J&K Accord, Article 370 Package and Elections

Chaman Lal Gadoo 

We, the Kashmiri Hindus, have completed six years in exile under the shadow of near extinction. A systematic disinformation campaign has characterised the flow of events and reportage about the real events in Jammu and Kashmir. Much of what has actually happened in Kashmir, right from 1947, has either been deliberately concealed or distorted to suit the interests of the powers that were in authority, in the State as well as at the Centre, from time to time. About the present war of attrition as well, a widespread disinformation campaign has been in process, which in effect has provided cover to the terrorist depredations in Jammu and Kashmir State, rather than helped to give right and correct information about the ground realities there.

 

The partition plan, envisaged by the June 3, 1947 Declaration, did not apply to the Indian States. Therefore, the claim made by Pakistan to complete the partition, by forcing India to cede the Muslim majority State of Jammu and Kashmir to it, has no historical or political relevance. Neither Pakistan nor India laid any claim to any princely state on account of the partition, which was strictly limited to the agreement between the British, the Congress and the Muslim League to divide the boundaries of the British India and create the State of Pakistan. To grab Jammu and Kashmir by force, Pakistan sent thousands of armed tribesmen and irregulars, led by the crack Tochi Scouts, who stormed into the State, spreading death and devastation. The ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, in the face of havoc which the invaders wrought to the State, acceded to the Indian Dominion in October 1947.

 

Let there be no misunderstanding about the true import of the Islamic Jehad in Kashmir. Let us understand clearly that terrorism in Kashmir is in no way related to the so-called "alienation" of Muslims or their social and political isolation from the national mainstream or the economic deprivations, which it is alleged, they were subjected to.

 

I would like to be bluntly frank about one basic feature of terrorism in Kashmir which has been concealed by the Government of India as well as by the Government of the State, and about which I believe the people of India need to be educated properly. In the first place, the hard reality of the Muslim Jehad in Kashmir is that it is carried on by a majority of the Muslim population in the State, barring the Gujjars and Shia Muslims, who have refused to cooperate with it. Secondly, the Muslim Jehad is as much carried on by the Sunni Muslims of the State as much as by Pakistan. Thirdly, the Muslim Jehad has strong support in several Muslim countries and some of the Western powers, which are seeking to use Muslim fundamentalism to serve their national interests. I want to make it absolutely clear, whatever damage it might cause to the so-called secularism in India, that Muslims of Kashmir have always enjoyed the freedom and also encouragement from the State Government as well as the Government of India to promote communalism, secessionism and terrorism of various types. The separate constitution for Jammu and Kashmir envisaged by Article 370, symbolised the Muslim separatism and virtually brought about the enslavement of the Hindus and the other minorities of the State.

 

The Indian Government and so-called secular leadership in India have conceded valuable ground to the Muslim secessionist forces inside the State as well as at the national level. The so-called political process has now been widened by the Congress leaders to virtually separate the State from the Indian constitutional set-up in terms of pre-1953 status. Any such move will obviously be the first step towards the disengagement of the State from India.

 

The direct impact of the terrorist violence has been borne by the Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir. After having exterminated the Hindus in Kashmir, the Muslim Jehad has mounted a heavy offensive against the Hindus in the Jammu province. The Doda district has been ravaged by the terrorist violence. The administration in the district has virtually collapsed and the Hindus are killed and their women abducted in broad daylight. A steady exodus of Hindus from the Muslim majority regions of the Jammu province is in progress. In Jammu scores of people have lost their lives due to a series of powerful bomb explosions. The attempt evidently is to paralyse the administration of Jammu and provide an opportunity to the terrorist elements to extend their operations to the whole of the province.

 

Though Kashmiri Hindus firmly believe in the democratic process which would ultimately lead to peaceful solution of the Kashmir problem, the manner and the undue haste in which the Government of India announced elections made the whole exercise meaningless and farcical.

 

India needs a radical change, a shift from its dependence on Muslim communalism at the national level as well as at the international level. The present set up with its ideological commitment to Muslim communalism for power must be put an end to if India, its secular character and its democracy have to survive. The time has come for the initiation of united Hindu movements to save this country from disintegration. If Muslim Jehad succeeds in Kashmir, India will disintegrate.

 

Our worst experience has been with most of the political parties in India, which have indirectly played the same game of promoting Muslim separatism to serve their political ends. Most of these parties sought to present Kashmir on a platter to the fundamentalist and separatist forces.

 

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Courtesy:- C L Gadoo and February 1996 Koshur Samachar