S Rahman
NOWADAYS, all and sundry, are asking: “Why Kashmiris and the supporters of their genuine cause, observe October 27 as Kashmir Black Day”? As a matter of fact, the world is now getting more and more concerned over the alarming situation prevailing in South Asia where peace has gone fragile, given the nuclearized status of the two belligerent states, Pakistan and India, which have already fought four wars and a few skirmishes over the Kashmir issue.
Actually, the world got more alarmed after the unconstitutional repeal of Articles 370 and 35 A of the Indian Constitution which conferred special status on Kashmir in the light of UN Security Council resolutions on this subject. Observers having deep insight into India’s hegemonic designs in the region and its jingoistic handling of the Kashmir issue, opine that the repeal of these articles is tantamount to ‘consolidation of annexation’ of the Kashmir territory.
The first annexation, through military means, took place in October 1947 and the ‘final one’ took place, through treachery, on August 5, 2019. The international community’s concern is really appreciable but it is time that the world should be apprised of the actual background of forcible, illegal occupation of IIOJK (Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir) by Indian troops against the wishes of the local population. It happened on October 27, 1947, soon after the British colonial rulers of undivided India left the Indo-Pak sub-continent announcing the establishment of two independent countries namely Pakistan and India.
At that time, Jammu and Kashmir State was ruled by a Hindu Raja (or Maharaja) whereas the Muslim population was in majority and wanted to join Pakistan. For India and its ruling lot that professed Hindu religion, this Muslim-majority factor was intolerable. With this mentality and keeping in consideration the Muslim majority’s love for Pakistan, India started pressuring the Hindu ruler of Kashmir to accede to it (India).
Sensing the Raja-India networking and conspiracy to subjugate them, the people of Jammu and Kashmir rose against the Hindu Raja, forcing him to flee from Srinagar to Delhi. Immediately thereafter, the people of Kashmir formed their own government on 24th October, 1947 all over Kashmir. This further infuriated the imperialist Indian leadership that quickly stage-managed the signing of an illegal document known as the Instrument of Accession, between Indian government and the Maharaja of Kashmir, on October 26, 1947.
And, as it was already pre-planned, the Maharaja of Kashmir sought India’s military help against Muslims who had already announced their independence in accordance with “Indo-Pak Partition” paper which allowed the Kashmiris to decide their own fate. The next day i.e the day following the signing of the illegal accession document, the Government of India sent forces to subdue Kashmiris on October 27, 1947 which illegally occupied a large part of Jammu and Kashmir but failed to occupy whole Kashmir Valley as Kashmiri Muslims strongly fought with Indian forces.
At that time, India developed apprehensions that it might be defeated in the Valley, primarily because of resistance from the local populace. So, it hurriedly went to the United Nations, asking the UN Security Council to play its role to stop war. The then Indian Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, played a tricky game with all guile and cunningness. Nehru made timely, skillful use of his connections and like-mindedness with the then Governor General, Lord Mountbatten (Last Viceroy of British Raj/rule in the Indian subcontinent) to diffuse the situation that had gone out of his control.
At that juncture, Jawahar Lal Nehru and Lord Mountbatten solemnly declared that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir would be decided by the people of the State. This same declaration was reiterated by India at the UN Security Council when the dispute was referred to UN under chapter 6 of the U.N Charter relating to peaceful settlement of disputes. Since then, Kashmir issue remains unresolved although 17 resolutions were adopted by UN Security Council and by other components of the United Nations over the Kashmir issue, from 1948 till 1971, starting from Resolution number 38 and ending up at Resolution number 307 that was adopted by the Security Council at its 1616th meeting held on 21 December 1971.
As gathered from the UN resolutions, the Security Council, explicitly and by implications, rejected India’s claim that Kashmir was legally an Indian territory. These resolutions also established self-determination as the governing principle for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute and endorsed a binding agreement between India and Pakistan reached through the mediation of UNCIP, that a plebiscite would be held, under agreed and specified conditions.
The Security Council has also rejected the Indian contention that the people of Kashmir have exercised their right of self-determination by participating in the “election” (sham elections) which India, has from time to time, conducted in the Held Kashmir to install its puppet governments over there just to hoodwink the international community. The world community has, however, come to know the evil machinations of India which they are employing for years to subjugate the peace-loving people of Held Kashmir. Now, India’s years’ long hybrid or fifth-generation war also stands exposed which had been used to present lies as truth. It is now a globally known reality as to how 0.9 million Indian troops have besieged the Kashmir Valley for the last one plus year besides enforcing total blackout of communication.
Media of Kashmir also stands gagged. The Indian soldiers also enjoy the powers of judges. In practice, they go much beyond these ‘quasi-judicial’ powers to abduct the Kashmiri youth demanding plebiscite, detain them for years and even kill them, thereafter. Mass graves are a clear-cut evidence of these brutalities. Indian army personnel also use rape as a tool of oppression and subjugation, as reported, time and again, in international media. It is widely known that the innocent people of IIOJK have been subjected to unbearably atrocious conduct of the Indian authorities in sheer disregard for their own ‘pride’ that they take in being the torchbearers of democracy and civilization.
