Azad Jammu & Kashmir 29

Refugees settled in Pakistan 12

Ladies 05

Ulama and Mushaikh 01

Overseas Kashmiris 01

Technocrats 01

Total 49
Legislative Assembly comprises of 49 members out of which 41 are directly elected
and 8 are indirectly elected. This Assembly comprises of 49 members and the
distribution of seats is as under:

Azad Kashmir is divided into three divisions (Muzaffarabad, Mirpur & Poonch) and
eight administrative districts with Muzaffarabad as the capital of the state. The
Muzaffarabad Division comprises of Muzaffarabad and Neelum, Rawalakot Division
comprises of Bagh, Poonch & Sudhnuti districts whereas districts of Mirpur Division
are Mirpur, Kotli & Bhimber. These eight districts are further divided into 27
subdivisions. The people's participation in the political and socio economic
development is ensured through the elected institutions of the AJK Legislative
Assembly comprising 41 directly and 8 indirectly elected members and the AJK
Council with six elected members.
Administrative Setup

Administrative Setup

Divisions 03

Districts 10

Sub Divisions 27

Thana / Police Stations 43

Development Authority 05

Markaz Council 31

Dehs Village 1654

Municipal Committees 11

Municipal Corporation 02

Union Councils 189

District, Subdivision, Union Council & Village Wise
District Subdivisions Union Councils Villages

Muzaffarabad 4 38 538

Neelum 2 09 84

Bagh 4 27 196

Poonch 4 25 115

Sudhnuti 4 12 60

Kotli 4 38 227

Mirpur 2 22 227

Bhimber 3 18 207

Total 27 189 1654

Road Length (KMs)

Year Metalled Fair-Weather Road Density Total

1947 100 165 -- 265
2008 5983.49 6119.50 0.45 12103.44

Kashmir issue

The Kashmir dispute is the oldest unresolved international dispute in the world
today. Pakistan considers Kashmir as its core political dispute with India. So does
the international community, except India. The exchange of fire between their
forces across the Line of Control, which separates Azad Kashmir from Occupied
Kashmir, is a routine affair. Now that both India and Pakistan have acquired nuclear
weapons potential, the possibility of a third war between them over Kashmir, which
may involve the use of nuclear weapons, cannot be ruled out. Kashmir may be a
cause to a likely nuclear disaster in South Asia, which should be averted with an
intervention by the international community. Such an intervention is urgently
required to put an end to Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir and prepare the
ground for the implementation of UN resolutions, which call for the holding of a
plebiscite to determine the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
Cause of the Kashmir Dispute
India’s forcible occupation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 is the main
cause of the dispute. India claims to have ‘signed’ a controversial document, the
Instrument of Accession, on 26 October 1947 with the Maharaja of Kashmir, in
which the Maharaja obtained India’s military help against popular insurgency. The
people of Kashmir and Pakistan do not accept the Indian claim. There are doubts
about the very existence of the Instrument of Accession. The United Nations also
does not consider Indian claim as legally valid: it recognizes Kashmir as a disputed
territory. Except India, the entire world community recognizes Kashmir as a
disputed territory. The fact is that all the principles on the basis of which the Indian
subcontinent was partitioned by the British in 1947 justify Kashmir becoming a part
of Pakistan: the State had majority Muslim population, and it not only enjoyed
geographical proximity with Pakistan but also had essential economic linkages with
the territories constituting Pakistan.
History of the Dispute
The State of Jammu and Kashmir has historically remained independent,except in
the anarchical conditions of the late 18th and first half of the 19th century, or when
incorporated in the vast empires set up by the Mauryas (3rd century BC), the
Mughals (16th to 18th century) and the British (mid-19th to mid-20th century). All
these empires included not only present-day India and Pakistan but some other
countries of the region as well. Until 1846, Kashmir was part of the Sikh empire. In
that year, the British defeated the Sikhs and sold Kashmir to Gulab Singh of Jammu
for Rs. 7.5 million under the Treaty of Amritsar. Gulab Singh, the Maharaja, signed a
separate treaty with the British, which gave him the status of an independent
princely ruler of Kashmir. Gulab Singh died in 1857 and was replaced by Rambir
Singh (1857-1885). Two other Maharajas, Partab Singh (1885-1925) and Hari Singh
(1925-1949) ruled in succession.

