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Sho’aba Tasneef-o-Taleef
J & K Mahaz-e-Azadi

Quest for Friends Name of the book: Quest for Friends, not Masters

Author: Azam Inqilabi

Not Masters Phone: + (0)194 - 2422462 / 2420327

E-mail: majk1232003@yahoo.co.in

Published: 2004
(Volume – II)
Published by:
Sho’aba Tasneef-o-Taleef
J&K Mahaz-e-Azadi

Composing & Design:

B. B. YASIR
Baghaat-Barzulla, Srinagar.

Number of copies printed: 2000

Price: Rs. 200/-

Azam Inqilabi Printed by:

Al-Hayaat Printographers, Gawkadal, Srinagar, Kashmir.
Printed at:
 Dedicated to

Martyr Mohammad Maqbool Butt,

the legendary political genius
who will continue to inspire
the future generations of Kashmir
 25. Metaphysics v/s Temporal politics.
114
26. World conscience on trial.
118
CONTENTS 27. From idealism to realism.
123
Prologue: vi 28. Repercussions of protracted Kashmir war. 127
Section I 29. Dismemberment of Kashmir. 132
30. The last odyssey. 137
01. Please seize the opportunity. 3 31. Pragmatic approach to Kashmir issue. 142
02. Prospects of global peace process. 32. Letter to Bill Clinton. 148
7
03. We did not discuss weather. 11
04. Checking this fanaticism and bigotry. 15 Epilogue:
05. Kashmir: After a decade hence. 19 150
06. Democracy: The antidote of jingoism. 23
07. Looking for a scapegoat.
27
08. OIC: An apology for alliance. 31
09. World with unpredictable future.
35
10. Chasing an invisible enemy. 39
11. Kashmir in quandary. 43 Prologue
12. Combating the violence in Kashmir. 47
13. Kashmir on the receiving end. 51
Section II After my repatriation from Pakistan in January 1995 I found
14. Bury the hatchet for good. it quite expedient to write articles for the local English
57 dailies of Kashmir to apprise the valiant struggling people of
15. Let truth prevail. Kashmir of the various aspects of Kashmir issue. While
61
16. Banish this communal fixation. 67 discussing Kashmir issue I have also dwelt on some
17. Co-existence of peace and war. 72 important problems of the global civil society. It is for the
18. Crisis legalized and legitimized. 77 readers to assess the importance and worth of the articles
19. Stop tinkering with Kashmir issue. which constitute the compilation “Quest For Friends, Not
83 Masters”. (Volume-II). I have selected only the most
Section III relevant articles for this compilation. The book will certainly
20. Paying homage to Maqbool Butt: help the young students and scholars of Kashmir in their in-
89 depth study of Kashmir problem. In the articles written after
My friend and guide Sept. 11, 2001 episode I have made an honest effort to
21. Hostages to obsessive thinking. 94 explain how the menace of violence can be stamped out. So
22. Sentiments of a bruised nationalist.
99 the book is equally helpful for those analysts who are
23. Kashmir: The arena of subjective politics. engaged in a serious business to suggest means and methods
104 for ensuring global peace.
24. UN Resolutions on Kashmir. 109
Here I feel highly indebted to my friend Dr. Haider Hijazi
(aka - B. B. Yasir Kashmiri) who, as a computer expert,
worked hard to make this compilation presentable. I pray for
his success.

Sept. 23, 2004 Azam Inqilabi

Nageen, Srinagar
Kashmir.

SECTION-I

Please seize the opportunity
“It is never too late to mend”. The universal adage will help
retrieve the situation in Kashmir. A few days back Nisar
Memon, the Information Minister of Pakistan, while addressing a
gathering of Kashmiris, said that Pakistan supported a referendum
in Kashmir through which Kashmiris would decide for themselves
whether to accede to India or Pakistan or opt for total
independence. I think it is neither a routine rhetoric to further
sentimentalize Kashmir case nor a slip of the tongue. It is
ostensibly a calculated diplomatic move to woo the Delhi rulers to
come to a negotiating table to address Kashmir issue to finally
redress the grievances of a heroic but victimized people of
Kashmir valley. Kashmiris, while exercising their inalienable and
unlimited (unfettered) right of self-determination, can
conveniently determine their political future if and when a free
and fair referendum is held in Kashmir. Pakistani rulers have, in
fact, taken a positive step in the right direction. We wish them
success.
However, we reserve the right to question the rationale for the
ambiguous stand and stance which Pakistan adopted during the
past 13 years. Why did you trigger off infighting among Kashmiri
resistance forces by manoeuvring ideological dissent within their
ranks? The freedom zealots of Kashmir frittered away their
potentialities in a self-defeating process of ideological
polarisation. The fratricidal commotion consumed great warriors
of Kashmir resistance movement. The confrontation between pro-
independence and pro-Pakistan militants was orchestrated on all
the fronts – militant, political and diplomatic. It is ironic that the
anticlimax of the whole synchronised exercise was that the free
world started looking on Kashmir issue as a simple border dispute
between India and Pakistan instead of a case and cause of freedom
struggle with a genuine indigenous character. To be precise, the
13-year-old resistance movement of Kashmir appeared to be zero-
sum game where Kashmiris and Pakistanis felt miserably cornered
in the arena of global politics. Today the whole world is worried
about an early peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue
notwithstanding the reverses, which our resistance movement
faced at home and abroad. Why? It is not the ghastly look of the
war-ravaged Kashmir which makes the western brokers of peace
weep. The fear psychosis, which overwhelmed the globe as an
aftermath of the US military action in Afghanistan against the Al-
Qaida activists who now have gone into hiding posing a threat
with added dimensions, has forced the global leaders to make a
serious effort to address the root cause of terrorism and ultraism
wherever and in whatever form it exists.
A suave and docile college student, an ideal bookworm averse to
playground and games, was arrested first in 1965 by Indian police
for his pro-freedom activities and lodged in central jail Srinagar
where he made up his mind to do something concrete for the
liberation of Kashmir. Thus the resolve of Azam Inqilabi
eventually culminated in self-assertion as chief of United Jihad
Council at Muzaffarabad in Nov. 1990. Prof. Ashraf Saraf, as
executive member of UJC, played a substantive role in giving a
final shape to the draft constitution of UJC. The manifesto of UJC
read “After their liberation from foreign yoke, Kashmiris will
determine the political future of Kashmir for themselves through a
free and fair referendum” (something analogous to UNCIP
resolution of Aug. 13, 1948). A few days after three senior officers
of the establishment called on me and asked me to replace the
manifesto by the one which read “After their liberation from
Indian domination Kashmiris will accede to Pakistan” (something
compatible with UNCIP resolution of Jan5, 1949). The
controversy ensued from there and a sad saga of UJC split started.
The UJC split was followed by infighting among the militants in
Kashmir Valley. Counter-insurgency culture of the renegades was
a by-product of this internecine infighting. It was the assassination
of Maqbool Malik (of Danter Anantnag) in Kashmir Valley which
forced me to distance myself from militancy and work for the
peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue on political and diplomatic
fronts. Thus my London-based Save Kashmir Movement in 1992-
93 played a pivotal role in retrieving the Kashmir resistance
movement from the state of anarchy.
Today all the political resistance leaders feel that they should
necessarily work with their own political initiative for the early
peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue. By pawning and
mortgaging our conscience we will simply be rendering the
Kashmir issue more complicated and confounded. So it is
imperative for us all to divest ourselves of the obsessive and self-
defeating mode of thinking and exert like conscientious
protagonists of the cause for which over 80,000 Kashmiris laid
down their precious lives. A bit of our subjectivity will prove a
powerful deterrent against the trends of war in South Asia. It will
serve the purpose of a genuine buffer between the belligerent
nuclear powers India and Pakistan, which are pitted against each
other. So we should cease to act like non-entity if we want to save
the situation in Kashmir.
Revolt of Dhaka Muslims against Islamabad in 1971 and
sustained war of attrition of Northern Alliance against Taliban in
Afghanistan is in itself a living testimony of the irrefragable fact
that faith alone is not the arbiter, definitive and determining factor
in the political and social life of a nation. If faith does not
safeguard the values of justice and dignity and honour of citizens
it is mere hypocrisy. In 1947 we gave a rebuff and rebuttal to
those coreligionists whose brigandry and licentiousness did not
allow them to march ahead straight to Srinagar airport to pre-empt
the military action of India in Kashmir. If Kashmiri Muslims did
not forgive Muslim ruffians of 1947 how can they condone the
barbarism and vandalism of Indian soldiers who brutalised
Kashmiris with unprecedented ferocity. Assassins, predators and
rapists excelled Chengez and Halaku in tyranny and repression.
Killing of innocent people, torturing men and women in
concentration camps, desecrating the modesty of women, loot and
arson is all that fetches highest awards for you in Delhi. We are
proud of our Sufi and Reshi culture, which guaranteed the safety
and security of Kashmiri Pandits in 1947 when the whole of
Indian subcontinent was ablaze with communal fire and frenzy. It
was again our Kashmiriyat, which ensured the safe exit of
Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 when Governor Jagmohan asked them
to leave Kashmir Valley en-masse just to facilitate a decisive
military action against Muslim insurgents here.
If India as a nation is hell-bent on imposing a military solution on
Kashmir then the only option left for Kashmiris is to identify
themselves, irrespective of their ideological moorings, with
Pakistan which is awfully involved in Kashmir as a staunch
supporter of Kashmir cause. If India is adamant to pursue its one-
point agenda, i.e. to completely strangulate, batter and pulverize
Kashmir then all the Kashmiris, no matter what political ideas
they profess, will be forced to express their solidarity with the
Muslim warriors who want to demolish political boundaries from
Kashmir to Morocco to carve out a formidable Muslim empire.
By emphasizing a military approach to Kashmir tangle you are, in
fact, inadvertently communalizing what is basically a simple
political issue. So a military solution is fraught with dangers; it
will inevitably come home to roost.
If India is interested in a political and democratic solution of
Kashmir problem it should declare without any further delay that
humanistic approach to the problem is priority agenda of India in
Kashmir. Kashmiris should be allowed to decide for themselves
whether they want to be part of India or accede to Pakistan or opt
for independence. Thus a free and fair referendum held in a
genuinely democratic atmosphere is the real answer to the crisis
here. And this is the only way to safeguard our Kashmiriyat,
which envisages disdainful aversion to coercion overt or covert.
So it is time to seize the opportunity and seek a peaceful and
democratic solution of Kashmir issue taking Kashmiris’ freedom
aspirations into account.
It is national aggrandizement of the powers around and the self-
aggrandizement of Kashmiri leaders which proves a stumbling-
block in the peace process aimed at seeking an early peaceful
settlement of Kashmir issue. If USA and other western powers are
really keen to ensure peace in South Asia and thwart the march of
Al-Qaida brigade to Kashmir then they should do something
substantial beyond hackneyed platitude and diplomatic verbiage
to pressurize both India and Pakistan to begin a dialogue for
lasting solution of Kashmir problem. This is the only way to
mitigate and alleviate the sufferings of benumbed Kashmiris.
[Kashmir Images - August 29, 2002]
Prospects of global peace process
B ourgeois elite of the capitalist class of global society will
continue to tread the path of exploitation and monopolization
thereby ignoring the wounds and woes of the proletariat. The
polarization between haves and have-nots has, in fact, been a
permanent feature of class-war since the time immemorial.
Sadistic vampires of the capitalist class feel relieved and even
exalted when they, through all their shenanigans and
manipulations, succeed in ensuring the failure of under-privileged
and dispossessed people in their campaign for the establishment
of a system based on egalitarian justice. Preponderance and
monopoly of the capitalist economy will continue to be the
primary objective of the powers which crave for their
overlordship. The realpolitik of these powers allures them to do
everything possible to perpetuate their hegemony – hegemony in
politics, trade and economy. Neocolonialists would want to use all
the modes and methods of globalization just to monopolize their
role as ideal plutocrats, of course, in league with the surrogate
rulers of their client states in the under-developed world.
Disintegration of erstwhile Soviet Union proved to be a bane or
boon in itself is a moot point. Analysts reserve the right to bring
forth diversified reflections on the subject. However, it is an
admitted fact that the break-up of the Soviet empire helped USA
in its emergence as the sole superpower commanding respect, real
or imaginary, all over the globe. Notwithstanding how the critics
grumble against the hidden agenda of the authors of New World
Order the enslaved and brutalised people of Kashmir and
Palestine look upon USA as their saviour. Theism-based
humanism of US nation should force Mr. Bush (Mr. G. W. Bush)
to act like a genuine philanthropist during his campaign for
assertion as a global pacifist. Humanistic approach of US leaders
to global issues will help USA assume the role of a de-jure global
leader having capability to address the festering issues like
Kashmir and Palestine. Right now the deteriorating situation in
Kashmir and Palestine makes the critics look askance at USA.
They believe that the selective humanism of America is a strong
destabilizing force creating power imbalance in various regions of
the world. US emphasis on its doctrine of unilateralism and
exclusiveness in the global political theatre will inevitably prove
counter-productive. It will sow the seeds of hatred which through
a gradual process of metamorphosis will become a palpable brew
of vengeance. And in the final stage there can be a volcanic
eruption involving the wrath of the adversaries hell-bent on
wreaking revenge. Bruised ego of the old global adversaries can
serve the purpose of a powerful catalyst in the whole process of a
counter- revolution. It is, therefore, quite expedient that the
importunately obtruding power should hold back and, after proper
sole-searching, have a dispassionate reappraisal of its policy vis-à-
vis the global issues. As a theistic society US nation has to bear in
mind that the law of retribution cannot be transcended if one
becomes a party to the phenomenon that forcibly imposes an order
of injustice.
Optimists are not completely disillusioned with what the world
powers are doing to ensure global peace through sustained
multifaceted efforts aimed at eradicating and stamping out
violence-based extremism and fanaticism abbreviated as
‘terrorism’ in the political parlance of the present-day world.
Asian nations including Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi
Arabia, Indonesia and Malaysia should play a pro-active political
role for the early resolution of the outstanding political issues
including Kashmir, Palestine and Chechniya. Almaty Conference
of the important Asian nations did kindle a hope of better
prospects of the peace process being vigorously and persistently
pursued by a few pacifists of the world. Why should others be
allowed to make a cat’s-paw of Asian nations just to further the
cause of those who vie with your power and potential? If Asian
nations assert for the peaceful settlement of the long-standing
disputes which have bedeviled and embittered relations between
them the day is not far when the ‘supercop’ will condescend to
objectively rationalize its role for crisis management and conflict
resolution. Here we emphasize that human civilisation should not
be allowed to relapse into anachronistic regression in the name of
religion or culture. Evolutionary growth of scientific knowledge
has, in fact, revolutionised the concept of metaphysical meditation
and exploration. An introvert literally finds himself in a state of
union with God when he watches a TV documentary showing an
artificial satellite orbiting the earth or voyaging through space for
a rendezvous with Jupiter or Mars. Let knowledge and logic alone
work as a force majeure in the determination of our position on
this tiny planet earth.
Events of internecine infighting in early nineties in Kashmir are
still reverberating in our head and heart. Those were the days
when every Kashmiri was upset by the fratricidal mayhem in his
homeland. In London I launched Save Kashmir Movement in
(Jan-Feb) 1993 just to stem the rot. Eventually I in league with my
contemporary resistance friends – Fazal Haq Qureshi, Yaseen
Malik, Shabbir Shah and G. M. Butt (JI Chief) – succeeded in (i)
saving the Kashmiri nation from ideological infighting (ii)
reducing the level of violence (iii) segregating the political
resistance organizations from militancy. It took us long eight years
to revive the political institutions of Kashmir resistance
movement. But for Sheikh Abdullah’s political somersault in 1975
when he disbanded Plebiscite Front, the insurgency in Kashmir
would not have been triggered off. Kashmiri youth rejected Indra-
Abdullah Accord of 1975 and decided to spearhead the resistance
movement first on political front and later, while getting
disenchanted with the democratic process of 1987, on the militant
front and that too in a big way. People eulogized and idolized the
great warriors of the violent insurrection. Ashfaq Majid Wani,
Maqbool Illahi, Altaf Qureshi, Ashraf Dar, Sheikh Hameed, Nasir-
ul-Islam are a few who form part of the galaxy of valiant votaries
of Kashmir freedom movement.
Here by way of a rejoinder we once again make it clear that
violence is not the favourite hobby, recreation or pastime of
Kashmiri youth. They were constrained to have a recourse to
violent mode of agitation against the military, constitutional and
cultural onslaught of India in Kashmir. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,
as the Prime Minister of India, unequivocally made it clear in
Indian parliament and Srinagar that Kashmiris reserve the right to
self-determination. In a radio broadcast from New Delhi on 2nd of
Nov. 1947 Mr. Nehru said, “……. We have declared that the fate
of Kashmir is ultimately to be decided by the people. This pledge
we have given and the Maharaja has supported it, not only to the
people of Kashmir but also to the world. We will not and cannot
back out of it. We are prepared, when peace and law and order
have been established, to have referendum held under
international auspices like United Nations…….”.
Repeating and reiterating his pledge and promise in a similar tone
and accent in January 1952 Mr. Nehru said, “…… Kashmir is not
the property of either India or Pakistan. It belongs to the Kashmiri
people. When Kashmir acceded to India we made it clear to the
leaders of the Kashmiri people that we would ultimately abide by
the verdict of their plebiscite; if they tell us to walk out I would
have no hesitation in quitting Kashmir … . … We have taken the
(Kashmir) issue to the United Nations and given our word of
honour for peaceful solution. As a great nation we cannot go back
on it. We have left the question for final solution to the people of
Kashmir and we are determined to abide by their decision……”
(Amrit Bazar Patrika, Kolkatta, Jan. 1952)
Why is it so that the Indian leaders, despite their clarion
commitment regarding a referendum in Kashmir for its final
dispensation, blatantly reneged on their promise and pledges.
Don’t you feel that the betrayal and perfidy has cost your honour
as a great nation? Therefore, shouldn’t your smaller neighbouring
countries harbour suspicion and assert to combat your hegemonic
designs? And how can you stake a claim to the permanent
membership of UN Security Council when the world community
feels averse to perverted and profane culture of fraud and
treachery. You lynched, mauled and mutilated Kashmiris simply
because they reminded you of your moral obligation apropos
Kashmir. In fact, India has already forfeited its right to stay in
Kashmir. Bullets and bayonets cannot be answer to Kashmir
crisis. You have to revert to humanistic approach to Kashmir issue
if at all you are serious about checkmating the domino effect of
Kashmir turmoil, which has the inherent potential to destabilize
peace of the whole South Asian region. Kashmir can become a
hotbed and an ideal breeding ground for the future Bin Ladens if
Kashmir issue remains unsettled for a few years more. It is an
unwholesome revelation for those who are eager to see peace and
tranquility enveloping the globe. So instead of harping on the
outdated policy of subjective rhetoric and polemics you should
display sagacity, stoicism, prudence, magnanimity and a strong
political will to address the Kashmir issue. Pakistan, as an
important party to Kashmir issue, can help you in finding an
honourable and peaceful way out of Kashmir vortex. Kashmiri
leaders will play a constructive role in the whole peace process.
Insha-Allah.
[Kashmir Images - August 20, 2002]
We did not discuss weather
B arrister K.H.Khursheed, the Kashmiri leader who hailed from
Srinagar, worked as personal secretary of Quad-e-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah for some time and later on became the
President of Azad Kashmir. He founded JK Liberation League in
1962 and propounded the idea of a united free Kashmir. Late
Khursheed, as the president of Azad Kashmir, was dethroned and
lodged in Dulai interrogation centre. He had to suffer for the rest
of his life due to his commitment to the subjective freedom
movement. He was not averse to the concept of referendum in free
Kashmir for or against Pakistan. Muhammad Maqbool Butt, the
revolutionary visionary, embarked upon the most tedious and
perilous task of getting his free (independent) Kashmir concept
recognised by India and Pakistan. He entered (returned to)
Kashmir Valley in 1966 as NLF guerilla leader. After his arrest he
was interrogated and subjected to torture. Death sentence was
passed against him in Srinagar central jail wherefrom he escaped
in December 1968 to cross the snow-clad mountains. In Azad
Kashmir he remained engrossed in free-Kashmir movement with
added vigour. He again repatriated to Kashmir Valley in 1976 to
‘instigate’ the Kashmiri youth against Indra-Abdullah Accord. He
was again arrested and lodged in Tihar Jail Delhi where he had to
languish for eight long years without the transparent trial of the
cases he had been implicated in. Eventually it was due to the joint
connivance of India and Pakistan that he had to face gallows and
die as a martyr on Feb. 11, 1984. General Zia-ul-Haq, the
president of Pakistan, kept mum when India, on Feb. 8, 1984,
decided to hang Maqbool Butt. Dr. Farooq Abdullah (then the
‘Chief Minister’ of Indian held part of Jammu & Kashmir) signed
the black warrant. Thus elimination of Maqbool Butt symbolised
the formalization of a joint Indo-Pak campaign (with unwritten
agreement) to sabotage and jeopardize the independence
movement of Kashmir.
All those who ventured to make an effort to further the cause of
an independent Kashmir in one way or the other became a
casualty and scapegoat in the confrontation between the
proponents of ‘Shah-Rug’ and ‘Atoot-Ang’ theory. Molvi Farooq,
Dr. Qazi Nissar, Prof. A. A. Wani, Dr. G. Q. Wani, Advocate Jaleel
Andrabi, Shabbir Siddiqui, Maqbool Malik and hundreds of
protagonists of Kashmir independence movement got consumed
by the fratricidal mayhem. Molvi Umar Farooq says that about 30
options are being considered for resolving Kashmir issue. Well, it
took us long 12 years to render the option of independence of
Kashmir irrelevant and redundant using all the overt and covert
coercive means and methods to break the will of pro-
independence ideologues. It will, therefore, take us (12x28) i.e.
336 years to reject all other options except the one which is dear
to every citizen of Pakistan. Sardar Abdul Qayoom Khan Saheb
and Molvi Umar Farooq Saheb can afford to live with the reverie
of options for Kashmir as they have to lose nothing except a few
moments of solitude in their secure dens just to facilitate a
dialogue and discussion on Kashmir in various regions of the
world. This is an affordable political pastime for a few indeed.
Lakhs of Kashmiris who have been writhing in anguish and anger
for over a decade are earnestly looking for a way out of what
ostensibly appears to be complicated and ineluctable situation.
Acquisition of technical know-how and expertise by Pakistan to
manufacture nuclear weapons and missiles has added to the
impregnability and invincibility of that country in such a way that
her nuclear adversary, India, cannot afford to think in terms of an
all-out war with Pakistan unless the two countries actually prod
each other to commit a suicide. Credibility of numerical
superiority of India over Pakistan is now an extinct myth. Parity
in power and potential of the two to strike a balance is a guarantee
for strategic restraint and hence peace in South Asia. In Kashmir
the status quo (‘no peace no war’ situation) suits none but the
adversaries which vie with India and Pakistan for their nuclear
capability. It is, therefore, quite expedient and advisable for India
and Pakistan to de-emotionalize the Kashmir issue and disengage
on Kashmir front to retrieve the strife-torn area from the quagmire
of turmoil, chaos and uncertainty. A political package envisaging a
visionary but practicable solution of Kashmir issue on short-term
and long-term basis can jointly be worked out by Pakistan and
India.
For Kashmiris a news about ‘hartal’ or sighting of Eid moon is a
mere rumour unless it is confirmed and endorsed by Radio
Pakistan or PTV. It means that Kashmir will continue to be natural
constituency of Pakistan for times to come. Hurriyat leaders will
simply be managing their share of credit for what is more natural
than stage-managed. We don’t envy that role of theirs. When
Hurriyat Chairman Prof. A. G. Butt saheb said that he ‘discussed
weather’ with Ram Jethmalani, the elderly Indian opposition
leader, people did not become impatient to know more about
Hurriyat weather forecast. Instead they furtively switched on their
television sets to gather information from PTV about the political
weather forecast regarding Kashmir. In the calm and cool
atmosphere of Hotel Grand Palace I, alongwith thirty or forty
friends including lawyers and scholars, had an occasion to interact
with Ram Jethmalani. We all apprised the Indian leader of the
ground realities in Kashmir. Barring weather we discussed almost
all the aspects of Kashmir resistance movement. 80,000 martyrs
felt relieved when we completed our briefing with complete
transparency. The brilliant Indian lawyer too emphasized the
importance of peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue through
dialogue.
Now it is an open secret that Hurriyat leaders were already
engaged in secret informal dialogue with New Delhi even before
K. C. Pant’s visit to Srinagar in May 2001. Hurriyat leaders had
asked New Delhi not to declare Pant’s name as interlocutor before
their visit to Pakistan. When Mr. Pant arrived in Srinagar to meet
Azam Inqilabi and Shabbir Shah Hurriyat Conference raised hue
and cry against what they called a violation of ‘collective sense of
responsibility’. It took me several months to understand that we
had actually ‘violated the proprietorship right’ of Hurriyat
Conference to advocate Kashmir cause. So it was a simple rights-
violation case for which they should have approached Amnesty
International or Human Rights Watch USA. There was no need of
going in for media trial against the committed warriors of
Kashmir resistance movement. Late A. G. Lone fell a prey to the
same media trial. Thanks to parochialism and paranoia which is
the hallmark of Kashmir society.
If world community is really interested in thwarting violence and
containing the trends of extremism and ultraism in Kashmir it
should rise to the occasion to address the root cause of unrest
here. Please try to understand the genesis of the turmoil and
upheaval here. After all, who is responsible for the political
cataclysm and intricacy in Kashmir. It is the volte-face of the
Indian rulers who blatantly reneged on their promise and pledge
regarding the final dispensation of Kashmir based on Kashmiris’
inalienable right to self-determination. It is Delhi and Delhi alone
which facilitated commotion and pell-mell in Kashmir by
installing stooges through farcical and sham elections. Kashmiris
feel disillusioned with Indian democracy, which in Kashmir
means administrative arrogance and totalitarianism. Ask your
philosophers and psychologists to make a realistic assessment of
the magnitude of hatred that is brewing in the hearts of the
brutalised and traumatized people of Kashmir. Revert to
humanistic mode of approach to deal with Kashmir tangle. This is
the only way to heal the wounds, which history has inflicted on
this benumbed ethnic community beleaguered by tall mountains
and ruthless bayonets of the soldiers who are now looked upon as
assassins and depredators even by sane Indians. Let the Indian
strategists bear in mind that all Kashmiri resistance leaders are
moderates if India is serious about finding an honourable,
amicable, equitable and durable solution of Kashmir issue; and all
of them are reckless hawks if treachery, fraud, perfidy and
coercion form the basis of Indian modus operandi to tackle
Kashmir imbroglio and embroilment. Please don’t try to create
dissension among Kashmiri leadership by categorizing it into
moderates and hardliners. People in Kashmir want a radical
change for good. Inevitably you have to allow the conscientious
but suppressed class of the civil society of Kashmir to manage the
state affairs here if and when Pakistan and India approve of a
workable plan for the permanent settlement of Kashmir issue.
This is the bottom line of what all the revolutionaries would like
to suggest.

