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Will Kashmiris win freedom
through armed struggle?
The fundamental element in any nation's struggle
is unity. Keeping in mind the thematic and objective
circumstances of a given nation's struggle, it must have a strong,
organised and ideologically mature organisation to come to grips with
the serious problems that are likely to arise while the struggle is
being carried to its conclusion. In particular when a nation decides
to achieve freedom through the gun, it must organise a major chunk of
the nation before the gun is introduced. Before the first round is
fired, the war strategy has to be drawn which also means to take into
consideration the possible reaction of circumstances and the enemy.
Keeping in sight the war strategy, occasional modification in the
planning of the struggle is also of much importance. Usually in an
armed liberation movement, the losses of the oppressor are less than
those of the freedom fighting nation. Therefore the freedom fighting
organisation has also to plan for freedom fighting movement and also
to take into its purview the planning for the development of the
orphaned culture. The subsistence for the family of the martyred
people and related problems have to be taken care of; families
of freedom fighters taken captive by the enemy also need
organisation's attention; freedom fighting prisoners need legal
assistance besides psychological support. The prisoners have to
be occasionally visited by their relatives and friends and ways have
to be found how to do that.
But the essential requirement is that the members
of freedom organisation should be highly disciplined. This is
so because the freedom fighter appears as liberator in comparison to
the oppressor. A freedom fighter has to subject himself and
other members of his organisation to strict accountability at every
stage in order to maintain their high image in the eyes of the
community. Through that image, the spirit of struggle in the nation
is constantly generated involving the entire people till the final
goal is achieved. A fine example of these conditionalities is to be
found in the Vietnam war in our times. For over thirty-six
years, the Vietnamese nation fought first against Japanese
imperialism , then the French and lastly the American
imperialism and won their freedom. Algeria, Namibia and some
other African nations won their freedom through armed
struggle. But it has to be remembered that wherever in the
world freedom was won through armed struggle, an organised and
disciplined organisation was in the forefront of that struggle.
Wherever the struggle was beset with chaos and lack of direction,
numerous factions usually antagonistic to one another came into
being. For lack of national unity, struggle of many nations was
reduced to nothing more than a few sordid stories of distressed
orphans, and raped and molested modesties.
Two years ago, I had drawn the attention of
the people to some subtle aspects of an armed struggle,
Pakistan's interests in AK, India's reaction and the armed struggle
taking a wrong path. Alas, persons becoming 'leaders' overnight on
the strength of guns ignored the national cause. In order to protect
their leadership, they did not pay heed to my suggestions. The reward
they gave me for my long sacrifices, unrelenting struggle, exile and
for being a colleague of our great leader Maqbool Bhat is there before
my nation. For last twenty-two years, I have engaged myself in
the struggle for the freedom of Kashmiri nation for which I have love
and respect. The focal point in my struggle is "what can I give
to my nation" I have never even thought of what the nation
has given to me. Today I can see under the same emotion that
the national liberation struggle is heading towards disastrous and
destructive end. Motivated by my nationalist sentiment, I
would like to make in-depth analysis of the armed struggle for the
cool consideration of conscientious sections of our nation. In
doing so I also make a fervent appeal on that basis for the
redemption of Kashmiri nation and its restoration to honour and
dignity. I wish that Kashmiri nation keeps in view this
analysis and makes a resolve to shed emotional approach.
They should take a decision keeping an eye on the hapless faces of
innocent orphans, the blood drenched bodies of our martyrs and
shredded modesty of our womenfolk. The simple question they have to
ask themselves is this "Can we win freedom and honour through
the ongoing armed struggle?" If the answer is a no, then instead
of dragging the entire nation to the brink of destruction, a new path
to be found among them; discipline and control is nowhere in sight
and there exists no single authoritative command. If Kashmir
militancy movement is called an uncontrolled movement, it is not far
from the truth. Planning and tactics have no role whatsoever
and everybody acts according to his sweet will. Whosoever gets hold
of a gun, considers himself an embodiment of wisdom and all
powerful". This was followed by the letter of Salim Wani,
the Chief Commander of Al-Mustafa Liberation Fighters published in
newspapers appearing from Kashmir. Some of its excerpts are:
" The entire nation has given full support to the freedom
movement. But we have to see lest we are taking undue advantage
of these sacrifices. What is happening with those who sacrificed
their lives, property and honour when we show them the gun and
threaten them. How can those be called freedom fighters
who threaten their own people with guns? We have taken up the gun to
deliver the nation from slavery and not to make the people our slaves
at the point of the gun. Unfortunately Kashmiris have always
been driven like dumb cattle.