Gulab Singh and his successors ruled Kashmir in a tyrannical and repressive way.
The people of Kashmir, nearly 80 per cent of who were Muslims, rose against
Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule. He ruthlessly crushed a mass uprising in 1931. In 1932,
Sheikh Abdullah formed Kashmir’s first political party the All Jammu & Kashmir
Muslim Conference (renamed as National Conference in 1939). In 1934, the
Maharaja gave way and allowed limited democracy in the form of a Legislative
Assembly. However, unease with the Maharaja’s rule continued. According to the
instruments of partition of India, the rulers of princely states were given the choice
to freely accede to either India or Pakistan, or to remain independent. They were,
however, advised to accede to the contiguous dominion, taking into consideration
the geographical and ethnic issues.
In Kashmir, however, the Maharaja hesitated. The principally Muslim population,
having seen the early and covert arrival of Indian troops, rebelled and things got out
of the Maharaja’s hands. The people of Kashmir were demanding to join Pakistan.
The Maharaja, fearing tribal warfare, eventually gave way to the Indian pressure
and agreed to join India by, as India claims, ‘signing’ the controversial Instrument of
Accession on 26 October 1947. Kashmir was provisionally accepted into the Indian
Union pending a free and impartial plebiscite. This was spelled out in a letter from
the Governor General of India, Lord Mountbatten, to the Maharaja on 27 October
1947. In the letter, accepting the accession, Mountbatten made it clear that the
State would only be incorporated into the Indian Union after a reference had been
made to the people of Kashmir. Having accepted the principle of a plebiscite, India
has since obstructed all attempts at holding a plebiscite.
In 1947, India and Pakistan went to war over Kashmir. During the war, it was India,
which first took the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations on 1 January 1948 The
following year, on 1 January 1949, the UN helped enforce ceasefire between the two
countries. The ceasefire line is called the Line of Control. It was an outcome of a
mutual consent by India and Pakistan that the UN Security Council (UNSC) and UN
Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) passed several resolutions in years
following the 1947-48 war. The UNSC Resolution of 21 April 1948 one of the
principal UN resolutions on Kashmir stated that “both India and Pakistan desire that
the question of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan should be
decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite”.
Subsequent UNSC Resolutions reiterated the same stand. UNCIP Resolutions of 3
August 1948 and 5 January 1949 reinforced UNSC resolutions.
Nehru’s Betrayal
India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made a pledge to resolve the Kashmir
dispute in accordance with these resolutions. The sole criteria to settle the issue, he
said, would be the “wishes of the Kashmir people”. A pledge that Prime Minister
Nehru started violating soon after the UN resolutions was passed. The Article 370,
which gave ‘special status’ to ‘Jammu and Kashmir’, was inserted in the Indian
constitution. The ‘Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly’ was created on 5
November 1951. Prime Minister Nehru also signed the Delhi Agreement with the
then ‘ruler’ of the disputed State, Sheikh Abdullah, which incorporated Article 370.
In 1957, the disputed State was incorporated into the Indian Union under a new
Constitution. This was done in direct contravention of resolutions of the UNSC and
UNCIP and the conditions of the controversial Instrument of Accession. The puppet
‘State’ government of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed rushed through the constitutional
provision and the people of Kashmir were not consulted.
In 1965, In 1965, India and Pakistan once again went to war over Kashmir. A cease-
fire was established in September 1965. Indian Prime Minister Lal Bhadur Shastri
and Pakistani President Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Declaration on 1 January
1966. They resolved to try to end the dispute by peaceful means. Although Kashmir
was not the cause of 1971 war between the two countries, a limited war did occur
on the Kashmir front in December 1971. The 1971 war was followed by the signing
of the Simla Accord, under which India and Pakistan are obliged to resolve the
dispute through bilateral talks. Until the early 1997, India never bothered to discuss
Kashmir with Pakistan even bilaterally. The direct foreign-secretaries-level talks
between the two countries did resume in the start of the 1990s; but, in 1994, they
collapsed. This happened because India was not ready even to accept Kashmir a
dispute as such, contrary to what the Tashkent Declaration and the Simla Accord
had recommended and what the UNSC and UNCIP in their resolutions had stated.
The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, after coming to power in February
1997, took the initiative of resuming the foreign secretaries-level talks with India.
The process resumed in March 1997 in New Delhi. At the second round of these
talks in June 1997 in Islamabad, India and Pakistan agreed to constitute a Joint
Working Group on Kashmir.But soon after the talks, India backtracked from the
agreement, the same way as Prime Minister Nehru had done back in the 1950s by
violating his own pledge regarding the implementation of UN resolutions seeking
Kashmir settlement according to, as Mr. Nehru himself described, “the wishes of the
Kashmiri people.”
The third round of India-Pakistan foreign secretaries-level talks was held in New
Delhi in September 1997, but no progress was achieved as India continued dithering
on the question of forming a Joint Working Group on Kashmir. The Hindu nationalist
government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpaee is neither ready to accept any
international mediation on Kashmir, nor is it prepared to seriously negotiate the
issue bilaterally with Pakistan. Popular uprising since 1989, the situation in
Occupied Kashmir has undergone a qualitative change. In that year, disappointed
by decades-old indifference of the world community towards their just cause and
threatened by growing Indian state suppression, the Kashmiri Muslim people rose in
revolt against India. A popular uprising that has gained momentum with every
passing day unlike the previous two popular uprisings by Kashmiris (1947-48, first
against Dogra rule and then against Indian occupation; and 1963, against Indian
rule, triggered by the disappearance of Holy relic), which were of a limited scale.
The initial Indian response to the 1989 Kashmiri uprising was the imposition of
Governor’s Rule in the disputed State in 1990, which was done after dissolving the
government of Farooq Abdullah, the son of Sheikh Abdullah. From July 1990 to
October 1996, the occupied State remained under direct Indian presidential rule. In
September 1996, India stage-managed ‘State Assembly’ elections in Occupied
Kashmir, and Farooq Abdullah assumed power in October 1996. Since then, the
situation in the occupied territories has further deteriorated. Not only has the Indian
military presence in the disputed land increased fundamentally, the reported
incidents of killing, rape, loot and plunder of its people by Indian security forces
have also quadrupled.
To crush the Kashmiri freedom movement, India has employed various means of
state terrorism, including a number of draconian laws, massive counter-insurgency
operations, and other oppressive measures. The draconian laws, besides several
others, include the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990;
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA), 1990; the Jammu & Kashmir Public
Safety Act, 1978 (amended in 1990); and the Jammu & Kashmir Disturbed Areas
Act, 1990.
Most Densely Soldiered Territory
The Indian troops-to-Kashmiri people ratio in the occupied Kashmir is the largest
ever soldiers-to-civilians ratio in the world. There are approximately 600,000 Indian
military forces including regular army, para-military troops, border security force
and police currently deployed in the occupied Kashmir. This is in addition to
thousands of “counter-militants” the civilians hired by the Indian forces to crush the
uprising. Since the start of popular uprising, the Indian occupation forces have killed
thousands of innocent Kashmir people. There are various estimates of these killings.
According to government of India estimates, the number of persons killed in
Occupied Kashmir between 1989 and 1996 was 15,002.
Other Indian leaders have stated a much higher figure. For instance, former Home
Minister Mohammad Maqbool Dar said nearly 40,000 people were killed in the
Valley “over the past seven years.” Farooq Abdullah’s 1996 statement estimated
50,000 killings “since the beginning of the uprising.” The All-Parties Hurriyat
Conference (APHC)-which is a representative body of over a dozen Kashmiri
freedom fighters’ organizations also cites the same number. Estimates of world
news agencies and international human rights organizations are over 20,000 killed.

Indian human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir include indiscriminate killings

and mass murders, torturing and extra judicial executions, and destruction of
business and residential properties, molesting and raping women. These have been
extensively documented by Amnesty International, US Human Rights Watch Asia,
and Physicians for Human Rights, International Commission of Jurists (Geneva),
Contact Group on Kashmir of the Organization of Islamic Countries and, in India, by
Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, the Coordination Committee on Kashmir, and the
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples’ Basic Rights Protection Committee. Despite repeated
requests over the years by world human rights organizations such as the Amnesty
International, the Indian government has not permitted them any access to
occupied territories. In 1997, it even refused the United Nations representatives
permission to visit there.
Settling the Kashmir Issue
For decades, India has defied with impunity all the UN resolutions on Kashmir, which
call for the holding of a “free and fair” plebiscite under UN supervision to determine
the wishes of the Kashmiri people. Not just this. A massive Indian military campaign
has been on, especially since the start of the popular Kashmiri uprising in 1989, to
usurp the basic rights of the Kashmiri people. Killing, torture, rape and other
inhuman practices by nearly 600,000 Indian soldiers are a norm of the day in
Occupied Kashmir. The Kashmir problem will be solved the moment international
community decides to intervene in the matter to put an end to Indian state
terrorism in Occupied Kashmir and to implement UN resolutions.

These resolutions recommend demilitarization of Kashmir (through withdrawal of all