[Kashmir Images - June 15, 2002]
Checking this fanaticism and bigotry
Isocial
slam, the religion of peace and moderation, emphasizes
compassion, benevolence and accountability in every sphere of
and political life. A genuinely practicing Muslim is always
polite, suave and unassuming in his personal demeanour. He is
averse and allergic to arrogance and postures of subjective
bragging and boasting. Islam would like to see every Muslim
becoming an ideal dayee. In fact, the whole Ummah, as Kher-e-
Ummah, has to play the role of devoted dayee. And for the
success of dawah a dayee has to adopt, not profess, humility,
righteousness, patience and altruism. Islam disdains and detests
self-conceit, impetuosity and intolerance. It was the strong
metaphysical mystic message of the great saints and sages like
Bulbul Shah and Mir Syed Ali Hamdani that conquered the hearts
of those who knew nothing about Islam before its advent in
Kashmir. It is not sword which is proving instrumental in the
spread of Islam in Europe and America today. It is, in fact, the
knowledge of the western citizens which persuaded them to
acknowledge Islam as the religion of love – love for God, love for
humans and love for the lofty ideas, opening up new vistas of
research in various disciplines of knowledge.
It is incumbent on the whole Muslim Ummah, as the vicegerent of
Prophet Muhammad (SAW), to apprise the world of the real
teachings of Islam. Defeatist mindset and apologetic approach to
global issues cannot extricate the Ummah from the crevasse and
abyss of helplessness and retrogression. It was the sustained
theistic resistance of Muslims and Christians alike, which
eventually culminated in the dismemberment of Soviet Union.
That means the agreement of interests and alliance of convenience
practically facilitated what appeared to be remote possibility in
early eighties. Today the world is facing the menace of global
terrorism – an invisible monster that is haunting and horrifying
the minds in East and West. Again the Muslims and Christians,
through a concerted humanistic and metaphysical approach, can
effectively fight the menace of terrorism no matter whether it is
the terrorism of an individual, a group or a state. Intellectual
waywardness of the lunatics in scholars’ guise may suggest
something like ‘clash of civilisations’ but in the world of realism
and rationalism, the ‘international coalition’ for a campaign
against terrorism finds it quite expedient to accommodate both
theists and atheists all over the globe.
After the end of Cold War era, civilizations were engrossed in the
involuntary endeavour to relapse into anachronistic regression
when the surprise catastrophic terrorist attack of September 11,
2001 in USA sent shivers down the spine of the sane political
scientists. Thus the traumatized global leaders were forced to shun
and shed obscurantism, parochialism and exclusiveness. Now
humanism seems to be underlying dogma of the ‘international
coalition’ for ‘war on terror’. The whole phenomenon of terrorism
will prove potent enough to break the barriers of bias, bigotry and
particularism. It was the fanaticism and bigotry of racist Nazis of
Germany which dragged the world into the holocaust of World
War II. It was the illusory socialistic megalomania of erstwhile
Soviet Union which allured the leaders of that empire to embark
upon an adventure (nay, misadventure) in Afghanistan in 1979. It
was the political fanaticism, bigotry and bias which did not allow
the leaders of undivided Pakistan to come to terms with one
another in 1971. Group aggrandizement of Taliban fanatics and
bigots left no stone unturned in demonizing and diabolizing Islam
through acts which were never compatible with the essence of
Islam. So the failure of fanaticism symbolised and epitomized the
success of moderation and objectivity.
Frenzied Zionist zealots are making a conspicuously awkward
attempt to locate and lynch Hitler in the refugee camps of
Palestine. Instead of slaughtering the innocent Palestinians the
Israeli leaders should beat their breasts for their failure in bringing
Hitler to justice. And here in South Asia Modis have gone berserk.
The crowd of cowards could not take on Baber who had come
brandishing not Ghori and Shaheen missiles but the petty iron
sword which the Modis of that time could have easily
manufactured in their kitchen ovens. Why did not they display the
masculine prowess then in defense of their beloved homeland
Hindustan? Now it is useless to look for a scapegoat in Gujrat just
to satiate and assuage the sentiments of revenge. In Gujrat you are
actually massacring the disciples of the Sufi saint of Ajmer. Is it
not a fact that Indian Muslims generally identify themselves with
the Sufi saints and seers like Nizam-ud-din and Garieb Nawaz
whose shrines are revered and respected more by Hindus than
Muslims? Modis of today should once again read the 700
shalooks of Bhagwat Geeta. Don’t you know that Shree Arjun was
hesitant in waging a war against his kith and kin notwithstanding
the genuineness of his cause? And here you don’t feel ashamed of
yourself while displaying savagery and butchery in the streets of
Gujrat.
How is it possible that a country which is psychologically riven
and ripped apart within due to communal polarization and
sectarian violence can exist as a single administrative unit when
religious fanatics are free to rule the roost? Whither secularism of
India? One billion people of India cannot permanently become
hostage to a particular communal fixation.
I am not completely disillusioned and disenchanted with the
progressive and emancipated secular forces of India. There are
luminaries like Proful Bidwai, Tapan Bose and Kuldeep Nayar
whose sermons do not go unnoticed. In his article captioned BJP’s
castle in the air, published in Kashmir Images of April 19, 2002,
Kuldeep Nayar writes, “I am surprised over the absence of action
against religious terrorism. Members of the Vishva Hindu
Parishad and the Bajrang Dal are no different from the Taliban.
The world woke up to their obscurantism and violence after their
attacks in the US. India is waking up to their barbarism after the
massacre in Gujrat. The Taliban disfigured Islam, the Sangh
Parivar Hinduism”. Why should the chauvinism and fascism of 5
percent (micro-minority) of people be allowed to destroy the
pluralism which forms the base of Indian system? So it is time to
checkmate the menace of fanaticism and bigotry which is eating
into the very vitals of Indian society. General Musharaf has
already taken an initiative to contain the menace in and around
Pakistan. Secular India can orchestrate a better show of tolerance,
fraternity, philanthropy and egalitarian justice.
Abul Kalam Azad, the late Congress stalwart explains in his
autobiography India Wins Freedom how Pt. Nehru’s latent anti-
Muslim paranoia and egoistic aggressiveness sabotaged the
British Cabinet Mission Plan for United India with three
autonomous zones. Again it was the same subjective arrogance of
the Delhi rulers which taught them how to renege on their own
commitment regarding the final political dispensation of Kashmir.
Who encroached upon the Article 370 of Indian Constitution?
Who humiliated and tortured the Kashmiri political leaders and
activists in jails and interrogation centres despite their steadfast
peaceful campaign for the political settlement of Kashmir issue? It
is you who pushed Kashmiris to the wall. So you have no moral
right to cast aspersions on them and calumniate and vilify them
for no fault of theirs. Today you find yourselves entangled and
entrenched in what ostensibly appears to be an ineluctable and
confounded situation. Still it is never too late to mend. A serious
political initiative for early peaceful solution of Kashmir tangle
can help in bringing round those who feel totally disgusted with
the shenanigans and prevarications of Delhi Maharajas.
Continued stand-off suits neither India nor Pakistan. Indian and
Pakistani strategists should try to realise that in the presence of
your nuclear weapons and missiles, Kashmiri ultras shoulder no
obligation to abide by your rules of ‘strategic restraints’. They
would, rather, feel tempted to continue their activities just to add
to your vulnerability and bewilderment. It is, therefore, absolutely
preposterous to think about breaking the will and resolve of
Kashmiri ultras through military operations. To be true, it is the
peaceful political stance of Kashmiri leaders which serves the
purpose of an ideal deterrent against the growing trends of
violence. So you should try to be prudent by recognising the role
of the political institutions of Kashmir. You simply cannot afford
to belittle or underestimate their importance. They alone can
salvage you from the quagmire and mesh of Kashmir imbroglio.
Kashmiris are proud of their Kashmiriyat which envisages and
entails regard for the Sufi and Reshi culture of Kashmir. It was the
Sufi’ism of Kashmir which ensured the safety and security of
Kashmiri Pandits in 1947 and 1990 when thousands of furious
guns were booming around. It is obligatory on our part to save our
Sufi’ism from the onslaught of Indian Modi’ism. And the
objective can be achieved through a sustained political resistance
movement. Indian Modi’ism has provided enough ammunition to
our resistance movement for its survival and success.
[Kashmir Images- April 26, 2002]
Kashmir: After a decade hence
T errorism is a phenomenon involving the cathectic impulsive
reaction of psychologically bruised men. It is a cathartic
expression of suppressed feelings and sentiments. It is a ruthless
and reckless violent rebuff and rebuttal to the authors of
persecution and humiliation. Terrorism is not the disease. It is in
fact symptom of disease – the relentless aggressiveness of the
haughty egotistic desperadoes in power. Expansionism, which is
aimed at seeking overlordship and preponderance through all the
coercive means and methods, is the real cause of the discontent
and unrest in the underdeveloped countries. USA, the sole
superpower, is awfully busy in her brawn-assertion campaign all
over the globe just to browbeat and terrorize the terrorists known
or unknown. However, the US modus operandi to deal with the
menace of terrorism has become controversial. In his article “Why
the War on Terror won’t Work” published in the Daily Kashmir
Observer, Srinagar of March 22, 2002 Bill Christian, the former
senior CIA officer, maintains: “….. But elsewhere in much of the
world, especially the underdeveloped world, this overwhelming
invincibility of the US military intensifies the frustrations about
and hatred of USA. This in turn makes future terrorist acts against
US or what is now called by US strategic thinkers asymmetrical
warfare even more likely. Those in underdeveloped lands who
oppose the US drive for worldwide hegemony are increasingly
coming to see no means other than terrorism as an effective
method of opposing the United States. ….. I believe that unless
the US moves in the directions I have been suggesting throughout
this talk, in five or ten years the terrorism against the United
States will become so intense that our global relationships with
other nations will be in shambles……”.
Terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001 on WTC and Pentagon in USA
changed the very concept of warfare. The formidable nuclear
arsenal and sophisticated computerized missiles of USA could not
defend this country against the catastrophic assault of the
terrorists whose guerilla expertise in terms of surprise, precision
and insurmountable will to strike rendered the whole US defence
paraphernalia obsolete and redundant. In fact, it will be always
difficult to identify the unknown terrorists whose ulterior motives
and intentions will lie buried in their hearts till the last moment of
strike. Thus the element of surprise will continue to take the
victim by surprise unless some wonder device works wonders in
deciphering the innate feelings and ideas of a man. So, for times
to come, unpredictability will be always a mystery in the whole
dynamics of terrorism. All that a terrorist has to do is to decide to
die. And with the advancement of information technology the
technical know-how about nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons will be an open secret. Such a congenial scientific
atmosphere will certainly coax and cajole the future terrorists to
give a vent to their pent-up feelings and sentiments of revenge,
vengeance and wrath. If Mr. Bush, the US president, is really
serious about addressing the problem of global terrorism he
should focus his attention on the 4-point programme I have
vociferously been mooting and supporting since Sept. 11, 2001
viz: (i) Dialogue between civilizations. (ii) Resolution of all the
outstanding political issues in various regions of the world. (iii)
Bridging the gulf between haves and have-nots all over the globe
and (iv) Emphasis on family-concept as a bedrock of human
civilisation. A few days back, while addressing a gathering of
intellectuals in the Georgia Institute of Technology USA Mr.
Jimmy Carter, the former US president, castigated and rebuked his
country for its apathy and antipathy vis-à-vis Afghanistan which
was used as an expendable pawn and later on unceremoniously
jettisoned to languish and writhe in the parching and suffocating
atmosphere of political ostracism and economic sanctions.
Kashmir is a powder keg, rather a flashpoint in South Asia.
Kashmiris have a genuine case. The criterion that justified the
intervention of Indian government in Junagarh and Hyderabad
was blatantly flouted in Kashmir. Jammu Kashmir State, like 564
princely states, should have been allowed to determine its political
future for itself. But for the animosity between Sheikh Abdullah
and Maharaja Hari Singh, the state of Jammu & Kashmir would
have succeeded, notwithstanding the prevarication of Indian
National Congress and Muslim League, in retaining the
independence of the State. Sheikh Sahib’s “Quit Kashmir” slogan,
undoubtedly, hastened the process of Indian intervention in
Kashmir. Rivalry between the two state-leaders facilitated not
only the Indo-Pak confrontation in Kashmir but also the
communal polarization within the State. Now Kashmir is a bone
of contention between India and Pakistan. True, UN resolutions
on Kashmir are as valid as Simla Agreement and Lahore
Declaration. Nevertheless, the complexities of Kashmir issue
demand that parties to the vexed issue should adopt a pragmatic
and objective approach while addressing the various aspects of the
issue. It is a sin to live on the misery of Kashmiris. Kashmiris feel
sandwiched between the two nuclear powers of south Asia. It is
high time when intransigence and intractability should give way
to logic, humanism and philanthropy.
Leaving Kashmir issue in limbo means perpetuating the state of
uncertainty, chaos and confusion here on the one hand and
spawning and grooming the uncompromising ultras on the other.
Contemporary Afghan history reveals that it takes 20 years to
produce a complete crop of die-hard ultras hell-bent on wreaking
vengeance upon the adversary. Kashmir, after a decade hence, will
be an ideal breeding ground of the ultras who will excel Bin
Ladens of today in their resolve to display prowess so
characteristic of a reckless sadist seething with inveterate hatred
and rancour. How can the draconian laws like TADA and POTA
prove an effective deterrent against the latent militant resolve of
those who are yet in teens and whose naked eyes witness the
carnage, arson, loot, torture, rape and desecration of the sacred
places of worship? So by imposing a military solution on Kashmir
you are actually sowing the seeds of future revolution – a
spontaneous volcanic eruption. Alas! All this will happen in
Kashmir – a bastion of Sufi and Reshi culture, the present-day
Kashmiris are so proud of. Why should subjective arrogance and
complacency be allowed to ignore the prognosis of a genuine
pacifist and humanist who, in league with many emancipated
friends, played an important role in saving the present generation
of youngsters from complete extinction? Well, the hardened hearts
are, indeed, impervious to the sermons of peace, pacification and
pacifism.
Today USA says that “ Kashmir is the top priority” of its foreign
affairs agenda. Thank you, we wish you success in your
endeavour to redress the grievances of the brutalised ethnic
community of Kashmir. Russia, China, Japan and European Union
– all stress an early peaceful settlement of Kashmir tangle through
sustained dialogue and negotiations between the parties
concerned.
OIC, the political Milli forum of the Muslim World, can do a lot
to mitigate and alleviate the sufferings of the hapless Kashmiris.
No need of exporting a few dissidents and petro-dollars to
Kashmir. Please, express solidarity with the helpless people of
Kashmir by severing trade relations with India. Impose economic
sanctions on her for a period of six months so that 650-billion
rupee Indian Defence budget is reduced by 50% and this reduction
will ensure the subsequent reduction in the human rights abuse
and violations in Kashmir. This is what you should do if at all you
are averse to the word “hypocrisy”. By the time you take a bold
decision to pressurise India to concede to Kashmiris’ right to self-
determination you should try to provide relief to the orphans,
widows and other war-affected people of Kashmir.
Here, I cannot but pay tribute to the 80,000 martyrs who lie buried
in the 500 cemeteries of Kashmir. Also, I pay tribute to the great
Kashmiri warriors who have been languishing in Indian prisons
for the last decade. Kashmiris are craving and praying for an early
peaceful solution of the Kashmir imbroglio. Status quo in
Kashmir will inevitably prove fatal for India. Due to domino
effect Kashmir turmoil and upheaval will engulf the peaceful
areas of India. If Kashmir issue is amicably solved before long
half of the problems which India is facing within will get
automatically solved. Political leaders of Kashmir resistance
movement are ready to cooperate with the Indo-Pak joint working
group for Kashmir. We want to help you find an honourable way
out of Kashmir vortex. We will not let you down, if you respond
with promptitude. So it is time to seize the opportunity. The
present stalemate on Kashmir front suits the interests of some
sadistic vampires in the West. The continued log-jam will
jeopardise the strategic interests of India and Pakistan. It is
equally detrimental for the Asian security too.
[Kashmir Images - March 29, 2002]
Democracy: The antidote of jingoism
D emocracy is a suffocation-free political culture, which
guarantees empowerment of the masses; it elevates the
underprivileged intelligentsia to the position of power and
prominence; it safeguards the conscience of a common man by
encouraging healthy dissent. The poor man who stood up in the
mosque and asked Caliph Umar to explain wherefrom he had
acquired the cloak he donned was basically exercising his right to
dissent and freedom of speech. The satisfactory answer of the
Caliph did have a positive impact on the heart of the pious but
poor Muslim who posed the question. So Islamic democracy
guarantees freedom of speech and constructive dissent.
Democracy, in essence, envisages installation of a government by
adult franchise. So a government formed by the massive mandate
of the common people will necessarily be wedded to the cause of
egalitarian social justice and welfare of the common man. In
Islamic democracy popular verdict of the common Muslims in
favour of a particular issue will be always based on righteousness
and truth. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) guarantees the
righteousness and judiciousness of Muslim consensus saying:
“My Ummah will never assemble to have consensus on ‘Munkar’
(the forbidden things); so side with the Muslim majority
mainstream.”
Hence there is nothing wrong in having a ‘government of the
people, by the people and for the people’. The concept is perfectly
in conformity with Islamic democracy. In fact democracy, in its
ideal form, is a boon and benediction.
In the underdeveloped countries of the present-day world money
and muscle power of the privileged acts as a carte blanche and
force majeure in determining the nature of the government formed
through adult suffrage. It is, in fact, the government of plutocrats
and aristocrats – the privileged class of civil society. It is the same
sham democracy of the bourgeois elite which proves instrumental
– through acts of mismanagement, nepotism, corruption, scams
and scandals – in generating unrest, discontentment among the
impoverished dispossessed and degraded proletariat in the
underdeveloped countries. Thus the political upheaval, communal
polarisation, xenophobia, violence, fanaticism and terrorism are
some of the main indispensable attributes of this sham democracy.
In order to provide a firm footing to the edifice of farcical
democracy the authors of the hallucinatory system of governance
create a smokescreen of artificial crisis by demonising certain
issues within and outside their countries. The objective of
empowering the underprivileged and talented altruists is an
anathema and eyesore to those who, by default, are already firmly
glued to their position of sway over the Muslim and secular
countries of the Third World. The Western powers would want to
capitalise on the crisis the Third World demagogues usually live
on. They just jump on the bandwagon of these opportunists to
simply obfuscate the already flummoxed issues. Thus the
agreement of interests facilitates a campaign to brutalise the
prisoners of conscience. And had there been no Osamas and
Saddams the vampires in power would have certainly discovered
one – a real or imaginary bogeyman. Yes, this is the tack and tact
that suits their interests.
Human civilisation seems to be sitting at the crater of a volcano; it
is quite oblivious of the threat of its extinction. In such a situation
the world is and should be looking for a saviour who by dint of
his intuitive approach can extricate and retrieve the human
civilisation from the vortex of crisis – the crisis of mutual trust
and understanding. Let the Messiah descend from the heaven to
chastise and baptize the inflated egotists who are holding the
humanity to ransom. In the second chapter of his book “The Myth
of Independence” written 34 years back Z. A. Bhutto, the late
social democrat who ruled over Pakistan for several years,
maintains: “But as long as nations exploit one another, as long as
there is dictatorship and suppression of civil liberties, as long as
people are denied their rights and the poor are plundered the Cold
War will remain and might even culminate in a real war between
the Great Powers, between one ideology and the other. Oppressed
people will never abandon their search for a redeemer and if none
is found to assume the mantle, the people in bondage will redeem
themselves and achieve an egalitarian order free of domination
and want, tyranny and exploitation.”
If suicide is not the priority option of the human civilisation the
violence in all its forms and with all its dimensions should be
eschewed and there should be a serious effort to address the
genesis of the menace. Violence cannot be eradicated and
uprooted by violence. Retaliatory violence, especially
institutionalised one, will definitely breed more violence based on
acrimony, rancour and revenge. Therefore, the problem needs to
be dealt with in a more sophisticated and scientific way.
Democracy, with its ideal norm and form, is potent enough to act
as an antidote of violence and jingoistic hysteria. But the question
that arises here is whether the people who are already enjoying
power in East and West will ever display selflessness by
empowering those who are recognised as real philanthropists and
altruists in the society. To be true, nobody is going to voluntary
abdicate the throne for a better democrat. The ideal democrats,
who despite their leadership flair are living in solitude and would
like to seek permanent seclusion due to the choked political
environment, have to muster courage to stake a claim to
leadership for a better change.
This is an impassable imperative if at all the nations and
continents are to be saved from disastrous violence and terrorism;
and if at all demagogues, who are crying wolf, are really serious
about redressing the grievances of those who have suffered at the
hands of assassins, depredators and predators. These are the
imponderables of the present global struggle between haves and
have-nots or between broke ideologues and arrogant riff-raff in
power. And remember that this one-upmanship of the global
warlords is not the real answer to the crisis created by the violent
dissidents in various regions of the world. Every ruffian is a
terrorist but every terrorist is not a ruffian. Every revolutionary is
not a member of the lumpenproletariat advocating blaze.
Muslim Ummah, as the real repository of the concept of ideal
democracy, can play an important role in stemming the rot by
launching a movement for the empowerment of the multitude of
Muslims underprivileged but cultured. However, the Muslim
feudal lords, the capitalist bourgeoisie, are an obstacle in the
campaign for the accomplishment of the objective identified as a
panacea. Muslim capitalist elitism is a mere blemish, slur and
stigma on the very essence of Islam and Ummah. Islamic
democracy, if introduced and implemented, can remedy all the
ills, which are eating into the very vitals of Ummah. It will
guarantee true egalitarianism, which will, in turn, help contain the
trends of fanaticism and violent extremism.
US campaign against ‘global terrorism’ is gradually assuming the
posture of a racist war against Muslims all over the world. Before
lynching the innocent but pauperised Afghans for the crime they
never committed USA should pay heed to what American
humanist Mr. Noam Chomsky says about the ‘state-terrorism’ of
the ‘supercop’. Just appraise the economic fallout and political
ramifications of the US sabre-rattling, which, instead of
frightening the invisible enemy, has emboldened the dissidents in
East and West. Oligarchy of the haughty desperadoes is playing
with fire. Traumatized and agonized people, already reft and
bereft of solace and tranquility, are being forced to react with
vengeance. The brewing anti-US hatred is becoming the rallying
force for the oppressed people of the world. USA can still play the
role of a de-jure global leader subject to the condition that she
gives up the blatant aggressiveness and reverts to humanism
characteristic of Jesus Christ. Campaign to sustain uncertainty all
over the world through subjective obduracy and impetuosity will
inevitably end in the failure of USA as capitalist democracy.
It is true that India and Pakistan are being forced to play second
fiddle in the arena of global politics. But it is equally true that the
two quasi-democratic countries have to learn to live like cultured
neighbours if at all peace and prosperity in Asia is paramount.
Leaving Kashmir issue in limbo will mean further vitiating the
political atmosphere of South Asia and adding to the vulnerability
of Asia. If the hapless Kashmiris, under circumstantial
compulsions, are destined to become a permanent appendage to
either India or Pakistan, why should the contending powerful
parties use force to seek our consent. A forced marriage always
proves to be a failure. An over ambitious dandy who is hell-bent
on converting a unilateral love affair into a forced marriage invites
wrath of the sandal-wielding modest lady victimized thus. So
allow Kashmiris to determine their future through free and fair
plebiscite under the aegis of UNO. And the objective can be
achieved through a phased democratic process. Please do not
complicate the issue through polemics, rhetoric and recrimination.
Delay in peaceful settlement is fraught with dangers
unimaginable.
[Kashmir Images - Nov. 14, 2001]
Looking for a scapegoat
A full-fledged conventional war, if and when it breaks out,
between any two nuclear powers will necessarily culminate
in a nuclear holocaust. Such a war, due to domino effect, will
engulf other nuclear powers too in such a way that the flames of
nuclear conflagration will consume billions of people alongwith
their mansions of pride. Every symbol of industrial achievement
will get destroyed. So the very recollection of the horrible
consequences and aftermath of a nuclear war proves in itself an
effective deterrent against the trends of direct armed conflict
between nuclear powers. Still there is an innate urge to get the
better of one another in the arena of political and diplomatic
manoeuvre. But, how to achieve the objective? This is the
perplexing enigmatic thought that haunts their minds. Aversion to
war and propensity for a quarrel are the concomitant realities to be
taken into account while having critical appreciation of the
situation the globe finds itself entangled in at present. In order to
give vent to the pent-up feelings a nuclear power has to look for a
scapegoat, which can easily be demonized and brutalized just to
browbeat the real adversary. USA, with its sadistic nostalgia for
Vietnam war, is awfully busy in converting Afghanistan into a
theatre of ‘anti-terrorism’ hot pursuit to terrorize its old rivals.
The global anti-Osama frenzy is on the ebb now. Sane and
sensible people have already started questioning the rationale for
making a mountain out of a molehill. They are worried about the
spawning and grooming of hundreds and thousands of future
terrorists. If life in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir and
Chechniya becomes synonymous with death and destruction the
people pushed to the wall will have a natural longing and yearning
for a heroic death. And death of Osama bin Laden will simply
epitomize and delineate that masochistic desire of the humiliated
and traumatized people. It is not Afghanistan or Iraq, which is
breeding ground for terrorists. It is, in fact, the environment of
political suffocation, economic deprivation and desecration of the
symbols of chastity and honour that breeds them. The present
global campaign of the bourgeois elite in power against the
hapless and helpless people in various regions of the world cannot
guarantee the safety and security of your exuberant cosmopolitan
culture. Instead, it will add to the vulnerability of your assets.
Does it mean that US action in Afghanistan will inevitably recoil
and come home to roost? It is high time to have a dispassionate
and sedate approach to the global crisis. Just a bit of soul-
searching and introspection can help save the situation.
China, the responsible Asian nuclear power, has now realised the
exigency of shouldering its responsibility as genuine custodian of
Asian Security. In Shangai APEC meet China, as the host country,
presented only a ‘visionary’ concept of a concerted campaign
against global terrorism; the specifics, with special reference to
Afghanistan, were eluded. China, Russia, Indonesia and Malaysia
stressed the need to initiate political process in Afghanistan. China
is providing military assistance to Taliban. In fact, China has the
capacity and will to assert as an Asian ‘supercop’ to
counterbalance the role of global ‘supercop’. Asian nations, as
votaries of save Asia movement, should not allow USA to go
berserk in Afghanistan. The installation of a home-made multi-
ethnic broad-based government in Afghanistan is the suitable
answer to the crisis and turmoil there; and it is, in fact, a savoury
idea that appeals to all those who are interested in retrieving and
redeeming that country from 20-year-old upheaval, violence and
pandemonium. The bourgeois elite, the plutocrats in power in East
and West cannot ensure global peace by inadvertently
perpetuating uncertainty in Afghanistan, the country already
ripped and rent by external aggression and infighting within.
Outside interference will further aggravate the situation there. Let
peace and good governance be given a chance in this war-ravaged
country. This is what prudence demands of you.
Hypocrisy of OIC is equally responsible for the present Afghan
crisis. Hedonistic self-indulgence of most of the Muslim rulers
does not allow OIC to become a potent and powerful forum
representing sentiments of over billion Muslims of the world.
Ideological emasculation, political inertia and self-defeating
monolithic planning on educational and scientific front are the
hurdles, which checkmate our endeavour as Ummah to attain the
position of power and prestige. So revival of Caliphate is a must
to rejuvenate and invigorate the Muslim Ummah and help it
glorify and glamorize itself as a beacon light of spirituality, peace
and progress. Why does an average Muslim feel disillusioned and
disenchanted with his identity as a member of Millat? Whither
monotheism (Tawheed) of Muslim Ummah? Is not sectarianism a
modified form of idolatry? Muslims of various sects have yet to
discover the puritan Islam based on Tawheed. And for that you
have to delve into Qur’an and Hadith de novo. In the absence of
Tawheed the concept of Caliphate becomes preposterous and the
spirit of Jihad a ‘fasaad’.
Also the culture of political corruption, economic exploitation and
nepotism and favoritism being patronised in most of the Third
World countries proves instrumental in fostering the trends of
violent ultraism now abbreviated as terrorism. This is a serious
problem, which deserves attention; otherwise the simmering
belligerency and animosity between haves and have-nots will
assume the posture of a cathartic convulsion, which will in turn
consume everything symbolizing the pride of the privileged. And
in that catastrophic situation these Bin Ladens of today will be
eulogized and worshiped as the heroes of revolution. So, instead
of raising the bogey of terrorism to co-opt every myopic and self-
centred ruler of the world you should try to address the political
and economic problems, which have polarized the nations and
countries on different axes. They say ‘ a stitch in time saves nine’.
The axiom should certainly coax and cajole the global political
scientists to examine and scrutinize the global problems
whatsoever. This blitzkrieg, the ‘supercop’ is fond of, is, indeed, a
self-deceptive waywardness just to camouflage the inability to
accept the reality of genuine problems standing unresolved
hitherto. So stand back for an objective analysis of the problems
which have embittered the relations between neighbours in
various continents of the world.
Indian strategists, who are breathlessly crying wolf in Kashmir,
lack insight, imagination and equability. Instead of suggesting an
early peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue they are rendering the
issue more complicated and confounded through their political
and diplomatic detour and procrastination. Who is responsible for
the log-jam and stalemate in Kashmir peace process aimed at
seeking an honourable and practicable solution of Kashmir issue?
Who knocked at the door of UNO in 1947? Who nodded and
assented to the UNCIP resolutions of August 13, 1948 and
January 5, 1949 – the resolutions which recognise our right to
self-determination? Who encroached upon Article 370 (of the
Indian Constitution) which for the interim dispensation had
guaranteed our special status? Who installed puppet governments
in Kashmir? Who tortured the political leaders and activists in
jails and interrogation centres? Who managed the economic siege
and strangulation of Kashmir through neocolonialist modes of
administration? Who reneged on the pledge and promise your
leaders made regarding the final settlement of Kashmir issue? So
you provided sufficient ammunition to Kashmiri youth for a revolt
against your authority as a plenipotentiary power bent upon
enslaving Kashmir at gunpoint. And hence the mayhem and
carnage here. Kashmiris were lynched, brutalised, mutilated,
maimed, persecuted and battered. Innumerable innocent people
were consigned to flames. Chastity and modesty of women was
outraged. About 80,000 Kashmiris lie buried in 500-cemeteries of
Kashmir. After having alienated Kashmiris through all the
repressive and coercive means and methods you want to see them
kowtowing to your boots! Thanks to your sadism. You have yet to
understand the dynamics of Kashmir resistance movement, which
survived despite the brutal onslaught of Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs,
Dogras and ‘democrats of India’. Just comprehend the resilience.
India and Pakistan, the neighbouring belligerent nuclear powers in
South Asia, should realise that Kashmir political resistance forces,
already acting as a buffer between Delhi hawks and Kashmiri
ultras, are playing a modest role in defusing and de-escalating
tension in the region. Our Kashmiriyat is prompt in alluring us to
strike a balance and neutralise the offensive impulsiveness of the
powers around. If you fail in seizing the opportunity to involve
the political resistance forces of Kashmir in a process of serious
and meaningful dialogue for the peaceful and honourable
settlement of Kashmir issue the aggrieved ultras of Kashmir will
have every reason to marginalise and bypass us to march to their
cherished goal with their own innovative and creative approach.
We don’t want to bequeath the legacy of uncertainty to our
progeny. We don’t want to see Pakistan and India becoming
permanent hostages to anachronistic regression. Such an
entrenchment of yours can be the priority agenda of your
adversaries only. Please meditate on it.
[Kashmir Images - Nov. 1, 2001]
OIC: An apology for alliance
A fghanistan is on fire. A nation which, because of its
unflinching commitment to and faith in Islam, proved an
impregnable fortress against the onslaught of alien atheistic rulers
for complete a decade, was unceremoniously jettisoned by those
who professed to be its benefactors and mentors. We are not
grumbling against USA for which Afghanistan was expediently an
expendable pawn. Yes, we are certainly sore at the betrayal and
apathy of OIC – the alliance of Muslim countries. Afghanistan
made supreme sacrifices for the supremacy of Islam and safety
and security of the Muslim Ummah. OIC did not help Afghanistan
in the all-important task of dispensation. We do concede that
diversity in ethnicity, religious ideas, tribal demeanour coupled
with egocentricity and personality cult of warlords proved
instrumental in the initiation and perpetuity of infighting among
the various militant outfits of Afghanistan. However it was the
bounden duty of OIC, as per the dictates of Sura Hujrat of the
Holy Qur’an, to force the warring factions to sink down their
differences and come to terms for a viable political system of free
Afghanistan. Alas! The Muslim forum, OIC, could not come to
their rescue in the hour of crisis and confusion. It was, indeed,
sheer dereliction never to be condoned.
OIC is basically an alliance of convenience; it is a conglomerate
of Muslim rulers who want to safeguard their interests as
representatives of the countries which are ghettoed by their own
obsessive ideas originating from their cathectic overemphasis on
ethnicity, religious dissent or cultural formalism. Obviously,
therefore, the homogeneity of ideas regarding various global
issues is a dream far from being materialized. In fact, Muslims
lack visionary leadership. We should look for a Caliph who, for
his originality and resourcefulness, can become a hub and rallying
force for the whole Muslim Ummah. Adherence to rituals alone
won’t help in the deliverance from the state of helplessness. A
dynamic leader with a scientific and objective approach has to
spearhead the assertive Muslim-renaissance movement. We have
to rouse ourselves from slumber and stagnation. Then and only
then we can lead the humanity to the cherished goal of peace and
prosperity. For the present OIC is an apology for Muslim alliance.
Nevertheless, we cannot but live with it just to keep the cord of
coordination intact.
Enervation and impotence of OIC has rendered not only the
Muslim Ummah but also the whole Asia vulnerable. The
dismemberment of Soviet Union has already added to the
vulnerability and instability of Asia. In the unipolar world,
therefore, USA, as a nation hankering after global preponderance
and hegemony, finds itself accountable to none but its own
prerogative as ‘supercop’. USA notwithstanding its bragging and
boasting as a nation having theistic moorings intact, is practically
treading a path of revolt and contumacy by denying justice in the
settlement of political affairs in and around Asia. She has already
battered and pulverized 27 countries of the world with lethal
bombs. So people from Kashmir to Palestine and Afghanistan to
Indonesia complain against US mismanagement which gives an
inkling of her hidden agenda of absolute expansionism. Present
US action in Afghanistan has maximized the consternation and
trepidation of the people in Asia. It is, therefore, incumbent on the
powerful Asian countries like China, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Iraq,
Syria, India, Indonesia and Malaysia to forge an alliance to launch
Save Asia Movement (SAM) which should envisage relentless
struggle for peace and pacifism. Resolution of outstanding
problems – Kashmir, Palestine, Afghanistan etc. – through
dialogue and discussion should be the priority agenda of the
Movement. Objectives of the SAM can be achieved by ensuring
the involvement of political and human rights institutions in the
campaign for peace and justice. “Pacifism for Peace and
prosperity” should be the favourite slogan of the Movement. The
Movement can prove a powerful deterrent against the trends of
violent ultraism.
In a situation where some individuals, groups and countries are
hell-bent on leading the world to the abyss of abysmal failure and
disaster launching of SAM is a must to avert global nuclear
holocaust. The New World Order (read disorder) of the ‘supercop’
is gradually leading the world to disarray, chaos and anarchy.
China, as the sagacious and judicious Asian nuclear power and
also as a member of SAM, has to play a pivotal role, on the
political and diplomatic front, in combating the trends of
destabilization in and around Asia. Failure in overcoming the
menace of rowdyism of a particular group or individual cannot
justify the hooliganism of a country howsoever innocent it may
look in its obtrusive assertion. Terrorism in any form is abhorrent,
repugnant and reprehensible. Kashmiris, as a sensitive nation
feeling weary of violence, have every right to look askance at the
intentions of a country which wants to legalize and escalate the
institutionalised violence and that too in the name of justice.
Don’t you feel afraid of God who, under the law of retribution,
can undo what you want to unjustifiably do while doing away
with the things detestable?
It is time to replace bourgeois-elite journalism by peace
journalism, which has a clear objective: saving the world from
disorder and violence by empowering the impoverished,
suppressed and dispossessed people in various regions of the
world. Peace journalists have to take on the ultras controlling the
print and electronic media. They can play an important role in
Save Asia Movement. In pursuit of their objective they have to
display perseverance and patience of the highest order.
Today the whole world is supporting the idea of a broad-based
government in Afghanistan. Nice; the thought is quite palatable
and wholesome. What was a simple domestic issue of free
Afghanistan has now become the primary concern of world
politics. After all, who facilitated this interference? Bureaucracy is
a global institution working without a central office and publicity
secretary. Pak bureaucracy remained always surreptitiously
engaged in plotting schemes which were often in contravention of
the established principles of that state. Afghan resistance leaders
who exhibited indomitable will and valour while taking on the
Red Army for complete a decade were looked upon by the
Islamabad bureaucrats as mediocre clerks of a local municipal
authority. Instead of recognising the role of resistance leaders,
who are now living in exile in different countries, Pak bureaucrats
thought it quite expedient to dislodge them from their position of
prominence and support the Madarassa boys now known as
Taliban. Afghans, through a process of metamorphosis and
symbiosis in the furnace of Jihad, had become conscious and
committed soldiers of Islam. You failed in reposing trust in them
to enable them to manage their affairs themselves in free
Afghanistan. Hence the crisis that has upset every sympathizer of
that pauperised country. Now it is imperative for Pak leadership to
be prompt and serious in rectifying the wrong.
A broad-based government in Afghanistan will be, in essence, a
government of the Mujahideen no matter what tribal background
they have. And remember that all the genuine Mujahideen are the
natural lovers of Pakistan and Muslim Ummah. Nobody should be
allowed to demonize the tribalism of Afghanistan. Allah, Qur’an
and Ka’ba should be the source of inspiration. That is enough.
India, as a democratic country with composite (diverse) culture,
should display sobriety, prudence and self-possession in the
present crisis. To be ostentatiously overzealous on Afghan front is
something that smacks of your policy of reliance on the self-
defeating and self-deceptive artificiality of your approach to the
most sensitive and almost ineluctable problem of the resilient
nation in Asia. Emergence of BNP in the parliament elections of
Bangladesh as the ruling party with a massive mandate suggests
that your foreign policy lacks originality. So humanistic approach
alone can have a psychological impact on the hearts of bruised
Afghans. A foreign policy based on this approach will ultimately
add to the stature of India as a friend in fiend’s guise. Kuldip
Nayar, the proud son of India, maintains: “India needs a dynamic
foreign policy with the moral content that Nehru tried to give it”.
Please sheathe the sword you unsheathed in a hurry just to
intimidate your ‘adversary’ in neighbourhood. Jingoism is no
answer to the present crisis.
Kashmiris have a strong case. Indian position in Kashmir is weak
and susceptible to failure. Chasing the monster of violence
without a serious effort to address the genesis of upheaval in
Kashmir will be an exercise in futility. Remember that you owe
something to Kashmir as a professed friend. How grotesque and
awkward it is on your part to renege on the commitment and
promise which your great leader Pt. Nehru made regarding the
final settlement of Kashmir issue based, of course, on Kashmiris’
right to self-determination! Promises cannot become obsolete
unless ethics is buried under the debris of a failed system. India
still exists as a strong democratic country, notwithstanding the
trends of multifaceted polarization within. Moderate forces in
dissent in Kashmir are there to help you extricate yourselves from
the mind-boggling embroilment with a decent face-saving
mechanism. Early settlement of Kashmir issue is more in favour
of India than the contending country you vie with. Just make out
the enigma.
[Kashmir Images – Oct. 18, 2001]
World with unpredictable future
If good sense does not prevail on the world leaders to bring the
palpable state of confrontation between neurotic subjectivity
and humanistic objectivity to a natural end by addressing the root
cause of the problems which bedevil peace and tranquility the day
is not far when the whole world will look like a bedlam where
nobody will be able to fathom even the intelligible sermons of the
great sages and seers who command respect. Group particularism
and national aggrandizement, with its blatant aggressive postures,
has plagued the present-day world to such an extent that all the
modest messages of compassion, fraternity and altruism get
subdued and overshadowed. Haughty aristocrats, enjoying power
and prominence in various continents, are hell-bent on launching a
ruthless campaign to deprive the underprivileged communities
and countries of their basic right to freedom, honour and
economic prosperity. And communal passion of the allies serves
the purpose of a hegemonic domination. In essence it is the
campaign of the haves against the have-nots. The bourgeoisie is
shrewd enough to camouflage its temporal materialistic agenda
through its ostentatious clamour and cowboy bluster ostensibly
aimed at maintaining global peace.
Why did not the importunately obtruding power take cognizance
of the revelation that four thousand Jews employed at the World
Trade Centre (WTC) were conspicuously absent from their duty
on the day of catastrophic attack? In his article ‘Operation Infinite
Justice’ published in Kashmir Monitor, Srinagar of Sept. 27,
Iftikhar A. Khan, while quoting a Canadian expert, David Stern,
on Israeli intelligence operations, writes, “The attack on WTC and
the pentagon required a high level of military precision and
resources of an advanced intelligence agency. In addition, the
attackers would have needed to be extremely familiar with Air
Force flights operations, civil airline flights path and aerial assault
tactics. According to Stern, a US military intelligence source
revealed details of an internal intelligence memo that pointed to
Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, having links to WTC and
Pentagon attacks”. If authenticity of the report, which suggests
Mossad’s complicity in Sept. 11 tragic episode, is not
questionable, then what does the whole story insinuate? Does it
mean that Israel wants to sabotage Palestinian freedom movement
by dragging the whole globe to what is disdainfully christened as
‘clash of civilizations’? In so far as human psychology is
concerned revenge is the priority agenda of every humiliated
person. So the countries which had to suffer at the hands of USA
and as such vie with her power and prestige would like to
facilitate, through all sophisticated means and methods, the
involvement of US nation in a military adventure which will
inevitably end in her discomfiture. Prudent US leadership should,
therefore, display fortitude and stoicism while dealing with the
menace of terrorism. Why should we inadvertently get trapped in
a snare laid by an invisible enemy? Can we really extricate the
globe from the crevasse of crisis by hunting down or eliminating
Osama Bin Laden, a bogeyman indeed? Bernard Haykel, Assistant
Professor of Islamic Studies New York University, suggests: “We
should not send US or Western troops and special forces into
Afghanistan with the aim of arresting or killing Bin Laden. He has
thought about this scenario and desires it. A military attack on him
would provide a double victory. If he is killed he dies a martyr and
(becomes) symbol of resistance to Western domination; he also
gets to kill a number of US soldiers and tarnishes the image of
America in the minds of ordinary Muslims.” (Kashmir Monitor,
Srinagar. Sept. 23, 2001) To me Laden is only a symptom. Have
we capacity and capability to diagnose the disease? This is really
a serious poser and dilemma.
Future of our world appears to be bleak and unpredictable. Self-
conceited rulers, bereft of vision and wisdom, are ruthlessly
pursuing their agenda of expansionism. They are forcing every
powerful adversary to play second fiddle in the arena of global
politics. Their brinkmanship is apt to lead this world to doom and
destruction. Philanthropy and compassion has given way to
barbarism and savagery. The world is really on the verge of
collapse. The human civilisation has, perhaps, forfeited the right
to exist. Who sanctified the predatory role of Israel in Middle East
where innocent Palestinians are mercilessly butchered for no fault
of theirs except that they are the lovers of their freedom? Who
smothered and strangulated the innocent children of Iraq and
Afghanistan through economic sanctions? Who condones the state
terrorism, which claimed thousands of lives in Kashmir? I am
impressed with “faith-based reconciliation” theory of Mr. Brian
Cox, vice president of Dispute Resolution Training of the
International Centre for Religion and Diplomacy based in
Washington DC. The theory envisages recognition of the role of
God as a sovereign authority over a community or nation.
Compassion, tolerance and social justice are the affiliated values
to be emphasized for ensuring durable peace and prosperity of the
world. In an article published in Kashmir Images, Srinagar of
Sept. 28 Mr. Cox writes: “ Well, I am one of those Americans who
care about Kashmir and who have been profoundly moved by the
suffering of Kashmiri people ……. As a person of faith, I believe
that a purely humanistic approach in Kashmir is doomed to
continued failure. To be effective, the approach must have
spiritual and political substance to it. It must invite and welcome
the active intervention of God coupled with initiative to impart
vision, build bridges, resolve conflicts, heal wounds, advocate
social justice and encourage the development of a Kashmiri
‘leadership under God’. I call this approach ‘faith-based
reconciliation’. …… faith-based reconciliation is the way to
recover Kashmiriyat.” I do respect the American reformist for his
noble ideas. However the unassuming sage appears to be a bit
naïve in his approach. The noble man doesn’t know that the faith-
based reconciliation in Kashmir, Afghanistan and Palestine is
dubbed as ‘fundamentalism’ – a nickname for religiosity. Well,
plea for religiosity should not be misconstrued. Our aversion to
fanaticism and extremism is intact. Please get my right to
religious fundamentalism, the one compatible with the Sufi and
Reshi culture of Kashmir, recognised by the Western leaders who
have unnecessarily demonized some pious symbols of our Eastern
culture. My faith-based Kashmiriyat teaches me how to be
equidistant from licentious materialism and escapist spiritualism.
Please don’t rob the already dispossessed and underprivileged
class of the global civil society of its right to religious and
political freedom. By monopolizing the world trade and economy
through WTO and IMF you will simply be introducing a concept
of neocolonialism. Politically suppressed and economically
deprived people have already waged a war of attrition against
despotism and aristocracy of the privileged class, the bourgeoisie,
all over the globe. If, instead of addressing the cause of
commotion and turmoil with a surgeon’s tack and finesse, you
launch a retaliatory terror campaign to contain and uproot the
menace of terrorism you will simply invite more trouble of greater
dimensions. So it is quite expedient and advisable to emphasize a
copious philosophical debate and discussion on the topic as a
necessary prerequisite of the cleansing operation.
Violence, which consumes innocent people, is certainly
reprehensible. Inflamed sentiments of the aggrieved people have
afflicted various regions of the world. You can temporarily
browbeat and intimidate the restive people through a show of
force. However, the exercise will serve the purpose of a painkiller
and not an antidote. Therefore the authors of anti-terrorism
campaign should display sobriety, prudence and political acumen
while dealing with abstract metaphysical virus. They should
remember that due to the tirade and war hysteria against terrorism
the ultras have become cynosure and as such they are now
conscious of their importance as the inventors of unconventional
innovative modes of operation. Protracted war, if it literally starts
from somewhere, will eventually transcend religious ideologies
and become a simplified tussle between haves and have-nots --- a
distinct class war, indeed, in which volatile and infuriated paupers
shall have to lose nothing but chains of slavery and serfdom. So
an early reconciliation between haves and have-nots is a must to
avert a global holocaust of colossal dimensions. Wisdom of all
those who matter is on trial.
[Kashmir Images – Oct. 8, 2002]
Chasing an invisible enemy
H uman history testifies that it were the omnipotent emperors
and kings who, due to their egocentricity and megalomania,
were always eager to display their urge for preponderance and
dominance. They always used to be in search of an excuse and
alibi to intimidate and ultimately invade their rival kingdom in
neighbourhood. While taking on their comparatively less powerful
adversaries they would dislodge them from their position of
power and prestige through a comprehensive physical and
psychological onslaught. The vanquished rulers and tribal leaders
would later on, after some respite and reprieve, start a process of
realignment for a proper act of reprisal and vengeance. So the
tussle between the authoritarianism of self-centred despots and
helplessness of the enslaved and subjugated leaders would
continue for an indefinite period of time. Eventually the
psychologically humiliated and wounded elite of the oppressed
people would feel invigorated to rise in revolt against the state
terrorism of the ruthless autocratic rulers. And remember that
selfishness and perfidy is the pride and joy of every reckless ruler
who continues to trample the traits of humanism with inveterate
hatred and contempt.
The present-day emperors would want to orchestrate a show of
their authority reminiscent of the sway and overlordship of the
emperors of medieval ages. Just imagine the bestial ravenousness
of the Greek and Roman emperors who would enjoy, with a
sadistic lust of revenge, the helplessness of the crying and
screaming political prisoners whom the hungry beasts, lions and
bears, would tear to pieces in the amphitheatres specially built for
this barbarian show. Such a bestiality is still the pith and marrow
of many a human at the helm of affairs. Cruelty, tyranny and
repression generate acrimony and hatred which in turn develops
into a brew of the sentiments of revenge. Perpetrators of the acts
of revenge are always ferocious in action and reckless about the
consequences. Nowadays they are called terrorists. Terrorism of
an individual or a group of individuals is basically a by-product of
state terrorism. Without understanding and addressing the genesis
of retaliatory terrorism any rash and rapid action of a government
to eradicate and stamp out violence-based ultraism will simply
prove counterproductive. And an initiative to preempt the future
subversive designs of an ultra will boomerang. So it is only
through a sustained crusade based on scientific and objective
approach that terrorism can be contained and neutralized.
Terrorism, the violent impulsiveness, is a militant culture with no
code of conduct.
Some time back the word ‘fundamentalism’ would haunt the
minds of the people all over the globe. Ultimately the people who
used to raise the bogey of fundamentalism realized that every
theist, practising or non-practising, is metaphysically coordinated
to God Almighty so much so that he would rather die than accept
a sermon of apostasy with or without coercion. It means that every
Christian, every Hindu, every Muslim, every Jew and every Sikh
is a committed lover of God. So every theist is a fundamentalist.
Well, what is really disdainful, abhorrent and abominable is
fanaticism and extremism. Illogical overemphasis on a point not
compatible with the moderate teaching of a religion leads to
perversion which finally culminates in revulsion and violence.
Every civilised person should condemn the individual or
collective acts of violence and terrorists where innocent people
become a casualty. The civilised world cannot afford to bear and
live with terrorism, which is aimed at converting a peaceful city
or hamlet into a veritable hell. It is, therefore, incumbent on all the
humanists of the world to identify the factors which lead to
violence and terrorism. While dealing with this malaise and
menace we have to be meticulously cautious like a surgeon,
pragmatic like a scientist and resolute like a soldier. And
restoration of justice and egalitarianism should be the primary
objective of the whole operation against terrorism.
Terrorism, unlike the bogey of ‘fundamentalism’, is a genuine
problem the globe is confronted with. All those who matter in the
higher echelons of power in East and West should ponder over the
problem to look for the root cause of the epidemic. No patchwork
or superficial remedial measures based on inadequate diagnosis
can help seek a durable and credible solution of the problem
which has upset and benumbed every peace-loving citizen. It is
time to have a psychoanalysis of the dynamics of terrorism. Some
less assertive ethnic communities, who have already been pushed
to the wall, can easily provide a pretext for violent dissent. Some
people who have been deprived of their inalienable right to live
with honour and prestige are being forced to identify themselves
with the trends of extremism and ultraism. So the political
scientists should rise to the occasion to bring home to the whole
world that it is time to seek a permanent and peaceful settlement
of the long-standing disputes like Kashmir and Palestine. The
present global crisis should not precipitate into a global communal
backlash or a regional armed conflict which will eventually
reduce the global economy to shambles. No subjective hot-
headedness and impetuosity can prove infallibly effective in
dealing with the complex issue of global terrorism. We have had
enough introspection and meditation to identify the humanistic
means and methods to take on the invisible enemy acting
clandestinely.
We vehemently condemn the acts of terrorism which claimed the
precious lives of thousands of innocent people in New York and
Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. We share the grief and sorrow of
USA. Perpetrators of the terror and horror should certainly be
brought to book. While chasing the invisible enemy USA should
be absolutely cautious and calculated. Terrorism is not an
institution. It is a culture, a natural dividend of institutionalized
injustice, aggressiveness, predatoriness and exploitation. Let the
American nation chase the culprits in the courts of justice and not
in the battlefields of the latter’s choice. The whole game, which
caused panic in USA through acts of vandalism in the great cities,
smacks of an intrigue to engage US nation in a protracted
unconventional war which will consume the economic power and
strength of that nation. And it can be the unwritten minimum
common agenda of the powerful adversaries who have historical
contradiction with the “supercop”. A rash act of revenge and
reprisal can create problems unimaginable. So it is time to behave
like responsible, sagacious and judicious statesman. You have to
pay heed to what your own citizens say about the Sept. 11
catastrophe. Mansoor Ijaz, the Pakistani American who is known
for his Track-II diplomacy performance vis-à-vis Kashmir, writes
in his article published in the ‘Kashmir Monitor’ of Sept. 15,
2001: “.…I had often warned the (US) officials that a day was
coming when the terrorism of the world would not only unite but
(also) bring their dirty war to our shores, and we as Americans
would be just as guilty for having created our own demons with
skewed pro-Israel foreign policies and prejudiced domestic one.
The problem with America is that it believes in its own might as
the only right to solve mankind’s problems. We are not an
arrogant people as much as we are ill-informed. When we know
all the facts our judgments are always judicious. ….. The time has
come for a dramatic shift in American foreign policy. Our cruise
missiles, nuclear bombs and star war missile defence system
cannot protect us against what is essentially a virus of the mind.
Terrorists have no code. ….. We had an opportunity after the Cold
War was over to engage Islam and understand it. That time has
passed. All we can hope for now is to manage the anger so that it
will never again reach our shores.”
Oppressed class of the global civil society has already been
languishing in strained and vitiated political atmosphere. The
debilitating onslaught of the privileged class has rendered the
underprivileged class impotent but aggrieved and agonised. Thus
the lamenting people from Kashmir to Palestine and Iraq to
Afghanistan are grumbling against the high-handedness and
totalitarianism of the plutocrats who enjoy power and prestige in
East and West. How is it possible to make the deprived class
cooperate when the global aristocracy is not serious about
alleviating and minimising the sufferings and hardships of the
people who have been pushed to the wall through all the coercive
and repressive modes of operations against them. In the backdrop
of such a scenario of realities that exist on ground it is incumbent
on the people, who are not hostage to any obsessive obscurantism,
to review the entire gamut of their policy and approach to ensure
peaceful co-existence of the members of this global family. It is
time for the non-conformists to come forward to assert as genuine
reformists to save the globe from the artificial crisis – “Clash of
Civilisation”. We are all the descendants of Adam and Eve. So we
should behave like a single global family, sharing one another’s
grief and suffering. Yes, this is what futuristic vision demands of
you.
[Kashmir Images – Sept. 24, 2001]
Kashmir in quandary
C annibalism and sadism will always remain juxtaposed to
humanism in the arena of human struggle. Malevolence and
benevolence will be in a state of constant confrontation till the day
of resurrection. It is the minority community of sadists which will
continue to sabotage the efforts for peace, pacifism and amity.
Sadists, in fact, derive pleasure and ecstasy from the ghastly look
of the corpses mutilated, wounded humans writhing with pain and
agony, women and children wailing and weeping over their plight
of victimization and helplessness. Humanists of India, irrespective
of their creed and cult, share a common sentiment to empathize
and sympathize with the oppressed and suppressed people of
Kashmir. They are the real deterrent against the nefarious designs
of Indian hawks to completely brutalize and batter Kashmir. How
long will India as a democratic country hoodwink and mislead the
free world? Promises made by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, as Prime
Minister of India, regarding Kashmiris’ right of self-determination
will eventually militate against the illogical “Atoot-Ang” stance of
India.
Kashmir was a simple political issue. Chauvinism of the Indian
rulers rendered the issue more complicated and confounded.
Subjectivity, parochialism and arrogance of the Delhi rulers taught
them to destroy the political and democratic institutions in
Kashmir. Puppet governments were installed in Srinagar to ensure
constitutional erosion and encroachment. In fact you forced the
youth of Kashmir to rise in revolt against your onslaught –
military, constitutional and economic. Kashmiris, who had the
courage to save Kashmir from communal frenzy and fire in 1947,
felt compelled and constrained to identify themselves with the
ultras who wanted to take on India on all fronts. So it is political
dogmatism and administrative high-handedness of the myopic and
blinkered leadership of India which proved instrumental in
triggering off political cataclysm and militant upheaval and
insurgency in Kashmir. You left no stone unturned in humiliating
and enslaving Kashmiris.
So the poor Kashmiris had no option but to give a rebuff and
rebuttal to you. Now Kashmiris are simply asserting as a
conscious and conscientious self-respecting community to expose
your postures of expansionism. It is your aggressive and fascist
approach which offended and instigated Kashmiris – the mystic
ethnic community which was once known for its humility,
compassion and introversion. Kashmiris were forced to resort to
violence. However, violence cannot be a permanent feature of
Kashmiriyat. Kashmiris sincerely believe in a peaceful settlement
of Kashmir issue.
I, as the humble protagonist of Save Kashmir Movement which I
launched in London in 1993, worked in league with my
contemporary colleagues like Shabbir Chaudhary, Yasin Malik,
Dr. Gh. Qadir Wani, Shabir Shah, Fazal Haq Qureshi, G. M. Butt
(Jamaat Chief) to retrieve the resistance political organizations of
Kashmir from a mesh and quagmire of mass violence, which had
become a boat without rudder. With persistent efforts we
eventually succeeded in segregating political institutions from
militancy. In nineties a lethal weapon, say a gun or pistol, had
become status symbol of an average Kashmiri political activist.
Today a political activist identifies himself with the sermons of
peace, pacifism, détente, reconciliation and rapprochement. He
genuinely believes in a peaceful resolution of Kashmir tangle. As
a patriot he is averse to the trends of ultraism in dissent. He feels
aggrieved when violence consumes a few patriots here and there.
But for your imprudence which facilitated the liquidation of
Kashmiri political luminaries like S. Hameed, Shabbir Siddiqui,
Dr. Gh. Qadir Wani and Jaleel Andrabi, we would have certainly
succeeded in forging an alliance of the moderates who wanted to
work for an honourable and peaceful solution of Kashmir
problem. While emphasizing our right to self-determination we
were seriously particular about a safe and honourable passage of
India and Pakistan out of the Kashmir imbroglio. Your hardened
hearts did not spare even Commander Masood of Hizbul
Mujahideen who was basically a scholar having intellectual and
philosophical approach to Kashmir insurgency. He would have
proved an asset for the political movement of Kashmir. He was a
genuine votary of pacifism. And as such he vehemently espoused
the cause of peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue through
tripartite talks. Indeed Masood was serving the purpose of a buffer
between political movement and ultraism. Your proactive
adventurism destroyed this institution of moderation and
Kashmiriyat. So, now it is because of your misadventure that the
word cease-fire has become an anathema to the Mujahideen of
high profile militant outfits.
If you are not ready to recognise the role of political leaders like
Ashraf Sehraie, Shabir Shah, Naeem Khan and Syed Ali Geelani
as the only appropriate substitute of the extremism you are so
much averse and allergic to, then you should await the day when
all the political leaders will become irrelevant and redundant and
militant hawks will take over to rule the roost to dictate terms
from their hideouts in the mountains of Afghanistan and
Tajikistan. A nightmare, of course, so unwholesome for the
Kashmiris who are wedded to the cause of Kashmiriyat. This is
time to have a dispassionate reappraisal of your approach to
Kashmir issue. Don’t you realise that as per the domino theory
Kashmir turmoil can have irreparable negative impact on the
comparatively peaceful zones of India as well?
It is true that ultras in the Muslim world are in minority, but it is
equally true that they are a force to be reckoned with. They are
always on a prowl here and there looking for their adversary real
or imaginary. For them Kashmir is the ideal hunting ground where
they have an occasion to display their ideological resolve,
prowess and expertise. After his return from Agra General Pervez
Musharraf, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad,
made an appeal to the moderates of India, Pakistan and Kashmir
to come forward to isolate the hawks. Was it political poetry,
Kashmir rhetoric or demagogic manoeuvre to assert as the
powerful ruler of Pakistan? I think Mr. Musharraf, as an original
think-tank and adept military strategist, was serious and sincere in
his assertion as a lover of peace, which is indispensably
paramount for South Asia to guarantee transition from
impoverishment to prosperity and progress. Indian premier Mr.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as a seasoned statesman, is equally serious
in finding a peaceful and honourable solution of Kashmir impasse
through meaningful dialogue with Pakistan president. So every
lover of peace is now zeroing in on New York rendezvous. Let
wisdom prevail on the two leaders who are supposed to come up
to the expectations of hapless Kashmiris.
Parity between India and Pakistan in nuclear capability and
missile technology is an established fact. So the two nuclear
powers of South Asia have to behave like responsible nations to
avert a nuclear holocaust by addressing all the outstanding issues
especially Kashmir. The two neighbours can no longer afford to
be the prisoners of the past communal fixation; they should cease
to be the hostages to a particular mindset. Any inadvertent
emphasis on political polarization in South Asia will put every
peace process into jeopardy. So the outdated agenda of permanent
belligerency and bellicosity should be consigned to archives, if at
all ensuring of a bright future of the posterity is priority. Let the
chapter of anachronistic Indo-Pak confrontation be closed for
good. And this sacred objective can be achieved only by
respecting the freedom aspirations of Kashmiris.
Kashmiris, beleaguered and bewildered, are on the receiving end
in the continued process of hostility between India and Pakistan.
They find themselves sandwiched between the intractability of
India and Pakistan and passivity of the fora like UNO and OIC. In
a situation where over 80,000 Kashmiris lie buried in the
cemeteries of the wailing vale; thousands of orphans and widows
bemoan and call for help; thousands of freedom activists have
been languishing in the jails and concentration camps of India, it
is imperative for the free world especially USA to force India and
Pakistan to take cognizance of the realities on ground in Kashmir.
Kashmiris have reached a stage of no-return. Fully fulminated and
exasperated Kashmiris should not be forced to tread a path leading
to their extinction on the one hand and total disintegration of the
Indo-Pak subcontinent on the other. And the flames of violence
will inevitably engulf the western cities too. So it is high time to
address the genesis of Kashmir issue and do something concrete
to alleviate and mitigate the sufferings of poor Kashmiris. Mere
platitude and verbiage cannot console this aggrieved and bruised
ethnic community of Kashmir – the repository of the great Sufi
and Reshi saints and sages. It is only a strong political will of
India and Pakistan to disengage on Kashmir front that can help
seek a practicable solution of the Kashmir dispute. Subjective
stance will further complicate the issue and aggravate the situation
in Kashmir. Hope Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Musharraf will behave
like true statesmen having courage to take a bold initiative for a
lasting and viable settlement of Kashmir issue. In fact, your vision
and wisdom is on trial. Kashmir is in quandary indeed.
[Kashmir Images – Sept. 12, 2001]
Combating the violence in Kashmir
T he whole world is aghast at what happened on and after Sept.
11, 2001. The surprise terrorist attack on WTC and Pentagon
in USA changed the very concept of warfare. Nuclear arsenal,
missiles, conventional combat forces and the well-defended
borders of sovereign nations – all became controversial in terms
of defence capabilities. In fact the whole defence structure with all
its mighty conventional and unconventional weapons became
obsolete and redundant. The US blitzkrieg on Afghanistan
partially achieved its objective there. Ironically, while neutralizing
and disarming the visible enemy (viz. Al-Qaida, Taliban, Jaish,
Lashkar etc.), it inadvertently imparted strength to the recalcitrant
invisible enemy who is no more ghettoed and beleaguered in Tora
Bora mountains of Afghanistan. The US onslaught in Afghanistan
forced the visible enemy to go into hiding and operate
clandestinely against its adversary. Now all the proficient military
strategists all over the globe feel that the invisible enemy is more
dangerous than the visible one. Does it mean that the US action
against the visible enemy has boomeranged? This is an enigmatic
and paradoxical query seeking a reply based on objectivity and
realism. In the present-day world of advanced technology and
scientific know-how it is not a difficult job for the invisible enemy
to manage access to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. So
the underestimation of the capabilities and potentialities of the
unknown and invisible enemy is fraught with dangers
unimaginable.
If the festering long-standing political issues like Kashmir and
Palestine remain unsettled for an indefinite period of time the
global terrorism will become more powerful due to the
burgeoning and spawning of volatile militant hawks. So it is
imperative for the global community to address the root cause of
terrorism. Remedial patchwork will not work. Aggressiveness and
arrogance in reaction will simply recoil and backfire. So be
dispassionate and sedate while appraising your capability to deal
with the menace of terrorism. You have yet to understand the
dynamics of terrorism which derives strength from a society beset
by political cataclysm, economic deprivation and discrimination
on grounds of race or religion. Kashmir will continue to be an
ideal breeding ground of the intractable local ultras and
uncompromising Al-Qaida activists unless Kashmir issue is
permanently settled in accordance with the freedom aspiration of
Kashmiris. In an interview to Financial Times US Deputy
Secretary of State Mr. Richard Armitage said, “It is quite clear
that Al-Qaida likes to fish in troubled waters such as Kashmir and
that it would like nothing better than a splendid war between India
and Pakistan.” So the threat perception regarding the growing
trends of ultraism in Kashmir is not unfounded. And counter-
terrorism brinkmanship can in no way be a proper substitute for
the prudence and political acumen suggesting a serious and
sincere effort to address the vexed Kashmir problem.
The historic resolution passed by RSS at Kurukhshetra (Haryana)
on June 30, 2002 regarding Kashmir envisages a scheme to
trifurcate Jammu and Kashmir. As per the resolution the scheme
of trifurcation will guarantee the end of violence in Kashmir. To
me the resolution is more humanistic than political. So I salute the
RSS leaders for their visionary and humanistic approach to
Kashmir tangle. In my statement published by Kashmir Images on
July 1, 2002 I simply supported the principle of trifurcation and
not the details of the resolution. If the Muslim majority of
Kashmir valley including Doda, Rajouri, Mendher and Poonch
does not want to be a part of India why should Jammuites be
forced to accept what they call “serfdom camouflaged by
secularism.” Let Hindu majority areas of Jammu constitute a
separate state. There is nothing wrong in it. Now Kashmir valley
can have a serious dialogue with the major contending parties to
Kashmir issue. It is time to seize the opportunity to assuage the
bruised sentiments of Kashmiris. This is the only way to contain
the trends of escalation in violence here.
All those who suggest that even Doda, Rajouri and Poonch should
constitute the proposed Jammu state are, in fact, unwittingly
ratifying and endorsing the game plan of ultras who want to keep
India engaged in guerrilla warfare in the inhospitable
mountainous terrain of these areas. Therefore the only way to
preempt the ulterior motives and designs of the intransigent ultras
is to annex these Muslim majority areas with Kashmir valley. Free
Kashmir will not be allowed to become safe haven for those who
want to live on violence and die for violence. Hence for the
strategic and tactical reasons Doda, Rajouri and Poonch should
necessarily be merged with Kashmir valley.
In so far as the jurisprudence of Kashmir case is concerned it has
two aspects – de jure and de facto. UNCIP resolutions on Kashmir
(of Aug. 13, 1948 and Jan. 5, 1949) have in principle recognised
Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. So the de jure position is
that Kashmir is a disputed territory and hence not a part of India.
However, India is enjoying a de facto control over Kashmir.
Kashmiris can, therefore, be temporarily a part of Indian system.
Security Council resolution of Jan. 24, 1957 has minimised the
role of Kashmir Assembly by debarring it from doing anything by
way of determining the political future of Kashmir. Kashmir
Assembly is, therefore, a local administrative body not more
important than Srinagar Municipality. So it is absolutely futile to
demonize and diabolize the election issue. Basically it is a non-
issue. Resistance leaders will certainly think in terms of
participating in the Assembly elections if these form a part of the
political package for the final dispensation of Kashmir.
India, through a policy of temporization, would like to elude and
evade a genuine settlement of Kashmir issue without a modicum
of remorse, compunction and angst. And this is flagrant violation
of priority agenda of the global coalition which is engaged in a
serious business to stamp out terrorism from the globe. So all acts
of prevarication which are aimed at baffling and bluffing the
coalition leaders will inevitably prove counter-productive. A
genuine transition from the syndrome of confrontation,
belligerency and mistrust to a state of thaw, reconciliation and
friendship should be the priority objective India and Pakistan must
strive for. Mere diplomatic verbiage – ‘strategic restraint’ and ‘de-
escalation’ – cannot mitigate the suffering of Kashmiris. It is only
a strong political will to settle Kashmir issue for good that can
help alleviate the miseries and woes of this brutalised and
traumatized ethnic community of South Asia.
Resistance leaders should bear in mind that they cannot become a
force to be reckoned with unless they extricate themselves from
the cocoon of egocentricity, narcissism, megalomania and
paranoia. Devotion, selflessness, courage and objectivity alone
can help evolve a consensus of opinion regarding visionary and
futuristic approach to Kashmir issue. The concept of collective
leadership (the ‘shoora’ as the Qur’an puts it) is in itself a guard
against egotistic waywardness of the leaders who matter. We
should love our Sufi and Reshi culture – the essential
characteristic of Kashmiriyat. Tolerance, compassion and
mysticism should continue to be the base of our political culture
here. We have already been on the receiving end in the low
intensity war of attrition which claimed 80,000 Kashmiris who are
lying buried in 500 cemeteries of Kashmir. I am proud of the
heroic struggle of my compatriots who remained steadfast in their
resistance against the campaign of forced assimilation by the
powers around. The day is not too far when the highly conscious
and self-respecting people of Kashmir will achieve their cherished
goal of self-determination. No power on earth can deprive them of
their right to determine the political future of Kashmir for
themselves.

