Muhammad Raza Malik
Background:
Kashmiris have been rendering
unparalleled sacrifices since 1947 in their indigenous struggle aimed at
securing freedom from India’s illegal occupation of their homeland. During all
this period, Pakistan is the only country of the world that has extended
all-out support to the just cause of the Kashmiri people. The people of occupied Kashmir gave impetus
to their struggle for securing their right to self-determination in 1989 and
the mass movement gave sleepless nights to the Indian rulers. In a bid to crush
this popular movement, India dismissed the government of Farooq Abdullah and
appointed Jagmohan Malhotra - who was notorious for his anti-Muslim bias and
activities in India - as the Governor of the occupied territory on January 19,
1990. His appointment was followed by a series of massacres and other
brutalities by the Indian troops in the occupied territory. One of these deadly
massacres was carried out on January 21, 1989 when over 50 people were killed
and hundreds of others injured by the troops by opening indiscriminate fire on peaceful
demonstrations in Gaw Kadal area of Srinagar. On that day, thousands of people
had taken to the streets in Srinagar against the molestation of several women
by the troops on the previous night during house raids in the city.
The bloodbath caused
resentment in Pakistan and the ensuing 5th February was declared as a
solidarity day all across the country. Since then, every year, government and
people of Pakistan, at home and across the world, have been observing the day as
Kashmir Solidarity Day to express oneness and unity with the oppressed people
of occupied Kashmir. This public holiday in Pakistan is marked by seminars,
conferences and demonstrations highlighting different aspects of the Kashmir
dispute and the gross human rights violations being committed by the Indian
troops in occupied Kashmir. The overseas Pakistanis and Kashmiris organize special events in world
capitals to remind the international community of its responsibilities towards
settlement of the Kashmir dispute for ensuring peace and stability in the South
Asian region.
History
of Kashmir dispute
It is a historical
fact that India had illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir by landing its troops
in Srinagar on 27th October, 1947 against the wishes of the Kashmiri people and
in total disregard to the Partition Plan of the Indian subcontinent that had
resulted in the formation of two new independent counties - Pakistan and India.
At the end of
British suzerainty over Indian sub-continent in 1947, more than 550 Princely
States had become independent but with a choice to accede either to Pakistan or
India. Being a Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir had a natural tendency
to accede to Pakistan, but the evil designs of its Hindu ruler and the leaders
of Indian National Congress and Britain destroyed the future of the people of
the territory thus sowing the seeds of the Kashmir dispute. India claims that
it signed ‘Instrument of Accession’, which was drafted in Delhi and presented
to the then ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, on October 26.
However, a prominent British historian, Alistair Lamb, challenging the Indian
invasion in Kashmir, in his book “The Birth of Tragedy” wrote that the
successive events after the partition of the united India strongly suggested
that the Indian troops had invaded Kashmir prior to the signing of the
Instrument of Accession. He believed that a signed instrument of accession did
not exist at all and argued that due to this reason the Indian government never
made the so-called document public either officially or at any international
forum.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir strongly resisted
the Indian occupation and launched a mass struggle, liberating a vast area now
known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Their resilience brought India at the verge of
defeat and it sought the help of the international community to
settle the Kashmir dispute. On 1st January 1948, New Delhi approached the
United Nations Security Council, which in its successive resolutions - accepted
by both Pakistan and India - promised holding of a free and impartial
plebiscite under the UN-supervision to enable the Kashmiri people to decide
their future themselves. These UN resolutions and the pledges made by the Indian
leadership remain unimplemented even after the passing of several decades.
Bonds between Pakistanis and Kashmiris
Pakistan’s affinity
with the people of Kashmir can be understood in the backdrop of several reasons.
Both share strong bonds in respect of religion, geography, culture and
aspirations. Since
1947, India’s brutal occupation has
been the cause of continued sufferings of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Due
to the atrocities of Indian troops, hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri people
have migrated to Pakistan from the occupied territory and the main driving
force behind their movement has been their strong emotional attachment to the
country. This affiliation has been accepted even by the first Prime Minister of
India, Jawaharlal Nehru. When asked a question in 1965 about holding of
plebiscite in Kashmir, he had responded, “Kashmiris would vote to join Pakistan
and we would lose it. No Indian government responsible for agreeing to a
plebiscite would survive.”
The passing of a
resolution by the genuine representatives of Kashmiris in the meeting of Muslim
Conference Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar on 19th July 1947 is a strong evidence
of the ideological commonality between Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir and showed
that the Kashmiri people had attached the future of the territory with
Pakistan. The resolution declared that Jammu and Kashmir would be a part of
Pakistan and this development had happened about a month before the creation of
Pakistan. The people of occupied Kashmir have time and again showed their
attachment with Pakistan by raising the slogans of “Long Live Pakistan” and “We
Want Pakistan.” They
hoist Pakistani flags on the national days of the country and during anti-India
demonstrations, whereas they observe such days of India as black days. Wrapping
their martyrs in Pakistani flags before burial is a common practice of the
Kashmiris.
The matter of fact
is that both Pakistanis and Kashmiris consider the Kashmir dispute as an
unfinished agenda of the partition of the South Asian sub-continent in 1947 and
the liberation struggle of the people of Jammu and Kashmir as an inseparable
part of Pakistan Movement.
