Kashmir
Question
K.N. Pandita Editor's Note: [Readers
are recommended to take a look at Chandrashekhar
Dasgupta's 'War and Diplomacy in Kashmir,
1947-48, for a detailed expose of
why India could not drive out Pakistani
forces from J&K and why India went to the UN
Security Council. The review of that book is
available in our Herald archives at War & Diplomacy.]
Retrospect
As the British withdrew from the Indian
subcontinent on 15 August 1947, their policy
planners worked out a strategy of joint defence
for India and Pakistan called Auchinleck Plan
after the name of the then Indian Army Chief. It
was a defence strategy against the Soviet Union.
With Nehru a
known socialist, Anglo-American lobby cultivated
Pakistan as a dependable bulwark against
communism in South Asia. British policy planners
working through their lobbies wanted independent
Jammu & Kashmir to remain within the sphere
of their influence. It was part of the policy of
containment of communism.
Ramchand Kak,
the Prime Minister of the State, was a key
figure. A section of commentators believes that
Kashmiri lobby in Delhi contrived the dismissal
of Kak more as vendetta than political reprisal.
Kak’s removal was followed by an armed
uprising in Mirpur by the WW II disbanded Sudans
with promptings from outside. This was a
precursor to an incursion by the tribesmen of
Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province
meticulously planned and executed by the
Pakistani military and civilian combine.
A question asked
is when accession was legally made by the ruler
and endorsed by the popular leader of J&K
State, where did the need of subjecting its
finality to the will of the people arise?
Governor General, Lord Mountbatten proposed it
and Prime Minister Nehru accepted it.
Commentators say that Nehru intended to seek the
will of the people through their elected
representatives.
Another question
in this context is why did India agree to stop
her troops at the present Line of Control when
she could have captured Muzaffarabad and thereby
controlled the whole of strategic Northern Areas?
It will be blatant distortion of facts to accuse
Sheikh Abdullah of forcing ethnic divide on
Nehru. Close examination of the events reveals
that from Lord Mountbatten, the Governor General
of independent India down to the ordinary British
army officer in the Indian army at this point of
time saw to it that the strategic towns of Domel
and Muzaffarabad, controlling the Nornthern Areas
where the border met with the then Soviet Union,
China, Afghanistan -- besides India or Pakistan
-- did not go into the hands of the Indian
troops.
Again it is
asked why did Nehru take the Kashmir question to
the Security Council despite opposition by most
of his cabinet colleagues? Observers say that
India’s complaint was lodged under Article
35 of the UN Charter and sought vacation of
aggression by a neighboring country. It was Lord
Mountbatten again, working in close cooperation
with the Labour government headed by Attlee in
London who persuaded Nehru to take Kashmir case
to the Security Council. He thought at least the
USA, having had the experience of colonial rule,
would support India in the SC. But the ground
reality was something different. The Soviet
representative had cautioned the Indian
delegation of Anglo-American hostility.
Nevertheless,
the fact remains that the Security Council
accepted India’s contention that accession
was made on the basis of the ruler's decision and
popular leader's endorsement. It means the SC
accepted the legality of India’s position in
Kashmir.
Earlier the
British Indian rulers had tried to induct the
Ahmadiya factor in furthering the idea of
independent Kashmir. Through Sir Zafrullah Khan,
they had contrived the inclusion of Gurdaspur
district into Pakistan, blocking J&K
State’s road link to West Punjab. Kadiyan,
the Ahmadiya headquarter fell in Gurdaspur.
Ironically, half a century later, Amanullah Khan,
the JKLF leader based in London, had also been
hobnobbing with the Ahmadiayas for the
independence of Greater Muslim Kashmir.
Anglo-American
support to Pakistani stand on Kashmir at the
Security Council was a clear message that they
had not abandoned the Islamic cause in spite of
creating the Israeli state on the Arab land.
Sheikh Abdullah paused musing where this might
lead to.
Royists (Radical
Humanists), the first among Kashmiri ideologues
campaigning for Kashmir's accession to Pakistan
in 1947, worked for the British intelligence
before the CPI joined hands with them when the
Soviet Union decided to join WW II. Premnath
Bazaz, a pioneer Royist in Kshmir, was friendly
with Pakistan. His work Freedom Struggle in
Kashmir published in 1954 was considered a
defence of Pakistan's stand in Kashmir. The
Sheikh banished him and his close associate
Kanhayalal Kaul from Kashmir in 1949.
Interestingly, Amanullah Khan of JKLF nominated
Premnath Bazaz’s son, Bushan Bazaz to the
provisional cabinet of ‘Independent
J&K’ in 1992. Human Rights propagandists
and self-styled liberals like Justice Tarkunde
and Rajinder Sachar tow the same line.
At one time, the
British colonialists wanted to establish
permanent British settlement in Kashmir Valley
because of its Europe-like climate and incredible
scenic beauty. The Tribune of September 26, 1885
and The Pioneer of 22 October 1885 carried
articles on this subject. Kashmir was also a good
centre for overland trade with Central Asia. The
Maharaja was desired to allow the British traders
and businessmen settle in Kashmir. This was the
time when some highly dedicated missionaries
arrived in Kashmir and engaged themselves in
their assigned task.
However, the
British, apprehensive of looming Russian shadow
adopted hostile attitude towards the Maharaja of
Kashmir. They also used the lever of sensitizing
local Muslims to religious sentiment against the
Hindu Maharaja in order to weaken him.
Under Maharaja
Pratap Singh (1894 - 1925) the situation
worsened. Communism had come to stay in Central
Asia. British colonial power intensified communal
feelings among the Muslims in Kashmir, and in
1931 there was the first communal clash. Muslim
communalism was championed by the Muslim
Conference, the state-level political party.
Ahmadiyas and
the Left
Ahmadiyas and Indian communists forged an
understanding of sorts on Kashmir. The latter
thought in terms of international socialism
ignoring the sharp difference in perception with
the Ahmadiyas. Kashmir also was an important
theme in Soviet strategy in Central Asia and the
whole perception was based on B.T. Ranade theory
called BTR Line. The Crossroad, edited by Romesh
Thapar, enunciated the theory. Communist
theoreticians debated on the right of
self-determination. It is not known whether BTR
Line had kept track of fierce debates on the
subject of the right of self-determination that
had ensued among the Communist ideologues
like Rosa Luxemberg shortly after the London
Commune. It is also not known whether the Lenin
formula about the right of secession of a
federating unit was ever applied by the BTR Line
in the case of Kashmir.
