Once upon a time there was a king named Maharaja Hari Singh . He was the ruler of Kashmir. Kashmir was an ethnically diverse Princely state in Himalayan region, covering around 86,000 sq miles (138 sq km), and famed for the beauty of its lakes, meadows and snow-capped mountains. The king of Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh wanted to make the State SWITZERLAND OF EAST . But Alas His dream gets over before it can even start and Now It is on the verge of becoming PALESTINE OF SOUTH ASIA .
Since 1947 Kashmir Conflict has been one of the land dispute between 3 Nuclear Nation India Pakistan and China . India controls approximately 55% of the land area of the region and 70% of its population, Pakistan controls approximately 30% of the land, while China controls the remaining 15%.
73 yrs , 4 wars , Ethnic cleansing of thousands of Kashmiri Pandit and the displacement of another half million ,thousands of people of all religion and region getting killed from insurgency, Pakistan sponsored terrorism and cross border fire but the dispute is far from over. But yes, the dream of making Kashmir SWITZERLAND OF EAST is definitely over .The Dream of keeping it as a HEAVEN OF EARTH is also over . Now this is just a piece of land Where 3 Nuclear Nations are fighting for Control without caring much about its people , which makes the current scenario of Kashmir not much better then Palestine , Where large number of casualties of innocent people is very common , Where Human Rights of people is lesser then even Chicken . That is Why it is now Unofficially becoming PALESTINE OF SOUTH ASIA .
But before We understand the current scenario we have go back to the History of the Conflict .
History of Kashmir Conflict
The beginning : India and Pakistan
In 1947 ,Kashmir was a Muslim - majority princely State , ruled by a Hindu king , Maharaja Hari Singh . At the time of Partition of India , Maharaja Hari Singh , the ruler of Kashmir , preferred to remain independent and did not want to join either the Union of India or the Dominion of Pakistan . as I already told you ,he wanted both India and Pakistan to recognise his princely state as an independent neutral country like Switzerland . He wanted to make his state the Switzerland of East since the population of the state depended on tourism and person from all regions could come to an independent Jammu and Kashmir with ease . For this reason , he offered a standstill agreement for maintaining status quo to both India and Pakistan. India refused the offer but Pakistan accepted initially but later made various efforts to persuade the Maharaja of Kashmir to join Pakistan. In July 1947, Mohammad Ali Jinnah is believed to have written to the Maharaja promising "every sort of favourable treatment".
Faced with the Maharaja's indecision on accession, the Muslim League agents in Pakistan clandestinely worked in Poonch to encourage the local Muslims to an armed revolt, exploiting an internal unrest regarding already going on Hindu Muslim riot and economic grievances. Backed by Pakistani Paramilitary forces , PashtunMehsud tribals invaded Kashmir in October 1947 under the code name Operation Gulmarg to seize Kashmir. They reached and captured Baramulla on Oct 25 1947 . Kashmir Security forces were too weak and ill equipped to fight against Pakistan . Troubled by Invasion and finding no other way to protect his kingdom Finally Maharaja Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession to the Union of India and request India to send its troops .The Maharaja signed an instrument of accession on 26 October 1947, which was accepted by the Governor General the next day.National Conference,
the largest political party in the State and headed by Sheikh Abdullah,
endorsed the accession. In the words of the National Conference leader Syed Mir Qasim,
India had the "legal" as well as "moral" justification to send in the
army through the Maharaja's accession and the people's support of it.
By the time Pakistani Raiders were close to Capital , Srinagar. The Indian troops, which were airlifted in the early hours of 27
October, secured the Srinagar airport before proceeding to evict the invaders from Kashmir valley . The Indian Troops managed to to evict aggressors from parts of Kashmir but onset of winter made much of state impassable . After months of intense fighting between Pakistan and India , Pakistani Leader and the Indian PM Nehru declared a ceasefire and Sought U.N arbitration with the promise of plebiscite.While Indian Home Minister Sardar patel had argued against both, describing Kashmir as a bilateral dispute and its accession justified by International law .
However ,The UNCIP made three visits to the subcontinent between 1948 and 1949,
trying to find a solution agreeable to both India and Pakistan.It reported to the Security Council in August 1948 that "the presence
of troops of Pakistan" inside Kashmir represented a "material change" in
the situation. A two-part process was proposed for the withdrawal of
forces. In the first part, Pakistan was to withdraw its forces as well
as other Pakistani nationals from the state. In the second part, "when
the Commission shall have notified the Government of India" that
Pakistani withdrawal has been completed, India was to withdraw the bulk
of its forces. After both the withdrawals were completed, a plebiscite
would be held. The resolution was accepted by India but effectively rejected by Pakistan.
