SRINAGAR, India – India should rethink the harsh military laws imposed on Kashmir ifit wants to defuse tensions in its portion of the disputed, dividedHimalayan region, a panel of Indian-appointed mediators advisedThursday. But the panel rejected the idea that Kashmir should be autonomous,despite decades of separatist unrest and rival claims to theterritory by neighboring Pakistan. Instead, their report —which is not legally binding — reaffirmed Kashmir's "dualcharacter" within India. The mediators said that granting more autonomy, as the territoryhad before 1953, "would create a dangerous constitutional vacuum inthe center-state relationship. The clock cannot be set back." Separatists rejected the report as redundant. For decades, theyhave objected to Kashmir's special constitutional status as anIndian effort to placate international critics, and they saidThursday's report represented another attempt to subjugate theregion under a false sense of democracy. "The solution lies outside the ambit of the Indian constitution,"separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said. "This report is clearlyto mislead the public opinion in India and abroad." Separatists have long accused India of holding Kashmir under whatthey call a military occupation by 700,000 Indian troops. "We have not made our sacrifices for an internal autonomy ... underIndian rule," said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, another separatist leaderin the main city of Srinagar. "We are fighting for an end toIndia's military occupation" with a referendum onself-determination. The mediators' report agreed the military presence was "intrusive"and said troops need special training to "respect the dignity ofcitizens." "The ostentatious presence of the security forces must be reducedto a minimum even while ensuring that they can be rushed to anyspot to quell trouble at short notice," the report said. An earlier separatist insurgency launched in 1989 and the ensuingsecurity crackdowns left 68,000 people dead before the rebellionwas largely suppressed by 2006. However, the draconian militarylaws imposed then have remained, with frequent checkpoints alongmajor roads and security forces allowed to shoot suspects on sight. Meanwhile, Pakistan has maintained its own claim to the territory,over which India and Pakistan have fought two wars since 1947.Administration of the territory is now divided between the tworivals by a heavily militarized line of control snaking through theHimalayas. "This has been said by rights groups like ours, the politicalleadership in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Kashmiris themselves,"said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch.The emergency laws "have led to violations, the perpetrators areyet to be prosecuted, and thus there is no sense of justice.". I am an expert from healthy-e-cigarettes.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Variable Voltage Ecig , Disposable E-Cigarettes Manufacturer, Lava Tube Ecig,and more.
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