Bipin Deo: The root problem of Indo-Pak conflict is not procedural, it is structural. A knowledgeable foreign policy commentator, in a conversation, put it, “India has foreign policy and it has Pakistan policy” Now, however piquant that remark may sound, it nevertheless is a terse recognition of the reality. One looks at this reality either through congealed prejudice (hence the relation about bonafide and geniuses’ etc) or through almost atavistic fears (Leading to the entrapment reaction of governments) or as an extension of the internal factor.

Indo-Pak conflict is on the edifice of complexities; between majority and minority, between secular and Islamic, between democracy and dictatorship, between Hinduism and Islam, between USSR and the United States and so on. The conflict over seven decades has been nurtured and nourished by those powers who were in throat-cutting competition in Arms supply and power balances. In the long span of its history, it has had a frequent tussle, confrontation, and clashes causing four wars. This article spotlights how all these wars took place on the epicenter of Kashmir.

With the emergence of Pakistan as the Islamic Republic, it fixed its eyes on Hyderabad and Junagadh hoping that Muslim kings would lend their support to get their kingdoms annexed with Pakistan. By the masterly stroke of diplomacy and political craftsmanship of Iron Man of India, Sardar Patel, the dream of Pakistan was not translated into reality. Avenged by it, Pakistan mustered its strength to bring Kashmir under- its suzerainty. Kashmir then was ruled by King Hari Singh, the clan of Dogras whose procedures Gulab Singh had unified entire Kashmir.

As a kingdom of composite culture tinged with natural beauty metaphorically described as a heaven on earth stood for cosmopolitan ideals. Hari Singh was adamant of maintaining its sovereignty, integrity, and unity without sealing the stamp of annexation either with India or with Pakistan. Perhaps, it was not acceptable to history. Pakistan sent its armies in the guise of Pathan tribes into Territory of Kashmir. In the short period, Pakistan was in the position to bring the king under the tenterhook of its apron to King Hari Singh.

Shuddered by invasion, Hari Singh was left with no alternative than seeking military help form India on 24 October 1947. Pakistan’s plan of capturing Muslim majority stale was foiled by the India Army. The conflagration was extinguished by endurance, tenacity and will power of the Indian Army. Indian Army was in a position to wrest the entire territory of Jammu Kashmir from Pakistan incursion.

It as in this crucial juncture of history, Patel was overshadowed by Nehru, yielding to pressure from Lord Mountbatten, agreed quite unnecessarily to refer Kashmir issue to the United States on 1 January 1948. The United Nation on 13 August 1948 called for the withdrawal of Pakistan troops and it entrusted India with the task of conducting a plebiscite. Pakistan didn’t withdraw its army from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK) and India also didn’t conduct plebiscite. Right from that time, the game of claim and blame, evoke and provoke, eye for eyes and tooth for teeth continued on the epicenter of Kashmir.

Nehru with western mind-set was a democrat in his vein, in his orientation and his application and transplantation of his policy. Flying in the flight of idealism, he was utopian, less pragmatic. He wanted to create an atmosphere of peace and tranquility with Pakistan. With this broad-vision, stirred by cosmopolitan outlook laced with Gandhian idealism extended the hand of fellow- feeling and friendship with Pakistan. With continuous rounds of six days of dialogue on 1950 April 8, he had a pact with Liyaqat Khan, the supremo of Pakistan.

This Nehru and Liaqat pact committed to taking care of the problem of its minority with the healing touch policy. The Nehru-Liaqat pact, in principle, was driven by the gospel of giving assurance of safety and security to its minorities. In reality, letters of this pact were not translated into action. Hindus in Pakistan were highly elite, cultured and cultivated residing in Lahore and Sindhi provinces.

