Kashmir is not liberated and Pakistan is in a mess, Dr Shabir Choudhry

Kashmir is not liberated and Pakistan is in a mess
Dr Shabir Choudhry 3 July 2011

After publication of my article, ‘Pakistani nukes and the UN’ I got a lot of emails; and as usual some in praise and some very critical. Muhammad Jived Equal wrote:

‘Dr Shabir Choudhry is His Master's Voice as he is a paid employee of Indian government. It is the same callous and ruthless government which is using rape as a weapon of repression in the largely Muslim territory. State terrorism is widespread in Indian occupied Kashmir. But being a true b_st_rd he does not have guts to speak up against atrocities of Indian regime and only barks at Pakistan at the behest of his Indian Masters. Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is in safe hands. Pakistani nation has cherished it at great cost considering the expansionist and hegemonic designs of India. Not only Pakistan, but Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are weary of India's high handed policies. Our atom bomb is the guarantee of our sovereignty and every honourable nation defends it sovereignty at ALL costs.’
Javed Iqbal Kaleem javediqbalkaleem@yahoo.com

Motivated by this propaganda of Javed Iqbal, Mohammed Sheikh also wrote against me, but after receiving my following reply, Mohammed Sheikh expressed his regret and that shows he belongs to a decent family. My reply was:

Dear Muhammad Javed Iqbal and Mohamed Sheikh Aslamo alaykam. As a practising Muslim I start with name of Allah and by giving salaam to others, this is despite your baseless allegations.

Allah’s curse be on those who tell lies and make baseless allegations against other Muslims. Muhammad Javed Iqbal, you have made very serious allegations against me. Can you prove them, if you have some evidence then present that on this forum. If you don’t have any evidence then apologise on this forum, otherwise on the Day of Judgement it will be my hand and your grebaan; and no one will be able to help you on that day.

You have also used very abusive language against me. My upbringing does not allow me to use the same words for you. You have shown who you are; and I am not in competition with you in use of vulgar and abusive language. Both of you also accused me of being ‘Hindu lover’. Can you produce one sentence from my article which shows my love for Hindus? Unlike you (I say this because if you were a practising Muslim you would not have come with that vulgar language and abuses) I am a practising Muslim and to associate wrongs with another Muslim is a big sin. Allah’s Prophet loved all human beings, preached love and care. He did not preach hatred.

You seem to belong to that class of people who support every wrong policy of your rulers. Those who criticised Pakistani rulers for wrong policies in 1960s and at the time of East Pakistan crises were called Indian agents and traitors. Result of wrong policy was humiliating defeat, surrender of 92000 soldiers, loss of East Pakistan, death of nearly 3 million innocent people, rapes of 300,000 women (these figures vary from a writer to writer).

But people of your class did not learn anything, as you people like to hide all your evil things under carpet, but carpet can only hide so much. It is in your political culture and upbringing that you call each other traitor and agent of another country. Find me one politician, ruler or army general in Pakistan who has not got a tag against his name. You people call your own president, your Commander in Chief and your own Prime Minister of being traitors and puppets of other countries.

In my article I have criticised wrong policies of Pakistani agencies and army. Now on Pakistani channels much stronger criticism is made against them; and majority of Pakistanis disagree with what goes on there – are they all agents? Every sincere person will point wrong of the society that situation could be improved; but every boot licker, day wager and hypocrite will support the ruling elite because this is where his interest lies.

By grace of Allah Almighty I am not a hypocrite, I am not a boot licker and I am not a day wager. I am doing a jihad by speaking truth and urging those responsible for policy making to change their wrong policies and wake up to challenges that face them. Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) said: "Say what is true, although it may be bitter and displeasing to people." You continue with your policy of boot licking, and I will carry on with my jihad of exposing culprits.

Another reader, Mr Kalim Rahman wrote: ‘Thanks to Dr. Shabir for the very mature and balanced response. May Allah give Light to the Muslim world in general and Pakistan in particular? I also pray for this to extend to the whole of humanity’.

Mr Javed Iqbal in response to Kalim Rahman wrote:
‘I often wonder as to why a deep love for independence and freedom the Muslim fraternity of occupied Kashmir could not win freedom from Indian slavery. Then I see the traitors and Indian agents like Dr. Shabir and Kalim Rahman and I realize that India has been able to foil the bid of freedom by people of Kashmir by buying conscience of sell outs like Dr. Shabir and Kalim Rahman. You want proof. The proof of a tree is in its fruit. Your fruit is slavery. You are responsible for continuation of a life worse than death in occupied Kashmir. One day Kashmiris will tear traitors like you apart and the day is inshaa Allah not too far!’
Javed Iqbal Kaleem javediqbalkaleem@yahoo.com

Why Kashmir dispute is not resolved and Pakistan is in a mess

Kashmir dispute is not resolved mainly because the Pakistani elite was corrupt, insincere, selfish and they never wanted to resolve the Kashmir dispute, as the Kashmir dispute gave them an excuse to manipulate and dominate politics of Pakistan. They wanted the Kashmir dispute to keep on boiling that they can keep a large army and oppress society in name of national security; and take lion’s share from Pakistani resources in name of defence. Let us briefly look at some facts and see who is responsible for the miseries of the Kashmiri people:

When the British left India and paramountcy lapsed, State of Jammu and Kashmir became independent. It had a Standstill Agreement with Pakistan; however, Pakistan violated that agreement and launched a tribal invasion to capture Kashmir on 22 October 1947. The Maharaja of Kashmir, realising that he has lost many parts of the State and could lose the Valley of Kashmir, asked India for help. India sent military help after securing a ‘Provisional accession’. We Kashmiris can say that all our problems started as a result of that foolish act of sending tribesmen who killed thousands of innocent Kashmiri people, looted and raped women.