They have never been taught the
lesson of self-respect. At one time they were
driven by the Maharaja and at the other time by the Congress or the National
Conference. Militant organizations, too, did not spare them
(that treatment). These militant groups have left no stone unturned
to put people to suffering. The people are told that if you do
this, you will be killed and if you do not do that, your legs will be
broken." Salim Wani writes further," Perhaps one may
escape from the clutches of Indian troops but if he fell in our hands
, he meets a horrible death. We are not prepared to make any
concession to the 'informers'. In our book of law, an
informer's punishment is death. But this is the first ever
example in the world where a freedom fighter becomes an
informer. After our arrest by the security forces, we are seen
within 24 hours sitting in the bunkers of these forces identifying
people. Did any one among us swallow poison when captured by
the security forces."
In an article entitled 'Aye sharmanda hojaen ' (
Let us feel ashamed) in three instalments, Javed
Kotwal of Islamabad, Kashmir asks some questions after making
an analysis of these circumstances. He writes, " We wish that
gun wielding youth were farsighted and had thought for a while how
the difficulties of common people are exacerbated. Not to speak
of adversaries, even ordinary people will distance themselves from
the mujahideen and their movement. A day will come when not to
speak of them even the genuine mujahideen will face the hatred and
disparagement at peoples' level. At that time people will not
ask for freedom from India, they will ask for fredom from guns.
They will ask for nothing but freedom from freedom fighters. I wish
God does not show us that day."
The weekly Chattan of Kashmir which has a wide
circulation, writes under the caption Kashmir situation." Is
tarz-e taghaful ka anjaam kya hoga". " If this nation
stands dejected and dishevelled today, the reason is not the
oppression and tyranny of India. The reason is that behaviour
and action of the mujahideen of the nation which have
thrown the entire Kashmiri nation into a state of chaos and
confusion. Nobody had imagined that the war for freedom will
adopt such norms that the gun taken up to throw India out of Kashmir
will be used against our own people; school and college buildings
will be burnt; Indian security forces will be provided ample pretext
to let loose their oppressive machine on innocent people in densely
populated localities; throats of our own people will be slit on
alleged charges of being informers and traitors. Nobody had
imagined that one trying to give sincere advice for collective thinking
and improvement of situation would not be heeded. What is more,
such a person is branded as an Indian agent spreading demoralisation
thus imposing a ban on his national duty and sincerity".
The writer goes on to say," The resistance movement in Kashmir
is certainly a full-fledged movement and each citizen of the
motherland is deeply engrossed in it. But the traditional
psyche of this nation has not still changed. This psyche is
confronted with overgrown emotionalism and blind following
owing to which mistakes made at crucial times have not been accounted
for not to speak of correcting them. For half a century, Shiekh
Muhammad Abdullah loomed large on the political scene of
Kashmir. He committed some serious mistakes but the history stands
witness to the fact that the entire Kashmiri nation followed him like
dumb driven cattle. Till the last day of his life nobody had
the courage to ask him to answer the blunders he had committed. It is
now two years that Kashmiris have been fighting a bloody war. But the
fact remains that the fundamental character and traditional psyche of
this This gives an idea of the direction which the movement has
taken. I had, from the very outset, pointed out the wrong
elements surfacing or made to surface in the movement. Every
Kashmiri should remember that as a result of the enactment of law in
1953 by Shiekh Muhammad Abdullah which did away with feudalism in
Kashmir, millions of peasants were liberated from the feudal slavery
overnight.
