In occupied Kashmir, all major cities and towns including Srinagar, Baramulla, Sopore, Islamabad, Pulwama and Qazigund were rocked, today, by forceful demonstrations against the holding of farcical polls.
Dozens of people were injured in clashes between the demonstrators and the Indian police personnel, who resorted to heavy lathi-charge and excessive tear-gassing. The protesters raised high-pitched slogans in favour of freedom and against fake elections. The Bar Association staged a protest at the court premises in Srinagar.
Earlier, the occupation authorities had placed under house arrest several Hurriyet leaders and activists including the APHC Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Gilani. Muhammad Yasin Malik, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Yasmeen Raja and Farida Behnji were also put under house arrest. They were not allowed even to offer Juma prayers. Indian police personnel arrested APHC leader, Zafar Akbar Butt while leading an anti-0election procession in Islamabad town. Another Hurriyet leader, Firdous Ahmed Shah was arrested from his residence in Srinagar. The JKLF-R took out a procession at Kokar Bazar in Srinagar.
The APHC Chairman in a media interview in Srinagar strongly condemned the use of undemocratic methods by Indian authorities to prevent Hurriyet leaders from reaching to people with their anti-election campaign. The Executive Director of Kashmir Centre London, Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl in a statement took strong exception to the arrests of Hurriyet leaders.
Indian troops martyr two innocent Kashmiris
Indian troops in their fresh act of state terrorism, martyred two innocent youth in Sopore town, today.
The youth were shot dead by the troops during a siege and search operation at Tarzoo in the town.
The youth were shot dead by the troops during a siege and search operation at Tarzoo in the town.
Indian and Isreali Terrorism against Muslims
Ajj Dunya ki Do naam nihad Democratic Countries ne Muslims ka katle aam karne ke lye guth jore kar lya hai.
Dono countries aik dusre se bohat door hain, lakin dono ka agenda aik hai, ke "katle e aam karo aur hakumat karo". Dono countries terrorism ko khatam karne ke naam per un logo ka katl e aam kar rahi hain, jo ke Apni freedom ke lye larr rahe hain.
Agar freedom lena terrorism hai, to kya gandhi terrorists tha, kya gabar singh terrorist tha, kya nelson mendela terrorists tha.
Inshallah wo din door nahi jab kashmiri aur pelestine awam freedom hasil kare gi.
Haan hasil kare gi, kyon ke freedom hasil ki jati hai aur cheeni jati hai. koi khud freedom nahi deta.
Nations ko freedom ke lye apni kai kai generation ka khoon dena hota hai, jiss tarha kashmiri aur pelestini de rahe hain.
Long Live Kashmir - Long Live Pelestine
Nasrum minillah he wa fath un kareeb
Freedom Struggle of Kashmir
Hazrat Umer Farooq says,” Man was born free, but why you have kept him in chains of slavery?” Freedom has been the watchword and rallying point in Kashmir for many decades. Certainly it is not everybody’s privilege to sing the song of freedom. Only those hearts throb for it that actually see the claws of oppression in a human society and have courage to speak for the welfare of mankind. A freedom loving heart is full of affection for humanity and is always ready to take risks for the freedom of the suffering people.
The people of Kashmir have been facing traumatic conditions under despots for centuries. Even their own Kashmiri Kings except a few were not kind to them. But it was the Mughal King Akbar who treacherously brought Kashmir under his Delhi rule. The tragic episode upset Kashmiris in every way and much more terror and tyranny was perpetuated by Afghan governors and Sikh rulers. This humiliating state of affairs did not end here. Although the British inflicted an ignominious defeat on the Sikh rulers of Punjab, but Kashmiris were sold to Dogra Rajas of Jammu, who under the patronage of British treated them like deaf and dumb cattle for one hundred years. According to the British historians the status of Kashmiris was definitely worse than the people of France before the French revolution. The governors of Delhi, Kabul and Lahore looked down upon Kashmiris as the Roman Pro-councils treated Africans. The famous commissioner of settlement for Kashmir Walter R Lawrence was compelled to make these remarks in his book the “Valley of Kashmir”
“It is the matter for surprise that under rapid transition of governments varying in race, religion and language, the people of the valley should have retained their peculiar nationality unimpaired.”
After the Sikh rulers Dogra rulers of Jammu thought it their prerogative to suppress and terrorize the people of Kashmir. It is here when the dark age of Kashmir entered into the 20th century. After the first war of India’s independence in 1857 some British journalists and writers went to Kashmir and on their return to London, they wrote their observations in some magazines of London. They say, “Kashmiris have been brutally terrorized so they express their grief in mosques in Fajr prayers, their hearts are broken, which might have caused 1857 calamity to British citizens in Meerut and Delhi. These writers say it was not the right decision to hand over the destiny of worshipers of one God to the idolaters, who follow many gods and goddesses”. It is a fact that the Kashmiris during that age used to express their grief in Natiyah verses with an impressive language.
