India and Pakistan on Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Shabir Choudhry
1.
I understand brains of Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir State
have been conditioned by continued wrong propaganda, and injections of religious
romanticism.
2.
In order to massage ego of some of these people, and to satisfy
their Muslim nationalism, let me start by saying, that what India has done to
Jammu and Kashmir is wrong, and I condemn it.
3.
Net result of this on going propaganda is that, most of us,
against unpleasant facts, only regard India as a culprit in Jammu and Kashmir.
They overlook this bitter fact that we are in this mess because of wrong doings
of Pakistan.
4.
My heart bleeds on suffering of my fellow citizens,
however, after this prologue, let us see the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in light
of irrefutable historical facts.
5.
The
Two Nations Theory did not apply to Jammu and Kashmir, and other Princely
States. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, a constitutional lawyer acknowledged this fact,
and practically endorsed it by accepting accession of State of Junagarr, which had
two third non - Muslim majority.
6.
Apart
from that, Pakistani government, by entering in to a bilateral agreement with
the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, acknowledged this fact that Jammu and
Kashmir was a separate political entity. This agreement with Pakistan was known
as a Standstill Agreement.
7.
This
clearly means that Jammu and Kashmir State did not belong to Pakistan just
because it had a Muslim majority; and Pakistan has been deliberately misleading
people of Jammu and Kashmir, people of Pakistan and the world at large.
8.
In order to impress people of Jammu and Kashmir and their
own people, Pakistani government and compliant media has been shedding
crocodile tears on plight of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, yet ignoring the
fact that it was Pakistan which violated the Standstill Agreement and attacked
State of Jammu and Kashmir with intention to occupy it because the Ruler of
Jammu and Kashmir refused to sign on the dotted line.
9.
Tens of thousands of innocent citizens of Jammu and Kashmir
were mercilessly butchered, women kidnapped and raped, property looted and
burnt by the raiders.
10. This unprovoked and
imperialist attack resulted in forced division of our motherland, Jammu and
Kashmir, and we have been suffering in both sides of the divide since that brutal
attack.
11. While Pakistan
entered Jammu and Kashmir by violating a written agreement, and against the
wish of the Ruler; India entered Jammu and Kashmir after a written agreement,
and on the request of the Maharaja. Both countries entered Jammu and Kashmir
for completely different reasons, Pakistan entered the State to occupy; and
India entered the State to drive out the raiders and save life, liberty and
honour of the people.
12. The biased and
compliant media of Pakistan will not tell any of that because of fear of
reprisals. Their failure to tell facts does not change the historic facts.
13. I strongly condemn
those who say these are old facts, and we should concentrate on new developments,
which means exonerate what Pakistan has done, and only concentrate on what has happened since the launch of new
phase of Pakistani proxy war in Kashmir in 1988.
14. These political
proxies of Pakistan don’t want people to remember that after capturing Gilgit
Baltistan and so called Azad Kashmir, they separated these two regions, and
ensured that people these region do not have any social, political or
constitutional contact.
15. In other words,
India separated Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019; but Pakistan did
that in 1948; but formalised it in the ‘Karachi Agreement’ of April 28, 1949;
where puppets of Pakistani Occupied Jammu and Kashmir had to sign on the dotted
line or face the music.
16. By this agreement,
Pakistani establishment ruled Gilgit Baltistan, and so called Azad Kashmir with
an iron fist and against the will of the people.
17. Also the Pakistani
establishment assumed the role of ‘representative of people of Jammu and
Kashmir’ and advanced the Pakistani agenda in name of people of Jammu and
Kashmir.
18. The ‘ Karachi Agreement’
was kept secret for many decades, and only became public during a court
petition about Pakistan’s jurisdiction to rule this region in early 1990s.
19. Pakistan’s love and
affection with the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir State can be seen from this
bitter fact that in the past 70 years, they have not granted fundamental human rights
to the people who live under Pakistani control. However, they shed crocodile
tears for those living under the Indian control. This hypocrisy must be exposed.
20. Furthermore,
Pakistan’s respect for the territory of State of Jammu and Kashmir State can be
seen from this callous act that in 1963, without consulting any local people or
puppet government of so called Azad Kashmir they ‘gifted’ a large chunk of our
territory, around 2,000 Square Kilometres to China.
21. Apart from that,
Pakistan abrogated the State Subject Ordinance in 1974, and allowed tens of thousands
of Pakistanis to settle in various important parts of Gilgit and Baltistan.
That has not only affected demography of the region, but it has also allowed
the non-local people to control economy and politics of the region.
22. To rub salt in our
wounds, Pakistan, in complete violation of the State Subject laws, granted
large chunks of land from various mineral rich and strategically important places
to the Chinese.
23. What India has done
is wrong, and what Pakistan has done and continue to do is also wrong. If
Pakistan is sincere with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, then at minimum, they
should:
·
Restore State Subject Laws;
·
Remove all non-local people from territory of Gilgit
Baltistan;
·
Take back area they gave to China in 1963;
·
Abrogate all leases of land they have given to Chinese and
Pakistanis;
·
Release all political leaders like Baba Jan, Iftikhar
Karbalai, Aleem Khan, Irfan Kareem and others;
·
Stop application of Pakistani National Action Plan in
territories of Jammu and Kashmir;
·
Allow people to enjoy their fundamental human rights,
including right of expression and a right of movement;
·
Stop exploiting our natural resources in GB and in POJK, including
diversion of rivers;
·
Merge Gilgit Baltistan and so called Azad Kashmir as one
political unit, and recognise them as a sovereign state.
·
Let representative of people deal with the issues related
to CPEC and other matters.
Writer is a renowned
writer and author of many books. He is also President Foreign Affairs Committee
of UKPNP; and Chairman South Asia Watch, London.
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