They became the owners of land. This was a
time when elimination of feudalism was not even contemplated in
India. As far as Pakistan is concerned, those who claim to have
brought Islamic system, have not till date imposed agricultural tax
on landlords leave alone eradication of feudalism. In
that country, life and honour of the farm labourers working on the
estates of feudal lords is also considered the property of
their masters. Shiekh Muhammad Abdullah was instrumental in
making millions of Kashmiri peasants owners of land that
fed their families. The same Shiekh Abdullah has not been
given due respect by his compatriots to the extent
that people even ventured to vandalise his burial place (
though speaking ill of a deceased person is disallowed in Islam
and God alone is the judge of the deeds of the dead). Those who
brought Kashmiris untold suffering by thrusting gun culture on
them with the result that lives of thousands of freedom loving young,
old, children, and women came to be annihilated and thousands of
respectable mothers and sisters subjected to humiliation,
should not expect that Kashmiri nation will spare them especially
when despite all this saga of tragedy freedom is nowhere in
sight. The Kashmiris did not spare Shiekh Abdullah. Will
they spare those who brought them to the brink of destruction?
This happened when the entire nation was party to the actions of
Shiekh Abdullah. When he signed the Delhi Accord in 1975, more
than 1.2 million people came out on streets of Srinagar to receive
him. On his death, the second largest funeral procession
after that of President Nasser of Egypt, was that of the
Shiekh.
The gun has not brought freedom to Kashmiri nation
nor is there any sign of winning it in distant future. But what the
people have met with is economic destruction. Thousands are
languishing in prison houses and interrogation camps. Well, all
these sufferings would not have been a high price if only the
destination to be arrived at through the instrumentality of the gun
were in sight. If the Kashmiris had forged ideological
consensus while fighting the battle, if 124 armed groups had welded
themselves into one well organised and coordinated group with cast
iron discipline, and more especially if the thinking and approach of
the leaders of armed movement ( barring a few of them) had not been
subjected to the diktat of others and if external forces were
sincerely in favour of Kashmiris in their armed struggle, the results
would have been different than what we find them today.
We should not forget that till 1970 or a little
later, barring a few years, the then existing cold war syndrome had a
bearing on all armed liberation movements wherever these surfaced in
the world resulting either in achieving liberation or only in a
stalemate. In the communist -capitalist lock-horn, wherever the
US could harm the interests of Soviet Russia, she and her western
allies flooded the region with arms and advisers. Likewise,
wherever the Soviet Union found she could harm the interests of the
western bloc, she did not hesitate to put everything at stake.
For example in order to seriously damage the interests of the US in
Vietnam war, Soviet Union, China and the communist bloc gave
practical support to Vietnam. Prior to that, China had physically
taken part in the Korean war. When the US supported Israel,
Russia stood behind the Arabs. She supplied them arms and her
advisers remained based in the Middle East. In fact Jamal Abdun
Nasser almost held Yasser Arafat by his finger tip and took him
to Moscow. It was as a result of Soviet Union's outright and
practical support that PLO became a formidable organization.
Likewise, the US and the Soviet Union vied with one another in
pitting the people in Africa against one another providing support to
their proteges.
When the US found an opportunity of avenging
her defeat in Vietnam, she equipped anti-Russian Afghan mujahideen
with most modern weapons and billions of dollars. These instances are
cited to substantiate the argument that hitherto in all national liberation
movements or regional conflicts, cold war syndrome had a
significant role to play. If this cold war syndrome had been
there at the time of Iraq - Kuwait clash, and Russian
position had not changed, then there would have been only two
possibilities. Either there would have been no war at all
against Iraq in the Middle East or that the threat of a world war
would have become real. community could not be
changed. If yesterday this nation was overawed by some Shiekh
It has also to be noted that no national liberation war in any
part of the world has ever been fought with the ideology of
accession to another country. A national liberation war aims at
complete freedom so that international community extends its
support. Vietnam received full support from her friends
but not for the objective of acceding either to Russia or
China. The US and Western countries lent enormous support to
Afghans but nobody supplied arms to the Afghan mujahids on condition
that they would, at the end of the day, accede either the US or any
European country. Palestine is part of Arab territory and Arab
nation. No Arab country extended support to Palestine on
condition that it gets integrated into any of the supporting Arab
countries. Moreover, it is unavoidable for a national
liberation struggle that it endeavours to establish an independent
and sovereign state. Then alone can the world opinion be
smoothed in its favour. A nation or a major chunk of it
aspiring to accede to a neighbouring country should not expect world
opinion to take care of its interests.
