Kashmir Struggle Enters New Phase
EDITOR DR NOOR UL HAQ
PREFACE
On October 27, 1947, after the independence of South Asia from British
colonial occupation on August14/15, 1947, the British Governor-General of
India, Lord Mountatten ordered the British Commander of the Indian armed
forces on the basis of a hastily concluded controversial Accession Instrument,
to airlift Indian troops to Srinagar. As a counter measure, when the Governor-
General of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah issued similar instructions to the
British Commander of Pakistan’s armed forces, on the basis of an existing
non-controversial Stand-still Agreement, he declined to obey the orders.
On October 31, 1947, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of
India telegrammed to Liaquat Ali Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan: “Our
assurance that we shall withdraw our troops from Kashmir as soon as peace
and order is restored and leave the decision regarding the future of the state to the people of the state is not merely a promise to your government but also to the people of Kashmir but to the world. We will not and cannot back out of it.”The UN Security Council discussed the question from January 1948
onwards and decided that the question of accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be decided through the democratic method of a free and
impartial plebiscite under UN auspices.
It is now more than six decades that the promises made to the people
of Jammu and Kashmir have not been honoured. The recurrent elections held
in the state by the Indian government cannot be a substitute for the “free and impartial plebiscite”. The people of the state have been demanding their birth right since 1947. Since 2004, Pakistan and India have been grappling with the Kashmir issue, but in vain. The main drawback is that neither the UN nor the people of Kashmir are being included in the dialogue for resolution of the dispute. Currently, since June last, the uprising which has entered a new phase of peaceful defiance by the people is, as usual, being suppressed by the overwhelming might of the Indian armed forces.
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