They felt threatened and insecure by Islamisation of Pakistan. Similar, Kashmiri Pundits even both inside of both Kashmir and Pakistani occupied Kashmir were terrorized, assaulted and assassinated beyond extent. It would be interesting to note for readers among all Brahmins in the world, Kashmir Pundits were most educated and civilized. A research was made in those days even no single Kashmiri pundit was found anywhere jail in the world. It means to say that they were path-finders and torchbearers of the society.

Even inks of Nehru-Liaqat pact had not dried. Pakistan and India again indulged in war. After the death of Nehru, a mantle of leadership fell on a man of diminutive personality trained and schooled in Gandhian school of thought Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri. Like Patel, he was tough like leather. After the 1962 war with China, India was under the trauma of defeat and humiliation. At that crucial period, war broke out between India and Pakistan in 1965. Pakistan had again target to Kashmir but Shastri’s rhetoric was difficult. In his characteristic style of expression, he appealed to mass, “If Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir, I firmly say India is incomplete without Pakistan” . He injected a wave of nationalism in a nation by saying “Jay Jawan Jay Kisan”.

Indian Army was very close to Lahore and Syal Dah. The victory was on the side of India. Credit for it goes to the prime minister of USSR Koshigin who persuaded Shastri to declare a ceasefire. On June 10, 1966, in the presence of soviet leadership in Tashkent again pact was made between India and Pakistan. It is called the Tashkent agreement. This Tashkent Agreement is committed to maintaining a line of control by both countries.

Any conflict and confrontation should be resolved through dialogue and discussion. India made all war- prisoners back and made vacant all its territory that it had captured on the condition that Pakistan wouldn’t have its right to raise the issue of Kashmir in days to come. It is irony of fate that Shastri died after signing the treaty in Tashkent. The death of Shastri is said to be mysterious. It is still in the womb of mystery. In other words like Nehru Lyakat pact, Taskant agreement was also not put into practice.

After the death of Shastri, India Gandhi becomes prime minister of India. In the cabinet of Sastri, she was a minister of Information and Broadcasting. In the war of 1965, she had visited battle infusing energy in the military. In her typical style, she had remarked, ” I am only a man in the cabinet of women”.

Around 1970 Pakistan witnessed conflagration of the civil war based on language, based on Urdu and Bengali, based on East and West Pakistan. No stone was left unturned to suppress oppress and depress Urdu speaking people. 10 million people of Bengali speaking Pakistani people took shelter in India. Mrs. Gandhi hit the nail on the head. She intervened and waged war for 13 days cracking Pakistan becoming a midwife of Bangladesh. 93,000 Pakistani Army were made war prisoners and more than 15,000-kilometer land was captured.

Atal Bihari Bajpai, as a leader of the opposition, praised Mrs. Gandhi saying a leader creates history but Mrs. Gandhi has created Geography. In 1972, the Shimla Agreement was signed signaling that Pakistan would accept that Kashmir is an internal affair of India. It interesting to note that the Shimla Agreement transformed Kashmir from International to the bilateral issue.

After the cold war, a soft, sober and a mind of poetic personality Atal Bihari Bajpee came as a prime minister of India. On the sideline of UNO submit, he had the heart to heart talk with Nawaj Sharif to start an era of harmony and happiness in the tense and troubled Indo-Pak relationship. As a part of it, India initiated Lahore Bus Journey and in 1999 May 21, Lahore decoration was made between India and Pakistan declaring that both countries wouldn’t wage war against each other.

Even in the twinkling of the eye, Pakistan waged war capturing 140 check post in Syachin part of Kargil. In retaliation, India waged “Operation Bijay”. After the Kargil war, America changed its tone and temper. Clinton had a good rapport with the Indian leadership. Nowadays, again the epicenter of Kashmir, tussle between India and Pakistan has been a topic of discussion everywhere. Even Muslim countries, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh have stood by side of India, not to talk of Sri Lanka and others. A country like Nepal has to come out with categorical statement that Kashmir is an internal affair of India and on the epicenter of Kashmir, no war should be waged in the days to come between India and Pakistan.

