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    1996

    • January 1: According to the report of a fact-finding team of eight civil liberties and
    • democratic rights' organizations carried by the Indian daily “Statesman”, an overwhelming
    • majority of deaths in occupied Kashmir are the work of Indian military forces.
    • January 4: Secretary General Motamar-al-Alam-Islami, Senator Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, in
    • a message, draws attention of UN High Commissioner for Human rights, Joshe Ayala Lasso and
    • the President of International Committee of the Red Cross, Comelio Sommaruga, towards the
    • growing violations of human rights in occupied Kashmir.
    • January 9: Former US National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft says he sees some room for
    • private mediation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, but only if it is sought by the
    • two parties to the dispute.
    • January 13: A report of the Committee to Protect Journalists says, “put simply, there is no
    • freedom of press in Kashmir (IHK) today. On a razor's edge is a critique of State
    • oppression and censorship that prevails in the Indian held Kashmir.”
    • January 15: A group of Kashmiri leaders offers to help negotiate the safe release of four
    • Westerners held hostage for over six months by unknown gunmen.
    • January 19: British Labour Party leaders hope that India will join Pakistan in a meaningful
    • dialogue for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, which one of them describes as an
    • "ongoing tragedy'.
    • The Shadow Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook regrets that twenty years after the signing of the
    • Simla Agreement no progress has been made towards reaching a solution of the Kashmir
    • problem. However, the UN Resolutions on Kashmir are still valid and will remain valid.
    • January 23: Shoot-on-sight orders are issued and indefinite curfew clamped in major towns
    • of Doda District after Indian soldiers gun down seven members of a family.
    • February 1: The former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court and Chairman of Jammu
    • and Kashmir People Basic Rights (Protection) Commission, Justice Mufti Bahauddin Farooqui
    • observes that President's rule in the occupied territory has no legal basis whatever and,
    • sadly enough, constitutes a tyrannical exercise.
    • A rocket attack is carried out by the Indian forces on a mosque in Forward Kahuta in Azad
    • Kashmir which kills 18 people and wounds several others.
    • February 11: Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman says that the United States "stands ready
    • as a friend" to alleviate the Kashmir problem out but asserts that such a role is not
    • feasible unless all parties to the conflict want Washington to play a role and that such an
    • invitation is not forthcoming.
    • Advisor to the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan, Goga Hadaycove, says the integrity of the
    • state of Kashmir should remain intact and the Kashmiris be provided a chance to decide
    • their future according to their aspirations.
    • February 16: APHC says, "favoring tripartite talks to end the Kashmir dispute, we appeal to
    • India and Pakistan to allow our delegation to visit New Delhi, Islamabad and Azad Kashmir
    • to initiate tripartite talks."
    • February 24: The US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Ms Robin Raphel
    • asserts that Kashmir has been a very difficult problem for Pakistan and India since their
    • independence in 1947 as both the states claim it to be part of their territory and they
    • have struggled over it in various ways over the years.
    • March 9: A Member of the British Parliament, Tom Cox deplores intransigent attitude of
    • India to solve Kashmir issue saying that there is no mark of change in her pursuits.
    • March 12: APHC leaders Syed Ali Gilani, Kh Abdul Ghani Lone, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Javed
    • Mir express grave concern about the safety of the life of Chairman of the Commission of
    • Jurists, Jalil Andrabi.
    • March 19: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Sardar Assif Ahmad Ali again invites India for talks
    • for the resolution of Kashmir dispute.
    • March 21: Pakistan extends full support to APHC's rejection of Indian plan to hold
    • elections in Indian-held Kashmir and again calls upon New Delhi not to repeat another
    • farcical polls but, instead, put an end to repression of the people in the Valley and
    • respond to Pakistan's offer for a meaningful dialogue on the Kashmir dispute.
    • March 25: Indefinite curfew clamped and some 2,000 police and Indian paramilitary troops
    • lay siege around Hazratbal Mosque a day after the Indian troops martyred 11 Kashmiri
    • devotees.
    • March 26: A spokesperson of the Chinese permanent mission at the United Nations in Geneva
    • while commenting on a malicious and distorted news story filed by an Indian journalist on a
    • Chinese delegate's statement on the right to self-determination made at the current session
    • of the Commission on Human Rights, says that China's position on Kashmir is consistent and
    • remains unchanged.
