Reema Shaukat
OCTOBER 27 is regarded as the darkest day in the history of Indo-Pak relations. It is the day
when Kashmir conflict was born. Every year this day is observed as Black Day to mark the Indian invasion of the region in 1947.The day is observed as black day by the people of Kashmir throughout the world every year to register their protest over the continued unlawful and forcible occupation of Kashmir by Indian forces. History has witnessed many freedom movements world over. The struggles sooner or later succeeded with varying price tag ranging from a few hundred to some thousands of lives. Unfortunately, there is a freedom movement which is on for the past seventy years and is still awaiting its success. This movement has legal backing of no less than UN and Security Council’s repeated resolutions. The Movement is termed as Kashmir Freedom Movement.
Going a little back in history will help the readers to understand the Kashmir quagmire. During the partition of the subcontinent, the people of Muslim majority State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) decided to join Pakistan according to the Partition Plan. But, Dogra Raja, Sir Hari Singh, the then Hindu ruler of J&K, in connivance with the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Governor General Lord Mountbatten joined India. The real design to forcibly gain Kashmir began to unfold on 16 August 1947, with the announcement of the Red Cliff Boundary Award. It gave the Gurdaspur district, a majority Muslim area, to India to provide a land route to the Indian armed forces to move into Kashmir. This led to a rebellion by State forces, which stood against the Maharaja and were joined by Pathan tribesmen. History says that on the request of the last Maharaja ruler of Kashmir who was already facing internal resentment against his monocratic rule, India sent armed troops, who landed in Kashmir on 27 October. While the Indian officials claimed that they had signed an instrument of accession with the Maharaja before sending troops. However Kashmiri leaders rejected Indian claims and that Maharaja had never signed any permanent accession with India and as such India had and has no right to decide the future of the Kashmiri people. Hence October 27 is regarded as the indicator of India’s forcible rule in Kashmir.
When Pakistan responded militarily against the Indian aggression, on 31 December 1947, India made an appeal to the UN Security Council to intervene and a ceasefire ultimately came into effect on 01 January 1949, following UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir. On 5 February 1964, India backed out of its promise of holding the plebiscite. Instead, in March 1955, the Indian Parliament passed a Bill, declaring Kashmir, an integral part of the Indian union. The bloody tragedy of poor Kashmiris had started after 1947 when they were denied their legitimate and UN approved right of self-determination. As a natural outcome of Indian injustice, people of the IoK organized themselves and launched a war of liberation which India tried to crush through coercion and with brutal force. Later in 1988, India positioned a very large number of Armed Forces to suppress Kashmir struggle on gun point. Indian step of positioning military personnel led to the armed insurgency eruption and made Kashmir one of the most militarized region in the world. This region has become volatile in the past seven decades where Indian armed forces under the cover of the Armed Forces Special Protection Act (AFSPA) and other black laws to frequently engage in religious cleansing of Muslims. With advent of Indian occupation forces the ethnic cleansing campaign against the Kashmiri people has intensified manifolds. So far, more than 100,000 killings, forced disappearances, hundreds in Indian jails, number of unmarked graveyards and thousands have lost eye sight because of pellet guns shot by Indian occupation forces. The number is growing logarithmically as Indians are using increasingly brutal methods to suppress the people of IoK and their legal struggle for freedom. The phenomenon of religious persecution against the Muslims of IoK is also not new like rest of India.
Kashmir saga does not end here. India on 5 August 2019 abolished special status given to State of Jammu & Kashmir through Articles 370 and 35-A of its Constitution. The day it abrogated these Articles, it imposed curfew with already heavily deployed paramilitary troops in occupied Kashmir and till today Kashmiris are fighting for their just struggle of right of self-determination under unbearable circumstances. It’s going to be three months of lockdown in Kashmir by the end of this month where harsh weather, scarcity of food, medicines, communications cut off, abuses and tortures could not let down their resilience and will to struggle till the last breath until they achieve peace and freedom at their piece of land.
It is important to note that worst humanitarian crisis have emerged in IoK and despite highlighting on international forums by Pakistan and other organizations, India is trying to suppress freedom movement by arms and ammunitions. Amnesty International in one of its previous report mentioned that “Impunity is a long-standing problem in Jammu and Kashmir. The lack of political will to account for past and present actions of the security forces, including the state police, is fortified by legislation and aggravated by other obstacles to justice, especially for those who lack financial resources or education. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act, security forces personnel have the powers to shoot suspected people.” A peaceful, negotiated settlement of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions ranks top on Pakistan’s foreign policy agenda. In order to find an early and just solution to the decades old Kashmir dispute, Pakistan has always urged the international community to play an active role. Pakistan will continue extending its full political, diplomatic and moral support to legitimate Kashmir struggle.
— The writer works for Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, a think-tank based in Islamabad.
