By Tariq Rizwan
Kashmir has once again become a flash point attracting world
attention. It is a disputed territory, left over by the British Colonial Power
and pending since 1947; when Indo - Pak Sub Continent was divided into two
parts, India and Pakistan. Since then Kashmir is considered as the oldest
unresolved international conflict in the world today. Pakistan considers
Kashmir as its core political dispute with India. The international community
also supports it as witnessed by the several resolutions passed by the UNSC.
India's forcible occupation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 is the
main cause of the dispute.
The fact is that all the principles on the basis of which the
Indian Subcontinent was partitioned by the British in 1947 justify Kashmir
becoming part of Pakistan: the State had majority Muslim population, and it not
only enjoyed geographical proximity with Pakistan but also had essential
economic linkages with the territories constituting Pakistan. Per contra, India
signed' a controversial document, the Instrument of Accession, on 26 October
1947 with the Maharaja.and extended all possible military help against the popular
will of Kashmiris who wanted to join their Muslim brethren, opting for Pakistan.
Today, India claims Kashmir as an integral part, in utter violation of UNSC resolutions.
The people of Kashmir and Pakistan do not accept the Indian claim. There are
doubts about the very existence of the Instrument of Accession. The United
Nations also does not consider Indian claim as legally valid: it recognizes
Kashmir as a disputed territory. With the exception of India, the entire world
community recognizes Kashmir as a disputed territory.
It is pertinent to have a bird eye view of Kashmir in its
historical perspective. The State has remained independent, except in the
anarchical conditions of the late 18th and first half of the 19th century, or
when incorporated in the vast empires set up by the Mauryas (3 rd century BC),
the Mughals (16th to 18th century) and the British (mid-19th to mid-20th
century). All these empires included not only present-day India and Pakistan
but some other countries of the region as well. Until 1846, Kashmir was part of
the Sikh empire. In that year, the British defeated the Sikhs and sold Kashmir
to Gulab Singh of Jammu for Rs. 7.5 million under the Treaty of Amritsar. Gulab
Singh, the Mahraja, signed a separate treaty with the British which gave him
the status of an independent Princely State of Kashmir. He died in 1857 and was
replaced by Rambir Singh (1857-1885). Two other Marajas, Partab Singh
(1885-1925) and Hari Singh (1925-1949) ruled in succession. They ruled 80%
Muslim Kashmiris in a tyrannical and repressive way.
Kashmiris rose against Maharaja Hari Singh's rule in 1931/1932
but were ruthlessly crushed. Sheikh Abdullah formed Kashmir's first political
party-the All Jammu & Kashmir Muslim Conference (renamed as National
Conference in 1939). In 1934, the Maharaja gave way and allowed limited
democracy in the form of a Legislative Assembly. However, unease with the
Maharaja's rule continued. According to the instruments of partition of India,
the rulers of all princely states were given the choice to freely accede to
either India or Pakistan, or to remain independent. They were, however, advised
to accede to the contiguous dominion, taking into consideration the
geographical and ethnic issues.
The people of Kashmir were demanding to join Pakistan, however,
the Maharaja, fearing tribal warfare, eventually gave way to the Indian
pressure and agreed to join India by, as India claims, ‘signing' the
controversial Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947. This was spelled out
in a letter from the Governor General of India, Lord Mountbatten, to the
Maharaja on 27 October 1947. In the letter, accepting the accession,
Mountbatten made it clear that the State would only be incorporated into the
Indian Union after a reference had been made to the people of Kashmir. Having
accepted the principle of a plebiscite, India has since obstructed all attempts
at holding a plebiscite.
In 1947, India and Pakistan went to war over Kashmir. During the
war, it was India which first took the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations on
1 January 1948. The following year, on 1 January 1949, the UN helped enforce
ceasefire between the two countries. The ceasefire line is called the Line of
Control. It was an outcome of a mutual consent by India and Pakistan that the
UN Security Council (UNSC) and UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP)
passed several resolutions in years following the 1947-48 war. The UNSC
Resolution of 21 April 1948--one of the principal UN resolutions on
Kashmir—stated that “both India and Pakistan desire that the question of the
accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan should be decided through
the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite”. Subsequent UNSC
Resolutions reiterated the same stand. UNCIP Resolutions of 3 August 1948 and 5
January 1949 reinforced UNSC resolutions.
The fresh uprising
started in the wake of Uffa Agreement. July 2015 was a busy month for
India-Pakistan relations. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with his
Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization Summit in Ufa, Russia, with the two agreeing that their respective
national security advisors would meet to discuss ways to combat terrorism. But
just a week or so after this diplomacy, the two countries once again exchanged
gunfire across their disputed frontier in Kashmir. According to reports, a
heavy exchange between the Indian and Pakistani troops took place along the
line of control (LoC) in Jammu’s Poonch district. As usual, each side blamed
the other for the incident. An unnamed Indian defense spokesman was reported as
accusing Pakistani troops of opening fire on several posts along the Line of
Control that divides Kashmir. He was quoted as saying that Indian forces
responded with their own barrage to the “unprovoked firing” by Pakistani
forces. In contrast, Pakistani officials had earlier said in a statement that
Indian troops used heavy weapons on July 18, when Muslims were celebrating the
Eid-ul-Fitr (marking the end of the holy month of Ramazan), to pound Nezapir in
Kashmir. More clashes and casualties were reported on both sides followed by a
single attack in Gurdaspur, Punjab on Monday left seven dead. India has blamed
Pakistani terrorists for the attack, an accusation Pakistan has vehemently
denied. The continued incidents of firing on LoC and harsh exchange of parleys
in UN General Assembly have raised serious concerns about another possible war
between the two nuclear rivals.
Above all, the innocent
Kashmiris in the Indian Occupied Territory have suffered brutalities due to
deployment of over seven million troops. The urgency of peacefully settling the
dispute was even more compelling today. The calling for termination of
consultations, as a precondition for dialogue, is unacceptable as well as
counter-productive, referring to the Indian pre-condition for talks. The
tension on the Line of Control in Kashmir and the Working Boundary require
Pakistan and India to take possible measures to avert further escalation.
The Writer is a
freelance journalist, based in London
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