    • March 27: Body of Chairman of Kashmir Commission of Jurists and journalist, Jalil Andrabi
    • is found in a river sparking protests by Kashmiris who emphasize that he has been martyred
    • by Indian forces.
    • Pakistan Ambassador Munir Akram in reply to Indian delegate's remarks at the 52nd session
    • of the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, says Kashmir is a disputed territory awaiting
    • a decision regarding its final disposition in accordance with UN Resolutions and by
    • honoring its commitments on holding plebiscite in Kashmir, India will only contribute to
    • the universal realization of the right to self-determination.
    • March 30: The US spokesman Nicholas Burns strongly condemns the brutal murder of Jalil
    • Andrabi and calls upon India to conduct a full and transparent investigation into the
    • circumstances around his abduction and murder. JKLF President Shabbir Ahmad Siddiqui and 29
    • others are killed as Indian troops blast a house with mortars on the outskirts of Srinagar.
    • April 3: The OIC condemns massacre of 22 Kashmiris by the Indian forces at Hazratbal shrine
    • in Srinagar and the custodial killing of Jalil Andrabi.
    • April 7: Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao says India is committed to holding dialogue
    • with Pakistan on all issues including Kashmir without any preconditions but rules out
    • third-party mediation. India is sending additional 60,000 troops to occupied Kashmir to
    • beef up its forces there to ensure holding of coming Lok Sabha farcical polls.
    • April 9: Chairman US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jesse Helms says the best US
    • response to growing tension in South Asia will be the American mediation on Kashmir with
    • the vigor that was dedicated to Middle East peacemaking.
    • April 10: British Labour member of the European Parliament Michael Hindley says that
    • Kashmir is an international problem and should be settled through negotiations.
    • April 18: British Prime Minister John Major says that he supports an approach that would
    • resolve the Kashmir dispute peacefully through dialogue and negotiations.
    • President and founder of Christians and Muslims for Peace, Prof. William W. Baker says that
    • Kashmir once said to be a heaven on earth, has been transformed into a hell.
    • April 19: Kashmiri newspaper editors announce to defy government ban on publishing
    • statements issued by Muslim liberation fighters groups.
    • April 25: US Congressman Dan Burton, a Republican from Indiana, asks the US Administration
    • to forcefully condemn India's tyrannical behaviour in occupied Kashmir and to demand the
    • immediate release of political prisoners.
    • May 1: US Under Secretary of State Phillip Wilcox while releasing the State Department's
    • annual report on "Patterns of global terrorism for 1995 says, "there is no substantial
    • evidence that Pakistan is supporting terrorism in Kashmir."
    • May 2: Bruce Fein, a lawyer and freelance writer specializing in legal issues, in his
    • latest analysis appearing in the Washington Times observes that the self-determination is a
    • time-honored concept and a plebiscite to determine Kashmir's national destiny will be no
    • insult to India's dignity and global stature.
    • May 8: The faith that the British Government seems to be putting into the effectiveness of
    • the Indian National Human Rights Commission to investigate and prevent human rights
    • violations in J&K is challenged by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group,
    • Lord Eric Avebury, who in a letter to the Minister of State, Jeremy Hanley has criticized
    • the government for ignoring the facts.
    • May 11: Indian forces blast two mines on Srinagar-Charar Sharif road in an attempt to
    • assassinate the APHC leaders on their way to attend the foundation stone-laying ceremony of
    • the Dargah of Sheikh Nooruddin Wali.
    • May 13: In occupied Kashmir, more than 1.5 million government employees who are assigned
    • election duty by the Indian authorities, go on 18-day strike at the call of JK Government
    • Employees Confederation to boycott the electoral process.
    • May 17: The Human Rights Watch says human rights conditions in occupied Kashmir have
    • deteriorated as a result of a new policy of the Indian government to arm and protect
    • irregular militias to carry out its counter-insurgency operations.
    • May 18: Chinese parliamentary delegation leader Sun Fulling, who is vice chairman of the
    • National Committee of CPPCC, reiterates his government's principled stand on Kashmir saying
    • that the Kashmir issue be resolved through negotiations according to the UN resolutions.
