{"id":517,"date":"2008-02-25T14:04:04","date_gmt":"2008-02-25T04:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/?p=517"},"modified":"2008-02-25T14:04:04","modified_gmt":"2008-02-25T04:04:04","slug":"indian-kashmir-separatists-get-boost-from-kosovo-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/?p=517","title":{"rendered":"Indian Kashmir separatists get boost from Kosovo independence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/shabir-shah.jpg\" title=\"Shabir Shah\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/shabir-shah.thumbnail.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"Shabir Shah\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>SRINAGAR<\/strong>, India\u00a0(AFP) &#8211; Separatists in Indian Kashmir said Saturday that Kosovo&#8217;s unilateral declaration of independence has bolstered their resolve to achieve the same status for the disputed Himalayan territory.<\/p>\n<p>Kosovo last Sunday declared independence from Serbia, which vowed never to recognise the move.<\/p>\n<p>Kosovo&#8217;s independence declaration has &#8220;strengthened our resolve to achieve freedom for Kashmir,&#8221; leading Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>Several countries including the United States and Britain have recognised Kosovo as a new state, but India said it was studying the legal ramifications.<\/p>\n<p>India is wary of recognising Kosovo as an independent state because of its potential implications for Kashmir, racked by a nearly two-decade revolt against New Delhi&#8217;s rule that has left more than 43,000 people dead.<\/p>\n<p>Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, which have fought two wars for control of the Muslim-majority region, each hold part of the territory but claim it in full.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Kosovo&#8217;s independence is an indicator that struggles based on truth and justice never fail,&#8221; Shah said, adding the day is not &#8220;far when Kashmiris will be free.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Shah, 54, who heads the pro-independence Democratic Freedom Party, is dubbed the &#8220;Nelson Mandela&#8221; of Kashmir after spending more than 20 years in Indian jails.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The world community, the European Union in particular, should play a Kosovo-like role in getting the dispute resolved&#8221; in Kashmir, added Yasin Malik, chairman of pro-Independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front.<\/p>\n<p>Both Malik and Shah want India and Pakistan to withdraw from Kashmir to pave the way for its independence.<\/p>\n<p>So far, 23 of the 27 European Union member states back Kosovo&#8217;s independence, either formally recognising it or declaring their intention to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999 after NATO bombed Belgrade to end a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists, but it remained technically part of Serbia.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/afp\/20080223\/wl_sthasia_afp\/indiakashmirunrestkosovo\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/shabir-shah.jpg\" title=\"Shabir Shah\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/shabir-shah.thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"Shabir Shah\" \/><\/a> <\/strong><strong>SRINAGAR<\/strong>, India (AFP) &#8211; Separatists in Indian Kashmir said Saturday that Kosovo&#8217;s unilateral declaration of independence has bolstered their resolve to achieve the same status for the disputed Himalayan territory.<\/p>\n<p>Kosovo last Sunday declared independence from Serbia, which vowed never to recognise the move.<\/p>\n<p>Kosovo&#8217;s independence declaration has &#8220;strengthened our resolve to achieve freedom for Kashmir,&#8221; leading Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>Several countries including the United States and Britain have recognised Kosovo as a new state, but India said it was studying the legal ramifications. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/?p=517\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_s2mail":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":3013,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ttSq-8l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}