Kashmir Freedom: in which shape?
Nationalism is the philosophy of a nation´s identity. If
nationalism does not become a cause for hatred against other nations,
then it is an indicator of a nation´s progress and prosperity. People of
all hues and description are accommodated within this identity and every member
is proud of his or her nationality. However, the pre-requisites for its proper
growth are that nationalism is not exploited and instead of hating
other nations, they are meted out equitable treatment. Deviation from
this principle means taking the direction of fascism which gives rise to
Hitlers and Mussolinis. In todays´s world, nationalism leads to national
development and fraternal relations whereas its death is caused by religious extremism.
In the Indo-Pak sub-continent, Egypt, Algeria and
Afghanistan, religious extremism has not only made the life a virtual hell but
the peace and progress of the entire world has been taken a hostage. Bomb
blasts are caused on roads and in buildings, innocent people are killed and
fear is struck. This is also true of the Valley of Kashmir where national
liberation struggle has been taken a hostage by religious extremism. The
on-going struggle in Kashmir, it is feared, may sound a death knell to Kashmir´s
nationalism, her secular tradition and image and finally to her tradition of
Sufism and religious tolerance. If this struggle takes the shape of
religious extremism instead of a true national struggle, what would be the
consequences. What shape will it give to the solution of Kashmir tangle?
In what shape will the geography of the sub-continent and Kashmir come up?
These questions necessitate proper assessment of international situation and
also the conditions prevailing in the sub-continent and within Kashmir.
Geopolitics
In 1947, the State of Jammu and Kashmir comprised an area
of 222,263 square miles. Today 101,387 square miles are in India´s
control and the rest 120,649 square miles are with Pakistan and China.
The territory in Pakistan´s control is further divided into two
parts; Northern Areas comprise Gilgit and Baltistan which is under the
administrative control of Islamabad. The population in this area comprises
Sunnis, Shias, Ismailis, Noorbakhshis and other communities who are identified
as Shin and Oshkin. In 1947, the people of Gilgit and Baltistan rose in revolt
against Maharaja Hari Singh and invited Pakistan to take control of the area.
For next 25 years, Pakistan administered the area under the black laws like
F.C.R. Administration was run through a resident as was the system during the
British rule. Later on the nomenclature was changed to Commissioner. The
Azad Kashmir High Court, in a historic decision, decreed that Northern Areas
were not a part of Pakistan but of Kashmir and that the control of Gilgit and
Baltistan be immediately handed over to Azad Kashmir. Pakistan managed to
obtain a veradict from the Supreme Court of Azad Kashmir on some technical
basis.
The other part of Pakistan controlled territory comprises
only 2,000 square miles and is called Azad Kashmir with six districts of
Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Mirpur,Bhimber, Bagh and Poonch. Poonch and Bagh
comprised only one district in earlier days but since Sardar Qayyum Khan hails
from Dhirkot in Bagh , he exercised his hegemony and divided Poonch into two
districts.
Azad Kashmir, which in reality should be called Pakistani
held Kashmir is also a conglomerate of different castes, fraternities, tribes
and linguistic denominations. There are hardly any means of production or
industry which would ensure a healthy transformation of economic condition of
the people. The people of this area generally emigrate to Europe and the Middle
East where they put in hard work to earn a living and support their families
back home. It is estimated that their remittances in the shape of foreign
exchange to Pakistan are to the tune of a thousand million dollars per year.
Structure in Azad Kashmir
As far as the people of Gilgit and Baltistan are
concerned, it is a fact that they do not want to align themselves with
Kashmir. Two movements are afoot there; one supports making Gilgit and
Baltistan the fifth province of Pakistan and thus win representation in
national assembly and the senate. The other movement, still in early stages,
is that of carving Baloristan as a new territorial entity comprising Gilgit,
Baltistan and some parts of Chitral. The supporters of this movement only
occasionally align themselves to Kashmir. And that is because of the pressures
of such Kashmiri speaking people from the valley as had come to these areas in
1942 as merchants and later on settled there. Since Gilgit and Baltistan
did not take part in the national freedom struggle launched in Kashmir,
therefore Pakistani rulers and its I.S.I selected Amanullah Khan from
Gilgit to recruit youth from the valley and induct them into the armed
struggle in Kashmir. Evidently one who has no base of his own, the agencies can
detach him at any time from the struggle and render him toothless. This
is precisely what the I.S.I did with Amanullah Khan.
In Azad Kashmir, people of different ideologies are
to be found in different political parties. For the last fifty years,
autocratic rule has prevailed depending on the good will of Islamabad. But when
differences cropped up, the good will was lost and the person was
deposed. This game was played with late Mir Waiz Maulavi Yusuf Shah,
Sardar Qayyum Khan, Sardar Ibrahim Khan, K.H. Khurshid and Mumtaz Rathore. By
and large, Muslim Conference has remained in power for the most part of the
time in Azad Kashmir. Its slogan has been Kashmir banega Pakistan
(Kashmir will become Pakistan). But when PPP came into existence, Sardar
Ibrahim Khan separated from the Muslim Conference and formed PPP in AK. This
party came to power twice and it floated the slogan "Make Azad Kashmir a
province of Pakistan".
