Kashmir was never part of India: says Leading British Comedian George Galloway

Galloway With Hamas Leader

I bring you one of the finest jokes you have heard in some time. Get ready to laugh and role on the floor holding you belly.

British parliamentarian George Galloway has said the Kashmiris simply want plebiscite which was promised to them by the UN and former prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru.
While addressing the seminar at the UN in Geneva “Defending the Democratic Processes”, the veteran campaigner on Kashmir said due to crime committed by the British empire the sufferings of the Kashmiris were greater than the Palestinians.

Some 80,000 had died in the more than 20 years freedom struggle, uncountable numbers had been wounded and maimed, Galloway said. Mass imprisonment and exile and even the use of rape as a tool of occupation had been the lot of the Kashmiris, he added. And yet, he said, the only demand of the occupied people of Kashmir was for the right to vote. The same right the West claims to support in the Arab spring for the Libyans and the Syrians, he said. Galloway hailed Indian author Arundhati Roy who was crying out for justice for the people of occupied Kashmir and said that Kashmir was never the part of India.

Did you enjoy that piece of comic genius. Let me give you examples of some more awards that he has received over the years

THE world has produced some evil, twisted men throughout history. Saddam Hussein is one of them. Treacherous Labour MP George Galloway is another.

In return for a gigantic £375,000-a-year, stolen from the impoverished Iraqi people, this traitor toured the world’s media proclaiming the Butcher of Baghdad a kind and decent human being.

Original Article On The Sun News Paper Site

George Galloway banned from Canada.

Anti-war MP George Galloway has been banned from Canada, it emerged today. A Canadian spokesman confirmed that the Respect MP had been deemed inadmissible on national security grounds and would not be allowed into the country.

Earlier today the Sun said border security officials had declared Galloway, 54, "inadmissible" because of his views on Afghanistan and the presence of Canadian troops there and would be turned away if he attempted to enter the country

Original Article On The Gaurdian News Paper Site

Egypt deports MP George Galloway
George Galloway was deported from Cairo today despite wanting to return to Gaza to help members of a humanitarian convoy who have reportedly been arrested, a spokeswoman for the convoy said.

Plain clothes police officers bundled the Respect MP on to a plane bound for London, said a spokeswoman for the Viva Palestina convoy.

Original Article On The Independent News Paper Site

Gorgeous George shunned by voters on Glasgow list
OUTSPOKEN former Labour MP George Galloway failed in his bid to enter front-line politics at the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Galloway headed an anti-cuts coalition on the Glasgow list, but failed to muster enough support.

Original Article On Scottish News Paper Site

Appeal court orders search of Galloway's charity papers
Civil servants have been ordered to reconsider disclosing thousands of documents relating to a fund run by former MP George Galloway during Saddam Hussein's regime.

The surprise ruling by the Court of Appeal threatens to revive an old controversy that led to Mr Galloway's memorable appearance in front of a US Senate committee looking into an allegation that the Mariam Appeal, which he founded, had received money from Iraq.

Original Article On The Independent News Paper Site

Some more of his grand achievements

As a local representative in Dundee, Galloway arranged for the city to be twinned with the Palestinian city of Nablus, and flew the Palestinian flag from the council office.

During a 1994 visit to Iraq, Galloway told Saddam Hussein: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability." Up until 2003, he led a campaign to lift economic sanctions in Iraq, and then campaigned to prevent the American invasion.

Galloway was suspended from the British Parliament for 18 days in 2007, after a disciplinary panel investigation reported that a charity he set up was partially funded by Saddam Hussein’s government.

He delivered humanitarian goods to Gaza, as well as $45,000 to Hamas, a banned terrorist organization.

Watch the interview below with the Dispatches program journalist. Dispatches on Channel 4 is one of the best incisive documentary shows. They do not pull any punches. Poor Galloway finds himself at the wrong end of an argument and his comic skills are tested. But he comes out with flying colors making viewers laugh at his simplicity and intellectual challenges. In the interview he proves that his IQ is at par with that of Donald Duck.

