Uncertain process of dialogue in Kashmir after 63 years of entry into India

New Delhi, October 26. - As the world marks 63 years of the annexation of Kashmir to India independently, a short list of agents is the new government's commitment to bring peace to the region, scene of protests since June with over 100 dead .
Death in June, a young man at the hands of police during a demonstration Kashmir plunged into a spiral of violence, protests and strikes like the one today led authorities to declare a curfew in the summer capital, Srinagar.
In the midst of serious instability, have since died from violence in Kashmir some 110 civilians, mostly children and young people faced with stones with the special forces of the Indian police, according to government data.
Given the situation, the Government first promised last August to start a little concrete "political process" and then encouraged the trip to the region of a parliamentary delegation, before deciding to appoint a slate of negotiators to mediate.
The elect are the journalist Dilip Padgaonkar, academic Radha Kumar and MM Ansari official who traveled to Kashmir this weekend to launch peace talks to help defuse the crisis.
"We are here to find a permanent solution to the Kashmir dispute, but a permanent solution is not possible without the involvement of Pakistan," he said on his arrival in Srinagar journalist Padgaonkar.
The trio of negotiators has visited prisons and met with youth representatives and tourism and members of political parties that are remote from the Indian Government's position as the National Conference and the Democratic Party.
They have a term of one year and shall submit monthly reports to the Government, but his main obstacle is the dialogue with the separatist Hurriyat Conference, whose leaders have rejected any meeting.
"The government just trying to delay the problem. We want dialogue, but a high level. If the government is serious, why send (them) partners?. Not reach a political solution by sending academics, "he told Efe Hurriyat leader Umar Farooq.
Kashmiri separatists are demanding the release of "political prisoners" and the repeal of the law that gives special powers to the Army and the demilitarization of the state, home to hundreds of thousands of deployed soldiers.
They also call for the internationalization of the dispute, although New Delhi prefers to see the protests as an internal problem or economic development, and refuses to discuss the status of Kashmir with neighboring Pakistan, which controls part of the territory.
Although armed activity has decreased in recent years in Kashmir in 1989 where he began a violent insurgency, rebellion, the option of independence still has many supporters.
The separatists seized the June protests to launch a new campaign with calls for strikes and closures business in Kashmir, which is the only state in India with a Muslim majority.
"This is a political dimension problem, not a matter of law and order. He's been like twenty years and not going to end just like that. Our agenda is independence. What is the Indian government's agenda? "He said Farooq.
Despite the skepticism surrounding his work, mediators hope to meet with all parts of society cashmere, and Padgaonkar even asserts that "call at the door of those who would not" come to greet them.
Kashmir became part of India in 1947 against the majority opinion of the population, by decision of Maharaja Hari Singh Indian, who sought Indian support to stop an invasion by Pashtun fed the new state of Pakistan.
Fell on deaf ears subsequent UN resolutions calling for the demilitarization and a plebiscite on accession of territory to India or Pakistan, and the region is divided between them since 1972 by a "line of control" in fact. Since the partition of the subcontinent, India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers have fought two wars and other minor conflicts over control of Kashmir, which continues to be the scene of border skirmishes despite the ceasefire in place since 2003.