Nationalists
As far as nationalist are concerned , the younger
generation in Azad Kashmir wants an independent Kashmir. Like us, they are also
dreaming of an entire independent Kashmir as in 1947. Unfortunately owing
to personal differences, nationalists are divided into several groups. By
adopting wrong strategies, there are further divisions among them. Theirs
is a strange philosophy. While living in Azad Kashmir, they are struggling
for the freedom of Indian occupied Kashmir. However, National Students
Federation, National Lliberation Front, ( led by Maqbool Bhat's son Showkat
Maqbool Bhat) and Peoples National Party AK,and National awami Party( NAP ) do
speak of liberating AK and Gilgit and Balltistan and actually they have
also put in some effort. But intelligence agencies and pro-Pak
accessionists accuse them of working for India. In the case of Jamaat-e-Islami,
it never had a strong position in AK so as to win even a single seat in the
assembly. But they do mange to organise rallies by orchestrating Islam and
hate-India slogans and by alluding to armed struggle in Kashmir valley. These
rallies are generally meant to collect funds and incite religious feelings in
the minds of teenagers whom they eye for recruitment in the rank and file of
Kashmir militancy. Since the nationalists do not have an organised party
and leadership, therefore, even the staunch nationalist could not continue his
march along the path of real struggle. This was because either there was no
proper organisation or that nationalist leadership sold itself to the
intelligence agencies. Apart from this, those engaged in national liberation
struggle were bogged down by problems of material survival which invariably
forced them to migrate either to the Middle East, Europe or Pakistan.
Take the example of Liberation Front. As long as it
worked with ISI and other organs of Pakistan, its members continued to receive
training in camps, arms, ammunition, funds and publicity to the extent that in
the context of Kashmir, Liberation Front became almost omnipresent. But when
secret agencies took Hizbu'l-Mujahideen and some more organisations under its
wings and strengthened them , Liberation Front found itself ditched. Through
the instrumentality of Hizbu'l-Mujahideen, many capable and patriotic youth of
Liberation Front were liquidated in Kashmir.
In these circmstances in Gilgit and Baltistan, PPP and
the Shia group of Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqh-e-Jafariyya won in Council elections.
It is believed that although the people there were not fully satisfied with the
arrangement, yet in the light of freedom struggle in Kashmir, they were not
prepared to join the peoples' struggle now going on in Kashmir valley. They
considered themselves part of Pakistan,because Pakistan to separate them
fromAzad Kashmir( P.O.K )and ruled them from Islamabad for last fifty years.
As far as Azad Kashmir (AK) is concerned, there is a
large number of nationalists in that region. But despite that, the
nationalists are not knit into an organised structure nor are they prepared to
embark on anti-Pakistan uprising on a scale on which the people in the valley
have risen against India. The main reason for this deficiienccy is that the
activists in the valley receive substantial support from Pakistan and pro-Pak
accessionists in AK. The nationalists in AK are not receiving help from
any side. That is the reason why even well-known nationalists usually
fight elections as independent candidates.
Class (biradari) and region are important factors
in the social structure of AK. The nationalists must perforce take that
into consideration. They cannot come out of these trappings.
Therefore it is evident that somehow they have to rationalise their equations with
two major political parties, namely Muslim Conference and AK Peoples Party. In
other words, they,too, must allow themselves to be bogged down by sub-regional
politics of Poonch, Mirpur, Kotli and Muzaffarabad segments plus the biradari
that dominates these. As students, these nationalists introduce themselves in
the context of national freedom by delivering fiery speeches from the
platform of National Students Federation. But in practical politics they cash
their nationalist past in one of the two major parties namely Muslim Conference
and PPP. In this group can be included leaders like Mumtaz Rathore, the
former Prime Minister and Mian Bashir, a senior minister. These
conditions are hardly conducive for the nationalist movement to aspire for a
definite shape and structure. As already said, in elections they got bogged
down in local and non-proliferating politics.In practice they have been only
supporting one of the two major political parties namely Muslim Conference and
PPP. Invariably elections in AK are won either by the Muslim Conference or
PPP. It may, therefore, be inferred that the people in AK want the
present status quo to continue. This status quo is based on the perception of
Pakistan that Azad Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan are already with Pakistan, the
part of Kashmir under Indian occupation has also got to go to her because
Pakistan considers the whole of Kashmir as its property.
This stand of Pakistan, however, is not supported by any
legal or moral justification. According to UN resolution, Pakistan must
withdraw all her troops from all parts of Kashmir in the event of a
plebiscite. Again with reference to UN perceptions, the accession
document signed by the Maharaja of Kashmir (1947) makes India's position
legally stronger in comparison to the claim of Pakistan because plebiscite has
to be conducted with Indian army in reduced numbers continuing its presence in
the state and the committee appointed by the UN supervising the conduct
of plebiscite. Kashmiris and Pakistanis should be thankful to Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru who took Kashmir issue to the UNO. It has, therefore, to
be seen what kind of freedom for Kashmiris is envisioned by the religious
extremists of Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and Kashmir itself when they raise
the loud cry of Islam.
On the basis of language, religion and culture, the
State of Jammu and Kashmir comprises three regions. Ladakh has an area of
96,701 sq kilometres, Jammu has 26,293 sq kms comprising six districts of
Udhampur, Doda, Kathua, Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch. The smallest region in
terms of land mass is Kashmir valley with 15,853 sq kms as its area. Kashmir
region comprses six districts namely Anantnag, Pulwama, Srinagar, Baramulla,
Budgam and Kupwara. The three regions are inhabited by people of different
ethnicities such as ( on the basis of culture) Kashmiris,
Dogars,Bakarwals, Dards, Balti, Ladakhi, Pushwari, etc. In terms of
language and dialects, we have Kashmiri, Dogri, Gujri, Dardi, Balti, Punjabi
etc. In Jammu, there are Dogra Hindus and in the rest except the valley of
Kashmir, Muslims are in minority and thinly dispersed throughout the regions.
