The Oxford Union will be debating the motion, ‘This House Believes in the Independent State of Kashmir’ on the 14th of November and has invited Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur and Zafar Khan, who have links to terrorism, to speak for the proposition.
Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, as recognised by both Indian law and the Indian Constitution. The United Nations and the international community have also recognised Kashmir’s status that since its legal and constitutional accession to India in 1947, Jammu and Kashmir has been a part of the Indian state.
Hence any debate that questions its status as an integral part of India is, by extension, an interference in India’s sovereignty. The issue of Kashmir is an internal matter for India, and debating its potential secession or independence in a foreign forum undermines India’s constitutional framework and territorial integrity.
The call for an “Independent Kashmir” is often associated with foreign-funded separatist movements, radicalisation and acts of terrorism. For decades, Jammu and Kashmir has seen a spate of violence linked to terrorism, in which both security forces and innocent civilians have suffered. The systematic targeting and killing of Hindus, including prominent cases of terrorism that have specifically aimed to drive them out, is a painful chapter in the region’s history.
Thousands of Kashmiri Hindus, also known as “Pandits”, were displaced from their homes, subjected to threats, violence, intimidation and murder by Islamist terrorist groups. This exodus, which saw families fleeing their ancestral homes, remains an unresolved tragedy that continues to impact the displaced community to this day.
Inviting individuals such as Muzzammil Ayyub and Zafar Khan to speak at the Oxford Union debate is deeply concerning, particularly given their alleged links to supporting terrorism. This does not bode well for the Union and its reputation.
Muzzammil Ayyub has often engaged in hate speech. A case has been registered against him for creating fear and alarm among the masses using social media and inciting them to commit offences likely to disturb public order.
Here Muzammil Ayyub Thakur mocks and normalises slurs against other faiths: https://twitter.com/M_A_Thakur/status/1592980530240557056.
Here he says it’s “good” replying to news that a terrorist had destroyed lives and had escaped: https://twitter.com/M_A_Thakur/status/1593221145440194565.
Recently when an online broadcaster was arrested for making calls for violence, the Radio Resistance Kashmir broadcaster says Muzammil organised the online space: https://jsnewstimes.com/jk/human-rights-activist-arrested-for-inciting-violence-through-social-media.
Muzammil has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. His charges related to creating fear and alarm among the masses and inciting them to commit offences which are likely to disturb public order: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/uk-based-kashmiri-man-booked-for-carrying-out-anti-national-activities-on-social-media-2696953.
Muzammil is the president of the “World Kashmir Freedom Movement” which along with another organisation called “Mercy Universal”, was founded by his father and investigated by Scotland Yard, the Charity Commission and the FBI for ties with terrorists.
The FBI implicated the ISI (spy agency of Pakistan) in funding both of these organisations in London and Brussels: https://archive.ph/VTDM.
After an investigation by the British Charity Commission, Scotland Yard, and the FBI, it was stated that his organisation had direct contact with Hizbul Mujahideen, a designated Terrorist Organisation: https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/.
Muzammil’s father was booked in 2001 for providing financing and logistical support to terrorists: https://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/scotland-yard-probes-thakurs-hand-in-funding-terrorism-in-jandk_45773.html.
During an interview with a Jammu-Kashmir based media channel, ‘Only Kashmir’ (in 2015), he admitted that his father funded terrorism: https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/national/ayyub-thakur-channelled-isi-funds-to-kashmir-report-1015864.html.
Zafar Khan is the Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Diplomatic Bureau. Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is a terrorist organisation spawned in Birmingham, UK on 29th May 1997. Its stated objective is ostensibly to free the Indian-Administered Kashmir (IAK) from the governance of India. The JKLF have established branches in several towns and cities in the United Kingdom.
In 1984 an Indian diplomat, Ravindra Mhatre, was kidnapped and murdered in Birmingham. He was abducted whilst on an errand. After a few days of being held in captivity his lifeless body was discovered sprawled on a Birmingham street. This terrorist crime that took place in a major UK city was executed by British Kashmiri ‘militants’ linked to the latterly named Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front. Mohammed Riyaz and Abdul Quayyam Raja were convicted of the murder of Ravindra Mhatre.
In January 1990, the largest and latest flight of the minority Kashmiri Hindus from the Indian state of Jammu-Kashmir was instigated by JKLF. Through the networks of mosques in the area, they called upon the minuscule Kashmiri Hindu minority to immediately flee, convert to Islam, or otherwise be prepared to be slaughtered. To execute the forced exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, the JKLF began marking the homes of Hindus and selectively killed Hindu teachers, intellectuals, poets and pundits.
There are innumerable episodes of terror, horror and death visited upon Kashmiri Hindus. JKLF leader Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate’s admission on camera from the archives where he made a shocking admission of having killed 20 Kashmiri Hindus. As a gun-toting terrorist, Bitta Karate claimed he shot each Kashmiri Hindu victim either in the head or the heart and never missed his target. The Kashmiri separatist leader was exposed in India Today’s special investigative report Caught on Camera: How Pakistan funds Kashmiri separatists to burn Valley – India Today Exclusive – India Today where he was caught on camera confessing to receiving funds from Pakistan.
Yasin Malik, a pro-Pakistan terrorist and the former president of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front is accused of funding terror in Kashmir. He has been arrested in a case related to funding and perpetrating terror on Indian soil. Besides, he is also allegedly responsible for kidnapping former Chief Minister and later Home Minister Mufti Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya Saeed.
Yasin Malik is also accused of the murder of four Air Force officers in January 1990. Sqn Ldr Ravi Khanna was one of the four Indian Air Force personnel killed by Yasin Mallik and other JKLF terrorists, who were waiting at Sant Nagar Crossing to board their buses. In the incident that took place on January 25, 1990, 40 personnel, including a female official, were injured at that shootout led by Malik himself.
As of April 2022, Hindus and Sikhs make up less than 0.01 percent of the population in the Indian valley of Kashmir. All their villages have been renamed and their temples desecrated and destroyed. Unspeakable atrocities were carried out under the banner of “Azadi” or ‘Independence’ unfurled by the terror outfit JKLF.
The decision by the Oxford Union to host a debate on the issue of Kashmir’s independence and to invite members of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) as speakers is deeply troubling and warrants serious scrutiny. This debate not only undermines the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity but also is tantamount to endorsing violence and terrorism.