[Kashmir Images – July 3, 2002]
Kashmiris on the receiving end
O n may 24, 2002 all the humanists and pacifists of the world
heaved a sigh of relief when Mr. (G. W.) Bush and Mr.
(Valadamir) Putin signed an agreement to allow the slashing of
the existing nuclear warheads during the decade hence. As per the
agreement the number of the US warheads will be reduced from
6000 to 2200 and of Russia from 5000 to 1700. The agreement, in
fact, delineates and epitomizes the stark anticlimax of the
sentiments of belligerency and animosity between the two major
nuclear powers during what is christened as Cold War era. The
agreement also insinuates that the two world powers are really
averse to the very concept of suicide. After all, why should the
sane and sober people commit suicide unless they actually feel
world-weary? Here the political apes in the East feel nostalgic
about the Cold War era. They want to browbeat one another
through ostentatious display of the quality and quantity of their
nuclear warheads. Do the politicians in the East really feel
disillusioned with their ability to redress the grievances of the
crores of pauperised people? Do they feel that the only way to get
rid of the irredeemable problems of want and hunger is to adopt
the mutually-assured-destruction course of a nuclear war? Please
hold back. Do not be led astray by your cynicism. Wait for the
doomsday when everything on this earth will get perished. Have
patience. Just a bit of yearning and longing for life can help avoid
a nuclear holocaust.
Britain, as the main author of what is now known as Kashmir
dispute, cannot absolve itself of the guilt complex unless she
condescends to express solidarity with the suffering people of
Kashmir by playing a proactive political and diplomatic role in
the global campaign aimed at seeking an early peaceful
settlement of Kashmir issue. USA, the hyper-power, is
interested in arrogating to itself the role of a de jure global
monarch even when the long-standing political issues like
Kashmir, Palestine, Chechniya etc. remain unsettled with an
inherent potential to sabotage the efforts to stamp out
terrorism as a global menace. Dispossessed and
underprivileged class of the global society is already
grumbling against the uncompromising bourgeoisie over its
apathy and indifference vis-à-vis the have-nots. Thus the
political and economic discontent is, in fact, fraught with
dangers unimaginable. It is incumbent on the political
strategists in East and West to have a dispassionate
reappraisal of their approach to the outstanding political and
economic issues and suggest means and methods to address
these issues with promptitude. All the major nuclear powers
should rise to the occasion to make sincere concerted efforts
to solve the burning issues especially Kashmir, the bone of
contention between India and Pakistan. The festering
Kashmir issue has bedeviled and embittered the relations
between the two countries to such an extent that thinking
about lobbing an atom bomb here and there seems to be an
affordable recreation in rancour and acrimony.
India, while playing second fiddle in the US campaign for
assertion as de facto global ruler, is awfully busy in its endeavour
to emerge as an Asian dictator by default. In a world where
underdeveloped countries feel already disgusted with the
hegemonic preponderance of the powers which matter how can
India succeed in reducing the role of its sovereign neighbours to
that of a political appendage and dependency? Presence of nuclear
weapons and ballistic missiles has rendered the very concept of
numerical superiority in conventional warfare abysmally
preposterous and redundant. The hawkish irredentists of ‘Akhand-
Bharat’ movement should learn to live with the realities on
ground. Within a decade hence about a dozen Muslim countries
including Bangladesh and Iran will acquire the expertise to
manufacture an atom bomb. Thus OIC nuclear club will
effectively checkmate the growing influence of India on the one
hand and frustrate the ulterior motives of the invisible terrorists on
the other. In such a situation USA, Russia, China and France will
psychologically feel motivated to acquiesce in just to ensure the
global political harmony between nations. And remember that
global power balance is the only guarantee for peace and
tranquility; and hence a credible deterrent against the fanaticism
and extremism of the forces overt or covert.
It is customary in the Subcontinent politics that if a man falls out
with his better-half over a trivial domestic issue he finds it quite
expedient to evade the embarrassment by implicating either ISI or
RAW in the domestic unrest. So is the case with the known
political parties of New Delhi and Islamabad which always
remain scrambling for a position of prominence in the rat race
aimed at diverting the attention from the pressing economic issues
to “threat from across the border” alarm. And thus Kashmir
becomes an ideal battlefield to settle the domestic and national
issues of India and Pakistan. Alas! It is Kashmir, which is on the
receiving end. Kashmiris are being punished for the follies, which
the leaders of India and Pakistan committed while dealing with
Kashmir tangle. Now it is the law of retribution which is
gradually dragging India and Pakistan to the point of no-return in
the mutual confrontation which is a making of their own. It is high
time when good sense prevails on India and Pakistan to save the
situation and ward off nuclear holocaust in South Asia.
It is time when importunately obtruding global powers should
take cognizance of the mayhem in Kashmir. Why does not the
appalling scenario of carnage, arson, torture, custodial killings and
desecration of the symbols of chastity and sanctity move you so
that you act in Kashmir the way you did in East Timor or Bosnia?
UNCIP resolutions of August 13, 1948 and Jan. 5, 1949 have
permanently sanctified our just struggle for right to self-
determination. Kashmiris will continue to struggle for their sacred
cause even for 200 years to come. We started our resistance
movement in 1586 – the year when Mughals subjugated Kashmir.
The adept warriors of the political resistance movement of
Kashmir are determined to march towards the cherished goal of
freedom. It is India, which sabotaged the independence option for
Kashmir. Why did you liquidate the pro-independence stalwart,
Maqbool Butt, on Feb. 11, 1984 without the transparent trial of
the cases he had been implicated in? Maqbool Butt spent eight
long years in Tihar Jail Delhi. You failed in recognising him as the
Kashmiri political genius with his love for humanism, history and
Sufi culture of Kashmir. Now the only option left for Kashmiri
youth is to make themselves identify with the slogans like ‘La
Shar-kiya …..’ and ‘Jeeway Jeeway ……’. Despite all that senior
and seasoned leaders of Kashmir feel that they have an important
role to play in seeking a way out of Kashmir impasse and
imbroglio.
Violence is not the favourite hobby of the gun-wielding youth of
Kashmir. It is you who compelled them to have recourse to the
violent mode of agitation. It is your aggressiveness,
highhandedness and administrative bungle which vitiated the
political atmosphere of Kashmir. Puppet governments were
installed in Kashmir just to complete your imperialistic agenda of
‘total integration’. You wanted to assimilate Kashmir like a morsel
of pudding. You were basically oblivious of the very dynamics of
Kashmir resistance movement. You stirred up a hornets’ nest in
Kashmir by humiliating and brutalizing the votaries of political
resistance movement in the jails and interrogation centres of India.
Now with the burgeoning of nuclear weapons and ballistic
missiles like ‘Agni’ and ‘Ghori’ a concept to determine the
political future of Kashmir through violence appears to be
incompatible with the growing global trends of détente, pacifism
and pacification. And here the resistance political elite can play an
important role as a relevant moderating force in the inevitable
Indo-Pak rapprochement, reconciliation and finally the agreement
for an honourable and permanent settlement of Kashmir issue. So
it is time when you should realise the exigency of recognising the
importance of political institutions of Kashmir. Resistance SECTION - II
political institutions of Kashmir are the genuine harbingers of
peace.
Now since the global society is poised to transgress the realm of
subjective realpolitik to forge a collective working system of
dispensation to guarantee political harmony and economic and
social justice the global powers including USA, Russia and China
should earnestly work for a viable and practicable solution of
Kashmir issue keeping, of course, the freedom aspirations of
Kashmiris in view. Deferring a solution will be tantamount to
sowing the seeds of future unrest with colossal dimensions. Please
have pity on the suffering but self-respecting people of Kashmir.
It is time to seize the opportunity to look for a solution which will
prove to be a panacea for all the wounds which the tyrants have
inflicted upon the hapless people of Kashmir.

