Gun
culture and politics of intimidation must end in Kashmir
Speech of Dr Shabir
Choudhry in the UKPNP Convention held in London
Mr
Chairman, friends and colleagues aslamo alaikam
Let me start by
expressing my unhappiness that many PNP speakers before me repeatedly addressed
to Shaukat Kashmiri as a ‘former Chairman’ or ‘X Chairman’; it was sufficient
to make that point once to explain the legal position. However, when each
speaker repeat this more than once during his short speech then it becomes
troublesome. No matter how you and few others regard Shaukat Kashmiri, in my
view and view of Abbas But, Shaukat Kashmiri was Chairman yesterday, he is
Chairman today and he will be Chairman in future. You people need to understand
that Shaukat Kashmiri does not need UKPNP; but UKPNP needs leadership and
guidance of Shaukat Kashmiri. I have no doubt that Shaukat Kashmiri and the new
leadership elected today will be able to control the situation soon and promote
the cause of united and independent Jammu and Kashmir.
Before focussing my
attention on the topic of today’s function, I want to thank Ali Adalat for his
kind words about my struggle and literary work. Ali Adalat is an old colleague-
a man with versatile qualities. He is an author, a researcher and dedicated
political and social analyst. He has done great work to promote local language
which he calls A ‘Pahari’ and I call it Punjabi. Also he has done tremendous
work on the issue of Kashmiri identity in Britain and Europe and I wish him all
the best for his future projects.
Mr
Chairman
Some speakers have
spoken on various aspects of history of Jammu and Kashmir; and I will try not
to repeat anything that has been said before me. I will focus my attention on
the contemporary history, especially which deals with the events leading to
forced division of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Friends, we need to be
careful when we use certain words and phrases, as these are formulated by those
who occupy us and they give totally different meaning to historical facts. For
example, they say, Kashmir is unfinished agenda of the Partition of India;
because of Two Nations Theory, Kashmir should be part of Pakistan; Azad Kashmir
and Occupied Kashmir, Base Camp, Black Day on 15 August and 27th Oct
etc.
Let us look at these
events in light of facts. True, the British India was divided in line with the
Two Nations Theory, but it must be emphasised that this Theory was only
applicable to the British India which was directly ruled by the British; and it
was not applicable to the Princely States, including State of Jammu and
Kashmir.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah
founder of Pakistan not only acknowledged this fact, but practically
demonstrated that the Two Nations Theory did not apply to the Princely States.
On two different occasions he stated that Kashmir had right to join India, join
Pakistan or remain independent. If the Two Nations Theory was applicable to the
Princely States then it should have automatically become part of Pakistan; and
there was no need for Mr Jinnah to say about other options available to Jammu
and Kashmir.
Similarly when Ruler of
Junagarr expressed his desire to join Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah accepted
that accession, even though this State had nearly 80% non -Muslim majority; and
under rules of the Two Nations Theory this state should have automatically
become part of India. Also Mohammed Ali Jinnah supported State of Hyderabad’s
right to become independent, even though that State also had more than 80% non
- Muslim majority.
This clearly shows that
the Two Nations Theory was not applicable to the Princely States, and all those
who say Kashmir dispute is unfinished agenda of the Partition of India, try to
make Kashmir a religious dispute and annex it by fooling people in name of
religion. It must be remembered that State of Jammu and Kashmir is multi ethnic
and multi religious state; and there is no danger to Islam there.
Pakistan came in to
being on 14 August 1947, and when the British Raj ended on 15 August, India
also became independent. However, people forget one fact that all those
Princely States which did not join either India or Pakistan also became
independent. That means Jammu and Kashmir also became independent on 15 August
1947; and when people of Jammu and Kashmir hold Black Day on 15th
August, in reality, they hold a Black Day against their own independence.
Furthermore, if these
people are true nationalists then they should hold Black Day on 14th
August as well, because to us both countries are occupiers; and when we only
observe Black Day against India, it shows that it is done on behest of Pakistan
or to please them- which is known as proxy politics.
People need to know
that government of Pakistan signed a Standstill Agreement with the Ruler of
Jammu and Kashmir. When the Pakistani government realised that the Maharajah
wanted to remain independent and had no desire to join Pakistan, they violated
the Standstill Agreement and on 22 October 1947 launched a tribal attack to
capture Kashmir.
The tribesmen butchered
innocent Kashmiri people, looted their houses, kidnapped and raped girls and
women and burnt houses and shops. The forces of Kashmir were unable to check
this brutal attack, so in order to save his throne and people of Jammu and
Kashmir the Maharaja asked India for help, which was only provided after he
signed the ‘Provisional accession’.
