Kashmiri aspirations must be respected

Articles

“If parties (India & Pakistan) come here and both of them call upon the Security Council to make recommendations for the solution of their (Kashmir) dispute, ought they not in advance agree to abide by it? They are not bound to ask the Security Council to make such recommendations, but if they do, I ask the Committee of Experts if they have not thereby implied that they will conform or try to conform to them.” Ambassador Warren Austin of the United States at the Security Council on May 26, 1948.

If promises are made to be broken, then Kashmir may be summoned to prove the treacherous proposition. Broken promises haunt Kashmir’s history, and explain its tragedy.

The Kashmir issue is simply this: the people of a large territory which is not part of any existing sovereign state were assured by the entire international community represented by the United Nations that they would be enabled to decide their future by a free vote. Until now, this assurance has not been honored.

With the lapse of British paramountcy on August 15, 1947, broken promises over Kashmir came not like single spies but in battalions, to borrow from Hamlet. Princely states enjoyed three options: accession to India, accession to Pakistan, or independence. But the choice, according to India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and tacitly endorsed by the British,

was to be made by popular referendum in cases where the creed of the ruler varied from the religion of the majority. That fundamental democratic principle had been sternly applied by Prime Minister Nehru with military means in Hyderabad and Junagadh where the rulers were Muslim but their inhabitants largely Hindu. Kashmir presented a converse case: the Maharaja was Hindu but the majority subscribed to Islam.

On November 2, 1947, Prime Minister Nehru reiterated: “[W]e have declared that the fate of Kashmir is ultimately to be decided by the people. That pledge we have given and the Maharaja supported it, not only to the people of Kashmir but to the world. We will not and cannot back out of it.”

Mr. Gopalaswami Ayyanger, the Indian delegate to the United Nations spoke on January 15, 1948 at the Security Council, “When the Indian Independence Act came into force, Jammu and Kashmir, like other states, became free to decide whether it would acceded to the one or the other of the two dominions, or remain independent.”

Sir Benegal Rama Rau said at the Security Council on March 1, 1951, “The people of Kashmir are not mere chattels to be disposed of according to a rigid formula; their future must be decided on their own interest and in accordance with their own desires.”

India thus raced to the United Nations Security Council on January 1, 1948, and championed resolutions of the Security Council that prescribed a self-determination vote for Kashmiris on the heels of United Nations supervised demilitarization. At that time, the United States championed the stand that the future status of Kashmir must be ascertained in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the people of the territory. The United States was the principal sponsor of the resolution # 47 which was adopted by the Security Council on April 21, 1948 and which was based on that unchallenged principle. Both India & Pakistan eagerly endorsed that solution to Kashmir’s disputed territory.

Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge of the USA forcefully elucidated the importance of these resolutions on February 15, 1957 in these words, “What do these resolutions (on Kashmir) call for? The resolutions of 13 August 1948 sets out in successive stages a cease-fire, a truce agreement and the determination of the future status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the will of the people.”

Ambassador James William Barco of the United States emphasized the importance of the aspirations of the people of Kashmir on February 20, 1957, “The Security Council has considered the Kashmir problem on many occasions since 1947. Many members of the United Nations have served on the Council when this issue was before us. In every instance, and regardless of the membership of the Council, it has overwhelmingly approved measures to bring about a free expression of the will of the Kashmiri people through an impartial plebiscite.”

India, however, was soon undeceived of its delusions over Kashmir’s political yearning. Recognizing that its people would never freely vote accession to India, it contrived excuse after excuse to frustrate a plebiscite. When the United Nations proposed arbitration, a reference to the World Court, or any other method of resolving minor demilitarization quarrels, India nixed them all. After a few years, it dropped all pretense of acceding to a referendum by unilaterally proclaiming its annexation of Kashmir. India’s proclamation has never been accepted by the United Nations, which continues to list Kashmir as disputed territory.

Ambassador Adlai Stevenson of USA clarified the unilateral approach to the Kashmir dispute in these words on June 15, 1962, “It must be recognized by both countries that the problem of Kashmir cannot be settled unilaterally by either party. It can only be settled, as I say, by agreement and compromise, taking into account the free expression of will of the people concerned.”

The train of broken promises over Kashmir might be forgiven if the consequences were innocuous or inconsequential. But I submit the opposite is the case. With approximately 700,000 military and paramilitary troops in the territory, gruesome human rights violations are perpetrated with impunity. Every human rights group that has surveyed the grim Kashmir landscape, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, has been shocked and horrified by the daily atrocities committed against civilian population.

