Our Fears Have Come True: A Historic Perspective on Kashmir

Dear Reader,

This is a piece from the Winter 1991 edition of Kashmir Diary that we are reproducing for you. Written by G.H. Khan, he proposed that Kashmiris be left to manage their own affairs and that Kashmir be established as a Federal Independent Republican State.

 

OUR FEARS HAVE COME TRUE: A Historic Perspective on Kashmir

Kashmir, strategically located in the Himalayas to the north of India and west of Pakistan, was a princely sovereign state during British colonial rule in India. When India attained freedom from the British in 1947, the Indian sub-continent got partitioned into two dominions: Pakistan, comprising Muslim-majority provinces, and India, the Hindu-majority provinces. A number of princely states, ruled by Maharajas and Nawabs, under the suzerainty of the British, were left to decide their own status. They could accede to either dominion or remain independent. All those states ruled by Hindu Maharajas acceded to India excepting one i.e. Kashmir. Two states Junagarh and Hyderabad had a Hindu majority population ruled by Muslim Nawabs. India attacked the two states and forcibly annexed them. It called the attack “police action”.

The ruler of Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, did not announce his decision promptly. In his own words:

“… the State of Jammu and Kashmir has not acceded to either the Government of India or to Pakistan. Geographically my state is contiguous to both the dominions. It has vital economic and cultural links with both of them. Besides my state has a common bounden), with the Soviet Republic and China. In their external relations the Dominions of India and Pakistan cannot ignore this fact. I wanted to take time to decide to which dominion I should accede, whether it is not in the best interest of both the dominions and my state to stand independent, of course with friendly and cordial relations with both. I, accordingly, approached the dominions of India and Pakistan to enter into a Stand-still Agreementwith my state The Pakistan Government accepted this arrangement. The dominion of India desired further discussion with representation of my Government. I could not arrange that in view of the developments indicated below. In fact the Pakistan Government under the Stand-still Agreement are operating Post and Telegraph system inside the state.. ” (Extract from Maharaja Hari Singh’s letter dated October 26, 1947 addressed to Lord Mountbatten, Governor-General of India)

Kashmir had an overwhelming majority of Muslims. India did not accept the Stand-still Agreement which the Hindu Maharaja had offered.

Serious Muslim-versus-Hindu riots and large-scale migrations took place in the partitioned province of Punjab and affected the border areas of Kashmir state adjoining the Punjab province. The Maharaja promulgated martial law in these border areas. This resulted in op-pression and atrocities. A tribal raid along the western border added to the confusion. The northern territories, Gilgit and Hunza, overpowered the Maharaja’s forces and formed their own government.

In the west, the tribal raid helped in liberating a large belt of the state; thus came into existence what is called Azad Kashmir. The Maharaja left Srinagar, summer capital of the state, for Jammu, his home-town, stronghold of Hindu Dogras. From there he applied to India for armed assistance. The Indian Government sent its Army after making the Maharaja sign the instrument of Accession.

The Pakistan Government denounced the accession as having been achieved by fraud and violence, disregarding the Stand-still Agreement with it. A regular war ensued between India and Pakistan. India complained to the United Nations Organization (U.N.O.) on January 1, 1948. The U.N.O. adopted a resolution on August 15, 1948 to the effect that:

“the future status of the state would be determined in accordance with the will of the people, to that end both the governments would enter into consultation with the commission to determine fair and equitable conditions for each ensuring free expression.”

The war ended on January 1, 1949. On January 5, 1949 in a UNCIP Resolution: Principles relating to Plebiscitewere set out and resolution of August 15, 1948 re-affirmed, and India and Pakistan accepted them.

Sir Owen Dixon, U.N. Kashmir Mediator, negotiated terms relating to Truce Agreement and Plebiscite and on September 19, 1950 reported his failure to the Security Council.

1952: Dr. Frank Graham re-ported progress on the issue of demilitarizing on April 25, but differences persisted on the number and character of forces on each side of the cease-fire line (C.F. Line). In March 1953, in his 5th report, he reported his failure to the Security Council.

January 24, 1957, the Security Council passed another resolution and referred to the resolutions of 1948, 1950, 1951 and the UNCIP resolutions of 1948 and 1949, re-minding the governments and authorities concerned of the principles embodied in item:

“that the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the UN.”

1965: Another war was waged between India and Pakistan in September. The Security Council brought about a cease-fire. The President of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India held a meeting at Tashkent in January, 1966 and agreed to settle all their disputes by peaceful means. But the disputes were not settled.