They are described as Gujjars, Bakarwals, Dards, Baltis, Shia, Poshwari etc.
These denominations have always kept themselves politically away from Kashmiri
speaking populace. The Bodhis and Muslims of Ladakh and the Dogras and Muslims
of Jammu regions have always considered themselves separate from Kashmiri
speaking Muslims and Pandits. Likewise Kashmiri speaking Muslims and
Pandits, too, have considered themselves separate from others. To
them Kashmir valley means Kashmiris, calling the rest as Gujjars, Paharis,
Pohul etc. This was the reason why Kashmiri Pandits resented rehabilitation of
non-Kashmiri speaking refugees in the valley in 1948-49 who had come from
the present Azad Kashmir. Their argument was that owing to the rehabilitation
of these non-Kashmiri refugees, there would be tremendous stress on the
population of the valley which in turn might adversely affect local culture.
Secularism under stress
The tragedy of Kashmiri Pandits is that though they
ardently love their motherland, yet they look more to India and, in the context
of religion, consider themselves more secure with India. This was
considered their crime though the Muslims who demand Pakistan are not
considered traitors in the eyes of the champions of national liberation. It is
to be noted that at the very outset of the on-going national liberation
struggle in Kashmir when Liberation Front was the only organisation making
armed struggle for attaining freedom, Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave
their place of origin. On individual level a Kashmiri Pandit might have done
some excess or denied the right of others, but as a community they never harmed
anybody. It was the Kashmiri Pandit who rose to the envious position of
teacher (guru) and the Pandits brought the light of education to their Muslim
compatriots in Kashmir. Strength of Kashmiri Pandit teachers in Islamia High
School and College in Srinagar was 40 per cent. I developed taste in history
because of my history teacher. Our science teacher also was a
Pandit. The sports teacher, Nereh Bhat (Narender Bhat) took great pains
in developing sports in our school to the extent that we always won the first
position in the district. These teachers were secularists to the core. How sad
that we have not been able to protect our culture of secularist traditions; how
unfortunate that we could not protect our teachers, our neighbours and
our friends of Pandit community and their properties. This failure will be
considered a tragedy for our nation by any stretch of imagination. For several
centuries in the past, these Pandits had been living together with their Muslim
neighbours in peace and amity. During the turmoil of 1947, Kashmiri Muslims
came forward to protect them and their property and thus a unique example of
inter-community tolerance was demonstrated during a turbulent period of Kashmir
history.
Today some Pandits are raising their voice for `Panun
Kashmir.´ They have a strong argument. They say that they have been driven out
of their homes by terrorising them, by attacking their honour and by killing
some of their members. Now they are living in sub-human conditions in
refugee camps in Jammu and elsewhere. When told that they left their homes on
the promptings of Governor Jagmohan. they say that nobody would leave
comfortable homes and go in exile to unknown and inhospitable places to live in
tents where life is virtual hell. Assuming that they left at the behest
of Governor Jagmohan, but what has been the fate of those Pandits who stayed
back in Kashmir. A dental surgeon and his wife, who were rendering
service in Srinagar,were one day called by some unknown persons at their house
and then gunned down at the doorstep. Rosy and her mother were raped and
then shot dead including Rosy's father. The Pandits ask why have their houses
and shops been looted and then burnt. They ask whether this is the
treatment which Islam permits to be meted out to one's neighbours? Should
not these developments be good enough to scare a community away? Is not
there strong logic in their demand for a separate homeland? But demanding
the separate home land on the basis of community or religious is
also against the integrity and unity of the India, same like a
jamaati-e-islaami's stand on the Kashmir ?.
Regionalism
Since a long time, the people in Ladakh have been
demanding that Ladakh be given the status of autonomous hill council and placed
under central administration. During Dr. Farooq Abdulla's first stint, a
strong movement for these objectives was launched in Ladakh. Likewise
Jammuites are also demanding autonomy for their region. When people
in the valley ask for Pakistan on the basis of religion without taking the
people of other regions into confidence, all that will happen is that instead
of strengthening national freedom movment, people of other regions and
faiths in the state will begin to feel insecure and thus will ensue the process
of parcelling the state into fragments. In what shape will Kashmir
then emerge if the solution is desired to be found on the basis of the type of
struggle we have launched? This is a big question looking directly into the
eyes of Kashmiris. We the nationalists of Kashmir are baffled by the very
question. The current atmosphere of communalism will turn Kashmir into another
Bosnia fragmenting her into regions, districts , sub-districts and the rest of
it.
Fragmentation of Kashmir
Pro-Pakistan groups and Pakistan want Kashmir to become a
part of Pakistan. I need not emphasise the point that Pakistani
rulers and majority of her politicians call pro- independence
activists traitors and Indian agents. They label independence of
Kashmir as a conspiracy either by the Indians or the Americans.