In the third decade of the 2oth century the people of Kashmir began street protests against the religious and political injustice and economic exploitation, resulting in the tragedy of 13 July 1931, when dogra police massacred 21 Muslims under indiscriminate firing, before the central jail of Srinagar. It sent shock waves throughout the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and as its after effects people began offering great sacrifices and facing medieval punishments by the Dogra rulers till 1947, when India became free and a new country—Pakistan was born on the map of South Asia. The creation of Pakistan was a historical victory for the Muslims of the sub continent. The people of Jammu and Kashmir were already aware of the Pakistan movement and they were sympathetic towards it. They were eagerly awaiting the clarion call of the dawn of freedom in Kashmir. The termination of the British Raj in India meant an end to the rule of princes in India but no body knew that another dark period of trial and tribulation was in store for Kashmiris. The leaders of the Indian national congress and the fanatic Hindu communalists were aware of the geo political importance of the state of J&K. Therefore they had started wooing Kashmiri leaders in 1930s in many ways. Consequently their hypocrisy and the relations between Pandit Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah laid down adverse effects on the destiny of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947. The congress leadership of India believed in extending their own strategic interests to the far-flung mountain ranges, skies and waters of the region. A close associate of pandit Nehru Mr. VP Menon wrote in his book ‘the story of integration’ that ‘Kashmir was important for our security and integrity in the region’. Before the partition of India Gandhiji and some other Hindu leaders paid mysterious visits to Kashmir and discussed future of the state with the Dorgra rulers and national conference leaders. In the light of their impressions they chalked out their future strategy about Jammu & Kashmir. The confession comes from the pen of Jag Mohan a former Governor of occupied Kashmir who is known for his anti Muslim role both as Governor of Delhi under the rule of Indra Ghanghi and as Governor of Kashmir in 1990. In his book,” My frozen turbulence in Kashmir” He testifies:-
“ Gandhi’s visit to Kashmir in July–August 1947, his meeting with the Maharaja on August 1, dismissal of R.C. Kak from the office of prime Minster on August 10 , release of Sheikh Abdullah on September 29, after tendering ‘unqualified apology’ in his letter of September 26, strengthening of the road link between Pathankot and Jammu, and the scheme to construct a boat bridge over the river Ravi, all would seem to suggest that ground was being prepared for accession of the state to India; at least the possibility was not being ruled out…..”(Page 83)
After Sheikh Abdullah’s release on Sep 29, Pandit Nehru sent a letter to him in Srinagar through Dawarika Nath Kachru Secretary General of the All India States people’s conference, who attended a high level meeting of the top leaders of the National Conference in Srinagar and also met with Abdullah and wrote a letter to Mr. Nehru on 4 Sept, 1947:-
“Sheik Sahib and his close associates have decided for the Indian Union. But, this decision has not been announced yet and the impression is being given that so far the National Conference have taken no decision.” (Kashmir article 370 by Mohan Krishan Teng)
The disclosures of this letter refute India’s propaganda that the decision to accept accession of Kashmir and sent aerial troops to Srinagar on October 27, was made after the tribesmen attacked Kashmir. In order to seal the destiny of the people of Kashmir and remove all geo-hurdles in the way of Kashmir’s accession with India Vice Roy Lord Mountbatten played through Red Cliff the final mischief, by changing the boundary commission report to hand over Muslim majority district of Gurdaspur to India. After this conspiracy a fictitious letter of accession in the name of Maharaja was drafted and thus Indian troops were airlifted to Srinagar on October 27 1947. This tragic event struck a hard-blow on the long struggle of freedom for Kashmir and now they had to fight with equal zeal and zest against the neo-imperialism of India in Kashmir. The people of Kashmir accepted the new challenge and decided to carry on their struggle for freedom. The government of India was frustrated to see the angry reaction of the people of Kashmir against the accession with Delhi. So Lord Mountbatten and Nehru in their separate messages to Pakistan and Kashmir declared this accession as provisional and assured that the people of Kashmir will be given every opportunity to decide their future through a free, fear and impartial plebiscite, under the international supervision of UN. On August 7 1952 Pt. Nehru declared:-
“It is an international problem. We do not want to win people against their will and with the help of armed forces and if the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir so wish to Part Company with us, they can go their way and we shall go our way. We want no forced marriages, no forced unions like this so we accept this basic preposition that this question is going to be decided finally by the good will and pledge of the people of Kashmir, not I say, by the good will and pleasure of even this parliament, if it so chooses, not because this parliament may not have the strength to decide it. I do not deny that because this parliament has not only laid down in this particular matter that a certain policy will be pursued in regard to J& K state but it has been our policy…
But whether it is a pain and torment, if the people of Kashmir want to go out, let them go because we will not keep them against their will however painful it may be to us. That is the policy that India will pursue…Because the strongest bonds that bind will not be the bonds of your armies or even of your constitution, to which so much reference has been made, but bonds which are stronger than the constitution and law and armies—bonds that bind through love and affection and understanding of various people…”
Gandhiji visited Srinagar for the first time at the age of 77. The public opinion in Kashmir forced him to declare:-
“…the princes being the creation of British imperialism and the British having quitted India, the people in the states were their own masters and Kashmiris must therefore decide without any coercion or show of it from within and without to which dominion they should belong.”
While addressing the Security Council on 8 February 1957 Krishna Mennon Defense Minister of India said:-
“If it is possible for any sovereign state to cede territory, if as a result of plebiscite, if ever it did come, the people decided that they did not want to stay with India, then our duty at that time would be to adopt those constitutional procedures which would enable us to separate that territory.”
Keeping in view the world opinion and the past history of Kashmir, the Security Council also upheld the principle of the right of self determination, affirming that the people of Kashmir would be given opportunity to decide their future through a free, fair and impartial plebiscite to be held under the auspices of the UNO. Thus a cease-fire was executed between India and Pakistan. After the truce agreement between India and Pakistan the state of Jammu and Kashmir got divided and its people were separated from each other. Now India began using all evil and sinister methods to curb down the demand for plebiscite. At the same time the commander-in-chief of the Indian army addressed a top level gathering of national conference in the Baramula camp. He said, “The basic emergency task of the army has finished, but the goal to give this accession a truly public color is to be started now. This goal can be achieved by political and cultural activities and not by force. You are the future upholders of this mission.”
India and Sheikh Abdullah knew well that the people of Kashmir had not liked the Indian army in their State. Even National Conference was divided over the accession issue. Only Abdullah due to his personal relations with Mr. Nehru plunged Kashmir into this whirlpool. On the very first day of the troop landing in Srinagar, the Indian soldiers killed some civilians on their way to Badami Bagh Camp and humiliated women in the city of Srinagar and elsewhere. The people had gathered in Lal Chowk and expressed their anger against the military attack and the human rights abuses by the army in Srinagar. All these developments were of grave concern and shame for both the Indian leadership and the National Conference leaders.