B.T. Ranade's
note to the Kashmir communists read," If
people vote for Pakistan, do not raise hands. If
they vote for independence, do not say no, and if
they vote for India, raise your hands." A
thoroughly opportunist line it was. The central
question was left unanswered. The Left group in
NC posed the question "Why not join
Pakistan?"
The Sheikh was
enamoured of the CPI line especially of its
concept of the right of self-determination.
However in Sopore Convention of NC in 1945, Nehru
had said that unnecessary importance was given to
the idea. The communists had supported the
‘Two Nations theory’ through Adhikari
thesis, which described the creation of Pakistan
as an _expression of the right of
self-determination. CPI sent BPL Bedi and Freda
Bedi to play up the "Independent
Kashmir" card. Freda, of Irish extraction
with British connections, tried to influence the
Sheikh for independent Kashmir. She wrote the
first ever biography of the Sheikh titled Sheikh
Abdullah and his Ideals.
Communists
described Kashmir's accession to India a
"treachery" (The Crossroad, 6 January
1950) and supported a Telangana type movement. Om
Saraf, a veteran journalist of Jammu fought
against it with great determination.
So far, both the
Soviets and the Americans, were pushing their
agenda in Kashmir. The communists perceived
Kashmir's leadership of Asian socialist
revolution. However political circles got the
wind that Sheikh had come closer to the
Americans.
America steps
in
Sheikh Abdullah's detention in August 1953
was the logical consequence of his Anglo-American
connections. It, however, forced the
Anglo-American bloc to recast its agenda for
Kashmir. Destabilization of India could be the
key to new dispensation. "Operation
Brahmaputra" and the later Jean Kirk Patrick
Plan of 1980s focused on vivisection of
Christian-Mongoloid North East from the
Hindu-Aryan mainland of India. Around this time
the Americans made intellectual invasion into
India making Indian universities the ground where
seeds of destabilization and vivisection could be
sown. Viable catalysts were the intellectuals,
political scientists, minority academics and
educationists. It bred ethnic separatism or
sub-nationalism seeking to break the cultural
cohesion of India. Ford Foundation and its
beneficiaries were put to the task. Experts and
specialists on South Asia were to work as
pathfinders. In 1960, Selig Harrison
predicted the disintegration of India in his work
India: The Most Dangerous Decades. There were
others also. Selig Harrison organized a
seminar in June 1990 on Kashmir Question at
Oxford. Kashmiri Muslim doctors, currently on
deputation to the Gulf States, had financed it
and two Kashmiri personalities attended on behalf
of Kashmir militants. The "Independent or
Near Independent Greater Muslim Kashmir"
plan circulated by Selig Harrison is
precisely the plan which the CIA in concert with
ISI and the Saudi Intelligence had been working
upon since 1977.
The Sheikh
preferred 'Independent Kashmir" even after
the accession. Tribal attack and combination of
forces had prompted him to accept State’s
accession to the Indian Union.
However, under
new combination of forces, he had tried to revoke
the accession in 1953. Ram Manohar Lohia
explained his Kashmiriyat as Muslim identity.
Jinnah disregarded regional satraps. Nehru
eulogized him and lionized him as a great
secularist and anti-feudal. This encouraged the
Sheikh to do away with landed properties of
people without compensation, which Congress
itself did not do in India.
Sher-Bakra
socio-political cleavage in Kashmirian society
obstructed outright resistance to accession. It
got identified as India-Pakistan factor. It was
pursued in inner circles but the moderates
apprehended persecution in Pakistan.
Back from Lake
Success, the Sheikh released Chaudhury Abbas from
jail hoping it would help independence move. He
thought even Nehru would not be averse to
independence. The Scotsman published his most
controversial interview in 1949. He linked up
with Agha Khan as a conduit for reaching the
Pakistanis.
Kashmir
Muslim bureaucracy
Top bureaucrats met in Odeon Hotel, Srinagar,
in early 1949 to chart a strategy for a
pro-Pakistan movement. Their immediate concern
was forging separate Muslim Identity for
Kashmiris. Their strategy was not to dismantle
the old autocratic structure of administration
but to supplant Pandit and Dogra in-service
cadres by Kashmiri Muslims. Muslim educated youth
were inducted into sensitive positions.
Islamisation of society was the basis of this
thinking.
Kashmiriyat
Even some National Conference leaders had
reservations about accession to India. The quest
for Muslim precedence was given the name of
Kashmiriyat, which came into sharp conflict with
the religious minorities inside the state as well
as secularist operatives of the union government.
Article 370 of the Indian Constitution is the
result of a conflict between the imperatives of
Indian secularism and Muslim sub-nationalism. It
continued even after 1953.
The Climax
Family oligarchy emerged in Kashmir between
1948 and 1953. Blackmailing tactics worked.
Corruption and misrule brought alienation in
trail. Those who protested were branded as
pro-Pakistani. Local bureaucracy behaved
arbitrarily like the area commanders of Kashmir
insurgents. People identified them with Indian
agents. This was the beginning of alienation of
people in Kashmir.
Plebiscite
Nehru's commitment to plebiscite, which he
had clearly and forcefully stated in writing to
the UN Commission for India and Pakistan in the
context of UNCIP Resolution of April 13, 1948,
meant _expression of free will through elected
representatives. But with that a negative
consciousness dawned upon the Kashmiris that a
factor more powerful than India served a cue for
the choice of reversal of existing relationship
with India.
At the UN
India’s precise application was the
vacation of aggression in Kashmir. Warren Austin,
the US representative in the SC aggressively
suggested for "neutral interim
administrator" in J&K. Noel-Baker the
British representative supported him. Ayyengar,
the leader of the Indian delegation was shocked.
Sheikh Abdullah thought India was week-kneed on
Kashmir issue.
