Since our first statement at the Sub-Commission there has still been no action by either the Sub-Commission or the Commission on Human Rights regarding this on-going crisis, in spite of a dramatic deterioration of the situation in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir is essentially under a continual state of siege. India's military forces include the Indian Army, the Border Security Forces, the Rashtriya Rifles, the Special Operation Groups and nearly 80,000 state police. Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions have occurred with alarming frequency: assassination of political leadership, disappearances,murder and torture of POWs, torture (including rapes) and custodial deaths of civilians, military attacks on the civilian population, attacks on hospitals and medical aid providers, restriction on medical aid and the like. Refugees continue to flee. The United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding the plebiscite remain unimplemented.

States that could play a positive role in implementing the Security Council resolutions instead criticize the victims -- the Kashmiri people and their representatives -- for even daring to present their plight here. Criticism is laced with racist innuendo or even outright racism that if employed with other groups and situations would be severely chastised. We believe that Kashmiri concerns should be respected and the plea of the Kashmiri people to implement the UN's own plebiscite plan should be honored.

The risk of another war between India and Pakistan will remain high as long as the Kashmir question is unresolved. At this time there is tension between India and Pakistan along the LOC. Both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons in their arsenals and either side could be sufficiently provoked to use them. If either side uses these weapons, the whole world will suffer nuclear fallout. A further concern is that we believe remnants of Al Qaeda groups have been infiltrating into Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, playing on the restlessness of Kashmiri youth. While all the participant parties and groups in the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC - the main multi-party coalition in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir) renounce Al Qaeda, we believe that there are some Kashmiri groups that are increasingly vulnerable to pressures from Al Qaeda. This is occurring in spite of the vastly different cultural and religious practices between typical members of Al Qaeda and the predominantly Sufi Kashmiris. These two elements alone, out of the many factors in the overall situation, make Jammu and Kashmir one of the greatest threats to stability, peace and security in the world.