As we intend to reflect on armed struggle in
Kashmir, it is necessary that in order to sustain that type of
struggle, there should be assured perennial flow of arms for the
freedom fighters.. There should be a discipline and coordinated
organization which can impose rules and regulation on its ranks
precisely in a manner in which a regular army does. In order to
bring the armed struggle to successful completion, protected training
centres and the fighting force should be under the control of the
central organization. Above all support of world opinion should
go in its favour in any case. If that support is not in full
measure, it should at least be to the extent that the world thinks
your struggle is justified.
On international plane, American and Russian
interests do not clash in Kashmir. Naturally neither of
the two is prepared to extend practical help to us in our
struggle. Western countries do not find it in their interest to
separate Kashmir from India. On the other hand, the US and the
European countries today find large business interests in India.
Holland alone receives thousands of billions rupees to clean river
Ganga alone. At the same time the question is whether the US
and the Western countries find any of their interests realised by
Kashmir's accession to Pakistan.. (By way of small digression,
it may be said that in the case of Afghan-Russian war, Pakistani
rulers proved themselves to be more short-sighted than the Egyptians
who had supported Americans against Iraq in the Gulf war. In
return, they had managed waiving off the loan of ten million
dollars. Pakistani rulers, instead of getting loans waived,
managed to obtain on individual level salaries from CIA).
Countries of Russian bloc supported Indian stand. World opinion
has a good impression of India by virtue of her being a democratic
state. Even our big neighbour, China, too does not see any
interest in supporting the Kashmiri cause. Reforms are being
introduced in China and for a long time China's policy has been not
to get entangled in such disputes outside its borders as may
adversely influence her domestic interests and her foreign
policy. China is no more India's enemy. Moreover, China ,
too, has grabbed a considerable chunk of Kashmir territory.
Thus, in final analysis, only Pakistan comes to our help but with her
own conditions, viz. accession to Pakistan. Paragraph 7, item 2 of
the Interim Constitution given by Pakistan to AK states: " No
person or political party in 'Azad Kashmir' shall be permitted to
propagate against or take part in activities prejudicial or
detrimental to the ideology of the state's accession to
Pakistan".
In connection with assistance of Pakistan to
Kashmir struggle, it has to be clarified that she would want to
continue the war in Kashmir as long as protection of her
interests is ensured.. This is the reason why Pakistani
military intelligence extended help to Liberation Front in the
initial stages. As a result, bomb attack on parading
Indian troops was made by Iqbal Qureshi, Altaf Qureshi, Hamid Laleh
and others on 15 August 1983, the Republic Day of India. This
attack triggered off the armed struggle by the Liberation Front in
Kashmir. While the Liberation Front had embarked on this adventure,
Jamaat-e-Islami happened to be very much present in the State
Legislative Assembly after taking the oath of allegiance to the
Indian Constitution. This party had also been taking part in
the Parliamentary elections. Since ISI extended its support to
the Liberation Front in initial stages, the blunder on the part
of Liberation Front leadership was that it did not accept this
assistance from ISI on its own terms. When ISI found Muhammad
Abdullah timid enough to criticise him for his blunders,
today it is intimidated by its new leaders."
shall have to be chosen. Kashmiri nation is
gradually changing its perception of an armed struggle. A
largely circulated weekly from Srinagar, Chattan made a comparative
study of Afghanistan, Palestine and Kashmir. It wrote," A
surprising aspect of Kashmir militancy is that this movement is
divided into numerous groups. Nothing by the name of unity that
there were some pro-Pak accession organisations willing to
collaborate with it in Kashmir, it not only lent full monetary
support to these organisations but also spent its power, money and
influence in fragmenting Liberation Front. Finally , it stopped
funding the Front. ( I may mention in passing that after ISI
had stopped funding Liberation Front, I told one of the Pakistani
branch of the Front that the ongoing circumstances had
vindicated my stand . I said that we should accept the support
of others in our freedom struggle only on our conditions. I explained
to him that this was the reason why I had declined to cooperate with
ISI in 1984. But that gentleman was still unwilling to agree
with me. His reply was only depressing for me. He said,"
At least enormous quantity of arms and ammunition has been
poured into the valley and all that we need to do now is to organise
the people there.")
What did the aforesaid chairman want to
convey? He meant to say that at first supply arms and
ammunition to the people. When they become leaders of different
individual groups for personal aggrandisement, then they be told to
give up these pursuits and re-group under the banner of one
disciplined organization. This then is the perception of
guerrilla fighters fighting a national liberation war in
Kashmir.
