19th July:
Kashmir-Accession to Pakistan Day By Sajjad
Shaukat JR190SS61
Preparations have
started by Kashmiris living either side of the line of control and rest of the
world to observe the Kashmir’s Accession to Pakistan Day on July 19, this year.
On this very day in 1947, the historical
resolution was adopted by the by the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference in
Abi Guzar, Srinagar during an emergency convention at the residence of Sardar
Muhammad Ibrahim Khan. It was presided over by Chaudhry Hamid Ullah Khan, and
the resolution was presented by Khawaja Ghulam-ud-Din Wani and Abdul Rahim
Wani, with 59 prominent leaders in attendance.
The resolution was unanimously adopted
on 19th July, 1947 showing a political
and constitutional stance. It indicated that existing religious, geographical,
cultural, economic ties and the aspirations of millions of Kashmiri Muslims
warrant accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with Pakistan.
During the partition of the Sub-continent, the people of the state of Jammu and
Kashmir which comprised Muslim majority decided to join Pakistan according to
the British-led formula. But, Dogra Raja, Sir Hari Singh, a Hindu who was
ruling over the J&K in connivance with the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru and Governor General Lord Mountbatten joined India.
The design to forcibly wrest Kashmir
began to unfold on August 16, 1947, with the announcement of the Radcliffe
Boundary Award. It gave the Gurdaspur District—a majority Muslim area to India
to provide a land route to the Indian armed forces to move into Kashmir. There
was a rebellion in the state forces, which revolted against the Maharaja and
were joined by Pathan tribesmen. Lord Mountbatten ordered armed forces to land
in Srinagar.
However, Indian forces invaded Srinagar
on October, 27 1947 and forcibly occupied Jammu and Kashmir in utter violation
of the partition plan and against the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
When Pakistan responded militarily
against the Indian aggression, on December 31, 1947, India made an appeal to
the UN Security Council to intervene and a ceasefire ultimately came into
effect on January 01, 1949, following UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite
in Kashmir.
It is mentionable that the Security
Council adopted resolution 47 (1948) of 21 April 1948, which promised a
plebiscite under UN auspices to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to
determine whether they wish to join Pakistan or India. On February 5, 1964,
India backed out of its promise of holding plebiscite. Instead, in March 1965,
the Indian Parliament passed a bill, declaring Kashmir a province of India-an
integral part of the Indian union.
The very tragedy of Kashmiris had
started after 1947 when they were denied their genuine right of
self-determination. They organised themselves against the injustices of India
and launched a war of liberation which New Delhi tried to suppress through
various forms of state terrorism.
It is notable that since 1947, in order
to maintain its illegal control, India has continued its repressive regime in
the Occupied Kashmir through various machinations such as establishment of
puppet governments etc.
Ironically, despite a lapse of 71 years,
Kashmiris are still struggling and sacrificing to achieve their alienable right
under the UN resolutions. Kashmir Valley is one of the most heavily militarized
regions in the world with Indian 7 million armed security forces which are
perpetrating various forms of state terrorism on the innocent Kashmiris. Since
1989, a deliberate campaign by the Indian army and paramilitary forces against
the Kashmiris has been manifested in brutal tactics such as crackdowns,
curfews, illegal detentions, massacre, targeted killings, sieges, burning the
houses, torture, disappearances, rape, breaking the legs, molestation of Muslim
women and killing of persons through fake encounters.
Besides Human Rights Watch, in its
various reports, Amnesty International has also pointed out grave human rights
violations in the Indian controlled Kashmir, indicating, “The Muslim majority
population in the Kashmir Valley suffers from the repressive tactics of the
security forces. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, and the Armed
Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act, security
forces personnel have extraordinary powers to shoot suspected persons.”
In its report on July 2, 2015, the
Amnesty International has highlighted extrajudicial killings of the innocent
persons at the hands of Indian security forces in the Indian Held Kashmir. The
report points out, “Tens of thousands of security forces are deployed in
Indian-administered Kashmir…the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) allows
troops to shoot to kill suspected militants or arrest them without a
warrant…not a single member of the armed forces has been tried in a civilian
court for violating human rights in Kashmir…this lack of accountability has in
turn facilitated other serious abuses…India has martyred one 100,000 people.
More than 8,000 disappeared (while) in the custody of army and state police.”
In this respect, European Union passed a
resolution on May 11, 2011 about human rights abuses committed by Indian forces
in the Indian held Kashmir.
Particularly, in 2008, a rights group
reported unnamed graves in various regions of the Indian occupied Kashmir. In
this connection, in August, 2011, Indian Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights
Commission (SHRC) officially acknowledged in its report that innocent civilians
killed in the two-decade conflict have been buried in unmarked graves. Notably,
foreign sources and human rights organizations including Association of Parents
of Disappeared Persons (APDP) have disclosed that unnamed graves include
thousands of persons, killed by the Indian forces in the fake encounters
including those who were tortured to death by Indian secret agency RAW.
In its report China’s leading News
Agency Xinhua has unearthed more gruesome details on world-stunning unmarked
graves in Poonch of the Indian occupied Kashmir. The report revealed the
statement of Sofi Aziz Joo, caretaker of a graveyard as saying, “Police and
Army used to bring those bodies and direct me to bury them. The bodies were
usually bullet-ridden, mutilated, faces disfigured and sometimes without limbs
and heads.”
It seems that non-condemnation of these
Indian massive human rights violations and non-interference for the settlement
of this issue by the so-called civilized international community, especially
the US have further encouraged New Delhi to keep on going with its state
terrorism on the armless Kashmiri masses. Ignorance of the issue by the US-led
Western countries involves the risk of nuclear war between Pakistan and India.
Indian authorities are not willing to
talk with Kashmiri people on political grounds. New Delhi reached to a conclusion
that only bullet is the right way of dealing with Kashmiris, demanding their
right of self-determination. Surprisingly, Indian successive governments are
trying to ignore the dynamics of the freedom movement of Kashmiris for the sake
of their alien rule.
It is noteworthy that dialogue between
India and Pakistan took place on a number of occasions, but produced no
outcome, prolonging the agony of the subjugated people of the occupied Kashmir
due to Indian intransigence.
It
is worth-mentioning that since the martyrdom of Burhan Wani, Commander of Hizb
ul Mujahideen by the Indian security forces on July 8, 2017, New Dehi has
accelerated state terrorism throughout the Indian Controlled Kashmir. As a
result more than 400 people embraced martyrdom and around 40,000 got injured.
Many became permanently blind due to pellet guns shots. Curfew remained imposed
for several months.
Nevertheless, every year, the Kashmiris
and their brethren in Pakistan, and those living all over the world observe
19th July as the Accession to Pakistan Day to re-affirm
their commitment to continue their struggle against Indian illicit occupation,
and till the attainment of this liberation.
Sajjad Shaukat writes on international
affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance
of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations
Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
