Kashmir - sequel of undefined partition

Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim inhabited state in India, was robbed off its political autonomy in August 2019. As the British was winding up its empire, the princely states in India were given the option to join either India or newly created Pakistan. The ruler of Kashmir opted to join India on condition that it would be granted maximum political autonomy including authority to make its own laws, debar the population of other states from buying property in Kashmir, jobs in the state to be reserved for the Kashmiris and that it will have its own flag. Its legislature would be empowered to make laws except affecting external relations, defense and inter-state communication. The Indian parliament would require concurrence of the state legislature to make laws that would impact people of Kashmir. These provisions were incorporated in the constitution under Article 370 and the Indian national parliament approved it.

Pakistan always maintained that Kashmir was annexed to Indian Union in wanton disregard of the principle of partition and in connivance of the departing British colonial power. India and Pakistan fought a war in 1948, but a cease fire was put in place at the intervention of the United Nations which also called for a plebiscite to determine whether the people of Jammu and Kashmir wanted to join India or Pakistan. In the meantime, about one-third of the territory fell under Pakistan and remaining two-third came under Indian rule. A Line of Control, partitioning Jammu and Kashmir, became a de-facto border between the two countries.

Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah became the prime minister in October 1948. In the process of implementation of Article 370, it became apparent that the article was honored more in breach than in compliance. The central government adopted a policy of gradual repudiation of special provisions agreed under the Instrument of Annexation. Disagreement grew between the Central Government and the State Government. Consequently, Sheikh Abdullah was removed from power and put behind the bar. After the 1962 Indo-China war, Pundit Nehru realised the foreboding of partitioning Jammu and Kashmir disregarding the wishes of the people of the state. He felt vivisection of the state had exacerbated communalism in the region. Pundit Nehru released Sheikh Abdullah and allowed him to visit Pakistan in search of peace. Sheikh Abdullah met President Ayub and other leaders in Pakistan who reportedly assured of giving a serious consideration to a plan emanating from the dialogue between the Kashmiri leader and Indian government. While Sheikh Abdullah was still in Pakistan Nehru had a heart attack and died in May 1964. Sheikh Abdullah afterwards went on a tour in the Middle East. While abroad some of his comments were interpreted as seeking separation from the Indian Union. Sheikh Abdullah was summoned to return home. Upon return, he was imprisoned.

On the aftermath of communal riots in 1964 triggered by a rumour that the box containing the holy hair of Prophet Mohammed (PBH) was stolen from a mosque in Srinagar, the United Nations Security Council met and discussed the situation. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's Foreign Minister demanded holding plebiscite in the disputed territory to enable people to exercise their right of self-determination. Mohammed Ali Carim Chagla, Education Minister of India, representing India in the Security Council, claimed that people of Kashmir had participated in general elections three times since partition and voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining with the Indian Union. They elected Indian National Congress, the symbol of national unity and integration. Carim Chagla argued that what was already completed could not be made more complete and dismissed "holding plebiscite" as redundant, irrelevant and unnecessary. He reminded his Pakistani counterpart that "charity begins at home" and challenged the Pakistan government to accede to "right of self determination to the people of Pakhtunistan and East Pakistan".

Pakistan tried a military solution in 1965 by dispatching armed infiltrators from across the border. Consequently, there was a war that lasted for seventeen days. The United Nations imposed "cease-fire" and asked the warring countries to return their troops to pre-war locations. The Soviet Union arbitrated a peace deal known as Tashkent Agreement in 1966, which called for evolving a political resolution of Kashmir conflict through negotiations between India and Pakistan.

In 1972, Sheikh Abdullah reached an agreement with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on "special status of Kashmir" and non-interference on the affairs of the state government. Sheikh Abdullah, in return, agreed to make Indian National Congress Party a partner of the state government. Sheikh Abdullah became the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The power sharing arrangement lasted till 1989. Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a period of peace and tranquillity.

Following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the government in New Delhi, became less respectful to the "special status of Kashmir". It interfered in the state election in Jammu and Kashmir. It was alleged that election in 1988 was marked by gross irregularities and National Conference led by Faruque Abdullah (son of Sheikh Abdullah) was denied victory. This led to resurgence of insurgency and demand for total independence came to surface. New Delhi responded by deploying additional troops to quell the unrest. But the situation turned only worse.

BJP was always opposed to granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Following its electoral victory in 2014 BJP leaders declared that it would abrogate Article 370 in future. On August 5,2019 Article 370 was fully revoked, and Jammu and Kashmir were divided into three states; hope of political resolution of the conflict was extinguished.

Since August 2019 thousands of additional troops have been deployed in Jammu and Kashmir. About a million security forces are now stationed in the state. There has been a total blackout and people in Jammu and Kashmir have been rendered incommunicado. On the other hand, hundreds of political activists have been detained by the security forces and their whereabouts are unknown. Leaders of mainstream political parties including the former chief ministers have been placed under house arrests.

P. Chidambaram, Congress leader and a former finance minister, denounced the abrogation of Article 370 and termed it as an assault on democracy and a threat to national integration. Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, condemned the arbitrary action of the central government in revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. She warned the BJP leadership against making pejorative remarks about Kashmiri women. She also denounced the violation of human rights in the state. The termination of special status for Jammu and Kashmir was received with alarm by the leaders in the "seven states" in the north east who had also been granted limited special privileges. They warned dire consequences should their special status be altered. Unfortunately, the reaction from the international community was mute. Iran and China condemned the abrogation of special status of Kashmir.

Narendra Modi, Indian Prime Minister, claimed that the abrogation of the special status would extinguish decades long armed insurrection and would usher in peace and tranquillity in the region. But subsequent events have proved otherwise -violence, death of freedom fighters, killings of security personnel and civilians are routine occurrences. It has been reported that since August 2019, 197 Indian security personnel have been killed, over 675 suspected freedom fighters and 131 civilians have died in military reprisal.

The 2011 national population census revealed that Jammu and Kashmir had a population of 12.5 million (now estimated 16 million); 68 per cent are Muslims and 28 per cent are Hindus. It has been alleged that in the disguise of the abrogation of Article 370, attempts have been put in place altering the configuration of the population in the territory.

The abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and subsequent military action by the Indian government exasperated the moderates who had accepted the reality and reconciled to remain within India. Mehbuba Mufti, former Chief Minister of the state, alleged that communal actions of Modi government are pushing the youth to extremism. They realised that BJP government cannot be trusted. During the past four years, they have witnessed Muslims being persecuted in the name of saving cows. BJP's actions have also jeopardised the security of local Hindus and Kashmiri Pundits. Media estimated that over 200,000 Pundits have left the state in recent years and 219 Pundits have been killed by extremists. BJP leaders have made it crystal clear that they renounced secularism and vowed to transform India into a conservative Hindu state where the minorities including the Christians and low caste Hindus would be downgraded to 'second class citizens'.

The repudiation of constitutional commitment by Indian government is a wake-up call to the international community. The United Nations should aggressively strive to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes of the people. Any issue affecting the fate of millions of people cannot be brushed aside from international scrutiny on the excuse that it falls within the territorial limits of a country. Bosnia, Rwanda, East Timur are some of the examples. The international community owes a commitment to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to seek a political resolution of 70 years long crisis. Now that both India and Pakistan are in possession of nuclear arsenals it is of paramount importance to resolve the dispute once and for all.

The writer is a former official of the United Nations.

[email protected]