outside forces), followed immediately by a plebiscite under UN supervision to
determine the future status of Kashmir. The intervention of the international
community is all the more necessary, given the consistent Indian opposition to both
bilateral and multilateral options to settle the Kashmir issue. Such an intervention is
also urgently required to stop the ever-growing Indian brutalities against the
innocent Muslim people of Kashmir, who have been long denied their just right to
self-determination.
Averting a Nuclear Disaster
If the world community failed to realize the gravity of the Kashmir problem now,
there is the very likelihood of Kashmir once again becoming the cause of another
war between India and Pakistan. And, since both the countries have acquired overt
nuclear weapons potential, and since India led by Hindu nationalists has clearly
shown its aggressive intentions towards Kashmir after declaring itself a nuclear
state, a third India-Pakistan war over Kashmir is a possibility, a war that may result
in a South Asian nuclear catastrophe. The world community, therefore, has all the
reasons for settling Kashmir, the core unresolved political dispute between
Islamabad and New Delhi.
Like many other international disputes, the Kashmir issue remained a victim of
world power politics during the Cold War period. When the dispute was first brought
to the UN, the Security Council, with a firm backing of the United Sates, stressed the
settlement of the issue through plebiscite. Initially, the Soviet Union did not dissent
from it. Later, however, because of its ideological rivalry with the United States, it
blocked every Resolution of the UN Security Council calling for implementation of
the settlement plan. In the post-Cold War period when cooperation not dispute is
the fast emerging norm of international politics, a factor that has helped resolve
some other regional disputes the absence of any credible international mediation on
Kashmir contradicts the very spirit of the times.An India-Pakistan nuclear war over
Kashmir? Or a settlement of the Kashmir issue, which may eventually pave the way
for setting up a credible global nuclear arms control and non-proliferation regimes?
The choice is with the world community, especially the principal players of the
international system.
Jinnah and Kashmir
The Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah thanked the National Conference
leadership for the right royal reception given to him but at the same time said that
it was not a reception for his person, but to the All India Muslim League, the party of
ten crore Muslims of India of which he was President. This annoyed the Hindu leader
so much that he left the stage in distress. According to Mr. Justice Yusuf Saraf,
author of "Kashmiris Fight for Freedom" the Quaid-e-Azam and his wife seemed to
have had visited Kashmir for the first time before 1929. Though this visit was
private in nature, yet as a great Muslim leader he felt concerned at the appalling
conditions of the Kashmiris at that time too.
The second visit of the Quaid-e-Azam was in 1936 during which he hinted to his first
visit, saying that he had visited Kashmir ten years earlier too. In 1936 the Quaid-e-
Azam addressed a meeting held in connection with Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of
the Holy Prophet (SAW) at the Mujahid Manzil, Srinagar. The Muslim Conference (at
that point of time was led by Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas and Sheikh Abdullah) in
welcome address to Jinnah appreciated his role as lover of Hindu-Muslim unity. Mr.
Jinnah reciprocated the sentiments and said that the Muslims were in majority in
Kashmir but it was their duty to ensure that the minority community that is, the
Hindus of Kashmir would get justice and fair play at the hands of the majority
community of Kashmir.
Mr.Jinnah, who was once proclaimed as ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, had
been disillusioned by that time and in his speech regretted that some of the leaders
of the majority community in British India had not been able to give such an
assurance to the Muslim minority. That showed that the Quaid-e-Azam was not
satisfied with the concept of Hindu-Muslim unity in British India.
The Muslim Conference, which represented the Muslims of the State 1936, was
converted into National Conference in 1939 as its leaders had come under the
influence of Nehru. Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas, who had joined hand with Sheikh
Abdullah in 1939 to found National Conference, realized his mistake within three
years. He returned to the Muslim Conference, which had been revived by 14 other
leaders from Jammu and Kashmir. Soon many others joined the revived Muslim
Conference and once again it became a force to reckon with.

The main and the last visit of the Quaid-e-Azam to the State of Jammu and Kashmir
took place in 1944. During this visit he attended a reception by the National
Conference headed by Sheikh Abdullah. Sheikh Abdullah had thought that with the
help of Dogra administration and the active and crafty Hindus he would suppress
the pro-Muslim League elements in the State and assure Mr. Jinnah that the
Kashmiris, Hindus as well as Muslims, were believers in One Nation Theory of the
Congress. A Hindu nationalist Jialal Kilam presented the address of welcome to the
Quaid-e-Azam. The Quaid-e-Azam thanked the National Conference leadership for
the right royal reception given to him but at the same time said that it was not a
reception for his person, but to the All India Muslim League, the party of ten crore
Muslims of India of which he was President. This annoyed the Hindu leader so much
that he left the stage in distress.One Voice With Kashmir
After the reception of the National Conference, the Quaid-e-Azam moved to
Dalgate, Srinagar where the reception of the Muslim Conference and Kashmir
Muslim Students Union was waiting for him. The Quaid spoke out his heart at this
reception. His clarion call was "Oh ye Muslims, Our Allah is one, our Prophet (SAW)
is one and our Quran is one, therefore, our voice and PARTY MUST BE ONE". In the
Muslim Conference annual session at Muslim Park, Jamia Masjid, Mr. Jinnah was
more explicit. He asked the Muslims of Kashmir to beware of the trap of secularism
and nationalism of the Congress brand.
The Quaid-e-Azam stayed in Kashmir for two months and a week, which showed his
inveterate interest in the affairs of Kashmir and his belief that Kashmir is a jugular
vein of Pakistan. While in Kashmir the Quaid-e-Azam also remained involved with All
India politics. The talks between him and Mohan Lal Karam Chand Ghandi were
initiated by C Rajagopalacharya when Jinnah was in Kashmir. During his stay in
Kashmir the Quaid-e-Azam created an atmosphere of understanding and support for
the Muslim Conference and by his departure the Whole State was resounding with
his slogans and that of Pakistan. The Quaid-e-Azam was a principled
constitutionalist and in his meetings he made it clear that the scheme of partition
pertained to British India and as regards the States some additional formula would
have to be envisaged.

Regarding Srinagar visit of the Quaid-e-Azam in 1944, Alastair Lamb says " M.A.
Jinnah, unlike Jawaharlal Nehru was extremely reluctant at this period of time to
involve himself directly (or the Muslim League which he headed) in the internal
affairs of the Princely State; such action would in his eyes have been
constitutionally improper. (Page 97 Kashmir Disputed Legacy). The Quaid-e-Azam’s
interest in Kashmir is evident from the fact that he explained the significance of the
name of Pakistan to Mountbatten on 17 May 1947 as follows:

"The derivation of the word Pakistan – P for Punjab; A for Afghan (i.e. Pathans
NWFP); K for Kashmir; I for nothing because that letter was not in the word in Urdu;
S for Sindh and Tan for the last syllable for Baluchistan".
This explanation of the Quaid-e-Azam is contained in the official publication in the
United Kingdom between 1980 and 1993 of the four final volumes of a selection of
British documents relating to the Transfer of Power in India. According to Transfer of
Power papers TEX No. 473 the whole word Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan then went on
to say, meant "Pure Land". The name Pakistan it seems was devised by Chaudhry
Rehmat Ali in 1933. Since then the K is the world always bore the same significance:
it referred to Kashmir.
Vital Links
The logic behind the partition of the Indian Empire into Muslim and non-Muslim
partition clearly suggested that Kashmir ought to go to Pakistan. Firstly: the state of
Jammu and Kashmir was a region with an overwhelming Muslim majority contiguous
to the Muslim majority region of Punjab, which became part of Pakistan.
Secondly: the economy of the State of Jammu and Kashmir was bound up with what
became Pakistan. Its best communication with the outside world lay through
Pakistan and this was the route taken by the bulk of its exports.
Third: The waters of the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab all of which flowed through
Jammu and Kashmir territory, were essential for the prosperity of Agriculture life of
Pakistan. From a strictly rational point of view, based on a study of culture and
economy of the region, there can be little doubt that a scheme for the Partition of
the Indian subcontinent as was devised in 1947 should have awarded the greater
part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan. Thus Jammu and Kashmir is
undoubtedly Jugular vein of Pakistan.
The Indus known in the subcontinent as ‘Sindh’ is 1800 miles long and is thus
amongst the principal rivers of the world. Rising in western Tibet at the height of
17000 feet, it cuts across the Laddakh range near Thangra and continues its
northwesterly course between it and Zanskar range for about 300 miles. Zanskar
River joins it about 12 miles west of Leh. Before it enters Hazara, it has already
traversed a distance of 812 miles. India has plans to divert the river at a proper
point.
The river Jhelum has its source in Verinag in southern Kashmir, at a height of nearly
6000 feet, where it begins in the shape of small stream but by the time it reaches
Baramula town, a distance of 102 miles it assumes the shape of a big river on
account of having joined by its more important tributaries Sindh and Lidder. The
towns of Islamabad, Srinagar, Sopore, Do-ab-gal, Baramula, Uri and Muzaffarabad
are towns at its bank in the State. The river passes through Woolar Lake where India
plans to construct a barrage, which if completed will starve Pakistan’s irrigated
Lands. By the time Jhelum reaches Mangla it has a vertical fall of 4000 feet, which
has been made use of by Pakistan by building a multiple purpose Dam Project.

