1997
Submitted by nazirahmed on Tue, 05/20/2008 - 10:08.
- January 13: The Human Rights Watch, Asia, in a 49-page report entitled, “India's Secret
- Army in Kashmir” - New Patterns of Abuse Emerge in the Conflict, observes that several
- state-sponsored militias commonly referred to as “renegades” in J&K are serving as India's
- secret army and they are indulging in widespread human rights abuses including attacks on
- journalists, human rights activists and medical workers.
- January 14: British Prime Minister John Major says the Kashmir issue can be settled only
- when leaders of all the three parties India, Pakistan and Kashmir put heads together and
- seek permanent and amicable solution of the problem.
- January 25: Chairman of the British Parliamentary Human Rights Group Lord Avebury tells
- newsmen at House of Lords Committee room that Prime Minister John Major's speech on his
- recent visit to Pakistan that “there are three essential parties to the Kashmir issue the
- government of India, the government of Pakistan, and the people who live in Kashmir
- themselves”, is an advance on some of the previous government statements.
- January 26: A string of explosions including the one went off barely 100 metres from
- fortified Bakhshi stadium after ceremonial parade, rocks parts of occupied Kashmir after
- India's Republic Day celebrations in occupied Kashmir.
- February 17: Indian Prime Minister Deve Gowda who had earlier queered the pitch saying
- India is willing to discuss everything with Pakistan “except Kashmir”, formally urges
- Pakistan for an “early resumption of long-stalled Indo-Pak dialogue at appropriate level”.
- February 18: The United States urges Pakistan and India to end their long-standing row over
- Kashmir but says Washington does not seek a mediatory role in the conflict.
- February 20: US Ambassador Frank G. Wisner addressing Press conference in Srinagar
- reiterates the American stand for using non-violent and peaceful means for resolving the
- Kashmir issue saying, “any settlement so sought can flow a meaningful dialogue between
- India and Pakistan which should take into consideration the aspirations of the Kashmiri
- people.”
- March 2: The state newspapers suspend their publications as a mark of protest against the
- repressive actions of the occupation forces and in response to the call given by a
- Mujahideen outfit in this regard, no newspaper appears throughout the Valley from Srinagar.
- March 6: The Clinton administration reiterates its position that Kashmir is a disputed
- territory whose status has yet to be determined. “We continue to believe that the status of
- Kashmir ought to be determined by those affected in the region,” White House spokesman Mike
- McCurry observes while answering a question at his regular briefing.
- March 15: India's leading constitutional lawyer and an expert on Kashmir Affairs, Mr. A.G.
- Noorani says that Constitution of India treats the future of Held Kashmir open and provides
- for its secession without a constitutional amendment.
- Mr. Noorani's remarks come as a rebuff to Indian politicians clamouring that “Kashmir is an
- integral part of India” and forcing Kashmiri leaders to accept a solution within the
- parameters of Indian Constitution.
- March 18: The Unite States says that Kashmir must be on the agenda of forthcoming Pak-India
- bilateral talks, though it will prefer talks between the two countries sans
- 'preconditions'.
- The papers quote US Ambassador to India Frank Wisner as saying in Gwalior that US prefers
- talks between two countries without preconditions, but Kashmir must be included in the
- agenda of bilateral talks.
- March 23: Eight freedom-fighters and seven others died in stepped-up violence in occupied
- Kashmir, officials said.
- March 25: Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League decides to hold a series of demonstrations in
- various countries against the non-inclusion of Kashmiri Leaders in the forthcoming Foreign
- Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan.
- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said he backed the use of United Nations Resolutions to
- end the Kashmir dispute. Arafat said after a summit of the Organization of the Islamic
- (OIC) that he fully endorsed resolutions passed by the grouping of Islamic countries in
- Islamabad which criticized India's human rights record in occupied Kashmir.
- March 27: Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed took a firm line as he arrived in New
- Delhi for the first official talks with India in three years, throwing down the gauntlet as
- he declared Kashmir the 'core issue' on the agenda.
- Shamshad, due to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Salman Haider during a
- groundbreaking four-day visit, arrived just hours after a street protest had erupted in New
- Delhi over Pakistan's stance on the disputed Himalayan territory.