India feared humiliation in Kashmir from every angle. He had made the promise of plebiscite before the world. The people of Kashmir were more eager to see the arrangements for plebiscite and certainly in spite of torture in police custody, imprisonment and exile of many political workers, there were strong pro-Pakistan tendencies among Kashmiris. Therefore, India paid equal attention to both military and political aspects in Kashmir. Notwithstanding the UN resolutions, India began raising the numerical strength of her army and stockpiling of arms and ammunition in Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah’s Government and his party were given free hand to crush the opposition and free press by draconian laws. Thus workers of the national conference launched a campaign of terror against the pro-plebiscite workers throughout the state. They would not wait for police to arrest a man, rather they themselves having arrest warrants in their pockets picked political workers and arrested them for listening to Radio Pakistan or Azad Kashmir Radio. These were banned radio stations in early 1950s.
In order to divert the public attention from plebiscite, Sheikh Abdullah with the tacit approval of Delhi conducted sham elections for the state constituent assembly in 1951. But before that the assembly of 1946 was illegally dissolved. In the 1951 assembly elections all the 75 candidates of the ruling party were returned unopposed. The UN Security Council had already passed the resolution declaring that the elections in Jammu & Kashmir would never be accepted as a substitute for plebiscite. Dr. Joseph corbel member of the UNCIP has made the following remark on the so called elections in, his book danger in Kashmir” “No dictator could do better than this”.
In spite of her lofty claims about democracy India continued human rights abuses in Kashmir and held every time fraudulent elections in the state. This practice continues unabated to this time. In July 1977 when a former Home Minister Mr. Chaudry Charan Singh visited Kashmir in connection with election campaign, he confessed that all the previous elections held in Jammu and Kashmir were rigid and manipulated. The story of elections for the State Assembly since 1951 is always a ridiculous one, whether these elections were held under the rule of Sheikh Abdullah or Bakhshi Ghulam Muhammad or Ghulam Muhammad Sadiq or Mir Qasim or Farooq Abdullah. The stand to boycott these elections by the freedom fighting parties has every time been vindicated.
Sheikh Abdullah and Delhi rulers failed to suppress and change the popular sentiments of Kashmiris between 1947 and 1953, although the government had been armed with very harsh laws of detention without trail. Strangely, if on the one hand the Indian government was sharpening its teeth against Kashmiris, on the other hand Sheikh Abdullah was becoming isolated from the people in the state. 19 July 1953 is a remarkable day of those fateful years when against all political odds citizens of Srinagar defied prohibitory orders and thousands gathered in Nawakadal Srinagar to protest against the accession with India. Some leading members of the ruling National Conference and some Hindu lawyers led by Khawaja Ghulam Mohiuddin Qarah participated in a big demonstration and launched the political movement for freedom and Pakistan. The new Phenomenon terribly shook the government and the party of Sheikh Abdullah. He began rethinking and some other factors also created differences between sheikh Abdullah and the Government of India, resulting in the arrest of sheikh Abdullah on 9 August 1953. His deputy Bakhshi Ghulam Muhammad took over as the new prime Minster of Jammu and Kashmir. The following decades saw a strong popular movement of plebiscite growing in Jammu and Kashmir, and the people in thousands faced imprisonments, tortures, detentions and killings for decades together. Two political organizations namely J&K Plebiscite Front patronized by Sheikh Abdullah and Kashmir political conference founded by Kh. Ghulam Mohiuddin Qarah were the leading organizations of the times in Jammu and Kashmir. This was certainly a unique period of freedom movement in Kashmir, when the inhabitants of the occupied region from Ladakh to Kathua irrespective of cast, creed and region took part in the struggle for independence. No black laws or revengeful steps by the regime could deter the people from lining-up with the struggle.
On 29 December 1963 the occupied state rose in revolt against India and Indian stooges, when the sacred hair was stolen mysteriously from Hazratbal Shrine cum Mosque. The demand for the sacred hair instantly changed into a full-scale mass freedom movement in the length and breadth of Kashmir. Pandit Nehru was forced to release many political workers including Sheikh Abdullah from prisons. After having detailed talks with Abdullah in Delhi, Pandit Nehru sent him and his associates Mirza Afzal Bagh, Mouvlana Masoodi and others to Pakistan to negotiate a constitutional settlement of Kashmir with Pakistan. The process of dialogue could not move forward due to the death of Pt. Nehru. Thus Sheikh Abdullah cut short his visit and returned to Delhi without any success on the dispute of Kashmir.
1965 the freedom struggle in Kashmir was at its peak and we have a comment of Seleeg Harison, then correspondent of Washington post over the situation in the State of Jammu and Kashmir:-
“I visited Kashmir in July in 1965, and I cam e to know that the inhabitants of Kashmir are against Indian rule in a solid manner, and 12 Indian army brigades are trying to contain the movement of the right of self determination.”(Washington post 14 August 1965)
This situation was used by India as a pretext to cross the international border and attack Pakistan from Lahore. But after 7 days war the world leaders intervened and thus the war came to an end, which was followed by Tashkent Pact between the two countries on 10 January 1966.
During the September war the ‘Defense of India Rules was promulgated and many people were arrested under draconian laws in thousands and detained for years without trial. Many People especially living along the cease-fire line were forced to migrate to AJK and Pakistan and many more were killed, tortured and humiliated in army camps. In 1966 Indian spying network was further strengthened and additional troops were sent to Kashmir to quell the mass uprising in the state but in spite of the cease-fire between India and Pakistan the struggle for freedom spread throughout the state and a new phenomenon in the form of underground armed activities was introduced by the younger generation. Many villages and towns were burnt and looted by army between Aug and October 1965, which includes the wide spread fire of Batmallo Srinagar on August 14 1965. The Indian Army was blamed for this fire too.