Chanab descends from Lahole in the Chamba range of the Himalayas. It takes leave
of the mountains at Akhnoor in Jammu and Kashmir State. It enters Pakistan at
Khairi Rihal in Gujrat District. At Salal, a place 7 miles from Reasi India has
constructed a Dam. The Lake thus formed is being used not only for generation of
electricity but also for irrigation purpose, which would reduce the quantity of water
that flows in Pakistan. In times of War, it can be used to inundate large areas of
Land in Sialkot, Gujranwala and Sheikpura. Parts of its water stands already
diverted at Akhnoor to feed the Ranbir canal, which irrigates large areas in Jammu,
Sambha and Ranbirsinghpura.
Under the Indus Basin Treaty out of five rivers of the Punjab two rivers namely
Jhelum and Chanab came to Pakistan’s shared and three namely Ravi, Sutlej and
Beas went to India’s. But all the three Pakistan rivers (Indus included) either rise in
or traverse the State of Jammu and Kashmir and the agriculture of the Punjab and
Sindh to a great extent depends upon the melting snows of its mountains. The great
Mangla Dam, so important to the economy of Pakistan, lies in the territory, which
was once part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
The valleys of the major Kashmiri Rivers, now so vital to the economy of Pakistan
also provided until very recently the main lines of communications between the
state and the outside world. The road to Srinagar started at Rawalpindi and followed
the course of the Jhelum into the vale of Kashmir. The valley of upper Indus gave
access to the hill State of Gilgit region. The Line of the beds of the rivers which
created links between the western part of the Punjab (now Pakistan) and Kashmir
also made communications between eastern part of (India) and Kashmir extremely
difficult. The only road within the State of Jammu and Kashmir, for example, which
linked Jammu (the winter capital of the State) with Srinagar (the Jammu capital)
involves the crossing of Pir Panjal Range by means of Banihal Pass, over 9,000 feet
high and snow bound in winter the easiest route between Jammu and Srinagar lay
through west (Pakistan) Punjab by way of Sialkot and Rawalpindi at the moment of
Partition in 1947 there existed but one road from India to Jammu, by way of
Pathankot (which was again a tehsil of Gurdaspur District, a Muslim majority District
with Pathankot tehsil having marginal Hindu majority); and this was then of poorest
quality and much of it un-surfaced. Thus Kashmir has been described as the Jugular
vein of Pakistan.
Hindu Intrigues
Krishna Menon wrote a private letter to Mountbatten on 14 June 1947 warning him
with dire consequences for the future of Anglo-Indian relations, if the State of
Jammu and Kashmir were permitted to go to Pakistan. The gist of the argument
seemed to be that it might be perceived that British policy, while accepting
abandonment of India, was to make Pakistan, strengthened by accession of the
State of Jammu and Kashmir, into the eastern frontier of a British sphere of
influence in the Middle East. Such development would not be at all popular in the
newly independent India: and it might put at risk the extensive British interests
there. It was essential n Menon’s view that the State of Jammu and Kashmir be
brought within the Indian fold.
According to British Transfer of Power papers, Menon had asked Mountbatten not to
keep this letter; it had however survived among the Mountbatten papers. About the
same time Mountbatten requested Nehru to prepare a Note on Kashmir for him,
which Nehru did. Nehru in the Note said: "Kashmir is of first importance to us
because of the great strategic importance of the frontier state".
Nehru concluded: "If any attempt is made to put Kashmir into the Pakistan
constituent assembly there is likely to be much trouble because the National
Conference is not in favor of it and the Maharaja’s position would also become
difficult. The normal and obvious course appears to be for Kashmir to join the
constituent assembly of India. This will satisfy both the popular demand and
Maharaja’s wishes. It is absurd to think that Pakistan would create trouble, if this
happens.".
Mountbatten disliked the prospect of independence for the State of Jammu and
Kashmir after the Transfer of Power. While publicly declaring that Maharaja was
perfectly entitled to accede either to Pakistan or India, he personally favored a
solution where Maharaja left the decision to Sheikh Abdullah’s National Conference
as Nehru’s note suggested, Sheikh Abdullah would surely opt for India.
Sheikh Abdullah along with Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas was in prison. So the first
important thing was to get him released. For this Nehru himself was keen to go to
Kashmir. It was with great difficulty that Mountbatten was able to dissuade him on
the ground that Nehru must " really look to his duty to the Indian people as a whole.
There were four hundred million in India and only four million in Kashmir". It was
rather irresponsible of the future Prime Minister of India, Mountbatten observed, to
spend so much time on what was but one of the many grave problems confronting
him.
Mountbatten himself did visit Srinagar but was unable to persuade the Maharaja to
discuss serious matters. Alastair Lamb has however, interpreted the record on the
discussion as implying that the Maharaja would be well advised to join India if he
entertained any hope of retaining his position in the State. The Congress would
keep him on his throne. Mr. Jinnah and his Muslim League would make sure that his
subjects brought about his overthrow.
Jawaharlal Nehru, was however, disappointed that Mountbatten had been "unable to
solve the problem of Kashmir" for he observed, "that the problem would not be
solved until Sheikh Abdullah was released from the prison". It was eventually
agreed that Mohan Das Karam Chand Ghandi should go to Kashmir in Nehru’s place
to take up the "question of Sheikh Abdullah" and Mountbatten wrote to Maharaja to
pave the way.
Incidentally Ghandi’s visit was not the only visit to the Maharaja by leading
personalities of Indian side on the eve of the Transfer of Power. There were Kashmir
excursions by Acharya Kriplani, the then President of Congress and the Sikh rulers
of Patila, Kapurthala and Faridkot States of East Punjab which had decided to
accede to India. Kapurthala was of course, a State with a Muslim majority (at least
until the massacre that accompanied Partition) and a non-Muslim ruler. Jinnah
desired to visit Kashmir but Maharaja did not agree. There is no evidence of
consultation with Jinnah on Kashmir by Mountbatten as record shows with Nehru.
Mountbatten Bias
According to official British Transfer of Power papers Mountbatten had told the
Nawab of Bhopal and the Maharaja of Indore on 4 August 1947, the state of Jammu
and Kashmir was so placed geographically that it could join either dominion,
provided part of Gurdaspur District was put into East Punjab by the Boundary
Commission- in other words only by giving Gurdaspur to India, would the Maharaja
of Jammu and Kashmir be presented with a free chance; to give Gurdaspur to
Pakistan was effectively to guarantee that the State of Jammu and Kashmir would
sooner or later fall to that dominion.

