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Written by: Sheikh Mustafa Kamal

Category: ARTICLES

Published: 07 August 2015

J&K Problem is a legacy of the partition of India in 1947. The then ruler of the soverign state of J&K including Baltistan, Hunza, Skardu, Gilgit, Muzzarabad and part of Tibet under the suzerainty of British India. MaharajaHari Singh signed “Stand Still” Agreement with both India and the new Republic of Pakistan to seek time for the final decision by people regarding the options available for accession to either India or Pakistan or to remain an independent entity  as existing at that time.

In violation of the agreement, Pakistan pushed in Tribals from Waziristan (geographic region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province) into Jammu & Kashmir later supporting with its regular Army. This forced the Maharaja to seek help from India which was given only after obtaining a limited accession under the “Instrument of Accession” between the Maharaja and the government of India.

This was done to give legal justification for coming to the help of beleaguered Maharaja. India went to United Nations accusing Pakistan of invading Kashmir, a sovereign entity then. UN questioned the authority of doing so but relented when shown the “Instrument of Accession”. Since then, the problem defies solution and continues to hang on the agenda of UN security Council.

After 100 yeras of Dogra rule under the infamous “Treaty of Amritsar – 1847”  between the British India and Maharaja Gulab Singh, the state of J&K was poised to establish a democratic government under adult franchise replacing the oppressive Dogra rule. With Indo-Pak war of 1947 and subsequent entry of UN in to the conflict took a new turn. J&K got divided into Pak held and Indian held parts. Maharaja Hari Singh abdicated and left the state spending the remaining part of his life in Bombay without even once returning to his native land of J&K.

His son Dr Karan Singh was made the Sader-e-Riyasat and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah became the first Prime Minister of J&K. Years later we witnessed a run of events of coup d’état in 1953, toppling of the governments in 1977 and 1984.  The 1990 resignation of the government forced by appointment of Jagmohan as states Governor against the wishes of Dr Farooq Abdullah. Jagmohan was the governor of J&K in 1984 and had installed GM shah as States CM who had support of only 12 sitting MLAs against the required number of 44.

Several attempts were made to bring India and Pakistan closer staring with the visit of Sher-e-Kashmir to Pakistan in 1964 immediately after his release from 11 years long imprisonment. He succeded in fixing a meeting between Jawahar Lal Nehru and Gen Ayub Khan but Nehru died when Sheikh was in Muzaffarabad.   A year later, Lal Bahadur Shastri who had taken over as PM met Ayub Khan in Tashkent, a meeting brokered by Alexei Kosygin, Prime Minister of erstwhile USSR. Shastriji died in Tashkent during his stay there.

Then there were meetings between Indira Gnadhi and Zulfikhar Ali Bhutto, Rajiv Gandhi and Banazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharief and AB Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and Parvez Musharraf but of little avail. The farthest govt of India was when Manmohan Singh expressed his resolve to make borders between India and Pakistan “irrelevant” and P Chidambaram, then Home Minister said, “Accession of J&K with India took place under unique circumstances and the solution will also have to be unique.” All these efforts, unfortunately, fell short of achieving the objective. Both sides want it and not only are not willing to compromise but also do tend to overlook or ignore the basic party to the dispute  i.e. people of the J&K state.

My father Sher-e-Kashmir wanted to know as to why did  Indian Army withdraw to the position held by them presently after clearing J&K soil of Pakistan forces and the tribals. This question remains unanswered till date. If this had not been done, the stet of J&K would be one entity with the Maharajaas its titular head presiding over a democratic system of government, an arrangement worked out between the two thus putting an end to 410 years of autocratic rule of Pathans, Mughals, Sikhs and Dogras one after the other.

A new danger has emerged on the Indian political horizon and that is the communal dispension with anti-muslim overtones in power at the center and J&K out to tear the secular fabric of India to shreds. It is high time powers realise that a country divided on regional, religious and linguistic lines will not survive for long. The core of the matter is that J&K problem has to be tackled head on by India and Pakistan in a spirit of mutual trust and confidence taking the people of J&K on both sides of LoC and the part with China on board. Carrot and Stick Policy has been used far too long by both countries in J&K to the detriment of the unity and integrity of India.