Honorable distinguished invited speakers at this seminar, our esteemed invited guests amongst the audience, fellow citizens, ladies and gentlemen:

As the convenor, CIFJKINDIA (http://www.cifjkindia.org), I extend a very warm welcome to you all!

CIFJKINDIA stands for ‘Consolidation of Integration First of Jammu and Kashmir in the Union of India’.

CIFJKINDIA is a part of an international effort from Indians and people of Indian origin, who have taken a democratic, non-political, secular approach to First achieve the Consolidation of Integration of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in the Union of India. The Jammu and Kashmir imbroglio must be seen fundamentally as one having far reaching consequences on India’s national integrity, security and destiny. We hold that India is yet to meet its "Tryst with Destiny", that we have enemy on our ground, and hence we must take effective steps to counter this situation.

The significance of the term ‘FIRST’ in CIFJKINDIA emphasizes our position that any consideration of other factors such as granting autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir etc. be not considered till the comprehensive integration of Jammu and Kashmir is effected FIRST and the state-center relationship of Jammu and Kashmir is brought about to be the same as that for other states in the Union. While minor variations in the state-center relationships may be required to suit the needs of each state, our position is that Article 370 of the Indian Constitution which was introduced essentially as a temporary measure violates the equality of the state-center relationship with regard to Jammu and Kashmir vis-à-vis all other states. This aberration needs to be corrected by shifting the emphasis from law-enforcement to law-making which the Indian Parliament is empowered to do. We are amazed that Article 370 is considered as the ‘root cause’ by many and as ‘irrelevant’ by some. We need this paradox to be removed, and we believe that this can be done by repealing it as a necessary but by no means a sufficient step toward lasting peace in the region.

While we accept the notion of ‘autonomy’ as an expression of enhanced regional powers to the elected representatives of a region in the highest democratic tradition, we absolutely reject that the discussion on state autonomy be driven by the Jammu and Kashmir factor.

There is a very major need to generate awareness amongst the people of India about the legality and completeness of the Accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India, about the UN Resolutions and the plebiscite issue, about Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, about the Constitution of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, about the demographic implications of the Kashmir imbroglio, etc.

In order therefore to generate awareness about these issues, the CIF movement launched its campaign in early part of year 2000 and submitted a petition to the Prime Minister of India and to the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. This petition was called as the CIF petition and was submitted on June 10th, 2000, by the Bharat Awareness Forum, an organization in Atlanta, USA, consisting of concerned Indians.

The petitioners from India Awareness Foundation (IAF) - previously - Bharat Awareness Forum (BAF), worked very closely with the community of Kashmiri Hindus, and submitted, along with four organizations of Kashmiri Hindus, another petition to the Prime Minister of India on August 22, 2000, called the ‘Anti Terrorism Firm Handling’ (ATFH) petition.

The ATFH petition was submitted by Non Resident Indians from Canada, Cyprus, Italy, Nepal, Nigeria, Singapore and U.S.A., and, by five organizations, namely:

• Asia Pacific Kashmiri Pandit Forum, Singapore;

• India Awareness Foundation (IAF) - previously - Bharat Awareness Forum (BAF), Atlanta, USA;

• Panun Kashmir Movement (Overseas), USA;

• Panun Kashmir (USA), and

• Global Kashmiri Pandit Human Rights Forum, Nepal.

Later, certain key elements of the CIF strategy and ideology were presented on January 27, 2001, at the ‘SEMINAR on JAMMU and KASHMIR - Issues and Dimensions’ conducted by Vigil here in Chennai.

In the face of General Musharruf’s visit to Agra in July earlier this year, some groups came together to strengthen the CIF ideology and the CIF-2 petition was submitted to the Parliament of India on July 2, 2001. This petition was co-authored by five groups:

• India Awareness Foundation (IAF) - previously - Bharat Awareness Forum (BAF), Atlanta, USA;

• India Think Tank, Washington, USA;

• Vigil, Public Opinion Forum, Chennai;

• Friends of India Society International, UK; and

• Indo-European Kashmir Forum, UK.

A copy of the CIF-2 petition was sent to every member of the parliament in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and we are eagerly awaiting for a response from the parliamentarians.

We have made a sincere and modest attempt to generate awareness amongst the people of India. We believe that generating awareness and influencing policy makers through petitioning the elected representatives of the people of this country provides most direct and powerful means to citizens to participate in building nation. We have launched a website - http://www.cifjkindia.org - and a fairly large team of dedicated persons is contributing toward the awareness campaign on this issue. I am happy to inform that one organization amongst the CIF team, namely the Indo-European Kashmir Forum, held only yesterday a seminar in London addressing the Human Rights of the Kashmiri Hindus, which is a matter of very deep concern to us.

The CIF and other petitions, and several other documents we have compiled to demonstrate the completeness and irrevocability of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India, documents that offer a clear analysis of the UN resolutions and other facts pertaining to J&K Constitution etc. are all readily accessible to everybody at our website.

I now request Radha to lay down the framework for today’s seminar and place before us crucial facts regarding the Jammu and Kashmir imbroglio. Radha will touch upon various sensitive and complex issues and will reveal India’s strength in this case.

Thank you all very much!

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