(The views expressed are personal, the author Bipin Deo is an Educationist based in Kathmandu) 

By Rishi Dhamala

Abrogation of Article 370 marks the dawn of real politics in Kashmir. In the new era, Kashmiris can enjoy free and fair elections and equal rights alongside their fellow Indian citizens

As India marks the completion of 73 years of independence against British rule, it brings forward hope to its people through inclusion and unification. Indo-Nepal relations deepened during India’s freedom struggle in which Nepali leaders like BP Koirala, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Man Mohan Adhikari participated in Quit India movement.

With an age-old history and cultural bond between two nations, India looks toward proactive development and cooperation with its closest neighbor. Speaking at a program at the Reporters’ Club recently, Indian ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri illustrated the importance of the Kashmir issue and the move taken by Narendra Modi. “To end terrorism and bring stability and development in the region is the prime concern of the current government of India in the Kashmir region,” he said.

August 5, 2019 will go down in Indian history as a day when reclamation lay supreme when the Government of India ended the status quo of India- administered Kashmir. It commissioned a new status promising ‘a new era of progress and development. The Jammu and Kashmir reorganization bill is going to be a game-changer in Indian polity. Now Jammu and Kashmir have become a Union Territory which will come into full effect on October 31. Modi, while addressing the nation on August 7, has said that Article 370 was solely responsible for everything wrong with Kashmir, including terrorism, separatism, corruption and dynastic politics and he sincerely pledged “development and good governance to the union territories”

In Modi’s words, the government’s action was historic as it removed all the obstacles to the state’s development and progress of the people. “A system due to which brothers and sisters of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh were deprived of many rights and which was a big obstacle to their development, that system has been done away with,” he said.

In 1947, Instrument of Accession was fundamental in bringing Kashmir to the union of India. Kashmir has been marred by violence from people who wanted an independent Kashmir, pro-Pakistan forces, and those who willingly wanted to be in the Union of India. An estimated 100,000 people have been killed. The entire region has always been seriously afflicted by separatism and corruption posing major hurdles for growth and development of the region.

Bringing the territories under the direct control of the central government of India would benefit the region in many ways. The central government has so much to offer to the Kashmiris who have been deprived of many rights such as employment opportunities, education allowance, health schemes, and so on. In the new era, as promised by Modi, the Kashmiris can enjoy free and fair elections and equal rights alongside their fellow Indian citizens.

On the other side, Pakistan has not developed Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) at all while denying its people basic fundamental rights and preventing them from becoming progressive. The population of the area has been rather used to induct the youth into terrorism with the hope and dream of achieving success in taking away the Indian portion of Kashmir from India, which Pakistan claims as its own. It is relevant to note here that the portion of Kashmir held by Pakistan too has a strong resistance movement prevalent in Gilgit-Baltistan which the government of Pakistan has been trying to suppress.

On the contrary, the government of India has never encouraged the Kashmiris in India to aspire for such endeavors. Just as Pakistan initiated a protracted conflict using Kashmiri militants and the Kashmir issue, India too could have built a narrative supporting the resistance movement in PoK to oppose and challenge the Pakistan government.

Furthering on the issue of non-interference, Indian administered Kashmir has seen bureaucrats, technocrats and high-level administrative officers covering a wide area of system administration working in the valley representing the Government of India. The districts have their respective Magistrates to oversee affairs of the region, and each one of them is protected by a Superintendent of Police from the IPS under the GOI. Their role has been appreciated by the public, and their service rendered has been unmatched and exemplary in a volatile region. This has enabled Kashmir to inch toward security, progress and development. The anti-India rhetoric can be seen only from a minority of the population guided by extremist views.

Article 370 and 35 (A) had aggravated the situation by not allowing any possessions of land by outsiders or allowing recruitment for government jobs from outside of Kashmir. Absence of permission for setting up a business in Kashmir by outsiders also hampered the progress and growth of Kashmir. The abrogation of Article 370 marks the dawn of real politics with the advent of a new phase in Kashmir. One will soon see investments, better job opportunities, industrialization (at least in small scale to begin with), mushrooming of educational institutes.