Kashmiris’ claim to self-determination is exceptionally strong even without the United Nations recognition. Kashmir has been historically independent, except in the anarchical conditions of late 18th and the first half of 19th centuries. The territory of Kashmir is larger in size than 121 independent countries and bigger in number than 117 nations of the world.

The United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres or the President of the Security Council should impress upon the parties concerned to create an atmosphere for a tripartite dialogue – India, Pakistan and Kashmiri leadership – that will guarantee peace and prosperity not only in Kashmir but in the whole region of South Asia – that is home to one-fifth of total human race.

Ambassador Gross of the United States put forth exactly the same alternative on December 5, 1952, “…We feel that it is the role of the Security Council to assist the parties in seeking to reach agreement.”

Let us hope that the last promise over Kashmir has been broken.

Similar Posts

  • |

    How I became Involved in the Cause of Kashmir at the international level

    I want to tell you a little story that touched my life in a very personal way in 1979. It is important to consider, I assure you, because of its historic significance, not only in having an impact in a very real way upon my own survival and the personal vision I came to adopt for the rest of my life, but how it came to shape the very destiny of Kashmir itself. My own life became inextricably linked just as intimately as a man and woman united in marriage. Each detail of this story is integral to understanding who I was then, who I am now, and the process that formed my calling and the rest of my life.
     
    I was in my late 20s then with a driving zeal, as is in every young man’s heart in Kashmir, to make a significant impact somewhere and somehow on life’s stage. At this particular time, I had been placed in charge of the international section of a major conference being held in the Capitol of Kashmir, Srinagar. I was inspired to invite a speaker of an international stature whose presence could be used to energize and internationalize the issue of Kashmir on the right of self-determination.
  • |

    US court order: Kashmiri across divide welcome Dr Fai’s release

    The Kashmiri leaders on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) welcomed the US court order for the release of Kashmiri lobbyist and Executive Director of the US-based Kashmir American Council (KAC) Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai.

    “This is the victory of justice and every Kashmiri hails the decision of American court,” said Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chaudhry Abdul Majeed while talking to The Express Tribune.

    Dr Fai is the ambassador of Kashmiris right to self-determination who has sacrificed a lot for the promotion of Kashmir cause, he said.

    The Federal Court Eastern Virginia in its release orders issued Friday said Dr Fai exhibited good morals during his imprisonment and he has been working for the cause of Kashmiri nation.

  • |

    India – US Trade and How It Will Impact Kashmir

    While the hullabaloo over Modi’s rise on the international stage has been on the verge of being a circus, with all the elephants of trade on parade, it is a distraction from the recent collective beating of chests being put on by joint Naval forces of India, the United States and Japan in the South China Sea, called Exercise Malabar, an annual event since 1992 bilaterally between India and the U.S.  Japan joined just last year.  It has been held in previous years in the Indian Ocean and other areas closer to home for India.  But the hegemonic ambitions of this odd couple now reflects the deepening commitment the two countries have made to sharing a strategic military alignment against China for dominance in South and Southeast Asia.
  • |

    United Nation must fulfill Kashmir obligation

    Washington, January 5, 2104. Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, lamented today’s 65th anniversary of the non‑implementation of the January 5, 1949, United Nations resolution which says that the future of Jammu and Kashmir shall be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite; there shall be no threat, coercion or intimidation, bribery or other undue influence on the voters in the plebiscite; no restrictions should be placed on legitimate political activity throughout the State; all subjects of the State, regardless of creed, caste or party, shall be safe and free in expressing their views; and there shall be freedom of the Press, speech and assembly.

  • |

    Sardar Qayyum Khan was a Synonym for courage and Prudence: Dr. Fai

    Washington, D.C. July 12, 2015. Dr. Fai expressed condolences on the demise of Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Sahib, former Prime Minister and former President of Azad Kashmir who breathed his last at the age of 91 on Friday July 10, 2015 at his residence in Islamabad. Inna Lillah-e-Wa- Inna Ilahi Rajioon. May Allah (s.w.t.) elevate his status as the guided person, comfort him in his grave, make his grave part of Jannatul Firdous and give Sabr to the family! Ameen.
  • |

    Bad for Business: India’s White Elephant Kashmir – Part 1

    It is nothing less than astounding that intelligent men who are charged with the responsibility of leading a country cannot comprehend that spending billions of dollars to maintain possession of a very small disputed territory to its north with millions of troops at the expense of their own national quality of life makes any sense at all. While millions of Indians don’t even have a toilet (As Prime Minister Modi said, “My real thought is to first have toilets and then temples”)and live in squalor in cardboard shelters, the government feeds off their meager incomes in order to possess and control a nation that itself is kept in a dire state economically and cannot possibly pay any return on such an investment.