[Kashmir Images – May 30, 2002]


Bury the hatchet for good
T he Feb. 21 Lahore Declaration, which was the culmination of
the much hyped bus journey of Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee to
Lahore, instilled a bit of hope and confidence into the hyper-
sensitive Kashmiris who were otherwise feeling completely
disillusioned with the demagogic rhetoric of leaders in
neighbourhood. The Declaration envisages a resolve to (i) eschew
violence and avoid nuclear holocaust in South Asia (ii) redouble
the efforts to seek a solution of the long standing Kashmir dispute.
Hurriyat Conference ridiculed it as an eyewash to hoodwink the
world. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq hailed the Lahore Declaration
thereby expressing cautious optimism about the early settlement
of Kashmir problem. This is how the Kashmiri leadership
disputed the validity of Hurriyat verdict. Quomi Mushawarti
Council, the think-tank of about a dozen freedom-loving
organizations, supported Umar Farooq for his moderate stand and
stance vis-à-vis the Lahore Declaration. Like Syed Ali Shah
Geelani, the Hurriyat Chief, Dr. Farooq Haider and Amanullah
Khan of JKLF, Abdul Rasheed Turabi of Jamaat-e-Islami, justice
Majeed Malik of Liberation League and Shaukat Maqbool Butt of
NLF expressed their aversion to Lahore Declaration simply
because it did not guarantee the involvement of Kashmiris in the
process of dialogue for the solution of Kashmir issue. Hence does
it mean that Lahore Declaration itself became disputed like
Kashmir dispute?
The track record of the chaotic process of dialogue on Kashmir
testifies that Indian leaders never mustered courage to honour
their own decisions regarding Kashmir. They always reneged on
their commitment recklessly. In the background of the perfidy,
therefore, Kashmiri leaders are justified in feeling skeptical about
the much-trumpeted Lahore Declaration. Now it is only a strong
political will to address the Kashmir issue without any mental
preoccupation which can assuage the bruised sentiments of
Kashmiris. Literal demonstration of your latent sincere motive
alone can convince Kashmiris about the importance of a peace
process in south Asia. After having accepted Kashmir as a dispute
India has really put Pakistan in the dock. We, as the committed
warriors of Kashmir cause, have to look for the reasons for the
logjam in Kashmir tangle. Should we attribute the stalemate to a
particular mindset of the leaders of India and Pakistan? Why
should A. B. Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif become hostage to the
chauvinistic movements which would like to see India and
Pakistan permanently entrenched in the quagmire of confrontation
and belligerency? They should take bold decision which will be
really consonant with the modern concept of a global village – the
concept which teaches to belittle the importance of geographical
boundaries. These boundaries have, indeed, erected the barriers of
mistrust, paranoia, hatred and sense of insecurity among the
various ethnic communities. If you just broaden your vision you
will conveniently find the concept of Akhand World more
palatable than the utopian dream of Akhand Bharat. As the
descendants of Adam and Eve we belong to the same family.
Can’t we assure the unity of this family through temporal means
and methods of interaction and cooperation?
After having failed on the domestic front to come up to the
expectations of crores of people impoverished you found it quite
expedient and convenient to camouflage your failures by looking
for a bogeyman in the North – the poor Kashmiri. Now Lahore
declaration gives a new direction to South Asian politics.
Signatories to the Declaration have prioritized peace to ensure the
economic uplift of multitude of poor masses. If, instead of
stemming the rot within, you once again wobble to raise the
bogey of “threat from across the border” you will simply make
your position awkwardly vulnerable. There will be political
backlash in your countries which will reject you as the redundant
demagogues lacking vision and prudence. Kashmiris feel already
disenchanted with the subjective politics of the leaders in Jinnah’s
Pakistan whose self-aggrandizement proved instrumental in the
dismemberment of Pakistan and whose mismanagement converted
Afghanistan into a slaughterhouse through fratricidal war. We
have had enough experience of your mismanagement on Kashmir
front too. Hope Mr. Nawaz Sharif, the revolutionary leader of
Pakistan, will continue the peace offensive against his adversary
in neighbourhood. He is certainly a man of wit and wisdom.
Being a Kashmiri by origin he would like to do everything
possible for the early settlement of Kashmir issue. Mr. A. B.
Vajpayee, as an adept and seasoned politician, should seize the
opportunity to take Kashmiris into confidence for substantive
dialogue with Pakistan on Kashmir issue. Addressing the Indian
Parliament on March 15, 1999 he said, “There were three wars
between India and Pakistan in the past. Now since both the
countries are equipped with nuclear weapons we cannot,
therefore, afford to think in terms of another round of armed
conflict. So a permanent solution of the outstanding issues is to be
found to prevent a war with Pakistan. There is no option but to
live together like good neighbours.” Thus in Vajpayee’s statement
there is explicit message of peace and friendship. Let the dream
get materialized but not at the cost of our freedom.
Strategy of the revolutionary organizations of Kashmir like JKLF,
Mahaz-e-Azadi, People’s League, Jamaat-e-Islami, etc. to retreat
from the militant front in an orderly way and rejuvenate the
political resistance movement was, in fact, a calculated move to
create a congenial psychological environment for the peaceful
settlement of Kashmir issue. Our low profile stance is a part of
what you call “ confidence building measures” in your diplomatic
parlance. In case you fail to redress the Kashmiris’ grievances the
third generation in teens and twenties will feel completely
disillusioned with the role of political activists in and around
Kashmir. Nadeem Ahmad Khateeb was a Kashmiri pilot in USA
earning about a million rupees per month. After all, what forced
him to say goodbye to the amenities in USA and join the fray in
Kashmir to achieve his cherished goal – the martyrdom? Such is
the resolve of Kashmiri youngsters who are being groomed in an
atmosphere of hatred, repression, humiliation, atrocities, arson,
rampage and carnage. So in order to mitigate the sufferings of
helpless Kashmiris India and Pakistan should immediately sit
across a negotiating table to seek a permanent solution of Kashmir
issue through serious, substantive and meaningful dialogue. An
inadvertent effort to defer a solution of Kashmir imbroglio is
fraught with dangers inconceivable. Please guarantee genuine
détente and entente in South Asia.
What is the rationale for allowing the booming of guns in the
orchards of Kashmir when both Indian and Pakistan are now
poised to enter into an agreement of coexistence and friendship?
Further efforts to settle the accounts with each other in the streets
of Srinagar will prove counter-productive for both the major
contending parties to the conflict. Enough is enough. It is high
time for the prisoners of the past to concretize the desire to bury
the hatchet for good. Traumatized Kashmiris want to be heard
before they hear the news of nuclear holocaust which will
consume everything except truth.
[Kashmir Times – March 23, 1999]

Let truth prevail
T he motto ‘Let Truth Prevail’ depicts the ardent yearning of
one of the most leading English dailies of India. The motto,
which adorns the emblem of the reputed newspaper “The Times
of India”, should certainly kindle the conscience of the crores of
Indians, especially their rulers, to recognize the realities regarding
Kashmir issue. It is not the paper alone which emphasizes truth
and its preponderance as the basic trait of character. All the
religious books, including Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta, lay stress on
the importance of truth as the basic underlying principle of human
civilization. So the lovers of Absolute Truth, God, should be
truthful in the collective demeanour. If India wants to attain the
position of prominence in the comity of nations it should become
the beacon light of truth in its temporal and metaphysical
activities. Otherwise, if hypocrisy and treachery becomes its
hallmark, it will forfeit a right to exist as a powerful nation.
Remember that it is the puritan metaphysics, not the licentious
materialism, which imparts real strength to a theistic nation.
Indian society, owing to its pluralism, is, in essence, a theistic
society which portrays the synthesis of ideas and ideologies of
and about religion. The day Indian society distances itself from its
proud cultural heritage of truthfulness and righteousness it will
find itself embedded in a marshland of internal contradiction,
chaos, confusion, and anarchy. And finally it will give way to
fissures and dissipation – so nightmarish a situation which no
patriotic Indian introvert would like to hail and vail.
Should not our conscience coax us to address a problem,
unresolved legacy of British Raj, which has bedeviled and
embittered the relations between India and Pakistan for the last
fifty years? Should we continue to be the hostage to obsession
regarding this unresolved legacy of British colonialism which is
now an extinct myth? Should we continue to leave Kashmir issue
in limbo at the cost of peace and prosperity of South Asia? It is
not a fact that notwithstanding three fatal wars between India and
Pakistan, Kashmir still exists as a problem awaiting a solution?
Kashmir dispute will continue to be the source of upheaval and
commotion in South Asia unless the leaders of India and Pakistan,
under compulsion of other innumerable problems, feel like
extricating themselves from Kashmir fixation. We fail to fathom
the rationale for perpetuating the state of confrontation and
belligerency in South Asia when crores of innocent people are
languishing in impoverishment and debilitating hygienic
environment, Kashmir will continue to be flashpoint if political
parochialism and obsessive obscurantism is allowed to supersede
the sentiments of realism, rationalism and objectivity.
It was subjective politics of egocentric leaders of Indian National
Congress which proved instrumental in the birth of Muslim
League in 1906 AD. Mohammad Ali Jinnah had already joined
Congress in 1905. Muslim League became a cynosure for him
simply because the League had an urge to become Muslim rights
movement aimed at safeguarding the interests of Indian Muslims
in an environment of emerging reality of ‘majority onslaught’ of
the Hindu community. Mr. Jinnah worked in congress for fifteen
years. The parochialism of Congress leaders which had
persistently been giving an inkling of their outlook of
exclusiveness could not allow the sentiments of codependency
prevail in the organizational hierarchy with the result that mutual
trust and understanding gave way to mistrust and misgivings.
Eventually, in 1920, Mr. Jinnah realized that there were no
chances of his emergence as the plenipotentiary leader of Indian
National Congress which, according to him, was trapped in a
particular mindset. With that he decided to distance himself from
Congress and be wedded to the cause of Muslim League.
Philosophers and psychologists will certainly subscribe to my
viewpoint that wounded ego of personalities plays an important,
rather pivotal, role in the dynamics of political movements. It
invigorates a leader to assert for the accomplishment of his
cherished goal. It makes him reckless, ruthless and stubborn. It
continues to be the driving force for him till he emerges victorious
in his battle against his adversaries.
It was a blunder on the part of Indian National Congress to be
inadvertently satisfied with its internal metamorphosis which
allured it to identify itself with the growing trends of Hindu
particularism that was conspicuously symbolized by some fanatic
Hindu groups and movements which had ostensibly come into
being by way of reaction to the oppressive alien rule of British
and a psychological rebuff to the Muslims who were proud of
their history of sway over India, lasting for about nine hundred
years, prior to the British Raj. This typical communal cathexis of
Congress leaders, therefore, proved an obstacle in the path of
rapprochement and reconciliation between Congress and Muslim
League. The self-aggrandizement, imprudence and myopic
politics of egocentric Congress stalwarts strengthened the trends
of communal polarization in India. Muslim League, which was in
essence a Muslim rights movement, continued to live on its
assertion as a sentinel of Muslim aspirations, temporal indeed.
The cause of reservation for Muslims was first taken up by
Mohammad Ali Jinnah. His well-known 14-point formula,
presented in 1929, sought and stressed concessions. He wanted
the congress to give its assurances that the constitution which
would be framed after independence would guarantee the
approval of 14-point formula of concessions. The eleventh point
was that in the government services in India the proportion of
Muslims would always be maintained in direct ratio to their
population. By conceding to this demand Congress leaders could
have averted the division of India. Thanks to their parochialism,
they could not accommodate the League with its modest stand and
stance.
In 1930, in an atmosphere of brewing hatred and communal
polarization, Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, the poet and philosopher,
stressed in his presidential address to the Muslim League
convention held at Allahabad, the need of carving out of a Muslim
state within Indian Subcontinent. The idea mooted by Iqbal
appeared quite romantic and utopian to M. A. Jinnah who was still
optimistic about a change in the mindset of Congress leaders. In
1937, the year of general elections in India, Muslim League
emerged as the most powerful political party of Indian Muslims
securing 29 seats in UP assembly of 144 seats. Organizational
aggrandizement and latent communal fixation of Congress, the
majority party, could not allow it to reconcile to the idea of
accommodating Muslim League in a coalition government.
Congress was too callous to recognize Muslim League as a
political force representing Muslim sentiments. In fact Congress,
with its dominating attitude, was promptly in search of an
occasion to manage and manoeuvre the merger of Muslim League
with Congress. Poignant Jinnah too was ready for a marathon
struggle for self-assertion. So the year 1937 marked the beginning
of a political tug-of-war between Muslim League and Congress.
Mr. Jinnah, the League supremo with bruised ego, began to assert
like an original revolutionary to make its adversaries realize that
Muslim League was a force to be reckoned with. On March 23,
1940 Muslim League passed a resolution in its Lahore Convention
demanding a sovereign state for Muslims of India. Adversaries
became restless to jeopardize the movement for a sovereign and
independent Muslim state then christened as Pakistan by the
votaries of two nation theory.
In 1946 British Cabinet Mission plan offered an independence
package which envisaged (i) three-zone Indian federation of
Muslim and Hindu majority areas with only three subjects
(defence, foreign affairs and communication) surrendered to
Centre (ii) a central cabinet comprising equal number of ministers
of the two major communities Muslims and Hindus. In the
beginning both Indian National Congress and Muslim League
approved the plan. Congress resilience and innate aversion to
Muslim politics of assertion as a conscious ethnic community
cajoled the Congress supremo Pundit Jawahirlal Nehru to
sabotage the plan in a press conference of June 1946 in Mumbai
where, in reply to a scribe’s poser, he said that Congress with its
majority vote, would undo the plan which guaranteed the internal
autonomy of Muslim majority zones in the West and East of India.
The statement, Abdul Kalam Azad reveals in his book ‘India Wins
Freedom’ came as a bombshell to M. A. Jinnah who was,
therefore compelled and constrained to have recourse to assertive
and aggressive politics characteristic of an aggrieved and offended
community. He convened an emergency meeting of Muslim
League which, after thorough discussion, decided to observe 16th
of August 1946 as the ‘Direct Action’ day. The day was marked by
unprecedented communal riots which consumed about one
thousand innocent people in Calcutta alone. Other Indian cities
too got engulfed by the communal frenzy, fury and fire.
Eventually India got divided into two parts Bharat and Pakistan in
August 1947. The protagonists of secular democracy had to accept
the reality of partition as a fait accompli. All original Indian
writers like Kuldeep Nayar, S. K. Mosemdar and N. Sein Gupta
believe that it was the short-sightedness, paranoia and bias of the
Congress leadership which offended, alienated and finally
infuriated the Muslim League leader Mr. Jinnah compelling him
to pave the way for Lahore resolution of March 23, 1940 which
envisaged a demand for a separate homeland for Muslims.
The rose that emblazoned the white coat of Pandit Nehru basically
symbolized his exuberant love for nature especially the panorama
of bewitching mountains, fragrant orchards, lustrous lakes and
cascades of Kashmir. Yes, it was Kashmir and Kashmir alone
which fascinated the eyes of romantic hero of India independence
movement. Panditjee’s hobnobbing with Sheikh Mohammad
Abdullah was based more on his political expediency than a
friendly commitment to stand by through thick and thin. Pandit
Nehru would perspire, court arrest and take up the cudgels for
Sheikh Abdullah, his friend. However the professed friendship
could not stand the test when Sheikh Abdullah tried to assert
subjectively for the cause of Kashmiryat. Pandit Nehru’s aversion
to assertion of his friend or foe was always ambivalent with his
stratagem as a socialist ideologue. Also, it is in fact that Sheikh
Abdullah became a scapegoat in the psychological Indo-Pak tussle
that ensued from partition of Indian Subcontinent. Pandit Nehru,
in an effort to get the better of his traditional rival Pakistan, found
it quiet expedient and convenient to dispense with Sheikh
Abdullah. Pt. Nehru could not visualize the aftermath of a
betrayal. The developments which followed the episode of August
9, 1953, when the Sheikh was dethroned and detained, proved that
Panditjee’s impulsiveness and impetuosity blurred his wisdom and
acumen as a statesman. One can, perhaps, justify his contradiction
and controversy with Jinnah. But what was the rationale for
offending and antagonizing a friend who had reposed trust in him
when no Kashmiri was consciously ready to empathize with
Delhi?
Despite the UN resolutions on Kashmir, which suggested and
recommended plebiscite based on Kashmiris’ right of self-
determination, Article 370 of Indian constitution served the
purpose of a bridge of understanding between Kashmir and India.
It provided mechanism of working relationship between Srinagar
and Delhi. The renowned Indian writer A. G. Noorani, while
discussing Article 370 in his essay published in Kashmir Times on
13th Feb. 1998, explains with his erudition: “There is, however,
more grave aspect which has been overlooked and which two
former Union Home ministers and a Prime Minister pointed out.
On 4th Dec. 1964 G. L. Nanda said that it would be totally wrong
to assume that with the repeal of the Article all constitutional
provisions would automatically apply to Kashmir. P. V. Narasimha
Rao spelt out the implications on 12th of June 1996 saying,
“Abrogation of the Article 370 is just not possible, unless you
want to part with State of Jammu & Kashmir. …… Abrogation of
Article 370 is a legal impossibility. Any attempt to do so would
reflect moral bankruptcy and political ineptitude.” This is all
about the Article which has already been encroached upon by the
Delhi rulers. Then why did you look on sheikh Abdullah’s stance
of assertion in defence of Article 370 as ‘treason’ to manoeuvre
secession? Why should you not punish the people who, in league
with one another, connived with Delhi ruler Nehru to dislodge
Sheikh Abdullah from the position of power and prominence to
make him languish in jails for long eleven years? The present
turmoil in Kashmir is, in fact, a political backlash triggered off by
the totalitarianism of Delhi rulers who were led astray by
sycophants and lackeys. So you are reaping what you have
already sown in Kashmir. Why should you, therefore, pass the
buck on your adversary in neighbourhood? It is high time to
rectify the wrong to retrieve the situation in Kashmir. Seize the
opportunity to pragmatise the sentiments of Azadi which will
otherwise get fulminated to the detriment of hope and optimism.
The brew of discord and discontent is still intact. Political will is
required to address the core issue. Dereliction will be tantamount
to suicide. Let humanism overcome sadism. Let wisdom prevail
on all concerned.
[Kashmir Times – March 1, 1998]
Banish this communal fixation
P sychoanalytical study of the behaviour of man reveals that a
theist, who derives solace from his meditative and
introspective activities, likes to be regarded as an introvert
engrossed in the metaphysical world of realities regarding
spirituality and intellectual modes of self-absorption. An introvert
with highest degree of enlightenment would like to be an
embodiment of compassion, love and mercy. Ascetics and hermit
are basically introverts who enjoy a blissful world within. They
are averse to the external world of commotion and conflicts.
Sadhus and Sufis, the introverts lost in their world of meditation
and introspection, are the beacon light of tranquility and trance.
They are the lovers of transcendental realities – the realities of and
about God, Allah or Eishwar. A common theist would like to
empathize with them and their world of metaphysical activity. For
him they are the source of benediction and bliss. Extroverts,
unlike introverts, are generally overwhelmed by a sense of
deprivation which they never talk about. They camouflage their
inferiority complex by their vociferous urge for service on social
and political front. They take pride in identifying themselves more
with the number of their supporters and admirers than the
principles of ethics and politics. Empire building is the objective
they cherish. So their self-aggrandizement is always juxtaposed to
the cause of group or community aggrandizement and domination.
They are always prompt and poised to spearhead a revolution
aimed at subjugating the weaker ethnic group in their
neighbourhood. This is the semantic background of what we call
communalism, chauvinism, fascism and (euphemistically)
nationalism in political parlance.
Communalism is a sign of spiritual weakness and deprivation. It
leads to depravity, arrogance and impetuousness. Nationalism
based on communal sentiments renders its votaries blind to the
extent that they are seldom amenable to reason and rationalism.
Adherents of communalized nationalism are never self-possessed.
Hence their aggressiveness and onslaught simply gives birth to
inveterate hatred, acrimony and rancour – which in turn hardens
an adversary and makes him intransigent in his political attitude
and approach. If professed secular nationalism of Indian National
Congress, owing to its propensity for imperceptible communal
feelings, could not save undivided India from dismemberment in
1947 how cam BJP, with its conspicuously aggressive communal
nationalism, ensure the unity of Bharat? The transformation of
pluralism-based secular democracy of Bharat into fanatical
communal nationalism will inevitably prove counter-productive.
Low profile communal stance of Congress has already failed in
safeguarding the unity of India. There is an apprehension of
further dissipation and disintegration due to the high profile
communal stance of the votaries of communal nationalism.
Communal nationalists are hell-bent on triggering off communal
polarization and schism. All the efforts to ensure détente and
entente will be put into jeopardy. South Asian countries will,
perhaps, once again start looking askance at one another. The free
world, which is engaged in fostering the trends of moderation in
political and religious ideas, cannot afford to be a mere spectator
to the campaign for negativism and obscurantism in a society
which derives strength from its secular democracy that is based on
respect for the composite culture of India.
Is it not absolutely fanatic to think about wreaking vengeance
upon the emperors and warriors who, several centuries ago,
desecrated a few temples in India in a fit of war fury and
exasperation? The tormentors are lying buried in graves, their
monuments of power and prestige do exist but in the form of
desolate ruins inspiring more regret than awe. The dilapidated
forts and tottering palaces, which now form the most precious part
of the archaeological heritage of India, speak of the mortality of
man and remind us of the Day of Judgment when everyone of us
will be answerable to Allah or Eishwar for his or her deeds good
or bad. Let us try to be magnanimous and gracious enough to
forgive one another. Let us rid ourselves of the obsessive and
subjective empathy with history. The emancipated people cannot
afford to be the prisoners of past history of contradictions and
conflicts of self-centred heroes of subjective politics of onslaught
and assimilation. We are living in an era of knowledge explosion.
The whole world has shrunk to a global village. Man is earnestly
in search of places of seclusion on Mars and Jupiter for meditation
and yoga. So is it not ludicrous and preposterous to be the hostage
of medievalism which characterizes predatory sway and barbarian
intolerance? Let us try to achieve the objective of serenity and
cosmic consciousness through intuitive absorption and scientific
research. This is what our conscience demands of us. Here I, as a
modest citizen of Kashmir, cannot but claim to be the lover of
Rishi and Sufi culture of Kashmir which envisages love,
brotherhood and tolerance. Alas! the beautiful vale of Kashmir
with proud culture of tolerance and brotherhood, got engulfed by
the fire and fury of communalism during the decade gone by.
Enough is enough. It is high time for the people of South Asia to
banish the communal fixation which has persistently been
jeopardizing the serious efforts for rapprochement and
reconciliation between India and Pakistan.
Why should Kashmir be made scapegoat in the war of attrition
between India and Pakistan – the two countries which are still
obsessed by the pre-partition syndrome of sentiments and feelings
of communal polarization and confrontation. The Subcontinent
rulers who, for their domestic consumption, find it quite expedient
to raise the bogey of ‘Kashmir issue’ and ‘threat from across the
border’ should remember that any further effort to perpetuate the
policy of confrontation on Kashmir front will simply boomerang
to the ultimate disadvantage of their own people who are already
disenchanted with the self-aggrandizement of plutocratic
predators. It is a sin to emotionalise and communalise a political
issue which, if allowed to be pragmatically localized, can be
settled amicably and honourably to the astonishment of global
detractors who want to see you permanently entangled in the mire
and marsh of ostensibly complex and confounded Kashmir issue.
Your elusive approach has agonized about a billion people of
South Asia. Emphasis on recognition of ground realities can, of
course, help seek a way out of Kashmir impasse. Well, there were
no UN resolutions for the vivisection of India or dismemberment
of Pakistan. If UN resolutions on Kashmir cannot be literally
implemented for some unavoidable reason of political expediency
the options which are compatible with the ground realities should
certainly be discussed to evolve a practicable and mutually
acceptable solution of Kashmir tangle. You have to assuage the
wounded feelings and sentiments of an ethnic community
brutalized and humiliated by gun-wielding men under marshal
prerogative. Your acts of violence and vandalism have, in fact,
tarnished your image as a professed friend, defender and
custodian of law and order. The bruised sentiments of traumatized
Kashmiris can instigate them for a protracted battle if you fail to
address the Kashmir issue with a resolve to solve it judiciously
and expeditiously.
We, as the lovers of Rishi and Sufi culture of Kashmir, are not
oblivious of what is happening in Afghanistan, Algeria and Egypt
in the name of Islam. We understand that assertion of the dissent
there is more an apology for religion than a reference of pride.
However, our proud commitment to the Rishi culture of Kashmir
should not be construed as a weakness of our resistance
movement which is based on a resolve to struggle for the position
of power and prestige. We want to see Kashmir becoming a
symbol of enlightenment and knowledge for the mankind.
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian nation, while aspiring to
discern light of inspiration in Kashmir, said on Dec. 29, 1947:
“Will not India and Pakistan come together and settle the issue
with the help from impartial Indians? Is there no one here who is
impartial? I am sure that we have not become bankrupt to that
extent. Today Hinduism and Islam are being tested in Kashmir. If
the right thing is done and right direction given to the process the
chief actors will win fame. It is my prayer that in the present
darkness in the country Kashmir may become the star that
provides light.” (The Hindu, Dec. 30, 1997). Sheikh Abdullah, as
some Indians believe, was the first Kashmiri symbolizing the
enlightenment which Gandhiji had visualized. Alas! You
discovered a visionary in Abdullah after long fifty years. Mr. I. K.
Gujral, the Prime Minister of India, by way of acknowledgement
and recognition belated indeed, said on Dec. 5, 1997 in a function
organized by Sher-i-Kashmir Peace Foundation that Sheikh
Abdullah was a great visionary but misunderstood. Does it mean
that it takes Indian leaders complete fifty years to discover the
identity of a Kashmir leader? You will again fail to recognize the
visionaries of today due to your neurotic Kashmir obsession.
About sixty thousand Kashmiris sacrificed their lives for the
sacred cause of Kashmiryat and Azadi. Thousands of political
activists have been languishing in jails for the last eight years.
There is no let-up in the reign of terror and horror there. Custodial
killings, sacrilege of the symbols of honour, arson and loot hounds
the anarchical situation there. Human rights activists of India,
including Kuldeep Nayar, Tapan Bose, Justice Tarkunde and Prof.
A. M. Khusroo feel agonized over the human rights abuse and
violation in Kashmir. Even Lt. Gen. S. Padmnabhan of Northern
Command grumbles in his own way saying, “ The basic reasons
which led to insurgency taking roots should first be addressed.
..… People call it a low-intensity conflict. But for a soldier, who
stops a bullet, all intensities are the same. A bullet is a bullet. The
semantics do not matter …. Aviation corps airlifted 5000
casualties from Siachin from early’90s to 1996.” (The Hindu –
Nov. 21, 1997) And the number of the soldiers and officers who
got killed in Kashmir during the decade long insurgency is almost
equal to the number of the soldiers killed in all the previous
conventional wars with Pakistan. In the light of the
aforementioned facts emphasis is, hereby, laid on the exigency to
advise the people at the helm of affairs in Delhi to have a
reappraisal of their Kashmir policy just to save South Asia from
economic catastrophe and political cataclysm. Peace is paramount
if at all prosperity is your priority objective.
Struggling Kashmiris are inspired even by Lord Krishna whose
sermon invigorated and energized Arjun to assert in the battlefield
against his adversaries who had usurped his empire. Resolute
Kashmiris have reposed trust in God Almighty. He will not leave
them in the lurch. The genuineness of their cause imparts strength
and confidence to them for a protracted battle against the forces of
onslaught and assimilation. They will certainly condescend only
when you acquiesce in across a table of dialogue and debate on
Kashmir. Substantive talks and negotiations are, therefore,
stressed for a peaceful settlement of Kashmir problem, so knotty
and vexed. Obduracy which prompts procrastination shall have to
be shunned if a practicable and viable solution of the long-
standing problem is to be sought before long. It is imperative for
you to be wedded to positivism to save the situation in Kashmir.
We are still in search of an Indian humanist who will practically
share the grief and sorrow of Kashmiris. May our optimism
discover him before God intervenes to assert for justice in
dispensation!
[Kashmir Times – March 12, 1998]
Coexistence of peace and war
L ife of a political activist becomes prosaic, monotonous and
monolithic if there are no adversaries to vie with him for his
position of power and prominence, temporal or metaphysical. The
same is true about a nation as well. A nation will cease to be
vibrant, dynamic and assertive if there are no detractors and
adversarial powers pitched in a psychological battle to deprive it
of the position of power and prestige. Rivalry and jealousy has, in
fact, imparted luster and glamour to human civilization. A nation
owes much to bestiality which perpetually revitalizes and
rejuvenates it for a struggle against the forces which want to
dislodge it from the position of exaltation, individuality and
identity. India and Pakistan, the two belligerent countries, would,
for their ideological contradictions, perhaps, opt for a thousand-
year conventional war with each other; their beastly urge for
confrontation is, however, suppressed by a longing for peace
which is indispensably paramount for the solace and prosperity of
their people. Nuclear capability of the two countries will certainly
guarantee détente in South Asia, because nuclear weapons
automatically contain the trends of war. We will soon find India
and Pakistan signing and ratifying the Subcontinent – SALT
(Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty); predilection for cold war will
suffice them.
Both India and Pakistan possess nuclear expertise and potential.
Both the countries are awfully busy in manufacturing ballistic
missiles and nuclear and chemical weapons of mass destruction.
Their nuclear capability has, however, successfully blurred and
dampened their obsessive sentiments of bellicosity and animosity.
It has, in fact, sharpened their wisdom and vision which cajoles
them to propound and propose the principle of global nuclear non-
proliferation and disarmament. Thus, the nuclear capability of the
two countries has to some extent helped in neutralizing the
communal sentiments of the two major communities of South
Asia. Why should Hindus and Muslims be at loggerheads with
each other at the cost of scientific advancement which, through
evolutionary modes of metaphysical interaction, can cobble the
two communities together in an ambivalent whole never
detestable? Global detractors and denigrators are bent on making
you a cat’s-paw in the global war of interests. It is for you to
decide whether you would like to be fooled like fools of the first
water. Why should the temptation of a pawn’s role become a force
majeure for you? Remove the irritants in your relationship by
addressing the mind-blowing problems and rationalizing your
national aspirations. A bit of magnanimity and prudence can give
a different nuance to your SAARC organization. Its founding
principles can be put as ‘Strategic Accommodation and
Reconciliation Course’ (SAARC). So your SAARC can become
real binding forum with the empirical nuance suggested.
In Kashmir the SAARC spirit, in the perspective of the
connotation evolved and explained above, is already in vogue.
People with diverse ideas and ideologies have genuinely begun to
adapt themselves to the lemma ‘Strategic Accommodation and
Reconciliation Course’ just to retrieve Kashmir from the state of
helplessness, chaos and anarchy. Kashmiris want to be regarded as
a single family enjoying unity in diversity under unwritten modus-
vivendi agreement. We will not allow Kashmir to become the
arena of hostilities of powers intractable and uncompromising.
Our strategic manoeuvre for the retrieval of Kashmir will
certainly safeguard the intrinsic indigenous character of the
resistance movement which, to our dismay, is reeling under the
extrinsic influence whatsoever. How can a sensitive ethnic
community, which is already riven and ripped apart by hatred and
mistrust, allow Kashmir to fall a prey to balkanization and
sectarian polarization? We are averse and allergic to everything
that can create malice and malevolence. We vehemently stress,
through our comprehensive message of love and brotherhood, the
metaphysical reunion of Kashmiris.
In South Asia peace aspirations will always remain juxtaposed to
war tactics. War strategists, notwithstanding the due appreciation
and recognition of the peace initiative of humanists, will be
engaged in sustained struggle to compensate their failures. The
editor of the reputed Indian daily THE HINDU, while
commenting on the modernization of war industry of Pakistan and
India maintains: “India’s strategic needs are quite different from
Pakistan’s. It is pity that Pakistan has chosen to arm itself with
Ghauri (missile) out of an urge for equalization of its weaponry
with that of India. Such a strategy implies that it achieves nothing
more than the ‘balancing of terror’ and its missiles remain under
wraps to save the Subcontinent from ‘mutually assured’
destruction in the Cold War parlance.” (The Hindu – Jan. 7, 1998).
Also unconventional modes and methods of operation will be
applied to unhinge and dislodge the adversary from a particular
position of superiority and sway. In fact peace and war will
continue to coexist in South Asia till the objective of harmonious
relations is achieved through the multifaceted efforts of
rapprochement and reconciliation. Original thinkers and
visionaries of India and Pakistan are relentlessly struggling to
create thaw and mutual trust between the two neighbouring
countries obsessively harbouring suspicions against each other;
each trying to obtrude and preponderate.
Gujral doctrine of Mr. I. K. Gujral, the Prime Minister of India,
carries weight. It can help ease tension in South Asia. The
doctrine, which envisages demonstration of unilateral gestures of
friendship based on magnanimity without stress on reciprocity of
the contending party, can yield better dividends. Nikhil
Chakravarty, the renowned writer of India, while discussing the
exigency of peace in his article captioned “In peace lies their
salvation”, observes: “Barring what may be called the lunatic
fringe – which craves for the restitution of the old – the sober
sentiment on both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border is that the two
countries must bury the hatchet and learn to live in peace and
amity.”(The Hindu – Nov. 30, 1997). Similarly “In a radical break
with the past, the Pakistan chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Fasih
Bukhari, has called for ending 50-year old confrontation and
hostility with India, stressing the need for befriending India in the
coming 50 years in Pakistan’s own strategic interest …… (yet the
chief unassumingly grumbles saying) We do not see her (India) as
an honest partner in peace until she sits down to resolve the major
Kashmir issue alongside other issues.” (The Hindu – Dec. 14,
1997).
It is true that the nuclear capability of India and Pakistan proved a
success as an effective strategic deterrent against the tendency of
an all out conventional war, but it is equally true that the
unresolved Kashmir issue still awaits a solution. Kashmir is on
fire. Roaring guns, bursting bombs, bleeding wounds, screaming
women and burning houses create a scenario of terror and horror
coupled with uncertainty and cynicism. Where Indian sadists
suggest a more aggressive approach to deal with Kashmir freedom
movement, the hawks in Pakistan are looking for an original
soldier, a military genius, who can organize and mobilize the
disgruntled youth of Afghanistan and Central Asian Muslim states
for an unconventional military activity, a guerrilla war indeed, in
Kashmir where the inhospitable mountainous terrain can prove
helpful in repeating the war history of Panjsheer valley of
Afghanistan. War strategists believe that the Panjsheer valley
played a strategic decisive role in routing the Red Force of
erstwhile Soviet Union. Remember that in a situation where the
historical political forces of Kashmir including JKLF, People’s
League, Mahaz-e-Azadi and Jamaat-e-Islami have practically
distanced themselves from gun the endeavour to resurrect the
urban activity of brawn-assertion will simply prove counter-
productive, unless the barbarian attitude of the ruthless Indian
forces compels the Kashmiri youth to toe the line of extremism as
a last resort. We are very serious about a peaceful political
solution of Kashmir problem. The traumatized, agonized and
brutalized people of Kashmir are musing on the political
developments in New Delhi and Islamabad with incisive curiosity
and care.
It is incumbent on you to fully comprehend the dynamics of
Kashmir resistance movement which is, in essence, a struggle to
safeguard the Rishi and Sufi culture of Kashmir through an
emphasis on the Azadi outpourings. The political atmosphere is
quite congenial and conducive for a dialogue and interaction with
the historical resistance forces of Kashmir, including Hurriyat
Conference, to seek an early peaceful and honourable settlement
of Kashmir dispute. Ostrich optimism will, otherwise, lead you to
the crevasse of crisis and abysmal failure. Your intransigence and
myopic politics has already sown the seeds of hatred and
discontent in Kashmir. It will be again a folly to underestimate the
resolve of Kashmiris. We will revert to comprehensive political
movement, with a characteristic subjective stance, to achieve the
goal of self-rule in Kashmir for Kashmiryat.
The entrenchment of Indian and Pakistani leaders in their egotistic
stand and stance vis-à-vis Kashmir can be attributed to their
inborn sadism which does not allow them to take cognizance of
the human rights abuse and violations in Kashmir. In Greek and
Roman empires of medieval ages rulers used to enjoy the indoor
games in their amphitheatres where their political opponents, held
in captivity, were exposed to hungry rapacious beasts like lions
and bears who would devour them without dither. So Kashmir is
the Indian amphitheatre where rulers, like their Greek and Roman
predecessors, enjoy the victimization and humiliation of enslaved
Kashmiris. We believe that if the process of persecution and
victimization of innocent Kashmiris does not come to a natural
end before long, Providence, under the law of retribution, will
certainly give verdict to requite the tormentor for the atrocities
and brutalities perpetrated by him. Kashmiris are being punished
for the ‘sin’ to remind you of your commitment regarding the final
dispensation of Kashmir with special reference to Kashmiris’
inalienable right of self-determination. Don’t you realize that
Kashmir turmoil is infallibly a portrayal of your betrayal?
Conscientious Indian patriots should make out what has been
explicitly conveyed above. Hope your theistic vision will kindle
your conscience to rectify the wrong.
Let my Kashmiri compatriots try to understand that it is time
when our brain, not brawn, should assert (i) to provide some
respite and reprieve to war-torn Kashmir (ii) to make the leaders
of India and Pakistan realize that Kashmiris cannot be taken for
granted indefinitely (iii) to launch the movement for general
awareness in India to muster support for Kashmir cause. With all
that our sermons cannot permanently mesmerize the resolute
Kashmiri youth whose meaningful “wait-and-watch” strategic
posture betrays their anxiety to see the men in higher echelons of
power displaying promptitude in their pragmatic response. The
mandate for dialogue and negotiations has only time-bound
relevance. Obsolete colonial approach should be replaced by a
humanistic tack to tackle the Kashmir problem. Hope the
admonition will stir your stagnant soul.
[Kashmir Times – March 24, 1998]
Crisis legalized and legitimized
“K eep your word” is the universally accepted dogma which
impeccably guides human beings in their social and
political life. A breach of the principle, if and when it occurs,
simply signifies perfidy and venality which eventually leads to
conflict and confrontation. Ethics, as all the Scriptures enjoin,
devoid of commitment to “vachan” (promise) is moral corruption
which gradually culminates in social and political anarchy. In such
a situation, therefore, social and political polarization becomes the
pith and marrow of state system. The epidemic of moral turpitude
engulfs the neighbouring countries as well. Failure of UNO in its
half-hearted efforts to stress the implementation of its relevant
resolutions on Kashmir can be attributed to the intransigence and
obduracy which originated from the perfidy and breach of
“vachan”. A pertinent question arises here as to what prompted the
contending party to back out – Nehru’s romance with the natural
beauty of Kashmir, Pakistan’s ineptitude or Kashmiris’ naivety or
all the factors collectively. Alas!, destiny betrayed us to the abyss
of servitude, helplessness, and debility. None but one God can
retrieve Kashmir from the quagmire of deprivation, serfdom,
persecution and humiliation. Certainly hope sustains life.
With the lapse of British paramountcy and suzerainty in India the
565 Princely States, under the Indian Independence Act of 1947,
became automatically independent and were vested with authority
as sovereign States. However, the act left it to their discretion
whether they would accede to India or Pakistan – the newly
emerged dominions. Partition of Indian subcontinent, which had
become unavoidable circumstantially indeed, was accepted as a
fait accompli by the moderates of Muslim League and Indian
National Congress. The Muslim majority areas got merged with
the geographically contiguous Pakistan and Hindu majority areas
merged with India except Junagarh and Hyderabad opted for
independence which, however, proved short-lived when Indian
troops stormed in just to express solidarity with their
coreligionists who were in majority there. Here we fail to fathom
the rationale for thwarting the efforts of Pakistan to express
solidarity with the majority community of Kashmir where most of
the people, despite strong nationalistic dissent, were ready to
reciprocate with “Muslim-solidarity” sentiments. It is obligatory
for patriotic historians and research scholars to delve into Kashmir
history to identify the factors which proved instrumental in
managing and manipulating the subjugation and dismemberment
of Kashmir.
Turmoil in Kashmir is not a treason and sedition against a
government, recognized with its de jure status of sway, but a
revolt against the de facto control of a country which, through its
misdeeds and mismanagement, has triggered off upheaval,
intricacy and pandemonium there. Some historic events which
have practically lagalized and legitimized the present crisis in
Kashmir need adumbration. Let us try to enumerate the few
important events here:
(1) Partition of Indian subcontinent, save the fall-out of
communal polarization it was fraught with, was in
principle a serious political move to satiate the subjective
sentiments of the highly conscious aristocrats and
plutocrats of the two major communities of South Asia –
Hindus and Muslims. The 50-year history of personality
clash between the political luminaries of Pakistan and
India testifies that it was not the religion which was at
stake in South Asia but the personal agenda of power and
prominence of the few prominent and assertive
personalities. So the Hindu and Muslim plutocrats of
South Asian nationalist movements always exploited the
religious sentiments of the common people just to further
the cause of their self-aggrandizement. Military
intervention of Hindu plutocrats in Junagarh and
Hyderabad was, therefore, ostensibly aimed at expressing
solidarity with the Hindu majority of these States;
however it, simultaneously, provided incentive and
legitimacy to the military intervention of Pakistani
plutocrats in Kashmir which had already taken place in
Oct. 1947. Pakistan, therefore, finds it quite convenient
and expedient to attribute the resolve of Indian plutocrats
to stay in Kashmir to their “chauvinism and
expansionism”. The plea provides sufficient ammunition
to the Kashmiri insurgents who, therefore, consider India
as usurper and detractor. The very recollection of the
Indian action in Junagarh and Hyderabad will continue to
provoke Pakistan to nullify and neutralize the Indian
influence in Kashmir.
(2) Maharaja Hari Singh, the autocratic ruler of the princely
State of Jammu and Kashmir, was interested in safeguarding the
independence and sovereignty of Kashmir. Maharaja offered
“Standstill Agreement” to Pakistan as well as India. Pakistan
accepted the offer whereas India procrastinated. The Indian rulers
wanted to bide their time through diplomatic prevarications for an
opportunity to intervene and take on their adversaries in Kashmir.
They say Mahatama Gandhi, during his week long visit to
Kashmir in the beginning of Aug. 1947, had brought home to the
Maharaja (through his Queen) that he should identify himself with
the Hindu culture of India. Maharaja replaced Ram Chand Kak,
the State Prime Minister with moderate political ideas, by Mehar
Chand Mahajin, a hardliner. This important move smacked of a
change in Maharaja’s ideas and intentions. So Pakistan, in an
attempt to pre-empt the Congress military initiative (camouflaged
by political manoeuvre of its leaders), provoked and instigated the
Muslim revolutionaries of the border areas of JK State – Poonch,
Bagh, Plandari, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad. Armed revolt of the
Muslim insurgents was so fierce that Maharaja was forced to flee
from Srinagar on Oct. 25, 1947 at the dead of night and take
refuge in Jammu as a fugitive. Alas! the fleeing ruler could not
protect the life and honour of his Muslim compatriots in Jammu.
Sheikh Abdullah did succeed in protecting the life and honour of
Kashmiri Pandits. Maharaja Hari Singh, a fugitive without any
locus standi in the crisis, had, therefore, no right to decide about
the future dispensation of Kashmir.
Maharaja Hari Singh, the deposed and dethroned ruler of the State
of Jammu & Kashmir, decided to accede to India on Oct. 26,
1947. Mr. V. P. Menon, Secretary to Government of India, got the
Instrument of Accession signed by the deposed Maharaja in
Jammu. On Oct. 27, 1947 Lord Mountbatten, the Governor
General of India, while accepting Hari Singh’s accession to India,
wrote back to him: “Consistent with the policy that, in case of any
State where the issue of accession has been subject of dispute, the
issue of accession should be decided in accordance with the
wishes of the people of the State, it is my Government’s wish that
as soon as law and order has been restored in Kashmir and her soil
cleared of the invaders, the question of State’s accession should be
settled by reference to the people.” On the same day, i.e. Oct. 27,
1947, Indian troops were airlifted to Srinagar. Late Maulana
Masoodi, a close associate of Sheikh Abdullah who had ratified
Hari Singh’s accession, while commenting on the development,
said: “These (Indian troops) are the new fetters of our slavery.”
Since manipulation of the accession of Kashmir to India was a
gross violation of the declared policy of Indian National Congress
that ‘the question of accession shall be decided in accordance with
the wishes of the people and geographical proximity’ Pakistan
refused to recognize the so-called accession and, while regarding
it as immoral, illegal and fraudulent, declared that the intervention
of Indian troops in Kashmir was a flagrant aggression against its
people.
(3) In his historic address, broadcast by All India Radio on
Nov. 2, 1947, Pandit Nehru, the Prime Minister of India said:
“We have declared that the fate of Kashmir is
ultimately to be decided by its people. This pledge we
have given, while the Maharaja has supported it, not
only to the people of Kashmir but also to the world at
large. We will not and cannot renege on our
commitment. We are prepared when peace and law
and order has been restored, to have referendum held
under the auspices of UNO.”
Again in his public address at historical Lal Chowk Srinagar on
Nov. 11, 1947 Pandit Nehru declared:
“Indian forces are here just to restore peace. We
have no intention to grab the territory of Kashmir.
India, as a great democratic country, guarantees that
Kashmiris will be free to decide about the future
dispensation of Kashmir”.
On Feb. 23, 1948 Mr. Gopala Swami Ayengar, Indian
representative in UNO, while addressing the Security Council,
said:
“As the Security Council is aware the Govt. of India
is fully committed to the view that, after peace is
restored and all the people belonging to the State
have returned there, a free plebiscite should be
conducted and the people should decide whether they
wish to remain with India, go over to Pakistan or
become independent and sovereign”.
A still more emphatic and categoric assurance was given by
Pandit Nehru to the people of Kashmir on Jan. 2, 1952 saying:
“Kashmir is not a patrimony of Bharat or Pakistan.
It belongs to Kashmiris. When Kashmir acceded to
India, we made it clear to leaders of Kashmiri people
that we would ultimately abide by the verdict of
plebiscite; if they tell us to walk out, I would have no
hesitation in quitting Kashmir”. (Amrita Bazar
Patrika, Calcutta, Jan. 2, 1952).
In fact Pandit Nehru and other Indian leaders reiterated their stand
vis-à-vis Kashmir about a dozen times. On Aug. 7, 1952 Pandit
Nehru reaffirmed his pledge in India parliament. From Oct. 1947
to Aug. 7, 1952 there was no change in the official stand of Indian
rulers regarding Kashmir.
(4) On Aug. 9, 1953 Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the Prime
Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, for his pro-Kashmir stance, was
dethroned, arrested and lodged in a jail. Puppet rulers were
installed to help encroach upon the Article 370 of Indian
Constitution which had guaranteed ‘Special Status’ for the State
of Jammu & Kashmir. There was political backlash in Kashmir
followed by gradual disillusionment and alienation of Kashmiris.
Instead of keeping their word Indian leaders blatantly reneged on
their commitment in a true Machiavellian style under the pretext
that since Pakistan had become a member of SEATO and CENTO
it was, therefore, imperative for India to have a reappraisal of
plebiscite proposal. Commenting on this plea an eminent judge,
jurist and humanist of India, Justice V. M. Tarkunde, maintains:
“One of the biggest mistakes committed by
Jawaharlal Nehru was to back out of the plebiscite
proposal on the wholly irrelevant ground that
Pakistan in the meantime had accepted arms and
entered into a military pact with United States. The
offer of plebiscite was not in the nature of a
concession made by India to Pakistan but was
recognition of the right of self-determination of the
people of Jammu & Kashmir. The denial of the right
of self-determination by India on irrelevant grounds
led, naturally, to a plebiscite movement in Kashmir. It
became a secessionist movement and was further
strengthened by the subsequent policy of the
government of India which showed that the Govt.
had no confidence in the people of Kashmir”. (The
Radical Humanist – March 1990)
(5) On Dec. 31, 1947 India referred Kashmir problem to the
UN Security Council; Pakistan too lodged a complaint on Jan. 15,
1948. A debate ensued therein. Security Council resolution of
April 21, 1948 and UNCIP resolution of Aug. 13, 1948 and Jan. 5,
1949 form the basis of debate on Kashmir in UNO. And UNCIP
resolutions suggest free and fair plebiscite as a solution to
Kashmir dispute. Both India and Pakistan accepted these
resolutions. Pakistan, despite vulnerability, still supports the
proposal for plebiscite whereas India, which is obsessed by a
dream of overlordship in South Asia, is averse to a reference to
plebiscite based on Kashmiris’ inalienable right to self-
determination. Should not Kashmiris feel provoked to react?
Is it not true, in the light of aforementioned facts, that crisis in
Kashmir is legalized and legitimized? Kashmiris have been forced
to rise in revolt. Remember that ‘bullet for bullet’ policy cannot
retrieve the situation in Kashmir. No doubt, humanistic approach
can solve the Kashmir tangle amicably; but who will break the
ice? Sane and sober pacifists of the State, irrespective of caste or
creed, are ready to cooperate.
[Kashmir Times – April 4, 1998]
Stop tinkering with Kashmir issue
I n an era where man has conquered space and time thereby
converting the world into a global village how can Kashmiris
be oblivious of the trends of globalisation which are fostered
through an emphasis on the confederation of free and sovereign
countries. In the present era of knowledge and information
explosion an average global citizen finds himself surrounded by
an environment of research, analysis, objectivity and intellectual
inquisition. So his intellect is no more subservient to
sentimentalism and impulsiveness which was the hallmark of
human civilization a few centuries back. Objectivity which is
indispensably characteristic of modern democratic countries has
controlled, if not completely replaced, the lust for brawn-assertion
which formed the bedrock of the old subjectivity-based
monarchial and dictatorial systems of governance. It is this
objectivity and scientific realism which taught the nuclear powers
to coexist notwithstanding their innate yearning for dominance
and expansionism. Nuclear capability of these powers has
successfully contained the trends of an all out global armed
conflict. Thus the present day confederation regime represented
by UNO, NAM, OIC, NATO, ASEAN, SAARC etc. has
facilitated the job of achieving national objectives of economic
prosperity and uplift of many a country. Democracy, which forms
the ethos and essence of our global village culture, imparts
strength to this principle of coexistence in dissent.
Man in himself is a complete institution looking for suffocation-
free socio-political environment so that he can give vent to his
sentiments and feelings as a conscious living being. He would like
to be free to profess the ideas which appeal to him. Religion, the
intuitive perception of God and his manifestations, forms a part,
to be more empirical, of the temporal and metaphysical life of a
large section of global society. Kashmir, as a part of this global
society, would like to contribute to the growth and refinement of
human civilization apropos scientific research and philosophical
study of the dynamics of human activity and society. Kashmir, as
a lover of its proud Rishi and Sufi culture, could play a
commendable role in the various spheres of life – knowledge and
culture. Alas! captive Kashmir finds herself totally strangulated
and smothered. Kashmiris want to be free to thrive and prosper
like free citizens of the free world.
Kashmir (J&K State) is surrounded by the three powers – China,
India and Pakistan. All the three countries have occupied different
portions of our State. China has occupied 12000 sq. miles of
Aqsai-Chin; Pakistan enjoys a sway over 32000 sq. miles of
Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir; and India has occupied 42000
sq. miles of Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Ladakh. So all the three
neighbouring countries are parties to Kashmir issue. Reunification
of all the parts of divided Kashmir is, of course, a dream which
Kashmiri nationalists cherish. But an attempt to emphasize, with
militant intransigence, this unification will be tantamount to
waging a war of attrition against all the three powers in our
neighbourhood. So, in order to avoid a situation where the
Kashmir issue will be more confounded and complicated due to
confrontation, it is quite expedient and advisable to stress a
dialogue and debate on Kashmir. We sincerely believe that the
negotiations between the parties concerned can eventually
culminate in an amicable, honourable and practicable solution of
Kashmir tangle.
Emergence of free independent Kashmir is an idealistic objective
of the nationalists of Kashmir. They would not like to compromise
their stand and stance vis-à-vis the 52-year old Kashmir problem.
However, in the background of their knowledge about global
village and breaking barriers of obsessive and obsolete ideas
about a state, they will certainly cooperate in a process to seek the
equitable, viable and practicable solution of Kashmir impasse.
Negotiating table will itself determine the nature and structure of
future boundaries of free Kashmir.
In free Kashmir all the ethnic communities – Muslims, Hindus,
Sikhs and Buddhists – will, in a federal system, share the privilege
and responsibility of governance to make Kashmir a real welfare
state free from economic exploitation, deprivation, ignorance and
disease. With all our stress on scientific and industrial
advancement we will ensure that our materialistic aspirations do
not prove instrumental in creating ecological imbalance. Our
cities and industries will certainly be eco-friendly. Protection of
forests, wild life, lakes and orchards will be a part of our national
agenda of priorities. Despite our commitment to democracy we
will not allow muscle and money power to be the base of strength
of the electorate. No corrupt or mediocre person will be allowed
to contest elections. Our pattern of democracy will be, in fact,
averse to the mediocrity of candidates aspiring to represent the
people in various democratic institutions. However, honest,
resourceful and benevolent votaries of social justice, freedom and
human dignity will be encouraged to attain the highest position of
power and prominence through genuine democratic process where
adult suffrage will be free to assess and value the worth of the
democrats in the election fray. The federal system of free Kashmir
will guarantee the cultural autonomy of various ethnic and
religious groups. ‘Cultural autonomy’ is the proper phrase to be
used to express our concern about the freedom of our citizens to
profess the ideas they like. Sufi and Rishi culture of Kashmir
envisages guaranteeing the freedom of religion. Our democratic
system will ensure that a common citizen is free to assert to
further the cause of his/her ideology and ideas whatsoever. I am
quite optimistic about the future dispensation of Kashmir.
Traditional values of ethics in Kashmir will be safeguarded by
federal political system. In the democracy, which is in vogue in
our neighbourhood, mud-slinging and vilification is the
characteristic feature of the election campaign ostensibly aimed at
highlighting the qualities and programme of the contending
candidates. In our system of democracy a trend to dislodge the
opponent through immoral means and methods will be
discouraged by law.
Talking about the constitutional modalities of parliamentary
democracy of free Kashmir at this juncture when Kashmiris find
themselves sandwiched between the belligerent guns of India and
Pakistan looks like building castles in the air. Better stress an
early settlement of Kashmir dispute in accordance with the
freedom aspirations of Kashmiris who are being butchered,
maimed and mutilated by Indian forces day in and day out. Arson,
carnage, rampage, molestation of women and desecration of holy
places of worship is something the Indian forces are proud of
identifying themselves with. These so-called security forces do
not spare even the innocent children of Kashmir. In fact, life,
property, honour and chastity of women is at stake in Kashmir.
The free world, despite the disgusting scenario of human rights
abuse and violations in the beleaguered valley of Kashmir, stands
as a mute spectator to the onslaught of Indian forces. Cautious
diplomatic verbiage of powerful countries regarding the
deteriorating human rights situation in Kashmir has emboldened
India. Your policy to appease the tormentors in our neighbourhood
will simply aggravate the situation here and perpetuate our state of
helplessness. So please express practical solidarity with the
suffering people of Kashmir. You have to act right now to redeem
the wailing Kashmir from the state of servitude, strife, chaos and
confusion.
The free world should stop tinkering with Kashmir issue. It should
take cognizance of the atrocities which the India security forces
are perpetrating in Kashmir. A bold initiative should be taken by
the free world to save Kashmiris from extinction and annihilation.
Kashmiris are peace-loving by nature. Warring factions here will
automatically come to terms with one another if and when
SECTION-III
Kashmir is set free by the intractable alien rulers. Hope the
conscientious human rights activists will emphasize the exigency
of an early settlement of Kashmir issue. This is what the weeping
and wailing widows and orphans of Kashmir demand of you. Let
the global pacifists compel India and Pakistan to sit across a
negotiating table to seek a durable, practicable and attainable
solution of Kashmir issue ostensibly so vexed and knotty. Let this
modest message of the moderates of Kashmir resistance
movement be heard and noticed by the protagonists of peace,
democracy, freedom and human dignity working in various world
organizations especially UNO, NAM and OIC. It is high time for
the world humanists to sympathize with victimized Kashmiris
whose seventy thousand compatriots were martyred by Indian
security forcers during the past decade. About twenty thousand
Kashmiri freedom fighters have been languishing in the
interrogation centres and jails of India for the last nine years. In
fact Kashmiris’ sufferings are ineffable.