The Tashkent Pact 1966 was followed by Simla Pact in 1972 between India and Pakistan. On the other side India engaged Plebiscite Front leaders and maneuvered another Delhi accord with Sheikh Abdullah in 1975. It is also called Indra-Abdullah Pact 1975. But the people of Kashmir rejected every time these bilateral agreements. On February 28, 1975 the whole of Jammu and Kashmir went on a historical strike over a call given by the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Late Zulfiqar Ali Bhuthoo to protest against the Delhi agreement of Sheikh Abdullah and Indra Gandhi, which is an echoing day in the history of Kashmir. State wide movement of plebiscite received severe set back from bilateral agreements and Daka fall, resulting in mounted pressure on the movement in 1970s. But a new generation of Kashmiris kept the flame of freedom burning. They looked forward and discovered new horizons amidst dark clouds and hostile winds. Although some groups of young men had started underground armed struggle in 1960s, but the struggle launched in late 1980s was more pronounced, which sent away more forceful signals of liberation to the world in general and India in particular. It means that the fire of freedom will not extinguish in Kashmir till Kashmiris regain their lost independence. Every big or small event in 1970s and 1980s frustrated India and puzzled and stunned political and religious leaders who became irrelevant in Kashmir. A daylong forceful demonstration by thousands of cricket spectators against India in the Sonawar stadium in Oct 1983 shook India and the chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was angrily asked to explain his weakness behind this anti India outburst in the heart of the capital. On 11 Feb. India challenged Kashmiris by sending Muhammad Maqbool Butt to gallows in Tihar jail Delhi, disregarding legal procedures and international human rights law, resulting in further alienation of Kashmiris from India. In 1987, Muslim United Front an amalgam of different political and religious parties participated in assembly elections to challenge India through the ballot paper. But, India and Farooq Abdullah raped the sanctity of the ballot by rigging the elections and declaring NC candidates as winners. The subsequent events further exposed India’s nefarious designs in Kashmir.
1980’s was a decade of political upheavals, trials and tribulations, which gave people self-confidence and the freedom movement, achieved the character of all-pervading popular Intifada in 1990. Further Indian onslaught and intransigence pushed the movement towards armed struggle. It was backed by popular support and became known by the term Jihad. Thus began a new period of great human sacrifices in Kashmir. The people of Kashmir discovered new soul, spirit and new world in their land of birth. The Indian claim to be a big democracy of the world was fully exposed in Kashmir. India to every Kashmiri was now a wolf in lambs’ clothes.
During the past fifteen years India has committed heinous crimes in Kashmir in the form of untold and unprecedented abuses of human rights on men, women and children, besides genocide and custodial killings of over eighty thousand people. India’s naked dance of rape, murder, loot and arson continues unabated in the occupied region. The question is asked how long the champions of world peace and civilization will see the truth and wait.
The roots of the freedom movement have gone very deep into the history of Kashmir. The people of Kashmir believe in unfettered struggle and are never ready to retrieve and compromise even under untoward circumstances of oppression. In the past Kashmiris revolted against the sale deal of Amritsar and they equally rose against the annexation of Kashmir by India in 1947 and showed to the world the ugliest face of India’s so-called secular democracy. The Kashmir struggle has almost historical continuity. Neither agreements between India and Pakistan nor between Srinagar and Delhi could break the chain of its continuity in the last fifty seven years. Kashmir struggle is based upon the right of self-determination under the principle of universal declaration of human rights and UN resolutions on Kashmir. Notwithstanding moral crisis in the conscience of the world powers UN continues to regard Kashmir as a disputed region where people have not exercised their inalienable right—the right of self-determination. It is the oldest international dispute on the UN agenda and also the Indo-Pakistan record can bear witness to this fact. India always made futile attempts to portrait it as its internal constitutional problem but the unprecedented sacrifices of the people of Kashmir compelled former president Bill Clinton to call it a flash point of Asia. Nowadays no world leader has to say anything other than this remark by any American leader.
The current struggle is homegrown and nourishes with snowball spontaneity. India calls this movement as imported terrorism, which is a big lie. The relationship between Kashmiris and freedom fighters is like a fish in the water. Our society has embraced this movement and every section of the society has played vital role in furthering glorious cause of freedom. It is not a class war or communal, religious conflict, but the final goal of our struggles is freedom from India. There are no communal prejudices in Kashmir. Our peoples overwhelming majority believe in the simple teachings of Islam, never in narrow nationalism or terrorism. We believe in patriotism and communal harmony. In fact, Kashmiri Muslims and non-Muslims lived together a peaceful life in the past. But it was sad that the Hindu minority was misled by Indian communalists and thus they fled away from the valley in 1990. They fail to sympathize with the trauma of Kashmiri Muslims, who are humiliated by the brute force of Indian military. Despite hard facts Kashmiri Muslims have time and again invited migrant Hindus back to main stream of Kashmir. The present struggle owes its birth to the sacred blood of Kashmiris, and hopefully it will reach its destination with the help of almighty Allah.
The people of Kashmir have been facing traumatic conditions under despots for centuries. Even their own Kashmiri Kings except a few were not kind to them. But it was the Mughal King Akbar who treacherously brought Kashmir under his Delhi rule. The tragic episode upset Kashmiris in every way and much more terror and tyranny was perpetuated by Afghan governors and Sikh rulers. This humiliating state of affairs did not end here. Although the British inflicted an ignominious defeat on the Sikh rulers of Punjab, but Kashmiris were sold to Dogra Rajas of Jammu, who under the patronage of British treated them like deaf and dumb cattle for one hundred years. According to the British historians the status of Kashmiris was definitely worse than the people of France before the French revolution. The governors of Delhi, Kabul and Lahore looked down upon Kashmiris as the Roman Pro-councils treated Africans. The famous commissioner of settlement for Kashmir Walter R Lawrence was compelled to make these remarks in his book the “Valley of Kashmir”
“It is the matter for surprise that under rapid transition of governments varying in race, religion and language, the people of the valley should have retained their peculiar nationality unimpaired.”
After the Sikh rulers Dogra rulers of Jammu thought it their prerogative to suppress and terrorize the people of Kashmir. It is here when the dark age of Kashmir entered into the 20th century. After the first war of India’s independence in 1857 some British journalists and writers went to Kashmir and on their return to London, they wrote their observations in some magazines of London. They say, “Kashmiris have been brutally terrorized so they express their grief in mosques in Fajr prayers, their hearts are broken, which might have caused 1857 calamity to British citizens in Meerut and Delhi. These writers say it was not the right decision to hand over the destiny of worshipers of one God to the idolaters, who follow many gods and goddesses”. It is a fact that the Kashmiris during that age used to express their grief in Natiyah verses with an impressive language.
