Kashmir Conflict

by Siraj Shah

More than sixty-three years after the partition, four major Indo-Pak wars, 38 years after the Simla Agreement, colossal loss of human life and displacement of people  the question of Kashmir is no closer to a solution. 

It is an appalling tragedy that so many people have perished, that the lives of two generations have been blighted, that India and Pakistan have gone to war four times, and that the resources of the Indian subcontinent are diverted into an arms race away from much-needed human development. It is lamentable that that we should allow such a tragic situation to linger on for the next fifty years!

In 1947-1948, the genuine voice of the people got drowned in the fast and confusing developments in the state...arrival of Afridis, the confusion of Sheikh Abdullah, and sudden departure of Maharaja from Srinagar.

A close look at the vox-populi, which did find a subdued expression from time to time in Kashmir, will enable us to understand the issue and arrive at a lasting solution. Solutions, which emerge out of the vox-populi, are lasting and the imposed solutions, whatsoever, live only a brief life.

One of the most dangerous aspects of this longest running tragic dispute is institutionalization of the war over Kashmir. Almost every player on the scene of this tragedy has a vested interest, for them any attempt at resolving the conflict is like killing a goose that lays golden eggs. Until a popular and charismatic leadership does not emerge in Kashmir, the agony and suffering of Kashmir is bound to continue in the foreseeable future.

India's failure in Kashmir:

For the past sixty-three years, the people of Jammu & Kashmir remain trapped in a web of intrigue, deception and manipulation; while successive generations of politicians and leaders have exploited their religious and emotional sentiments only for their own vested interests. As a result, the agony and suffering of the people of Kashmir has continued.

Indian claim on Kashmir is based on the instrument of accession signed ? by Sir Maharaja Hari Singh; while Pakistan has based her claim on Kashmir by holding on to a heap of scrap paper called the UN Resolutions. The truth is that for the last sixty-three years, neither India nor Pakistan has made any serious attempt to settle the dispute.

The uncertainty surrounding future political status of Kashmir was first born, when Lord Mountbatten conditionally accepted Maharajas Accession on 27 October 1947, on behalf of the Indian Government. Pandit Jawahir Lal Nehru later reaffirmed this on many occasions by announcing that accession of the erstwhile princely state was subject to ratification by the people of the state. From then onwards due to the vagueness of successive Kashmiri leaders and ambiguity of the Indian policies in Kashmir, none of the promises and pledges given to the people of Kashmir were fulfilled.

India's failure to honour her own commitments in Kashmir became deeply entrenched in the psyche of Kashmiri people. Time and again, this was echoed in a popular slogan of the Kashmiri masses- "hum khai chate rai shumari" (we want plebiscite).

The communal riots of 1950 and the agitation for scrapping of Article 370 by Praja Parishad and the BJP created a feeling of insecurity among Kashmiri Muslims. In addition, when Sheikh Abdullah, the most popular Kashmiri leader (Lion of Kashmir), the architect of Kashmir's accession to secular India in preference to Muslim Pakistan, was dismissed and arrested in 1953, Kashmiri Muslims lost their faith in Indian democracy.

Following Sheikh's disposition Bakshi Gulam Mohammad was installed as Prime Minister on 9 August 1953. During his ten year regime Constitution of the State was amended through Jammu and Kashmir (Application of Constitution) Order, 1954 whereby the jurisdiction of the centre was extended from the original 3 subjects (Defence, Foreign affairs and Communications) to all subjects of the Union List.

In 1963, Bakshi resigned under Kamraj plan and a year later in 1964, he was arrested under the Defence of India Act. After the Bakshi era was over, G.M Sadiq was brought in, during his regime Article 249 was extended to Jammu and Kashmir State whereby India can legislate on any matter enumerated in the state list.

Under the Indian National Congress that made its first entry into the state in 1965, the erosion of Kashmir's autonomy continued. Subsequently, some 250 laws were extended to Jammu and Kashmir with the concurrence of the State Assembly while the Congress regime was in power.

Thus in the decade and a half after Sheikh Abdullah's arrest, Kashmir's autonomy was nibbled and destroyed bit by bit. All these undemocratic measures aimed to bring Kashmir legally and administratively closer to the rest of the Indian Union, only served to widen the emotional gap between Delhi and Srinagar. As time went by New Delhi quietly forgot the promises of "rai shumari" hoping that the state had now become fully integrated with the Indian Union.

Over the years New Delhi's high handedness in installing and dismissing puppet regimes at will in Kashmir is to a large extent responsible for the present situation in Kashmir. Given such an atmosphere of mistrust against New Delhi; rampant corruption and injustices in the State, the stage was quite naturally set for a rebellion against Delhi's rule over the State.