1971: The third bloody war ensued between India and Pakistan. This time India succeeded in separating the Eastern wing of Pakistan from the western wing; the former took the name Bangladesh. India and Pakistan signed an Agreement at Simla. In it they agreed that: “(i) the principles and purpose of Charter of the U.N. shall govern the relations between the 2 countries. (ii) settle their differences by peaceful means… In Jammu and Kashmir the Line of Control shall be respected by both sides without prejudice to the recognized position of either side…”

 

The Running Sore:

Neither India, nor Pakistan nor the U.N.O. has made any attempt to settle the Kashmir dispute fairly. The main sufferers are the peace-loving people of the Valley of Kashmir whose political bosses had hoped that India would apply its professed principles of Democracy, Secularism and Socialism to the part of the state on India’s side of the Line of Control.

Through a long association they have found, to their dismay, that the expectations they had of India were totally incorrect. The Kashmiris were made to suffer in every conceivable manner through subtle devices. The people of the state were never given any opportunity to express their opinion freely on the issue of Accession. A constituent Assembly was created in November 1951 with all members nominated on Indian side of the C.F. Line. There was not even a single representative of the state on the Pakistan side of the C.F. Line.

On June 4, 1951, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, in a public meeting in Srinagar, had declared:

“Kashmir is not the property of India or Pakistan. It belongs to Kashmiri people. When Kashmir acceded to India we made it clear to the leaders of Kashmir that we would ultimately abide by the verdict of their Plebiscite. If they tell us to walk out, I would have no hesitation in quitting Kashmir”… ‘We have taken the issue to the U.N. and given our word of honor for a peaceful solution, as a great nation. We can-not go back on it. We have left the question of final solution to the people of Kashmir and we are determined to abide by their decision.” Quoted from “The Hindu, Madras – June 5, 1951”

In July 1953, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir State, wrote a letter to Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Education Minister of India. In its last paragraph, he said:

“… Today the contending par-ties are, between themselves and internationally, committed to the principle of Free and Impartial Plebiscite… We have carefully weighed the various pros and cons and have reached certain conclusions after careful deliberation over these matters. Bakshi Sahib and Beg Sahib have been directed to convey these decisions to you. It is now up to you and your colleagues seriously to examine them and decide if they lead to fair solution of the problem. If you do not consider these proposals practicable, then you should put forth your own proposal…” Quoted from pages 23-24 of “Kashmir’s Special Status” (in the light of Agreements) ‘All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference’

Prompt came the reply to the person, who in 1947, helped in get-ting Kashmir attached to the so-called secularIndia in preference to Muslim Pakistan. He was arrested on August 9, 1953, dismissed as Prime Minister, and imprisoned from August 1953 to January 1958 and again from April 1958 to April 1964. From May 1965 to January 1968, he was again imprisoned in far-off Madras.

Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad was installed as Prime Minister on August 9, 1953 and during his ten year regime, the Constitution of the State was amended vide Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 1954 by the President of India whereby the jurisdiction of the center was extended from the original 3 subjects of (1) Defence, (2) Foreign Affairs and (3) Communications to all subjects of the Union list. This went against the very first paragraph of the so-called Delhi Agreement of 1952 that “Sovereignty in all matters other than those specified in the Instrument of Accession continues to reside in the state.”

In 1963 Bakshi was duly rewarded for his ten years’ services. He was dismissed and arrested under the Defense of India Act. G.M. Sadiq now came on the scene. During his regime Article 249 was extended to Jammu and Kashmir State whereby India can legislate on any matter enumerated in the state list. On March 30, 1965, the special nomenclature in Jammu and Kashmir for different designations was downgraded thus: Sadre-Riyasat (i.e., President of the State) was changed to Governor, Waziri-Azam (i.e., Prime Minister) was changed to Chief Minister.

Puppet governments were created, installed and dismissed at the will of the Indian Government. Elections were rigged. All Indian services were extended to the State and they have dominated the State Administration since.

Doors for Kashmiri Muslims were and continue to remain shut in all Defense establishments: the Army, Navy, Air force, Central Reserve Police, Border Security Force, all government and semi-government establishments and in autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies. Within the Jammu and Kashmir State itself the picture is horrifying. On January 1, 1989, 64.1% of the population, i.e., Muslims have this share in the 67 Central government establishments: Nationalized Banks 1.50%; Gazetted Officers 6.89%; Non-Gazetted 12.89%; Class IV 15.76%.