    • May 23: India's newly-installed Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee says Article-370 of the
    • Indian constitution, which guarantees special status to Jammu and Kashmir, is a secondary
    • issue and his government will give priority to crushing what he described as uprising in
    • the Held State.
    • Indian soldiers summon local leaders to demand that they turn out for parliamentary
    • elections or face the army's wrath.
    • May 24: The US media almost unanimously reports that the elections held in Indian-occupied
    • Kashmir are "a sham, fake and a parody of democracy" with heavily armed Indian troops
    • forcing people out of their houses to go and vote. The British media blasts the
    • Indian-sponsored elections for the Lok Sabha seats in held Kashmir saying the people were
    • forced out from their homes by Indian military forces to go to the polling stations.
    • June 4: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat hopes that the Kashmir conflict will be
    • resolved in the light of the UN resolutions.
    • June 8: APHC rejects Indian government's offer of more autonomy to J&K saying the problem
    • cannot be resolved by remaining in Indian Union.
    • A powerful bomb hidden in a car explodes outside the residence of APHC leader Abdul Ghani
    • Lone in Rawalpora Colony in southern Kashmir causing extensive damage setting ablaze dozens
    • of shops and smashing window panes of more than two dozen houses in the posh locality.
    • June 17: Member of the British Parliament Garry Waller urges new Indian government to look
    • into the simmering Kashmir as hundreds have been killed in the valley and many women are
    • raped every day.
    • June 30: Fire breaks out in 600-years-old Jamia Masjid, triggering protest demonstrations.
    • July 6: Indian Prime Minister meets politicians as general strike to protest the premier's
    • visit to Kashmir grips the troubled Valley.
    • July 7: One-day visit to Indian-held Kashmir by the Indian Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda,
    • comes in for adverse comments by the APHC chief Mirwaiz Omar Farooq that Indian Prime
    • Minister should first realize the bitter reality that Kashmir is a longstanding dispute and
    • shall have to be solved after negotiations take place between India, Pakistan and the
    • people of Jammu and Kashmir.
    • July 12: The United States welcomes the proposed resumption of talks between Pakistan and
    • India and hopes that the process would lead to early resolution of their long outstanding
    • disputes. Lok Sabha extends Presidential Rule in Indian-held Kashmir for six months,
    • approving a bill on the same.
    • July 13: US President Bill Clinton urges Pakistan and India to resolve the Kashmir dispute
    • through direct negotiations and offers to facilitate such talks should both parties desire
    • US help.
    • July 17: Police shoots dead JKLF leader Hilal Beig, 34, in occupied Kashmir.
    • July 19: Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphel refutes that the United States is trying
    • to stage a Camp David in South Asia through what is being described as 'Cohan Plan"
    • envisaging an accord between Pakistan and India brokered by the United States.
    • July 22: Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Najmuddin Sheikh rules out Camp David-like solution
    • to the Kashmir issue as nonsense and even the Americans have denied any such initiative.
    • July 23: The Kashmir issue is discussed at a meeting between a group of MPs and Robin Cook,
    • the shadow foreign secretary, organized by the Labour Member of Parliament, Max Madden.
    • August 3: Shedding its reluctance to allow US Senator Hank Brown to visit occupied Kashmir,
    • the Indian government announces its decision to treat what the Senator had intended to be a
    • private visit as an official one, with External Affairs Minister, I.K. Gujral extending him
    • the courtesies required of him under protocol. Brown is not too popular with the Indian
    • government because of the role he had played in facilitating the one-time waiver of the
    • Pressler Amendment enabling US administration to give $358 million military assistance to
    • Pakistan.
    • August 4: US Ambassador to New Delhi Frank Wisner says his country believes that there
    • cannot be a lasting settlement of Kashmir problem unless Pakistan and India come to the
    • negotiating table and until the Kashmiris are allowed to express their views.
    • August 6: Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan Boris Shikhmuradov expresses concern over
    • human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, and stresses the need for resolving Kashmir
    • issue through talks to ensure peace in the region.
    • August 7: Republican Senator Hank Brown during his second visit to Pakistan in four months
    • says "it is really heart-breaking to see what is happening in occupied Kashmir."
    • August 9: The announcement made by the Indian Election Commission about polls schedule of
    • Kashmir Assembly is dismissed by APHC as yet another gimmick to mislead the world opinion
    • and announces to boycott the elections.
