By Tariq Rizwan
Kashmir has once again become a
flesh 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 a 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 claims Kashmir as its integral part,
in sheer violation of these resolutions and to have ‘signed' a
controversial document, the Instrument of Accession, on 26 October 1947 with
the Maharaja of Kashmir, in which the Maharaja obtained India's military help
against popular insurgency. 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.
The people of Kashmir rose
against Maharaja Hari Singh's rule in 1931. In 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 troopers 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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