 

State People’s Convention of 1968:

In November 1968 S.M. Abdullah convened a convention at Srinagar to discuss solutions for settling the Kashmir dispute. The writer of this note was invited to participate in the same. He submitted and read a paper titled “Kashmir: A tension spot in the Muslim World.” Reproduced here are the concluding recommendations (pages 33 and 34):

“While remaining true to his ideals of secular democracy, the Kashmiri Muslim wants to rid him-self from the Indian yoke. Will he like to join Pakistan? Although he knows now that Pakistan is eco-nomically a progressive and prosperous country, he may not want to jump from one frying pan to another, without seeing things for himself Will he like to be independent? He might like to do so, but can he maintain his freedom in his special geographic position surrounded as he is by 3 great nations having differing ideologies.

He is pining for a clean, efficient and an honest administration of his own choosing without any intimidation of the armies and the police.

A lasting solution can emerge when India, Pakistan and Kashmiris find one acceptable to all. So far, India and Pakistan have appeared as trying to impose their will. But the real view must be that acceptable to and expressed by the Kashmiris. They must not be treated as dumb driven cattle any more. A group of 75 legislators cannot be trusted to work out a solution and impose their will on 5 million people.”

In June of 1974 The Governor of Kashmir, Shri L.K. Jha, who was also the chancellor of the two State Universities, held a convention in Srinagar on “Student Unrest in Kashmir: Causes and Remedies.” On his invitation the author of this paper participated in the discussion and read a paper. Some recommendations of that paper are listed below:

 

Political:

• Settle the Kashmir dispute without delay.
• Hold free and fair elections without any party being in charge of the government when the elections are held.
• Do not make colleges and Universities and educational institutions subservient to politics.
• Stop recruiting men from outside the state except in cases of real need.
• Allow a reasonable number of Muslims from Kashmir state to get jobs in the Air force, Navy, Army and the central government departments and undertakings. Stop distrusting them.
• Reduce drastically the number of Army, C.R.P., B.S.F. and K.A.P. Personnel and prohibit them from living and from moving about freely in Urban and Suburban and residential areas.

 

Economic:

• Do not have recourse to deficit financing.
• Make no false promises to people.
• Provide ethics as an important part of syllabi from primary to matric… The expunging of all ethical, moral and religious education from the curricula of government run schools has become a retrograde step, and this blunder needs being rectified at once.
• Vocationalize education from primary to matric.
• Cultural freedom needs to be safeguarded. It is a fallacy to expect a self-respecting community to buy political and economic security and advancement at the cost of cultural and spiritual heritage… The Sahay Report (p. 134) recommends the establishment of “Ashram-type schools”. There should be no objection to this type of schools and to Potshal-las for Hindus but let Muslims have Maktabs and Madrassas instead. The Muslims will not like clubs or Kendras to be introduced to their women and young girls for informal… education…with visits by VIPS…fraught with undesirable repercussion… Instead help the Maktabs and schools…

In 1989, the Divisional Com-missioner of Kashmir invited comments on a Project Report pre-pared by him on Srinagar Core Area Development. I sent him my comments which he duly acknowledged on 22nd June 1989. A few extracts are reproduced here:

I do not agree with the conclusion that geography and climatic conditions are responsible for our inability to create a sound industrial base. These two factors, on the contrary, are an asset for creating a sound base. Hydel Power can be created because of our geography. Before my retirement in 1963 I recommended building of … (various) Power Stations…. I would recommend your reading my works as under: “Irrigation, Flood and Food Problems of the Jammu and Kashmir State” and “The Kashmir Mussulman”.

My special request was ” You have to build confidence in the minds of the Kashmiri youth that you are not out to demolish our hearth and home; ruin our culture and heritage; desecrate our centers of religion and convert us into economic slaves.”

Talented young men are persecuted. Teenagers are tortured in interrogation centers. Non-state subjects – all Non-Muslim are given state subject certificates thus reducing the Muslim-majority character of the state. The population ratio of Muslims is declining year by year in the state. The B.J.P. (Bhartya Janta Party) is trying to abolish what is left of Article 370 of our Constitution. Build a railway up to Srinagar along the left bank of River Jhelum. Meanwhile get the Jhelum Valley Road re-opened for use. Build roads on sound technical consideration, not on a political basis.”