The geographic and economic links between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan were
better than those with India, particularly if in the actual process of Partition the
Gurdaspur District of Punjab with Muslim majority were awarded to Pakistan. A
Pakistani Gurdaspur would mean that direct Indian land access to the State (which
was by no means ideal even across the Gurdaspur District) would have to be
through Kangra District of Punjab (now in Himachal) over extremely difficult terrain
provided foot hill of the Himalayas by either direct into Jammu or by way of
Pathankot tehsil of Gurdaspur District (where there was a small Hindus majority) if
that tehsil alone went to India; and all this would involve new roads which would
take considerable time to construct.
The theory of partition was that all Muslim Majority districts contiguous to the
Muslim core of Punjab would go to Pakistan. In the event, with the awarding of three
out of four tehsils of Gurdaspur District to East Punjab (that is to say the part of
Punjab, which was to be Indian) the accession to India of the State of Jammu and
Kashmir became a practical as opposed to theoretical, possibility. Because two of
these tehsils Batala and Gurdaspur, were with significant Muslim majorities (only
Pathankot tehsil then had a small Hindu majority) this award seemed to go against
the basic spirit of Partition; and the Gurdaspur decision has consequently been the
subject of a great deal of discussion. Mountbatten has been accused, particularly in
Pakistan, of deliberate intent to favor the interests of India over these of Pakistan.

Within Pakistan there has been a persistent consensus both among the elites and
the masses that the Boundary Commission led by Cyril Radcliffe in 1947 has been
responsible for most of the India-Pakistan discords with Kashmir leading the list.
Pakistanis have maintained all along that last minute changes were made in the
Boundary Award under manipulation by Mountbatten and their associates to suit
the Indian geo-strategic imperatives. The cession of Muslim majority areas in
Ferozepur and Gurdaspur areas (in former eastern Punjab) to India at the last
moment have always been perceived in terms of India’s long time designs on
Kashmir itself. Even long after Radcliffe’s Award, such question were raised not only
in Pakistani and British press but, as the contemporary classified official documents
reveal, inter-departmental concerns dogged the officials in British Foreign Office,
Commonwealth Relations Office and their High Commissions in South Asia. In a
luncheon meeting arranged by Mountbatten for Radcliffe and attended by Lord
Ismay, a close confidant of the Viceroy, drastic changes were made in the Boundary
Award. Rao Ayer, the Assistant Secretary to the Commission, the Maharaja of
Bikaner and V.P. Menon played a crucial role in influencing the British official
decisions at this juncture, denying Pakistan Muslim majority areas in Gurdaspur and
Ferozepur Districts Menon, to the knowledge of all, was the trusted confident of
Vallabhai Patel and enjoyed closer access to the viceroy whose personal
antagonism to Jinnah was publicly known. On Menon’s being confidant of the both
Patel and Mountbatten Chaudhry Mahamood Ali in his book Emergence of Pakistan,
has observed: "If a Muslim officer had been in V.P. Menon’s position was known to
maintain contact with Jinnah, no Viceroy could have tolerated it without laying
himself open to the charge of partisanship; in any case, the Congress would have
made it impossible for such an officer to continue in that position". This has also
been endorsed by Alan Cambell- Johnson in "Mission with Mountbatten".
A senior Muslim official himself had seen an early version of the map in Ismay’s
office in Delhi, which had shown those areas already within India, even before the
Award was made public. Radcliffe’s Secretary, Christopher Beaumont, in a detailed
expose in February 1992, has further provided first hand substance to such long-
held suspicion.
Radcliffe had prepared his Award about the distribution of territories of the Punjab
between India and Pakistan by 8 August 1947 by which tehsils of Ferozpur and Zira
were allotted to Pakistan. This was done on the basis of population ration –
Ferozepur with 55 percent Muslim and Zira with 65 Percent Muslim, but it was
Mountbatten’s support for a strong post-independence India against a weakened
Pakistan, which made Mountbatten to pressurize Radcliffe to give these two tehsils
to India so that India have access to Kashmir. British historian Andrew Roberts
comes to believe that "Mountbatten’s action over delaying the announcement of
Radcliffe Award after 9 August indicate of him guilty of the errant folly as well as
dishonesty". He pleads in his book that Mountbatten deserved to be court-
martialled on his return to London".
Pakistan Day Celebrated In Srinagar
Many Pakistanis, and not only the leaders like M.A. Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan,
once they appreciated the implications of the Award by Radcliffe Commission of the
three eastern tehsils of Gurdaspur District to India, felt profound sense of betrayal.
It was understandable that some of them should begin to contemplate unorthodox
and unofficial course of action.

While Poonch formally became an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir State in
1935-36, its Muslim inhabitants (some 380,000 out of a total 420,000) resented the
change and never reconciled themselves to being subjects of that State an attitude,
which was to be of great significance in 1947. Traditionally the people of Poonch
had little indeed to do with their neighbors in the vale of Kashmir across the Pir
Panjal Range, and even less with Jammu: their links had always been across the
Jhelum, particularly in the Hazara District of NWFP.

Large number of men from Poonch (mainly Sudhans from Sudhnuti tehsil) had
served in the British Indian army during the War; and Poonch men (Poonchis) also
constituted the strength of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces; in 1947 the Jagir
of Poonch may have contained as many as 60,000 ex-servicemen who could provide
a formidable nucleus for any resistance to the Maharaja. In June 1947 there began
in Poonch a "no tax" campaign which rapidly developed into a secessionist
movement from the state greatly reinforced throughout much of Poonch (and in
Srinagar as well) when on 14 and 15 August people tried to celebrate "Pakistan
Day" (which coincided with Kashmir Day which had been observed since 1931) in
defiance of Maharaja’s orders by displaying Pakistan flags and holding public
demonstrations. Martial Law was introduced. About two weeks after Transfer of
Power there were major clashes between the State Troops in this case and Poonch
crowds resulting in large number of casualties.
Standstill Agreement On 12 August 1947 the new Prime Minister of Jammu and
Kashmir State, Janak Singh proposed by telegram a Stand Still Agreement both with
Pakistan and India. Pakistan agreed on 15 August. India procrastinated, arguing that
the matter needed to be negotiated by an official from the State sent to Delhi. No
such official was dispatched for this purpose- no Standstill Agreement ever
concluded. The Indian response was certainly a departure from the procedure,
which Mountbatten had earlier indicated and it suggested that Indian policy after
Independence was going to set out in hitherto uncharted waters.

The Maharaja confronted with growing internal disorder (including a full scale
rebellion into the Poonch region of the State), sought Indian military help without, if
at all possible, surrendering his own independence. On 25 October 1947, before the
Kashmir crisis had fully developed and before Indian claims based on so-called
Maharaja’s accession to India (which is alleged to have had been signed on 26
October 1947) had been voiced, Nehru in a telegram to Attlee, the British Prime
Minister, declared that:
"I should like to make it clear that (the) question of aiding Kashmir... is not designed
in any way to influence the State to accede to India. Our view, which we have
repeatedly made public, is that (the) question of accession in any disputed territory
must be decided in accordance with the wishes of the people, and we adhere to this
view". An instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India is alleged to have
been signed by Maharaja on 26 October 1947 and the acceptance of this Instrument
was made by Governor General of India on 27 October 1947.