Furthermore, people
need to differentiate between the two events – entry of the Pakistani troops
and the entry of the Indian troops. Pakistani troops entered the State
territory illegally against the wish of the Ruler and by violating the
Standstill Agreement; and the Indian troops entered Kashmir on request of the
Ruler and under a treaty. Of course one could criticise the subsequent role of
the Indian army.
However, we should
observe 22 October as a Black Day, because it was on this day we were attacked;
and what happened on 26/ 27 of October 1947 was the by-product of events of 22
October 1947. In other words, if there was no Pakistani sponsored attack on
Kashmir, there would have been no accession and then we could have been
independent. What that means is, our present miseries and forced division is
directly related to that tribal attack, so we should rightly observe 22 October
as a Black Day.
We are urged to call
areas under Pakistan as Azad Kashmir and areas under India as occupied and
disputed. Whereas, fact is that the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir is
disputed; and no part of the State is azad or independent. Apart from that we
are repeatedly told that this area known as Azad Kashmir is a base camp to
liberate the Kashmir under India.
Again meaning of this
term, ‘base camp’, is that areas under Pakistan are azad – free; and only areas
under India are occupied; and this ‘base camp’ should be used to wage a war to
liberate the remaining areas of Jammu and Kashmir. It is because of this false
notion that people of this region are fooled to forget about their own miseries
and let Pakistan use this area as a launching pad to continue militancy in
areas of Jammu and Kashmir under India. The result of this policy is that we
people of Jammu and Kashmir are forcibly divided and suffer on both sides of
the divide.
It must be pointed that
because of the wrong history which we have been taught for many decades by our
occupiers, many people still regard the tribesmen who attacked us in October
1947 as Mujahideen. What these savage warriors did was a shameful act. They
attacked our country, looted our houses and shops, burnt houses and religious
places, killed innocent people, raped our women and girls and kidnapped them
and sold them in cities of Pakistan. These people were terrorists and
criminals. To call them Mujahideen is insult to name of Mujahideen.
So we need to be
careful what we call those who attacked our country; and those local people who
helped foreign warriors to invade our country and killed and raped our innocent
citizens. To me the local people who collaborated with the tribal invaders were
traitors of Jammu and Kashmir. It is sad that those who occupied us presented
them as leaders and freedom fighters.
I agree because of
militancy tens of thousands of people of Jammu and Kashmir have lost their
lives, women raped and many are still uncounted for; and the suffering
continues. However, sad thing is that despite all the suffering, destruction
and loss of human life we are not even considered as a party to resolution of
the Kashmir dispute. Because of our wrong policy, we are only there to suffer;
and India and Pakistan negotiate on Kashmir dispute and discuss what is good
for people of this former Princely State.
Pakistani governments
continue to fool us that a solution will be found in accordance with the UN
Resolutions on Kashmir; fact, however, is that all the talks between India and
Pakistan since 1972 are held in accordance with the Simla agreement. It is
clear that the UN Resolutions give right to people of Jammu and Kashmir to
decide whether they want to join Pakistan or India; the Simla Agreement has
taken away that right from the people and made the Kashmir dispute a bilateral
issue which has to be resolved by the two governments.
First, on request of
Pakistan, our right to independence was restricted in the UN Resolutions, then
our right to decide was taken away; which means we cannot decide our future and
we cannot become Kashmiris. We are Kashmiris and like to remain Kashmiris; but
governments of India and Pakistan are not prepared to give us that right; now
whether we will become Pakistanis or Indians even that will be decided by officials
of India and Pakistan.
I hear people demand
withdrawal of troops of both India and Pakistan. May be these people are
sincere. However, question is under what mechanism these troops should be
withdrawn. Available and agreed mechanism was in the UN Resolution of 13 August
1948; which clearly stated that Pakistan should withdraw all the troops from
the territory of Jammu and Kashmir; and India should withdraw ‘bulk’ of the
troops. We know Pakistan refused to vacate the areas of Jammu and Kashmir under
their occupation, hence no progress on withdrawal or on the plebiscite.
I can’t envisage a
situation where both India and Pakistan will agree to any mechanism to withdraw
troops from the Jammu and Kashmir, if anything, both are entrenching their
positions because of suspicions against each other and other security related
issues.
In this regard, I
suggest that all kinds of violence must stop to end culture of fear and
intimidation. Like UKPNP, our party Kashmir National Party also believes in
peaceful struggle and strongly oppose use of gun, because gun has only created
problems for us. Both countries should continue with confidence building
measure, and create friendly and peaceful environment in which people of Jammu
and Kashmir could also be part of the dialogue to decide future of Jammu and
Kashmir.
Mr Chairman, thank you
for your patience.