It was
Tarashenkov, the Ukrainian delegate who bailed
out Ayyengar. How could a weak India support his
domineering position in Kashmir, the Sheikh
thought. Kuomintang representative Dr. Tsiang
moved the resolution in SC on March 18, 1948. The
Times of London wrote that the implication was
"virtual suppression of the ordinary power
of Kashmir government over its military and
police forces in favour of an authority, which
though nominally a part of the government, would,
in practice, be responsible to the Security
Council." Nehru’s initial negative
response was washed down by Mountbatten.
National
Conference’s General Council rejected the UN
resolution calling the leadership to mobilize
people. Anglo-American bloc prepared the ground
to foist Admiral Nimitz as Plebiscite
Administrator. New York Times of 23 August 1948
flashed the news "Nimitz as arbiter in
Kashmir urged".
The proposal of
arbitrating in Kashmir drawn up in a secret
session of UNCIP was leaked to the U.S. and U.K.
governments before it reached New Delhi.
President Truman and Prime Minister Attlee
emphasized on arbitration.
MacNaughten
formula stipulated demilitarization of Kashmir
and leaving Northern Areas under the control of
"Azad Kashmir". NC opposed MacNaughton
formula of demilitarization and plebiscite.
General Frank Dever, a former Chief of the US
Army Field Forces unfolded the plan for
demilitarization.
Jacob Malik, the
Soviet representative at the UN explained the
Anglo-US plan of converting Kashmir into an
imperialist trust territory of the US and UK.
Frank Graham, the Chairman of UNCIP happened to
be the Adviser to the US President on Defence
Manpower in the Department of Labour. Even
Eisenhower's name was once mentioned as
Plebiscite Administrator.
America again
In May 1953, Foster Dulles met with Nehru.
The Weekly Message from Delhi reported that
Dulles had put forward a plan for a trizonal
division of Kashmir with a zone each going to
India and Pakistan, the valley being either
"internationalized" for a certain
period of time till a plebiscite was held under
the UN control or being ruled by a
semi-independent government."
Nehru sounded
Mohammed Ali Bogra, the Pakistani Prime Minister.
Both asserted that Kashmir would not be allowed
to become another Korea. Their joint assertion
was a rebuff to the imperialists. Nimitz prepared
to resign. Under agreement an imparatial
plebiscite administrator was to be appointed by
the J&K Government. Within a month, Pakistani
PM resiled and demanded that plebiscite be held
under the aegis of the UN. It seems that external
forces had lobbied well. Soon the US began
exploring military agreement with Pakistan.
Accord of
1975
Plebiscite Front had kept the secessionist
sentiment alive in Kashmir. It exposed post -
1947 generation of Kashmiri Muslims to the
Pakistan ideology. The question may be asked: why
could pro-Pak groups not emerge in a big way at
this point of time? The answer is (a) Sheikh
Abdullah had a long legacy of anti-Pakistan
posture (b) Plebiscite Front had appropriated
other platforms of pro-Pak groups.
By 1972,
realization dawned in Plebiscite Front that
subversion from outside would not work. Hence
subversion from inside was to be tried. G.M
Sadiq's regime had initiated liberalization
policy more as antidote to the hegemonic regime
of the Sheikh and arbitrary rule of Bakshi.
Ground was prepared for 1975 Accord. 1977
elections were termed by the NC as referendum on
the status of Kashmir. NC cultivated
secessionists selectively and promised to open
Rawalpindi road. Its moves were subtle -- rock
salt, green kerchief etc. It spoke in prattles of
rock salt, shalwar and kameez and green
handkerchief. Dressed in flowing kurta and
shalwar, the Sheikh offered namaz in his
secretariat office.
Onwards of
Accord
This was ushered in an era of diatribes and
antics of NC. It claimed that the right of
self-determination had never been ruled out.
However, it said strategic re-adjustment was
worked out. Lack of ideological cohesion in NC
now forced its downslide. It had started dilatory
and divisive tactics on the finality of
accession.
1979 is a
watershed in the growth of subversive movement in
Kashmir. Z.A. Bhutto had pledged to fight for a
thousand years for the cause of "oppressed
Kashmiri Muslims." Bhutto's execution
unleashed mad frenzy against the Jamaat-e-Islami
cadres in Kashmir. Zia had called them the
progeny of the Brahmins.
But sooner than
later, Kashmiris changed the trend and now the
erstwhile "Zia kodeh" (the whip
wielder) of their description became
"Mard-i-Momin Mard-i-Haq, Ziau'l Haq Ziau'l
Haq" (The Faithful among the men, the
Truthful Zia). Other slogans reflected religious
ties with Pakistan. Thus Pakistan for Kashmiris
meant Islam, and freedom for Kashmiris meant
Pakistan. Those who coined and floated these
slogans went on to form the "secular"
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Force (JKLF)
Curiously,
Kashmiri Muslims seldom tried to look up for
democratic and progressive forces in Pakistan to
draw inspiration from them.
Greater
Muslim Kashmir
In 1970, the plan of ‘Greater Muslim
Kashmir’ was drawn jointly by the CIA, ISI
and the Saudi intelligence (Istekhbarat) at
International Islamic Foundation Movement
(Rabitau'l Islam) in Saudi Arabia. Ar-Rabita has
over a hundred branches spread all over the
world.
It was
concretized into what came to be known as
Operation Topac. The Rabita has been given the
Wahhabi orientation and Dr. Ayub Thukar (in
London) directed the movement in Kashmir.
Greater Muslim
Kashmir, to which Selig Harrison refers,
envisaged not only secession of Kashmir from
India but also incorporates grand design to
destabilize India through ethnic and communal
separatist movements carried on through terror
and subversion.
Saudi role in
1979-mob violence in Kashmir may not be known
precisely. Grapevine has it that Saudis played a
mediator role between the NC leadership and
different fundamentalist and separatist lobbies
in Kashmir. Part of the exercise was holding of
international Islamic conferences in Srinagar for
the first time in which important Saudi
"religious personalities and scholars"
were invited.
The real purpose
was to inspire Muslim solidarity and jihad
against India. In 1981, the sister of the Saudi
king paid two successive visits to Kashmir. The
chief of the Saudi intelligence stayed with a
local carpet dealer in Jawaharnagar, Srinager in
1982. A few details of this story were covered in
an issue of the journal titled Probe.
