The departing British created the Kashmir dispute at the Partition of India and a systematic genocide of the Muslims has been continually taking place there since. The British were also responsible for the unjustified creation of the Zionist state of Israel 63 years ago and the Zionists have been since conducting a systematic campaign against the Palestinians, the original inhabitants of the occupied land of Palestine, to drive them out of their homeland. India is also doing the same in Kashmir. The regime in India wants to finish every Muslim in the occupied Kashmir. More than 500 villages have been destroyed and more than 70 percent of their landholdings stolen. The international community recognizes rights of the Kashmiris to use all means at their disposal to fight this state-sponsored terror and oppression. However, the US-dominated mass media portrays actions of the Kashmiri freedom fighters as acts of terror. Thus, in my opinion, the US government and people are just as responsible for the oppression against Kashmiri people as the government and people of India. There would have been no need for Kashmiris to resort to violence if India were to respect the international law and treat the Kashmiris with justice. There would be no 'security problem for India if it did not try to oppress the Kashmiri people. If we want to see an end to the cycle of violence in India, Pakistan and the Middle East, we should address the root cause. -HAMMAD ALI BUTT, Mirpur, February 25.