Another pair of documents consists of letter from the Maharaja to Mountbatten

dated 26 October, 1947 in which Indian military aid is sought in return for accession
to India (on terms stated in an allegedly enclosed Instrument) and the appointment
of Sheikh Abdullah to head the interim government of State; and a letter from
Mountbatten to the Maharaja dated 27 October, 1947 acknowledging the above and
noting that, once the affairs of the State have been settled and law and order is
restored "the question of the State’s accession should be settled by a reference to
the people".
Fake Instrument of Accession
The recent research based on the material in archives and sources as the memoirs
of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Prime Minister Jammu and Kashmir
at that time Mehar Chand Mahajan and the recently published correspondence of
Jawaharlal Nehru and V.P. Menon’s account (The Integration of Indian States) prove
beyond any shadow of doubt that these two documents (a) the Instrument of
accession and (b) the letter of the Maharaja to Mountbatten could not possibly have
been signed on 26 October 1947. By that time Maharaja had fled from the capital
and during October 26, 1947 he was traveling by road from Srinagar to Jammu. His
Prime Minister, M.C. Mahajan who was negotiating with government of India and
senior Indian official concerned in the State matter V.P. Menon were still in New
Delhi where their presence was noted by many observers. There was no
communication between New Delhi and the traveling maharaja. Menon and Mahajan
set out by air from New Delhi to Jammu at about IO A.M. on 27 October and the
Maharaja learned from them for the first time the result of his prime minister’s
negotiations in New Delhi in the early afternoon of that date. The earliest possible
time and date for their signature would have been the afternoon of 27 October
1947.

With regard to exchange of letters between Maharaja and Mountbatten, the former
seeking military aid and the latter acknowledging the same and promising
plebiscite, Alastair lamb says " It seems more than probable, both were drafted by
Government of India before being taken to Jammu on 27 October 1947 (by V.P.
Menon and Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister M.C. Maharan whose movements,
incidentally, are correctly reported in the London Times of 28 October, 1947) after
the arrival of Indian troops at Srinagar field. The case is very strong, therefore, that
the document i.e. Maharaja’s letter to Mountbatten was dictated to the Maharaja".
Government of India published two documents namely Maharaja’s letter and
Mountbatten’s reply on 28 October 1947. But the far more important document- the
alleged Instrument of Ascension was not published until many years later, if at all. It
was not communicated to Pakistan at the outset of overt Indian intervention in the
State of Jammu and Kashmir, nor was it presented in facsimile to the United Nations
in early 1948 as part of Indian reference to the Security Council. The 1948 White
Paper in which Government of India set out its formal case in respect to the State of
Jammu and Kashmir does not contain the Instrument of Accession as claimed to
have been signed by the Maharaja. Instead, it reproduces an unsigned form of
Accession such as, it is implied, the Maharaja might have signed.
Alastair Lamb writes: "To date no satisfactory original of this Instrument as signed
by the Maharaja has been produced; though a highly suspect version, complete with
the false date 26 October 1947, has been circulated by the Indian side since the
1960’s. On the present evidence it is by no means clear that the Maharaja ever did
sign an Instrument of Accession. There are, indeed, grounds for suspecting that he
did no such thing".
Indian Intervention & Pakistan's Response
Indian official intervention was decided on 26 October 1947 and a massive airlift
was immediately organized to fly two infantry battalions into Srinagar. Over 100
Dakota transport aircraft were assembled at various airfields around Delhi.
Obviously this airlift had to have been product of much planning which had been
started weeks before. There were surely contingency plans somewhere in the Indian
army. The operation in the State of Jammu and Kashmir presented grave logistical
problems particularly in winter. Publication of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
correspondence leaves one in no doubt whatsoever that he and his associates had
been involved in military planning about Kashmir for more than a month before the
operation which could have had hardly escaped the notice of senior British military
officers.

On the other hand, when, late on 27 October 1947 the Quaid-e-Azam instructed
Pakistani troops to go into the State of Jammu and Kashmir to try and restore order
he was frustrated by the acting Commander in Chief of Pakistan Army Lt. Gen. Sir
Douglas Gracey. By the same token, it would be seen that British Commanders on
the Indian side adopted Nelsoniasn approach to Indian preparations for intervention
in Kashmir.
Instead of carrying out orders of the Quaid-e-Azam Gracey telephone to the
Supreme Commander Field Marshal Auchinleck in Delhi for instructions. On this
Auchinleck flew to Lahore on 28 October. As a result of Auchinleck’s intervention
the Quaid-e-Azam invited Mountbatten and Nehru to Lahore the next day to discuss
Kashmir crisis. The invitation was accepted on telephone and departure of
Mountbatten and Nehru was announced in the afternoon of the same day but four
hours after the acceptance it was also declared that the trip had been cancelled.
This meeting was then fixed for 1 November 1947, which was also not attended by
Nehru. Mountbatten, however, came to Lahore on this appointed date. The Quaid-e-
Azam in his three and a half-hour meeting with Mountbatten argued "that the
accession was not bona fide, since it rested on violence and fraud and would thus
never be accepted by Pakistan".

Quaid-e-Azam impressed upon Mountbatten the need for arranging plebiscite in

Kashmir under the joint auspices of Governments of India and Pakistan, a proposal
to which Mountbatten showed agreement just to put before the Indian cabinet. Next
day Mountbatten flew to New Delhi from Lahore and placed the proposal before the
Indian cabinet. Nehru however, planned a different strategy. In a radio broadcast on
2 November 1947 Nehru declared that the Government of India " are prepared
when peace and order have been established in Kashmir to have a reference held
‘not under arrangements to be made by Government’s of India and Pakistan", (as
advised by the Quaid-e-Azam), but "under international auspices like the United
Nations".