Outsiders do not
know what transpired in the meeting among Saudis,
NC and the Jamaatis. As a result Jamaat stopped
criticizing the Sheikh. The government in New
Delhi turned a blind eye to the funds funnelled
through a section of NC leadership to various
subversive and fundamentalist groups functioning
against national interests.
As the
honeymooning proceeded, Jamaatis became
emboldened. They began attacks on communist
workers, non-Muslim business establishments and
Hindu worshipping places. A group of 50 Jamaatis
attacked Harkishen Singh Surjeet, the Secretary
General of CPI (M) in Srinagar in June 1982. The
NC government took no action, Surjeet is reported
to have expressed reservations about Article 370
-- the comer stone of the left perception on
India.
Surjeet was
asked why he did not take up the Jamaat issue
with the Centre, He said that would provoke Hindu
reaction. This is the opportunistic antics of the
left in Indian politics.
Today Surjeet
asks the government of India to treat
"secularist" JKLF differently from
"communal" Hizbul Mujahideen. It is
JKLF whose criminals killed Abdus Sattar Ranjoor,
the CPM leader of Kashmir. While CPM speaks about
autonomy and right of self-determination, it does
not say a word about three hundred thousand
Kashmiri Pandits extirpated from their homeland
and now living as internally displaced persons.
NC patronized
the Jamaat to the extent that the then Vice
Chancellor of Kashmir University, Rais Ahmad, was
physically assaulted for his progressive views.
Intelligence
at work
1980 saw a beeline of American diplomats and
officials coming to Kashmir. Rockefeller visited
in 1980 and had talks with the Sheikh. His
mission supplemented the liaison established
between the Sheikh and the Saudis.
Then came
William Saxebe, the US Ambassador in New Delhi.
There was further exchange of ideas on Greater
Muslim Kashmir idea. President Raegan dispatched
his close aid and his roving ambassador Charlton
Heston, an actor colleague of his Hollywood days
to Kashmir. Heston's visit was completely blacked
out by the local press. An obscure weekly
published from Calcutta took notice of the event.
To alley suspecting eyes, Heston stayed at Nishat
on the northern bank of the Dal Lake in the
guesthouse belonging to a non-Muslim.
The result of
the visit of these high ups was forging unity
between different elite groups of professionals
in Kashmir Muslim society - university teachers,
lawyers, engineers, doctors particularly those
who had connections in Saudi Arabia, Iran and
Libya, a powerful and well-knit section of the
State Muslim bureaucracy, local political
leadership etc. One regional English daily wrote
in 1990 that the ISI had nearly one thousand
people among the elite of Srinagar on its
payroll.
JV Medical
College
Kashmiri Muslim medical doctors finding
receptivity in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya and the
Gulf States carried out their activities
favouring Kashmir's struggle for freedom. Saudi
and Iranian Pan-Islamists found in them a good
conduit to carry out their communal agenda. The
Saudis blessed the proposal for Jehlum Valley
Medical College in late 1980. Leading Kashmiri
doctors and physicians were shuttling between
India and Saudi Arabia in those days. Already two
medical colleges existed in Kashmir valley, and
it was Jammu Hindu majority region of the State
that badly needed a medical college.
Opening of the
JV Medical College had two objectives (a) safe
conduit for flow of foreign, particularly Saudi
funds (b) medical seats for the wards of the
Srinagar elite who otherwise could not qualify in
normal competition.
Twenty-five per
cent seats were reserved for Arab students. Their
home remittances would become legalized money.
Other Arab governments showed keen interest in
the proposal. Central government was cautioned
but the State government managed to see it
cleared administratively.
Here some
doctors worked clandestinely for the separatists
and turned it into a den of separatist
conspiracies. Some of its doctors were implicated
in the murder of their staff members who had
suspected something fishy about the whole thing.
Incriminating
documents regarding the role of JV Medical
College in managing funds from abroad had been
seized from two top ideologues of the on-going
armed insurgency. Huge amount of Pakistani
currency was recovered from their possession.
Government provided about forty acres of land
without cost and the doctors were paid at rupees
seven hundred per lecture, which caused
resentment among the staff of other medical
colleges.
Sheikh's
antics
In his will, the Sheikh said that his dead
body be consigned to the waters of the Arabian
Sea because Kashmir was an enslaved territory.
Why did he not choose the Indian Ocean, which is
far bigger, deeper and closer than the Arabian
Sea? This was the Sheikh after signing the
Accord. His speech at Ganderbal in 1979 and his
last one made at Hazratbal shrine in 1982 were
fully besmeared with communal tinge and even
moderate Muslims were greatly incensed by these.
By 1980,
campaign for Islamization of Kashmir had begun
with full force. The Sheikh changed the names of
about 2500 villages from their original to
Islamic names. It was to take divorce from the
pre-lslamic history and tradition of Kashmir.
Pakistani historians were imitated. The Hindus of
Kashmir who were the descendents of ancient
Kashmirian race were puzzled. A vicious campaign
against the Indian army and the local Hindus was
also floated. The local Hindus came to be called
the mukhbir or informers. This is how the Sheikh
has characterized them in his autobiography
Atash-e-Chinar. In July 1980, local police
contrived a clash between the local civilians of
Srinagar and the army personnel. The NC goons set
on fire a number of shops of the Hindus in Amira
Kadal locality. The Jamaatis compared this minor
incident to the Soviet intervention in
Afghanistan.
NC-JKLF
interface
Some NC cadres maintained links with JKLF
from the times of Al Fath under the patronage of
Plebiscite Front. Azam Inquilabi, a known
separatist leader had termed Dr. Farooq Abdullah
as "our senior leader." In
Muzaffarabad, Farooq had taken a vow to liberate
Kashmir from Indian occupation.
