A letter to UN Security
Council written during his imprisonment By Sheikh Abdullah.
A leaf out of history.
In a detailed letter to the UN
Security Council written during his imprisonment, Sheikh Abdullah clearly
outlined the steps leading up to the coup d’état of 1953. I have incorporated
this letter into my article in the Journal of Race and Class and the Journal of
Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies (Forthcoming).
"To: The hon’ble Members
Security Council,
United Nations’ Organisation,
New york.
Yours Excellencies,
1. Fast developing
events indicate that the nine-year old Kashmir question is very likely to come
up for your consideration very soon, and in all probability you will give your
most earnest attention to it with a view to affect a final settlement of the
Dispute. Quite naturally, on such an important occasion I would have very much
liked to be able to personally present before your Excellencies some
outstanding aspects of the question and explain the urgent and immediate need
for a final settlement and early termination of the protracted agony of my
people. But that is not to be! your Excellencies are perhaps aware that I am
completing my third year of incarceration in a detention camp in the State
where I have been whisked off as a result of coup-d’etat of 9th Aug. 1953.
Accordingly, the only course available to me is to send out this letter and
pray for your Excellencies indulgence in the hope that facts stated here will
receive your Excellencies’ earnest consideration.
2. As a spear-head of people’s struggle against
autocracy and economic exploitation I led a powerful mass-movement in Kashmir
for over two decades. This movement which passed through various troubles and
travails had always ‘sovereignty of the people’ as its bed-rock. Many of our
comrades-in-arms laid their lives for this cherished goal and many others went
through great sufferings in the pursuit thereof. With the tragic partition of
the sub-continent of India, though the flames of communal orgy engulfed the
sub-continent, taking a heavy toll of human life, the State of Jammu and
Kashmir kept its head cool and considerably succeeded in maintaining communal
harmony in Kashmir. Unfortunately, however, the parti- tion of India did not
wholly spare Kashmir from its after effects and a tribal inva- sion on the
State from the North-West followed in 1947. Under the stress of this invasion
the then Maharaja of Kashmir appealed to India for armed intervention.
3. In order to make
military intervention from India legally possible the Maharaja had to sign an
instrument of Accession with India. This accession was, however, declared by
India only a provisional and the disposal of the State was finally to be made
in accordance with the free will of the people. On 27th Oct. 1947 Lord
Mountbatten the then Governor General of India wrote to Maharaja in reply to
his letter offering accession of the State with India that ‘… as soon as law
and order have been restored in Kashmir and its soil cleared of the invader,
the question of State’s accession should be settled by a reference to the
people’.
4. On 2nd Nov. 1947
Pt. Jawahirlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India in his broad- cast speech
declared ‘We are anxious not to finalize anything in a moment of crisis and
without the fullest opportunity to be given to the people of Kashmir to have
their say . . . The accession must be made by the people of that State . . . We
will not and cannot back out of it.’ (See appendix No. 2.).
5. On behalf of India
there are innumerable commitments made to the United Nations Organization as
well as to the people of Kashmir that the latter alone can decide their fate
through an impartial plebiscite. Thus, India came to Kashmir as the champion
and protector of our right of self-determination and under that slogan fought
back the invaders with our support.
6. On 13th Aug. 1948
and later on 5th Jan. 1949 the U.N. Commission on India and Pakistan passed two
historic resolutions incorporating the solemn agreements of the two countries
that accession shall be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite under
the aegis of U.N. organization. These international commitments to the people
of Kashmir are categorical and unambiguous.
7. In 1951 a
Constituent Assembly was convened in the Indian-occupied part of the State with
a view to give constitutional shape to the Govt. Pakistan, suspecting backdoor
decision on accession through this Constituent Assembly, took strong exception
in the Security Council to the convening of this Assembly and its competence to
decide the question of accession. Sir B. N. Rau, leader of the Indian
Delegation in the United Nations, in his speeches before the Security Council
delivered on 12th and 29th March 1951, made the object of the Assembly
abundantly clear and declared unequivocally that in reference to accession the
Constituent Assembly can take no decision and his Government will be bound by
her commitments made to the United Nations in this regard. The Security Council
on the basis of this international commitment registered its verdict on these
terms ‘… and any action that Assembly might attempt to take to deter- mine the
future shape and affiliation of the entire State, or any part thereof would not
constitute a disposition of the State in accordance with the above principle’.
