Global Comment: Kashmir, an oblivion

Syed M Hamza, MILT (UK)

Global Writer

“Whereas strategy is only concerned winning military victory, grand strategy must take the longer view – for its problem is the winning peace”B.H. Liddell Hart.

As per Vox - Adil Ahmed, a 19-year-old Kashmiri carried out a suicide attack on an Indian military convoy killing 40 Indian soldiers on the 14th of February 2019 in Kashmir. In response, the Indian air force conducted airstrikes in Pakistan within 12 days. According to Al Jazeera, Pakistan’s Airforce retaliated by shooting down 2 Indian aircrafts and capturing one Indian air force pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan. BBC confirmedPakistani policymakers handed over the captured pilot to the Indian government as a “peace gesture”. This critical point could have waged a nuclear war, had Pakistan not returned the pilot.

Why have both countries failed at winning peace? To comprehend this, a look back at Kashmir’s history is vital. With the British departing the subcontinent in 1947, the states that had a Muslim majority became part of Pakistan whilst non-Muslim majority states became part of India. Kashmir was ruled by a Hindu Monarch at the time, Hari Singh, who wanted an independent state of Kashmir as he desired to have an autonomous authority over the region. Albeit Muslims were, and still are, the majority in Kashmir,

Indians also claimed the region as it was being ruled by a Hindu in 1947.

Stephen P. Westcott writes, “Kashmir was approximately 77% Muslim”. During the decolonisation period, Hari Singh signed the “Instrument of Accession” to India as the Hindu monarch needed military support from her but with one condition. The condition was that a plebiscite would later take place to ascertain the status of Kashmir as Singh was under pressure from both Pakistan and India to declare his allegiance. After the first war, out of four wars between Pakistan and India over Kashmir, United Nations passed a resolution.

The resolution states “The Government of India should undertake that there will be established in Jammu and Kashmir a Plebiscite Administration to hold a plebiscite as soon as possible on the question of the accession of the State to India or Pakistan” [S/RES/47(1948)]. However, the Indian Government dubiously rejects this proposal whilst the Pakistani government is a strong proponent of the plebiscite. Pakistan’s Former Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, had also requested to revamp the number of United Nations observer missions in the region during his address to the UN.

On the 5th of August 2019, Kashmir was left in a detrimental state with Article 370 being revoked by the Indian government. Article 370 gives the privilege to Jammu and Kashmir to have their own flag, constitution and independence which was added to the Indian constitution in 1949. Article 35A, under article 370, entails that outsiders whether Indians or Pakistanis can neither own land nor get citizenship in Kashmir. According to the House of commons library, the Indian supreme court has previously declared, “article 370 has a permanent status in the Indian Constitution”.

Even though article 370 acted as a huge deterrent, the Indian President illegally asked the Governor of Kashmir to revoke it at the request of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019. It is pertinent to mention, dissent voiced by Kashmir’s Governor office can easily be suppressed as he or she is appointed by the Indian President. The vested interest behind revocation of article 370 is that the Indian Government is illegally expelling innocent Muslim Kashmiris out of their houses and allotting that land to nonMuslims. This is being done to ensure that if a plebiscite ever takes place, India wins.

Currently the situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) with a population of more than 10 million people, according to a Human Rights Watch report, is nothing but somber. IOK is in complete lockdown since 5th August 2019. Kashmiris do not have access to necessities i.e. food and communication. A report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued on 8th July

2019 notes, “1,081 civilians have been killed by security forces in extrajudicial killings between 2008 and 2018 in Indian Occupied Kashmir”. Indian security forces continue to massacre Kashmiris using pellet-firing shotguns.

The commission also confirmed, “According to information from Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, where most pellet shotgun injured are treated, 1,253 people have been blinded by the metal pellets used by security forces from mid-2016 to the end of 2018”.

Vox confirmed – Adil Ahmed - the individual mentioned at start of the article - had been stopped and humiliated by Indian police officials in 2016 by forcing his face into the ground. The same year Ahmed was shot in the leg at a protest.

These events took place before the Indian government revoked article 370. Thus, now, the situation is much gloomier. Not only does the India Government show disdain for Kashmiris but for the Kashmiri Leaders as well. A.S. Dulat, Former Chief of Indian Spy agency, elaborates in his book “Vajpayee years” on how Farooq Abdullah, Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was betrayed by the Indian government. Dulat designated an entire chapter called “Vajpayee’s Betrayal of Farooq Abdullah” for explaining this matter. concrete-online.co.uk/global/

The only time a solution for this conflict was close to happening was when General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan made huge efforts to resolve the conflict between 2001-2008. Dulat reiterates in the same book how Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India could have utilised that moment. Dulat writes “The solution to the India-Pakistan-Kashmir Gordian knot was given to Dr. Manmohan Singh on a platter in 2004. When he left office in 2014, he had not accomplished what was within his grasp”.

Finally, only two solutions now seem to be viable. Firstly, the UN taking serious action by holding a plebiscite is the sine qua non. Secondly, both countries resuming to have dialogues is need of the hour. For now, it seems that once colonised, India, has now become a blatant coloniser for the Kashmiris.