[Kashmir Times – Feb. 14, 1999]


Paying homage to Maqbool Butt
my friend and guide
A fter Magrib Nimaz and evening walk I and my colleague
Maqbool Ganai, now a senior KAS officer in the state
administration here, had just opened the door of Mustafa villa at
Muzaffarabad when I caught a glimpse of a glowing and lustrous
face of a young man clad in black suit, with a neck-tie too, puffing
away at his cigarette in a pensive mood. I approached the veranda
where he was sitting in a chair. “Are you Maqbool sahib”, said I.
“Yes, I am Maqbool”, he replied with a smile. I felt excited to the
extent that I embraced Maqbool with exuberant love and passion
as if we were ten –year old friends feeling thrilled and elated at
the reunion. Immediately we started discussing the various
important aspects of Kashmir freedom struggle. Ghulam Mustafa
Alvi, our respected host, was kind enough to provide necessary
comfort to facilitate our discussion which continued till late at
night. A few days after, Maqbool sahib addressed the Plebiscite
Front convention which was held in the second week of
November 1969 at Muzaffarabad. Maqbool Butt was unanimously
elected President of the Front which was previously headed by
Advocate Abdul Khaliq Ansari.
Mohammad Maqbool Butt, my friend and guide, felt excited,
exulted and exalted when my improvised experimental bomb, as a
result of the reaction between concentrated sulphuric acid and a
mixture of potassium chlorate and sugar, exploded with a blaze in
the make shift training camp. Soon boredom overwhelmed me in
Pakistan. Ultimately after spending complete seven months with
Maqbool Butt sahib in Azad Kashmir I repatriated to Kashmir
valley alongwith other two colleagues in May 1970. Maqbool
sahib had advised us to travel unarmed. We could appreciate his
prudence as infallible strategist when, after traveling for complete
two days without food and while trying to negotiate appetite and
fatigue by partaking of snow and abuj (sour leaves), about fifty
BSF soldiers surrounded us in an ambush in the mountains of
Athmuqam sector. Had the BSF soldiers recovered weapons from
our bags they would have felt obliged to inaugurate the ‘catch and
kill’ programme which is now so dear to them in Kashmir. My
professed innocence could camouflage my real militant intentions
which burgeoned in the later stage when militancy engulfed the
whole of Kashmir valley in the year 1989. I never met my friend
Maqbool Butt again after 1970.
Robust Maqbool Butt was a political genius at least ten years
ahead of his age. He was an adept guerrilla leader having
ingenious approach to problems unforeseen. He could speak in
Urdu and English with authority and eloquence characteristic of
an original orator. But for his deep involvement in political and
militant activities he would have written a lot about philosophy of
life and dynamics of a nation struggling for honour, freedom and
prominence. He remained languishing in Pakistani and Indian
interrogation centres and prisons for about a period of fifteen
years. He propounded the theory of independent Kashmir as an
honourable way out of Kashmir tangle, impasse and imbroglio. As
a Kashmiri patriot, therefore, he had a subjective approach to
Kashmir issue. He was a lover of Kashmiriyat which is hallmark
of Kashmiris believing in mystic way of life. Maqbool, as a
guerrilla, entered Kashmir valley first in 1966. He was arrested in
an encounter with Indian security forces. Tahir Aurangzeb,
Maqbool’s colleague, was martyred in the encounter. After his
escape from Srinagar Central Jail in Dec. 1968 Maqbool crossed
the cease-fire-line and reached Muzaffarabad fort for sustained
interrogation. He was subjected to physical and psychological
torture simply because the Pak interrogators did not feel
convinced with his statement about his escape adventure. Those
were the days when the free world had not yet recognized
Kashmiris as the most intelligent, brave and conscientious people
struggling for freedom and glory as the distinct ethnic community
of the world.
In 1976, Maqbool, in order to register his protest against Simla
Agreement of 1972 and Indra-Abdullah Accord of 1974, entered
Kashmir valley again as a guerrilla leader alongwith his two
proud colleagues Abdul Hamid Butt and Riyaz Ahmad Dar. All
the three were arrested by Kashmir police at Handwara where a
bank manager got killed at the hands of Riyaz Dar. Maqbool Butt
remained languishing in Tihar jail for eight long years. Gen. Zia-
ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan, kept mum when India decided
to hang Maqbool on February 11, 1984. Radio Pakistan did not
bother to highlight the news. Kashmiris here in the valley were
just in a fix what to do. I was in Srinagar Central Jail, living a
prisoner’s life. Maqbool’s ideological adversaries in the jail did
not feel worried much. Martyr Mohammad Maqbool Malik was
one of the few who shared my grief and sorrow. Today everybody
is eager to identify himself with Maqbool Butt. Maqbool to
Kashmiris is a beacon light, legend and a hero to be emulated for
times to come especially when it comes to offering a resistance to
the forces of aggrandizement keen to assimilate and annihilate us.
Posterity will certainly remember Maqbool with love and respect.
Maqbool was a soldier of invincible courage and indomitable
determination. He was a paragon of fortitude, will and valour. His
name will continue to inspire the Mujahideen of Kashmir who
have been following in his footsteps, for the last seven years, with
commitment and devotion.
The architect of the concept of independent Kashmir had to face
untold sufferings and ineffable impediments and hardships during
his struggle against the forces which could not bear with his
veracity, subjectivity and originality of thought and action. The
gem was a casualty in an environment of sadism, apathy,
parochialism and obscurantism. Now eighty percent people living
on either side of the cease-fire-line espouse the cause of
independent Kashmir. Even the Pakistanis, who have a rational
and objective approach to global problems, support the idea of a
sovereign free Kashmir. In his article “Kashmiris’ Freedom
Struggle” published in Greater Kashmir on Feb. 8, 1996 Dr. Qazi
Ainuddin Ahmad flays his Pakistani brethren for their obsessive
and outdated approach to Kashmir issue. “It is to be understood
that the present and past failures could be attributed not to just
Indian adamancy, but to our own policy weakness. A good and
realistic policy should have brought dividends which are nowhere
to be seen”. – “Let Kashmir, the whole of it, be returned to the
Kashmiris who are the real owners of the land”. – “The fair
solution is that if we offer to part with our part (of Kashmir) and
India parts with the areas occupied by her, and let Kashmir go to
Kashmiris. Thus there will be no loss and no gain for India and
Pakistan”. – “There was a time when the present policy of
Pakistan for plebiscite in Kashmir to choose between India and
Pakistan was workable. Not any more. The Kashmiris are up in
arms against Indian occupation. They are now a force to be
reckoned with. They will have voice in any settlement. Third
option has to be given not by choice but by compulsion. It is the
only option which could bring the Kashmir problem the lasting
solution”. These are some of the important excerpts from Dr.
Qazi’s article which has explicitly unveiled the contradiction in
Pak policy regarding Kashmir. Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, honourable settlement of Kashmir issue through intellectual
the first President of the provisional government of Azad interaction, political dialogue and negotiations. Senior and
Kashmir, had made an appeal to Pakistan to accord recognition to seasoned militants of Kashmir are poised to provide an occasion
his government; there was no appeal for managing and for it. It is for you to rise to the occasion to respond with optimism
manoeuvring the annexation of Kashmir with Pakistan. Let
sagacity and sanity prevail on the people who look askance at
those who want to suggest something pragmatic and practicable.
Why should Pakistan continue to harp on something romantic and [Greater Kashmir – Feb. 11, 1996]
impracticable, and that too at the cost of her own economic and
political stability?
Kashmiris will continue to pay homage to martyr Maqbool Butt
and the galaxy of other thousands of martyrs, including martyr
Mohammad Hussain Advocate, for their heroic and patriotic role
in the freedom struggle of Kashmir. If India could not spare an
intellectual like Advocate Mohammad Hussain, what will be the
fate of the intractable young men, a million in number, who look
upon India as the murderer of fifty thousand Kashmiris and
depredator of their culture, economy and solace? How would you
assuage the bruised sentiments of thousands of Kashmiri women
whose honour is at stake due to the presence of barbarian troops
in the streets of Srinagar? Have the custodians of secular
democracy decided to liquidate one and all in Kashmir? Don’t you
realize that Kashmiris believe in God Almighty who is powerful
enough to order and ensure the extinction of the might you are
proud of? Yes, we believe in the law of retribution. You have to be
answerable for your acts of repression.
Indian strategists, civil and military, should try to understand that
their detractors in the West would like to see them embedded in a
situation in Kashmir where your security forces will have no
option except going berserk just to ensure their presence in
Kashmir. This is how your ‘friends’ want to enigmatize your
secular democracy. This is how they want to compel you to play
second fiddle in the arena of global activities. Also it is equally
true that Kashmiris, brutalized and traumatized, will continue to
give vent to their feelings of vengeance and retaliation. Thus the
action and reaction process will belittle your position to such an
extent that you will eventually feel isolated all over the globe. It
is, therefore, quite expedient to see reason in Kashmir case to help
India extricate herself from the state of helplessness and
uncertainty in Kashmir. India, as the powerful party to Kashmir
Hostages to obsessive thinking
issue, can take an initiative to pave the way for a peaceful and