In the third decade of the 2oth century the people of Kashmir began street protests against the religious and political injustice and economic exploitation, resulting in the tragedy of 13 July 1931, when dogra police massacred 21 Muslims under indiscriminate firing, before the central jail of Srinagar. It sent shock waves throughout the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and as its after effects people began offering great sacrifices and facing medieval punishments by the Dogra rulers till 1947, when India became free and a new country—Pakistan was born on the map of South Asia. The creation of Pakistan was a historical victory for the Muslims of the sub continent. The people of Jammu and Kashmir were already aware of the Pakistan movement and they were sympathetic towards it. They were eagerly awaiting the clarion call of the dawn of freedom in Kashmir. The termination of the British Raj in India meant an end to the rule of princes in India but no body knew that another dark period of trial and tribulation was in store for Kashmiris. The leaders of the Indian national congress and the fanatic Hindu communalists were aware of the geo political importance of the state of J&K. Therefore they had started wooing Kashmiri leaders in 1930s in many ways. Consequently their hypocrisy and the relations between Pandit Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah laid down adverse effects on the destiny of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947. The congress leadership of India believed in extending their own strategic interests to the far-flung mountain ranges, skies and waters of the region. A close associate of pandit Nehru Mr. VP Menon wrote in his book ‘the story of integration’ that ‘Kashmir was important for our security and integrity in the region’. Before the partition of India Gandhiji and some other Hindu leaders paid mysterious visits to Kashmir and discussed future of the state with the Dorgra rulers and national conference leaders. In the light of their impressions they chalked out their future strategy about Jammu & Kashmir. The confession comes from the pen of Jag Mohan a former Governor of occupied Kashmir who is known for his anti Muslim role both as Governor of Delhi under the rule of Indra Ghanghi and as Governor of Kashmir in 1990. In his book,” My frozen turbulence in Kashmir” He testifies:-
“ Gandhi’s visit to Kashmir in July–August 1947, his meeting with the Maharaja on August 1, dismissal of R.C. Kak from the office of prime Minster on August 10 , release of Sheikh Abdullah on September 29, after tendering ‘unqualified apology’ in his letter of September 26, strengthening of the road link between Pathankot and Jammu, and the scheme to construct a boat bridge over the river Ravi, all would seem to suggest that ground was being prepared for accession of the state to India; at least the possibility was not being ruled out…..”(Page 83)
After Sheikh Abdullah’s release on Sep 29, Pandit Nehru sent a letter to him in Srinagar through Dawarika Nath Kachru Secretary General of the All India States people’s conference, who attended a high level meeting of the top leaders of the National Conference in Srinagar and also met with Abdullah and wrote a letter to Mr. Nehru on 4 Sept, 1947:-
“Sheik Sahib and his close associates have decided for the Indian Union. But, this decision has not been announced yet and the impression is being given that so far the National Conference have taken no decision.” (Kashmir article 370 by Mohan Krishan Teng)
The disclosures of this letter refute India’s propaganda that the decision to accept accession of Kashmir and sent aerial troops to Srinagar on October 27, was made after the tribesmen attacked Kashmir. In order to seal the destiny of the people of Kashmir and remove all geo-hurdles in the way of Kashmir’s accession with India Vice Roy Lord Mountbatten played through Red Cliff the final mischief, by changing the boundary commission report to hand over Muslim majority district of Gurdaspur to India. After this conspiracy a fictitious letter of accession in the name of Maharaja was drafted and thus Indian troops were airlifted to Srinagar on October 27 1947. This tragic event struck a hard-blow on the long struggle of freedom for Kashmir and now they had to fight with equal zeal and zest against the neo-imperialism of India in Kashmir. The people of Kashmir accepted the new challenge and decided to carry on their struggle for freedom. The government of India was frustrated to see the angry reaction of the people of Kashmir against the accession with Delhi. So Lord Mountbatten and Nehru in their separate messages to Pakistan and Kashmir declared this accession as provisional and assured that the people of Kashmir will be given every opportunity to decide their future through a free, fear and impartial plebiscite, under the international supervision of UN. On August 7 1952 Pt. Nehru declared:-
“It is an international problem. We do not want to win people against their will and with the help of armed forces and if the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir so wish to Part Company with us, they can go their way and we shall go our way. We want no forced marriages, no forced unions like this so we accept this basic preposition that this question is going to be decided finally by the good will and pledge of the people of Kashmir, not I say, by the good will and pleasure of even this parliament, if it so chooses, not because this parliament may not have the strength to decide it. I do not deny that because this parliament has not only laid down in this particular matter that a certain policy will be pursued in regard to J& K state but it has been our policy…
But whether it is a pain and torment, if the people of Kashmir want to go out, let them go because we will not keep them against their will however painful it may be to us. That is the policy that India will pursue…Because the strongest bonds that bind will not be the bonds of your armies or even of your constitution, to which so much reference has been made, but bonds which are stronger than the constitution and law and armies—bonds that bind through love and affection and understanding of various people…”
Gandhiji visited Srinagar for the first time at the age of 77. The public opinion in Kashmir forced him to declare:-
“…the princes being the creation of British imperialism and the British having quitted India, the people in the states were their own masters and Kashmiris must therefore decide without any coercion or show of it from within and without to which dominion they should belong.”
While addressing the Security Council on 8 February 1957 Krishna Mennon Defense Minister of India said:-
“If it is possible for any sovereign state to cede territory, if as a result of plebiscite, if ever it did come, the people decided that they did not want to stay with India, then our duty at that time would be to adopt those constitutional procedures which would enable us to separate that territory.”
