KASHMIR: A NIGHTMARE

The unresolved issue of Kashmir between India and Pakistan reminds me a Biblical story I read some time during my student life.  A case was brought to King Solomon the Great. Two women claimed to have born the same baby under dispute. Each woman had convincing details of their motherhood. King Solomon, after listening their claim gives his judgment: ‘Cut the baby in two equal halves and give each half to each of them.’ The two women were awe-struck to hear the verdict. After a minute’s trauma one surrendered her claim to the other woman. King Solomon revised his judgment to give the child in one piece to the surrendered women.

Today we have no King Solomon to solve our Kashmir issue. What we have now is the lesson and the moral we have from King Solomon’s judgment. Today the issue is not of a live baby, but a live country of 17 million live inhabitants (12.5 plus 4.5 million either sides). What lesson India and Pakistan can deduce from this story to solve the Kashmir issue?  The best is the best, i.e. to let the country survive independent in the community of the world of nations.

The root causes of Kashmir problem between India and Pakistan is multi-dimensional. Kashmir acceded to India as and when Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir signed the Agreement of Accession, under compulsion of outside attacks from insurgent tribes and Pakistan forces to occupy as much area as possible. India airlifted forces from Delhi to Kashmir to fight and oust the insurgents’ forces.

After Independence of 1947 the 565 princely states of British India were given free choice to pick India or Pakistan or remain independent. The Kashmir valley, being a Muslim populated territory, Pakistan expected it to accede to Pakistan. For Indians, Kashmir demonstrates that a Muslim-majority state can exist in India—making it a key example of how India brings together people of different faiths. Today, the total count of Indian Muslims is more than Pakistan Muslims. Pakistan claimed to be a homeland for Muslims of India, but never allowed its citizenship to any migrant Muslim from India after 1953. 

The ruling British Parliament in London decided to quit India as early as possible after end of World War II. They jumped the opportunity of Hindu-Muslim differences on communal issues and communal genocides, split the Indian subcontinent, those provinces having Muslim majority in the East and West provinces of India became Pakistan. The 565 Princely states throughout India were given the choice to join India or Pakistan or remain independent. The Maharaja of Kashmir delayed his decision with an intention to remain independent. But since tribal insurgents and Pakistan fighting forces started infiltrating and occupying lands and properties into the Kashmir adjacent to Punjab and NWFP (now Paktoonkha), the Maharaja asked help from Mountbatten, then Governor General of India. Mountbatten helped Hari Singh on condition of his signing the Accession document to join Indian Union and sent Indian forces to oust insurgents and Pakistan forces from Kashmir.

Today, the wisdom lies in following up the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s approach at Simla Conference in 1972. At the end of fighting between the two in 1971, as part of the India-Pakistan war that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, an accord signed in the Indian city of Simla in 1972, expressed the hope that henceforth, the two countries would “settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations". The agreement converted the cease-fire line in Kashmir into the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan and it was agreed that "neither side shall seek to alter it unilaterally, irrespective of mutual differences and legal interpretations". The Indian side was known as State of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan side called Azad Jammu and Kashmir with Gilgit-Baltistan. 

Contrary to popular belief, the Simla agreement did not agree over repatriation of prisoners of war (POW) and it was in 1974 in a separate agreement that resulted into three way exchange of POW between Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. 93,000 Pakistan POW were held in Indian jails.(Wikipedia.org/wiki/simla-agreement).  The agreement did not help in improving bilateral relationship between the two countries and went on deteriorating to the point of armed conflict, in the Kargil War of 1999.

The Pakistani side of Kashmir, called Azad Kashmir, is neither a province nor an agency of Pakistan but has a government of its own that is regarded by Pakistan as “independent,” even though it is protected by and economically and administratively linked to Pakistan. It has an area of approximately 650 square miles (1,680 square km) and an estimated population of about 4.5 million. It consists of an arc of territory bordering the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to the east, the Pakistani provinces of Punjab to the south and southwest and North-West Frontier Province to the west, and the Gilgit and Baltistan regions of Pakistani-administered Kashmir to the north.

More than a generation’s lives and properties have been lost only due to the folly of warring politicians. My suggestions to Nawaz Sharif in the current state of affairs are as follows to the best of my analysis.

(a) Maintain status quo without going into any adventurism from Pakistan side. This can be followed by the following road map.

(b) Let India and Pakistan make a firm commitment to each other, endorsed by the UNO, not to interfere henceforth in the affairs of each other within their respective territorial limits set by LoC.

(c) After guaranteeing no interference and having a congenial environment of peace and security in both sides, let India and Pakistan introduce reformation measures in their respective territory for immediate implementation of economic, political, social, and civic amenities. 

 (d) Maintaining good governance in Azad Kashmir by granting self-determination to local parliament, and prospering economy with law, order and justice system.

(d)  A system of free passage thru. LoC for Kashmiris on both sides will greatly promote friendly understanding, with high rise in trade and commerce, resulting in good opportunity for employment and earnings on both sides.

(e) The last and most detestable and destructive solution kill (zabah) the chicken and take all the eggs at one stroke.  The choice rests on the warring psycho of India and Pakistan who are still thinking on the line of 1940’s while the world is moving fast through scientific, technological and digital information, inventions and explosion with jet speed.

There are some reasons in the above suggestions.  The more peaceful, democratic and progressive condition in AJK,  the more favorable will be the pull for the population of IJK (Indian Jammu and Kashmir) who are now passing through suppression and persecutions of 500,000 police forces in the Valley. The congenial and progressive atmosphere is supposed to be the greatest weapon to win the hearts and minds of the people on the other side.

ISRAR HASAN

7JUNE 2014

Email: Ihasanfaq@yahoo.com