Evidently in a prospect of independent Kashmir, Pakistan will have to vacate
Gilgit and Baltistan, a situation which does not go in the interests of
Pakistan at all. Therefore, when the proposition of independent
Kashmir was in circulation in western political circles and was also placed
before Pakistan, she rejected it outright. Pakistan knows that in the
event of independent Kashmir, her overland link with China via Gilgit along the
Silk Route will be broken and her northern borders will shrink to Kotli
Satyan, Kohala and Daena instead of Kahuta, Chakothi, Bhimber and Neelam
valley. It will be barely 22 kilometers away from Kahuta atomic plant and
will come close to Garhi Dupatta instead of Neelam Valley. The nationalists are
trying to make Pakistanis understand that in a prospect of independent Kashmir,
Kashmiris would like to live as their younger brothers, and that their military
pressure would be pronounced on Indian border because they would be relieved
from their concerns in Kashmir. But Pakistanis just laugh it away.
Let me disclose here that in 1985, some Pakistani officials and ISI
representatives met with our four-member delegation headed by me. In that
meeting, we precisely adopted the same line of argument.
History has taught us that friedship among countries on
the basis of religion cannot be lasting one. Economic interests and
international alignments are major factors cementing friendship among
nations. Relationship between India and Bangladesh on one hand and
Pakistan and Afghanistan on the other could be identified as good
examples. A close study shows that inner circles in Pakistan ruling
clique and their policy planners want only the valley of Kashmir so that
Pakistan would feel herself more secure with control over the sources of water
and the Silk Route. They are ready to let Jammu and Ladakh regions remain
with India. But in order to drag India to the negotiating table,
they maintain pressure on Muslim dominated areas of Jammu namely Doda and
Kishtwar through the instrumentality of armed militants. They do not mind
recruiting Afghans, Pakistanis, Sudanese and others to conduct insurgency
operations there.
Apart from this, occasional statements of Pakistani and
Azad Kashmir political figures in regard to the proposition of division should
also be taken note of. Dixon Plan also surfaces now and then. Some
voices have been raised suggesting that Jammu and Ladakh be given to India;
Gilgit, Baltistan and Azad Kashmir to Pakistan and the valley of Kashmir be
made independent. India does not seem to be in any mood of taking back
Azad Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan. However in order to maintain pressure
on Pakistan, the Indians use the lever of threatening that they would throw
Pakistanis out of Azad Kashmir. They even get resolutions passed by the
Indian parliament to this effect. In the same vein, Pakistan too, cannot
wrest Kashmir from India's hands. But if in the background of on-going turmoil
in Kashmir, Pakistan succeeds in prompting international policemen to offer
themselves for resolution of Kashmir tangle, then fragmentation of Kashmir will
be writ large on her balance sheet. In that scenario of division and
sub-division, if, for example, the valley is given freedom, the question is what
will the people of the valley do with it because it will have to be
further divided to give the Pandits their homeland. Thus having turned
Kashmir into another Bosnia, what would be the parameters of our economic
viability and security? Shall we not be dependent on India and Pakistan
for contacts with the rest of the world? Today, as we find it, Pakistan has
rescinded the transit rights of Afghanistan although according to international
law a landlocked country is to be provided access route to the international
waters by her neighbours. Had not Pakistan to incur the enemity of Russia
for the sake of Afghanistan?
What will be the economic strength of fragmented
Kashmir? The economy of the valley cannot be run by tourist industry
alone. Even there are some hard pre-reaquisites to make tourist industry
economically viable. It asks for free atmosphere and acceptable political
system. What will be the political system for a region with just thirty
or thirty five lakh population divided into various religious and cultural
denominations and varrying perceptions? Isn't it that like Pakistan and
Afghanistan, we get embroiled in large scale sectarian and factional feuds
ready to lynch one another? (to be honest we are already doing that exercise).
Then nothing can stop Pandits from getting their portion - Panun Kashmir - even
if it is in the shape of concentrated localities. What is more,
will it not usher in the dark and dangerous prospect in which the story
of 1947 communal carnage of Jammu will be re-enacted? The large Muslim minority
in various parts of Jammu region will, in the event of the danger of pogroms,
migrate to the valley. Can Kashmir bear the burden and what will be its
repercussions? Division of Kashmir on communal basis will, eventually,
engulf the whole of India and its flames will consume millions of
innocent people in the entire sub-continent. Assuming for a while
that Pakistn succeeds in wresting the valley of Kashmir, even then the fate of
Muslim minorities in the State will be only exodus from their homes and
hearths. In such a situation nobody can guarantee the safety of 180
million Muslims of India. One shudders on the mere thought of it. In the
event of such an unprecedented carnage, people will yearn for another Gandhiji
who had gone on strike unto death in order to stop the massacres in
Calcutta. People will remember Waris Shah who, moved by the suffering of
a daughter of Punjab, wrote his immortal poem. But alas, there is
neither a second Waris Shah among us today nor did India produce
another Gandhi.
Therefore patriotic Kashmiris, good Muslims and humanist
sections in the sub-continent and in Asia should vehemently oppose division of
Kashmir in the name of religion and community. In fact they should
initiate resistance to such a move. This is the reason why we repeatedly say
that reviving the 1947 position of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, free and
fair elections should be held in both the parts and the duly elected
representatives of Kasshmir (both parts) be given an opportunity of talking to
both India and Pakistan for a lasting resolution of Kashmir tangle. And a
lasting solution will be one which is acceptable to the people in Kashmir,
people of all faiths.
Disinformation
Let us admit frankly that we the masses of the valley
have been made victims of propaganda of a golden dream by people with vested
interests. We should try to dissect these golden dreams in the context of
international and regional situation. Such international organistions as keep
close watch on emerging situations anywhere in the world and are always
ready to supervene, do not give an iota importance to Kashmir issue. They
consider it a case of religious extremism and as cancerous as Afghanistan.
