KASHMIR: The Song of Freedom Soars Again

Amongst a few others, the issue of the Indian Occupied Kashmir remains the major bone of contention between Pakistan and India. So much so that despite the passage of 71 years, both these countries have still not been able to reconcile their differences post the 1947 emergence of these countries as independent nation states.

Quick Backdrop

To recap very briefly, what initially started off as a movement to get rid of the vile and oppressive “British Raj” from the Sub-continent (now known as Pakistan and India), eventually transformed into a movement for a separate homeland for the Muslims of the then Sub-continent. Why this transpired the way it did, has multiple reasons; and different historians (not to forget conspiracy theorists) have different, at times highly conflicting, views about this aspect of the history of the Sub-continent. Without getting sucked into this controversial debate, let us move forward and focus on the burning issue at hand i.e. Kashmir.

The Origin of the Kashmir Issue

Post the formation of Pakistan and India in August 1947, there remained the problem of over 650 princely states, all existing within the two newly independent countries. In theory, these princely states had the option of deciding which country to join, or of remaining independent. In practice however, the restive populations of each of these states coupled with odd geographic locations and strong political coercion exercised by the then Indian government proved very decisive, in most of the cases.

Jammu Kashmir was also one of the princely states that had to decide its fate and was at the time being ruled over by a weak Hindu Maharaja by the name of Hari Singh. The population of the state of Jammu Kashmir was overwhelmingly Muslim and geographically, the state was contiguous with the borders of both the newly formed countries.

Unable to decide which nation Kashmir should join, Hari Singh chose to remain neutral at first, but an uprising that had begun in the spring of 1947 in the western districts of the state (which Hari Singh tried to root out through sheer brute force and oppression), was eventually followed by a post-independence reinforcement by a few hundred tribal freedom fighters from the neighboring Northwest Frontier Province (with Pakistan’s tacit support), had the Maharaja reach out to India in a panic and ask for military assistance. Needless to add, he left his state burning and fled to safety in India.

After the Indian forces entered the war, Pakistan officially intervened subsequently. Fighting ensued between the Indian and Pakistani armies, with the two areas of control more or less stabilized around what is now known as the “Line of Control”. About 65% of the Kashmir territory remains with India and the remaining portion (known as Azad Jammu & Kashmir) is under the Pakistani control.

It was later claimed by India, that Maharaja Hari Singh signed a formal “Instrument of Accession” on 26th October 1947 to join India but this is still disputed to this day by Pakistan which does not recognize the accession of Kashmir to India. Pakistan maintains that the so-called accession was brought about through sheer political coercion, fraud and violence. It must be duly noted that Maharaja Hari Singh was in the “custody” of the then government of India and did not enjoy the privilege of a freewill.

What Has Happened Since Then

A lot actually. India decided to outsmart Pakistan and referred the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations in early 1948, which passed a resolution as per which a "free and fair" plebiscite was to be held to allow the Kashmiri people to decide their future. The resolution also required Pakistan to withdraw the tribal freedom fighters & its army from the heart of Kashmir, which Pakistan did promptly; and it also required India to reduce the number of its armed forces in Kashmir and appoint a “Plebiscite Administrator nominated by the United Nations” but the Indians never complied, on both the counts. As a matter of fact India has consistently been deploying more and more armed forces in the disputed region of the Indian Occupied Kashmir since 1948. Currently, India has more than 700,000 military and paramilitary forces on active duty in the region thus, making it the world’s most heavily deployed region.

India never appointed the plebiscite administrator or held the plebiscite because it knew the result would be heavily in favor of Pakistan, given the fact that majority of the population was (and still is) Muslim and was already pro-Pakistan since 1945-6.

Since 1948, in order to strengthen its grip over the region India has tried to create a facade of democracy in the disputed region through elections (read selections vis a vis massive rigging) to install pro-Delhi governments, one after another, in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. It has never really paid off because the population remains overwhelmingly pro-Pakistan and the struggle for freedom from the Indian occupation has consistently been gaining momentum. The freedom struggle of the Kashmiris have always been met with the brutal force and full might of the Indian army. But the more India punishes and oppresses Kashmir, the more the Kashmiris tend to bounce back with renewed vigor and yearning for freedom.

What is Happening Right Now

The Indian army and its paramilitary forces have been oppressing the locals since a long time now, but in the last couple of decades or so, their gruesomeness and brutality has touched epic proportions. India has relentlessly been carrying out ethnic cleansing in the region to alter the local demographics in its favor. Rape, permanently blinding protesting Kashmiris with pellet guns, midnight kidnappings, physical torture, arrests without a valid reason for indefinite periods and custodial executions are choice methods of the Indian army in perpetuating India’s illegal hold over the hapless millions in the region.

Human rights simply do not exist in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. As one writes this piece, the region is witnessing its biggest uprising against the Indian occupation and is, therefore, under a heavy curfew (read martial law) since weeks now, internet and cellular services are suspended, there are food shortages, education institutions have been shut down, businesses are shut down; life has come to a standstill in the region. And yet, somehow the struggle for freedom moves on.

The Indians are extremely adept at hiding their atrocities in the region. The Indian state-owned media and the corporate media tows the official line given by the Indian government and thus, we have a total audio and visual blackout of the war crimes that the Indian army and the para-military forces are committing on a daily basis. Till now, hundreds have been killed and thousands have been injured in the recent protests, with most of the injured being denied the access to hospitals.

What Can You Do

Again, quite a lot actually.

The United Nations has turned out to be an absolutely useless (and toothless) organization that has little to zero influence over India in this case. The Indians have consistently been denying the UN Observers the access to the Indian Occupied Kashmir for decades now. They are definitely hiding something that they don’t want the neutral third-party observers to see and report on.

It is highly likely that your government (wherever you are from) is complicit in these atrocities by feigning a complete silence and indifference over India’s war-crimes in the Indian Occupied Kashmir due to the economic bi-lateral relationship that it may have with India. That could also be the reason why you have never heard of the plight of the Kashmiris…well, at least not to the extent of what is actually taking place.

You can research and find out more about Kashmir online. Do not be swayed by the propaganda material that the Indian government has flooded the media outlets with over the years. Share news and pictures about Kashmir online, on all social media platforms. Raise your voice for Kashmiris, for it does count. Raise the issue of Kashmir to the level of the “Palestine” issue (both were incidentally and intentionally created by the vile British to favor them geopolitically). Try to connect with Kashmiris on social media platforms (there are thousands of them online) and find out first-hand how it is really like to be under siege in Kashmir.

Kashmir’s song of freedom has soared again and you ought to help it reach far and wide.

For humanity, for justice, for peace.

Godspeed!