(Resolution of Security Council of March 1951). ‘Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru while
answering questions in the Indian parliament in Feb. 1955 characterized the
Kashmir Assembly’s pronouncement on accession as ‘unilateral and there- fore of
no consequence’. Meanwhile the Security Council had suggested that the two
countries should try to effect a peaceful settlement of this dispute through
direct negotiations.
8. As leader of the
National Conference prompted by the sole desire of facilitating a settlement
with due regard to the wishes of the people I, in consultation with the
Executive of my organization and with the full approval of a top-level
committee nominated by the Executive of the National Conference for the
purpose, drew up a list of possible alternative means of settlement of this
dispute. Accordingly, I communicated these alternatives to the Prime Minister of
India early in July 1953, so that in the forthcoming talks between the two
Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan our approach to the peaceful settlement
of the dispute would not be lost sight of. Unfortunately India did not seem to
like this and turned hostile.
9. A deep and
carefully screened conspiracy against me and my followers was the result.
Kashmir, unfortunately, is the root cause which deeply embitters the relations
between India and Pakistan and in any conflict this State is bound to be the
first casualty. No peaceful progress is possible within the State unless this
dispute is finally and amicably settled. These are weighty considerations and
no one who has the real good of the State at heart can lose sight of these
factors. For some time past I had therefore been pressing for an early
settlement of this dispute with Pakistan … Indian reaction was averse to this
approach and her resentment towards me gradually culminated in positive
hostility.
10. Disruption and
factionalism in our ranks and corruption of our people was therefore resorted
to by India for breaking our unity and thus achieving its nefarious end. The
plot culminated in the coup-d’état on 9th Aug. 1953. In the early hours of that
night I and my cabinet were dismissed without a confidence motion of the
Assembly by the legally and constitutionally questionable fiat of the head of
the State. I was put under arrest along with another Minister of my cabinet and
am now under continued detention nearly for the last three years without trial
and without even a charge.
11. Simultaneously with
my arrest thousands of my followers and co-workers, including Deputy Ministers,
high ranking Gazetted Officers, respectable businessmen, lawyers, Members of
the Assembly and public men of high position in life were clapped into prison.
All manner of repressive measures were let loose in order to crush the
spontaneous uprising of the people throughout the valley. Indian Central
Reserve Police and army as well as the militia, and the special police were
given a free license to shoot at sight and commit all other possible atrocities
on the defenseless people – thousands were beaten or starved in the jails in
order to break them into submission – the number of those killed was officially
reported to be 36 although the public version puts it very much higher. No
judicial enquiry was held to investigate into these atrocities which include
among their victims even pregnant women and children. More than a score of
Assembly members was detained without charge and many others kept under house
arrest.
12. It was under these
bloodcurdling circumstances that a session of the Assembly was called to record
its approval of the coup and a vote of confidence in the new government. From
prison I sent telegraphic requests to the President of the Union of India, to
its Prime Minister and to the Speaker of the Assembly to allow me to appear
before the house and face a motion of no-confidence in a democratic manner but
no heed was paid to it. Thus almost with a pistol on the necks of the Assembly
Members and with massacre and terrorism all over the Valley, a vote of
confidence for the Govt. pitchforked into office with the help of Indian
bayonets was secured. No greater fraud on democracy can be conceived! What
moral, legal or constitutional value this fraudulent act has need hardly be
explained.
13. Thus India
maneuvered to remove those elements from the Kashmir scene which she thought
stood in the way of her anti-Kashmiri designs and subsequently sought
ratification of accession through the Assembly. To say the least, it is a fraud
upon the people, betrayal of their right of self-determination and gross breach
of international commitments and promises.
14. In March 1956, the
Prime Minister of India made a public declaration ruling out plebiscite in
Kashmir. It has shocked the world conscience and stunned the people of Kashmir
to whom innumerable assurances had been held out that they will shape their own
destiny through a fair and impartial plebiscite. Reasons advanced for this
volte face are that Pakistan has joined SEATO, received Arms Aid from America
and signed the Baghdad Pact. The absurdity of the argument is patent. Whatever
Pakistan may do or might have done, that can be no valid reason for denying the
Kashmiris the exercise of their right of self-determination in order to shape
their own future. Secondly India’s Prime Minister has hinted that a vote in
favor of Pakistan will rouse communal passions in India and endanger the
security of its Muslim minority. This argument is also untenable. Is India’s
secularism so skin deep that it will collapse like a pack of cards as soon as
Kashmiris exercise their right of self-determination. One may as well ask: Are
Kashmiris to be held as hostages for fair treatment of Muslim minority under
the so-called Secular Democracy of India. Were India’s oft repeated promises to
the people of Kashmir that they alone shall have the right to decide their own
future through an impartial and fair plebiscite intended to be implemented only
in case a vote in her favor was certain? India has repeatedly claimed that
Kashmir is fast progressing and that the political uncertainty has ended.