During Benazir Bhutto's visit to the United States, President Clinton, while
supporting elections (in Kashmir) had said: " ........... of course
the Indians now are talking about election. It will be interesting to see
who is eligible to vote, what the conditions of the election are, whether it
really is a free referundum on the peoples´will." But Benazir
contended that her American visit was a success, and consequently, distorted
the statement of the American President. She said that the American
President felt that the peoples' will in Kashmir can be ascertained only
through free referundum. She eschewed reference to elections. It is
amusing to note that invariably Indian and Pakistani bureaucrats and mandarins
give their own interpretation to the statements and reports of foreign political
leaders and organisations.
At a point of time in recent days, there ensued a spate
of statements and counter-statements between the Indian Home Minister and the
American embassy in New Delhi. The American ambassador met with the Prime
Minister and the Home Minister of India to tell them that American Assistant
Secretary of State, Robin Raphel, had stated before the Congressional Committee
for South Asia that plebiscite in Kashmir as stipulated in 48 - year old UN
resolution was no more practicable. But, of course, a solution to Kashmir
problem in changed circumstances will have to be found according to the
wishes of the people. This solution can be found when both the countries
include Kashmiris in their talks. The truth is that the Americans apprehend
emergence of Afghanistan-like situation in Kashmir with rising crescendo
of religious extremism, That could lead to eruption of large scale communal
violence in the entire sub-continent. As already said, in the event of a
plebiscite, Pakistan will have to withdraw all her troops from Gilgit,
Ballltistan and Azad Kashmir in accordance with the UN resolution.
The results of a plebiscite cannot be conjured up by entertaining the wishes of
Kashmir valley alone. And in the event of results not going the way
Pakistan likes, Silk Route will go out of her hands. The Americans will
use it as a lever to foster the policy of encirclement of China if the
exigency of geopolitics demands it.
At the present moment, the US does not want to antagonise
India. Her relations with Iran are already strained and Sino
- American relations are too fragile to bear stress and strain
of rapidly changing alignments in eco-strategic world. If China, India
and Iran form a nexus, then the US shall have to bear herself in South
Asia with utmost caution. She will have to reckon with the nexus.
Indo-US trade relations are widening and deepening day by day. Why should
the US endanger such a vast market just for the sake of a tiny stretch of land
called Kashmir. History stands witness to the reality that western
powers always keep their economic and political interests ahead of every other
consideration. These interests are protected by means fair or foul.
When they needed the people of Afghanistan against Russia, they labelled all
religious groups of Afghanistan as crusaders and provided them with enormous
funds by way of assistance to carry out jehad. Not only that,
through a media blitzkrieg they projected Afghan resistance as a decisive
battle for protection of freedom and democracy throughout the world. But
when their purpose was served, they have become silent spectators of the same
Afghanistan drifting down the precipice of destruction and annihilation.
Afghanistan turned into desolation and ruination, makes them beat not an
eyelid. This is a living example of imperialist powers fomenting regional
problems and instigating conflicts between the nations in order to exploit the
people for their selfish interests. In order to maintain their
stranglehold on Gulf oil and secure markets for the sale of oil and arms, they
forged an alliance of western countries and of the Islamic world against
Iraq. This spelled destruction for that country. But now feigning
humanism, some human rights organisation and the UNICEF, the organ of the
United Nations, create loud noise that children, women and old people in
Iraq are dying of hunger and that economic embargo imposed on Iraq be lifted.
Those who had ganged up against Iraq in the war, including Islamic countries, have
no qualms of conscience so that they might gang up to provide relief to the
hungry and dying co-religionists of Iraq.
It has to be remembered that the US and Europe are
gradually reaching their economic optimum. In order to maintain the
present living standard of their peoples, they may have to take recourse to
colonialism. Now a new area has been explored to perpetrate colonialism
and that is the area of trade and marketting. Fomenting problems
and complicacies of regional level is a crucial instrument in their hands to be
used against the targetted countries. These instruments take various
shapes: sometimes these appear in the guise of human rights
violations or enticements for global trade and open market and at other
times as renewed prescriptions for democratic dispensation. In this
background, one can only wish that the poorer countries of Asia and
Africa or elsewhere in the world, generate confidence to resolve their regional
problems themselves.
Proposals
Under the auspices of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation,
non-official talks have been held in New Delhi in recent past. This is a
welcome step. In this non-official conclave were present two
former finance ministers, former foreign minister and former chief justice of
supreme court of Pakistan. From Indian side former foreign minister,
American ambassador in India and many others participated. It should be
remembered that the participating former Pakistan foreign minister Sahibzada
Ya'qub Ali Khan has been considered close to the Americans and the
Pakistan army while her former finance minister, Dr. Mahbubu'l-Huqq is popular
among US ruling circles and the World Bank.
Three years ago I had written an article under the
heading " Solution of Kashmir problem in the background of
Palestine". My proposal was as this: Both sides of Kashmir should be
declared self-governing as in Palestine which would form the basis for
its final resolution. The participating former finance minister of
Pakistan, Mahbu'l-Huqq had proposed in this non-governmental conclave
that self government be accepted for Kashmir like Gaza Strip and Jerico in
Palestine.
I take pride in my six years of struggle which is the sum
total of my thirty years of political journey. I take pride in myself for
the reason that I did not become the instrument of destruction for my
fellow countrymen, my brothers ,my sisters and my neighbours in Kashmir.
