutor after all these years; it is actually a diplomatic achievement of Pakistan. However, engaging the Kashmiri leadership in bilateral talks will not suffice because the hearts of Kashmiris are deeply bonded with Pakistan. India is losing Kashmir very fast. Kashmir will be liberated from Indian aggression. If Petras cannot tolerate his own family to be persecuted by an apartheid, how can he expect Kashmiris to endure so much aggression by the Indian military? If Petras refuses to take Pakistan's word on Kashmir as proof, he should just read the accounts of HRW, Amnesty I, MSF, Red Cross all written many times to condemn aggression of Indian army against the Kashmiris. The claim that India makes on Kashmir as its land has been disputed since the beginning of the partition in 1947. This is the most important factor for all foreign officials to remember. Kashmir was never part of India. It was contracted at the time of partition to be part of Pakistan. However, Indian forces invaded the land and have occupied it since 1948. How can any foreign official equate a forceful occupation to ownership? 
         You want proof. Just ask India to pull back all of its forces from Kashmir and see what happens. The biggest and irrefutable evidence to support India's forceful occupation of Kashmir is the presence of more than 700,000 soldiers with 1 Indian soldier monitoring 5 Kashmiris. This is not ownership. This is a prison. And Petras's political & sugar-coated appreciation of such hegemonic regime with its war crimes speaks volumes about what kind of credibility does Petras hold as an EU parliamentarian. We are talking about school-going children here Mr Petras. How can you call school-goers of Kashmir militants? You have to really hate them to call them militants. But, the question is that why do you hate Kashmiris so much? And why do you hate Pakistan so much just because Pakistan has the guts to internationally condemn Indian aggression in Kashmir? If a child losing his eye-sight from Indian army's pellet is a militant to you, then you need to get a psychiatric evaluation. And if Pakistan is an extremist nation for supporting the victims of Indian brutality then you should condemn the very concept of humanity. Because it is humanity & conscience that drives Pakistan to pursue a political advocacy for the Kashmiris in their plight. And the last time I checked humanity was not a crime let alone be labelled as an act of violent extremism. 
Dr Fariya Bukhari, MD 

Dr F Bukhari, MD is a writer/poet/activist/politician/physician/scientist/philanthropist/producer/journalist/defense analyst & strategist. She is interested in politics, peace, innovation, and volunteering. She is working for education, liberation & empowerment of the under-privileged. She is also involved in politics trying to bring a palpable change at Pakistan's political level that ensures protection of masses against human rights violations, injustice, corruption & terrorism. She is the Chairperson of Pak Islam Party.