In short Pakistan fully exploited Liberation
Front to realise its objectives and then abandoned it and found
its own people to safeguard its interests. Amusingly, ISI did
not allow even those pro-Pak groups to unite and saw to it that
they functioned under the banners of different parties. It was
only to ensure that in case of changing loyalties, ISI was not
left isolated. Liberation Front was not only denied financial
assistance by the ISI, the organization's ideology also was
publicised as Indian's alternative plan. In this way the media
was antagonised against the Front. Through its sponsored
groups, Liberation Front activists were subjected to armed
assaults. Pseudo-Islamists, known for exploiting religion
for personal aggrandisement were goaded into issuing decrees
(fetwa) that independent Kashmir was against Islamic system.
Amusingly these so-called protagonists of Islam had been
swearing by Indian constitution till yesterday. And today,
these people functioning at the behest of Subedars, Captains and
Majors of ISI , are trying to sideline the freedom fighters from
their 35 - year old struggle by issuing Islamic religious
decrees against them.
Pakistan is extending support inside Kashmir
only for her vested interests. By giving religious colour
to the national liberation struggle, Pakistan is voluntarily depriving
Kashmir's national struggle from the support of freedom loving
communities in the world. Not to speak of other countries, even the
Islamic states have not openly supported Pakistan's stand on
Kashmir. In drumming up "Islamic brotherhood relationship"
these Islamic countries offered billions of dollars to the US and
other Western countries for perpetrating genocide in Iraq at a time
when Kashmir was faced with bloodshed and destruction. Most of
the 'Islamic countries' speak the language which the US would
like them to speak. As such, they could neither come to the help of
Kashmiris nor could openly endorse Pakistan's policy in Kashmir. It
is obvious that for last two years and half, none except Pakistan has
been helping the armed struggle in Kashmir. And Pakistan does not do
so for the love of Kashmiris; she has her own axe to grind.
On the aspect of the need for a disciplined
organization to carry the armed struggle to a successful conclusion,
I need not go into details. Kashmiri nation groaning under pain and
suffering knows that there are nearly 24 organizations in Kashmir
claiming to be fighting the liberation war. Each organizations
considers itself more honest and more committed than
others though most of them are unaware of an element called
discipline. The third element necessary a to sustain an armed
conflict is the need to establish training centres from which trained
personnel regularly fill the ranks of freedom fighters.
Unfortunately, there are no protected training centres for the freedom
fighters in the valley. Now it is an open secret that in order to
control the Kashmir liberation movement, armed Kashmiri groups are
sent across the border to Muzaffarabad or the tribal areas of
Afghanistan to receive training which, of course, is only
superficial. When these young people begin to cross
J&K border and are challenged by the trained Indian security
forces, they are unnerved by the heavy fire and moving in groups of
50, 80 and 90, fall to the bullets on the border. They are
imparted a bare one or two weeks' training. These young people
are bubbling with freedom spirit. That spirit induces them to
go away from their brothers, sisters and parents, from the comforts
of their homes and traverse difficult mountains only to become
fodder for the guns of Indian security forces.
When the survivors reach the training camps in AK,
the treatment meted out to these young boys is an eye opener
for those who consider accession to Pakistan an article of faith out
of share emotion and blind following. ( A few months ago two
young Kashmiris belonging to Srinagar were killed in Muzaffarabad
because of political intrigues of local people). Since
youth from across the border now no more come for receiving training
in the centres , trained man power needed to sustain the armed
struggle is not available. Had the Kashmiris been given
training in real guerrilla warfare, they would not engage Indian
military power in towns and villages. Instead they would fight
in forests, on mountains and at desolate places.
They would have forced Indian forces to get scattered and dispersed
all over Kashmir. Thus instead of getting martyred in fighting
the Indian troops in forests, Kashmiri armed youth were killed while
crossing the border or while trying to reach the towns. Why then do
the so-called leaders and pioneers of armed struggle hide these
realities for their petty interests? It is because of these
concealments and conspiracies that the Kashmiri nation instead of
making so many sacrifices has not been able to reach even the
first destination of it objectives. It has not been able to register
practical support for its movement, its struggle and its political
goals. Providing arms and ammunition and medicines or resettling of
uprooted people from their homes is a distant thing, even moral
support to the movement on international plane is not forthcoming.