Three Terrorist Killed By Army in Kashmir

Three suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, including one from Pakistan, were killed in an encounter with security forces early today in Sopore town of north Kashmir's Baramulla district.

"All the three militants have been killed and the operation is over," Srinagar-based Defence spokesman Lt Colonel J S Brar said, adding further details of the incident were awaited.

The encounter broke out last evening when troops of 52 Rashtriya Rifles and police launched an operation in Seer area of Sopore, 55 kms from here, official sources said.

The militants were holed up in an under-construction house adjacent to the Law College in the township.

Reinforcements were rushed to the village to neutralise the militants. The operation was suspended for the night but the cordon was continued, they said.

The security forces launched the final attack on the militants soon after day break and the encounter ended at around 0600 HRS, the sources said.

The slain militants have been identified as Pakistani national Abdullah Babu, Saiful Ghazzali and Ghulam Nabi Dar -all affiliated with LeT, they said.

Three AK rifles, six magazines and three RPG boosters have so far been recovered from the scene of the gunbattle that lasted nearly 12 hours, officials said.

Way Forward For Indian State Of Jammu And Kashmir

By Sushant K Singh

The political process in the Valley can only be reactivated fully once the security situation has been brought under control. However certain steps can be initiated to restart the political process immediately. These will have to be undertaken at many levels simultaneously within the state.

SECURITY CENTRIC MEASURES

1. The state police, supported by the central paramilitary forces, must lead an offensive that dis-aggregates the separatist leadership, local ring-leaders and mobsters from the average citizen. The former must be targeted and the latter protected. To signal a clean break from the happenings of last three months, the state government must effect a change in the leadership at the state, districts and police station levels. Policemen who hail from areas affected by violence, or have families residing in these areas, should be kept out of situations where they are publicly visible in the conflict. Instead of local police, teams of Rapid Action Force, with well-publicised shoot-at-sight orders and equipped with non-lethal means of crowd control, must be employed to control major public demonstrations and prevent mob violence.

2. The modes of financing of the separatists, mostly by hawala channels, must be unearthed, investigated and blocked. A special joint task force of the state government, Union Home Ministry and the Union Finance ministry must be established immediately with an independent and specific mandate---free of any local political interference---to pursue the money trail. The squeezing of financial support to the organisers and leaders of stone-pelting mobs will rapidly bring an end to these paid protests.

3. In the near-term, the state police force must be equipped, trained and re-oriented for tackling public demonstrations using non-lethal means. Sufficient quantity of modern non-lethal equipment, along with trained manpower has to be inducted into the state police. As more than 500 terrorists are still active in the Kashmir valley and attempts to infiltrate more into the state continue unabated from across the Line of control, the counter-terrorist capacities developed over last two decades must be preserved. This can be best achieved by training newly inducted police recruits in non-lethal crowd control and inducting them simultaneously with the new equipment in various districts of the state over the next 3-6 months.

4. The intelligence setup in the state needs to be reinforced and reformed. A mechanism must be put in place under the Governor to co-ordinate and optimally use all the intelligence resources in the state---of central agencies, army and the state government. As there are external agencies involved in aggravating the situation, the state government must establish a real-time connection with the central intelligence agencies to receive, collate and analyse the intelligence inputs available with them. These two exercises should be completed within the next one month, by institutionalising new standard operating procedures. This intelligence must be used to conduct specific targeted operations against the separatist leadership, ring-leaders and organisers of mob protests.

5. The Indian army must remain vigilant at the Line of Control and continue with its three-tier deployment to stall any attempts at infiltration by Pakistan before the winter sets in. The Rashtriya Rifles units deployed in the non-urban areas must ensure that any attempts to revive the jihadi insurgency in the state is nipped in the bud. Even if there is an increased involvement of the army in quelling street protests, there should be no dilution of its strong anti-infiltration posture on the Line of Control.

