IIOJK – a scared soul of Paradise

The atmosphere of hope and aspirations for freedom and independence that prevailed among the Muslims of the subcontinent in 1947 equally resonated in Jammu and Kashmir. Little did they know that Kashmiris would be cheated and these dreams and aspirations would be viciously snatched from them subjecting generations of Kashmiris to brutal repression at the hands of the Indian occupation forces.

Alas, the dreams of living and developing in freedom without fear of subjugation and reprisals have been replaced by a nightmare of enforced disappearances, false police encounters, a continuous hail of pellet guns killing blinding children and adults alike, a free reign of rape and murder turning the Kashmiri Paradise in the largest open prison in the world inhabited by tens of thousands of half-widows, unmarked mass graves carrying with them horrendous tales of human rights violations and torture perpetrated by the Indian security forces, un-ending curfews and now annexation by India, ethnic cleansing and altering the demographic balance in favour of non-Kashmiri Hindu settlers in shameful violation of international law and the UN Security Resolutions. What is even worse is the deafening silence of the international community at the callous disregard of human rights violations by India.

The genesis of this tale of misery and woe can be traced back to 26th October 1947 when Maharaja Hari Singh signed the accession document with India, marking the start of an unending trouble in the region of Jammu and Kashmir. Following this dubious accession, on 27th October, India landed its troops on the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which has since been observed as Black Day not only in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmi (IIOJK), but around the world by the expatriate Kashmiri community and in Pakistan.

The resolution passed by the Kashmiri people in Srinagar, 25 days before the creation of Pakistan, was a clear message to India and the world that Kashmiris do not want to live with India. A closer look at history would reveal that India had justified her annexation of both Junagadh and Hyderabad on the grounds that their inhabitants desired to join the Indian Union, even though the ruler of Junagadh formally signed the instrument of accession in favour of Pakistan. On the basis of the same principle, India should permit the people of Kashmir to decide their future through an internationally supervised plebiscite as promised openly by both Mountbatten and Nehru.

According to the Indian Independence Act, the accession of states to one or other of the new Dominion was left to the discretion of the rulers. The basic principle of accession was that leader of the state would decide the fate of the state. But it was also recognised that the decision of the ruler should be qualified by the geographical contiguity of the states to the successor Dominion and its communal composition. Indian leaders knew that Kashmir had natural linkage with Pakistan, and might accede to Pakistan on the basis of majority Muslim population. Therefore, political pressure on the Maharaja was exerted in May 1947 with visits by a politician of the Congress Party who tried to convince him to sign the accession document in favour of India. Although this mission failed yet the Maharaja, under the influence of the Congress Party, accelerated a systematic persecution of the Muslim population in Poonch area in the spring of 1947. The rhythm of the anti-Muslim campaign increased gradually with the infiltration of members of the RSS.

Lord Mountbatten also visited Kashmir in June 1947 followed by Gandhi to influence the thinking of the local ruler and held a series of meetings with the Maharaja, his Prime Minister and workers of National Conference in order to influence the Maharaja not only to join India, but also to remove the then Prime Minister of Kashmir, Pandit Ram Chandra Kak, a Hindu who wanted the state to opt for an independent status.

Towards the end of August and the beginning of September 1947, many representatives of Azad forces in Kashmir went to the North West Frontier Province now KPK to purchase arms from the tribal factories. At that time, the Maharaja had no authority over the people of Jammu and Kashmir. There was complete revolt in the valley. Stories of Dogra brutalities aroused tribes who proclaimed a Holy war and some 2,000 tribesmen, mostly Mahsuds and Afridis left to wage Jihad in Kashmir on 19 October 1947. Maharaja panicked and called for help from India who linked the help to the signing of document of accession. On 26 October 1947, Maharaja, despite the standstill agreement with Pakistan, acceded to India and sent the accession letter to the Indian Governor General thus, sowing the seed of the tragedy of Kashmir that continues to play out its cruel and brutal chapters despite the lapse of 75 years.

Under the BJP rule Modi, the butcher of Gujrat, continues the assault on Kashmiri culture and identity and enforces his Hindutva ideology on IIOJK. The revocation of Article 370 A and implementation of domicile law in the state of Jammu and Kashmir are the attempts of the BJP to crush and subjugate the Muslim population in the valley.

Injustice is never immortal and the dawn of freedom and the right to self-determination promised to the Kashmiris by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) cannot be indefinitely delayed.

Pakistan has for the last 75 years support the right of self-determination of Kashmiris and continue to provide political, diplomatic and moral support to them. However, we need to clear the fog of ambiguity around our approach to the Kashmir issue and have a clear policy direction with national consensus in a documented form. This clarity will automatically emanate from the clarity and political consensus on our relationship with India. There cannot be two opinions about the fact that there will never be a military solution as it entails heavy consequences both in terms of human loss and international backlash and sanctions.

The world and our region are witnessing both geo-strategic and geo-economic flux and reset. Our internal political and economic situation is also in a state of turmoil and does not favour any military confrontation at the moment. If we want to succeed at the international and regional front and want our foreign policy and diplomacy to be effective and have the bite it needs for the international community to capture the attention of the international community and to take our concerns and our narrative into account, we would have to single-mindedly focus on economic resurgence, social development and peaceful external environment.

In my humble opinion, while we must keep the issue of Kashmir at the centre and front of our engagement with the world and with India, the tendency to raise the Kashmir issue at every available forum is becoming counterproductive, repetitive and ineffective and needs to be looked into and rectified. The Kashmir issue should be forcefully taken up at the right forums and with unambiguous and unanimous message by all concerned institutions, politicians, academia, journalists, leaders and diplomats. The focus must be squarely on human rights violations by India in IIOJK and sanctity of UNGA resolutions. The oldest issue on the agenda on UNSC would be resolved only at UNSC, not unilaterally by India.

The plight of journalists, doctors, educationists, politicians, women etc. needs to be raised on forums human rights. The political and constitutional changes related to alter the demographics in IIOJK forcefully by Modi administration needs to be effectively highlighted to create awareness. Close coordination and mobilisation of Kashmiri diaspora especially from IIOJK living abroad is essential and the most effective way to put pressure on India to abide by international law and its commitments to the UNSC.

On the domestic front, we must be cognizant of the socio-economic development of the people of AJK and effectively address disappointment and frustration of the AJK people on all counts. Needless to say, Kashmir must be dealt with separately from relations with India. Pakistan and India have engaged in innumerable border clashes and have gone to war thrice, of which twice was on the issue of Kashmir, and yet the issue remains and the innocent Kashmiris continue to pay an unimaginable price in blood for securing their right to self-determination and freedom from Indian occupation and aggression. The Kashmiris are suffering and are the concerned party and therefore it is presumptuous for both Pakistan and India to believe that any future effort aimed to secure a much-desired resolution could be achieved without the involvement of the Kashmiris themselves.