Published on The Asian Age (http://www.asianage.com)
By editor
Created 2 Jan 2014
We have been committing one folly after another and scoring repeated self-goals in Kashmir. Although we keep parroting that Kashmir is an integral part, we have no roadmap to ensure that.
We have been committing one folly after another and scoring repeated self-goals in Kashmir. Although we keep parroting that Kashmir is an integral part, we have no roadmap to ensure that.
I have been associated with military operations in Kashmir from day one — October 27, 1947. I served for over a decade in different Army ranks and in all regions of Kashmir. I also served as governor of the state from 2003-2008. Based on this long and varied experience, I feel that we have been committing one folly after another and scoring repeated self-goals in Kashmir. Although we keep parroting that Kashmir is an integral part of India, we have no roadmap to ensure that it always remains so. We hope that a solution would emerge through dialogue. We also believe that through generous Central aid to Kashmir for development, we will win over the people. Per capita Central aid to Kashmir has been about 11 times more than to our less developed states. The US has given several billion dollars as aid to Pakistan. Our Central government has given several billion rupees as aid to Kashmir. This massive aid has failed to achieve the desired results. Pakistan continues to regard the US as enemy number one. Similarly, the huge Indian aid for development in Kashmir has had no effect among the separatists. In fact, their number and hostility towards India have been increasing.
All princely states in the subcontinent acceded to India or Pakistan on the basis of the Instrument of Accession drafted during the British regime, except Balochistan and Kashmir. On August 4, 1947, a Special Agreement was signed at Delhi by Lord Louis Mountbatten, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Khan of Kalat (ruler of Balochistan). Jinnah had been the attorney of the Khan and was generous to him. This agreement provided for Balochistan reverting to its pre-1876 status. It was incorporated by the British in their Indian Empire in that year. This meant that Balochistan became independent on August 14, 1947, when Pakistan got its freedom. But, in January 1948, during the Khan’s visit to Karachi, the then capital of Pakistan, Jinnah forced the Khan to sign the Instrument of Accession. The people of Balochistan repudiated this. They immediately rose in armed revolt against Pakistan under the leadership of the Khan’s brother, Prince Karim Khan. Insurgency in Balochistan has continued since then to date. Pakistani Army has been brutally using offensive airpower and heavy artillery to suppress the revolt.
The case of Kashmir has been entirely different. The Maharaja of Kashmir acceded to India on October 26, 1947. He signed an exactly similar Instrument of Accession as other princely states. There was no legal requirement for a conditional accession. The Maharaja was in a very desperate situation, and he needed immediate military aid. To satisfy Sheikh Abdullah, he wrote a letter to Mountbatten saying that he would immediately instal the Sheikh in power, but he wanted to accede for only defence, foreign affairs and communications. This was not only accepted by Mountbatten on behalf of the Government of India, but an assurance given that after cessation of hostilities the people will be given a choice to determine the state’s future. Our Constitution provided Special Status for Kashmir under Article 370. This was only a temporary measure, but it has now been virtually made permanent. This was our initial folly in Kashmir followed by numerous other follies.
Zia-ul-Haq adopted the strategy of “thousand cuts” to bleed India in Kashmir. In 1989, Pakistan unleashed jihadi terrorism in Kashmir. It received considerable support from Islamic countries flush with petro-dollars. Military aid was provided by the US for launching a jihadi war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
After success in Afghanistan, jihadi forces started operating in Kashmir. The US turned a blind eye to not only the terrorist operations in Kashmir, but also to Pakistan acquiring nuclear weapons. After India defeated the Pakistani intrusion in Kargil, Pakistan stepped up ceasefire violations on the LoC. We retaliated with heavy, suppressive artillery fire against Pakistani troops from across the LoC. Pervez Musharraf proposed a ceasefire along the LoC, which we accepted. Peace held on the LoC for the next five years. Then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s emotional call, given from Kashmir in 2003, that the Kashmir problem be solved on the basis of insaaniyat had a big impact both in Kashmir and Pakistan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh continued with Mr Vajpayee’s policy of dialogue for peace with Pakistan. However, in the process, he followed an unduly soft policy. On account of his votebank politics and policy of appeasement, Pakistan got encouraged to toughen its stand.
Certain developments in 2013 are of grave concern. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been trying to hold out an olive branch of peace. We should not get carried away by this. After all, it was during his earlier tenure as Prime Minister that Pakistan launched the Kargil intrusion in Kashmir, and in his current tenure he has neither altered Pakistan’s stand in his speech at the United Nations nor done anything to control Pakistan’s aggression on the LoC. In fact, this increased manifold in 2013 with Indian security forces suffering more casualties at the LoC than ever before.
There has been yet another unfortunate incident in Kashmir. After three years of the killing of some civilians in an alleged fake encounter, despite persistent demands by the people for action against the guilty, the Army has only now agreed to court-martial six of its officers and men. This delay is unfortunate and has projected a wrong image of the Army: that only after attempts at cover-up failed, the Army has been forced to take action. This only tarnishes the Army’s unparalleled record in dealing with human rights violations, which take place all over the world in such operations. The Indian Army’s record in this regard has been far superior to that of the US Army in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, or the genocide by the Pakistan Army in erstwhile East Pakistan and Balochistan.
We need to deal very firmly with Pakistan on the LoC and ensure that Pakistani forces violating the LoC get heavily punished. There should be no question of compromising our national integrity. At the same time, we need to win over the majority of the people in Kashmir and bring them into the national mainstream. It is not realised that the separatists are primarily confined to Kashmiri Muslims, who constitute a minority, being only 45 per cent of the state’s population.
Every effort needs to be made to isolate the separatist amongst the Kashmiri Muslims, by restoring their old tradition of Kashmiriyat, which stands for amity across religious divides.
The writer, a retired lieutenant-general, was Vice-Chief of Army Staff and has served as governor of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir
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