The full Indian presentation was sent to the United Nations on 31 December and put
before the Security Council the next day. Since then the Kashmir dispute is on the
agenda of the United Nations. The world body has passed numerous resolutions
calling for holding UN supervised plebiscite to let the people of Jammu and Kashmir
decide their destiny. Both India and Pakistan had accepted the UN resolutions.
India’s founding father Nehru had pledged more than once not to go back on it "as a
great nation". Pakistan and people of Jammu and Kashmir State are demanding
implementation of these resolutions, which India claims to have become redundant
with the passage of time.
Mountbatten’s breach of trust and Nehru’s devious policy had an adverse effect on
the Quaid-e-Azam’s health. At the time of Partition he had been confident of
Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan because of its Muslim population and geographical
situation. At a public reception at Lahore the Quaid-e-Azam said: "We have been
victim of a deep-laid and well-planned plot executed with utter disregard for the
elementary principles of honesty, chivalry and honor".
Jugular Vein
In May 1948 the Quaid-e-Azam moved to Ziarat for rest where he remained under
medical treatment of a team of doctors including Dr. Riaz Ali Shah till his death in
September 1948. According to Dr. Riaz Ali Shah’s Diary (Publishing House, Bull Road
publication 1950) the Quaid-e-Azam was stated to have said, "Kashmir is the Jugular
vein of Pakistan and no nation or country would tolerate its Jugular vein remains
under the sword of the enemy".
Not only the Jugular vein of Pakistan but also that of Kashmiri community in
particular has been under the sword of the enemy for the last fifty years. In fact the
people of the Indian occupied Kashmir have been pushed to the wall to have this
realization. Those who supported the States accession to India or remained
indifferent at that time now stand disillusioned. The people of Kashmir particularly
the Muslim majority were gradually subjected to economic strangulation. In early
years India did pump huge funds for development of the occupied State to show to
the world that rapid economic progress was taking place in the area. Several
welfare schemes were launched including free education from primary and post-
graduate level. This gave temporary satisfaction to both classes of people namely
pro-accession and anti-accession. The former saw in it vindication of their stance.
The latter thanked Pakistan for keeping the Kashmir issue alive forcing India to
siphon more and more money to Kashmir.
Simultaneously with spending funds in the State of Jammu and Kashmir cultural and
economic onslaught was let loose in full swing. Hindi was introduced in almost all-
educational institutions; in some it was compulsorily taught. Roads and institutions
were re-christened after the name of Indian leaders. Wherever there was resistance
from the local population, the move was temporarily suspended. Islamabad town
founded by Islam Khan, a Subedar of Mughal King in 1640, and known for
sulphurous springs and black fish was re-christened as Anantnag (plenty of springs).
The local population resisted the official change in the town’s name. All shops and
private buses plying to and from the town carried Islamabad signboard. But post
Office took pains to correct the mail address to Anantnag. Local people however,
persistently post their letters with Islamabad address.
Indian economic tentacles were spread to the farthest corner of the State by
opening offices of State Bank of India (which is like National Bank of Pakistan). On
the roadside one could see signboards of IFFECO (Indian farmer’s cooperative
organization for marketing) and All India handicraft Board. Economic domination by
non-Muslim and non-kashmiris mounted. In 80’s in Srinagar alone 42,000 Muslim
families had mortgaged their immovable property to Indian banks at as high rate as
20 percent interest. The Indian banks were liberal in advancing loans for non-
productive ventures but very niggardly in case of economically feasible projects.
Within years the borrowers were deprived of their belongings through court
decrees.
No commercial article reached the consumers without passing through non-Muslim
and non-kashmiri agencies. Export business had been monopolized by non-Muslims
and non-kashmiris. In 80’s except for one Muslim firm namely Indo-Kashmir Carpet,
six other exporters licensed to export carpets from Kashmir were non-Muslim, non-
kashmiri firms.
The original industries for which Kashmir was known for namely carpet-
manufacturing, fruit cultivation, wood carving, embroidery and paper mache had
gone in quandary. After occupation Indian Government made it a point to recruit all
leading skilled labor as instructors to train persons in Himachal Pradesh in the same
trade. Thus industries like embroidery and fruit cultivation had gradually centered in
Himachal Pradesh. With closure of short land routes leading to Pakistan after Indian
occupation, fresh fruits of Kashmir could not reach markets. Kashmir type carpets
started to be manufactured in Amritsar (Punjab) and Mirzapur (UP). Wood carving
on Kashmir pattern had been started in Saharanpur (U.P). Himachal, Saharanpur
Mirzapur and Amritsar products elbowed out the Kashmiri products from market on
account of being cheaper because of less transport expenses. Patterns of Kashmiri
artcraft were fed into Indian machines to make Kashmiri handicrafts uneconomical.
Tourism remained the only industry in the field till the resistance movement was
afoot in late 90’s. The clientele was largely Hindu from India. This too posed a
cultural threat to Kashmiris. Guides and attendants would say "Nomaskar" with
folded hands lest they should be deprived of their tips’. In 90’s a Muslim guide was
asked what was his name, he replied ‘X,Y,Z". He did not disclose his name and faith
till he found that his addressed was a Muslim.

Even the National Conference elements who supported accession to India in early
years are now disillusioned and repentant in their hearts of heart. In early 80’s a
National Conference stalwart admitted: " We had apprehended that by merger with
Pakistan, Kashmir culture would be eroded under Punjab domination as the Punjabis
are of aggressive temperament. But now we feel that Kashmiri culture was to go
anyway and our Islamic character would undoubtedly have the Hindu impact. But
now that the mistake had been done, its rectification will depend on time and
circumstances. " If ballot had been allowed to have a free play Kashmiris would
have kept their separate identity intact. But that was not so be so. There may be no
immediate reaction on the surface but after fifteen years or so, Kashmir will be a
base for Pakistan provided Pakistan is intrinsically strong at that time", he said after
regaining self-confidence.

As the Kashmiris are keen to keep their religion and cultural ethos intact, the Hindu
minority backed by Indian government is equally enthusiast about not letting the
Muslim influence spread in areas where Muslims are not in majority, say Jammu and
Laddakh. Administrative arrangements are often made at the instance of Indian
Government so that Hindu majority areas, even at district and tehsil level get as
much free hand as possible.
In recent years Laddakh Hill Council was constituted to give them an internal
autonomy. Hindu Pundits of Kashmir valley also staged a drama of leaving their
hearths and homes to shift to Jammu to give communal color to the ongoing
struggle for the right to self-determination by the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu also has been getting more autonomous as compared to the past. There
used to be one Director Education for the entire Jammu and Kashmir State. Now
there are two full-fledged Directors of Education separately in charge of Jammu and
Kashmir with separate funds of equal amount.

A chairman of Jammu and Kashmir State Public Service Commission had to quit his
job, as he did not oblige to recruit a certain percentage of Hindu teachers
irrespective of their low merit for appointment in State schools. Sheikh Abdullah had
been told by Indian Government that certain percentage of Hindus had to be taken
for recruitment as schoolteachers. When a Muslim and Kashmiri Chairman was not
obliging he was replaced by a Sikh to do the needful.

Similarly there was no longer any Director of Health for the State. Instead there
were two Deputy Directors separately in charge of Jammu and Kashmir. May be the
State is ultimately divided into three separate administrative units- Kashmir, Jammu
and Laddakh as Indian Punjab was divided into Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and
Punjab to save Hindu areas from Sikh domination. Even in the Kashmir valley the
Muslim police officers are kept debarred from training in arms handling. The Muslim
personnel may be promoted to the rank of Deputy Superintendent of police but his
subordinate Hindu sepoy would be trained to handle arms while he would remain
deficient in this field.
Jammu, culturally and linguistically, is more akin to Himachal Pradesh then to
Kashmir valley. The atmosphere of the valley is so different that Hindu tourists
returning from Kashmir start feeling at home as soon as they cross Banihal tunnel
(now named as Jawaharlal tunnel) and similarly Muslims on entering into Kashmir
valley by crossing the tunnel feel a sense of familiarity.

In 80’s this scribe was stationed at New Delhi as A.P.P. correspondent and used PTI
(Press Trust of India and Indian counterpart of A.P.P) office for functioning. A friendly
PTI Staffer had been seen in office for a week or so in a summer month. On return
he said he had been to a hill station. On being asked whether he had gone to
Kashmir, he candidly stated, "Who would go to Kashmir? Hatred for us is writ large
in the eyes of Kashmiris. Militancy had not surfaced by that time.
Autonomy
Sheikh Abdullah is stated to have had a dream of internal autonomy for Jammu and
Kashmir within India. This unrealistic dream could never come true and indeed did
not. But in the process of dreaming Sheikh Abdullah put the jugular vein of the
entire Kashmiri community under the sword of Hindu India. He walked out of prison
to become the so-called Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. His honeymoon with
Nehru ended soon and he again went to jail in 1953. And for the rest of his life he
had been unsuccessfully clamoring for pre-1953 status for the State of Jammu and
Kashmir, which was never restored.