Keeping in view the world opinion and the past history of Kashmir, the Security Council also upheld the principle of the right of self determination, affirming that the people of Kashmir would be given opportunity to decide their future through a free, fair and impartial plebiscite to be held under the auspices of the UNO. Thus a cease-fire was executed between India and Pakistan. After the truce agreement between India and Pakistan the state of Jammu and Kashmir got divided and its people were separated from each other. Now India began using all evil and sinister methods to curb down the demand for plebiscite. At the same time the commander-in-chief of the Indian army addressed a top level gathering of national conference in the Baramula camp. He said, “The basic emergency task of the army has finished, but the goal to give this accession a truly public color is to be started now. This goal can be achieved by political and cultural activities and not by force. You are the future upholders of this mission.”
India and Sheikh Abdullah knew well that the people of Kashmir had not liked the Indian army in their State. Even National Conference was divided over the accession issue. Only Abdullah due to his personal relations with Mr. Nehru plunged Kashmir into this whirlpool. On the very first day of the troop landing in Srinagar, the Indian soldiers killed some civilians on their way to Badami Bagh Camp and humiliated women in the city of Srinagar and elsewhere. The people had gathered in Lal Chowk and expressed their anger against the military attack and the human rights abuses by the army in Srinagar. All these developments were of grave concern and shame for both the Indian leadership and the National Conference leaders.
India feared humiliation in Kashmir from every angle. He had made the promise of plebiscite before the world. The people of Kashmir were more eager to see the arrangements for plebiscite and certainly in spite of torture in police custody, imprisonment and exile of many political workers, there were strong pro-Pakistan tendencies among Kashmiris. Therefore, India paid equal attention to both military and political aspects in Kashmir. Notwithstanding the UN resolutions, India began raising the numerical strength of her army and stockpiling of arms and ammunition in Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah’s Government and his party were given free hand to crush the opposition and free press by draconian laws. Thus workers of the national conference launched a campaign of terror against the pro-plebiscite workers throughout the state. They would not wait for police to arrest a man, rather they themselves having arrest warrants in their pockets picked political workers and arrested them for listening to Radio Pakistan or Azad Kashmir Radio. These were banned radio stations in early 1950s.
In order to divert the public attention from plebiscite, Sheikh Abdullah with the tacit approval of Delhi conducted sham elections for the state constituent assembly in 1951. But before that the assembly of 1946 was illegally dissolved. In the 1951 assembly elections all the 75 candidates of the ruling party were returned unopposed. The UN Security Council had already passed the resolution declaring that the elections in Jammu & Kashmir would never be accepted as a substitute for plebiscite. Dr. Joseph corbel member of the UNCIP has made the following remark on the so called elections in, his book danger in Kashmir” “No dictator could do better than this”.
In spite of her lofty claims about democracy India continued human rights abuses in Kashmir and held every time fraudulent elections in the state. This practice continues unabated to this time. In July 1977 when a former Home Minister Mr. Chaudry Charan Singh visited Kashmir in connection with election campaign, he confessed that all the previous elections held in Jammu and Kashmir were rigid and manipulated. The story of elections for the State Assembly since 1951 is always a ridiculous one, whether these elections were held under the rule of Sheikh Abdullah or Bakhshi Ghulam Muhammad or Ghulam Muhammad Sadiq or Mir Qasim or Farooq Abdullah. The stand to boycott these elections by the freedom fighting parties has every time been vindicated.
Sheikh Abdullah and Delhi rulers failed to suppress and change the popular sentiments of Kashmiris between 1947 and 1953, although the government had been armed with very harsh laws of detention without trail. Strangely, if on the one hand the Indian government was sharpening its teeth against Kashmiris, on the other hand Sheikh Abdullah was becoming isolated from the people in the state. 19 July 1953 is a remarkable day of those fateful years when against all political odds citizens of Srinagar defied prohibitory orders and thousands gathered in Nawakadal Srinagar to protest against the accession with India. Some leading members of the ruling National Conference and some Hindu lawyers led by Khawaja Ghulam Mohiuddin Qarah participated in a big demonstration and launched the political movement for freedom and Pakistan. The new Phenomenon terribly shook the government and the party of Sheikh Abdullah. He began rethinking and some other factors also created differences between sheikh Abdullah and the Government of India, resulting in the arrest of sheikh Abdullah on 9 August 1953. His deputy Bakhshi Ghulam Muhammad took over as the new prime Minster of Jammu and Kashmir. The following decades saw a strong popular movement of plebiscite growing in Jammu and Kashmir, and the people in thousands faced imprisonments, tortures, detentions and killings for decades together. Two political organizations namely J&K Plebiscite Front patronized by Sheikh Abdullah and Kashmir political conference founded by Kh. Ghulam Mohiuddin Qarah were the leading organizations of the times in Jammu and Kashmir. This was certainly a unique period of freedom movement in Kashmir, when the inhabitants of the occupied region from Ladakh to Kathua irrespective of cast, creed and region took part in the struggle for independence. No black laws or revengeful steps by the regime could deter the people from lining-up with the struggle.
On 29 December 1963 the occupied state rose in revolt against India and Indian stooges, when the sacred hair was stolen mysteriously from Hazratbal Shrine cum Mosque. The demand for the sacred hair instantly changed into a full-scale mass freedom movement in the length and breadth of Kashmir. Pandit Nehru was forced to release many political workers including Sheikh Abdullah from prisons. After having detailed talks with Abdullah in Delhi, Pandit Nehru sent him and his associates Mirza Afzal Bagh, Mouvlana Masoodi and others to Pakistan to negotiate a constitutional settlement of Kashmir with Pakistan. The process of dialogue could not move forward due to the death of Pt. Nehru. Thus Sheikh Abdullah cut short his visit and returned to Delhi without any success on the dispute of Kashmir.
1965 the freedom struggle in Kashmir was at its peak and we have a comment of Seleeg Harison, then correspondent of Washington post over the situation in the State of Jammu and Kashmir:-
“I visited Kashmir in July in 1965, and I cam e to know that the inhabitants of Kashmir are against Indian rule in a solid manner, and 12 Indian army brigades are trying to contain the movement of the right of self determination.”(Washington post 14 August 1965)
This situation was used by India as a pretext to cross the international border and attack Pakistan from Lahore. But after 7 days war the world leaders intervened and thus the war came to an end, which was followed by Tashkent Pact between the two countries on 10 January 1966.