- March 28: Pakistan and India sat down at the negotiating table for the first time in three
- years with the Kashmir dispute high on the agenda. Armed police ringed the venue where
- Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed and his Indian counterpart, Salman Haider, began
- talks at 4 p.m. (3.30 p.m. PST). The two-hour session, the first official talks since 1994,
- ended in an upbeat mood, with Shamshad Ahmed, who had said earlier Kashmir would be the
- core issue of the negotiations, saying “The talks were very cordial and very meaningful and
- very purposeful. We are very hopeful.”
- The Indian Prime Minister I. K. Gujral is keeping mum on whether or not a working group
- would be formed on Kashmir between Pakistan and India to resolve this outstanding core
- issue. In an interview with BBC's Hindi Service, when Mr. Gujral's attention was drawn
- towards the confusion about the formation of a working group on Kashmir, he did not respond
- and left the site by waving his hand.
- March 31: Pakistan and India ended four days of talks aimed at reducing tension and agreed
- to meet again in Islamabad. “The two foreign secretaries discussed all outstanding issues
- of concern to both sides in a frank, cordial and constructive manner,” a joint statement
- issued after the talks said.
- April 4: All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), described the special summit of the
- Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) a “milestone” which projected Kashmir issue having
- a unanimous support of the Muslim Ummah. “This summit was a befitting answer to the Indian
- propaganda to the contrary,” Syed Yousaf Naseem, Ghulam Muhammad Safi and Mir Masood of
- APHC told a press conference. Naseem represented the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the
- recent OIC extraordinary summit in Islamabad, while Safi and Tahir Masood in the 53rd
- session of the UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva. Ghulam Mohammad Safi read out a
- piece from the statement of OIC Secretary General, Laraki, he made before the 53rd session
- of the UN Commission which sent shock waves to the Indian side.
- Kashmiri people will reject any bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan on Kashmir
- issue without the participation of true Kashmiri representatives. This was declared by
- three leaders of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) of Jammu and Kashmir at a press
- conference.
- April 7: Pakistan reiterated its position at the UN Human Rights Commission that the
- struggle of the Kashmiri people was a genuine freedom movement and it could not be mingled
- with terrorism. “There is a difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist,” Masood
- Khan, member of the Pakistan delegation told the 53rd session of the world forum.
- April 9: The plight of the Kashmiri nation echoed at the United Nations Human Rights
- Commission as two international non-governmental organizations called upon the world
- community to salvage innocent people from Indian atrocities. The representatives of Germany
- based World Society of Victimology (WSV) and Washington-based International Islamic
- Federation of Student Organizations (IIFSO) reminded the world body to fulfill its
- responsibility with regard to the precarious situation in the Indian held Kashmir.
- April 11: Pakistan ably frustrated India's move to create an impression at the UN Human
- Rights Commission that normalcy had returned to Held Kashmir and said atrocities of Indian
- security forces were going on in troubled state unabated. “Repression and coercion of the
- Kashmiris including their leadership continues in Held Kashmir,” said Pakistan's Permanent
- Representative to UN Commission Ambassador Munir Akram.
- April 20: Pakistan expressed the hope that new Indian Prime Minister I. K. Gujral would
- adopt a positive attitude on the Kashmir issue and take some bold initiative to resolve the
- dispute.
- Prime Minister's Adviser on Information Syed Mushahid Husain said while talking to newsmen
- that when Mr. Gujral had visited Pakistan in 1995 and had called on the then opposition
- leader Nawaz Sharif, he had supported the view that the Kashmir dispute should be resolved.
- “A strong and stable government is in power in Pakistan which wants to settle all problems
- with India, specially the Kashmir dispute. “We hope that Mr. Gujral will adopt a positive
- approach and take some bold initiative in this regard”, Mr. Mushahid said.
- April 22: The people in the Held Jammu & Kashmir have reacted cautiously over the change of
- government in India. Though, nobody seems to be against Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral, the new
- Prime Minister of India, yet almost everybody predicted no change in India's policy towards
- Kashmir because of Gujral government's over-dependence on the Congress Party.
- The Kashmir Times, leading English daily of the occupied territory in its editorial termed
- Gujral as the best choice though he lacks charisma and a sound political base. The paper
- stated that Gujral's understanding of the Kashmir problem with which he has been associated
- will help him form more realistic Kashmir policy that could satisfy the political
- aspirations of the people of the held territory.