There is no programme of caring for the orphaned children or
providing them education; nobody cares for the family of the martyred
persons..
Again this is the only armed struggle in the world which
has no plan for the victims of the struggle, for people deprived of
their means of subsistence and for those languishing in hunger and
disease. The question is will the nation continue the struggle
for a long period after its has been brought to the brink of economic
disaster and involved in the armed movement at the point of gun? The
entire economy of the community has been taken hostage. Tourist
industry has almost disappeared and no income is generated on that
count. Industries have been shut down; cottage and small scale
industries find no customers for their products. The plight of the
daily wager who is to feed his family is painful to
explain. Have the leaders of armed struggle ever thought of
these things? Have they ever thought that so far
India has not suffered any serious loss. There may be some losses of
lives among Indian security forces or troops but our losses are
tenfold. We have not been able to inflict any serious loss on
Indian economy because the clashes do not take place in India but in
the streets and houses of Kashmir and our productive potential has
more or less been fully exhausted. As against Indian security forces,
our youth has received only nominal training in arms and warfare.
It is one thing to strike at security forces from vantage points in
densely populated streets and lanes and then hide in some residential
quarter and another thing to become a a true guerrilla fighter to
take on the enemy far away from towns.
We have made a sacrifice of nearly twenty thousand
youth but in spite of that we have not been able to register even
five per cent support of world opinion. Not to speak of world
opinion or solid support from Islamic countries, we have not been
able to win even moral support from international community. It
needs no reiteration that no national liberation struggle ever
achieves its goal without the support of world opinion. Just
consider the trend of the world opinion. Only a few months back
International Monetary Fund approved four hundred billion pounds loan
package for India. On political plane, the US excluded India from
Pressler Amendment enabling her to continue to receive loans from
international bodies. All aid was stopped to Pakistan under the
same amendment. The US ambassador in Pakistan openly said that
no doubt Kashmiris are dealt with unfairly in Kashmir but Pakistan is
adding fuel to fire by providing Kashmiri youth arms and ammunition
and that the US did not approve it. The question is why has
India been able to convince the world that Pakistan, by supplying
arms and ammunition to fundamentalist Kashmiri Muslims, is trying to
annex the predominantly Muslim Kashmir by pitting Kashmiris against
India? India has been able to convince the world that the war in
Kashmir is being fought by fundamentalist Muslims and all non-Muslims
have been extirpated from the valley and forced to live in camps in
Jammu and Delhi. India has been able to say that she is faced with
terrorism in Kashmir and Kashmiri girls are being kidnapped (the
example of Naheed Soz is being cited). India has kept the Islamic
countries at a distance from Kashmir's national liberation
struggle by bringing home to them that more than 18 crores of Muslims
live in India.
They argue that a if Kashmir is to be
separated from India and given to Pakistan, it will endanger the
future of 18 crores of Indian Muslims. Islamic countries have taken
note of this argument. Islamic countries and other countries in
the world including human rights organizations may have condemned
atrocities by the Indian security forces on civilian population in
Kashmir, but nobody has openly supported the right of self
determination of Kashmiris. Nobody has interpreted Kashmir
question in the light of the struggle of Kashmiris for freedom.
All that they have been doing is to dole out pieces of advice for
India and Pakistan to resolve the dispute under Shimla
Agreement. It is also true that the world is no more prepared
to accept any struggle if waged through the use of arms whether the
struggle is genuine of spurious. In other words it may be said that
the balance of power goes against us, the Kashmiris, because the
interests of the world community are not in Kashmir as these were in
Kuwait, for example. As such the world powers call our
conditional armed struggle (conditional because of its undertones of
accession to Pakistan) only a manifestation of terrorism. As against
this inhuman oppression unleashed by Indian forces is given the name
of maintenance of law and order.
When we have accepted the ideology of accession to
Pakistan and have launched armed struggle for the realisation of that
goal, we have not been able to win public opinion. By declaring
accession to Pakistan as the goal of the movement, the world has been
given the message that the entire armed uprising has been engineered
by Pakistan. India, therefore, projected herself as a victim of
terrorism and fundamentalism threatening her democratic
system. Armed groups in Kashmir threatened the forces
that supported India's stand, no doubt not a correct one, and forced
them to leave Kashmir. This proved that fundamentalism had been
unleashed in Kashmir. As against all this, Pakistan presented
Kashmir question at international level as a dispute between her and
India.
