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| India-Pakistan | |
| Peace call by Kashmir ’liberator’ | |
| 2003-07-11 | |
| A man who took up arms 56 years ago believing Kashmir should become part of Pakistan has urged that a peaceful solution be found to the long-running dispute. Khan Shah Afridi - now aged 100 - picked up his shotgun and went off to fight in 1947 but now he wants to see successful peace talks between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory before he dies. The Pakistani tribesman is strikingly tall but now the legs that once carried him for miles to cross into the disputed Kashmir valley and fight for its "liberation" are paralysed. Boo Hoo Like his fellow fighters, Mr Khan believed that because the majority of Kashmiris were Muslim the country should accede to Pakistan. It’s mine all mine, in fact Birmingham and Bradford should also accede to Pakland The dispute has sparked a series of wars between India and Pakistan most recently with the two countries rattling their nuclear sabres in a truly terrifying display of brinkmanship. In 1947, following partition, thousands of Pashtun tribesmen from Pakistan’s north-west tribal belt invaded Kashmir. Many got killed in the fighting. Some were lucky enough to make it home. Khan Shah is one of them. Although he resorted to taking up arms to achieve his aim at that time, his view has changed after fifty-six years. He wants the Kashmir issue resolved not only through negotiations but in his life-time as well. He vividly recalls his march past Baramullah and until they were a few kilometres away from Srinagar, the Kashmir capital. "On the way we fired at whoever came in our way. I don’t remember how many we killed, but they were quite a few," he recalled while one of his sons cooled him with a fan in the oppressive heat. What noble warriors they were He said he had no support from anyone and went to fight on his own. "I took my own shotgun and bullets. No one not even the Pakistan Government helped us," he says. Mr Khan gets breathless if he speaks too much or tries too hard to recall those faraway events. Now his whole life is restricted to a small room in a mud house in the village of Mattni, 40 kms south of Peshawar. He is probably the only surviving tribesman from the semi-autonomous tribal area who, on the call of their spiritual leader Pir of Maniki Sharif, led a group of men to fight in Kashmir. Those fucking Mullahs again. "Jihad, Jihad, Kill, spittle, drool, Infidel" Asked how many joined him for the journey to Kashmir, he said there were a lot. "There were Mohmand tribesmen and we Afridis. Everyone carried his own gun."
Those poor muslims, always the victim Mr Khan’s duty was to organise the men and encourage them to fight. "I used to tell them after an attack that you have come here to fight, not to run away as chickens. You will not run away," he said. He recalled that he spent a night in Baramullah, now under India, before proceeding towards Srinagar. He also admits to some looting by the invading tribesmen but denies that they raped women, something they were charged with. "They were mainly people from Azakhel who looted. We did not put our hands on women. We did not put our hands on wrong things." But we put our hands on plenty of loot He claims that the local Kashmiri population was very cordial to them. "They would give us bread, milk and other things that they could spare. They were happy to see us." Those kashmiris that we didn’t shoot Asked whether he remembered the massacre of Christians in a convent in Baramullah, he said: "Our leader Suhbat Khan was not a good man. He used to put hands on such people." Our leader was not a good man but we followed him anyway into war and did what he told us. The success of their military foray into Kashmir was short-lived. The Indian Army was quick to respond attacking the fighters with aeroplanes and artillery. "We all were forced to take shelter in the fields," recalls Mr Khan. "They inflicted heavy human losses on us and we were disgraced. A large number of our men died." Those damn Infidels, didn’t they read the script Mr Khan knows that at 100 he is in the twilight days of his life. Yes so hurry up and die But now 56 years after he went to war over Kashmir, he wishes the issue to be resolved peacefully through talks. There’s no 72 virgins waiting for him after the mess he created "Both sides are suffering huge losses because of the continued tension and disturbances in the valley," he says. "It will be better for both to get over with this problem once and for all. And I wish it happens in my life-time." Not likely, too many mullahs around to allow that | |
| Posted by:rg117 |