- The powerful US Senate Foreign Relations Committee headed by Senator Jesse Helms will
- demand withdrawal of UN observers posted in Kashmir and Palestine within two years, as part
- of a five-year deal with the United Nations to release arrears payable by the United
- States. “Abolition of the UN peacekeeping force in Kashmir which involved an expenditure of
- about six million dollars a year, is contained in a draft of 25 benchmark proposals for UN
- reforms, prepared by the committee,” congressional sources said.
- April 24: Pakistan has resented the US Foreign Relations Committee Chairman's move to seek
- termination of peacekeeping role along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir by the
- United Nations Military Observers Group (UNMOGIP), and protested against the move to
- Washington and the UN.
- April 25: Indian troops in their stepped up repression raided the residence of senior
- Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani and arrested his driver in Srinagar, capital of the Indian
- occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
- April 26: Ten people were killed in violence in the Kashmir Valley. As a strike called by
- APHC to denounce atrocities by Indian troops crippled the troubled state.
- April 28: Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan asked India to acknowledge the existence of a
- bilateral dispute over Kashmir, saying such a move is key to improving relations. Mr. Khan
- was quoted by the Times of India as dismissing suggestions in the Indian media that the
- Kashmir issue could be put on hold in order to allow the arch-foes to resolve less
- intractable disputes first.
- May 3: The influential Washington Post urged Indian Prime Minister I. K. Gujral to ease up
- in Kashmir as it “could help India open up its economy and its political system.” In an
- editorial on prospects of Pakistan-India talks, the paper said a little ripple of promise
- of better relations between India and Pakistan has spread across South Asia.
- In occupied Kashmir, the atrocities of Indian troops claimed 256 lives in the month of May,
- which included 62 custodial killings, said an All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC)
- statement.
- May 6: The European Parliament expressed its deep concern over the human rights situation
- in Kashmir, urging Pakistan and India to continue efforts for a negotiated settlement of
- the issue. Anita Pollack, head of a four-member European Parliament delegation visiting
- Pakistan, told journalists that the Parliament is “deeply concerned about human rights
- situation which has occurred over a long period of time in Kashmir.
- May 10: Attending the ministers meeting of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
- (SAARC) summit in the Maldives, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan said that the
- resolution of the Kashmir issue alone would energize South Asia.
- May 12: In their 90-minute luncheon meeting, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Inder Kumar
- Gujral agreed to set up joint working groups for resolution of all issues, outstanding
- between the two countries during the past 50 years, establish a hot-line between them and
- release hundreds of each other's civilian prisoners, and hold the next round of secretary
- level talks by the end of this month.
- May 14: Addressing the extraordinary summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO),
- Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan favors a peaceful settlement of the
- Kashmir issue in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.
- May 15: The leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Yasin Malik was arrested in
- the Indian capital New Delhi shortly after he agreed to break a protest hunger strike. He
- was protesting against Human Rights abuses in the Indian occupied Kashmir.
- May 23: The secretary general of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, in a meeting with
- Pakistan foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan assured him that he was willing to use his good
- offices to find a solution of the festering 50-year-old Kashmir dispute between Pakistan
- and India.
- June 6: The new British High Commissioner in Pakistan Mr. David Dain has said the
- government and the people of Great Britain wish India and Pakistan to settle all their
- conflicts including that of Kashmir through peaceful means. He however, underlined the need
- of inclusion of Kashmir in Indo-Pakistan parleys with a view to making them conclusive by
- arriving at a lasting solution of Kashmir problem.
- June 8: First Secretary US Embassy, Islamabad, Michael G. Anderson, said that US firmly
- believed that Kashmir was a disputed territory and both India and Pakistan must sit
- together to resolve this problem.
- June 16: Lord Avebury, Chairman of Human Rights Group, House of Lords, requested the Indian
- Prime Minister to give free access to the human rights organizations in occupied Kashmir.
- In a two-page letter addressed to Inder Kumar Gujral, he stated if the public in Jammu and
- Kashmir and the wider international community was to have confidence in Indian government's
- determination to put an end to human rights violation, it was essential that the NGOs and
- working groups of the UN Human Rights Commission be given free access and cooperation.
- June 22: Pakistan and India reached an agreement to form a mechanism for sustained dialogue
- on issues between the two countries. Both the countries have identified eight issue areas,
- including the problem of Jammu and Kashmir, which will serve as agenda for future talks. A
- joint statement released at the conclusion of the second round of foreign secretary level
- talks said the two sides also agreed to set up working groups to deal with all outstanding
- issues at appropriate levels. The problems of peace and security and Jammu and Kashmir
- would, however, be taken up at the secretary level.