In 1974, some of
the top leaders of Kashmir Liberation Force (KLF)
visited Srinagar and in the company of Dr. Farooq
Abdullah addressed a rally in Lal Chowk chanting
the slogan "choon desh myoon desh Kashmir
desh Kashmir desh." It was a subtle way of
conveying the message that Muslims on both sides
of the LoC considered United Kashmir as their
homeland. PoK people, grossly discriminated
against by Pakistan, are enamoured of united
‘Independent Kashmir’ slogan. With a
strong diaspora in the UK they are financing the
movement. The Mirpuris have made chinar leaf
their national insignia without ever having
seeing what a chinar tree looks like. They ask
their women to wear Kashmiri dress but Pakistan
government has imposed a ban on attiring
themselves the Kashmiri way. Maqbul Bhat, the
executed founder of JKLF, stayed in a guest house
near Srinagar planning insurgency. NC cadres
would meet him often.
Local Muslim
elite openly spoke of secession, Jamaat-e-lslami
told people in villages to purchase arms in place
of luxury goods. Late Ghani Lone had told a rally
in Kupwara that Muslim women should sell their
jewelry and gold and use the money for purchasing
guns.
Preparing for
ideology
Incriminating literature appeared on the
stands in Srinagar. Some government officials
distributed copies of a pamphlet titled Tragedy
of Kashmir. Muhammed Yusuf Saraf's two-volume
work Kashmiris Fight for Freedom was smuggled
into the valley in large numbers. It also focused
on earlier terrorist movements. On Guerrilla War
by Che Guevara suddenly appeared on the
bookstalls in Srinagar. A fiction insurrection
titled Assignment in Kashmir and authored by
Aamir Ali described involvement of two Swedish
persons in smuggling of arms into Kashmir for
Kashmiri guerrillas for separatist movement. A
newsman wrote that Kashmiri boys were going to
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) for training in
arms. He was sacked.
Internal
subversion
The network of internal subversion became
active. Suddenly there appeared the Resettlement
Bill and the pamphlet written by an NC MLA titled
Kashmir main aksariyyat ko aqqaliyat main badalne
ki sazish (The Conspiracy of Converting Kashmir
Muslim Majority ino a Minority). It depicted a
picture as if a great conspiracy was being
hatched to destroy the Muslims of Kashmir. It
called the Kashmiri Muslims a third nation. It
was the ideological blue print for pernicious
plan of Greater Muslim Kashmir. The author was
rewarded more than he deseved -- a berth on the
State Cabinet for three terms.
Greater
Muslim Kashmir
Ladakh was divided into two districts on
communal basis. Local Kashmiri officials,
purposefully posted to Ladakh created a wide gulf
between the Buddhists and Muslims. Kashmiri
Muslim colonies came up in Leh and were provided
with lucrative commercial opportunities. The
virus of communal hatred was inducted into Ladakh
society. Situation in Doda was no better. One
Doda NC minister said that not only Kashmir but
also India had to be Islamised.
Ideas like
Greater Muslim Kashmir carried with it the
meaning of Muslim majority area, Muslim rule,
Islamic laws and Islamic dispensation etc. It led
to further alienation of the people. It was only
logical that extirpation of non-Muslim minority
from the valley was a part of this plan.
NC’s tirade against India was at its height.
In a dinner party a responsible NC member said
that Indians had not tolerated Jinnah whose
certain food habits were anti-Islamic. How would
they tolerate them (Kashmiris)?
A ring of Muslim
dominated colonies has been thrown round the main
city of Jammu. But Hindus have been hounded out
of Kashmir.
Biography
(Atash-e-Chinar)
The compiler of the Sheikh’s
autobiography, later on to be rewarded with a
berth in the upper house, used venomous idiom
against the Kashmiri Hindus calling them
informers or spies of India. Sahitya Akademy, the
highest awarding national organization awarded
the book. Maligning the minority did not move the
National Minority Commission. Congress goons
blackened the face of a senior official of
Sahitya Akademy for awarding a Punjabi book Janan
di Rat alleging the author had lionized the
assailants of Indira Gandhi. Ministry of Human
Resource moved quickly to ask for the review of
the book and censured the concerned official. Not
a single political worker, a single newspaper
asked Sahitya Academy why it awarded the
biography of the Sheikh when he had so forcefully
and vehemently maligned a minuscule religious
minority?
The vacuum
With the Sheikh's death, secessionist
leadership emerged in full force. Common man
developed hatred for the Sheikh and NC leaders
and their clannish corruption. Omar Mukhtar film
ran for hundreds of shows. Elite and
secessionists drew a parallel from the film. A
book Yih kis ka khun hai kaun mara by Shabnam
Qayyum attacked the Sheikh's legacy. Resettlement
Bill was floated. ISI was in close liaison with
NC. Pakistan apprehended unrest among the
Kashmiris who migrated to PoK. It wanted their
return to Kashmir valley to get rid of them. Its
other objective was changing the demographic
complexion of Jammu.
Sensing Indira
Gandhi's reaction against the Resettlement Bill,
Dr. Farooq adopted more confrontational posture.
He held out threats to the numerically negligible
community of Pandits in an election campaign in
Habba Kadal constituency with Pandit
concentration. This he did in spite of the
dilution of this constituency, what we call
gerrymandering. He accused them of looking to the
Indian army for security forgetting he himself
did the same thing. Indian army had guarded his
father's family in Bhopal when the armed tribal
murauders attacked Kashmir in October 1947, and
he had secretly evacuated them. Dr. Farooq
hobnobbed with the insurgent elements in the
Punjab including Bhindranwale, and took no action
against the hooligans who created a scene when
the West Indies came to play a cricket match in
Srinagar.
Training
Camps
Sikh separatists had established a training
camp for their cadres in Shajamarg, Kashmir in
1984. Farooq government kept it under wraps.
Attacks on Amirakadal temple stirred no reaction
in his government.
At Tulamula, on
the occasion of Jayeshta Ashtami festival of the
Hindus, Farooq told the assembly that
Bhindranwale was the 11th guru. In 1983, GOI
received reports of Kashmiri youth returning home
after receiving training somewhere on the border.
This belies the argument that the cause of
militancy lay in the rigged elections of 1986-87.
The methodology of bringing down Farooq
government was a failure.
Jamaat-i-lslami
(JI)
During GM Shah's tenure two battalions of
Jamaat-e-lslami were raised to augment State
police force. It became the crucial element in
massive internal subversion and a communal wing
of the Hizbul Mujahideen.