If guns fail in the wailing vale,
To bring to you the woeful tale,
Of people killed, mauled and maimed,
Then listen to me, the mourner you hail.
T his is how I started my key-note address in Nehru University
seminar on Kashmir held on Nov. 15, 1995 by South Asian
Forum for People’s Initiative. Dr. Anand Kumar, President of the
Forum, and his proud colleagues, especially Sudhindra Bhadoria,
ensured that the audience of the scholars, politicians and human
rights activists remained passive and attentive so that I would
divulge something startling while throwing light on the various
aspects of Kashmir issue. It was really a privilege for me to find
myself addressing the distinguished scholars and intellectuals of
India in the highest seat of learning attributed to Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru, the proud son of India.
The conscience of the audience felt really tickled when I
addressed the soul of late Pandit Nehru saying, “Can you quote a
single Shalook from Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta, or a single verse
from holy Qur’an or Bible where we find God emphasizing or
giving us a provision that after making a commitment we should
simply back out at our own sweet will?” During my hour-long
speech I could discern that the mute listeners approved of my
style of appeal and dialectics. However, in the second session of
the conference a young man, perhaps an activist of Panun
Kashmir organization, tried to create trouble by alluding to
Nizam-e-Mustaffa in a sarcastic tone and accent. At this Dr
Anand, my friend, tried to be prompt to give a rebuttal to restore
the decorum of the conference. I don’t know how my speech
provoked and cajoled Mr. Yousuf Tarigami, Kashmiri Communist
leader, and Prof Bhim Singh to speak in a typical Kashmiri
subjective way. This certainly added to the austerity of the
decorous conference. Also I cannot but appreciate the role of the
lady peace protagonist Ms. Shushila Bhan who in her address said
that we were petty beings to speak for Nizam-e-Mustaffa. This
was the humility characteristic of a realistic and dispassionate
Kashmiri Pandit lady. While giving a rebuff to Dr. Ajay of Panun
Kashmir for his shrewd effort to traumatize the audience by
narrating the woeful tale of Kashmiri Pandit migrants I said, “ you
proved cowards in the history. Let only ten Pandits join my
struggle; I will shed my blood for your cause.” Next day BJP
student activist published a handbill against me and the JNU
student leader Mr. Krishan, who, during his address in the
seminar, had categorically and vehemently espoused the idea of
independent Kashmir and its confederation with South Asian
countries.
It is true that Nizam-e-Mustafa is not a demon determined to
devour you, but the way some Muslim fanatics and extremists
plead the cause of Islam can certainly be unwholesome for the
people who are already obsessed with their parochial ideas about
life and universe. Obsession leads you to delusion. Orientalists
interpreted the teachings of Islam in such a way that an average
citizen of the West is allergic to a mere reference to Islam and
Islamic system. Anything that tends to advise the Western
countries to live a puritan life is attributed to ‘fundamentalism’ –
the nick-name for a religion emphasizing self-denial, introspection
and justice. It is obsession of Western countries about Islam which
compelled them to carve out trouble spots in the various regions
of the world. Israel, Bosnia, Kashmir and now Chechnia are only
a few examples to be cited to explain how the western countries
are interested in ensuring the involvement of the Muslim world in
problems which are bound to consume its potentialities and
capabilities. India and Pakistan accepted and recognized the
reality of vivisection of Indian subcontinent in 1947. 564 princely
states did realign themselves between the newly emerged Bharat
and Pakistan. Alas! Kashmir became a bone of contention
between India and Pakistan due to the handiwork of a cunning
British, Lord Mountbatten at whose behest Red Cliff managed the
annexation of Muslim majority zone Gurdaspur with Bharat
through what is now known as Red Cliff Award. But for the ghost
of ‘fundamentalism’ which continues to haunt the minds of the
people of Western countries the Kashmir issue would have been
solved by now.
It is ironic and equally deplorable that over-emphasis on Islam by
some militant outfits in Kashmir facilitated the Indian endeavour
to portray Kashmir liberation struggle as the onslaught of
‘fundamentalism’ being patronized by Pakistan and her allies like
Afghanistan and Iran. So the unwritten memorandum of
understanding envisages the close nexus between India and
Western countries to contain ‘fundamentalism’ in Kashmir. Atoot-
Ang obsession of India has further added to the intractability and
irreconcilability of Indian leaders. They will continue to harp on
their stand and stance vis-à-vis Kashmir until Indian forces are
psychologically unhinged and physically dislodged from Kashmir
by reckless assertive Mujahideen of Harkat-ul-Ansar.
It is again an obsession to believe that the conventional forces of
India in Kashmir will eventually vanquish the unconventional
guerrilla forces there. Guerrillas of Kashmir are a bit more volatile
and energetic than those who defeated US troops in Vietnam,
French troops in Algeria and Russian troops in Afghanistan.
Protracted guerrilla war in Kashmir will ultimately culminate in
the discomfiture of Indian troops which are already feeling tired
and sick of the eight-year old war there.
Pakistani demagogues too are obsessed with the Shah-Rag theory
regarding Kashmir; Pakistani leaders should have been equally
wedded to the cause of sovereignty of Pakistan. These leaders of
subjective approach believe more in group particularism than in
the sincere will to express solidarity with the aggrieved people of
Sindh and Karachi. Their ostensible political demeanour makes us
believe that they have not learnt anything from Dacca fall episode.
Is Karachi and Sindh a ‘liability’ like East Pakistan? Alas! The
empire created by Quaid-e-Azam Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah in
the name of Pakistan is now facing internal crisis, chaos and
confusion. Internal turmoil of Pakistan has a natural bearing and
imprint on the minds of Kashmiris here. It has given a new
impetus to the process of disillusionment already set forth by the
Pakistani authors of mismanagement on Kashmir front. Nothing
can be done to rectify the wrong except that Pakistani leaders
should divest themselves of the obsessive and subjective approach
to Kashmir issue. They should try to visualize the horrifying
ramifications of their less assertive initiative in Kashmir arena
notwithstanding their profound boasting and bragging that their
commitment to Kashmir cause is intact.
Pakistan cannot go to war with India, for the simple reason that
nobody can guarantee the avoidance of nuclear holocaust in the
subsequent phase of enhanced belligerency and bellicosity. Both
India and Pakistan are equipped with nuclear weapons. Both the
countries are engaged in a futile exercise to exploit and blackmail
each other. Why should Kashmiris become a scapegoat in the
psychological war of attrition between India and Pakistan? Why
should the two countries continue to live on our misery? Guerrilla
war in Kashmir will continue unless Pakistan and India display
political will to negotiate and renegotiate for the permanent
settlement of Kashmir issue. Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayum
Khan, the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, in his recent ZEE TV
interview said, “Pakistan cannot afford to stop the movement of
Mujahideen on the cease-fire-line. Why should she fight Indian
war on her own soil? So we will continue to ensure that the border
in Kashmir remains porous for Mujahideen of Kashmir.” What
does Sardar Sahib’s statement insinuate? Yes, it unequivocally
implies that guerilla war in Kashmir will continue until India
gives up the path of intransigence in Kashmir issue. Mr. Saberwal,
the police chief in Kashmir, addressed a press conference on Jan.
1, 1996 thereby revealing that ten thousand foreigners were active
in Kashmir. Still the ‘election process’ is in ‘full swing’ in
Kashmir. If Indian military officers cannot walk in the streets of
Srinagar without proper protection, how can the Rasool Kars, the
helpless redundant lot of politicians, invigorate your election
machinery here? Let the sleeping dogs lie. Don’t try to aggravate
the situation in Kashmir by playing with fire. Shun your myopic
approach just to retrieve the situation here.
If the parties to Kashmir issue have a genuine longing for peace in
Kashmir in particular and in South Asia in general they should
cease to be hostage to obsessive thinking. In his thought-
provoking article “Quaid-e-Azam on the status of princely states
at the time of independence” published in Greater Kashmir of Jan.
25, 1996, Dr Qazi Anniuddin Ahmad has made an honest effort to
explain how Quaid-e-Azam believed in the unfettered right of
self-determination of the princely states which had become
independent after the lapse of British paramountcy in India. Dr
Anniuddin concludes his article with the verdict: “On the question
of self-determination of Kashmiris, we have not been quite in line
with the policy (of Quaid-e-Azam). If the future is to be
determined by the will of its people, then they should be allowed
all the three options which Quaid has allowed, joining Pakistan or
India or to remain independent.” Kuldip Nayar the renowned
Indian columnist, in his article captioned “Obsession of India and
Pakistan” published in Kashmir times on Jan 17, 1996 complains
in his scholarly way: “How can they (Indians) talk of peace with
Pakistan when their logic is to talk from the position of strength.”
Again he quotes a foreign correspondent who says that while
Pakistan is obsessed with India, India is obsessed with itself.
History bears witness to the fact that rulers of belligerent
countries never condescended voluntarily to seek a way of
rapprochement until one of the warring countries was forced to
give way to the power and potential of its opponent under
circumstances unexpected and unforeseen. Perhaps the same will
hold good even today. We believe that blood of the innocent
people who are being butchered by ruthless Indian forces day in
and day out will not go waste. We will continue to crave for
independent and sovereign Kashmir.
[Greater Kashmir – Feb. 1, 1996]
Sentiments of a bruised nationalist
E ventually Jaleel Andrabi, the proud freedom zealot with
exemplary commitment and devotion, succeeded in
surpassing his contemporary colleagues in the struggle for
prominence as a lover of freedom and human rights which
Kashmiris have been deprived of. I remember how Jaleel, as the
junior but promising lawyer, used to assist the senior lawyers who
were always prompt to defend me when Kashmir police would try
to lay hands on me under various Indian draconian laws about a
decade back. Advocate Jaleel Andrabi was an eyesore to the
fascist forces of India which are bent upon breaking the will and
resolve of freedom loving Kashmiris through barbarian acts of
genocide, arson, pillage and desecration of holy places of worship.
Jaleel, as a vocal human rights activist, successfully pleaded the
case and cause of his enslaved and humiliated compatriots in
Geneva. He was worried about the welfare of the victims of
vandalism and repression especially the persecuted prisoners of
conscience who have been languishing in the Indian jails and
interrogation centres for the last seven years. Energetic and
dynamic Jaleel was a passionate votary of Kashmir cause.
Jaleel Andrabi was not a gunman. He was not a militant in the
strict military sense. Yet he was mercilessly liquidated by the so-
called security forces of India. Why? The answer is not far to
seek. Jaleel was a genuine democrat and pacifist who felt
disgusted with the scenario of human rights abuse and violation in
Kashmir. As a true philanthropist his heart would always feel
wounded at the appalling and gruesome look of the ruined towns
and villages of Kashmir. Elimination of Jaleel is certainly a cold-
blooded murder and dastardly act to be condemned for times to
come. Jaleel’s martyrdom has, in fact, added a feather to the cap
of Kashmir Bar Association which is spearheading the legal battle
for Kashmiris’ right to self-determination and freedom. The
episode should not deter Kashmiri lawyers from continuing their
struggle for the supremacy of human values. We salute the mother
and learned brothers of Jaleel for the courage they displayed when
everybody felt aghast at the heart-rending episode of the murder
of the young jurist in thirties.
Today, on the 30th of March 1996, I was just having ablution for
Fajar prayers when automatic weapons began to roar outside
Hazratbal shrine. It was almost a one-sided show of a complete
battle where deafening voice of the booming rifles and machine
guns conveyed the message of a large scale raid on the house in
which JKLF activists, who had already vacated the shrine a few
days back, had been lodged by the Indian forces. The JKLF
activists alongwith their chief Shabbir Siddiqi remained starving
for several days due to the siege laid by the Rashtriya Rifles
around the house. So the starving and dozing hostages could not
find time to react with the weapons which were lying in their
possession. Shabbir Siddiqi, not a militant, practically expressed
solidarity with the resolute warriors who laid down their precious
lives for the safety and sanctity of Hazratbal shrine. They could
use the shrine as a shield the way some militants did at other
places. The committed young devotees did not let us down. The
sacred shrine is intact. Hats off to the valiant votaries of freedom
and mystic culture who testified with their blood that when it
comes to safeguarding the supreme metaphysical urge for union
with Allah life and body is immaterial. Martyrs are really alive.
That is what the holy Qur’an teaches us. So supreme sacrifice of
about thirty Mujahideen including Shabbir Siddiqi and Basharat
Raza will continue to inspire the freedom fighters who are
determined to continue their struggle for the liberation of Kashmir
from alien rule.
Shabbir Siddiqi, 38-year old protagonist of Kashmir independence
movement was a writer and orator. After all what is the rationale
for liquidating the intellectuals like Shabbir Siddiqi and Jaleel
Andrabi? It is a serious question to be answered by those who
matter in the higher echelons of power in Delhi. Indian strategists
have yet to understand the dynamics of Kashmir resistance
movement. Try to study Kashmir history de novo. Sufi culture of
Kashmir forms the bedrock of the socio-political activities of
Kashmiris. Kashmiris believe in omnipotent Allah (God, Eishwar)
who is powerful and competent enough to change the fate of a
nation being victimized by a ruthless power. It was the
metaphysical strength and power of Kashmiris which dislodged
Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs and Dogras from Kashmir. Tyrant rulers
may rule for a few days, but somersault and disastrous end is their
ultimate destiny. You martyred Mohammad Maqbool Butt, the
political genius of Kashmir, in Feb. 1984. Today every brave
Kashmiri is eager to identify himself with martyr Maqbool.
Maqbool Butt symbolizes Kashmiriyat which envisages absolute
faith in God Almighty, resolve to resist the forces of onslaught and
taking pride in our identity as a distinct ethnic community averse
to the culture of bigotry, bias, fraud and perfidy. You Indians have
no moral moorings in Kashmir. You made a solemn pledge in
1947 and after a few years backed out. Your “Atoot-Ang” stance
is based on fraud and treachery. Your acts of betrayal and high-
handedness have already pushed Kashmiris to the wall. The third
generation in teens and twenties resorted to violence to give a
militant rebuttal to your acts of omission and commission. If you
continue to belittle and underestimate the metaphysical resolve of
the Sufi militants of Kashmir you will simply be inviting more
trouble for yourself in Kashmir. It is the sacred blood of Kashmiri
martyrs which inspires the junior incumbents of our resistance
movement and as such forms the hub and pivot of the life in
Kashmir.
I was still engrossed and engaged in writing something original
about the Hazratbal tragic episode when a young man called on
me and requested me to spare a few minutes for him. The young
man, robust and articulate, mused on me saying “Sir, you will
forgive me for my insolence. I should be allowed to declare that
your moderate nationalistic line has miserably failed. It is true that
we are sandwiched between apathetic Pakistan and ruthless India,
but we should look for the friends who will extend total support to
our cause of independence. With the martyrdom of Jaleel Andrabi
and Shabbir Siddiqi Kashmir resistance movement has entered a
new phase where the protagonists of independence movement
have to have a reappraisal of their strategy to achieve their
cherished goal of national independence and honour. I do concede
that you are, perhaps, a bit tired of your ambition of freedom.
However, the movement should recruit some more resourceful
and dynamic activists who will continue their battle against the
forces of onslaught and assimilation all over the globe. I will leave
Kashmir in a couple of days and visit some important friendly
countries to muster the support for Kashmir cause. Just possible I
will never see you again in life. Once again I apologise for the
inconvenience caused due to my interruption. Please pray for my
success …….” With that the young political activist burst into
tears. He left my cottage with lustrous and pensive eyes speaking
volumes about his determination to do something substantial for Krishna Rao, the Governor of J&K, in the completion of his ‘task’
the cause of freedom. at Hazratbal on March 30. Still some people claim to be the
leaders of this suffering nation. The hypocrisy so conspicuous has,
I leaned against a pillow in my room and felt listless for an hour. therefore, tarnished the image of Hurriyat. It is time to make
In the heart of my hearts I remained pondering on what the amends for the follies committed on the political front, or else
bruised young nationalist said to me. “Certainly the dimensions of your paranoia, brinkmanship and ostrich optimism will lead you
Kashmir resistance movement have changed; the moderates have to abysmal failure and frustration.
become irrelevant,” I muttered in solitude.
Genuine revolutionaries of Kashmir cannot but feel obliged to
If India and Pakistan do not shun and abandon their obsessive and Krishna Rao for the indirect support he extended to Kashmir
subjective approach to Kashmir issue the youngsters of Kashmir resistance movement at Hazratbal. Hazratbal episode has given a
will be forced to think in terms of a protracted war of attrition boost to Kashmir struggle. It has, in fact, rejuvenated the resolve
with their adversaries in neighbourhood. Remember that war- of Kashmiri freedom fighters to assert subjectively against the
weary elderly people shall have to go into oblivion. History will forces which want to subjugate them.
give birth to the most resourceful strategists of the unconventional
war of which you have experienced only a rehearsal in Kashmir.
To each and every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The more you suppress Kashmiris the more are the chances of [Greater Kashmir – April 3, 1996]
their vehement reaction in revolt. Well, the callous and haughty
strategists of India may not feel the warmth of the brewing
revolution in their air-conditioned rooms. They will continue to be
myopic and imprudent until the forceful currents of history
constrain them to feel high and dry in an atmosphere of events
which they cannot even visualize at present.

Shabbir Siddiqi’s martyrdom has traumatized the whole Kashmiri

nation. In fact Shabbir Siddiqi and his proud colleagues, thirty in
number, became scapegoats in the battle for supremacy and group
aggrandizement of the political parties of India which are awfully
busy in dislodging one another from the arena of election politics.
Congress party and the BJP are trying to excel each other in an
effort to humiliate and brutalise Kashmir. How long will this
sadistic politics survive? At home here, equally sadistic was the
role of Hurriyat Conference during the recent Hazratbal crisis.
The day Commander Basharat Raza and his eight colleagues
sacrificed their lives to safeguard the sanctity of Hazratbal shrine,
Hurriyat Conference issued a statement which read: “We oppose
the monopoly of a particular person or group on Hazratbal
shrine…..” I fail to fathom how these words can help Dr. Fai in
USA, Dr Ayub Thukar and Shabbir Choudhary in London in
compiling a report on human rights abuse and violation in
Kashmir? Ironically this statement certainly helped General K. V. Kashmir:

The arena of subjective politics
S ubjectivity is the essence of existentialism. If you are keen to
ensure the burgeoning of the creative ideas of philosophers,
poets, artists, architects or adept generals you should certainly
foster their propensity for the subjective way of thinking. It is, in
fact, advisable to allow calculated amount of encouragement in
grooming the inner being of an individual endowed with
potentialities and capabilities of head and heart. Freedom of
thought is indispensable for the growth and development of
originality. Unlike the individual cases of genius the subjectivity
of a political leader proves fatal for a struggling nation having
objective approach to life. Thanks to ego-centric leaders of
Kashmir who could not see eye to eye with one another in
evolving a consensus about the nature and future of Kashmir
freedom struggle which started in 1931 AD with the martyrdom of
about two dozen freedom zealots. But for the subjective approach
and self-aggrandizement of the warriors of freedom movement
there would have been no question of the present state of
uncertainty and insecurity. Now we are engrossed in a war against
the forces of onslaught and assimilation. We are supposed to live
with it till we achieve our goal – the goal of independence, honour
and dignity.
Every individual and self-respecting man identifies himself with
his ego. Egoism is the hallmark of metaphysical being of a man.
Egotism is, of course, the symbol of a syndrome of paranoia,
megalomania and narcissism. Egotism of our egocentric leaders,
now lying buried, played an important role in changing the course
of our history. It was the same trait of their character which
advised them to be intractable when the mainstream of natural
events was persistently inviting them to have a reappraisal of their
parochialism-based politics. Thus the self-aggrandizement and
imprudence of leaders betrayed the poor Kashmiris thereby
consigning them to the flames of carnage, rampage, molestation
of women and desecration of sacred places of worship. Perversion
in the local politics of Kashmir persuaded the senior stalwarts of
Subcontinent politics to make a cat’s-paw of Kashmiri leaders
whose subjectivity had rendered them unable to fathom the
intrinsic nature of the group particularism of India National
Congress and its adversary, the Muslim League. Thus Kashmir
became the arena of subjective politics. Even Lord Mountbatten,
the sadistic British ruler in India, played a subjective role in
vitiating the atmosphere of Kashmir politics. He, due to his bias
and malice, found it quite expedient to get the better of Jinnah in
Kashmir by paving a way for Gandhian philosophy and
Machiavellian politics of Nehru. While facilitating the Indian
intrusion in Kashmir Lord Mountbatten advised Maharaja Hari
Singh to allow a referendum in Kashmir after restoration of
normalcy to determine the future of Kashmir. Pandit Jawahirlal
Nehru made a solemn promise of allowing a free and fair
plebiscite in Kashmir to determine whether Kashmiris wanted to
remain independent or that they wanted to accede to either of the
two neighbouring countries India or Pakistan. Where Pakistan,
despite her vulnerable and defensive position in the relevant UN
resolutions on Kashmir, adhered to her policy of support to
Kashmiri cause India found it quite convenient and expedient to
back out of her commitment vis-à-vis Kashmir. Thus Indian
political duplicity and hypocrisy complicated the Kashmir issue to
the extent that the whole globe is worried about finding a possible
way out of Kashmir tangle and impasse to ensure global peace.
Indian intransigence and obduracy is the main hurdle in thwarting
the efforts to seek a practicable solution of Kashmir problem. It is
the same Indian intransigence and myopic approach as gave birth
to militancy in Kashmir. Kashmiri youth, in teens and twenties,
seem to have resolved to carry on the present struggle to its
logical end. Sixty thousand Kashmiris were martyred by Indian
soldiers. Events of molestation, sacrilege of mosques, custodial
killings, victimisation, torture and destruction of villages and
towns cannot allow Kashmiri youth to sit still. They have become
absolutely reckless and volatile in their campaign to assert in the
battle- field against 600,000 Indian soldiers. Folly on the part of
Indian strategists, military or civil, to underestimate the resolve of
Kashmiri freedom fighters to struggle for the cause of freedom
and recognition as the self-respecting sovereign entity of the
global community will simply boomerang to their astonishment.
So Indian political elite and military top brass should see a reason
in Kashmir case. Remember that a protracted battle in Kashmir
will eventually force the Kashmiri freedom fighters to play a
subservient role in what you call “fundamentalism-oriented”
insurgency in Kashmir. True, we may lose our identity as a
distinct ethnic society. But you too shall have to face something
unexpected and unprecedented. Bear it in mind that the limited
militancy in Kashmir, which we support just to break your will to
stay here, can engulf whole of India if the clan of my
contemporary political moderates expires physically or politically.
We are the men of integrity, self-confidence and patriotism. By
the grace of God Almighty we command respect in our society. It
is high time to create a nexus with the genuine representatives of
Kashmir to seek a practicable and peaceful solution of Kashmir
issue based on Kashmiris’ inalienable right to self-determination.
History bequeathed the legacy of subjectivity to the present
generation of leaders and protagonists of Kashmir freedom
struggle. On April 1, 1995 Ahdoos Hotel seminar culminated in
the agreement to disagree. Despite modest appeal of Syed Ali
Shah Geelani and Abdul Ghani Lone to have a reappraisal of the
decision of self-immolation dear Yasin Malik continued to stick to
his policy of individuality in decision making. Can we afford to
approve his line of thinking in a situation when his decision is in
contravention of the teachings of Qur’an and Hadith? Indian
rulers understand that young Yasin is a devoted Muslim. They
believe that this Muslim devotee can never consign his body to
flames. They know that every ideological Muslim is averse to the
very reference of Naar (fire). Also immolation ultimatum is the
weapon of the weakest person to stress his demand. Is Yasin
Malik, the committed warrior with a good background of struggle
and sacrifice, really so weak as to be constrained to think in terms
of suicide when thousands of his friends and colleagues wish him
a happy and successful life. Yasin’s subjectivity, which is based on
sincerity of purpose, has to give way to objectivity and collective
opinion of the people he is proud of. Hope my political disciple
will make out my message and change his line of ultimatum to
make the enemy realize that Kashmiri warriors are competent
enough to modify their war strategy. God bless him.
Brother Shabbir Ahmad Shah, my respected contemporary soldier,
addressed a press conference in Srinagar on April 3, 1995 and
complained that Kashmiri leaders were prisoners of subjectivity
and party politics. Dear Shabbir visited my cottage thrice during
the last three months. Still we did not discuss the important
aspects of Kashmir resistance movement. Hope during his sojourn
in Kashmir valley he will spare an hour for serious discussion
with his elder brother. Seeking elections under UN supervision
amounts to approving large scale infighting in Kashmir. United
Front of the genuine forces struggling for the freedom of Kashmir
has a natural mandate to plead Kashmir cause in any international
forum. Yasir Arafat of Palestine and Nelson Mandela of South
Africa were not asked to seek a mandate of their people through
so-called elections. Their background of struggle and sacrifice
was in itself a manifestation of mass support to their cause. The
political quarters abroad which suggest elections in Kashmir in
any form and pattern are, in fact, interested in synchronizing the
Afghan events of internecine war in Kashmir. So my friend
Shabbir has to be cautious and calculated in his expression.
Shabbir’s innocent subjectivity is never stubborn. He understands
the language of his colleagues. It is time to forge unity of thought
and action. A consultative forum of the historical forces of
resistance can seek a solution of any knotty and vexed problem
haunting the ongoing movement.
Indian state terrorism has reduced Kashmir to shambles. Indian
forces have lost their moorings in Kashmir. They are brutalizing
the innocent people. They have already butchered, maimed and
mutilated thousands of young men here. The story of their
atrocities and repression is, in fact, ineffable. The horrifying and
ghastly look of the brutalities perpetrated by ruthless Indian
soldiers has worried the human rights activists all over the globe.
Kashmir is a volcano or a powder keg. The upheaval in Kashmir
can trigger off a nuclear holocaust in South Asia. It is high time
for India and Pakistan to rise to the occasion to seek a practicable
solution of Kashmir issue. Do not belittle the metaphysical
potency of the freedom struggle of Kashmir. The chivalrous
Kashmiri freedom fighters do not yet feel like broadening the
militant base of their struggle. They genuinely believe that the
limited militancy will soon culminate in the peaceful settlement of
Kashmir issue. Pakistan, while taking stock of the situation in
Kashmir, should accept the changed ideological ground realities in
Kashmir. Kashmiris cannot be taken for granted now. Kashmiris,
with all their mystic culture and love for pan-Islamism, want to be
pragmatic and realistic in seeking a viable solution of Kashmir
problem. Pro-Kashmir stance of Kashmiris can neutralise the
Indo-Pak belligerency and animosity so much so that the two
countries, which are directly and indirectly involved in Kashmir
turmoil, will practically shift from subjective stance to objective
assessment of the realities related to Kashmir. Kashmir freedom
fighters have, therefore, to assert in their campaign for self-
recognition. We have to attach due importance to our individuality
as a distinct socio-political community of the global village.
Subjectivity of Kashmir will ultimately emerge victorious in the
battle against the relentless forces which are bent upon
assimilating it like a morsel of pudding. Yes, our movement is
really a resistance movement. We want to be a deterrent against
alien onslaught, aggrandizement and assimilation.
[Greater Kashmir – April 6, 1995]
UN resolutions on Kashmir
K ashmir, beleaguered and battered, continues to groan with
the agony caused due to servitude and serfdom. Indian
rulers, like their predecessor imperialist rulers, Mughals or Sikhs,
did everything nefarious and abominable to humiliate and
subjugate the poor Kashmiris who appear to be resilient and
resolute to fight for freedom, honour and dignity. Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru had sentimental attachment with Kashmir for
her natural feminine beauty. His innate love for Kashmir was
camouflaged by his ostentatious and flamboyant political relations
with Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, then a Kashmiri stalwart in the
forefront of Kashmir freedom struggle. Lord Mountbatten, the
British ruler of India visited Kashmir and tried to persuade
Maharaja Hari Singh to renounce the idea of independent and
sovereign Kashmir. He, due to his aversion to and contradiction
with Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was ambitious to see Hari Singh
coming to Congress fold. He, therefore, proved instrumental in
providing an incentive to Mahatma Gandhi to visit Kashmir. Mr.
Gandhi visited Kashmir in the first week of August 1947. During
his stay in Kashmir he, through his incisive and prompt
metaphysical intuitional appeal, tried to coax and cajole Maharaja
Hari Singh to accept the dogma of docility in the realm of Bharat.
Replacement of Ram Chand Kak, a moderate Kashmiri patriot, by
Meharchand Mahajin, a committed Hindu fundamentalist, as
Prime Minister of the State was in itself a stark inkling of the
changed intentions of Maharaja. Pakistan was, therefore,
provoked to pre-empt the designs of Maharaja by instigating the
revolutionaries of Poonch and Mirpur to rise in revolt against the
Maharaja. Thus Maharaja Hari Singh was compelled to flee
Kashmir valley with bag and baggage on Oct. 25, 1947. Frustrated
Maharaja found it quite convenient to make haste in signing the
so-called instrument of accession – a sale deed, indeed,
reminiscent of the one known as Treaty of Amritsar of 1846 when
the British rulers of India handed over Kashmir to maharaja Gulab
Singh in lieu of 75,0000 Nanak Shahi rupees. With the arrival of
Indian troops in Kashmir on Oct. 27, 1947 the political influence
of Indian National Congress in the state got augmented manifold.
After having ensured their military presence in Kashmir Indian
rulers, with an intention to sanctify their stand vis-à-vis Kashmir,
lodged a complaint against Pakistan in UNO. Pakistan too
castigated India in UNO for her conspicuous military intervention
in Kashmir. Then only a few people knew that Pakistani troops
were already engaged in giving military rebuff to India in
Kashmir.
With the lodging of a complaint in UNO by belligerent India and
Pakistan against each other debate on Kashmir ensued and
eventually culminated in the passing of resolutions on Kashmir.
UN Security Council resolution of April 21, 1948 and also United
Nations Commission on India and Pakistan (UNCIP) resolutions
of Aug. 13, 1948 and Jan. 5, 1949 envisage that:
(i): Pakistan should withdraw all her armed forces and
tribesmen from Kashmir
(ii) India should withdraw bulk of the forces from Kashmir and
deploy the remaining forces in Kashmir for the maintenance
of law and order
(iii) Plebiscite administrator be installed with the consent of
Srinagar government. It is worthwhile to mention here that
Azad Kashmir government has been declared as a local
authority in these resolutions.
So this is the crux of the resolutions which Pakistan refers to with
assertion and emphasis day in and day out. Pakistan is quite
conscious of the loopholes in these resolutions. That is why she is
always prompt to bluff India in international fora. These days
India and Pakistan are engaged in hectic activities in USA to
dislodge and unhinge each other on the diplomatic front. It is,
therefore, for the first time that Mr. Pranab Mukerjee, the Indian
Foreign Minister, achieved partial success when he referred to UN
resolutions on Kashmir with a bit serious diplomatic tone and
accent saying that it was Pakistan which was violating these
resolutions by avoiding to honour the obligation to withdraw her
forces from the areas of Jammu and Kashmir lying under her
control. After all, what forced Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayum
Khan sahib, Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, to declare in USA
in unequivocal words that plebiscite was an impracticable idea.
(Kashmir Times – Oct. 7; The Hindustan Times, Oct. 6, 1995.)
Does it, therefore, mean that if India starts stressing the idea of
implementation of UN resolutions on Kashmir the protagonists of
accession to Pakistan theory will feel cornered, dislodged and
vanquished in their battle for right to self-determination. If
Pakistan is really serious about plebiscite in Kashmir she should
suggest to Security Council that after necessary amendment of the
UN resolution on Kashmir both India and Pakistan should be
asked to work together for the simultaneous withdrawal of Indian
and Pakistani troops from Jammu and Kashmir. After complete
demilitarization of the J&K state 12 million people living there
can easily determine their future through free and fair plebiscite to
be conducted under UN auspices. Well, if India, Pakistan and
China, for certain strategic geo-political reasons, do not feel like
approving the carving out of the sovereign independent Kashmir
of 1947 with an area of 85,000 sq. miles serious negotiations
between the parties to Kashmir issue for the early peaceful
settlement of the tangle should, therefore, be emphasized
everywhere. Intellectual interaction will form the bedrock of the
political will to seek a peaceful, honourable and practicable
solution of Kashmir issue so confounded because of the obsessive
myopic approach of political elite of India and Pakistan, the two
countries practically involved in the proxy war in Kashmir to get
the better of each other.
Kashmir, like a bogeyman, will continue to haunt the minds of
Indian and Pakistani rulers unless some metaphysical force helps
them out of the Kashmir imbroglio they find themselves awfully
entangled in. Mesmerised rulers and politicians of India and
Pakistan have lost the capability to initiate meaningful dialogue
on Kashmir. They are not interested in the well being of one
billion people of the Subcontinent. Well, they are certainly
engrossed and lost in their love for the mountains and jungles of
Kashmir. So they will continue to vie with each other in their mad
pursuit for Kashmir even at the cost of the solace and security of
Punjab, Assam, Sindh and Karachi which are infested by the
extremists hell-bent on destabilising the South Asia.
Indian forces in Kashmir are now running amok. These forces, in
a fit of rage and frenzy, are trying to smear the vestige of hope and
optimism by wreaking vengeance on everything that thwarts their
way to vandalism, barbarism, rampage and carnage. The fear and
phobia these forces are victim of compels them to look askance at
every tree, bird and pebble lying on the bank of a murmuring
rivulet. Manzoor Ahmad Butt, brother of martyr Mohammad
Maqbool Butt, was liquidated by Indian forces for the simple
reason that he was a committed lover of Azadi. Only a day back
Prof. Mufti Abdul Ghani Azhari, renowned Arabic scholar of
Kashmir University and Moulana Mohd Syed Naqishbandi, the
Imam of Jamia Masjid Srinagar, fell prey to the brutality
perpetrated by Indian forces. Prof Azhari was shot at with an
intention to kill him. He had a narrow escape, though he was
injured by the bullets which pierced through his legs. Similarly
Moulana Syed was beaten and bruised by the so-called custodians
of law and order. In fact, custodial killing, burning of houses,
desecration of sacred shrines and mosques, molestation of women
and destruction of crops forms part of the programme of
imperialist forces to humiliate and subjugate Kashmiris. Counter-
insurgency is another facet of Indian ferocity. It consumed even
the mystic gems like Haji Mohammad Siddique Dar. It is true that
certain follies committed by dear militants gave birth to what has
worried every sober and sensible citizen of Kashmir. Indian rulers
are, in fact, playing with fire in Kashmir.
are not indispensably sacrosanct. Remember that there were no
UN resolutions for the partition of Indian subcontinent or
dismemberment of Pakistan. It is the people’s resolve which gave
birth to Pakistan or Bangladesh. Kashmiris are in no way safe in
Indian system. They have been brutalized by the alien forces.
Therefore, come what may they will continue to struggle for
freedom, honour and prestige as a self-respecting nation eager to
enjoy an independent and sovereign status in the comity of
nations. So this is the cherished goal of the heroic Kashmiris
whose sixty thousand votaries of freedom got ruthlessly butchered
at the hands of merciless Indian forces. Posterity cannot afford to
renege on the commitment to the sacred cause of freedom.
[Greater Kashmir – Oct. 12, 1995]