- June 25: India rejected Pakistan's interpretation that it has accepted Jammu and Kashmir as
- a “disputed territory” after the second round of Secretary-level talks just concluded in
- Islamabad.
- June 28: The outgoing US Ambassador to India, Mr. Frank G. Wisner, said India and Pakistan
- should address all issues including Kashmir simultaneously. “There is no back-burner or
- front burner. All the gas points on the stove are sort of on parallel,” he told Business
- daily.
- June 29: “All the member states of the OIC have been doing their best both from their
- platform and at the United Nations to see the Kashmir issue resolved amicably”, The High
- Commissioner of Republic of Nigeria in Pakistan, Mr. A.R. Younasa, said, while addressing
- the Kashmiri refugees at one of their camps on the outskirts of the AJK capital.
- July 10: The Government in Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian government should act now to
- ensure that political activists are not detained for participating in legitimate protests
- and that journalists are not beaten up and harassed for pursuing their professional duties,
- the London-based Amnesty International (AI) said.
- July 15: A visiting team of women rights activists to Held Kashmir said the women and
- children are the worst sufferers in the prevailing situation in held Kashmir. Seeking
- withdrawal of troops from civilian areas and all educational institutions, the activists
- said the permission to Amnesty International would help in many ways in easing the pressure
- on civilian population. They said “Kashmir is being treated as a colony” and it clearly
- seems “there is genocide in Kashmir”.
- July 20: There has been a tremendous support of the Saudi masses for the principled stand
- of Pakistan on the long-standing issue of Kashmir. This was stated by the head of a
- six-member Saudi delegation currently on a seven-day visit to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Dr.
- Saad Saeedi Alhameedi, Deputy Secretary General of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth
- (WAMY).
- August 10: The Chairperson of the Indian Commission for Women, Dr. Mohini Giri, said
- Kashmiri women were being treated in the most inhuman way all over Kashmir.
- August 14: Raising of Pakistan's flag and pro-independence demonstration by the people in
- occupied Kashmir marked Pakistan Independence Day in a show of defiance against Indian
- rule.
- August 15: “The United Nations should immediately hold a plebiscite to ascertain the right
- of self-determination of the Kashmiris in occupied Kashmir and New Delhi should withdraw
- its forces from the held Valley.” This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Special
- Committee of Pakistan's National Assembly on Kashmir, which met with Chaudhry Muhammad
- Sarwar Khan in the chair.
- August 23: The Indian Army refused to comply with any of the directives of the puppet
- regime of Farooq Abdullah in held Kashmir. The puppet chief minister, in a letter to the
- Indian Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, protested the army's attitude stressing that military
- operations to quell the Mujahideen movement should take place with his consent.
- August 25: In the inaugural session of the international seminar on Kashmir held on August
- 24 to 25, Pakistan, assured Kashmiris her full support till they achieve their right of
- plebiscite under the United Nations supervision as guaranteed by the Security Council
- resolutions.
- August 30: American journalist Martin Sugarman observed that the UN Security Council
- resolutions on Kashmir are still alive but the terms of resolutions should be redefined and
- enlarged to reflect the changed situation in Kashmir and the rest of the world. In an
- interview with PPI he said it should be made obligatory on India to withdraw all its
- occupation forces from held Kashmir, as a free and fair plebiscite in the presence of such
- a large number of troops would remain a distant dream.
- November 4: If India doesn't honor its commitments on Kashmir made in the second round of
- talks, Pakistan will not attend the third round in New Delhi, official sources said.
- “Recently indications from the Indian side point to the conclusion that the Indian
- government may be having second thoughts on the agreed mechanism, particularly in regard to
- the issues of Peace and Security and Jammu and Kashmir,” said an official.
- Indian agreement to discuss the issue of Jammu and Kashmir would not represent any sign of
- flexibility if any change in the constitutional position of the State is ruled out, Lord
- Avebury, Chairman British Parliamentary Human Rights Group and member of the House of Lords
- has said. Addressing a gathering of about 20,000 delegates at the annual conference of the
- Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in Chicago Lord Avebury proposed a 7 point minimal
- agenda for the people of Kashmir and the governments of India and Pakistan which he
- believed would be practicable to send in motion a process for resolution of the Kashmir
- issue.