Shah had no
popular base and hobnobbed with fundamentalist
elements for support. Jamaatis were recruited as
teachers in a large numbers. Shah did not fight
Farooq politically but aligned himself with
communal forces like Qazi Nisar of Anantnag.
Political rivalry between GM Shah and local
Congress leadership resulted in Congress under
the presidency of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed inciting
communal riots in Anantnag in 1986.
Kashmiriyat
and homework
The ideology of Greater Muslim Kashmir was
given the name of Kashmiriyat. Few Kashmiri
Muslim scholars understood that by making Urdu
the official language, Kashmiri language was
given a rude shock.
The elite wanted
to fraternize with the Pakistanis who had
accepted Urdu as the national language. Nobody
told Kashmiri Muslims that Pakistan meant Punjabi
hegemony and Punjabi language was the language of
hegemonists and not Urdu. Urdu would bring them
closer to the Mohajirs and not Punjabis. And
Mohajir is pitted against the Punjabi.
Most of the
Muslim children born after 1970 adopted Pakistani
cricket players' names or Arabic names. This was
the Kashmiriyat of the elite. On the one hand
local bureaucracy asked for huge development
packages and on the other it foisted alienation.
Kashmiri Muslim
youth changed their life style. Trekking, playing
cricket in streets and villages and towns became
common. Trucks driven mostly by Sikh drivers
carried suspicious contents and dumped these at
identified places at night. A large number of
brick kilns surfaced in the border areas. Owners
were given hundreds of thousands of rupees as
industrial loans. These were used as dumping
grounds. President Zia of Pakistan paid a visit
to Jaipur to witness cricket match. This was
indirect message to Kashmiri youth to prepare for
better physical fitness.
Corruption
Bureaucrats and big business class formed
nexus obstructing the opportunities of common
Kashmiris. Training, employment, promotions,
lucrative jobs, contracts etc. went to the wards
of the elite.
Blackmailing by
the bureaucracy and the political elite continued
at a high rate. Whenever local leadership came
into conflict with the Central leadership, it
brought in the element of religion.
Erosion of NC
NC adopted dubious way in Kashmir but a
different stance beyond the mountain range of the
Pir Panchal. NC began losing the ground. Command
went into second and third rung of leaders. They
were non-committed. It was crude demagogy,
browbeating nationalists and Indians through
Kashmiriyat.
Fratricidal war
paved the way for malevolent elements to become
brokers. JI and Peoples League pushed their
activists into NC through Youth NC. From this
illegal marriage of the Peoples League,
Jamaat-e-lslami and the NC emerged the so-called
secular offspring called Kashmir Liberation Front
(later on Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front). Others
also joined it later on. The Peoples' United
Front of Maulavi Abbas Ansari had earlier been
Muslim United Front (MUF)
MUF
It comprised two streams: Jamaat-i-lslami and
non-Jamaatis. Their ideology was Islamization and
Muslim communalism respectively. At times they
locked horns. At present the conflict between
JKLF and Hizbu’l-Mujahideen (HUM) -- if
there is any conflict -- is not between
secularism and communalism but between the shades
of Muslim communalism. Most of the Jamaatis are
important JKLF members. Ghulam Qadir Wani, a
hardcore Jamaati, was the mastermind behind the
JKLF. All earlier killings of Kashmiri Pandits
were carried out by the JKLF.
The rigged
election of 1986-87
Many NC workers expecting a mandate from the
party were refused and joined the ranks of the
MUF and later on JKLF. Sons of Congress and
Plebiscite Front workers were to be found in the
ranks of HUM. Gradually through political
diatribe like the philosophy of living with
honour and dignity (izzat wa abru ka muqam) got
exposed, thus coming closer to ghettoizing
confines of the Muslim sub-nationalism,
patronizing regressive bureaucracy, defending its
myopic vision, with-holding the Kashmiris from
joining national mainstream through the creation
of fantasies like "Third Nation" etc.,
the NC contributed liberally to the process of
alienation of Kashmiris from Indian national
mainstream. After 1979, NC never confronted
JI’s growing secessionism.
NC's
administrative mechanism became susceptible to
corruption, nepotism, favouritism and
inefficiency. The nexus of bureaucracy, business
class or the elite and politicians with vested
interests created conditions for subversion from
within. It was heading for a theo-fascist
movement. NC began a negative campaign under the
slogan of Kashmiriyat with undertones of
sectarian Muslim identity. This alienated even
the Shias besides the Gujjars and the non-Muslims
of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh.
Jamaat and
insurgency
ISI wanted the JI to become the main
instrument to take up the secession. Jamaat
infiltrated all organizations. It had credibility
among the masses and started militancy through
non-Jamaat organization JKLF. It needed a cover.
Jamaat-e-lslami has created a massive structure
over three decades for indoctrination of Muslim
children with fundamentalist ideology. Muslim
elite became a support to the Jamaatis and the
ISI in Kashmir. The aim was twofold (a) creating
theocratic polity and (b) merging with Pakistan.
Maudoodi believed in Islamic ummah (community)
and not nationalities. But when UP Muslim feudal
joined hands with Punjabi feudal, Mowdoodi had to
be silent. He had first opposed creation of
Pakistan. Jinnah had never envisaged a theocratic
Pakistani Muslim state.
JI Kashmir was
independent of JI of India, a subtle way of
saying that it did not accept the finality of
accession. Founded in Shupian in 1947, it was
banned in Kashmir for the third time during the
governorhsip of Jagmohan. Earlier Bakhshi had
utilized their support to suppress pro-Sheikh
elements. Mir Qasim lifted the ban and again used
them. He got five of his own partymen belonging
to Sadiq group (Congress I) defeated at the
hustings. The JI candidate standing against him
withdrew and in return JI was given five Assembly
seats. Thus JI established links with the
administrative cadres. Mir Qasim succumbed and
handed over power to the Sheikh. Incidentally,
Qasim’s son, a doctor in the USA, is an
active worker for secession of Kashmir. Qasim
facilitated the work of Jamaat. By 1970, the
young generation of the Jamaatis responded. It
had its schooling in darsgahs (religious
seminaries). It talked of nizam or
socio-political system. Jamaat expanded its
influence in bureaucracy, secretariat, police
force, Home Guard, Bar Association, Soura Medical
Instate, Muslim medicos, schools and colleges in
Kashmir and Doda, Hindustan Machine Tool Factory
etc. Hindustan Machine Tool Factory and Kashmir
University campus were its important centre of
activity.