Till 1953 a special permission was required for Indians to enter Kashmir. Till 1953
accession was considered to be conditional. In 1953 India claimed the fraudulent
accession of Jammu and Kashmir to be final. Till 1953 the chief executive of Jammu
and Kashmir was called Prime Minister and not the chief minister.
During his chief minister-ship Sheikh Abdullah did keep senior civil posts in the state
to be held by Kashmiris and projected this as decentralization policy. But this was
more for his personal convenience rather than by conviction or a matter of policy.
Kashmiri bureaucrats obviously desired not to be transferred outside the State.
Thus they were more submissive and willing to do any dirty job for the chief
minister while Indian Administrative Service officers consulted Delhi before
executing any apparently extraordinary orders from the chief minister.
As regards Article 370 of the Indian constitution giving special status to the State of
Jammu and Kashmir, it has been amended so many times that it has lost the import
it was intended for. Autonomy had been consistently eroding. Earlier this year Hindu
nationalist party BJP won parliamentary polls in India with election promises to do
away with whatever was left of Article 370 for the State of Jammu and Kashmir,
repealing personal Law for Muslims in India, constructing Rama temple in place of
Babri Mosque pulled down by Hindu fanatics seven years back in Ayodhya and
making India a nuclear weapon state. Within 40 days of coming into power of BJP,
India with a series of underground nuclear tests had already become the sixth
nuclear power state in the world with BJP redeeming one of the pledges.

Sheikh Abdullah had returned to power in Jammu and Kashmir State in 1976, of
course, without winning anything extra for state subjects or repairing any damage
done to the State’s autonomy. His duplicity was more than exposed. In Jammu and
Kashmir he was described at clever and cunning man and his slogan of State’s self-
assertion as mere stunt.
Demographic Changes
The people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir however, remained one and
determined to resist any attempt to destroy their distinct Muslim entity. The
restrictions imposed by the late Maharaja on granting state subject certificate to
any outsider remained in force on paper but with scant respect by the powers that
be. In early 80’s Dr. Mehboob Beg, son of Afzal Beg who had founded Inquilabi
National Conference after falling apart form Sheikh Abdullah in 1976, alleged that
1500 domicile certificates were issued over signatures of Sheikh Abdullah chief
Minister alone. The number of the subjects certificates issued at tehsil level was
immensely large. This had upset the ratio of population of Muslims vis a vis non-
Muslims. Corruption was rampant in the state and the entire administration from
top to bottom was involved in it. Dr. Mehboob, physician by profession had left his
job to step into his father’s shoes.

The Congress (I) circles alleged that Sheikh Abdullah and his family members were
rolling in millions. There was hardly a metropolitan place in India where Sheikh or
his family members did not own real estate, mostly in form of picture houses.
Through various factors, the complexion of population was changing in the State to
the disadvantage of the Muslims. According to early 80’s census figures the growth
rate in Muslim population was dwindling as compared to Hindus, According to
official explanation more Muslims were taking to family Planning.

The census (1981) figures were as follows:

Kashmir Valley------27 Lac (Including Hindus)

Jammu ---------------- 24 Lac (there is a Muslim belt in Jammu too)

Laddakh---------------3 lac.

Thus the population of Kashmir valley was equal to that of Jammu and Laddakh put
together. So the Muslims have only a thin edge majority. While attempts were being
made to save as many Hindus from Muslim cultural influence, an effort was also
being made to cut cultural moorings of the Muslim. Well to do persons particularly
upstart families were taking to western type of education, which in any case take
the young generation away from its cultural heritage.

New inscription mostly in Hindi were being put on the tombs of old Muslim saints to
say that they had equal followings among Muslims and Hindus in a bid to appease
and attract Hindu tourists and at the same time inculcate among Muslims a feeling
that they had no separate spiritual heritage. A Muslim Malik teamed up with Hindu
Pundits to organize "Charri Mubrarak’ and Amar Nath cave pilgrimage and share the
offerings. Hindi was replacing Urdu in many educational institutions to be taught
along with Kashmiri language. The intention was that with the passage of time Urdu
disappears and its elimination might cause a communication gap between
Kashmiris and Pakistanis.
Ploy of Resettlement Bill
A private bill Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Permit for Resettlement (Permanent
Return to the State) Bill 1980 piloted by Abdul Rahim Rathor was adopted by the
Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir legislature with the support of the ruling
National Conference. This was an enabling provision to grant for permit for
resettlement in the State of any person who had been a State subject and migrated
to the territories now forming Pakistan (it did not apply to Azad Kashmir) between
March 1947 and May 14, 1954. Ostensibly it was intended to give a deceptive
impression to the general public that there were many Kashmiri Muslims who had
migrated to Pakistan were but now being repentant and dissatisfied with living
conditions in Pakistan and wanted to return to the State, which was still paradise on
Earth. Indeed it was a camouflage in the sense that under its garb the motive was
to give permit of residence to those Hindu migrants from Pakistan at the time of
Independence and from other places in India subsequently to offset Muslim majority
complexion of the state.

According to the some Srinagar citizens the real purpose of the bill was to distribute
the property left by Muslims in Jammu among favorites of Sheikh Abdullah. The
evacuee property had already been given to Hindus and lacks of rupees were being
received by way of rent and the Bill aimed at finally distributing the booty among
the favorites. A provision of the Bill lay down that the applicant for resettlement was
to take an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of India and to undertake to
faithfully observe the laws of the State and India.

In early 80’s militancy was not visible on surface, yet the youth looked conscious
and determined to fight their own battle. They admitted that Pakistan had done its
outmost for them and had suffered in return. The people in the valley were on the
whole Islam-loving and pro-Pakistan. It was a privilege to parade as a Pakistani.
They love you. Every body would offer you a cup of tea. You do not have to
introduce yourself. Their just coming to know that you are a Pakistani was enough.
Even not very bold persons would come to whisper in your ear: We know you. We
are pleased to see you here. They did not wait to be introduced or to introduce
themselves and would disappear in the crowd.
An attendant in a tourist bungalow said, "We too were very keen on Pakistan.
Probably it was not our luck to be Pakistanis". Love for Islam is inexhaustible. On
occasion of Shab-e-Bara’t mosques were full for the entire night for what they called
"Shab" which included Zikar, Naatkhwani and Waaz. In early 80’s too there was
massive Indian military presence in the State. But even bus drivers were bold
enough to defy military officer’s instructions. The bus driver that drove the scribe
and family members from Srinagar to Jammu ignored the signals of a military
sergeant on a bridge and later talked to him with his head high.

He probably defied the traffic signal in a bid not to waste time since I had told him
that we were to catch Jhelum Express train the same evening at Jammu for Delhi. In
spite of the heavy odds created by landslides on the main road and diversions, the
driver reached Jammu well in time for the train. At Jammu he saluted me and said
"Saab aap ka khadim hen, aap ke kam khadim hen, Pakistan ke ziada khadim hen"
(we are your servants, More of Servants to Pakistan that to you).
The people of Kashmir are engaged in a heroic resistance struggle and have lain
down and continue to lay supreme sacrifices to relieve jugular vein of Pakistan and
that of their own from enemy’s sword as willed by the Quaid-e-Azam.
May Almighty Allah bless them with success- Ameen.