- September 09: The visiting four-member Swiss parliamentary delegation promised to raise the
- issue of Kashmir in Swiss parliament. The assurance came as the visiting delegation of the
- Swiss parliamentarians led by the Deputy Speaker of the Swiss parliament held a meeting
- with Convener of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference Syed Yousaf Naseem.
- September 17: On the second day of third round of Foreign Secretary-level talks, the two
- sides continued the diplomatic efforts to “operationalise mechanism” for future 'structured
- dialogue' on all outstanding issues. However, the Indian side is still adamant on not
- forming a working group on issue of Kashmir.
- The two sides held two informal sessions in which different matters relating to the
- formation of mechanism of future talks came under discussion. There seems to be no forward
- movement on the issue of formation of working group on Kashmir as the Indian side is
- insisting on its interpretation of the joint statement issued at the conclusion of second
- round of talks. Though the Indians have agreed that the Kashmir issue could be dealt with
- at Foreign Secretaries level, however, they are opposed to any kind of structured dialogue
- on Kashmir.
- Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad raised the issue of violation of Line of Control
- (LoC) by Indian Army in the months of August and September when the civilian population of
- Azad Kashmir was heavily bombed. Shamshad Ahmad held a long meeting with Indian Prime
- Minister Inder Kumar Gujral in which issues relating to Kashmir problem were discussed in
- detail.
- September 18: Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad Khan said that the third round of
- bilateral talks between Pakistan and India has remained inconclusive because the Indian
- side has retired from the agreement set out in Islamabad's joint statement of June 23 this
- year. Talking to newsmen on his arrival from the Indian capital after three days visit, he
- said Pakistan could not compromise on its principled position with regard to the Jammu and
- Kashmir issue which lies at the heart of all problems.
- September 21: Democrat Senator Tim Johnson from South Dakota welcomed President Clinton's
- meetings with Prime Ministers of Pakistan and India and urged the US to play more assertive
- role in resolving the Kashmir dispute. He also supported right of self-determination of
- Kashmiri people as the basis of any solution to the problem.
- Indian troops shot dead 22 Kashmiris struggling for freedom in occupied Kashmir. Sixteen of
- them were killed in at Beerwah woods in central Kashmir.
- September 22: Prime Minister of Pakistan in a keynote address to the UN General Assembly
- said that Pakistan has taken an important initiative to bring about peace in South Asia for
- which India's cooperation is essential, and the key to which is solution of the
- longstanding Kashmir dispute. This, he said, can be done only by giving the right of
- self-determination to the Kashmiris which is their right under the United Nations
- resolutions.
- September 23: In their second meeting this year, at St Regis Hotel Prime Ministers of India
- and Pakistan failed to find a way out of the impasse on the Kashmir issue that mars ties
- between the two countries. Pakistan Prime Minister told Gujral that it would be extremely
- difficult to resolve other outstanding matters unless there is a discernible movement
- forward on the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
- September 24: The Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan would welcome
- third party mediation on Kashmir dispute and it was with this intention that he had asked
- the US President to pay more attention to the situation in South Asia. The Prime Minister
- said this while addressing a press conference at Hotel Roosevelt. He said American
- involvement in issues and disputes in South Asia would help break deadlocks just as they
- had done in the case of Middle East peace process. It will be welcomed by the countries of
- the region, he added.
- September 27: India has directed the puppet regime in occupied Kashmir to extend the life
- of two special laws, giving free hand and impunity to the armed forces, for another one
- year. The laws the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Disturbed Areas Act were
- promulgated way back in 1990 and were expiring in early October.
- September 30: The leader of the visiting French Parliamentary delegation Senator Andre Egu
- has voiced unequivocal support to the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir.
- He said, “They should be given right to self-determination through application of United
- Nations resolutions”.
- October 2: The United States Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright expresses “strong hope
- that long-standing dispute between India and Pakistan should be resolved soon” and
- reiterates American offer to “help in resolving the dispute at the request of both
- parties.”
- October 3: US House of Representatives tables a resolution seeking to “impartially
- ascertain” the future status of Jammu and Kashmir.
- Congressman Dana Rohrabacher moves the resolution on September 30, which is referred to the
- House Foreign Affairs Committee headed by Republican Benjamin Gilman.
