11041958 .112 Letter dated 11 April 1958 from the representative of Pakistan Agha Shahi to the President of the Security Council. I have been directed by my Government to draw the
11041958 .112 Letter dated 11 April 1958 from the representative of Pakistan Agha Shahi to the President of the Security Council. I have been directed by my Government to draw the
attention of the Security Council to the reign of terror that has lately been let loose by the so-called Government of Indian occupied Kashmir with the approval and support of the Government of India, ostensibly to maintain law and order, but in reality to crush the growing demand of the people for a free and impartial plebiscite in the State.
Ever since Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah's release from Kud Jail after four years and five months' detention without trial, illegal and unconstitutional steps have been and are being taken by the administration to terrorize his supporters who are not prepared to accept the alleged accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India as valid, final or irrevocable. This campaign of terror is being carried out through members of Hindu and Sikh militant organizations who are actively assisted by the State militia, the so called Peace Brigade, which in fact, is a notorious terrorist organization, and by contingents of the Central Reserve Police Force. Sheikh Abdullah himself has been receiving threats to his life and property from these elements. Speeches have been made by the Indian Home Minister, Pandit Pant, and the Defence Minister, Mr. Krishna Menon, and some other prominent Indian leaders declaring any person in the State of Jammu and Kashmir who challenges the State's accession to India to be guilty of treason. In this way, the State Government has been encouraged to resort to violence and outrage.
The number of those arrested is reported to run into thousands. The entire Organizing Committee of the Kashmir Political Conference comprising forty members, with the exception of three, who have been exiled, has been imprisoned. Six of its presidents are also in jail. As many as five presidents of the Plebiscite Front, together with its entire executive body, are under detention. The names of some of the prominent persons amongst those arrested are as follows:
(1) Khwaja Ghulam Qadar, former member of the Indian Parliament.
(2) Maulvi Mohammad Saeed Masoodi, former member of the Indian Parliament.
(3) Soofi Mohammad Akbar, President, Plebiscite Front. (4) Ghulam Mony-ud-Din Hamdani, General Secretary, Plebiscite Front.
(5) Nizamuddin Bondey, Secretary, Plebiscite Front.
(6) Ghulam Hassan Kant, Secretary, Plebiscite Front.
(7) Ghulam Rasul Karra, brother of Ghulam Mohyud din Karra, President of the Kashmir Political Conference.
(8) Ali Mohammad, member of the Kashmir Political Conference.
(9) Ghulam Mohammad Butt, member of the Plebiscite Front.
(10) Ghulam Rasool Kochak. Amin.
(11) Khwaja Mohammad
(12) Habibullah Illahi.
(14) Abdul Hameed of Shopian.
(14) Mirza Ghulam Qadir Beg.
(15) Pir Maqbool Yalgami.
(16) Kwaja Ali Shah.
(17) Sadarud Din Mujahid.
(18) Khwaja Abdullah Loan.
(19) Khwaja Babibullah Zargar.
(20) Sheikh Mohammad Mansoor.
(21) Ghulam Hassan Ali.
(22) Ghulam Rasool, President, Mohalla Sayar (who has since succumbed to the injuries received at the hands of National Conference hoodlums).
(23) Pandit Raghu Nath Vishnavi, a prominent Hindu leader and Secretary of the People's Defence and Relief Committee for the victims of the Hazratbal clash.
The press has been completely muzzled in order to make it impossible to publish any criticism of the Government's policy in the local or foreign press. Any person raising his voice against the Government is treated as a public enemy and is severely punished Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code and rule 50 of the Defence Rules have been imposed in Srinagar, Islamabad, Baramulla and other parts of the Valley of Kashmir, prohibiting the holding of public meetings, the taking out of processions, and the assembling of five or more persons in public places. There being a monopoly of procurement and distribution in the hands of the administration and its agents, a food scarcity has been created to destroy the morale of the populace and thus to act as a deterrent to those who may oppose the Government's policy.
In short, life in Indian-occupied Kashmir has become a nightmare. In sheer desperation, the people have launched a civil disobedience movement and have offered themselves for arrest by defying the bans placed on civil liberties. number of hunger-stricken people are crossing over into the A large Azad Kashmir territory, bringing reports of all kinds of excesses and atrocities perpetrated on the civil population. These reports cannot but inflame feelings in Pakistan. The situation has thus become even more dangerous and constitutes an aggravated threat to the peace and security of the area unless the puppet Bakhshi regime, which is acting under instructions of the Government of India, puts an end to its tactics of terror.
It will, no doubt, be appreciated that the conditions at present obtaining in the India-held part of Jammu and Kashmir clearly violate the resolution adopted by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan on 5 January 1949 (S/1196, para, 15), which, inter alia, provides that no restrictions will be placed on legitimate political activity throughout the State, that all subjects of the State, regardless of creed, caste or party, shall be safe and free in expressing their views and that there shall be freedom of the press, speech and assembly; that political prisoners will be released; that minorities in all parts of the State will be accorded adequate protection, and that there will be no victimization. Also, the Security Council resolution of 2 December 1957 (S/3922) has been violated, as it enjoins both the Governments of India and Pakistan to refrain from making any statements and from doing or causing to be done or permitting any acts which might aggravate the situation, and further calls upon them to appeal to their respective peoples to assist in creating and maintaining an atmosphere favourable to the promotion of further negotiations.
It is requested that this letter may be circulated among the members of the Security Council. The Government of Pakistan reserves to themselves the right to ask that suitable action be taken to prevent these atrocities and to restore civil liberties in that part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir which is under the occupation of the Indian army.
(Signed) Agha Shahi Acting Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations (Source; UN Document No. S/3987)