The revocation of Article 370 was a promise fulfilled by the ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party. It was one of the agendas of their election manifesto. The party had always taken strong stand against article 370 and 35A claiming that it “benefitted no one and prevented the state from developing”.

Even though the revocation has angered Pakistan and political leaders of Indian-administered Kashmir, if all goes well, Kashmir will emerge as a smart and progressive region in the next few years leaving behind Pakistani administered Kashmir.

(This article was previously published in Republica.)

NEW DELHI, Aug 11: Authorities enforcing a strict curfew in Indian-administered Kashmir promised easing of restrictions on Sunday and essential supplies for an Islamic festival, as the divided Himalayan region remained in a lockdown after India’s decision to strip it of its constitutional autonomy.

Pakistan said that with the support of China, it will take up India’s unilateral actions in Kashmir with the U.N. Security Council and may approach the U.N. Human Rights Commission over what it says is the “genocide” of the Kashmiri people.

Kashmir is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan and is divided between the archrivals. Rebels have been fighting New Delhi’s rule for decades in the Indian-controlled portion, and most Kashmiri residents want either independence or a merger with Pakistan.

Gov. Satya Pal Malik said in interviews with television networks that there would be easing of restrictions and adequate essential supplies for Monday’s Eid al-Adha festival.

His comments came as India’s main opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday demanded a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Kashmir, saying there are reports of violence and people dying.

Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Gandhi said “things are going very wrong there,” and called for the Indian government to make clear what is happening.

Authorities in Srinagar, the region’s main city, said there have been instances of stone pelting by protesters but no gun firing by security forces in the past six days. Television images on Saturday showed movement of cars and people in some parts of Kashmir.

“There has been no untoward incident barring minor stone-pelting, which was dealt with on the spot and was nipped in the bud,” Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh told the Press Trust of India news agency.

On Thursday, Modi assured the people of Jammu and Kashmir that normalcy would gradually return and that the government was ensuring that the current restrictions do not dampen the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha on Monday.

New Delhi rushed tens of thousands of additional soldiers to one of the world’s most militarized regions to prevent unrest and protests after Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government said Monday that it was revoking Kashmir’s special constitutional status and downgrading its statehood. Modi said the move was necessary to free the region of “terrorism and separatism.”

The indefinite 24-hour curfew was briefly eased on Friday for weekly Muslim prayers in some parts of Srinagar, but thousands of residents are still forced to stay indoors with shops and most health clinics closed. All communications and the internet remain cut off.

Following Friday prayers, police used tear gas and pellets to fight back the protesters who gathered in their largest numbers since authorities clamped down and detained more than 500 political and separatist leaders.

Other stone-throwing incidents were reported from the northern and southern parts of Kashmir.

Authorities were closely watching for any anti-India protests, which will determine a further easing of restrictions for the Eid holiday.

The region’s top administrative official, Baseer Khan, said that essential commodities including food, grains and meat will be delivered to different parts of the region by Sunday.

In the meantime, most residents have been waking up before dawn to get food and other supplies stockpiled by neighborhood shopkeepers and pharmacists inside their homes. Shortly after dawn, police and paramilitary soldiers swiftly occupy the roads and streets as part of the restrictions on movement.

While some easing on the movement and opening of shops is expected around Eid, officials still held reservations about restoring mobile and internet services. Some relaxation of curbs on landline communication, however, could be considered, they said.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi met with his Chinese counterpart and other top officials in Beijing on Saturday. He said that China fully supports Pakistan in taking the Kashmir issue to the U.N. Security Council.

He also said Pakistan is considering going to the U.N. Human Rights Commission over the situation.

“When a demographic change is made through force, it’s called genocide, and you are moving toward genocide,” he told reporters in Islamabad after returning from Beijing.

