Kashmir –Paradise Turned into a Living Hell

by Latheef Farook : 

Kashmir has often been described as “Emerald set in Pearls”, “Jewel of Asia “and “Heaven on Earth”. Its enchanting beauties provoked the famous Persian poet Urfi Shiraz to say that” if a roasted fowl is brought to Kashmir not only shall it come to life, but shall be on its wings again”. In his first visit to Kashmir, the founder of Mogul Empire,  Zahiruddin Bahar said” if there is a paradise on earth, it is here”.

Such is the beauty of the snow clad mountains of Kashmir with all its delightful flower beds, luscious green forests, lakes and canals.

The state border China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India and covers some 86,000 square miles of land. Kashmir’s traditionally gentle and peaceful peoplewere a downtrodden and exploited lot for centuries by foreign dynasties who ruled them one after the other.

Under the 1846 Treaty of Amritsar the British sold Kashmir to Raja Gulab Singh, a Hindu warlord of the Dogra family  for 7.5 million rupees (750,000 pounds). It was an illegal deal undertaken without the knowledge of the Kashmiri people who opposed the transaction .Their uprisings were brutally crushed by the Maharaja with the support of the British.

Thus began a new era of oppression which continues to under Indian administration.

When the Subcontinent was partitioned under in 1947 to create two countries- India and Pakistanthe Maharaja acceded Kashmir to India without consulting the Kashmiri people.

Pakistan described Maharajah’s accession as fraud and violence. This triggered off the dispute between India and Pakistan, which resulted in three wars and dissipated a good deal of the two countries’ time and energy. Today Kashmir remains the most militarised regionin the world.

Plebiscite

India agreed to respect the views of Kashmiris and hold a plebiscite. In a letter to then Pakistan Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan, the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru assured that ‘Kashmir’s accession to India is subject to reference to the people of the state for their decision’. He added that ‘Kashmir’s accession has been accepted on condition that the people of Kashmir would themselves decide the question of accession.  

Nehru added that “our assurance regarding the future of the state  is not merely a pledge to your government but also to the people of Kashmir and to the world”. Repeating the same undertaking in a radio broadcast, Pundit Nehru said, “We have declared that the fate of Kashmir is ultimately to be decided by the people....We will not, and cannot back out of it. We want it to be a just and fair reference to the people, and we shall accept their verdict”.

Pakistan said the plebiscite would be a farce if it were conducted in the presence of Indian armed forces and if proper conditions were not established to guarantee to the people complete freedom to express their will. Supporting the Pakistani point of view, the Security Council attached great importance to having the plebiscite conducted by the UN under an impartial government.

United Nations Involvement

As early as 1948, India called upon the United Nations to intervene in the Kashmir dispute.

With Kashmiris intensifying their struggle for self-determination, Indian forces began unleashing atrocities to crush their struggle. The Indian army and para-military forces were given wide powers under an ordinance promulgated on July 5, 1990 to raid and even destroy houses suspected of harbouring suspected militants and hiding arms and ammunition. 

According to figures released in during 2010 uprising ,between 1989 and 2009 alone 93,142 Kashmiri Muslims were killed, 105,832 houses and shops destroyed, 107,326 orphaned, 9901 women molested and 22,719 widowed. 

Highlighting the atrocities the Weekend Guardian, London, reported as early as  4  August 1991 that “after a visit to Kashmir in 1991, the late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said at a press conference in New Delhi that ‘the brutalities of the Indian  army and the Central Reserve Police meant that “India may have lost Kashmir’”.

Raping women became a daily occurrence to break the spirit and soul of Kashmiri Muslims. Cases of rape, including those in front of family members and children by Indian forces were documented by many human rights organisations.

According one such document by Shabnam Qayyum men were herded into nearby fields for questioning while women at home were raped at will. .

Summing up the situation one writer said “hell has been let loose on Kashmiris and what happens in Kashmir is not made known to the Indian people by national   media ”. Besides the common feeling of being betrayed by India of its promises to hold a plebiscite the arbitrary arrests, regular and systematic torture in interrogation camps, indiscriminate and extra judicial killings, brutal search operations, ransacking of homes and even raping women in the presence of family members and children added fuel to their anger.

These atrocities came under severe criticism by human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Lord Eric Averbury, Chairman of the British Parliament Human Rights committee said on 28 December 1993 that “the West should also fight shoulder to shoulder with the Kashmiris in their fight for independence”.

Kashmiri Muslims who do not see themselves as Indian citizens point out that the Indian claim that Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian union is unilateral, unrecognised and untenable in law and logic.

They ask “how can we live under an Indian government after all what its armed forces have done, and are still doing,  destroying our lives. They also ask “how can a people secede from what they never acceded to and separate from what they never joined?”

This was the atmosphere when on 8 July 2016,Burhan  Muzaffar Wani , who belong to the new generation of fighters for freedomwas killed along with his two associates, while Kashmiri Muslims were celebrating the third day of Eid Al Fitr 

More than half a million people attended  Wani’s funeral. Pent up frustration and fury erupted again and enraged people came out in peaceful street protests all over Kashmir.

A day after Wani's death, former Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that Wani’s killing had made him the new icon of the Kashmiri society.He warned that more Kashmiris will join the militancy after his death as compared to when he was alive”.

From the very first day Prime Minister Narendra  Modi diverted the attention from the real issue by  dismissing the uprising as the work of terrorists, accusing Pakistan of fostering terrorism and threatening Pakistan to create a Bangladesh in the Pakistani territory of Baluchistan.   

Prime Minister  Modiimposed curfew since 8 July 2016 to starve the Kashmiris into submission. Kashmir remains to date shut due to strict curfew for more three months. The impact of this shutdown has surpassed all limits of cruelty to the people of Kashmir.

Such atrocities further distanced Kashmiri Muslims from New Delhi.

This is the reason why renowned Indiancolumnist Prem Shankar Jha said that“Kashmir is slipping away from India and insisted on granting it maximum freedom”. He also asked the New Delhi to rewind the clock back to 1947 to prevent Kashmir from spinning out of India’s control.

He said “India must bring back Article 370 in its original shape that connects Kashmir with India through Defence, Communication and Foreign Affairs.

Going a step ahead Gandhi’s grandson Raj Mohan said India has lost Kashmir due to its insincerity, injustice and atrocities

However Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government  continue senseless policy of  using bullets and pellets to kill, maim and blind to subdue Kashmiris.

The atrocity unleashed during the past three months made Gandhi’s grandson Raj Mohan Gandhi to state that “INDIA LOST KASHMIR “.