Nothing can be farther from truth. Kashmir is at present ruled by monstrous
laws which have crippled all political and social life in the State and
paralyzed all progress. A lawless law of Preventive Detention has been
promulgated in the State with the sanction of the President of the Republic of
India which has stifled all civil liberties. This law authorizes arrests and
detention for a period of five years without trial or even without disclosing
the grounds of detention. Free and frequent use is made of this law of the
jungle.
15. Respectable citizens
and political workers have been arrested under this law on the excuse of having
publicized the speeches of opposition members delivered in the legislature or
even legitimately organizing support for the opposition in the house. Members
of the Assembly who expressed their intention of crossing the floor in the
house were put under arrest. In certain cases resignations were extorted under
the pressure of this monstrous law and instances are not wanting where the
members were publicly threatened of getting them involved in fabricated
criminal cases if they failed to support the Govt. party. Indian money is being
lavishly used for organizing gangsters for looting, insulting and publicly
flogging respectable citizens who do not see eye to eye with the ruling party.
Colossal amounts borrowed on interest from India are used in corrupting public
life and thereby purchasing the public conscience. It is however, gratifying to
note that all these dirty methods have so far failed to corrupt the people into
submission, and with one voice they demand the fulfillment of the promise made
to them by India, Pakistan and United Nations to exercise their right of
self-determination in a free and democratic manner. The Indian press almost
without exception, is positively hostile to all tendencies in favor of the
plebiscite. Any Indian newspaper writing in favor of the fulfillment of the
promise held out by India to the people of Kashmir or criticizing the present
administration in Kashmir is immediately bribed or blacklisted and its entry
into the State banned. Foreign correspondents are seldom allowed in and if and
when such a journalist finds his way to the Valley every precaution is taken
that he does not get a peep into the realities of the situation. There is a
virtual Iron Curtain over the Valley. No citizen dare to approach a visitor to
acquaint him with the tale of his misery for fear of gestapo and subsequent
torture. I challenge anyone to refute it. Under an impartial agency the
scathing sea of resentment of Kashmiris will be unleashed and a real picture
will come to light in those circumstances alone. Recent civic elections held in
Srinagar and in Jammu afford a proof positive of oppressive and fraudulent
practices of the ruling party in Kashmir. Muslim organizations and political
bodies with overwhelming Muslim membership completely boycotted these
elections. Some hindu opposition organizations however contested these
elections against the ruling party. The hindu press both in and outside the
State has published a surprising account of corruption, malpractices,
impersonation and fraudulent methods used in these elections by the ruling
party. It was through these shady means that the ruling party has secured all
the seats in the Srinagar Municipal Corporation and majority in the Jammu
Corporation.
16. Kashmiris are
facing untold miseries during the present phase of their history. No progress –
economic or political – is possible under such circumstances. Kashmir has
become an oozing sore in the body politic of the subcontinent. It has
embittered beyond measure relations between the two countries. The two armies
facing each other across the cease-fire line constitute a potential powder
magazine which may flare up any time into a devastating war. Its consequences
are too grim to imagine. In such an eventuality Kashmir will be wiped out
completely and far worse may happen. Is the world conscience so dead as not to
wake up in time? If a member of the world organization is so easily to denounce
international commitments and trample over without qualms the human rights of
millions it will, I am afraid, deal a death blow on the effectiveness of the
Security Council, will shock the confidence of small nations in the world
organization and endanger world peace.
17. On behalf of the
millions of Kashmiris and in the name of peace and progress of hundreds of
millions of the sub-continent I appeal to your Excellencies to firmly stand by
the pledges of the Security Council and execute its decision. I also appeal to
the freedom loving countries of the world, to those who have signed the United
Nations Charter and pledged themselves to honor it in word and deed as well as
to those nations whose leaders have fought and given their lives to establish
people’s right of self-determination, to rise above international differences
and disputes and lend a firm and unanimous support to the right of four million
down-trodden Kashmiris and allow them to decide their own future in a free and
democratic atmosphere. That alone will end the agony of the people of Kashmir
and eliminate a grave danger to peace.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed)
S.M.Abdullah.
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