With India moving to erase the constitutional provision that prohibited outsiders from buying property in Jammu and Kashmir state, Indians from the rest of the country can now purchase real estate and apply for government jobs there. Some fear this may lead to a demographic and cultural change in the Muslim-majority region.

Qureshi said that India’s moves have increased the threat to regional peace and raised fears of bloodshed in Kashmir.

He also said that while Pakistan is not planning to take any military action, it is ready to counter any potential aggression by India.

The Indian ambassador to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria, left Islamabad on Saturday night after Pakistan retaliated against India by lowering diplomatic ties. Fourteen other Indian mission officials and their families also left Islamabad, airport official Mohammad Wasim Ahmed said.

Also Saturday, a regional political party from Kashmir petitioned the Supreme Court to strike down the government’s move to scrap the region’s special status and divide the state into two federal territories. The National Conference in its plea claimed the move was illegal. An opposition Congress party activist has already filed a petition challenging the communications blockade and the detentions of Kashmiri leaders.

The United States on Friday said that there has been no change in its policy on Kashmir, as Washington continues to regard it as a territory disputed between India and Pakistan.

State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus described Kashmir as “certainly an incredibly important issue” that the United States continued to “follow closely.” AP

NEW DELHI, Aug 7: India’s Hindu nationalist government on Tuesday hailed “historic” legislation to bring Kashmir under its direct control but Pakistan and China challenged the divisive move, sending tensions soaring between the nuclear neighbors.

New Delhi stripped Kashmir of its seven-decade-long autonomous status via a presidential decree on Monday, hours after imposing a massive security lockdown in the state to quell any unrest.

“Together we are, together we shall rise and together we will fulfill the dreams of 130 crore (ten million) Indians,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted late Tuesday after parliament approved the move to turn India’s only Muslim-majority state into administrative territories controlled by his government.

“A momentous occasion in our parliamentary democracy, where landmark bills pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir have been passed with overwhelming support,” he added.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, and the two sides have conflicting claims on the territory, over which they have fought two wars.

Reports emerged Tuesday of sporadic protests in Indian-administered Kashmir, where at least six people were admitted to a hospital in the main city Srinagar with gunshot wounds and other injuries, a source at the facility said on condition of anonymity.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed Tuesday to challenge India’s decision at the UN Security Council and accused Modi of violating international law in pursuit of an anti-Muslim agenda in India.

Pakistan’s military added that it “firmly stands” by Kashmiris following a meeting of the army’s top commanders.

Beijing criticized India’s decision to carve out a separate administrative territory in Buddhist-dominated Ladakh region.

“India has continued to undermine China’s territorial sovereignty by unilaterally changing its domestic law,” foreign ministry spokeswomen Hua Chunying said.

Pakistan and China both have long-running boundary disputes with India.

Indian-administered Kashmir has been in the grip of a rebellion against Indian rule since 1989, and analysts have warned the scrapping of its autonomous status could trigger fresh unrest.

SECURITY CLAMPDOWN

Earlier, national security adviser Ajit Doval said in a report to his department that there was “peace and normalcy” and “no agitation” in Kashmir after the announcement, local media reported.

But with mobile and internet services shut down and Kashmir virtually cut off from the outside world since the early hours of Monday, limited news emerged from the region.

A traveler who arrived in India’s capital New Delhi on Tuesday from Srinagar told AFP on condition of anonymity that he had heard “intermittent gunfire” and other weapons since Monday.

He said he heard soldiers shouting during the night, while government troops were deployed at “every five steps”.

My car was checked at least 25 times on the way to the airport and it took me almost four hours to cover a distance of hardly 30 minutes,” he said.

In Pakistani-administered Kashmir, locals fear a new round of hostilities may be unfolding.

“I can’t see the return of normalcy anytime in the near future,” said a resident there, Raja Aqeel.

In Muzaffarabad, the largest city on the Pakistani side, an estimated 500 people protested.