POLITICAL MEASURES

6. The Union government must not announce any unilateral concessions as they would pander to separatists and violent mobsters. Back-channel negotiations with the separatists must be started in the right earnest, but any political or economic packages must be preconditioned to reciprocation by the separatist leadership. All public negotiations or agreements with the separatists though must be entered into only by the duly-elected state government, and not by New Delhi. The divisions within the separatist leadership---Syed Ali Shah Geelani vs Massrat Alam, and Mr Geelani versus Mirwaiz Umar Farooq---must be highlighted and exploited by the state government.  

7.  The idea that Kashmiris are special must be publicly replaced by the idea that all Indians are special. New Delhi must specify that any political solution will have to be within the Indian Constitution. Any measures for devolving more political powers to the state will also be applicable to all the states of India, along with Jammu & Kashmir.

8. The proposal to review the provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) or its application to various districts must be a political decision, based on security considerations. The need to review the provisions of the AFSPA has been identified by the Supreme Court and other government committees. A decision on it must be taken on its own merit without considering Jammu & Kashmir as a special case. The plan to review the application of AFSPA, however, can be a part of a quid pro quo deal with the separatists. Pending such a political agreement, the review should be based on security inputs and taken by the state government.

9. At the grassroots level, the National Conference and the Congress Party should re-invigorate their cadres and start a political movement in the Valley. Peace marches and public rallies must be held in the areas not afflicted by the separatist violence. They must challenge the separatists to dissociate their political message from religious tools. The dangers of this mixture must be exposed by highlighting the example of Pakistan. Calls from parents to re-open schools and from local businessmen,craftsmen and tradesmen to run their routine lives must be highlighted in these public events.In the affected areas, the local cadre of the mainstream parties must be supported by the party leaderships to conduct small word-of-mouth campaign in their localities.To break the momentum of the separatist protests, the demobilised counter-Restoring order in Jammu & Kashmir insurgent groups from the 1990s and the special operations group (SOG) may need to be revived and used in specific situations and locations.

10. The state government must immediately announce the holding of elections to local bodies on the return of normalcy in the Valley. Powers must be devolved to the local bodies, on par with other states of the country on completion of the elections. In 2005, there was over 80 percent voting in the local body polls in the state. The announcement of such polls will re-invigorate the dormant political cadre of the mainstream parties in the state.

11. Although Article 370 of the Indian Constitution has kept the state of Jammu & Kashmir secluded from the rest of the country, it is a constitutional provision and can not be revoked or violated without the due political consensus. However, the isolation of the Valley caused by this Act must be nullified by providing better inter-connectivity among all the regions of the state. Better physical connectivity through newer and wider roads,expeditious completion of the Jammu-Anantnag railway line and cheaper and smaller flights will facilitate and spur freer movement of people and ideas within the state. This will lead to greater economic activity and also redress the social imbalance that has crept into the Valley.

INFORMATION & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS

12. Local, national and international media must be encouraged to visit normal areas of the Valley, outside of the three affected districts, to expand the coverage of Kashmir. Doing so will demonstrate the separatist violence is confined to a small fraction of the state and its populaton. Srinagar also needs to craft its own public diplomacy campaign, to showcase the normal areas in the Valley, and in other parts of the state. The Hindu-and Buddhist-dominated regions of Jammu and Leh deserve greater media attention, so too the Shia-dominated regions of Kargil and Gurjar-dominated regions of Rajauri-Poonch, all of which oppose separatism. The Islamist agenda of the separatist leadership must be exposed.

13. The state government must select a number of government schools in Srinagar town and make sure they stay open amidst all calls for strike and protests. The students and teachers must be escorted and ferried to the school and back under police protection. The symbolism of this one step will hurt the credibility of the separatists and enhance the legitimacy of the state government in the mind of the citizen.