I am loath to say anything against any group in
Kashmir. But to me, Kashmiri nation is more important and
superior to any group or party. As a committed son of the soil,
I cannot see my nation drawn to the brink of disaster. Even in
earlier days, I have been pointing out the wrong trends developing in
the movement. But my articles based on facts and sound
arguments could not be published sometimes because of the
threats handed over to the publishers and at other times because of criticising
my 22- year old freedom struggle for the 'crime' of
speaking the truth. My freedom struggle which I launched under
the leadership of Shaheed Maqbul Bhat is as old as the age of the
youngsters now leading the armed movement. I had the honour of
founding the Liberation Front in AK, Pakistan and structuring
it. My brother Iqbal Qureshi and Ashraf Qureshi's brother Altaf
Qureshi had founded the Liberation Front as early 1983 in Srinagar. I
must also inform my readers that I was among the founders of armed struggle
in Kashmir. But Let me say in all honesty that we had not
even dreamed of the type of armed struggle that has been launched
now. We had never dreamed of allowing anybody to play with the blood
and sacrifices of Kashmiri youth for their personal aggrandisement or
for pleasing their external masters and serving their
interests.
Therefore it is necessary that we, as a nation,
analyse our struggle for our existence and the goals we have
set for ourselves. I, therefore, invite the attention of my readers.
I have come to the conclusion that above mentioned realities,
reactions and experiences teach us that we can achieve our freedom
not through armed struggle but through peaceful civil
disobedience. A physician changes his line of treatment if the
patient does not respond to one set of prescription. The most
important need for Kashmir's struggle to succeed is a political
platform without which no political party can attain its goals.
Even the armed struggle is also carried on through a political
platform and under the guidance of political leadership. We have
never heard of political leadership aspiring to lead the
national liberation war with bare two-week's
training in the field. We have to take a lesson from history and history
cannot be falsified. Those moving against the tide of time cannot
reach their destination. Therefore the gun has to be used for
the protection of political platform and Kashmiri masses have to be
galvanised into civil disobedience movement. This is necessary
for inculcating a sense of self reliance in the people. The
power of making decision has to rest with
the people alone. The world at large must know that the
Kashmiri nations struggle peacefully for national liberation from a
political platform. Today Indian forces make Kashmiris the target of
their bullets even for negligible resistance like hurling a stray
stone. But in a civil disobedience movement, retaliation by the
armed forces for an incident of stone throwing will have more effect
than a thousand martyrs laying down their lives. This is so
because under international law, Indian forces will have no right to
shoot at stone throwers, slogan raisers, strikers and protesters
blocking roads. India would not be left with the option of tooth for
a tooth or bullet for a bullet.
There are innumerable ways of observing civil
disobedience, strikes, traffic suspension, pen downs, boycott of
Indian goods etc. That would deprive India of moral right of bullet
for a bullet and at the same time hundreds of our young men, in the
course of border crossing, would be saved from meaningless
death. This would also save and protect the honour and modesty of our
womenfolk. Above all this would win us the world opinion. These
suggestions can be accepted only by such persons and groups as are
operating inside Kashmir. I do not dole out this piece of
advice to those who are fighting the war of others and under external
instructions. I want to speak only to those who area committed to
loyalty with Kashmiri nation. In particular, I address the
Liberation Front which has been instrumental in placing the gun
in the hands of Kashmiri youth in order to take away endemic fear
from their minds. If the Liberation Front makes a dispassionate
analysis, it will find that the gun cannot and has not guaranteed the
freedom of Kashmiri nation. The Front is no more receiving the gun.
Gun politics can in no way lead us to the destination we have set for
our movement.
Therefore the Liberation Front should initiate
civil disobedience movement for the survival and freedom of Kashmiri
nation. Because of our taking up the gun, the entire Indian nation
has united to oppose our struggle. With reference to their
relations with Pakistan, they find a rationale in opposing our armed
movement. But in the wake of a civil disobedience movement, people
within India dedicated to human values will voice their
resentment against the oppression of Indian security forces.