During the September war the ‘Defense of India Rules was promulgated and many people were arrested under draconian laws in thousands and detained for years without trial. Many People especially living along the cease-fire line were forced to migrate to AJK and Pakistan and many more were killed, tortured and humiliated in army camps. In 1966 Indian spying network was further strengthened and additional troops were sent to Kashmir to quell the mass uprising in the state but in spite of the cease-fire between India and Pakistan the struggle for freedom spread throughout the state and a new phenomenon in the form of underground armed activities was introduced by the younger generation. Many villages and towns were burnt and looted by army between Aug and October 1965, which includes the wide spread fire of Batmallo Srinagar on August 14 1965. The Indian Army was blamed for this fire too.
The Tashkent Pact 1966 was followed by Simla Pact in 1972 between India and Pakistan. On the other side India engaged Plebiscite Front leaders and maneuvered another Delhi accord with Sheikh Abdullah in 1975. It is also called Indra-Abdullah Pact 1975. But the people of Kashmir rejected every time these bilateral agreements. On February 28, 1975 the whole of Jammu and Kashmir went on a historical strike over a call given by the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Late Zulfiqar Ali Bhuthoo to protest against the Delhi agreement of Sheikh Abdullah and Indra Gandhi, which is an echoing day in the history of Kashmir. State wide movement of plebiscite received severe set back from bilateral agreements and Daka fall, resulting in mounted pressure on the movement in 1970s. But a new generation of Kashmiris kept the flame of freedom burning. They looked forward and discovered new horizons amidst dark clouds and hostile winds. Although some groups of young men had started underground armed struggle in 1960s, but the struggle launched in late 1980s was more pronounced, which sent away more forceful signals of liberation to the world in general and India in particular. It means that the fire of freedom will not extinguish in Kashmir till Kashmiris regain their lost independence. Every big or small event in 1970s and 1980s frustrated India and puzzled and stunned political and religious leaders who became irrelevant in Kashmir. A daylong forceful demonstration by thousands of cricket spectators against India in the Sonawar stadium in Oct 1983 shook India and the chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was angrily asked to explain his weakness behind this anti India outburst in the heart of the capital. On 11 Feb. India challenged Kashmiris by sending Muhammad Maqbool Butt to gallows in Tihar jail Delhi, disregarding legal procedures and international human rights law, resulting in further alienation of Kashmiris from India. In 1987, Muslim United Front an amalgam of different political and religious parties participated in assembly elections to challenge India through the ballot paper. But, India and Farooq Abdullah raped the sanctity of the ballot by rigging the elections and declaring NC candidates as winners. The subsequent events further exposed India’s nefarious designs in Kashmir.
1980’s was a decade of political upheavals, trials and tribulations, which gave people self-confidence and the freedom movement, achieved the character of all-pervading popular Intifada in 1990. Further Indian onslaught and intransigence pushed the movement towards armed struggle. It was backed by popular support and became known by the term Jihad. Thus began a new period of great human sacrifices in Kashmir. The people of Kashmir discovered new soul, spirit and new world in their land of birth. The Indian claim to be a big democracy of the world was fully exposed in Kashmir. India to every Kashmiri was now a wolf in lambs’ clothes.
During the past fifteen years India has committed heinous crimes in Kashmir in the form of untold and unprecedented abuses of human rights on men, women and children, besides genocide and custodial killings of over eighty thousand people. India’s naked dance of rape, murder, loot and arson continues unabated in the occupied region. The question is asked how long the champions of world peace and civilization will see the truth and wait.
The roots of the freedom movement have gone very deep into the history of Kashmir. The people of Kashmir believe in unfettered struggle and are never ready to retrieve and compromise even under untoward circumstances of oppression. In the past Kashmiris revolted against the sale deal of Amritsar and they equally rose against the annexation of Kashmir by India in 1947 and showed to the world the ugliest face of India’s so-called secular democracy. The Kashmir struggle has almost historical continuity. Neither agreements between India and Pakistan nor between Srinagar and Delhi could break the chain of its continuity in the last fifty seven years. Kashmir struggle is based upon the right of self-determination under the principle of universal declaration of human rights and UN resolutions on Kashmir. Notwithstanding moral crisis in the conscience of the world powers UN continues to regard Kashmir as a disputed region where people have not exercised their inalienable right—the right of self-determination. It is the oldest international dispute on the UN agenda and also the Indo-Pakistan record can bear witness to this fact. India always made futile attempts to portrait it as its internal constitutional problem but the unprecedented sacrifices of the people of Kashmir compelled former president Bill Clinton to call it a flash point of Asia. Nowadays no world leader has to say anything other than this remark by any American leader.
The current struggle is homegrown and nourishes with snowball spontaneity. India calls this movement as imported terrorism, which is a big lie. The relationship between Kashmiris and freedom fighters is like a fish in the water. Our society has embraced this movement and every section of the society has played vital role in furthering glorious cause of freedom. It is not a class war or communal, religious conflict, but the final goal of our struggles is freedom from India. There are no communal prejudices in Kashmir. Our peoples overwhelming majority believe in the simple teachings of Islam, never in narrow nationalism or terrorism. We believe in patriotism and communal harmony. In fact, Kashmiri Muslims and non-Muslims lived together a peaceful life in the past. But it was sad that the Hindu minority was misled by Indian communalists and thus they fled away from the valley in 1990. They fail to sympathize with the trauma of Kashmiri Muslims, who are humiliated by the brute force of Indian military. Despite hard facts Kashmiri Muslims have time and again invited migrant Hindus back to main stream of Kashmir. The present struggle owes its birth to the sacred blood of Kashmiris, and hopefully it will reach its destination with the help of almighty Allah.