- October 8: Prime Minister of Pakistan calls for redemption of the pledge made by the
- international community through several UN resolutions for exercise of the right of
- self-determination by people of Kashmir.
- October 9: In his meetings with Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan, British
- Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, offers help in finding a just solution of Jammu and Kashmir,
- recognising the Kashmir dispute, as the main stumbling block in Pakistan-India relations
- and in the interest of regional and global peace and security.
- New Delhi warns Britain not to try to mediate in Kashmir dispute. A government spokesman
- said India has “no use for the offer of good offices and or mediation by third party” over
- Kashmir dispute. The warning follows British offers to try to help solve the ongoing
- dispute.
- October 11: Pakistan raises the issue of right to self-determination of the people of
- occupied Kashmir in the United Nations during deliberations of the De-colonisation and
- Political Committee.
- Chairman Foreign Relations Committee of the National Assembly, Mian Abdul Waheed, expresses
- concern over the failure of the international community in realising the inalienable right
- of the Kashmiri people who are under Indian occupation.
- October 12: The desecration of historic Jamia Mosque in Sringar by the Indian troops sparks
- furious anti-India demonstration. The troops after besieging the mosque, barged into it
- with boots-on and continued extensive search for three hours.
- October 18: Indian government decides to pull out some of its army units and the Border
- Security Force (BSF) from Srinagar, Baramulla, Islamabad and other towns in South and North
- Kashmir, reports an Indian daily, 'The Tribune'. The move coincides with the extension of
- the two draconian laws, the Disturbed Area Act and Armed Forces Special Powers Act by the
- so-called Legislative Assembly in Indian Occupied Kashmir. These acts were originally
- promulgated in 1990.
- October 19: Strike cripples life in occupied Kashmir on the occasion of the visit of Indian
- Prime Minister I.K. Gujral to Srinagar, where no business activity took place and the
- traffic remained off the road.
- October 23: “We will lend our assistance when and where we can, at the request of the
- parties involved,” US Assistant Secretary of State Kari Inderfurth tells House
- International Sub-committee on the Near East and South Asia.
- October 24: The people show their commitment to Kashmir freedom struggle by forming a
- 625-km-long human chain along the Line of Control (LoC) up to Wahga border near Lahore.
- November 19: The US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright terms Kashmir to be an issue of
- her personal interest because of her father, a member of the first UN Observers team on
- Kashmir. “Personally I want the conflict to end”, she said while talking to a group of
- Parliamentarians.
- December 10: The United Nations expresses deep concern over the deteriorating human rights
- situation in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Talking to a two-member All Parties Hurriyat
- Conference (APHC) delegation at the UN mission the Acting Resident Coordinator in India Mr.
- B.S. Aguirea says the World Body is closely monitoring the situation in the occupied
- Kashmir and is aware about its duties.
- December 15: Labour MP Muhammad Sarwar calls upon the United States and Britain to play an
- active role in resolving the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.
- December 18: In occupied Kashmir, masses strongly denounce the Indian military forces and
- the puppet administration for starting the fire, which burnt the Shrine of Shah-e-Hamadan.
- According to voice of America, when a Tehsildar reached the site, the agitated people
- besieged him and blamed that the incident occurred owing to the negligence of the
- occupation authorities and its fire service. The BBC said, the Dargah could have been saved
- if the administration had taken timely steps. The radio said, the local people say the
- administration did not take appropriate steps to extinguish the fire, according to Radio
- Tehran, people rush to extinguish the fires but troops opened fire on them.
- December 21: Freedom House, a New York-based organisation, describes Indian occupied
- Kashmir, as being a 'worst of the worst' case scenario in repression. In its annual report
- the Freedom House, established by Eleanor Roosevelt and Wendell Wilkie in 1941, for the
- promotion of liberty and democracy, characterised the Kashmiri territory under Indian
- occupation as an area where basic human and political rights are denied to the people.
- 1998
- January 3: The creation of an Indian-puppet regime in occupied Kashmir "did not translate
- into improved human rights conditions", says the Human Rights Watch report, issued in
- December 1997. The report says a fact-finding mission “documented a large number of
- extra-judicial executions that had occurred in the year since Farooq Abdullah's government
- took power.” The report cites examples of killings by the special operations group (SOG)
- and cites the collaboration of Indian-sponsored terrorist units in such operations.
- January 5: Kashmiris throughout the world and across the Line of Control, as well as in
- Pakistan hold rallies to observe the Self-Determination Day for drawing global attention
- towards resolution of the lingering problem.