 

Our Fears Have Come True:

In 1973, twenty-six years after Partition I stated… “Kashmir lost its independence 386 years ago… Since the partition in 1947… The public-spirited sons of the soil were turned out of the state in a most inhuman way in 1947 and 1948. These include judges, administrators and religious heads. They have been suffering and passing away their time in agony… This discrimination, suspicion and distrust of this vast proportion of the state’s inhabitants is taken to be a great humiliation and is felt deeply though not expressed because of fear of reprisals. This state of mind is nursed by newspaper reports carrying tales about the burning alive of Harijan woman in India by Caste Hindus… Will Kashmiri Muslims be also dragged to such a depth, they fear? Democratic progress, social justice and economic justice appear to be utopian dreams under these conditions… disorder, corruption, hypocrisy, artificiality of work, selfishness… slogan merging have become the hallmark of our politics. Democracy has had its death and birth. The people are fed-up. The Muslims, in particular, are also afflicted with insecurity.” Forty-four years have gone by Bharat (India) has now come out in its true colors. Our fears have come true.

The broken pledges, economic strangulation and even some atrocities and cruelties may get buried with us as we die. But what indignities have been and are being perpetrated for these two years 1989-1991 will never be forgotten and the wounds inflicted on our minds will never get healed: Gang rape committed on women. One example: the night of February 23/24, 1991, in Village Kunan, Kupwara by the sixth Raj Rifle Regiment. Rather than punish them attempts are on to cover up the unforgivable crime. Entering homes at any odd hour; asking male members to come out and, in course of searches, molesting and disrespecting women. To escape, some girls jumped out of windows to death. Shooting and killing unarmed mourners, carrying dead bodies for burial. One example: Moulvi Muhammad Farooq’s Funeral Procession in May 1990. Exercise repeated in May 1991 at Khanyar, Srinagar at the Pre-burial Prayer Meeting at the graveyard. Throwing away dead bodies in rivers. Mass killing of young men – the Freedom Fighters – (calling them Terrorists) and then neither giving out their identities, nor handing over their dead bodies to Muslims for burial according to Islamic rites but doing away with them as they like. Recent example: over 75 bodies in the first week of May 1991 in Kupwara sector. Burning of shopping complexes, homes and commercial establishments en-masse. Holding respected, elderly, pious people in prisons without any trials in court. Beating, torturing and maiming the arrested persons. Arresting young men and taking them away to unknown places instead of in-forming their relatives or publishing their names or whereabouts.

 

Conclusion: 

Things have now gone beyond any repairs. It will do no good to India to call the Kashmir -movement the creation of a few terrorists. It is a mass uprising.

It will do India good if it heeds the advice of its own eminent and respectable citizens like Shri V.M. Tarkunde who, in his public statements gave this advice:

“A grant of plebiscite to the people of Kashmir Valley is the obvious solution… If as a third alternative, Kashmir becomes an Independent Democratic and Secular State, its territorial integrity should be guaranteed by India, Pakistan and the U.N. That would end the hostility between India and Pakistan and Kashmir will acquire the status of the Switzerland of Asia. A Humanist cannot wish for any-thing better.” (February 19, 1990)

I repeat: India – heed this advice! Order your armies to quit Kashmir. Leave us alone and let us Kashmirismanage our affairs ourselves. Call a halt to this wide-spread tyranny, misery and hatred.

 

The author, Mr. G.H. Khan suggests the following Proposal “as a starting point for hammering out a lasting solution” for Kashmir. He proposes a Federal Independent Republican State, with six Semiautonomous units as under

1. Kashmir Valley
2. Azad Kashmir
3. Jammu Plains
4. Jammu Hills
5. Northern Territories
6. Ladakh Area

The six sub-units would have right of secession from the independent state and right of accession to Pakistan or to India. Defence and development would be the responsibility of U.N.O. for an initial period of ten years, to be extended by another ten years at the option of the Federal Republic. At the end of ten to twenty years the state would decide, by means of a fair and impartial zonal plebiscite, whether it shall continue as an independent state. If the decision is against independence and in favor of accession then the people will be asked by a second vote to decide whether they wish to accede to India or to Pakistan. The author proposes supervision to be exercised and details to be worked out by a Supreme Council with the following composition (votes):

U.N.O., (1); India, (1); Pakistan, (1); Kashmir Valley, (3); Azad Kashmir, (2); Jammu Plains, (2); Jammu Hills, (1); Northern Territories, (1); Ladakh,(1)

 

About the Author:

The author, Mr. G.H. Khan, is perhaps the first Kashmiri to have come to America for higher education. He received his masters degree in civil engineering at Harvard, in 1930. Mr. Khan is a pioneer engineer in Kashmir. He worked for the government and retired as chief engineer of the Kashmir Irrigation Department in 1963. Mr. Khan has authored books and numerous papers on varied topics about Kashmir and Kashmiris.