I strove to keep the on-going struggle in Kashmir on the track of national
liberation movement. Through my writings, public meetings and
interaction with people at large, I proposed peaceful solutions for the Kashmir
problem. Today, many plolitical figures and parties in India and
Pakistan, people who matter in international fora and organisations
committed to democratic ideology, are recalling those proposals.
However, it is a matter of regret that Sardar
Qayyum Khan of Azad Kashmir severely condemned the statement issued by
the non-government delegation which had participated in the conclave under
Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. He called it playing in the hands of Indian
secret agencies asserting that the suggestion of Gaza Strip type self-
governance for Kashmir was tantamount to betrayal of the blood of martyrs in
Kashmir. It is interesting to remind our readers that in the past, the
same Sardar Qayyum Khan expressed to Robin Raphel and Bhim Singh his
agreement to the proposal of holding eletions in Kashmir under the supervision
of an impartial authority. This had also been stated by him in a press
conference. These days Azad Kashmir is seized of election politics.
Therefore political stalwarts are making loud claims in this season of
elections of liberating Srinagar, Jammu and even Delhi and Amritsar in a matter
of days. Undoubtedly they will make thunderous speeches of hoisting the
flag in these Indian cities. In this way political blackmail will be kept
energised for a few months to come but only at the cost of the blood of
Kashmiri youth. In foreign countries their hirelings will take out processions
and call rallies and enjoy sumptuous feasts because for last fifty years, Azad
Kashmir political horse traders have made the people of Kashmir their hostage
by raising the bogey of Kashmir issue. In this manner they have managed to
divert the attention of the public from their demand for providing them
with basic necessities of life.
Therefore, I have a humble message not for political
leadership of Azad Kashmir but for her youth. I want to ask them how long will
they become victims of self-delusion? How long they will continue to
remain hostages to their leaders back home while they toil endlessly to earn
their livelihood in distant lands away from their near and dear ones? I
have also a word for the leadership of the valley of Kashmir. They should
take stock of the dead bodies of their sons, brothers, sisters and mothers
dropping around them day in and day out. They should galvanize themselves
into action for liberating Kashmir and Kashmiris from the bondage of the gun
because now, besides the security forces, we too are actively involved in
taking precious and innocent lives so wantonly. They must
also consider what economic disaster has befallen Kashmir. In 1995 alone,
more than 400 Kashmiri youth were killed in inter-gang rivalries. Those
who died were sons, brothers and dear ones of people among us.
International opinion
As far as the question of smoothing of international
opinion is concerned, it is a reality that in foreign countries public opinion
does not go in our favour. By resorting to brutalities like kidnapping
and beheading foreign tourists and by taking innocent lives through bomb
blasts, we have provided an opportunity to the people abroad to label our
movement a terrorist movement like those in Egypt and Algeria. The influence of
such organisations and single-member parties as bring out demonstrators on the
streets of London or any other place or march along with British MPs who have a
constituency of Asians, is hardly of any consequence for international
opinion on Kashmir. The masses of people do not come out to join these
protest rallies which presents a completely different picture from what the US
faced in Europe and US in connection with Vietnam war. Not more than five
per cent of population of Pakistans and Kashmiris living abroad have been participating
in these rallies. It is a different story that London-based newspaper Jung
sensationalises Indo-Pak relations and stops not short of capturing
Delhi. "This is, in fact, the news bullletine of ISI brought out
under the present name". I have in my possession letters exchanged between
themselves by the staff members of Jung, London in which facts about
imposition of a ban on freedom of expression have been given in full detail. It
shows that every single-member party is on regular pay roll of some
organisation or alternatively has been made a hostage to killing and kidnapping
of Kashmiri youth only to sustain its political or journalistic
existence. Thousands of people dole out lessons of using Kashmiri
struggle for facilitating political asylum for the youth of Azad Kashmir and
Pakistan. When the applications for seeking asylum against
India began to be rejected here in Europe, a large number of applicants changed
their stand and pleaded that they were being forcibly recruited by ISI and Pakistan
army to join the war against India in Kashmir. In this way, some people have
made Kashmir a business and source of income.
A few days ago the Jung London published a letter
written by one Mahmud Ahmad from Birmingham. He hails from POK. He
wrote, "there are a few families in UK who have migrated
from Srinagar. But each one of these families has floated an
organisation. The people from Indian part of Kashmir have floated
four human rights councils. six charity trusts and one or two political
organisations. What is to be seen is what differences do they have on the
question of human rights so that they cannot make only one organisation. The
fact is that these organisations have one President and one or two office
bearers and the rest is a blank. Take the case of Dr. Ayub Thukkar. His
organisation is given much more projection than any other in the Jung.
But till this day we could not find out whether, apart from him, there is or is
not any other office bearer of his organisation. And if there are other
office bearers, why is their name never mentioned. In the same way Nazir
Gilani continues to be the General Secretary of an organisation for the
last eight years. There must be a president or a chairman of his
organisation. Why is there never any mention of him? What is this secret
about and why do Pakistani newspapers give so much of importance and coverage
to one-member parties? It is also alleged that some agencies hire intellectuals
and capable people in UK and utilise them for specific purpose.
After sowing seeds of discord and disunity among Kashmiris, they are
blamed that they do not unite."
Mahmud Ahmad has conceded the truth on one side.