- January 6: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, in a meeting of the Central Executive
- Committee of the APHC in Srinagar, announces to boycott the forthcoming elections of Indian
- Lok Sabha.
- January 8: The Indian troops desecrate the shrine of Baba Daud Khaki at Batmaloo in
- Srinagar and ransack sacred relics.
- January 11: India to move 250 additional companies of paramilitary forces into held Kashmir
- in the name of upcoming election duties.
- January 24: An attack on a military camp in Budgam, results in killing of seven Indian
- troops and injury to several others.
- Prime Minister of Pakistan holds detailed discussions with King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz in
- Makkah and briefs the King on Indo-Pakistan relations as well as the situation in Occupied
- Kashmir. The Saudi King expresses support for Pakistan and the people of Kashmir.
- January 26: The people of Kashmir observe Indian Republic Day as Black Day.
- Twenty-three Hindus are massacred and their bodies mutilated in a village in the Indian
- held Kashmir where they are said to be living with the Muslims. The killings take place
- shortly before midnight at Vandhama on the eve of India's Republic Day.
- January 28: Indian Prime Ministers Inder Kumar Gujral blames Pakistan for backing people
- involved in the killing 23 Hindus in the disputed state of Kashmir.
- The US government condemns the killing of Hindus in occupied Kashmir.
- The US State Department spokesman in his statement says "On the night of January 25, 23
- members of the Kashmiri Pandit Community were murdered in their homes by unidentified
- terrorists in a village near the state capital of Srinagar. According to the reports,
- citing the lone survivor a 12-year-old boy, a group of armed men entered his family's house
- asking for tea then opened fire on his family and their neighbours. Among the dead are all
- Hindus 10 women, nine men and four children. ".
- Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral visits the site of the latest incident in the
- troubled state.
- January 29: The Foreign Office in Islamabad condemns Indian Premier Inder Kumar Gujral's
- statement blaming Pakistan for backing Mujahideen accused of killing 23 Hindus in Kashmir.
- February 1: Prime Minister of Pakistan briefs the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan about his
- efforts to try to defuse tension in South Asia and his meeting with Indian Prime Minister
- Gujral. He asks Kofi Annan to ensure the implementation of UN resolutions on Kashmir.
- The US State Department confirms widespread killings, abductions and abuses by Indian
- authorities in Jammu and Kashmir, saying government forces, numbering between 350,000 and
- 400,000 continue to commit serious violations of humanitarian law in the disputed state.
- February 3: Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral cancels his scheduled visit of
- Kishtwar town of the held Kashmir in view of strong resistance by the Kashmiri people and
- the severe tension in Kishtwar and adjoining areas where nine innocent Muslim protesters
- are killed by the Indian occupation troops on the holy day of Eid.
- February 4: More than 6,000 Kashmiris, shouting slogans for freedom and condemning Indian
- atrocities in the held Valley turn on to the streets of Pampore, 10 kilometres south of
- Srinagar.
- February 8: The executive committee of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference with Chairman
- Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in the chair expresses grave concern over the formation of secret force
- "Kashaf commandos" by the Indian forces to sabotage the Kashmiris' liberation movement. The
- new force sets forth a nefarious agenda of creating dissension among the rank and files of
- the Kashmiri Mujahideen and subverting communal peace by killing Hindu minority in Muslim
- majority areas and then putting blame on the Mujahideen.
- February 25: Sixteen people, including seven Indian soldiers, are gunned down in renewed
- fierce street clashes in various parts of the occupied Kashmir. Two Indian soldiers and
- three Kashmiri freedom fighters are killed during a street armed battle at Nagia Heera
- Mandi in Poonch district.
- February 26: India either arrests the top ranking leadership of the All Parties Hurriyat
- Conference or confines them to their houses three days ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in
- the held Valley.
- February 28: Voters stay off the snow-covered streets while police confronts protesters who
- are calling for boycott of Indian Lok Sabha election in the occupied Kashmir. Three persons
- including two children are killed and 12 others abducted in poll-related violence.
- Witnesses say shops, businesses, offices and schools remain closed and the streets give
- deserted look for the second consecutive day.
- Kashmiris living in Britain hold a demonstration outside the Indian High Commission against
- the holding of farcical elections in Kashmir for Indian's six parliamentary seats.
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