Apart from this, the members of minority community who had left the
valley would also be induced to return to their homes. When
they are convinced that the struggle is neither for religion
nor for Pakistan but is a national liberation movement in letter and
in spirit, they would also join it as nationalists.
Political struggle will fill the vacuum created by 124
gun-wielding groups. It will also fill the gap created by giving
divergent interpretations to the struggle and the sacrifices made by
the Kashmiris. In a situation of political struggle, even
ordinary persons will be able to express their views and he will also
have the sense of participation in the movement. One important
reason for the Americans to quit Vietnam was that the American public
opinion considered American presence there as occupational.
Fighting groups in Kashmir have described the masses of India as
their enemies and in doing so they have not been able to convince
them about their genuine rights, meaning the right to freedom.
Civil disobedience movement will initiate
political process. Through courts of law and through
exerting peaceful political pressures, we can protect the rights of
arrested freedom fighters who are at the moment languishing in Indian
jails and incarceration camps. It has to be remembered that
protection of 50 or 60 arrested mujahids facing charges of murder
cannot be possible without a political platform. Even the
decision of launching civil disobedience is by no means an ordinary
decision. But people dedicated to the cause of the national
cause surrender to no distraction, and take the crucial decisions
conducive to their attainment of the goals.
This will be a crucial and a hard decision.
Either the people linked with ISI across the border or those in POK
who sadistically watch the falling corpses of Kashmiri youth and
molestation of Kashmiri women, will work as obstructionists in civil
disobedience programme. It is so because they derive their
sustenance from keeping the pot boiling in Kashmir. The people in
Kashmir should have no confusion in realising that politicians in AK
have no concern for the freedom of Kashmiris. They just want to
keep the pot boiling so that they are able to achieve some mundane
benefits for themselves. The same is true of AK people living
abroad. Except for a handful of them, the rest are busy with
their own affairs while AK politicians collect donations from the
people to fill their coffers.. If Kashmir reverts to civil
disobedience, they, too, will have to close their shops.
International organizations invariably ask one question in connection
with the freedom struggle of Kashmir. The question is: if you
are fighting a national liberation war in Kashmir then why don't you
come out on streets against Pakistan? Why don't you launch
anti-Pakistan movement in AK? As long as intensive struggle for
freedom does not take place in both the parts of Kashmir, the
issue will not receive attention of public opinion on international
level. International opinion is to be built through the video
cameras.
I must tell my readers that if Azam Inquilabi and
Liberation Front do not even now organise a political platform and
launch a civil disobedience movement ( as they are more knowledgeable
than I am) then this movement is bound to meet a disastrous end. It
could lead to a destructive war between India and Pakistan which might
consume millions of people in the subcontinent. The question is will
the pro-Pak accessionists, who would be responsible for igniting the
flames of Indo-Pak war, remain faithful to Pakistan in case the war
proves destructive for that country? Frankly speaking, they
will not. And what will the Kashmiris get out of that
situation? There may be another Tashkent or Shimla Agreement
and both the countries will find their economies in shambles.
Kashmiri nation should never allow their struggle for national
liberation to become the cause of a self-destructive war between
India and Pakistan.
This can be done only by forming a
political platform to launch a civil disobedience movement for
independence and sovereignty. In the case of a war between the
two countries, the map of Kashmir may get further divided and
Kashmiri nationalists will not be distributed into only two groups
but in several of them. Indeed people on both sides having faith in
Kashmir's integrity, and political workers and patriotic Kashmiris,
should break the fetters of political expediency, bid farewell to
fear and timidity, sacrifice their petty interests for a larger
national interest, and perform their role for the freedom of
Kashmir. If they fail to do so, history will not spare
them. People in Kashmir are still willing to make all
sacrifices for the success of freedom struggle but they are fed up
with 124 groups. They want to perform their full role in the
freedom movement not through the use of gun but through political
process. The aspirations of the masses have to be
respected. The path along which the masses of people want to
move is the only path which can successfully lead the movement to its
destination.. If we fail to do that, history and our posterity will exhume
our deeds and there will be no one from security forces to
protect our graves.
October
1991
_______________________
This article is published in my book "Kashmir: The unveiling of
truth", 1998
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