Both India and Pakistan are tinkering with Kashmir issue. India is
notorious for her intransigence and intractability in Kashmir case.
But what about Pakistan which fails to recognize the ground
realities of Kashmir. Does she know that Kashmiris are now
feeling disillusioned with the Shah-Rag theory because of the
hypocritic attitude of Muslim Ummah which is interested more in
trade with India than in a resolve to express solidarity with the
suffering people of Kashmir. Quislings, stooges and puppets have
always befooled and misled their mentors and masters. Why
should hired persons apprise our Pakistani friends of the realities
existing on ground here? People are fed up with obsolete and
redundant modes and methods of furthering Kashmir cause. They
want a change in strategy to deal with the Indian zealots of
Machiavellian politics. Utopianism cannot pay now.
Metaphysics VS temporal politics

Kashmiris are indebted to Pakistan for her consistent support to
Kashmir cause. Kashmiris have, however, a right to differ with the
personalities which are inadvertently bent upon complicating the
Kashmir issue. Sardar Abdul Qayum Sahib’s statement that
plebiscite in Kashmir was an impracticable idea has forced us to
believe that a reference to UN resolution on Kashmir by the
dignitaries living on the other side of cease-fire-line is just a stunt
to keep the Kashmir issue alive. Genuine revolutionaries of
Kashmir resistance movement too believe that these resolutions
H
istory testifies that the rustics of Afghanistan equipped with
rust-ridden obsolete weapons kept hewing at the Soviet
agnostics for about a decade till vast empire of Soviet Union
disintegrated into fragments which, in the comity of nations, are
now recognized as sovereign units commanding respect like any
free country of the world. After all, what inspired the poor
militants of Afghanistan to offer tough resistance to Soviet
onslaught? What persuaded them to offer the unprecedented
sacrifice of thirteen lakh martyrs in the name of freedom, honour
and dignity? Certainly it was their unflinching faith in God
Almighty which imparted will and vigour to them to take on their
enemy in the battlefield of Afghanistan. It was their commitment
to the cause of Islam which invigorated them to the extent that
they would always crave for martyrdom. Also it was the concept
of hereafter which made them understand the mortality of this
world and the eternity of the Absolute Truth they were wedded to.
So it was their metaphysical approach to life and the world around
that elevated them to a position where they would find it
convenient to prefer death to surrender and slavery. Yes, it was the
cosmic consciousness which infused the spirit of struggle into the
nomads of Afghanistan. Thus the metaphysics of Afghanis faced
the onslaught of Soviet temporal politics with perseverance and
persistence till the latter gave way to the former.
Soviet agnostics and atheists, due to their temporal approach to
life and universe, could not comprehend the transcendental
realities which formed the bedrock of Afghan philosophy and
politics. Hence the temporal politics of Soviet agnostics taught
them to rely on tanks, artillery and aircraft in their war against the
Afghan theists who would derive inspiration from their belief in
Allah. In fact, Afghan war was a war between Allah and Soviet
rebels. It is true that some Afghan Muslim guerrillas were
equipped with modern sophisticated weapons; but these weapons
were not actual source of their strength and power. Soviet nuclear
arsenal could not frighten the Muslim guerrillas of Afghanistan.
The recollection of thousands of Soviet nuclear weapons and
missiles could not intimidate and harass them. They faced the
Soviet forces with indomitable will and valour. Eventually they
emerged victorious in the Afghan war of attrition.
Monotheists believe that God Almighty is not only omnipotent but
also omniscient and omnipresent. Therefore the votaries and
zealots of monotheism have a strong intuitional urge to develop
close nexus with their creator, Allah. They believe that Allah, who
governs the whole universe, has power to solve their problems in
the twinkling of an eye under “Kun Fayakoon” order. That is the
logical conclusion and culmination of their meditation and
introspection. Such monotheistic ideologues find themselves
always poised to face impediments and hardships with
insurmountable courage and determination. They assert and exert
with confidence in the arena of their struggle for prominence and
power. As against monotheistic introverts the agnostic extroverts
have a limited and vague metaphysical comprehension of the
realities pertaining to life and universe. Agnosticism, paganism,
polytheism and communism are the isms which cannot necessarily
guarantee the enlightenment of vision and refinement of soul. So
confusion in intuitional perception will simply embroil and
complicate life and performance of the votaries of these isms.
Despite their large number their will to face the onslaught of the
warriors of monotheism staggers and founders in a miserable way.
Soviet agnostics would brag and boast that no power on earth
could dislodge them from Afghanistan. Ultimately they were
forced to quit Afghanistan leaving behind the myth of their
invincible power and potential. Afghanistan was, in fact, an arena
of the battle between Muslim metaphysics and temporal politics
of Soviet atheists. The metaphysics which we discuss and uphold
in this article is the one which is characteristic of Muslim
monotheists only. It is this metaphysics which is facing the
onslaught of temporal politics all over the globe. Resistance
movements of Kashmir, Palestine, Bosnia and Chechnia are a few
living examples of Muslim metaphysics.
Metaphysics of Kashmiris is based on mysticism and
monotheism. That is why they have exuberant love and respect for
the great saints and sages of Kashmir like Sheikh Noor-ud-din
Wali, Sheikh Makhdoom Hamza. The desecration and destruction
of Chrar-e-Sharif shrine, a bolt from the blue, bruised the religious
sentiments of the Sufi Muslims of Kashmir. Kashmiri Muslims
who are now in a state of trauma quite ineffable, believe that
Kashmir war is in essence a war between Sufi metaphysics and
Indian atheism-based secularism; it is a battle between believers
and non-believers. In the Kashmir resistance movement, therefore,
Kashmiri warriors are deriving inspiration and strength from their
belief in omnipotent Allah. Their metaphysical nexus with Allah
instills confidence into them. It rejuvenates their benumbed
feelings. It invigorates them to face the challenge of rival forces.
Hence the innate propensity of Kashmiri freedom fighters for
untiring struggle for emancipation from foreign yoke will
constitute the indispensable ingredient of the dynamics of
Kashmir revolution. Martyrdom of sixty thousand freedom
fighters, persecution and victimization of women and desecration
of sacred places of worship is all that has forced the committed
warriors of Kashmir to think in terms of a decisive war against the
alien forces of onslaught and aggression. As such even the slight
tendency of retreat or reconciliation on the part of a Kashmiri
militant will be tantamount to apostasy, which, in Islamic
jurisprudence, is a cognizable offence punishable with death. Sufi
warriors of Kashmir resistance movement appear to have resolved
to continue their struggle till victory. And this is how they want to
assuage their wounded feelings and sentiments. Would that good
sense prevailed on the people at the helm of affairs in Delhi! No
ostrich optimism can save you from the wrath which will follow if
Indian state terrorism continues here unabated.
Pro-azadi stance of the overwhelming majority of the people in
Kashmir valley can be attributed to their disillusionment caused
by the indecisiveness of Muslim world in taking an initiative to
launch a diplomatic offensive against India to prevent her from
perpetrating atrocities and repression in Kashmir. In case India
fails in visualizing how honourably she can bail herself out of the
Kashmir embroilment and imbroglio in a politically congenial
atmosphere of growing Kashmiriyat, uncertainty in Kashmir may
continue for a few years more till our Sufi sentiments, out of mere
compulsion, will toe the line of the reckless warriors of Peshawar,
Balochistan and Afghanistan. Kashmiri moderates, who enjoy
some sort of sway over the young militants, may become
irrelevant and redundant within the next decade if the rulers in
New Delhi fail in realizing that protracted war in Kashmir will
mean the surrender of Kashmiriyat to nomadic militancy which
will obliterate all that may appear thwarting its way to power and
preponderance. It is for India to understand that obsessive myopic
approach to Kashmir issue will eventually prove detrimental to
her own sovereignty. Obsessive neuroticism in Kashmir case will
certainly destabilise the whole of South Asia. It is, therefore,
incumbent on all the parties concerned to seek a practicable
solution of Kashmir issue without inviting further trouble in
Kashmir, Karachi, Punjab, Nagaland and Assam. Remember that a
policy to contain militancy in Kashmir through a strategy of fake
encounters will prove counter-productive. Your acts of barbarism,
custodial killing, humiliation of fair sex and sacrilege of shrines
has already infuriated the self-respecting freedom zealots of
Kashmir.
US “befriend all, offend none” policy in South Asia suits her
economic interests in the region. Mr. Wisner, US ambassador to
India, during his recent visit to Kashmir conveyed, through his
expediency-based diplomatic language, that he was an honest
guardian of this US policy in south Asia. Pity the power which, in
the name of theism and philanthropy, mobilized the whole globe
including the Muslim and Christian countries to ensure the
dismemberment of agnostic Soviet Union, but now remains holed
up in the cocoon of parochialism and bigotry simply because its
temporal politics does not see eye to eye with the metaphysics of
the eastern countries which believe that only the materialistic
approach to life cannot guarantee global peace. On the one hand
western countries are raising hue and cry against the human rights
abuse and violation in Kashmir and on the other hand they do not
fully assess the dimensions of the threat to peace in South Asia
due to the perpetuation of turmoil in Kashmir. War in South Asia
can break out by an accident. Nobody can guarantee détente in
South Asia if Kashmir question remains unresolved indefinitely. If
USA does not come up to the expectations of the victimized and
humiliated people of Kashmir, Palestine, Bosnia and Chechnia it
will, as per the law of retribution, meet the same fate as arrogant
and sadistic Soviet Union met due to her wrong subjective
approach to global politics. In the war between metaphysical
realism and temporal idealism the modest mystic forces of
Kashmir, Palestine, Bosnia and Chechnia will emerge victorious
to the astonishment of the exponents of skepticism and cynicism.
The day is not far when Allah, the omnipotent creator of the
universe, will pronounce His decree in favour of the helpless
enslaved people tormented and tortured by the relentless forces of
vandalism and imperialism.
[Greater Kashmir – July 3, 1995]
World conscience on trial
T ears involuntarily coursed down the eyes of the mourners
who had sentimental attachment with Chrar-re-Sharif shrine.
Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali (RA) the great saint of Kashmir is
revered as spiritual father (Murshid) by overwhelming majority of
Kashmiris having love and respect for the mystic culture of their
motherland. Chrar-e-Sharif shrine, now a debris inspiring awe and
grief, was a source of metaphysical inspiration and strength. The
sacred shrine was the proud spiritual Sufi heritage of all those
who would derive inward bliss and solace from the exquisite
mosaic which was a part of the glamour and glory of the shrine
complex. The mute mourners with wounded heart and bruised
soul find themselves crestfallen. The dejection and despondency
caused by the desecration and destruction of the centuries old
sacred shrine is, in fact, ineffable. The episode has left indelible
imprint on the hearts now in a state of trauma. The dimensions of
the grief and distress are beyond the comprehension of those who
have no interest in the philosophy of mystic life. What did India
achieve by desecrating and demolishing the spiritual monument of
our beloved saint at Char-e-Sharif? You wanted to break our will
to struggle for freedom. You have miserably failed in your
endeavour to psychologically unhinge the resolute and chivalrous
warriors and votaries of Kashmir freedom struggle. Your dastardly
act has, indeed, boomeranged. It directly added to the indomitable
will and valour of the committed freedom zealots of Kashmir. It
invited diatribe of the countries interested in seeking an early
settlement of Kashmir issue. Ironically speaking, your adept yet
naïve generals inadvertently facilitated the process of global
disillusionment vis-à-vis Indian secularism and democracy.
They say might is right. It is rightly the underlying principle of the
Indian system, because contradiction and hypocrisy is the pith and
marrow of the Indian politics. Pilots of the planes which brought
Indian troops from Delhi to Srinagar on the 27th of October 1947
had been advised to avoid landing if they apprehended a
resistance of the “raiders” who were keen to capture the Srinagar
airport. This was the nature of the cautious approach of Indian
rulers to Kashmir problem in the beginning. After ensuring their
military presence in Kashmir the Indian rulers shifted from
cautious approach to aggressive posture and stance. Indian rulers
started clamouring that Kashmir was an integral part of India.
This was in contravention of the commitment of Pt. Jawaharlal
Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister, that with the restoration of law
and order in Kashmir the Kashmiri people would be allowed to
determine their political future for themselves through a free and
fair referendum to be conducted under UN auspices. With the
passage of time India accumulated military strength and with that
she became obdurate and intransigent in her stand and stance vis-
à-vis Kashmir. Her aggressive subjectivity and national
aggrandizement did not allow her to see reason in Kashmir case.
Military power and potential intoxicated her so much so that
Kashmiris’ modest appeal for the implementation of UN
resolution on Kashmir infuriated and exasperated the people at the
helm of affairs. They brutalized the people who demanded
plebiscite in Kashmir. Protagonists of Kashmir cause were
subjected to psychological and physical torture in the
interrogation centres and jails. Kashmiri third generation in teens
and twenties resolved to give a rebuttal to the expansionistic
designs of India in Kashmir. It was, therefore, Indian repression
and oppression in Kashmir which forced the Kashmiri youth to
rise in revolt against Indian onslaught here.
During the last seven years of active resistance movement in
Kashmir about sixty thousand freedom fighters were mercilessly
martyred, maimed and mutilated by ruthless Indian forces. About
thirty thousand freedom fighters, especially the youth, have been
languishing in the interrogation centres of India. After having
failed in containing the resolve of the Kashmiri warriors Indian
forces started to desecrate the holy places of worship here. Is it
not a fact that about fifty thousand Mujahideen are engaged in the
guerrilla activities in various parts of Kashmir? What was,
therefore, the rationale for besieging a few militants in Chrar-re-
Sharif for a period of two months? In the militant ‘hide and seek’
game the few militants you wanted to liquidate ultimately
succeeded in getting your troops entangled in an adventure which
resulted in the sacrilege and destruction of the holy shrine. The
discomfiture and embarrassment you are confronted with cannot
be concealed in the hue and cry of so-called election process in
Kashmir. Indian subterfuge and prevarications to hoodwink the
free world cannot succeed. You have to concede to Kashmiris’
right to self-determination. Azadi is our cherished goal. We will
continue to struggle for its accomplishment no matter what price
we shall have to pay. Kashmiris will face the impediments and
trials and tribulations with fortitude and courage. Chrar-e-Sharif
flames vindicate that you have lost the war in Kashmir. Your
every effort in frustration and desperation to defeat the militants
here will prove counter-productive. In the protracted war of
attrition Kashmiri Mujahideen will eventually succeed in
dislodging you from Kashmir. You have no moral moorings in
Kashmir case. Your betrayal and breach of promise has already
tarnished the image of India in the free world. You cannot befool
all the people at all times. It is, therefore, high time to rise to the
occasion to make amends for your failure in keeping your word.
You have to seek an honourable and practicable solution of
Kashmir issue. Procrastination will simply complicate the already
vexed Kashmir problem. We know you have learnt to turn a deaf
ear to our political sermons. It is time and time alone which will
decide whether ‘might is right’ or that right is the real might.
How long will the Muslim countries continue to wobble and
vacillate between professed ostentatious philanthropy for poor
victimized Kashmiris and indolence in taking an initiative to
launch a serious diplomatic offensive against India to compel her
to stop large-scale human rights abuse and violations in Kashmir?
Are the trade and economic interests of Muslim countries more
precious than the blood which enslaved Kashmiris are shedding
for freedom, honour and dignity? Can’t you sever your trade
relations with India for a few days? Despite our repeated appeal
for help you continue to strengthen your trade relations with India.
Are your material interests really paramount as against your
obligation to come to our rescue? Temporal interests have
certainly suppressed the metaphysical approach to life. How can,
therefore, the hardened hearts take cognizance of the ghastly and
appalling situation in Kashmir? Alas! The Muslim conscience is
dead.
How long will the western countries continue to dither on
Kashmir front? Their apathy and indifference has certainly
emboldened India in Kashmir. If you are really interested in
safeguarding the global peace and tranquility you have to assert
right now to redeem the poor victimized Kashmiris from the state
of servitude and helplessness. You have to retrieve the situation in
Kashmir to avert a nuclear holocaust in South Asia. You have to
help both India and Pakistan in finding a way out of Kashmir
tangle and quagmire. Turmoil in Kashmir cannot be contained
unless India and Pakistan concede our right to be free like free
people of any sovereign country. So Kashmir issue cannot be left
in limbo for an indefinite period. Situation in Kashmir is quite
explosive. Uncertainty is the permanent feature of life here. The
brew of anti-India hatred, acrimony and rancor can give birth to
an upheaval not conceived by the western countries till now.
Whither world conscience? Does not free world realize that
dereliction on Kashmir front will be tantamount to approving the
nefarious designs of our enemies to annihilate a generation rather
a race in Kashmir? It does not behoove you to sit still like mute
spectators enjoying the panorama of mountains, forests and
foliage. Don’t you discern the palpable agony of the people here
groaning in distress and grief. If, notwithstanding your ostensible
concern about human rights abuse in Kashmir, you fail in
mitigating the suffering of the people here, we will be led to
assume that the sadistic world wants to live on our misery. Hence
conscience of the civilized world is on trial.
India should not overtax the patience of Kashmiris. Indian rulers
should fully assess the dimensions of the inveterate bitterness
caused by the reign of terror let loose by her forces in Kashmir.
Atrocities perpetrated by ruthless forces cannot cow down the
committed warriors of freedom movement. Kashmiris have
courage and stamina to negotiate the obstacles thwarting their way
to freedom and independence. Kashmiris have learnt to live with
Indian truculence and onslaught. How can you browbeat the
valiant people whose 1500 houses and 200 shops were set ablaze
at Chrar-e-Sharif? Kashmiris with insurmountable freedom
resolve and aspiration cannot afford to think in terms of
reconciliation and retreat. They will continue to march towards
their cherished goal of freedom from foreign yoke. However, the
Chrar-e-Sharif fait accompli should persuade both India and
Pakistan to deal with Kashmir problem with meticulous care,
flexibility and finesse. Subjective and obsessive approach to
Kashmir issue will further complicate it thereby aggravating the
already deteriorating situation in Kashmir, which due to arson,
rampage and carnage presents the look of a veritable hell. How
long will this massacre, mayhem and desecration of holy places
continue here? Just visualize the aftermath of the recent
happenings here. Prudence demands cautious reappraisal of the
realities on ground; hence the political will to resolve Kashmir
issue peacefully and amicably.
[Greater Kashmir – May 20, 1995]

From idealism to realism
A few years back Iranian revolution insinuated that Iran would
never reconcile to the realities now accepted by her with
acumen and magnanimity characteristic of a genuine modern state
having firm ideological base at home. Iranian leader, late
Ayatullah Khumeni, who extricated his nation from the abyss of
anarchy-based monarchy, resisted the physical and psychological
onslaught of the alien forces of aggrandizement with courage and
determination. He did not bother about the forces which tried to
intimidate him. He was certainly a political genius with
extraordinary metaphysical potency and potentialities to take on
his any adversary in and outside his country. He continued to
adhere to his policy of assertion as a true monotheist having
indomitable faith in the supremacy of Allah. For Iranian nation,
therefore, he was a symbol of self-confidence and unshakable
commitment to the cause of glorification of his country as a
modern ideological state ambitious to vie with the contemporary
developing countries in neighbourhood in the field of science and
technology. In Hashmi Rafsangani Iran discovered a moderate
ideologue eager to juxtapose his religious bent of mind with the
aspiration of his nation to thrive in the scientific world. During his
visit to India Mr. Rafsangani found it quite expedient to befriend
India through the policy of appeasement. The memorandum of
understanding signed by Iran, India and Turkmanistan for trade
and transit facilities is a testimony to the fact that temporal
aspirations of Iran are gradually becoming paramount as against
the vexed problems like Kashmir or Palestine. This is the cautious
realism of ideologically conscious Iran which persuades her to be
a bit pragmatically magnanimous in recognizing what she was
averse to a few years back. Iranian President, through various
gestures, conveyed that he was no more allergic to a reference to
the word ‘secularism’. His traditional support to Kashmir cause in
euphemistic tone and accent indeed ostensibly sanctified his
‘progressive’ line in determining the nature of his foreign policy.
Is it a transition from vulnerable idealism to impregnable realism?
Rafsangani’s offer to mediate in Kashmir case is looked upon as
an attempt to camouflage his failure to espouse the Kashmiris’
cause of freedom with assertion.
Leaders condescend where their resolve to struggle for a sacred
cause staggers. Indra-Abdullah accord of 1975 depicted the
political somersault of Sheikh Abdullah. What was the rationale
for his surrender to cynicism when the posterity was poised to rise
in revolt against the Indian onslaught in Kashmir? His decision to
disband Plebiscite Front was irrational. Basically he lacked
commitment to the cause of freedom. He remained oscillating
between self-centred idealism and professed stance of sacrifice.
His sentimentalism led him astray. His subjective idealism did not
allow him to be objective in his approach to Kashmir issue. So he
proved an utter failure. Had he been a genuine ideologue he would
have never reconciled to the disappointing situation caused by
Dacca fall episode. He ought to have reposed absolute trust in
God Almighty. Sheikh Abdullah, for glory and self-
aggrandizement, propounded the theory of secular nationalism
saying that the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Buddhists of Kashmir
had a common goal to live as distinct cultural unit of the global
community. His “Aadarish” stand foundered like a house of cards
when his friends in Jammu launched a campaign against what
they regarded as his pro-Muslim politics. Sheikh’s pro-India
stance could not save him from the wrath of his offended non-
Muslim friends in Srinagar, Jammu and Delhi. About fifteen
hundred Muslims, not Pandits or Dogras, were killed when
Abdullah was dethroned and arrested in 1953. It was the Kashmiri
Muslim who shared his grief and suffering through thick and thin.
His frequent visits to Vishnovdevi cave could not appease his
annoyed mentors he was once proud of. So his “Aadarish”
idealism could not stand the test. It had to yield to the stark reality
that only a section of his compatriots was ready to cooperate.
Eventually idealism gave way to realism.
Late General Zia-ul-Haq, the ruler of Pakistan, was perhaps the
first Muslim leader to concede that Israel too had a right to live as
a state. Present stand and stance of Arab countries vis-à-vis Israel
vindicates that Zial-ul-Haq’s disillusionment was a part of his
rationalism and realism. Arabs could not throw Israel into
Mediterranean ocean. They accepted the dogma of peaceful co-
existence and mutual recognition. The principle of mutualism will
ultimately force the protagonists of ‘Akhand Bharat’ movement to
shift from neuroticism-based idealism to objectivity and realism.
They will soon realize that Muslims of India have a right to live
like respectable first class citizens. They will also recognize
Pakistan’s right to live as a self-respecting sovereign country.
They will ultimately concede to Kashmiris’ right to self-
determination as promised by late Pt Nehru, the proud son of
India. The idealism that Kashmir is the ‘Atoot-Ang’ of India or
the ‘Shah-Rag’ of Pakistan cannot help us seek a possible and
practicable solution of Kashmir issue. We all have to be
dispassionately realistic in seeking a way out of Kashmir tangle,
impasse and imbroglio. Please do not aggravate the already
deteriorating situation in Kashmir by laying stress on
romanticism-based political idealism in Kashmir case. How long
will you continue to live on our misery? The enslaved and
humiliated people of Kashmir find themselves sandwiched
between belligerent India and Pakistan. please have pity on us.
Allow us to determine our political future for ourselves. We are
not mesmerized cattle to be left unheard indefinitely. Free world
has to respond to our call for help. Dereliction on Kashmir front
will simply foster the forces of destabilization in South Asia
thereby endangering the global peace and tranquility. So we have
to find a peaceful and pragmatic solution of Kashmir issue.
At home, Kashmiris have to be equally realistic in reappraising
the realities on ground. No benevolent Kashmiri protagonist of
freedom movement can afford to be romantic in his approach to
Kashmir problem. Well, sadists cannot be vanquished through
sermons of philanthropy. They have their own line of thinking.
Sadism has facilitated the ways and means for many Muslim
countries to develop better trade relations with India
notwithstanding our repeated demand and appeal to impose
economic sanctions against India to compel her to see reason in
Kashmir case. Answering a question of a Pakistani journalist in
Rawalpindi Amanullah Khan, JKLF leader, says: “there are some
disappointed people in Kashmir who feel that great sacrifices
were made during the seven long years of struggle. I think this is
only the twentieth part of the sacrifices offered by the people of
Algeria. You have yet to offer nineteen parts of sacrifice. Then
and only then you will be able to achieve freedom. The freedom
which you will achieve with less sacrifices than mentioned will
not be viable”. (Weekly Zindagee, Lahore, Feb. 10, 1995 –page
19). Indian forces martyred fifty thousand Kashmiris during the
last seven years. It, therefore, means that you have yet to offer the
sacrifices of nine hundred and fifty thousand people over a period
of 133 years to come. What does this typical cathexis smack of?
Yes, it certainly smacks of sadism so characteristic of a person not
necessarily having unflinching faith in Allah, the omnipotent
creator capable of changing the fate of a nation in the twinkling of
an eye. Who destroyed the well-pitched tents of the twelve
thousand soldiers of anti-Islamic forces of Arabian Peninsula who
had besieged Madina in the battle (Gazwa) of “Khandak”. We are
perhaps oblivious of our heroic past when faith and faith alone
would work wonders. So it is not the despondency but the
humility in the court of Almighty Allah which makes us ponder
over the various aspects of our great resistance movement. We are
not pessimists. Our optimism is based on our faith in Allah. He
will not leave us in the lurch. He will certainly come to our
rescue. Our dedicated efforts will be soon crowned with success.
Please recite the last verses of “Surah Bakra” day in and day out.
Here you are taught to make an appeal to Allah to lessen your
burden of responsibilities. This is the spirit and essence of
mysticism we Kashmiris are proud of.
To crave for independence of the whole state of Jammu and
Kashmir without actually ensuring the active involvement of all
the zones, which constitute the state, in the freedom struggle of
Kashmir is nothing but utopianism and romanticism. Please have
a realistic and objective approach to Kashmir issue. People abroad
should not live on our misery. Only the wearer knows where the
shoe pinches. If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars. We will
soon emerge victorious in the war of attrition we have waged
against the forces which are bent upon subjugating us through all
the overt and covert means of coercion and repression. Azadi is
our cherished goal. By the grace of Almighty Allah we will
achieve it before long.
O God, grant us serenity
To accept the things we cannot change,
Courage to change the things we can.
[Greater Kashmir – April 21, 1995]
Repercussions of protracted
Kashmir war
B ut for the bewitching panorama of mountains, forests,
cascades, orchards, lakes and fragrant Mughal gardens of
Kashmir the neighbouring countries would not have felt allured
and enticed to fall in love with her. The beauty of Kashmir is,
therefore, the source of our perpetual misery and suffering. India
clamours that Kashmir is her integral part (Atoot-Ang). Likewise
Pakistan believes that Kashmir is her jugular vein (“Shah-Rag”).
Much to the embarrassment of these countries we declare that
Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris. Poor Kashmiris’ assertion that
Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris has, therefore, become a “sin”
which instigates the neighbouring lovers to wreak sadistic
vengeance on them. Kashmir has become more important and
valuable than Kashmiris. Kashmir, the bone of contention, has
entangled India and Pakistan in a protracted “proxy war” of
nerves. Now since both the countries India and Pakistan are
equipped with nuclear weapons it will be quite expedient for them
to avert a full-fledged conventional war through a mere reference
to their nuclear capability. However, efforts to get the better of
each other through “proxy war” will continue till the ground
realities force the two countries to adopt a dispassionate and
realistic approach to Kashmir issue. Realities have already
changed in Kashmir. Moderates of the state, irrespective of caste
or creed, are still optimistic about a practicable solution of
Kashmir issue; whereas the extremists are bent upon destabilizing
the whole of South Asia for the materialization of their cherished
dreams of freedom, emancipation, Islamisation or expansion of
India as “Akhand Bharat”. Fanaticism derives inspiration from an
activist’s will to assert for the cause he is proud to profess.
Precisely speaking South Asia has become an arena of the battle
between idealism and realism. Hitherto there is an ambivalence
between the two. Rationalism is juxtaposed to extremism. That is
why the political elite and military top brass of South Asia has
successfully managed the containment of trends of emotional
outburst on a large scale. Well, commotion does exist in Kashmir,
Karachi, Assam, Nagaland and Punjab. India and Pakistan have
now learnt to live with turmoil and upheaval in these areas.
Although the men at the helm of affairs are satisfied with the
status quo, yet the revolutionaries are seriously thinking in terms
of undoing this status quo of events.
The scenario of the fast changing realities on ground suggests that
both India and Pakistan should rise to the occasion to have a
scientific and pragmatic reappraisal of the problems which have
bedeviled and embittered their relations. While paying tribute to
Dr. Qazi Nisar, martyred by the votaries of intolerance a year
back, in a public meeting in Anantnag on the 8th of June 1995 I,
in my modest but assertive tone and accent, tried to bring home to
the political and military strategists of India that they should not
underestimate the resolve of Kashmiris to struggle for freedom. It
is a folly on their part to think that militancy in Kashmir can be
controlled and contained through a policy of genocide and
massacre. If India succeeds in annihilating the young men of
Kashmir the surviving sisters and daughters of martyrs will be
forced to invite young Muslim warriors of Azad Kashmir,
Balochistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey to join their freedom
struggle in a big way. The original incoming warriors will
eventually become a part and parcel of the population here. The
principle of polygamy will facilitate and ensure their presence in
Kashmir. These original, born-warriors and militants will remain
strolling in the forests and mountains of Kishtwar, Bhaderwah and
Himachal Pradesh to manage successful militant operations in the
densely populated cities of India. The nature of the militancy,
twenty years hence, will be quite different from that of the one
existing at present. Remember the prevalent modest militancy of
Kashmir is still under partial control of the political moderates
who are quite particular about seeking an early peaceful and
honourable settlement of Kashmir issue.
Protracted guerrilla war in Kashmir will mean fractional
annihilation of the local fighting force of Kashmir, incentive for
the large scale induction of foreign militants and hence a change
in the gene character of Kashmiris. Kashmiris, modest and meek
by nature, would not be happy with a change in their ethnic
character. Onslaught of Indian forces will, however, compel them
to recast their ideas about life, society and state. They will be
forced to express their solidarity with the reckless warriors who
will come to their rescue from neighbouring Muslim countries.
They will finally, with the passage of time, get adapted to the
concept of unification of geographically contiguous Muslim
countries. Nobody will, then, feel allergic to the theory of
accession to and annexation with Muslim countries in
neighbourhood. This is how they will safeguard their proud legacy
of sacrifices made for a supreme cause of freedom and
glorification of Islam. If erstwhile Soviet Union, with all her
nuclear arsenal, could not subjugate the poor Afghanis how can
India, with her modest military potential, vanquish the warriors
who will be all fire and fury in the northern Himalayan mountains
of Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Remember that protracted
Kashmir war will give birth to terrorism of the worst order. It will
paralyse life in the cosmopolitan cities of India. Fear, uncertainty
and upheaval will be the permanent feature of Indian towns and
villages. Communal polarization will be another unwholesome
dividend of the protracted guerrilla war of Kashmir. Indian
Muslims, who have been already pushed to the wall through anti-
Muslim communal riots, will feel cajoled and enticed to join the
militant struggle of the Himalayan hawks. Thus the multi-social,
multi-religious and multi-linguistic India will get disintegrated
under the weight of the problems she is voluntarily creating due to
her intransigence and obsessive stand and stance vis-à-vis
Kashmir. Is it not a fact that the vast empire of Soviet Union
became a victim of her own imperialism and expansionism? It got
disintegrated into fifteen fragments.
It is for Indian elite and intelligentsia to decide whether
rationalism and pragmatism be allowed to replace parochialism
and myopic approach in politics or not. The Agni missiles, tanks
and artillery cannot withstand the militant hurricane which will
follow the present Indian onslaught which is consuming our youth
the way fire consumes dry wood. Just visualize the aftermath and
serious repercussions of the long-drawn war in Kashmir. How can
Altaf Hussain, the momentarily offended MQM leader, save you
from the somersault and debacle you shall feel confronted with
within a decade hence? How long will you continue to exploit the
helplessness of Kashmiri Pandits who were instigated by your
imprudent friends to betray and stab the Kashmir resistance
movement in the back? Sedate and sober Pandit brethren should
understand that the role of a stooge or quisling is always
disdainful and condemnable. Their decision to join the fray in
Kashmir can pave a way for their honourable return to their home
and hearth in Kashmir valley; or else their indifference can add to
the process of communal polarization already set forth by the
chauvinistic approach of Indian army which desecrated and
destroyed the Chrar-e-Sharif shrine.
Protracted war in Kashmir can have a serious impact on the
system in Pakistan as well. The deeply religious minded people in
Pakistan have already started feeling disillusioned with what they
call the secular government there. If Ms Benazir Bhuttoo fails in
seeking an early settlement of Kashmir issue without further
deteriorating the home affairs of Pakistan the volatile forces
believing in religious supremacy will have no option except rising
in revolt against the establishment there. Government of Pakistan
shall have to enter into meaningful negotiations with India to find
a way out of Kashmir tangle and impasse keeping, of course, the
ground realities of Kashmir in view. This is how the PPP
government of Pakistan can ensure its present tenure and future
popularity. Kashmiris cannot be taken for granted always.
Kashmiris do realize that ideologically weak Pakistan cannot
assert in a decisive way while expressing her solidarity with the
valiant and heroic struggling forces of Kashmir. Pakistan’s
indecisiveness will benefit neither the present establishment in
Pakistan nor the ongoing movement of Kashmir.