Role of Freedom Struggle in the Kashmir Dispute
Kashmir is the long-standing dispute of over 13 million inhabitants of Jammu and Kashmir who despite their geographical, religious, and linguistic differences are popularly known as Kashmiris. The people of Kashmir are the long—suffering people in South Asia and undoubtedly their struggle for freedom is a long-running popular movement like any other freedom struggle. For Indian and Pakistan it may be a dispute but for Kashmiris it is their right to fight for their freedom and the right of self determination. Kashmir is also a central factor determining political and economical relations between India and Pakistan
This can easily and simply be resolved if India like Pakistan is ready to recognize this birth right of the people of Kashmir. Kashmiris for the last several decades have been gazing longingly at their dream of freedom which has become their catch-word in the last one and a half decade.
The freedom struggle of Kashmir has a unique pivot-ability, spontaneity and centrality in the national and social life of Kashmiris. It is a candle light in a dark night round whose bright flames moths and butterflies burn their beautiful lives. They may burn in millions but the candle light will not extinguish till dawn. To every Kashmiri freedom is beauty and truth and they are always ready to die for their goal of freedom.
It is dimensional and now no more only a political issue. It has deep social bearings because the blood-soaked sacrifices of the people of Kashmir have shattered families, disturbed societies and moved human conscience. A Kashmiri is always proud of his participation and association with his freedom struggle of Kashmir.
The ebb and flow in the freedom struggle has equally influenced the question of the settlement of the future status of J&K.
No doubt, the political agitation in Kashmir began with the civil rights movement in 1920s and 1930s but it became a full-fledged struggle for the achievement of the right of self determination in 1947, when India annexed two-third of the region by her military might. The slogans such as plebiscite and will of the people became very popular in those days of the history. Mahjoor the national poet of Kashmir eulogized this concept lucidly in his verse. Pandit Nehru used the word referendum as a means to grant the right of self determination to the people of Jammu & Kashmir. He at the same time sought intervention of UN Security Council in Kashmir. Internationally the world debated on the dispute and passed numerous UN resolutions between 1940s and 60s. Unfortunately India started dilly-dallying and distracting from her promises of a free and impartial plebiscite and both India and Pakistan made futile bilateral efforts to settle the dispute but till date no bilateral agreement could bring peace and justice to Kashmir. India also signed some bilateral agreements with Kashmiri political leaders, in 1952 and 1975 causing further unrest among the masses which bursted out fully in 1990s like a volcano adding a new dimension in the form of armed resistance for freedom. This was yet another important opportunity to respond to the call of the time but India did not. Had India seen the writing on the wall in 1990, the irreparable human loss in Kashmir would have been stopped.
All the developments which shaped political upsurge in Kashmir and pointed to the vulnerability of this dispute testify that Kashmir is not a territorial conflict. It involves the right to freedom, the right to choose the destiny and right to self determination of some million human beings who live in this region. It is not a constitutional case between two or more provinces of the same country. It is still on the agenda of the United Nations.
In the recent years India has tried to equate it the freedom struggle with terrorism and persuade international community to declare it as a terrorist movement. This has only complicated the road to conflict resolution and the hope on the peace process in Kashmir has dwindled to almost nothing. Thousands of graves spread all over Kashmir belie India’s claims. More over continuity and spontaneity of human sacrifices in this environment of war against terrorism tells a different tale to the world if they listen.
India is still reluctant to include Kashmiris as a third party in her talks with Pakistan. Pakistan’s basic stand of talks is in line with the dialogue concept of Kashmiris.
We can say that the freedom struggle has changed the entire spectrum of Kashmir dispute. The people of Kashmir have discovered bright horizons of success. It is now the Kashmiri who is on the forefront. He is no longer a back bencher. He is a front bencher. He is the king without crown. Hence no two can sign one more bilateral agreement on Kashmir against the wishes of the people of Kashmir.
Dimensional strength of Kashmir struggle has positively affected the dispute of Kashmir. All the three parties of the dispute have to sit together and draw a comprehensive road map for resolution of the conflict to accomplish the urges and aspirations of the people. The role of the struggle is vital in the larger interests of the conflict resolution. The freedom struggle is in a way helping India and Pakistan to intensify their search for a just and durable solution.
Kashmiris have offered unprecedented sacrifices since 1980s and are continuing their freedom struggle courageously today. So it has a linkage with present past and future. It has also brought back a historical and futuristic view-point that there could be no settlement sane Kashmiris. Only the freedom struggle would compel India to agree upon a more flexible, viable and compatible road map based upon the participation of Kashmiris in the dialogue.
There is no place for status co, LOC or soft border as a solution in the eyes of Kashmiris. The freedom struggle aims at greater say of Kashmiris to resolve Kashmir dispute according to the universally acknowledged right—the right of self determination.
The freedom struggle to settle Kashmir dispute has made inroads in America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Kashmiris outside India and Pakistan are playing active diplomatic role to gain support for freedom and peaceful resolution of this imbroglio. NGOs Around the world are paying greater attention to the human rights conditions than in the past. Thus the resistance movement has attracted the bona-fide support of the global community. The freedom movement to bring the goal of a peaceful settlement nearer has become invincible. It has compelled the world to talk about Kashmir and facilitate although indirectly its peaceful solution. Under the given developments the resolution of Kashmir can not be put on the back burner again and gone are the days when one could think of relegating it to the future. Also the issue can not be seen through the tinted glasses of past and present rulers of Kashmir who perpetuated their tyranny on Kashmiris for their selfish ends and wasted 57 years of Jammu and Kashmir.
These are the defining moments of Kashmir history. A Kashmiri wants to define his slogans himself. A blood-soaked history of Kashmir is to be red in almost every home and hearth. So the Kashmir dispute must end with the new dawn and new sun for Kashmir. India’s constitutional and economic packages or cultural shows would mean little to Kashmiris and would not change the character of freedom struggle into dispute resolution as long as India is bent upon militarism in Kashmir. The present freedom struggle is really the only key to the resolution of conflict and it also can ensure the future of Kashmir as a nation.
At the end I would like to recall a thousand times valuable saying of an Algerian freedom fighter Saad Dahalk, who warned France in July 1960 in response to the latters proposal of constitutional autonomy. He said and I quote him, “Our people have not eaten grass and roots in order to obtain a new statute given as a concession.”
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