People of Indian occupied Kashmir have the freedom of forming organisations for
demanding their rights and projecting their problems. But the
people of Azad Kashmir have been keeping themselves politically alive
only by the name of Kashmiris living on the other side of the border. In
the name of Kashmiris, Sardar Qayyum Khan and other leaders have amassed
billions of rupees. What can one say of the irony that
instead of crying over their own slavery, the leaders of Azad Kashmir
feign crying over the slavery in Indian Kashmir.
Communal and inter-gang killings
Last month, foreign armed people kidnapped some innocent
people in Barshala, Doda and then murdered them in a barbaric manner. The
victims belonged to our state. There are many groups in Kashmir who claim
that they are fighting for the freedom and rights of the people of
the state. Neither humanism nor any religion permits these savage acts of
murder. Those who claim to be the champions of Islam do not know that according
to Islamic faith killing an innocent person is tantamount to killing
humanism. Bomb blasts made in Anantnag and Lal Chowk in Srinagar have
taken the lives of innocent people. Bomb blasts engineered in Delhi have
brought havoc with God's humanity. By hurling a rocket on the mosque in
Kahuta, Azad Kahmir, innocent lives have been lost. Such cowardly acts
should be condemned strongly. This is prcisely the reason why despite
being oppressed, nobody is prepared to listen to the plight of Kashmiris. The
Doda massacre perpetrated by foreign militants indicates that there is a
calculated plan of converting Kashmir into another Afghanistan. The
parties or groups who invite these armed groups to Kashmir, give them shelter
and take pride in them, do they not compass the death of innocent people,
children, women and aged persons of Kashmir?. By striking fear in the
minds of the people, don't they want to subject them to their
ideology and enslave them to their political agenda? A close look at the
pages of history will show that religous extremist parties in more than 70
Islamic countries have never been successful in forming a government on the
strength of votes. In Pakistan, for example, during the previous
elections, religious parties could not bag more than 2 per cent of the total
vote cast. Unable to win power through ballot, these religious extremist
groups have unleashed violence and terror throughout the world by
barbaric acts of hurling bombs, gunning down people, kidnaplping victims and
keeping them as hostages. Imagine, for a while, if Hindu extremists
in India embark on similar lunacy, how horrendous will be its reprisals?
We have had a bitter experience in the past. It were the people of same
diseased mind who murdered Muhammad Sultan Bhat, the brother of Professor
Abdul Ghani and the blame was brought to the doorsteps of Hizbu'l-Mujahideen.
In retaliation, the Jamaat-e-Islami ex-member of Legislative Assembly , Abdul
Razzaq was murdered. The blame was laid on Muslim Mujahideen. The
point is that the leaders and others who support gun and become hostages to gun
culture, ultimately get mowed down by the same gun along with those
affilated to them. The bullet shooting forth from the barrel is
blind. It does not differentiate between the sinner and the
innocent. In this connection the statements of Bilal Lodhi and Babar Badr
and others are worth noticing in which they have said that in connection with
Kashmir issue, unconditional talks should be held with New Delhi.
We know that armed men killed innoocent persons like
Professor Mushiru'l-Huq, Abdul Ghani and Khera. One gun totter of
the same group once shot at an aged Kashmiri Pandit while he was easing
himself. The man shot and killed him just because he wanted to test his
repaired gun. When foreign tourists were kidnapped and one of them was brutally
murdered by them, the people who had a hand in these brutalities come
forward to condemn the act of Al Faran. They feigned to distance
themselves from the group. Those who claimed that Al Faran was the
creation of India, were belied by the statements which Harakatu'l-Ansar and
other organisations gave to local newspaprs in the shape of a press
release two weeks earlier. It said," Hamid Turk and four
others who were killed in an encounter with the army were people of
Harakatu'l-Ansar. Kashmiris knew that Hamid was an activist of this
organisation." In this way Harakatu'l-Ansar and Al Faran, both
have confessed that Al Faran was created to seek the release of top Harakatu'l-
Ansar leaders in India. I am reminded of my telephonic talk with a friend
in Muzaffarabad. He said that Azahr Masud, Sajjad Afghani and Abu Jindal
are very special people of ISI who brought success to the plans of
religious organisations and ISI itself according to which foreign militants
could entrench themselves in Kashmir. In order to seek their release,
their sympathisers and next-of-kin in Pakistan will do everything
possible.
Kashmir leadership
On the shoulders of Kashmir leadership especially on
Shabbir Shah, rests a heavy responsibility. In order to save the future
generations of Kashmir, they have to choose the path of truth and
realism. If we allow ourselves to become the hostages of circumstances,
then we shall be only signing the death warrants of our future
generations. Already the security forces have taken a toll of life; we
have now begun to indulge in fratricide, destroying the national wealth -
forests. Assets of our society like tradition, confidence and trust are
trampled under foot. How long shall we attribute mutual killings to
'Indian agents' and close our eyes to the realities. A gun is
hardly used properly. The time is ripe when Kashmiri leadership should take
stock of current situation and exhort the nation to reject the gun. They
should take the movement into their hands.
The on-going struggle in Kashmir will bring nothing but fragmentation
of Kashmir. We shall find nothing but more graveyards, more mourning
houses and more of revenge and counter revenge. If Kashmir wins
freedom in this shape, as was the case in Afghanistan, it will be a
horrible and highly repugnant shape. In one of my previous articles '
"How long the Business over Dead Bodies of Kashmiri Youth" I
had given some detail about an organisation called Muslim Hand. In this
connection Shabbir Shah talked to me on telephone and told me that Muslim Hand
members were providing aid to people in Kashmir through him. Despite that, it
is a fact that under the cover of a paltry sum for relief work, millions
of rupees are being embezzled in the name of Kashmiris.