Seasoned moderates who are very particular about safeguarding

peace and prosperity in South Asia should realize that western
countries are never sincere in the concern they ostensibly show
while referring to Kashmir. Is it not a fact that it were the British
rulers of India who proved instrumental in creating what is now
known as ‘Kashmir problem’? Who gave birth to Israel? Who is
living on the misery of the people in Bosnia and Chechnia? Who
battered Iraq a few years back? Who is allergic to a concept of
self-reliant East? Who is interested in perpetuating the monopoly
in nuclear technical know-how? In fact, sadism and apathy of the
western countries will never help resolve the complicated and
vexed Kashmir problem. It is for the leaders of India, Pakistan and
Kashmir to facilitate serious negotiations on Kashmir for the
permanent settlement of the issue which triggered off three wars
in South Asia. You have to understand the implications of
obduracy-based obsessive stance which has already reduced
Kashmir to shambles. Please be objective in your approach to
Kashmir issue to mitigate the suffering of the poor Kashmiris and
also to avert total political cataclysm and upheaval in South Asia.
Dismemberment of Kashmir

[Greater Kashmir – June 13, 1995]

K ashmir, during the golden era of emperor Lalitaditya about
eleven hundred years back, was a vast empire with its
boundaries adjoining present Sri Lanka in the South and Central
Asia in the North. The process of dismemberment of this great
Kashmir Empire passed through various phases of permutation
and combination of borders during the centuries preceding the
local Muslim rule in Kashmir. Before the advent of Mughal rule in
Kashmir local Kashmiri Muslims had already ruled over Kashmir
for a period of about 250 years. During the exemplary rule of
Sultan Sikandar the empire of Kashmir comprised the parts now
known as Pakistan, northern India, Afghanistan etc. Kashmir,
during Dogra rule, consisted of Kashmir valley, Jammu, Ladakh,
Aqsai Chin, Gilgit, Baltistan and the areas now known as Azad
Kashmir. Dogra Kashmir was an empire spread over an area of
85,000 sq. miles. According to the partition plan of 1947 the
princely state of Kashmir, like other 564 princely states, was
supposed to accede to Pakistan or India or remain independent.
Independence of Kashmir was the priority option of Maharaja
Hari Singh, the autocratic ruler of Kashmir; but the concept of
independence option was frustrated and jeopardized by British
rulers of India and the politicians of the Subcontinent. But for the
national aggrandizement of India and Pakistan and also the
sadistic politics of Lord Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy of
India, the boundaries of Kashmir of 1947 would have been intact.
Alas! Kashmir could not retain its sovereignty and independence.
She fell a prey to the forces of onslaught and assimilation.
With the formation of Ladakh Hill Council the government of
India formally inaugurated the process of disintegration and
dismemberment of the already mutilated state of Jammu and
Kashmir. Who inspired India to do so? Who instigated her to
embark upon this perilous task? The people who have capability
to answer these questions maintain cautious and calculated silence
simply to avoid the risk of being vulnerable to the diatribe of the
imprudent and impetuous hawkish activists of Kashmir resistance
movement. However, some of the innocent young men and a few
worried politicians did react to the Indian declaration of
constitutional aggression in Kashmir. By and large the conscious
and courageous political activists thought it quite expedient to
insinuate through their meaningful silence that the countries
which surround Kashmir have agreement of interests and as such
they are steadily and gradually implementing the partition plan
which has sanctified all their decisions to mutilate Kashmir and
humiliate Kashmiris. Still respected Sofi Ghulam Mohammad,
one of the senior and elderly journalists of Kashmir, grumbles in
his modest way saying: “…. (Kashmiri) leaders have become
helpless and inert. It is their inertness which emboldened India to
form Ladakh Hill Council as a part of her Kashmir partition plan.”
(Editorial, Srinagar Times: Aug. 17, 1995). Again Sofi Sahib,
while commenting on the party politics of the politicians of India
and Pakistan, complains in a patriotic way saying: “… Kashmiri
youth are being slaughtered, butchered and martyred; hamlets are
destroyed and houses burnt to ashes. Everything is ruined. Yet the
leaders of Kashmir are listless. They have become dummies. They
have no politics, policy or strategy of their own to present a
solution (of Kashmir issue)”. (Editorial, Srinagar Times: Aug. 25,
1995). These words, prima facie attributed to a seasoned
journalist, depict, in fact, the mode of thinking of the common
people of Kashmir who have made unprecedented sacrifices
during the past seven years for the cause of freedom, honour and
dignity. In order to dispel the doubt inadvertently created by the
ostensibly sincere editorial comments of the daily Srinagar Times
we hereby find an occasion to narrate, in a precise way, the story
of steadfastness and assertive patriotic subjectivity of a few
freedom zealots of Kashmir resistance movement.
Pakistan, under an agreement with Jammu Kashmir Muslim
Conference, acquired the possession of Gilgit and Baltistan on
April 28, 1949. These northern areas of Kashmir are, therefore,
lying under the direct control of Pakistan. Prime Minister of Azad
Kashmir cannot visit these areas without the formal permission of
Pakistan. K. H. Khursheed, as a brilliant and conscientious
Kashmiri leader, suggested in 1962, under the banner of his
organization JK Liberation League, that Gilgit and Baltistan
should be allowed to merge with Azad Kashmir and the latter
should be recognized as the genuine independent and sovereign
part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This suggestion and
demand was turned down by Pakistan. Mr. Khursheed felt
embarrassed. Eventually the ruler of Azad Kashmir and former
secretary to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was dethroned,
arrested and lodged in an interrogation centre where he was kept
languishing for months together alongwith his colleagues.
Similarly Mohammad Maqbool Butt, advocate Abdul Khaliq
Ansari, G. M. Mir and Gh. Mustafa Alvi launched a campaign in
Azad Kashmir, under the banner of JK Plebiscite Front, for the
cause of independent Kashmir. All these leaders alongwith their
hundreds of colleagues were arrested and subjected to torture in
various interrogation centres including Dulai Camp and Shahi
Fort of Lahore. Pakistan always felt allergic to an idea of
independent Kashmir. That is why Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, despite his
power and authority as the president of Pakistan, kept mum when
India decided to hang Maqbool Butt on Feb. 11, 1984. It is the
same allergy and aversion of Pakistan to the concept of
independent Kashmir which coaxes and cajoles the Pak politicians
to insult and abuse the votaries of independent Kashmir
movement. A few days back Sardar Asif Ali, the foreign minister
of Pakistan, while commenting on Al-Faran drama said that the
drama was reminiscent of the one staged by India in 1971 in the
form of Ganga hijacking. Ashraf Qureshi, one of the heroes of
Ganga hijacking adventure, gave a rebuttal to Sardar Asif in his
BBC interview explaining how the supreme court of Pakistan had
declared in its verdict on Ganga hijacking case that all the accused
of the case, including Mohd. Maqbool Butt, were genuine
freedom fighters of Kashmir. One fails to fathom why the
politicians of Pakistan abuse the lovers of independent Kashmir
despite the Supreme Court verdict. In the presence of the scenario
of these realities Pakistan and her friends here in Kashmir cannot
afford to offer tough resistance to an Indian decision to annex
Ladakh with New Delhi through Ladakh Hill Council drama and
gimmick. Sane and sober people know that it was Pakistan who,
by annexing Gilgit Baltistan with Islamabad, provided an
incentive to New Delhi to do something similar here. Does it,
therefore, mean that the parties to Kashmir issue have to facilitate
the dismemberment of Kashmir. It is, perhaps, a paradox for those
who think and a message for those who decide. They say weak
must go to the wall. Pity the poor country, Kashmir, which has
become a scapegoat in the love and hatred game of her detractors.
Perhaps we have to learn to live with the inevitable disaster of
dismemberment. Well, the die-hard protagonists of Kashmir
resistance movement may not feel like condescending to approve
what can finally uproot them from their very home and hearth.
Our detractors and denigrators get infuriated when we suggest and
stress the reunification of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Only a
few people know that Pakistan, by way of friendship and
appeasement, ceded an area of 2500 sq. miles to China in 1963
under a provisional agreement which envisages its reappraisal
when parties to Kashmir issue will negotiate for a final settlement
of the issue. Remember that China has already occupied an area of
14,000 sq. miles of Aqsai Chin in 1962 Indo-China war. It is,
therefore, the national aggrandizement of the countries in our
neighbourhood which allures them to overlook the expansionistic
designs of one another. Our protest demonstration, condemnation
and agitation against the expansionistic designs of our sadistic
detractors in neighbourhood cannot dislodge them from the areas
occupied by them. Hats off to the valiant militants who mean
business. We, the moderates of Kashmir resistance movement,
remained struggling in a peaceful and democratic way for decades
together for the peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue, but in vain.
Youngsters of the third generation succeeded in asserting in a
militant way against the stranglehold and onslaught of India in
Kashmir. They know how to carry the movement to its logical
end. They are the harbingers of freedom and independence of
Kashmir.
Stressing simultaneous demilitarization of the whole state of
Kashmir including the areas held by China, Pakistan and India
will be tantamount to waging a war against all these countries
which constitute half of the globe. Countries of the remaining half
will be indifferent for their own national interests. Does it,
therefore, mean that it is quite expedient to suggest what has been
copiously explained in Mir Abdul Aziz’s article “ Dixon Plan for
Kashmir” published in the daily Greater Kashmir on Aug. 23,
1995? People who know the constitutional and political history of
Kashmir understand that a reference to UN resolutions on
Kashmir by Pakistan is more a stunt than a stand based on will to
dislodge India from Kashmir through a plebiscite to be conducted
under UN auspices. Some technical loopholes in UN resolutions
have made the position of Pakistan quite grotesque and
vulnerable. Negotiated settlement of Kashmir tangle is, therefore,
a possibility to be stressed. Intellectual interaction between the
parties to Kashmir issue will form the basis of the debate to be
held for the final honourable, peaceful and practicable solution of
Kashmir problem. Tripartite talks between India, Pakistan and
Kashmiris will certainly pave the way for peace and prosperity in
South Asia. Let our neighbours be happy and prosperous but not
at the cost of our freedom and solace.
One cannot but denounce the deplorable demeanour of India and
Pakistan which are hell-bent on destroying each other through
‘proxy-war’. The virus of turmoil existing in Kashmir, Punjab,
Sindh, Karachi, Assam and Nagaland can engulf the whole of the
Subcontinent thereby endangering sovereignty, peace and
prosperity of the two countries. What is the rationale for spending
billions of rupees on a war which will result in the debacle and
discomfiture of both the countries which want to dislodge each
other from Kashmir? Please set Kashmir free to guarantee your
emancipation from the state of helplessness, indecisiveness,
obscurantism and romanticism you are ostentatiously displaying
on Kashmir front.
[Greater Kashmir – Aug. 28, 1995]
The last odyssey
“O God! Forgive me for my lapses;
crown my efforts with success; and
make my journey secure and safe.”
W ith these words I boarded the small boat which could not
accommodate more than five or six people. Since we were
only three including the rower the journey was, therefore,
expected to be safe. Immediately after dusk the boat started
moving towards the destination – Sopore. From Banyair (Hajin) it
took us about an hour to reach the heart of Vular Lake just
opposite the shrine Baba Shukr-deen. All of us remained rowing
the boat with full vigour. Slight movement in the air would have
turned the boat turtle thereby consigning the zealous adventurers
to the turbulent tides of the lake for good. After about six hours
we reached Sopore wherefrom it took us several days to reach
Kandi forest. Through the forest I, alongwith my young
colleagues including the group leader Tariq, reached the beautiful
vale and dale of Lolab where a few more courageous young men
joined our group. From Lolab the group marched towards the
border mountain Tehjin. So, while negotiating the precipitous
rocks of Khumriyal mountains, dense forests and frightening
camouflaged fortifications of Indian security forces, we reached
the ridge of mountain Tehjin. We kept walking day and night
despite inclement weather – rain, thunder and clouds. The elderly
guide heading the group of nine adventurers stopped and, while
pointing towards a distant mountain peak covered by snow, said, “
that is Qasim Post of Pak army.”
“Yes, the sacred destination”, “the young companions exclaimed
with joy. The idea of proximity of the destination made them a bit
sentimental. All of them involuntarily burst into tears and prayed
for the safe journey. The tired and exhausted adventurers felt
inspired and we started moving forward with added resolve. At
night we, from a height of 14000 feet, gradually climbed down the
snow-clad mountain till we reached the roaring stream. The
starving adventurers with benumbed limbs had to be extremely
cautious while embarking upon the tedious task to cross the
improvised bridge – a long dressed tree lying horizontal across the
furious stream. By the grace of Allah we succeeded in what was
no less than an acrobatic feat to be performed by almost dozing
mountaineers. There was an apprehension that three or four
members of the group including this humble self would collapse
due to cold, hunger, fatigue and wet clothes. So I ordered the
young companions to collect dry wood. Two heaps of wood were
set on fire. We sat around the fire for three hours till we felt
invigorated and relaxed. Recklessly ignoring the fear of ambush
of the security forces or the minefields we started ascending the
next mountain. We were only two or three kilometers away from
Qasim Post but our weariness was an obstacle in the
accomplishment of the task – the conquest of Qasim Peak.
Resolute Tariq, accompanied by the elderly but stout guide,
decided to fetch a few loaves of bread from the Qasim Post. Pak
soldiers were kind enough to spare four ‘chapatis’ but they did not
allow Tariq to return to the spot where we were waiting for the
succour. After three hours of wait for the relief we did succeed in
partaking of a piece of bread. The sumptuous lunch imparted
psychological strength to us to recommence the journey. Thus the
month long expedition culminated in our tryst with the Qasim
peak – the awe-inspiring peak excelling the panoramic mountain
peaks around. We heaved a sigh of relief. This was my last
odyssey which ended on Oct. 21, 1990 at Qasim rendezvous. In
fact this ninth odyssey too was a success from the security point
of view.
Commander Shahid-ul-Islam was prompt in receiving me at
Muzaffarabad. He gave an incentive for forging an alliance of
militant organizations. All other commanders were ready to
cooperate. Thus United Jihad Council (UJC) came into being in
Nov. 1990. I was elected the first chief of the Council. The
militant outfits like Hizbul Mujahideen, JKLF, MJF, Al-Umar,
Operation Balakot, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahidden
constituted the Jihad Council. In fact it was an alliance of eighteen
militant organizations. After three months the UJC split into two
factions due to ideological confrontation between pro-
independence and pro-Pakistan groups. The faction headed by this
humble self was pro-independence and as such it had to suffer and
face hardships. The pro-Pak faction of UJC comprising about a
dozen groups succeeded in mustering the support, moral and
material. I decided to hold a protest rally against the
discrimination. About four thousand militants joined the
procession which intended to cross the cease-fire-line unarmed. At
Gaddi the aggrieved militants assembled in a school compound
where Amanullah Khan, JKLF Chief tried to pacify the volatile
gathering but in vain. I too failed in bringing the young warriors
round. Commander Tariq Kashmiri of Operation Balakot did
succeed in pacifying the young militants. …… A delegation
including Amanullah Khan and this author had a meeting with
those who matter in the higher echelons of power. Ultimately after
a protracted battle of ideas and sentiments I decided to distance
myself from militancy and work on political and diplomatic front.
The quarrel did not end there. For several years pro-independence
and pro-Pakistan militants frittered away their strength and
stamina in group-clashes in Kashmir valley. And today’s renegade
culture is just an offshoot of that fratricidal battle.
Assassination of Maqbool Malik, the senior leader of Mahaz-e-
Azadi, forced me to do something concrete on the diplomatic
front to save Kashmir resistance movement from internal chaos
and confusion. On Dec. 12, 1992 I entered Great Britain and
spent complete seven months in addressing important conferences
there. I launched Save Kashmir Movement in England. I
emphasized the exigency of an early peaceful settlement of
Kashmir issue to save Kashmiris from extinction. But for my
scathing diatribe and vehement condemnation of religious bigotry
and political parochialism the pro-independence activists would
have been on the receiving end even today. I launched a complete
crusade against the aggrandizement and group particularism of
pro-Pak forces on both sides of the cease-fire-line. It was my
rationalism, pragmatism and humanism which conquered the
hearts in dissent. Well, it is equally true that I was ruthlessly vocal
in my assertion. Today pro-independence movement is a force to
be reckoned with.
In the year 1994 M. Yasin Malik, the JKLF leader declared
unilateral cease-fire just to save the Kashmir resistance movement
from internal anarchy. Pakistani papers called him traitor and Mir
Jaffar. I and martyr Ghulam Qadir Wani staged a dharna against
this campaign of vilification in front of the office of Urdu daily
Jang in Rawalpindi. Pakistani papers castigated Shabbir Ahmad
Shah when he adopted, ostensibly, a nationalistic line after his
release from jail in 1994. I seized the opportunity and returned to
Kashmir valley in Jan 1995 to assert as a senior political activist
for the peaceful solution of Kashmir issue. In 1997 G. M. Butt,
the Jamaat-e-Islami chief adopted the policy of peace and
pacifism for an early settlement of Kashmir issue. In doing so the
historical resistance forces of Kashmir saved about 200,000 youth
of Kashmir from extinction. We succeeded in reviving the
political culture where freedom of expression has given a new
dimension to the resistance movement here. We extricated the
print media from the abyss of suffocation and helplessness. People
are no more averse to constructive activities.

Today Muhammad-bin-Qasim, my spiritual disciple at

Muzaffarabad, is sixteen years old. He is poised to play his heroic
role. He is watching the developments with meticulous care. He
may feel constrained to join the fray if Quomi Mushawarti
Council (QMC) and Hurriyat Conference become redundant due
to obsessive and imprudent approach of New Delhi and
Islamabad. Indian rulers have already failed in understanding the
dynamics of Kashmir resistance movement which survived
notwithstanding the onslaught of Mughal, Afghan, Sikh and
Dogra rulers. Even the “fourth army of the globe” could not break
the will and resolve of self-respecting Kashmiris. Kashmir is
certainly a “fuse in the tinder-box of South Asia”. So it is high
time to address the long-standing dispute to save a situation in
South Asia. Political will, acumen, prudence and intellectual
honesty are the prerequisites of a genuine peace process and
dialogue on Kashmir. And remember that tripartite talks between
the parties to Kashmir issue are indispensable to guarantee peace
in South Asia. Why defer solution of a problem which has, indeed,
given birth to multi-faceted problems in South Asia, viz.
polarization, impoverishment, hunger, disease and hallucinatory
megalomania? I, as a modest protagonist of the cause which
claimed about 800,000 Kashmiris, would like to make an appeal
to OIC (an apology for alliance as they call it) to shun hypocrisy
and do something meaningful to mitigate the sufferings of poor
Kashmiris who have become scapegoats in the arena of
confrontation between India and Pakistan. Other world fora too
should cease to be indifferent to our plight.

[Kashmir Monitor – Aug. 5, 2000]

Pragmatic approach
to
Kashmir issue
 In the perspective of some salient features of
Kashmir history
1) Kashmir, over four centuries ago, enjoyed the status of an
absolutely sovereign and independent country. Eleven hundred
years back Kashmir, during the reign of Hindu ruler Laltaditya,
was an empire with boundaries adjoining the southern parts of
India in the South and Tibet and Samarkand in the North. In
Muslim era of sway the local Muslim rulers, especially Shahab-
ud-din and Zainul-Aabdeen (Budshah), commanded respect as
powerful sovereign rulers from Sirhind to Sindh and Tibet to
Samarkand. Local Muslim rule in Kashmir lasted for two and a
half centuries. Kashmir valley always served the purpose of a hub
of power and prominence. It was in 1586 A.D. that Mughal rulers
of India, through a treacherous political manoeuvre and blatant
military onslaught brought Kashmir under their control. Mughal
rule in Kashmir lasted for 166 years. Next came Afghans who
ruled over Kashmir for 70 years. Afghan rule was followed by
Sikh rule which lasted for 27 years. With the advent of Dogra rule
in Kashmir after the Treaty of Amritsar in March 1846 A.D.
Kashmiris faced an agony of forced labour (Bei-gaar) for a period
of hundred years. In an environment of general upheaval and
revolt against the British rule in South Asia Kashmiris found it
quite convenient and expedient to rise in revolt against the
autocratic Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh in 1931. Sheikh
Mohammad Abdullah and Moulvi Mohammad Yousuf Shah, the
Kashmiri leaders, spearheaded the resistance movement which
culminated in the fall of Dogra rule in 1947.
2) With the partition of Indian subcontinent in 1947 and
thereby the emergence of two sovereign and independent
countries, Bharat and Pakistan, Kashmir became a bone of
contention between the two neighbouring countries. The cautious
but clandestine political manoeuvre of India to seduce the Dogra
ruler of Kashmir provoked Pakistan to instigate the local
insurgents of Kashmir against the autocratic ruler. This is how
Pakistan tried to give a rebuff to India on Kashmir front.
However, her pre-emptive indirect action aborted when Maharaja
Hari Singh decided to accede to India ostensibly on Oct. 26, 1947.
Maharaja’s decision infuriated Pakistan to the extent that she
ordered her army to join the fray in Kashmir, notwithstanding the
delaying tactics of Pak Christian commander-in-chief, general
Grassy, who pretended obedience to his supreme commander,
field marshal Auchinleck who was hell-bent on dissuading
Pakistan from militarily intervening in Kashmir. The ensuing
battle between India and Pakistan in Kashmir was followed by a
debate on Kashmir issue in UN Security Council. Eventually the
United Nations Commission on India and Pakistan (UNCIP) in its
resolutions of Aug. 13, 1948 and Jan. 5, 1949 recommended
cease-fire, demilitarization and plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir.
Alas! The UN resolutions on Kashmir could not be implemented
despite three wars between the two contending countries, India
and Pakistan; thus the Kashmir issue remains unresolved till now.
A pertinent question haunts our mind here. Who is responsible for
the stalemate and Kashmir impasse – India, Pakistan or the
powers which profess humanism and philanthropy?
3) UNCIP resolution of Aug 13, 1948 envisages a
recommendation for the withdrawal of all Pakistan troops from
Kashmir; whereas India has been asked to withdraw bulk (not all)
of her forces from the parts of Kashmir occupied by her.
Implicitly it means that India has been accepted as custodian of
law and order in Kashmir. This is a position which is never
acceptable to Pakistan for times to come. Un resolutions on
Kashmir do support our right to self-determination and freedom.
Pakistan, we agree, is a passionate supporter of our cause.
However, the Kashmir problem became more complicated and
confounded due to the intransigence of India on the one hand and
obsessive approach of Pakistan on the other. We, Kashmiris, have
a bit different approach to the issue. There were no UN
resolutions for the vivisection of India in 1947, there were no UN
resolutions for the dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971, and there
were no UN resolutions for the emergence of East Timor as a
sovereign country. It is the people who opt for a change; they rise
in revolt and the world community intervenes for pacification and
pacifism. We Kashmiris, have a genuine cause. We have been
struggling for freedom for the last four hundred years in general
and 52 years in particular. Why should Kashmiris become a
scapegoat in the arena of Indo-Pak confrontation and brawn-
assertion? Why should we get sandwiched between the two
belligerent countries which refuse to recognize our right to
freedom and independence? Why should Kashmiris be forced to
become an appendage to the cult of expansionism when we
understand that you have already failed in mitigating the
sufferings of crores of people who have been gasping in
impoverishment, disease and hunger.
4) The Kashmir resistance movement, which started about
four hundred years ago against the onslaught of alien ruler, is
replete with events when a few intractable revolutionaries of
Kashmir, while trying to dislodge the despot in power, were
overpowered and skinned alive just to frighten the poor Kashmiris
who had already been languishing in subjugation and servitude.
Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs, Dogras and now Indians – all tried to
persecute and humiliate Kashmiris. The people of Jammu and
Kashmir, irrespective of cast and creed, had to face untold
sufferings during and after the partition of Indian subcontinent.
The epidemic and virus of communalism afflicted this state as
well. Lakhs of people were brutalized, killed and exiled. The
misery and suffering of internally displaced compatriots is equally
horrifying and ineffable. During the decade-long insurgency in
Kashmir about seventy thousand Kashmiris were martyred by
Indian security forces. An equal number of people got maimed
and mutilated. Thousands of houses were set ablaze. Thousands of
Kashmiri youth have been languishing in jails and concentration
camps of India since 1990. The modesty of women is at stake
here. How deplorable and regrettable it is that the scenario of
death and destruction in Kashmir is watched by the free world
with sentiments of sadism! The ghastly look of the wailing vale of
Kashmir cannot move the hardened hearts of the people around.
Insensitiveness is hallmark of the present global politics. Some
people perish and others live on their misery. Still the clamour and
glamour of humanism remains unimpaired. This is something
ticklish for the highbrows who matter in the higher echelons of
power.
5) The nuclear explosion of India and Pakistan in May 1998
changed the very complexion of politics in South Asia. The
concept of numerical superiority of India over Pakistan has
become irrelevant and preposterous. Now Pakistan is at par with
India in nuclear capability and missile technology. Both the
contending neighbouring countries, despite differences have to
behave like responsible nations just to ensure global peace. It is
incumbent on both the countries to resolve their outstanding
disputes amicably and peacefully. Priority should be given to early
settlement of Kashmir issue. You cannot afford to perpetuate the
state of confrontation in Kashmir for an indefinite period of time.
You have to manage food, clothing and shelter for crores of
people who are living a life of destitution and penury. It is
imperative for the western powers too to foster the trends of
détente, reconciliation and rapprochement in south Asia. This is
how they can safeguard their economic interests here. Resolution
of the long-standing dispute between India and Pakistan is
indispensable prerequisite for a genuine peace process in South
Asia. Dereliction will be tantamount to promoting the danger of a
nuclear holocaust in this region. Hope the global powers – USA,
China, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and Japan – will leave no
stone unturned in facilitating a trilateral settlement of Kashmir
issue through tripartite talks between India, Pakistan and
Kashmiris. Please have pity on helpless, humiliated and
victimized Kashmiris who find themselves on the receiving end
due to the perennial bellicosity between India and Pakistan. We
want peace, but with justice. And delay in justice is injustice. So it
is high time for the free world to respond to our call for help.
6) Kashmiri freedom activists who are wedded to the cause
of independence of their motherland can, through an emphasis on
patriotic subjectivity so characteristic of a genuine freedom
fighter, create a situation, political in nature, where India and
Pakistan will be forced to divest themselves of the obsessive stand
and stance vis-à-vis Kashmir. So the subjective resistance
movement can serve the purpose of a bridge of understanding
between the two countries. In the background of this philosophical
and psychological aspect of Kashmir issue we, the pro-freedom
activists of Kashmir, have decided to strengthen independence
movement through a battle of logic and rationalism. Nevertheless,
we will try to be modest, sedate and dispassionate in our approach
of emphasis on our viewpoint.
7) Kashmir issue is, in fact, the unresolved legacy of British
rule in undivided India. Therefore, the onus of the early peaceful
settlement of Kashmir issue lies primarily on Britain. You have to
shoulder this moral responsibility if at all you believe in ethics in
politics. Kashmir is not a border dispute between India and
Pakistan. Well, the national aggrandizement of the major
contending parties of the issue may not allow them to recognize it
as a humanitarian problem. Politics may supersede pity and
pathos. It is, therefore the responsibility of the countries like USA, [Kashmir Monitor – Feb. 26, 2000]
UK, France, Germany and Japan to help the two nuclear powers
of South Asia in finding an honourable way out of the Kashmir
tangle. Our impassioned plea for peace should be construed not
only as a desire for the de-escalation of tension in the region but
also as our urge for coexistence with the countries surrounding
Kashmir.

8) The Jammu and Kashmir Quomi Mushawarti Council (JK

National Consultative Council) is an alliance of pro-independence
organizations which have been struggling for the objective of an
independent and sovereign Kashmir for several decades. The
forum, QMC, came into being in June 1998 in Srinagar, the
capital of Kashmir. It is a forum of moderates who believe in
peace and pacifism. No doubt, ‘peace with justice’ is our slogan.
We are neither chauvinists nor fascists. We are humanists who feel
aggrieved with the sufferings of their compatriots, irrespective of
their caste or creed. Some people want to live on the misery of
Kashmiris, whereas we want to mitigate their misery and
suffering. Some people want to perpetuate the state of uncertainty
in Kashmir just to ensure polarization in South Asia in the name
of religion and politics. As against that we are the people who
want to eradicate hatred, religious bigotry, fanaticism, exploitation
and imperviousness. Kashmir seeks attention. An attitude of
indifference and apathy should be shunned and condemned. Jammu and Kashmir
Beleaguered Kashmir is facing a threat of extinction. How can the
global custodians of peace and human dignity afford to be mere QUOMI MUSHAWARTI COUNCIL
spectators to the onslaught in Kashmir. If, in the presence of
global powers which matter, Kashmiris continue to be
strangulated, butchered, maimed and mutilated, then, under the
law of retribution, Nature will certainly intervene to stem the rot. Memorandum
Enough is enough. It is time to save Kashmir from carnage,
rampage, arson, desecration and devastation. So QMC stresses an
early peaceful and honourable solution of Kashmir issue. And our Brother Bill Clinton,
freedom aspirations should be paramount while addressing the The honourable President of USA
festering Kashmir problem. The renowned human rights activist
Tapan Bose pragmatises his ideas about Kashmir issue saying: Compliments!
“Peace in Kashmir is not an option. It is imperative for the
survival and progress of South Asia…….” In a volatile situation where India and Pakistan, the two nuclear
powers of South Asia, are steadily, but involuntarily, heading
towards a full-fledged armed conflict due to their obsession and
mindset about Kashmir as the prisoners of the past the threat of a
nuclear holocaust continues to loom over this region. The state of avoiding platitude and diplomatic verbiage insinuating mere
uncertainty in South Asia has not only added to the misery of expediency, USA should intervene to extricate Kashmir from the
already overtaxed poor masses of this region but also created a vortex of uncertainty, chaos, violence and threat of extinction.
fear psychosis all over the globe. Today Kashmir is a nuclear
flashpoint and Subcontinent ‘ the most dangerous place’. Kashmir J&K Quomi Musharwarati Council (QMC), an alliance of pro-
issue is certainly a fuse in the tinder-box of South Asia. Kashmir independence organizations of Kashmir, is determined to
issue can trigger off a war which can completely shatter global strengthen a peace process aimed at seeking an honourable, viable
peace. Is the crisis in South Asia really ineluctable and and practicable solution of the vexed Kashmir issue. Your sincere
unresolvable due to the hallucinatory grandeur and intractability efforts for rapprochement and reconciliation between India and
of India and Pakistan? Can’t you, as chief executive of the sole Pakistan and also a campaign to alleviate the misery and
superpower, assert as a genuine global pacifist to force the two sufferings of Kashmiris will certainly elevate you to the highest
contending nations of South Asia to adopt an objective and position of prominence in the contemporary history of this strife-
realistic approach to Kashmir issue? Why should over a billion torn world.
people of South Asia be held as hostage to Kashmir issue and that
too at the cost of world peace? Are 12 million people of Jammu Wish you success
and Kashmir a non-entity to be thrown into a dustbin? Is Kashmir
an expendable pawn in the arena of global politics?
Yours brotherly
Kashmiris, the highly conscious self-respecting people, have been
struggling for their freedom and honour for the last 52 years.
About half a million people got consumed in the violence which
engulfed the J&K state intermittently. During the past decade-long Feb. 26, 2000
resistance movement over seventy thousand Kashmiris, including Srinagar, Kashmir (Azam Inqilabi)
women and children, were mercilessly butchered by the Indian Chairman
security forces. The tale of human rights abuse and violations is J&K Q.M.C.
really ineffable. Carnage, arson, loot, molestation of women and
custodial killing is all that forms a permanent feature of the
military onslaught in Kashmir. The ruins of Kashmir present a
ghastly look of the scenario of death and destruction. Kashmiris,
who are sandwiched between two inveterately hostile
neighbouring countries, find themselves completely helpless and
benumbed. Protracted conflict and crisis in Kashmir is something
which hawkish jingoists alone can approve of. Humanists of the
world should rise to the occasion to plead peace and pacifism.
This is the only way to retrieve the already deteriorating situation
Epilogue
in Kashmir. Agonized and brutalized Kashmiris are crying hoarse
for help.
As a Kashmiri patriot I love my country Kashmir
You, as the powerful statesman, should take cognizance of the for its natural beauty and mystic culture. Alas!,
human rights abuse in Kashmir and force India and Pakistan to the alien forces have enslaved my abode. For any
seek a peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue through meaningful metaphysical exercise to develop union with God
and substantive dialogue. Durable peace in South Asia can be peace is indispensable requirement. Unfortunately
ensured only by recognizing Kashmiris’ right to self- peace is a casualty here. So peace of mind a
determination and independence. The objective of a trilateral distant dream in the presence of alien forces. I am
negotiated settlement of Kashmir problem can be achieved sure that the heroic struggle of brave and
through tripartite talks between the parties concerned. So, while
conscious Kashmiris for their cherished goal of
Azadi will come to a logical end before long. Let
us repose trust in God Almighty and pray, with
concentration, for our emancipation from the
state of helplessness. For a modest revolutionary
like me it is really heartening to understand that
youngsters of the third generation are more
resolute and vigorous than their predecessors.
However the future revolutionaries will certainly
take pride in the heroic deeds of their ancestors.
Every patriot finds it convenient to identify
himself with those who had and who have the
capability to take on their adversaries with
indomitable courage and unflinching faith in
Allah. Hope this book will inspire the future
generations of Kashmir and guide them in hour of
crisis. Kashmiris will continue to tread the path of
defiance unless and until their inalienable right of
self-determination is recognized and conceded to.