Jamil Chughtai
The greater Hindustan was divided between India and Pakistan in August 1947 based on population of Hindus and Muslims across the existing British administered provinces and areas. In case of autonomous as well as semi-autonomous princely states it was agreed that those would be made part of either of the countries according to the wishes of the people in those states. Accordingly the fate of Jammu & Kashmir state having predominantly Muslim population was to be decided by the state keeping in view the wishes and majority opinion of the local populace. However the Hindu ruler of the state Maharaja Harri Singh in collusion with India had made some other plans which were entirely different to what people of the valley desired.
When the duplicitous attitude of Harri Singh gave out early signs that he would eventually fall into the lap of India, a revolt by local Muslims and tribesmen triggered against the Dogra Raja to resist his nefarious designs. The Indian troops already on wait at the border used this excuse to move inside the valley with a mass build-up in an attempt to forcibly annex the valley with India, which provoked a war with Pakistan in 1948. As the war prolonged, the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) called for withdrawal of the troops by both the countries in August 1948 and later brokered a cease-fire in January 1949. To resolve the annexation issue on permanent basis, a five-member commission comprising Argentina, Belgium, Columbia, Czechoslovakia and the United States drew up a resolution calling for a referendum to decide Kashmir’s future. The text of the resolution passed on January 5, 1949 – which India never intend to implement – had following two very important clauses:
“The question of the accession of the State of Jammu & Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite”.
“The Secretary General of United Nations will, in agreement with the Commission, nominate a Plebiscite Administrator who shall be a personality of high international standing and commanding general confidence. He will be formally appointed to office by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir”.
It has been almost seven decades since UN passed the resolution on Kashmir, yet the implementation and execution of the said resolve continues to be a far cry to say the least, more so because of brazenly shameless denial by India to give the people of Kashmir their legitimate right to determine their fate by themselves.
Disappointed to see that UN had also put the issue on back burner while the atrocities and human rights violations by Indian army were becoming terrible each passing day, the oppressed people of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) first took to the streets in protest and then initiated an entirely indigenous struggle for liberation from the occupation forces. As the freedom movement picked momentum, the life of Kashmiris including men, women and children of all ages was made unbearably miserable by Indian military, however the liberation movement became intense with each wave of tyranny by the usurper. For long, not a single day passed in IOK when the hapless people of the valley have not been subjected to cold-blooded killings and inhuman tortures. Since violence has become favourite play-thing for Indian soldiers, they no more find it necessary to look for some pretext while carrying out day-light massacres, extra-judicial executions and rapes especially when AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) is there to provide them full protection to commit indescribable excesses at will.
UNCIP Resolution which provided a ray of hope for the Kashmiris in 1949 that they would soon be able to exercise their free-will through plebiscite is now being viewed as a bad bargain by today’s United Nations that major powers steer to their liking. Since long the daily account on miseries of the people of IOK have fallen short of knocking at the conscience of human rights watchdogs in general and United Nations in particular. Absence of resources and projection forums have miserably failed the oppressed Kashmiris in making the world bodies realize that they have so far remained painfully quiet and complacent while thousands of young Kashmiri freedom-seekers have been brutally tortured and slaughtered by Indian security forces. The last quarter of 2018 gave out a glimmer of hope when after decades of criminal negligence some major HR bodies including UNHRC, OCHRC and EUHRC have openly reported commission of grave human rights violations by Indian forces on innocent Kashmiris. However, the United Nations as world’s highest arbitration entity as well as the custodian of 1949-Resolution is yet to accord any serious response to the reports.
On this 5th day of January 2019, Kashmiris all over the world will once again try to strike a chord on UN’s conscience reminding the world body its very own resolution on Kashmir where it vowed to give people of the valley their legitimate right to self-determination. Over 1,00,000 Kashmiris have already been killed by Indian forces since 1990s, thousands have been crippled through inhuman tortures and hundreds of them got blinded with pellet guns. What else the United Nations and international human rights bodies need to make them realize that they have not done enough in the past and that they must now go beyond merely criticizing the behaviour of Indian occupation forces against hapless Kashmiri protesters.
In order to compensate its decades-long indifference for human sufferings in Kashmir and regain the trust of the oppressed communities throughout the world, United Nations has no other option but to force India to comply with International obligations and commitments it made in 1949. It is equally important that the usurper’s ongoing efforts towards changing the demography of Kashmir are foiled which are in fact aimed at getting favourable results even when it becomes inevitable for India some time in future to hold plebiscite to determine the will of masses. Moreover, a UN Inquiry Commission should start its investigations on human rights violations in IOK forthwith and based thereon hold Indian government explicitly responsible for committing unprecedented brutalities on people of the valley during seventy long years.