Islami
Jamiat-e-Tulaba (IJT)
In autumn 1977, the students' wing of
Jamaat-e-lslami called IJT, was created. Its
public pronouncements were patently secessionist.
The State government took no steps to curb it.
The Afghan guerrilla documentaries were screened
in the house of the CM. Ashraf Sahrai, its
founder president, spoke in the first annual
session in July 1978 in Srinagar and compared
Kashmir struggle with liberation movement
elsewhere. In 1986, number of its basic members
rose to ten thousand. It ran 300 madrasahs
(religious seminaries) where indoctrination was
the rule.
Iranian link
Iranian clerics took care not to give
sectarian colour to the concept of export of
Islamic revolution. Moderates like Ayatollah
Taloghani and Ayatollah Shariatmadari were
sidelined and extremists like Ayatollah
Mohtashami were catapulted into the seats of
power. Iranian clerics courted Kashmiri Muslim
youth. JI liked Khumeini type of uprising in
Kashmir. Khumeini's descent was traced to
Kashmir.
Tajamulu'l-lslam
appeared as a firebrand of JT and preached for
armed insurgency in Kashmir. Police wanted him
but the bureaucracy shielded him. He escaped to
Iran via Nepal. The Iranian Ambassador in New
Delhi prayed in Jama Masjid of Srinagar,
traditionally a stronghold of the Sunnis who did
not allow Shias to enter it.
Allahwale
Movement
Ahl-e-Hadith (Taditionalists) active in
Kashmir for more than a century wanted purging
Islam of indigenous elements. It meant freeing
popular Islam in the valley of its pre-Islamic
roots. Bakhshi Ghulam Muhammad, Kashmir Chief
Minister believed in the Rishi (mystic) tradition
or indigenous tradition of Kashmir. However, as
the concept of Greater Muslim Kashmir developed,
the resultant social-religious schism posed a big
challenge. Allahwale were to counterpoise a
section of Kashmiri Muslims that believed in
popular Islam with rich indigenous content and
tradition. Allahwale, Ahle Hadith and JI worked
along common lines. Ahle Hadith worked among the
elitist group, Allahwale with the common people
because their idiom and lifestyle were like those
of the common people.
It is the
best-organized fundamentalist movement with
branches in Africa, Europe and Pakistan and also
in Russia and China. They undertook to do the
remaining work of the Saudis after the patch up
in Kashmir. To alley the fears of the Central
government they posed as religious and good
Musulmans. Tarjumanu'1-Huq was the newspaper they
published. It attracted even doctors and top
bureaucrats who would take leave and join its
tableeghi (propagation) programme. After 1980,
Allahwale spread out in entire Kashmir adopting a
low profile. Silently they preached of drawing a
line between kufr (heresy) and iman (faith).
Communal divide was brought about carefully.
Allahwale stuck to rural base. Majority of
Kashmiri militants come from the rural Kashmir.
The symbols of independence give them the upward
position in social hierarchy and status ladder.
Prior to 1988 they had organized three
conferences in the valley. They had strict
instructions to campaign strongly in North
Kashmir especially in Baramulla and Kupwara
districts. This was the time when the
‘Operation Topac’ was to be launched.
Many mosques sprang. The Baramulla mosque
functioned as the zonal headquarter of Allahwale
in Northern India.
In 1988, around
the time of launching Operation Topac, Allahwale
held a big convention in Idgah in Srinagar. Dr.
Farooq told the Indian government that he had
refused permission for the convention. But
Allahwale had a strong clout in the Union
Government, and it over-ruled Farooq's pleas.
Allahwale made dubious moves feigning opposition
to the Jamaatis. The Union government was misled.
Nevertheless it was aware of the activities of
the Islamic Study Circle established by
Allahwale.
The Allahwale
movement has its centre at Aligarh Muslim
University. It holds its annual congregations in
Bhopal at Tajul Masjid. Thousands of Kashmiri
Allahwale activists attend the Bhopal
congregations. They meet activist from other
Indian states. Links were established to sustain
anti-India campaign. The Aligarh alumni supported
Allahwale strongly.
Jamiat-e~Tulaba
It concentrated on non-elitist sections. Its
headquarter is in Batmaloo, Srinagar. Its
leadership formed the core of JKLF. It held
weekly meetings almost in every educational
institution. People's League was its sister
organization with leaders like Maqbul Bhat and
Mohammad Altaf or Azam Inquilabi (also a
Jamaati). On November 1, 1982, Mahaz-e-Azadi
(Plebiscite Front), Peoples League and
Jamiat-e-Tulaba (JT) met to discuss how
anti-India activities could be enlarged. Earlier
on October 20, Muslim Conference called by
Inquilabi had passed a resolution, which asked
for implementation of the UN resolutions on
Kashmir. It asked for acceptance of cultural
demands of setting up an Islamic university, ban
on co-education in the state, teaching of Arabic
from the primary to post-graduate level, banning
of cinemas, indecent ads and liquor shops. They
agreed to form United Liberation Front to fight
against India. Some university teachers as
members of JT asked for implementation of shariat
law in Kashmir. Interestingly, while JT demanded
ban on cinema, Omar Mukhtar film went on for
hundreds of shows because it showed imaginary
Muslim mujahid fighting a jihad. JT secretly
distributed the guidelines of Pakistan's action
plan on Kashmir. A booklet titled Hizb-e-lslami
was published by it containing this confidential
scheme. After giving the highlights of the
insurgency plan, it concluded by saying,
"Islam is our aim, the Quran is our
constitution, jihad is our path, war till
victory, God is Great."
Of Hizbu
'1-Mujahideen (HUM)
JI formed its own armed wing called HUM. It
also formed women's wing called
Dukhtaran-i-Millat. In the first phase, about 500
activists went over to receive training. It
concentrated on the State police organization.