My return
Having played a constructive role for the last six years,
my friends, colleagues and relatives all over the world advise me that
the time has come when I should take part in practical politics and that I
should go back to Kashmir. I am also considering seriously whether I
should go back to my native land after having spent 26 years of life in exile.
This is almost an age. Out of this period, I have spent ten years in
Pakistani jails. I have made Mr. Muzaffar Baig as my lawyer. ( Earlier
Ramesh Pathak was to do that job. He died last year). Muzaffar Baig happens to
be the friend of my leader late Maqbul Bhat. I am told if a person
is punished for a crime in any part of the world, he cannot be punished for the
same crime again. But anything is possible in India and Pakistan.
Who knows my hands may be tied and then an encounter- with- police case
framed. Or there could be disappearance after arrest. As such, I
shall take any step only after consulting all concerned friends, party workers
and legal advisers. In any case, it is clear that I want to go back as an
active and energetic person and not a dead man whose body is to be sent back
from Europe. I feel I must join my people to provide them some comfort in
their hour of suffering. To me politics is prayer.
While living in Europe, I never distanced myself from the
problems facing my compatriots. First, I played my role in changing the
destiny of the Kashmiri nation through Liberation Front. When that
organization distanced from its basic idealogy and objectives and fell in the
lap of agencies, then we launched Democratic Liberation Party. We floated
a welfare organisation, the social wing of Democratic Liberation Party, named
MNWA. For the last three years we have been trying to provide , though on
a limited scale, some relief to deserving people in Kashmir. We serve God's
humanity irrespective of religion, sect, class, colour etc.
To the people of India
Gandhiji had withdrawn 'Quit India' movement because the
element of violence had crept into it. People had resorted to loot and
arson, and attacks were made on police and ruling forces. The British
imperialism had reacted and tried to suppress them by using the state
power. Gandhiji did not want the people to die. Thus though that
movement was on the path of success yet it had to be recalled. Evidently
Gandhiji knew the value of human life and humanism. But today the heirs
of Gandhiji who rule the roost and the security forces who swear by the
security of India are making not the armed militants but innocent civilians the
targets of their bullets. They arrest people and then make them
disappear. Zaheeru'd-Din has written a book on the subject entitled
'Did they Vanish in Thin Air'. Disappearance of a child or a grown up
person is indeed a tragedy. The closest relatives of the victim do
not know what happened to him. During the bloody revolution In Chile and
Argentina, some people disappeared in the custody of military junta. Even
today a movement goes on there to identify the perpetrators of the crime.
The UN and Human Rights organizations have considered custodial disappearances
as a major crime and violation of human rights. Custodial disappearance is a
life long pain and punishment for the relativs of the victim.
Zaheeru'd-Din has mentioned in full detail the case of custodial
disappearance of nearly 70 persons. The details include name,
address, circumstances in which arrested, family's efforts for search, copies
of writ petitions in High Court etc. Among them are a sixteen year old
boy named Wahid Ahmad Ahangar of Sopor and 8 year old Javed Ahmad Dar. The
8-year old boy is reported to have thrown a stone on the vehicle of security
forces. Those who have adopted the policy of arresting people in Kashmir
and then making them disappear can never be called loyal to India. Such
acts abuse Gandhiji's philosophy of non-violence and the democratic
tradition of India. India gets a bad name on international level besides
infesting Kashmiri mind with more hatred against India. Undoubtedly these
are anti-India antics.
I, therefore, make a fervent appeal to the rulers of
India and to those from whose office power flows. that instead of rejecting the
contents of Zaheeru'd- Din's book and the details of disappearances
outright, they should institute a proper enquiry into the alleged cases and
when the truth is established, give proper and legal punishment to the
culprits. Justice has to be done to the families of the victims.
The families of the victims should be given fullest possible detail of
what happened to their wards. This will be victory for public
justice. History tells us that only those nations and countries survive
and move along the path of progress that provide justice to their
people. The height of humanism is to provide justice to the people and
especially to the oppressed. Kashmir is not only a political issue, it is
also a human issue. Sons and daughters of Kashmir have been separated from
their near and dear ones for the last 48 years. People have been made
refugees in their own country and outside. Properties have been destroyed.
Kashmiri youth are languishing in jails; Pandits and Muslims have been sent
into forced exile, graveyards are extending day after day, people are
overtaken by an impulse of revenge. For all these reasons, Kashmir issue
has to be treated as a human problem. As Gandhiji said and did, politics
has to be elevated to the level of worship.
Post script: These days there is much talk in
political circles about partitioning of Kashmir. People comment on it
according to their own interests. Pakistan pursues its Operation Topac agenda
of grabbing Kashmir by hook or by crook. Sometime some Pakistani circles
refer to American plan of dividing Gilgit, Baltistan and Azad Kashmir together
with the valley of Kashmir. Dr. Farooq Abdullah talks about partition along the
actual line of control so that he may continue in the seat of
power. In the event of the division of Kashmir, the people of Kashmir
will, on regional and community basis, get nothing whatsoever except that our motherland
and our birth place will be fragmented into pieces as does a canine do with its
prey. Even then peace will not dawn upon the sub-continent. Therefore people in
Kashmir, on either side of the cease fire line, will have to struggle and rise
against any proposal that leads to the division of Kashmir.
March 15, 1996
This article is published in my book "Kashmir: The unveiling of
truth", 1998