PAKISTAN MUST ACT IN THE INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE OF JAMMU KASHMIR STATE
The Statement Issued by Zulfiqar Ahmed, the Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir People’s National Alliance (JKPNA).
The human rights violations being committed by the Indian occupying forces in Indian administered part of the Jammu Kashmir state have created a very dangerous situation not only for all the people of divided Jammu Kashmir state but also for the peace, stability and security of the region, South Asia.
In addition, the continuing human rights violations and long terms imprisonments of the political activists in Gilgit-Baltistan under Pakistani administered part of the Jammu Kashmir state are also fuelling the catastrophe being created by the Government of India.
The Government of Pakistan appears to be confused and helplessness in managing the public opinion in Pakistan and in Pakistani administered Jammu Kashmir including Gilgit Baltistan over the latest development taking place in Indian administered Jammu Kashmir. Pakistan is one of the responsible parties involved in the cooking of the original crisis, called the Kashmir dispute.
On 15th August 1947, with the termination of the British Raj, the Jammu Kashmir became legally, constitutionally and politically an independent state. Nevertheless, there was a conflict going on between the Government of Maharaja Hari Singh and the political parties struggling for the legal, constitutional and democratic rights of the people of Jammu Kashmir State.
As a matter of historical fact, this was an internal dispute between the Government of Maharaja Hari Singh and the people of the Jammu Kashmir state. Under the newly promulgated Indian Independence Act, India, Pakistan and Britain did not have any right or authority to interfere in the internal affairs of the State of Jammu Kashmir.
The first illegal intervention in Jammu Kashmir state came with the invasion of Pakistani armed tribesmen on 22nd October 1947. This tribesmen invasion polluted the struggle of the people of Jammu Kashmir for their legal and democratic rights. The Indian army invaded Jammu Kashmir state on 27th October 1947 under the pretext of a disputed accession document, and, the Government of India took the accession dispute to the United Nations.
A process of allegations and counter-allegations between India and Pakistan over Kashmir’s accession dispute was set in motion and several United Nations’ resolutions on Kashmir dispute were accepted by the governments of India and Pakistan. This is how the real dispute between the Government of Maharaja Hari Singh and the people of the Jammu Kashmir state was transformed into a Kashmir’s accession dispute between India and Pakistan.
The Government of Pakistan became the part of a coalition which manufactured the Kashmir’s accession dispute and occupied the part of Jammu Kashmir state currently under its administration. Under the United Nations resolution of 13th August 1948 on Kashmir question, the Jammu Kashmir state was divided between India and Pakistan in the name of Cease-fire-Line, called the Line-of-Control under the Simla Agreement of 1972 between the Governments of India and Pakistan.
In the resolution of 13th August 1948, it was said that the armies of both countries will be withdrawn and the plebiscite will be held to determine the future status of the State of Jammu Kashmir.
The Government of India took further steps to affirm her false pledge of holding a plebiscite and about not interfering with the special status, State Subject rule and the internal demography of the Jammu Kashmir state by introducing section 370 and 35A of its constitution.
However, in order to pave the way, tactfully and deceitfully, for the total annexation of Jammu Kashmir state, the Government of India also set a process in the motion of recruiting state subjects into Indian political parties through financial and political corruption.
On this side of the dividing line, the Government of Pakistan imposed two main oppressive measures on the part of the Jammu Kashmir state under its administration through a pact, called the Karachi pact. The State territories under Pakistani occupation were divided into Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan and local managements were forced to promote the idea of a plebiscite.
The people of Pakistani administered Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan were also deprived of their legal and democratic rights.
This division and deprivation of the people’s rights of Pakistani administered Jammu Kashmir removed the threat, perceived by the Indian policymakers, from Pakistani occupied Jammu Kashmir to the Indian occupation of Jammu Kashmir. As a result, the Indian ruling classes refused to fulfil their pledge of holding the plebiscite in the State of Jammu Kashmir.
The oppressive measures taken by the Government of Pakistan were further strengthened after the Simla Agreement of 1972. The slogan of “Kashmir banay ga Pakistan” (Kashmir will be Pakistan) was imposed and the freedom-loving people were prohibited from contesting elections and in the state employments.
Moreover, the Government of Pakistan took further steps to strengthen already suspended State Subject rule in Gilgit Baltistan after the Simla Agreement. In addition, the unsuccessful attempts were also made to enforce the provisional status on the Jammu Kashmir territories under the Pakistani administration.
In order to turn the failures into success, the Government of Pakistan adopted the Indian model of Kashmir’s total annexation policy by recruiting state subjects into Pakistani political parties. This has to be made clear here that the people of Jammu Kashmir do not accept any agreement between the Governments of India and Pakistan to which our Jammu Kashmir state is not a party.
At the very beginning of the external intervention, the bulk of the State leadership based in Srinagar, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit failed to grasp the legal and constitutional rights of the Jammu Kashmir state accommodated in the Indian Independence act. The failure of the state leadership in comprehending these rights caused the further failure of the state leadership in defending the independence and integrity of the state.
This leadership tragedy in the State of Jammu Kashmir caused another catastrophe within the democratic movements in Jammu Kashmir.
