The 11 February Manifesto: One City, One Event

The 11 February Manifesto

One day. One city. One event.

A call to every nationalist, progressive, labour union, writer, intellectual, NGO, student and community group that honours Maqbool Bhat: on 11 February, stand on one stage together.

FREESECULARUNITEDJAMMU & KASHMIR
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Preamble

Why we must stand together

Every year on 11 February, people in Kashmir and across the world remember Shaheed-e-Kashmir Maqbool Bhat, hanged in Tihar Jail on that day in 1984. They gather in Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, in Trehgam and Mirpur, in London, Birmingham, Brussels and beyond.

Too often they gather apart. In the same city, on the same day, separate halls carry separate banners for the same man. His enemies never needed to divide those who honour him. We did it ourselves.

Maqbool Bhat belonged to no single party. He belonged to a people and to an idea. This manifesto asks everyone who shares that idea to show its strength the way he would have wanted: united.

Part one

The idea that unites us

Maqbool Bhat did not fight only for a flag or a border. He fought for human freedom in its fullest sense.

“By liberation we don’t mean merely the end of foreign occupation from the land of Kashmir but we want our people to be liberated from the forces of poverty, backwardness, ignorance, diseases, injustice and economic and social disparities.”

Maqbool Bhat, What does Azadi mean?

That is why the nationalist and the trade unionist, the poet and the professor, the student and the human rights worker can all stand under his name. Each carries one part of the freedom he described.

Part two

A free, secular, united State of Jammu and Kashmir

FreeThe people of every part of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir decide their own future, democratically and without coercion from any outside power.
SecularEqual citizenship for people of every faith and of none: Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian. No one is privileged or punished for religion, caste, language, region or gender. Every displaced Kashmiri, including Kashmiri Pandits, has the right to return home in safety and dignity.
UnitedJammu, the Kashmir Valley, Ladakh, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan as one family again: divided families reunited, roads and trade open across the line, every region with a fair share of power and resources.
Just and democraticRule of law, free press, independent courts. Rights for workers and farmers, equality for women, opportunity for the young, protection for the environment of the mountains and rivers.
Part three

Permanent peace in South Asia

For three generations, Kashmir has been the battlefield of South Asia. Wars, armies and nuclear weapons have been justified in its name, while more than a billion people in the region have paid the price in poverty.

A free, secular and united Jammu and Kashmir, at peace with all its neighbours, removes the oldest cause of conflict between India and Pakistan. It turns Kashmir from a frontier into a bridge, and opens the road to what the people of the region deserve: a South Asia of free peoples, open borders, shared prosperity and lasting peace.

“Who in the world would not want peace and stability? However, it is important to distinguish between the peace of graveyard and that of peacefully flowing life.”

Maqbool Bhat
Part four

Our pledge for 11 February

Every organisation that endorses this manifesto commits to:

  1. One city, one eventIn each city, hold one joint commemoration on or around 11 February, organised by a city committee of all endorsing groups, instead of separate rival events.
  2. One shared stageSpeakers from every endorsing group. One common banner above all others: “11 February: Maqbool Bhat Day. For a free, secular, united Jammu and Kashmir.” Organisations may show their own names, but no group’s banner is placed above the common one.
  3. Peaceful and lawfulEvery event is peaceful and non-violent, respects local law, and gives no space to hatred against any people, faith or nation.
  4. Everyone on the platformWomen, young people, workers and religious and regional minorities speak from the stage, not only from the audience.
  5. One common demandEvery event repeats the demand to return Maqbool Bhat’s remains from Tihar Jail to the grave waiting for him in Srinagar.
  6. Record and sharePhotographs, speeches and reports are sent to the Maqbool Bhat Foundation for the 11/2 Around the World archive.
  7. Beyond one dayCity committees keep meeting through the year to work together on the issues that unite us.
Who we call on

This manifesto is for

Nationalist partiesProgressive and left organisationsLabour and trade unionsWriters, poets and artistsIntellectuals and academicsNGOs and human rights groupsStudent and youth organisationsWomen’s organisationsDiaspora and community associationsMedia and publications
Issued by the Maqbool Bhat Foundation, a project of the Kashmir Record & Research Council (KRRC), and open for endorsement by all who share its aims.
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