Indian Kashmir calls for reinforcements to control the wave of civil violence

New Delhi, Aug. 2. - The Government of Indian Kashmir Tuesday called reinforcements to the central executive at the increasing wave of violence in the troubled region, where 21 people have died since Friday in protest.
"The Home Office has assured me that they will consider our request to increase the number of troops to handle the situation," he said at a press conference in Delhi on Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.
Abdullah met with urgency, with Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh and the Ministers of Finance, Foreign, Interior and Defence, with a view to finding ways to "restore" normalcy in the region.
The Kashmir valley is engulfed in a wave of violence since mid-June, following the death of a teenager at the hands of security forces during a demonstration, which led to a spiral of further protests and police repression .
Since then they have killed about 35 people, six of them today, police said, in anti-Indian protests, with constant curfews and movement restrictions in major towns, measures, said Abdullah, remain in force so " strict. "
Locals accuse security forces of killing innocent civilians, but police said they resorted to firing only after trying to disperse protesters with tear gas and charges.
"We are caught in a spiral of violence in the protests that lead to deaths that lead to further protests," said Kashmiri Prime Minister, who acknowledged that "clearly" need "increase strength" to restore order.
Kashmir has over twenty years of sporadic violence that have claimed thousands of lives, but the activity of insurgents seeking independence for the territory or its annexation to Pakistan had decreased in recent times.
Today, however, Indian Minister of Home Affairs, Palaniappan Chidambaram, admitted to Parliament that the situation has taken "serious bias in recent days," the prime minister and Kashmiri called it "extremely difficult".
Although Abdullah described the Kashmiri problem as a "political issue", new measures relied resolution of that conflict prior to a return of normalcy and an end to the wave of protests, and asked the public to stop "to take the law into his hand. "
Under a massive deployment of troops and security forces, thousands of Kashmiris, mostly youths and adolescents, often defying curfews and facing stones against Indian troops in the streets of major cities.
"Peace? We do not want peace. What we want is a solution. Peace has served only to forget that the Indian Government and our problems and delayed tape solutions, "told Efe alleged leader of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, Umar Farooq.
His training, which has several of its leaders imprisoned, has called on his followers to further protests and marches, and Farooq predicted today that if India sends more forces to this historic region near the Himalayas, the situation "will only worsen."
Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority region of India, is the main dispute between India and Pakistan, who dispute their sovereignty from the independence of both in 1947 and have since fought two wars for control of territory.
Both powers have proved incapable of moving towards a satisfactory solution, and India accuses Pakistan of helping insurgents to cross the LoC border for attacks and attacks in Indian Kashmir.
"We have 20 years with the same problem. Everyone should take a step forward to reach any agreement acceptable to all, "he told Efe the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kashmir, Nadir A. Dar.
The curfews and the constant protests are causing local industry daily losses of about $ 20 million, according to his calculation, and damage to the two regional economic pillars: the craft and cultivation of apples.

Regional elections end with less violence in Kashmir

Srinagar (India), Dec. 24 (EFE). - The Indian Kashmir shut your appointment today with a high turnout election in an environment marked by less violence, a massive police presence and a boycott call by separatists that hit the regional capital, Srinagar, though less than in previous elections.
The seventh and final phase of elections held in 21 constituencies today, called for the vote of 1,638,000 Kashmiri of Srinagar and the Hindu-majority southern areas surrounding the winter capital, Jammu, where turnout was high.
There, according to the Indian Election Commission, 68 percent of voters went to the polls, while 20 percent did in Srinagar, where in past elections, also boycotted, voted just 5 percent.
"With these data, the share of the total of the seven phases has been of 61.5 percent, up from 43 percent in 2002," he said at a press conference the head of the Commission, BR Sharma.
The slight fog which ushered in Srinagar woke to a sunny day, although most voters stayed home in an unusual environment for the watchful presence of thousands of troops from the security forces.
The separatist Hurriyat Conference, powerful in the city, had called for a boycott of the elections and had called for a protest march today to be from the central Red Square, but police stopped the device separatist attempt.
"It will be difficult to demonstrate in Red Square. All access is closed. Have controls, blocked everything. It is very clear that the Government does not want the march to take place, "he told Efe on the eve of President Umar Faruq Hurriyat.
In anticipation of incidents, the authorities had already declared Tuesday a curfew in the city, so that the streets deserted of pedestrians and woke up with a very restricted traffic and subject to controls.
At least fourteen people were injured in riots in some districts of the civilian areas of Srinagar, where separatist groups fought the paramilitary strongly guarding the polls.
"I did not vote. We have 700,000 soldiers in our region. Is this what they call elections? Neither Pakistan nor India are interested in solving the conflict cashmere. And who gets the people, "a shopkeeper told Efe affected by the curfew.
Although the campaign has been marked by the development promises of the leading candidates in recent days have also become important tensions between India and Pakistan following the Mumbai attacks in late November.
The India attributed the attacks to the Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, operating from Pakistan, the country with which the dispute-and deals-the territory of Kashmir since independence and partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
"I voted because I want peace. I do not want war. We have 20 years of war have only served to sink and leave us without work, "says an old tour guide in front of the beautiful Dal Lake, the main attraction of the city.
Kashmir has plunged nearly two decades of conflict, and although in recent years the situation had improved, a dispute over ownership of land in summer pilgrimage prompted a wave of protests by Hindus and Muslims that left 40 dead.
That renewed tension raised fears that the elections would mark a return to violence, but according to the Election Commission has just the opposite happened: five civilians have died in this election, compared with 63 who died in 2002.
"This election has surprised many by the high turnout and the absence of violence. There is no fear of reprisals for voting. And people want a solution to their problems of everyday life, "he said in an interview with Efe the candidate of the nationalist National Conference, Omar Abdullah.
According to Hurriyat, however, the high turnout is the result of fraud Kashmiris in rural areas, where he said Faruq, the Indian Army has great power and pushes citizens to the polls.
The Indian Election Commission, which has strongly denied that possibility, plans to have the votes next 28, the wait both the National Conference as the other favorites, the Congress Party and the Democratic Party.