By Sajjad Shaukat
In fact, the misfortune of people of
Jammu and Kashmir started on March 16, 1846 when the Treaty of Amritsar was
signed. Under the Treaty, British colonialists sold Kashmir alongwith its people
to a Dogra Hindu, Gulab Singh for 7.5 million
rupees. The Treaty of Amritsar which was signed
by
Gulab Singh, Hardinge, Currie and Lawrence had common cause among the parties
with the aim to end the Muslim rule in Jammu and Kashmir. Gulab Singh thus
became the founder and first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and
Kashmir (J&K).
As
a consequence of the Treaty of Amritsar, a reign of terror was unleashed by the
Dogra dynasty on the Kashmiris. During
the Dogra rule (1846-1947), Kashmiri Muslims were leading so miserable life
that it was difficult to differentiate them from beasts. Slave labour, heavy
taxes, capital punishment for cow slaughter, and living under constant terror
was order of the day.
In
this regard, Yousaf Saraf in his book, ‘Kashmiris Fight for Freedom’ calls it
“free forced labour” and “instead of donkeys and horses, Kashmiri Muslims were used
for transportation of goods across the far-flung areas.” Atrocities of the
Dogra regime could also be judged from the book of Sir Walter Lawrence, ‘The
India We Served’. While describing the pathetic picture of the Kashmiris, he
writes, “Army was employed in forcing the villagers to plough and sow, and
worse still, the soldiers came at harvest time and when the share of the state
had been seized” and “there was very little grain to tide the unfortunate peasants
over the cruel winter.”
On April 19, 1931, the ban of Eid
Khutba ignited widespread demonstrations in the Jummu city. For the first time,
people openly opposed the oppression. On July 13, 1931, thousands of people
thronged the Central Jail Srinagar. As the time for obligatory prayer
approached, a young Kashmiri stood for Azan. The Dogra soldiers opened fire at
him. In this way, 22 Kashmiris embraced martyrdom in their efforts to complete
the Azan.
The
people carried the dead and paraded through the streets of Srinagar, chanting
slogans against Dogra brutalities. Complete strike was observed in the city,
which was followed by weeklong mourning. This incident shook the whole state
and the traffic from Srinagar to Rawalpindi and Srinagar to Jammu came to halt.
However,
upon these ruthless killings, the Kashmiri leadership realized the need to form
a political party, Muslim Conference (MC) with a view to waging struggle for
their freedom. Later, in 1934, state’s first elections were held and MC won 10
out of 21 seats, and after two years in 1936, it succeeded in getting 19 out of
21 seats. Indian Congress was upset with this situation and tried to create
division in the ranks of Kashmiri leadership. Afterwards, on July 19, 1947, MC
passed a resolution to merge Kashmir with Pakistan, considering the geographical
proximity—majority of Muslim population (77%), language and cultural relations
of Jammu and Kashmir.
During the partition of the Sub-continent, in
1947, the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh, in connivance with Indian
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Governor-General Lord Mountbatten, had
decided to join India, quite contrary to the wishes of the majority of
Kashmiris.
When a contention arose between India and
Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute in1948, India took the issue to the United
Nations Security Council and offered to hold a plebiscite in the held Kashmir
under UN supervision. On February 5, 1964, India backed out of its
promise. Instead, in March 1965, the Indian Parliament passed a bill,
declaring Kashmir a province of India.
While passing
through various phases, the struggle of Kashmiris which has become an
interaction between Indian state terrorism led by the Indian security forces
and war of liberation by the freedom fighters, keeps on going unabated.
Despite the employment of various forms of
state terrorism by the Indian security forces, war of liberation intensified
since 1989.
A recent report on human rights violations by
Indian Army and its paramilitary forces in Indian-held Kashmir disclosed that
since 1989, there have been deaths of 93,274 innocent Kashmiris, 6,969
custodial killings, 117,345 arrests and 105,861 destructions of houses. Indian
brutal security forces have orphaned over 107, 351 children, widowed 22,728
women and gang raped 9,920 women.
Besides Human Rights Watch, in its various
reports, Amnesty International has also pointed out grave human rights
violations in the Indian-controlled Kashmir, indicating, “The Muslim majority
population in the Kashmir Valley suffers from the repressive tactics of the
security forces. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, and the Armed
Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act, security
forces have extraordinary powers to shoot suspected persons.”
Particularly, in 2008, a rights group reported
unmarked graves in 55 villages across the Indian occupied Kashmir. In this context, in August, 2011, Indian Jammu and Kashmir State
Human Rights Commission (SHRC) officially acknowledged in its report that
innocent civilians killed in the two-decade conflict have been buried in
unmarked graves. Notably, foreign sources and human rights organizations
including Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) have pointed out
that unnamed graves include thousands of innocent
persons, killed by the Indian military and paramilitary troops in the fake
encounters including those who were tortured to death.
Now,
leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister of India Narendra
Modi is implementing new Kashmir diplomacy in order to eliminate the struggle
of Kashmiris. In this regard, BJP and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed have forged a coalition government on March 1, 2015 after
inconclusive elections in Kashmir. For the purpose, an agreement between BJP and PDP was signed, aimed at robbing the mandate
of the Kashmiri people who posed confidence in PDP for their betterment.
Nevertheless, PDP’s wooing of BJP is grave act of betrayal to its voters.
And,
Modi hurriedly decided to forcibly annex disputed territory of the
Indian-occupied Kashmir, uncovering its intentions to wrap up the article 370
of the Indian constitution which ensures a special status to J&K.
In
this respect, on the one hand, BJP government gave a green signal to the Indian
security forces to continue various forms of state terrorism on the innocent
kashmiris, while on the other, it has also been cajoling them through positive
measures in order to divide them. In this connection, on January 15, 2015, during the Indian
Army Day, Indian Army Chief Gen. Dalbir Singh ordered a day’s pay contribution by the entire Army to
the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to help flood-affected people in the Indian-held Kashmir—totaling
an amount of Rs. 100 crore.
Returning
to our earlier discussion, the Treaty of Amritsar is the genesis of Kashmiris’
struggle which keeps on going, and will
continue untill they get their legitimate right of self-determination.
Sajjad Shaukat
writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic
Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International
Relations
Email:
sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
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