There were also demonstrations against the decision in the Indian city of Kolkata, as well as in Bangladesh.

India detained three Kashmiri political leaders and a court order seen by AFP on Tuesday said they had engaged in activities “likely to cause breach of peace” and lead to a “serious law and order situation”.

Initially placed under house arrest at the weekend, former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah along with regional party leader Sajad Lone were reportedly then taken to an official guesthouse on Monday.

The court order also said authorities feared the trio could organize a public rally which is currently banned in Kashmir as part of the emergency lockdown.

Criticism mounted from opposition politicians.

Rahul Gandhi, until recently the head of the main opposition Congress party, said the decision was an “abuse of executive power” that had “grave implications for our national security”.

Monday’s decree, rushed through by Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, removed from the constitution the special status that Kashmir had held after the region was divided between India and Pakistan in 1947.

The clause in the constitution had prevented Indians from outside the territory buying land or claiming government jobs in Kashmir. It also limited the power of the Indian parliament to impose laws in the state, which had a separate constitution and a flag. AFP

The Indian government on Monday revoked Kashmir’s special status, stripping the significant autonomy it has enjoyed for seven decades in a move expected to further inflame tensions in the Muslim-majority region and infuriate rival Pakistan.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi Hindu-nationalist party rushed through a presidential decree to scrap the disputed region’s special status in the constitution, and also moved a bill proposing the territory be divided into two regions directly ruled by New Delhi.

The government imposed a security lockdown and cut all telecommunications in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir in the early hours of Monday after deploying tens of thousands of troops in the past week, claiming there was a terror threat.

Home Minister Amit Shah, a close ally of Modi, told parliament the president had issued a decree abolishing Article 370 of the constitution, which gives special autonomy to the Himalayan region.

The decree said the measure came into force “at once”.

Kashmir has been divided between Indian and Pakistan since their independence in 1947. For three decades the Indian-administered part of the territory has been in the grip of an insurgency that has left tens of thousands dead.

Armed Kashmiri rebels and many residents have fought for the region’s independence or to join neighbor Pakistan.

There were already growing fears among Kashmiris that the special status would be ditched after Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) obtained a large parliamentary majority in recent elections.

His party had vowed to fulfil a long-held promise to scrap the laws, and many fear New Delhi wants to change the region’s demographics by allowing non-Kashmiris, mostly Hindus, to buy land locally.

The move is set to exacerbate the already bloody rebellion in Kashmir and deepen the long-running amorosity with nuclear rival Pakistan which has fought two out of three wars with India over the territory.

“There will a very strong reaction in Kashmir. It’s already in a state of unrest and this will only make it worse,” Wajahat Habibullah, a former senior bureaucrat in Jammu and Kashmir, told AFP.

‘DARKEST DAY FOR DEMOCRACY’

The announcement sparked chaotic scenes in the national parliament, with opposition politicians shouting protests.

The main opposition Congress party described the decision as a “catastrophic step”.

One lawmaker from the regional Kashmir-based Peoples Democratic Party tore up a copy of Indian constitution before being reportedly removed from the chambers by parliamentary marshals.

Former Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted that the latest move was the “darkest day in Indian democracy”.

“Unilateral decision of GOI (government of India) to scrap Article 370 is illegal & unconstitutional which will make India an occupational force in J&K (Jammu and Kashmir),” she added.

In Pakistan, a representative of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Firdous Ashiq Awan, tweeted that his nation would continue to provide Kashmir with “moral, diplomatic and political support” until it achieves self-determination.

The unprecedented move followed days of uncertainty in the region that began on Friday when New Delhi ordered tourists and Hindu pilgrims to leave “immediately”.

All phones, internet services and cable networks in the restive Himalayan region of more than seven million people were cut at midnight, and only residents issued with a curfew pass were allowed on the streets.

Article 370 of the Indian constitution gives special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It limits the power of the Indian parliament to impose laws in the state, apart from matters of defense, foreign affairs and communications. AFP