Kashmir Liberated, Others Languish

its good to see an innocent man released!!!

Why would someone serve a kanjar and ungrateful nation that abandons its soldiers and citizens?

Pakis got their 90000 soldiers, and Hinjras couldn't get a few back............they should commit suicide by drowning in their own moot

Nobody claimed India as a land of milk and honey. Pl dont mix-up issues here.

I think the way Khalid Mahmood was treated is a travesty. It is sad and ironic for a country that claims to be the land of milk and honey.

http://thepost.com.pk/IsbNews.aspx?dtlid=149823&catid=17

Khalid Mehmood died of illness, says Indian HC

Not tortured during trial | Was caught with sensitive documents | Pakistan HC informed Mehmood's family 22 days after his death

Press Release

ISLAMABAD: The High Commission of India has said Khalid Mehmood, an under-trial prisoner in India whose body arrived in Pakistan on March 10 (Monday), died of illness on February 12, 2008.

A statement issued by Indian HC says politicising the case and suppressing the facts serves no purpose other than to heighten the anguish of the bereaved family. Mehmood went to India on a four-day cricket visa in April 2005. He then disappeared and was apprehended by the Faridabad Police on May 17, 2006, more than a year after his visa had expired, it said.

The statement said sensitive documents were recovered from Mehmood's possession which he was carrying to Delhi to deliver to some persons who were traveling to Pakistan by Samjhota Express.

As per standard practice, an FIR was filed and a case registered against Mehmood under various sections of the law, including the Foreigners Act, the Passport Act, the Official Secrets Act and the Indian Penal Code, it said.

He was produced before a court in Faridabad and trialed in a jail in Gurgaon till May 25, 2006, according to the statement.

Currently, neither country officially notifies the other when its nationals are arrested, it said, adding, however, it is strange that Mehmood's family also did not bring to the Pakistan Government's attention the fact that Mehmood had been missing for almost three years and did not return from India in April 2005.

This has been confirmed by the MFA's spokesman Wednesday, the press release said. Someone must explain why he disappeared and what the real purpose of his travel was, since he did not return to Pakistan along with hundreds of other cricket fans, it said.

While in prison, Mehmood was provided medical treatment as per his symptoms from time to time, the statement said.

According to the Indian high commission, he was also referred to General Hospital, Gurgaon, last December. When he developed abdominal distension on February 1, 2008, he was treated at this hospital.

Later, on February 11, 2008, he was referred to Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi and then transferred to AIIMS for further treatment. Unfortunately, he succumbed to his ailment on February 12, 2008.

The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi was immediately informed of Mehmood's death and requested to intimate his next of kin to collect the dead body, the statement said.

The Pakistan HC acknowledged this on February 13, 2008, but only conveyed to the Indian Government on March 5, 2008, 22 days later, that the relatives had been contacted and they had desired that the body be transported to Pakistan for burial as per Islamic rites.

Accordingly, the body was brought to the Wagah border on March 10, 2008.

It is emphasised that no torture was inflicted on Mehmood while he was an under-trial prisoner. Necessary post-mortem reports were also handed over to his relatives along with the dead body, the statement concluded.

Wrong title. There is nothing about land and people of kashmir.

thanks bulleya #20

This si the most common shortcoming in the reportage of Khali'd news in Pak media:

'Mehmood had visited India to watch the Pak-India cricket series, and was reportedly picked up by Indian secret agencies.'

Nobody mentions that Khalid was untraced for an year in India. Nevertheless, it's not an excuse to torture him.

police treat

It's time to reflect on the shock the ppl of Pakistan underwent when Khalid Mahmood's body's delivered at Attari-Wagah border. It was very amusing to see the Pak channels going LIVE showing the release of Kashmir Singh. Within a week they received Khalid's deadbody (LIVE, I guess). It needs thourough investigation on Indian side to ascertain the facts behind the demise of Khalid.

I know how police treats anybody who enters the premises of a police station as an accused in India. Many lock-up deaths happen in India and police are never punished for such crimes.

We dont need spin but admission of guilt, if there's any. I hang my head in shame for this tragic death/murder of Khalid. I can understand how a noble soul like Ansar Burney is feeling @ this strange moment of truth.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=100493



Assault on sovereignty







Monday, March 10, 2008

The reports regarding the new demands put forward by the US to the Pakistan government for the posting of military and auxiliary personnel within the country are shocking. They indicate that the US is eager to see Pakistan shedding an unacceptable degree of sovereignty and granting a licence to these armed personnel to wander across Pakistan, in their uniforms, doing more or less what they please. Two of the demands are especially galling. The first is that the personnel posted in Pakistan be exempt from Pakistan's laws and instead be covered by the US criminal system. Tied to this is a demand for waiver from any claim to damages for loss of property or death caused by US personnel. This implies that the US troops would not be asked to account for killing Pakistani citizens, whether military or civilian, or destroying their homes, villages or fields. A license to kill in a way.



The brash list of eleven demands also includes those for visa-free entry for US personnel, recognition of US driving and arms licences, exemption from taxation, free import and export of equipment without inspection of goods, unhampered movement of vehicles, tax exemptions for US contractors and free use of telecommunication systems. Quite obviously, Pakistan cannot even consider granting most of these demands. If it were to do so, it may as well raise the Stars and Stripes over the country, and accept a status as the 51st state of the United States. The demands made are obviously absurd and the question arises why they have been put forward at this time. It has been reported that the list, seeking the kind of freedoms the US enjoys in 'conquered' countries such as Iraq, has created a considerable flurry in official corridors.



Certainly, the actions of US private mercenary outfits, such as Blackwater, given contracts in Iraq are enough to cause shivers to run down collective spines. Blackwater's obviously trigger-happy men were involved in the shooting of Iraqis including women and children. They were then whisked out of the country. Crimes by US military personnel in Japan and South Korea, including rape, have also caused intense local hostility, since the personnel were exempted form local laws. While it is assumed the US, in its misguided notion of the 'war on terror', believes that through direct involvement in Pakistan it can help root out militancy, the opposite effect is more likely. Any US presence, particularly under any agreement giving personnel a blanket cover to do what they please, would only heighten the strongly felt anti-US sentiments that have fuelled extremism in the first place. This would mean only greater and more prolonged violence. It is time for the Pakistan government to firmly put the US in its place and advise Washington to act as a true friend rather than a would-be-conqueror. After all, any victory over terrorism will take brain and not just brawn, and it is wisdom the US today needs to show rather than might.

Re: # 19
Mr. drlokraj:
You have to exercise a bit of patience. Soon all spies of the world will unite and a charter of rights for spies will be laid down.

Kamath

Re: # 16
Yes...Pakistan should release that also. J & K should be united.

Ras,

(One Kashmir has been released from prison. How about the other? )

Our side of Kashmir is already free - its people can elect their own state and national govt, they can freely practise their religion and their territory and soldiesr are not used for killing Momins in the name of the fraudulent WOT.

But the other half is not free as you have rightly pointed out. I am glad to know that not all Pakis are unconcerned about the Kashmiris they have kept in prison for 60 years.

Regards

Re: # 22 Urstruly Bhai,
Strange, I hated what you stood up (because of your religiously oriented views - since i had been on chowk for the last good 5-6 years) but somehow, all you said make sense - thinking from a moderate,fundo or anyone's point of view.

Your are so right on leaving someone just because Fauran-e-Azam says so!

Just as I do not like people being kidnapped by dictator's intelligence agencies, I do not like people being released without a due judicial process. In other words a dictator cannot be given such powers to manipulate human lives as he wishes. That is the reason that Pakistan must have an independent judiciary and constitutional rule of law. Say no to banana republic.