Kashmir was registered with the UN Security Council as ‘Jammu and Kashmir problem’, meaning a problem to Jammu and Kashmir, but it was the Pakistani government which requested that the title of complaint should be changed to ‘India and Pakistan problem’. The Pakistani elite did not want the Kashmir dispute to be recognised as a problem of people of Jammu and Kashmir; rather they wanted to make it a territorial dispute, which could serve their interest.

United Security Council Commission for India and Pakistan in its Resolution passed on 13 August 1948 wrote: ‘The Government of India and the Government of Pakistan reaffirm their wish that the future status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir shall be determined in accordance with the will of the people….’ The phrase ‘future status’ implies accession to India, accession to Pakistan or an independent Kashmir. As the Pakistani elite had no interest in independence of Jammu and Kashmir they requested the Security Council to change that phrase and in the next UNCIP Resolution it was changed as follows:
‘The question of the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite’.

So after some hard work the Pakistani government succeeded in depriving people of Jammu of Kashmir of their legitimate right of independence and internationally recognised right of self determination. They made Kashmir a territorial dispute rather than inherent right of a nation to decide its future by using right of self determination. Remember, joining either India or Pakistan is not a right of self determination; it is a right of accession.

Although we disagree with some contents of the UN Resolution as they limit our right to independence, but the UN Resolutions could not be implemented mainly because Pakistani government did not vacate areas of Jammu and Kashmir as directed by the UN Security Council; India was asked to withdraw ‘bulk’ of forces after Pakistan had completed their withdrawal.

Kashmiris are in this mess because Pakistani government in 1947, in order to capture Kashmir sent tribal warrior in Kashmir in name of Jihad. They committed a blunder in 1965 – Operation Gibraltar which was carried out without proper preparation in the army as revealed by Air Marshal Asghar Khan, General Musa Khan and others; and without any consultation with the leadership of Jammu and Kashmir.

Kashmiris are in this mess because Pakistan, once again, they trained militants and sent to Kashmir in name of jihad; and as if that was not enough they got religious warriors from other countries and sent them to Kashmir in name of jihad and that changed fundamental character of the Kashmiri struggle.

Kashmiris are in this mess because people with vested interest - which include some Pakistanis, some Indians, and some Kashmiris from both sides of the divide, have made the Kashmiri struggle a business in which ordinary people suffer; but business of these people thrives on blood and suffering of the Kashmiri people.

Pakistani is in a mess because their elite agreed to a division of Jammu and Kashmir as early as in 1953. Pakistani elite managed riots over language and religion which resulted in deaths of innocent people and acrimonious relationship among different ethnic groups. People who had irrational and tunnel vision were allowed to have their way; and people who were tolerant and had a broader and democratic view about the society either decided to remain quiet or they were silenced.

This policy continued unchecked and the Pakistani elite played with sentiments of the people and future of Pakistan. Sane people who could have put things right remained quiet even when big blunders were committed - 1958 - military rule, 1965 - Operation Gibraltar, 1966 - Tashkent Agreement, 1969 - another military Rule, 1970 - denial of democratic rights, 1971 - Military operation against East Pakistan, another military rule 1977, hanging of elected Prime Minister, Kargil fiasco and followed by other blunders since 1998.

They also remained quiet when Pakistan lost East Pakistan and more than 90,000 army surrendered. They blamed everyone else but did not care to look at their own faults, negligence, inefficiency, unprofessional and undemocratic attitude and tunnel vision. Instead of learning anything from past blunders, it looked as if members of the Pakistani elite were in competition of making similar and bigger blunders; and that process has not stopped yet. Perhaps it requires a book of 1000 page to explain in detail all the blunders and their impact on Pakistan, Kashmir and the world.

Pakistan is in this mess not because of people like me but because of wrong policies of Pakistani rulers, especially Pakistani establishment; and because sane people were either intimidated to remain silent or they decided to remain quiet because people with little brains and little knowledge will call them anti Pakistan on unpatriotic.

Similarly, Kashmir dispute remains unresolved not because of people like me, but because of wrong policies of the Pakistani elite which curtailed our right of self determination in to a right of accession; and which made the Kashmir dispute a territorial dispute. Pakistani rulers signed the Tashkent Agreement and the Simla Agreement which absolutely made the Kashmir dispute a bilateral issue and terms of reference on international level is not the UN Resolutions but the Simla Agreement. It is because of this, the Kashmir dispute has not been discussed on floor of the UN Security Council since that date. Furthermore, the Pakistani elite made Kashmir an Islamic problem, whereas it was a political problem; and Islam was not in danger, as we have majority there.

Pakistan is in a mess because ‘jihadi Frankenstein’ which the Pakistani establishment created to advance their interest had become out of control; and has come to haunt them. So don’t blame others for blunders of your leaders; and blame others for passive attitude and criminal silence of the majority.
Writer is Head Diplomatic Committee of Kashmir National Party, political analyst and author of many books and booklets. Also he is Director Institute of Kashmir Affairs.Email:drshabirchoudhry@gmail.com
View my blog and web: www.drshabirchoudhry.blogspot.com www.k4kashmir.com