Some well-trained commandos in the State Police
organization joined HUM. Governor Jagmohan
dismissed some them. Earlier three JI MUF leaders
had resigned on the understanding that Pakistan
was about to attack and they would head the
government in Kashmir. Initial killings of the
Kashmiri Pandits were undertaken by the JKLF. But
after 1990, most of the killings of Pandits took
place at the hands of JUM, which now wanted to
eliminate all potential opponents, not only the
Hindu minority. Killing of NC leaders became
their concern. Mir Mustafa, Maulana Masoodi,
Molavi Muhammad Farooq and others fell victims to
their bullets.
It is the best
armed outfit with regular supply of arms and
ammunition from Pakistan. Logistical directions
come from ISI and military intelligence. Afghan
mujahideen are also represented in its ranks. Top
leadership has Pakistani commandos as their
body-guards. Sudanese have also joined the
outfit. Kashmiris receive training in Afghan
training camps particularly in Khost. Some died
during the American attack on Osama's camp. Three
HUM militants captured by the Indian security
forces said they were trained at Eram Park near
Meshad in Iran.
JI split was
part of its tactics. The so-called moderate wing
joined the state administrative cadres. Moderates
initiated a debate that Islam is incomplete
without a government. Hardcore Jamaatis say their
destination is not only Kashmir but also
Balkanization of India.
Cultivating
Indian lobbies
a) Swatantrites
Thinking in some sections of Indian political
analysts is that a nexus has developed between
the fundamentalists and the Marxists. One of the
important members of this Indian Muslim lobby,
was a lawyer in Bombay who convassed support for
Kashmir militants, Aligarh Muslim University
provided a strong cell to coordinate Kashmir
insurgency. This lobby tried to make use of old
Swatantrite line of supporting independent
Kashmir. Swatantrites had pro-British links and
had established rapport with the Americans also.
Through the Bombay lawyer, JRD Tata. the big
Indian industrialist was approached to convene a
secret seminar at Hotel Taj in Bombay on June 15
and 16, 1990. The title of the seminar was
"Kashmir: the need for a bold
initiative." Many controversial
personalities attended. Its proceedings were
never disclosed. Its resolution recommended total
regional autonomy leaving only defence, foreign
affairs and communication with the Union. If
Kashmiris did not agree, they were allowed to
secede. Rustumjee had criticized the government
for its violation of human rights in Kashmir.
Nobody spoke about the extirpation of three
hundred thousand Kashmir Pandits. JRD Tata was
awarded Bharat Ratna, the highest civil award in
the country.
b) The
Initiative on Kashmir Committee
Naxalites have been vociferous in pleading
human rights violations in Kashmir. An active
Naxalite heads initiative on Kashmir Committee.
Some ultra left groups call for secession of
Kashmir. It promotes separation of Kashmir in its
weekly from Bombay titled Economic and Political
Weekly. It has been lionizing terrorism in India
and giving hospitality of its columns to
secessionists. Its special correspondents call
the concern of the Indians for the Kashmiri
internally displaced persons as
"jingoism" The weekly has been working
hard for disinformation in regard to Kashmir
situation.
The question is
why do these left groups, which profess and
advocate their belief in secular socialist
revolution and working class solidarity go on
canvassing support for the insurgency movement in
Kashmir? Is it because they consider it a
disputed territory and can be separated from
India? Among so-called human rights workers are
Sarvodaya workers, the Royists and the Naxalites
under one garb or the other. The Aligarh cell is
in regular contact with them and the Muslim
communal politicians in India.
American
Perception
Prior to the implosion of the Soviet Union,
Americans concern was about the containment of
communism. To further its strategy, she exploited
religious sentiment of the Muslims freely.
America was never reconciled to non-aligned
movement, as that would neutralize the Muslim
support. Pakistan suits the US for specific role
in the region and even globally. However after
the Soviet implosion situation has changed.
America has no commitment to fight Islamic
fundamentalism as part of the new world order
based on what they call pluralism, democracy and
human rights. Expediency decides her priorities.
Anglo-American group has two priorities in
Kashmir. One is keeping a regional conflict alive
albeit below its flash-point level and the second
to carve one more Muslim segment on the Indian
sub-continent complementary to their sphere of
influence. China and Central Asia are two regions
not far away from Kashmir. Some American
lawmakers like Mr. Dan Burton are critical of
India's human rights record in Kashmir. So is
Lord Avebury in U.K. Asia Watch and Amnesty
International have not shown concern about
terrorism imposed by the militant outfits on
Indian civil society. By linking aid with elusive
human rights issue, a challenge is posed to the
developing countries. Asia Watch and Amnesty are
somehow linked with anti-India lobbies.
On disclosures
made by the sections of press about Iran's
involvement in Kashmir uprising, the US looked
with some concern at Islamic Fundamentalist
Kashmir. It is interesting to note that
personalities like Senator Cranston and Talbot
took special interest to warn India about the
implications of Iranian involvement in the
imbroglio but not on Saudi role. American experts
have been talking about things like "shared
sovereignty." British MPs, like Lord Avebury
and Kauffman, are openly supporting the idea of
the "Third Option," and Anglo-American
lobby is even pressing the Pakistani
civilian-military leadership to agree to the
Third Option.
Track II
diplomacy
Endless debates are held in European
countries and the U.S. on Kashmir issue. The joke
is that Kashmir has become an industry. Kathwari
floated his plan during Clinton administration.
The general belief is that the U.S. think-tank,
giving it different names like People to People
Contact or Neemrana Talks, floats these and other
plans. But does anybody talk about the source of
armed insurgency, the fundamentalists-terrorist
dimension of insurgency and patently communal
slant of the movement? Participants shy away from
realities.
September 11
and aftermath
The US finally conceded that terrorists from
Pakistani soil infiltrated into Kashmir. In the
course of dealing with Pakistan in the matter of
containment of Al Qaeda and Taliban from
spreading into Pakistan, the US says she has
talked to Gen. Musharraf that cross border
infiltration should be stopped. General
Musharraf, in turn said he had made no such
commitment. In the meanwhile Indian part of the
State has gone in for polls, which the militants
tried to disrupt. The Hurriyat boycotted
elections. Three towns showed poor turnout but in
rural areas, nearly 48 to 50 per cent turnout of
voters was reported. Fractured verdict resulted
in the coalition government headed by the PDP
chief with a 30-point common minimum programme.
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