The most politicians of the elite or pro-elite classes in all three parts of divided Jammu Kashmir state surrendered, only for vested interests, their right to self-determination to the Pakistani and Indian politicians by joining their ruling political parties.
In Indian administered Jammu Kashmir state some elite class politicians managed to maintain their national and state political parties. Tragically, in both the parts of Pakistani administered Jammu Kashmir, the elite class politicians failed completely to defend and maintain the national and state political parties.
This preplanned political shift in Pakistani administered parts of the Jammu Kashmir state has also contributed towards the revocation of the article 370 of the Indian constitution. This shows the undefeated internal connection between the divided parts of Jammu Kashmir state. The revocation of the article 370, confused reaction shown by the Government of Pakistan and the statements coming from Washington and London point out towards a secret deal between the Government of India and the Government of Pakistan supported by the United States of America and Britain.
The secret deal is, clearly, aimed at to bring an end to the existence of the Jammu Kashmir State, the homeland of a people and of a nation. This is a human disaster initiated by the fascist Government of India. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the Pakistani foreign minister now puts the future of the people of Jammu Kashmiri in God’s hand after spending billions of rupees on nuclear weapons in the name of Kashmir when the God was already there.
When a state, a people or a nation is destroyed in this way, it opens the gate for the monsters of savagism and barbarianism to come out.
The fascist Government of India intends to construct at least two monsters. First, the annihilation of Kashmiri state and its people. And, second, the hegemony of fascism in South Asia.
The process of annihilating the Kashmir state and its people has begun in the part of Jammu Kashmir state under Indian occupation. The Indian occupied Kashmir is under military siege and curfew. All means of contacts and communication with the outside world are disconnected. The supplies of food, medicine, basic needs for life are blocked. The acts of torture, imprisonment, killings of men, women, young and old and raping are taking place at a large scale.
The Indian occupying army is, legally, exempted from war crimes. What is the role for us, the freedom-loving Kashmiris under Pakistani occupation, to play under the given conditions?
On 10th August 2019, an all party’s conference of nationalist organizations was held in Rawalakot to discuss the question. 27 freedom-loving parties from both the parts of Jammu Kashmir under Pakistani occupation participated the conference and decided to set up Jammu Kashmir People’s National Alliance (JKPNA) to initiate the struggle for the national cause of four main points.
The first main point is about the restoration of State Subject rule in Gilgit Baltistan Hunza zone under Pakistani occupation and Jammu Srinagar Ladakh zone under Indian occupation. The second point is connected with the establishment of a Constitutional Assembly of Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, currently administered by Pakistan. The third point is pertaining to the opening of diplomatic missions in Pakistan and at the international level after the establishment of an independent government. And, the fourth main point is regarding the re-establishment of state integrity and its complete independence.
In order to achieve the four-point goal set by the Jammu Kashmir People’s National Alliance, I urge upon all freedom-loving organizations, groups, trade unionists, professionals and intellectuals of both the parts of Pakistani occupied Kashmir to join the alliance. This is a call and a need of the time.
Our first focused point will be on the restoration of the State Subject rule in Gilgit Baltistan Hunza zone. This will enable the people of Gilgit Baltistan Hunza zone to play their democratic and just role within the political arena of the State and Kashmir dispute. This will also strengthen the people of Kashmir state under Pakistani occupation to take jointly a principled stand to defend the State Subject rule and demand for the restoration of State subject rule for the people of Jammu Srinagar Ladakh zone being oppressed and suppressed under the Indian occupation.
The second and most central point for our struggle will be for the establishment of a Constitutional Assembly of Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, currently under Pakistani administration. At the same time, our focus will be on the building of closed co-ordination with the people of Indian occupied part of Jammu Kashmir state. Other main objectives of the JKPNA including the struggle for the reunification of Gilgit Baltistan Hunza zone, Muzaffarabad Poonch Mirpur zone and Jammu Srinagar Ladakh zone relates to the phases of our struggle after the goal of the establishment of our Constitutional Assembly is achieved. All national projects for the social, economic and political development will have to be processed through the Constitutional Assembly.
What the Government of Pakistan must do in this disastrous situation created by the Government of India? At present, the Government of Pakistan is, it appears, the part of the secret design to build a monster of fascism. This is a very dangerous and destructive game against all people of South Asia including the people of India, Pakistan, Kashmir and humanity.
I, therefore, on the behalf of the Jammu Kashmir People’s National Alliance urge strongly upon the Government of Pakistan to withdraw from this anti-people and anti-humanity monster and must act in the interest of the people of Jammu Kashmir State by restoring the State Subject rule in Gilgit Baltistan Hunza zone and by recognizing our legal, constitutional and democratic rights of establishing a Constitutional Assembly of Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan Hunza before it is too late and before the rise of the confrontation between the people of Pakistani occupied Kashmir and the Pakistani state. Moreover, I demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners in Gilgit Baltistan zone under Pakistani occupation and Jammu Srinagar Ladakh zone under Indian occupation.
Lastly, I would like to urge upon all freedom, justice and demo-crating loving people of Pakistan and the people of the world to show their full solidarity with and support our just struggle for the restoration of State Subject rule in Gilgit Baltistan and for the establishment of our Constitutional Assembly.
Issued by: Zulfiqar Ahmed, the Chairman of Jammu Kashmir People’s National Alliance