Dixon Plan
Sir Owen Dixon of UNCIP offered an alternative proposal, widely known as the Dixon
plan. Dixon did not view the state of Jammu and Kashmir as one
homogeneous unit and therefore proposed that a plebiscite limited to
the Valley. Dixon agreed that people in Jammu and Ladakh were clearly in
favour of India; equally clearly, those in Azad Kashmir and the
Northern Areas wanted to be part of Pakistan. This left the Kashmir
Valley and 'perhaps some adjacent country around Muzaffarabad in
uncertain political terrain.Pakistan did not accept this plan because it believed that India's
commitment to a plebiscite for the whole state should not be abandoned.Moreover In !957 ,North-western Kashmir was fully integrated into Pakistan .
Aksai Chin : India ,China and 1962 War
At one side India and Pakistan were struggling with each other to take full control of Kashmir and fighting it out by both war and Diplomacy and at the other side another part of Kashmir was Struggling between India and China .
On April 1 1950, India became 16th state to establish diplomatic relation with People's Republic of China . India PM Nehru has also given slogan of Hindi chini bhai bhai (Indian Chinese are brothers ) .But these things failed to build trust between India and China .
In 1954 Indian reconnaissance party discovered a completed chinese road running through the Aksai Chin , which India considered its own on the basis of McMohan LIne . But China rejected McMohan Line .
Boarder clashes become frequent in this area and later get converted in war between India and China on October 20, 1962.The PRC pushed the unprepared and inadequately led Indian forces and capture strategic point in Ladakh . Later PRC declared a unilateral cease fire on 21 november and withdrew its forces behind its contended line of control .
The area ASKAI CHIN is still in control of CHINA as of today and one of the boarder dispute between India and China .Another smaller area, the Trans-Karakoram, was demarcated as the Line of Control
(LOC) between China and Pakistan, although some of the territory on the
Chinese side is claimed by India to be part of Kashmir. The line that
separates India from China in this region is known as the "Line of Actual Control".
1965 India Pakistan War and Tashkent Agreement
The 1965 war started when Pakistan launched a guerilla warfare code name Operation Gibraltar , which was designed to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against rule by India. However, the 'Operation Gibraltar' ended in failure as the Kashmiris did
not revolt. Instead, they turned in infiltrators to the Indian
authorities in substantial numbers, and the Indian Army ended up
fighting the Pakistani Army regulars. Pakistan claimed that the captured
men were Kashmiri 'freedom fighters', a claim contradicted by the
international media.
On 1 September, Pakistan launched an attack across the Cease Fire Line, targeting Akhnoor in an effort to cut Indian communications into Kashmir. In response, India broadened the war by launching an attack on Pakistani Punjab across the international border. The war lasted until 23 September, ending in a stalemate. Following the Tashkent Agreement, both the sides withdrew to their pre-conflict positions, and agreed not to interfere in each other's internal affairs.
1971 Indian Pakistan War and Impact on Kashmir Issue
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 led to a loss for Pakistan and a military surrender in East Pakistan. Bangladesh was created as a separate state with India's support and India emerged as a clear regional power in South Asia.
A bilateral summit was held at Simla as a follow-up to the war, where India pushed for peace in South Asia. At stake were 5,139 square miles of Pakistan's territory captured by India during the conflict, and over 90,000 prisoners of war held in Bangladesh. India was ready to return them in exchange for a "durable solution" to the Kashmir issue.
Accordingly, the Simla Agreement was formulated and signed by the two countries, whereby the countries resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations and to maintain the sanctity of the Line of Control. Multilateral negotiations were not ruled out, but they were conditional upon both sides agreeing to them. To India, this meant an end to the UN or other multilateral negotiations. However Pakistan reinterpreted the wording in the light of a reference to the "UN charter" in the agreement, and maintained that it could still approach the UN. The United States, United Kingdom and most Western governments agree with India's interpretation.
The Simla Agreement also stated that the two sides would meet again for establishing durable peace. Reportedly Bhutto asked for time to prepare the people of Pakistan and the National Assembly for a final settlement. Indian commentators state that he reneged on the promise. Bhutto told the National Assembly on 14 July that he forged an equal agreement from an unequal beginning and that he did not compromise on the right of self-determination for Jammu and Kashmir. The envisioned meeting never occurred.