    • August 11: US Senator Hank Brown says that Pakistan can play a very positive role for peace
    • and stability in the region adding that the United States supports a political solution of
    • Kashmir problem which will greatly benefit all the people living in the entire region.
    • August 13: Pakistan Prime Minister says at the inaugural session of the OIC Contact Group
    • on Kashmir, "Not far from here would you hear the thunder of the Indian guns as they
    • violate the Line of Control, despite the presence of the UN Military Observers, targeting
    • innocent civilians in Azad Kashmir".
    • August 16: Pakistan Envoy to UN Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and
    • Protection of Minorities Munir Akram regrets the world silence over killing of 50,000
    • Kashmiris in Indian-held Kashmir at the hands of over 600,000 troops. Through its intense
    • last minute efforts, Pakistan is able to thwart an attempt to delete the issues of Kashmir
    • and Palestine from the list of the matters pending before the Security Council. As a
    • consequence of Pakistan's timely intervention on the matter, the Kashmir issue is given a
    • year's reprieve at the end of which term (ending September 15, 1997) it will be
    • automatically dropped from the Security Council's agenda.
    • August 20: The UN officials say that deletion of Kashmir dispute from the UN Security
    • Council's agenda items can result in withdrawal of the UN military observers mission
    • (UNMOGIP) from the Line of Control. Besides, it can also be deleted from the agenda items
    • in the General Assembly if the Council's decision of July 30 is not reversed.
    • August 25: Indian Home Minister Indrajit Gupta says the government's new plan for more
    • autonomy for J&K includes separation of Ladakh region from Muslim majority Valley area to
    • contain the freedom movement and place the Budh majority Ladakh under Center's direct rule.
    • August 27: Norwegian Foreign Minister Bjorn Tore Gondal, says that his country is ready to
    • play the role of a mediator for resolving Kashmir conflict between Pakistan and India if
    • the two sides are willing to accept Norway's mediation.
    • August 28: The Security Council working group agrees to recommend the retention of Kashmir
    • and some other issues on the Security Council's agenda but clamps a crippling proviso by
    • subjecting it to annual review and notification.
    • September 14: To make the process of so-called elections to the state assembly successful,
    • the Indian troops arrest the whole leadership of the APHC.
    • September 15: Underscoring that the "Kashmir dispute cannot be resolved through fraudulent
    • elections", US Congressman Tim Johnson asks President Bill Clinton, "to use the US
    • influence to promote lasting solution to the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the will of
    • the Kashmiri people."
    • September 16: There is a widespread coercion of voters by the Indian forces during the
    • second phase of the state assembly elections in J&K. A BBC correspondent reports airing at
    • some places loud-speaker messages from mosques by the Indian army asking people to come out
    • while at other places people complain they were forced to cast vote. Newsmen see buses and
    • trucks commanded by paramilitary forces to bring out reluctant voters.
    • September 22: Reiterating that US position on Kashmir issue remains unchanged, US
    • ambassador to Pakistan Thomas W. Simons says the Kashmir question must be resolved
    • peacefully through bilateral negotiations between Pakistan and India taking into account
    • the aspirations of Kashmiris.
    • October 6: APHC representatives from Indian-held Kashmir and Azad Jammu and Kashmir at a
    • joint meeting in Washington discuss various aspects of the freedom movement and the role of
    • the world community in promoting a just and peaceful settlement of the Kashmir imbroglio.
    • They adopt a statement called the Washington Declaration.
    • November 7: Robin Cook expresses concern over the unstable situation in the Indian-held
    • Kashmir saying that after having a five-day visit to the Valley, he is now in a better
    • position to understand the unsatisfactory situation and measures being taken by the Indian
    • forces to suppress the free will of the Kashmiri people.
    • November 14: Twelve US Congressmen write a joint letter to the Indian government expressing
    • concern over the abuse of poll process in Kashmir and the post-election situation
    • prevailing there.
    • December 13: The Amnesty International calls on India to ensure that all political
    • prisoners are tried promptly and fairly and all allegations of torture and deaths in
    • custody are investigated and justice brought to those responsible.
    • The OIC Foreign Ministers Conference in its communiqué issued in Jakarta condemns the
    • continuing massive violations of human rights of the Kashmiri people and calls for the
    • respect of their human rights including the right of self-determination.

     

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