Pakistan’s unflinching support
The leaders of
Pakistan have always represented the Kashmiris’ aspirations and never betrayed
the faith reposed on them by the Kashmiri people. It was his commitment to the
interests of the people of Kashmir that drove father of the nation,
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, to visit Jammu and Kashmir three times before
1947. He had rightly termed Kashmir as the “Jugular Vein” of Pakistan. Former
Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, had vowed to wage a thousand-year war for
Kashmir. Prime Minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and the Army Chief, Qamar Javed
Bajwa, are forcefully advocating settlement of the conflict over Kashmir in
accordance with the Kashmiris’ aspirations in line with the relevant UN
resolutions for ensuring durable peace in South Asia. It is a reality that
despite being the victim of Indian military aggression for supporting the
Kashmiris during the past over seven decades, Pakistan never gave up its
support to the Kashmir cause and continues to advocate resolution of the
dispute to the satisfaction of the Kashmiri people.
Indian state terrorism in IOK
New
Delhi has exhausted all its resources during the past over seven decades but
has miserably failed to intimidate the people of Jammu and Kashmir into
submission and efface their love for Pakistan from their hearts. On one hand, it wants
to compel Pakistan to give up its support to the Kashmiri people, while on the
other, it has been resorting to the worst kind of state terrorism in occupied
Kashmir. Since
1989, when the people of occupied Kashmir intensified their freedom struggle, the
Indian forces’ personnel enjoying unbridled powers under the protection of
draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Disturbed Areas Act in
the occupied territory have martyred over ninety-four thousand Kashmiris, widowed more than twenty-two thousand
women, orphaned not less than one hundred thousand children and molested or
gang-raped more than eleven thousand
Kashmiri women. While the whereabouts of thousands of innocent youth
subjected to disappearance in custody remain untraced, the shocking discovery
of thousands of mass graves across the occupied territory has raised concerns
about the safety of the disappeared persons.
In
2008, the people of occupied Kashmir gave a new dimension to their struggle to
get rid of Indian bondage. They started to hit the streets in thousands and demand
their inalienable right to self-determination in a peaceful manner. This mass
uprising continued for three consecutive years - some times the number of
peaceful protesters thronging the streets of Srinagar surpassing one-million
mark. But most of the times, Indian forces’ personnel responded these peaceful
demonstrators with excessive use of brute force, killing more than 200 people
during this period.
The extrajudicial murder of popular
youth leader, Burhan Muzaffar Wani, on July 8, 2016 by the Indian troops provided
a fillip to the Kashmiris’ freedom movement. Since then, the people are taking
to the streets in large numbers in every nook and corner of the occupied
territory on daily basis, demanding freedom from Indian yoke. However, the Indian
police and troops continue to use every brutal tactic against the protesters.
So far, 172 civilians have been killed and 20,765 injured in the firing
of pellets, bullets and teargas shells on the demonstrators. More than 280
youth have lost their one or both eyes to the pellet injuries while around 1,000
are at the verge of losing their eyesight. Hundreds of people including Hurriyat
leaders have been put behind the bars. However, all these brutalities could not
suppress the Kashmiris’ resolve and they are committed to take their ongoing
liberation movement to
its logical conclusion at all costs. Unfortunately, instead of respecting the
aspirations of the Kashmiri people, India alongside continuing its state
terrorism
is staging election dramas in occupied Kashmir to mislead the world opinion
about the Kashmir dispute and the prevailing deteriorating human rights situation
in the occupied territory.
India’s
new tactics
The present Indian government led by Narendra Modi is
hell-bent upon the complete merger of Jammu and Kashmir with India and to change the Muslim
majority of occupied Kashmir into minority. On one hand, it is using its
judiciary to abrogate Article 370 and Article 35-A of the Indian Constitution
to pave way for giving the citizenship rights of Jammu and Kashmir to the
Indian citizens. On the other, it is using its investigating agencies like
National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Enforcement Directorate to implicate
Hurriyat leaders, activists and pro-freedom people in false cases to force the
Kashmiris into submission. Indian designs to change demography of Jammu and
Kashmir are intended to influence in its favour the results of a referendum
whenever it is held in the territory. As such, the move is against the very
purpose of the relevant UN resolutions. Unfortunately, the international
community, particularly the UN, is turning a blind eye to the India’s actions
in Kashmir resulting in the continued sufferings of the Kashmiri people.
Kashmir a flashpoint
Kashmir is a nuclear flashpoint as it
involves two nuclear-armed neighbours - Pakistan and India. It is the responsibility
of the world community to realize the sensitivity of the matter. It must take
cognizance of the fact that due to India’s unrealistic and intransigent
attitude, the peace and stability of the entire South Asia are at stake.
Conclusion
In view of the precarious nature of situation
where two nuclear-armed neighbours are facing each other, the international
community must take the situation seriously. Besides, the future of millions of
Kashmiris is at stake owing to the stubborn and inflexible behaviour of India.
5th February is a wake-up call for the international community that it should
employ reason and solve this dispute. The supreme sacrifices of Kashmiris must
not go unheard and waste. The resolutions of the UN should not be desecrated
and the human rights violations by India should not be overlooked. 5th February
is a reminder, a stark reminder! It should give message to the people of Jammu
and Kashmir that they are not alone in their just struggle and not only
Pakistan, but the entire peace and justice-loving community of the world is
with them.
_________________
(The
writer is working as Senior Editor at Kashmir Media Service, Islamabad, and can
be reached at razamalik849@yahoo.com)