Exodus of Kashmiri Hindu
Under the 1975 accord, Sheikh Abdullah agreed to measures previously undertaken by the central government in Jammu and Kashmir to integrate the state into India.
Sociologist Farrukh Faheem states that it was met with hostility among
people of Kashmir and laid the groundwork for the future insurgency. Those opposed to it included Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir and People's League in Indian Jammu and Kashmir, and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) based in Azad Kashmir. Since the mid-1970s, communalist rhetoric was being exploited in the state for votebank
politics. Islamization of Kashmir began during 1980's when Abdullah
Government changed the names of about 2500 villages from their native
names to new Islamic names. The Sheikh also started delivering communal
speeches in mosques similar to his speeches in 1930's.
Additionally, he
referred Kashmiri Pandits as “mukhbir” or informers of the Indian government.The Islamists had organised under a banner named Muslim United Front, with manifesto to work for Islamic unity and against political interference from the centre, and contested the 1987 state elections, in which they lost again. However, the 1987 elections were widely believed to be rigged so as to bring the secular parties (NC and INC) in Kashmir at the forefront, and this caused the insurgency in Kashmir.
The Kashmiri militants killed anyone who openly expressed pro-India
policies. Kashmiri Pandits were targeted specifically because they were
seen as presenting Indian presence in Kashmir because of their faith.
In July 1988, the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) began a separatist insurgency for independence of Kashmir from India.
The group targeted a Kashmiri Hindu for the first time on 14 September
1989, when they killed Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, an advocate and a
prominent leader of Bharatiya Janata Party
in Jammu & Kashmir in front of several eyewitnesses. This instilled
fear in the Kashmiri Pandit community especially as Taploo's killers
were never caught which also emboldened the terrorists. The Pandits felt
that they weren't safe in the valley and could be targeted any time.
The killings of Kashmiri Hindus continued that included many of the
prominent ones. On 4 January 1990, a local Urdu newspaper, Aftab, published a press release issued by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, asking all Pandits to leave the Valley immediately. Another local paper, Al Safa,
repeated this expulsion order. Explosive and inflammatory speeches were
broadcast from the public address systems of the mosques frequently.
The sense of vulnerabity and insecurity was exacerbated by attacks on
prominent Hindu politicians, postings of hit lists with names of
specific Hindu individuals and various violent episodes in Srinagar and
other places.
The Hindus of the Kashmir Valley, were forced to flee the Kashmir valley as a result of being targeted by JKLF and Islamist insurgents during late 1989 and early 1990. Of the approximately 300,000 to 600,000 Hindus living in the Kashmir Valley in 1990 only 2,000–3,000 remain there in 2019.
This was One of the darkest chapter in the History of Kashmir ,India and Humanity . This was rarest of the rare moment in the history of human civilization where people of their country were living like refugees in their own country .This is also a dark spot on the So called Secularism and Largest democratic status of India.
Kargil War
During the winter season, Indian forces regularly move down to lower
altitudes, as severe climatic conditions makes it almost impossible for
them to guard the high peaks near the Line of Control. This practice is
followed by both India and Pakistan Army. The terrain makes it difficult
for both sides to maintain a strict border control over Line of
Control. The insurgents and Pakistani army took advantage of this and occupied vacant
mountain peaks in the Kargil range overlooking the highway in Indian Kashmir that connects Srinagar and Leh. By blocking the highway, they could cut off the only link between the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh.
This resulted in a large-scale conflict between the Indian and
Pakistani armies. The final stage involved major battles by Indian and
Pakistani forces resulting in India recapturing most of the territories held by Pakistani forces.
Fears of the Kargil War turning into a nuclear war provoked the then-United States President Bill Clinton to pressure Pakistan to retreat. The Pakistan Army withdrew their
remaining troops from the area, ending the conflict.You can read here Role of America in Kargil war
India regained control of the Kargil peaks and it was 4th time India defeated Pakistan in a war . But Pakistan Never learnt from the Past and keep repeating the Mistakes
Abrogation of 370 and 35 A
Article 370 of the Indian constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir—allowing it to have a separate constitution, a state flag and autonomy over the internal administration of the state.On 5 Aug 2019 the government of India revoked this special status in August 2019 through a Presidential Order and the passage of a resolution in Parliament. This is one of the attempt of Indian Government to fully Integrate Jammu Kashmir in India and promote Equality among gender and Religion .But due this action Kashmir has to be locked down completely. Which is very common here .People here spend more time in Curfew then Normal.
No comments:
Post a Comment