TO meet the long-standing demand of the Indian Muslims and the Hindus led by Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mr. Ghandi/Mr. Nehru respectively, for the independence of India as per their wishes, on 14 August 1947, under its parliamentary Indian Independence Bill/Act passed on 18 July 1947, the British Parliament/Government gave independence to India, by dividing that into two independent dominions, to be called Pakistan and India. Pakistan constituted the Muslim majority areas of India, comprising West Punjab, Sindh, NWFP (now KP), Balochistan and East Bengal.
The Indian Independence Act also provided for the termination of the suzerainty of the crown over 563 princely states of India (Jammu & Kashmir was also a princely state), on 15 August, 1947. The princely states were provided with the choice of joining either Pakistan or India on the basis of their geographical contiguity with Pakistan or India and their people’s choice.
Accordingly, while 560 princely states had joined Pakistan and India, without any dispute, India also illegally occupied Hyderabad and Junagadh states, by use of politics and force, whose rulers/the people wanted to join Pakistan. In case of the Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) princely state, when its Hindu ruler Raja Hari Singh was still adamant in making the accession decision, the state’s Muslim majority population, asking for acceding the state, to Pakistan, protested/started their freedom struggle, supported by the tribal people.
At that time, India pressured Hari Singh for acceding the state to it and surprisingly landed its army troops at Srinagar airport on 27 October 1947 and started occupying the state in violation of the principles of the partition. India’s that aggression compelled Pakistan, (being a party to the dispute, as per the Partition of India Act) to also move its military troops in the state to stop India’s illegal occupation. Hence, in October 1947, the war broke out between the two countries.
India took the matter to the UNSC, which in January 1948 decided through its Resolution 47, asking both India and Pakistan to have a cease-fire and that the question of the accession of J&K state would be decided through a UNSC-supervised free and impartial plebiscite to determine whether the people wanted to join Pakistan or India.
Both the countries agreed to Resolution 47 of January 1948 of the UNSC and the subsequent resolutions regarding holding the plebiscite, the cease fire took place and the IIOJ&K remained under the Indian control and the rest of the area of the J&K state remained under Pakistan. Both the countries gave self rule to the J&K area/people under their respective control, till the plebiscite was held. Pakistan named its part, as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K). India named J&K State’s part under its control as J&K state. Its people are unhappy and keep protesting the India manipulated farcical/puppet elected state governments and they keep asking for joining the state with Pakistan.
The dividing line between the deployed troops of Pakistan and India was termed as the Cease Fire line (CFL), now Line of Control (LoC).And, the UNSC constituted a UN Military Observers Group for, India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to oversee/report cease-fire violations across the CFL/LoC. The group is still in Pakistan and India and doing its duty, although since 1972, India has stopped UNMOGIP, at Srinagar from visiting the LoC.
Since then, India has brought the puppet state governments/leaders to power through repeatedly rigged elections. India has also failed all UNSC efforts to hold a plebiscite in the state. Over J&K tensions, 1965 and 1999 wars have already been fought. India also never discussed the J&K dispute during bilateral talks, as agreed in the bilateral agreements/declarations of 1972 and 1999.
Ultimately, in 1989, the people of IIOJ&K had started their indigenous freedom struggle under the banner of the Hurriayat leadership to get their right to self-determination, promised by the UNSC. To counter the freedom struggle, India has used above 700,000 security forces brutally, committing numerous horrible killings and HR violations.
And, Modi-led Indian government’s belligerence at IIOJ&K on 5 August 2019, of dividing the state into two union territories through an illegal parliamentary resolution/act, in total violation to the UNSC resolutions, was an extreme/cruel act of usurping the right to self-determination of the people of J&K and to permanently absorb the IIOJ&K into it. Hence, the freedom struggle in IIOJ&K continues.
Therefore, to rule out the possibility of the world leaders ultimately reconciling with India’s 5 August 2019’s position on IIOJ&K, Pakistan needs to keep India’s this power play active, in the international media and at international diplomatic forums. As per the UN rules/regulations, no national/parliamentary resolution of any country can supersede or cancel the UNSC resolutions on a dispute between two countries or more, which are binding on them to implement.
Pakistan should intensify its diplomacy to convince the UNSC permanent member countries, major powers and friendly states to ask India to reverse its 5 August 2019 actions on IIOJ&K, to rule out another military confrontation between the two nuclear powers. And, that the UNSC should also ask India to stop settling Indian Hindus in IIOJ&K that disturbs the Muslim majority status of the IIOJ&K.
To keep the issue internationally alive, Pakistan should also highlight the ongoing role of the UNMOGIP which is monitoring/reporting the LoC violations. Also, Pakistan should not resume trade and any kind of intimate relations with India, till it reverses its 5 August actions on IIOJ&K.
Also, informing the UNSC of now no hope of J&K dispute’s bilateral solution, it should request the UNSC at an opportune time and try to fetch a binding resolution, asking India to reverse its 5 August 2019’s illegal actions and cooperate with the UNSC in holding the plebiscite in the J&K state. Perhaps, now is the correct time as per the international situation.
—The writer is also a former Research Fellow of IPRI and Senior Research Fellow of SVI Islamabad.
Email: [email protected]
