Kashmir - O - Kashmir

During the ancient and medieval periods, Kashmir was an important centre for the development of a Hindu-Buddhist syncretism, in which Madhyamaka and Yogachara were blended with Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta. The Buddhist Mauryan emperor Ashoka is often credited with having founded the old capital of Kashmir, Shrinagari, now ruins on the outskirts of modern Srinagar. Kashmir was long a stronghold of Buddhism. Drafted by a treaty and a bill of sale, and constituted between 1820 and 1858, the Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu (as it was first called) combined disparate regions, religions, and ethnicities: to the east, Ladakh was ethnically and culturally Tibetan and its inhabitants practised Buddhism; to the south, Jammu had a mixed population of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs; in the heavily populated central Kashmir valley, the population was overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, however, there was also a small but influential Hindu minority, the Kashmiri brahmins or pandits; to the northeast, sparsely populated Baltistan had a population ethnically related to Ladakh, but which practised Shia Islam; to the north, also sparsely populated, Gilgit Agency, was an area of diverse, mostly Shiʻa groups; and, to the west, Punch was Muslim, but of different ethnicity than the Kashmir valley.

On June 17, 1822, Ranjit Singh after attending their father’s funeral gave the family the Chakla jagir in Jammu. Soon, they were elevated as Rajas – Dhyan got Poonch and Suchet Ramnagar. But the warrior Gulab proved different. He stayed put in Jammu unlike his brothers and crushed rebels like Mian Dido. He started consolidating his possession and expanding it using sheer power or petty tricks. Gulab was not so unfriendly with the East India Company. In 1841 he helped the British army to pass through Punjab and helped them in supplies. In the 1845-46 war between British and Sikhs, Gulab stayed away and, after Sikhs lost it, became an arbitrator. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, in which Kashmir sided with the British, and the subsequent assumption of direct rule by Great Britain, the princely state of Kashmir came under the suzerainty of the British Crown.

Promoted by Khalisa Durbar, Gulab Singh allied with the East India Company, and eventually raised loans to purchase Kashmir in instalments. But Gulab Singh, the ruthlessly ambitious maverick who founded J&K state, shall remain an enigma throughout history for cobbling a heterogenic state that defies logic but still exists 157 years after his death. The sale of Kashmir by East India Company in March 1846 continues to be the most discussed sale of a nation ever. Nearly 170 years later, this Rs 75 lakh purchase still haunts Kashmir nation’s core conscience. Key to its tensions and instability, Kashmir is still groping to find a way to stop devouring generations. The March 16, 1846, Treaty that sold Kashmir, “their fields, crops, streams, even the peasants…” – as poet Iqbal lamented later, was signed more than 500 km away from Srinagar, in Amritsar. “On this occasion, Maharaja Gulab Singh stood up and with joined hands, expressed his gratitude to the British Viceroy – adding, without, however, any ironical meaning,” recorded Captain Joseph Davey Cunningham, an East India Company official, in his celebrated History of Sikhs. “That he was indeed the zar-kharid or gold-boughten slave!” In lieu of one crore rupees of indemnity, East India Company took over hill countries between Beas and Indus rivers including Kashmir and Hazara on March 9, 1846, and later under Treaty of Amritsar on March 16, Gulab Singh paid Rs 75 lakh and took over the possession of Kashmir, Chamb, Ladakh, Jammu and Baltistan. The amount was paid in four instalments, the last one on March 14, 1850. There were murmurs of a mistake in giving Kashmir to a “ruler of a different race” but Company’s Board of Directors justified the decision for the fear of managing distant Kashmir at huge costs at a time when defraying war costs was a priority. Soon after the Treaty, Lord Hardinge visited Kashmir for 10 days in 1846 spring. Gulab Singh moved into Kashmir as a sovereign on November 9, 1846, at 8 am. British agent Colonel H K Lawrence accompanied him. He was, in fact, Khalisa Durbar’s Kashmir architect from day one.

Finally succeeding in creating a state, not so smaller than England, Gulab Singh could rule for slightly less than 11 years. But he managed it as more of a fief than a state. Chilling accounts exist about his governance, exploitation and cruelty. In anticipation of his death, he had anointed his son Ranbir as his successors in February 1856. His family tree goes thus:

Family tree of The Dogra dynasty (or Jamwal dynasty) was a Hindu Dogra Rajput dynasty that formed the royal house of Jammu and Kashmir.
I. Gulab Singh, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir (1792–1857; Maharaja: 1846 (abdicated 1856))
II. Ranbir Singh, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir GCSI, CIE (1830–1885; r. 1856–1885)
III. Pratap Singh, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir GCSI, GCIE, GBE (1848–1925; r. 1885–1925)
Raja Amar Singh KCSI (1864–1909)
IV. Hari Singh, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir GCSI, GCIE, GCVO (1895–1961; r. 1925–1947; titular Maharaja: 1952–1961)
V. Karan Singh, President of Jammu and Kashmir (b. 1931; Regent of Jammu and Kashmir: 1949–1952; Sadar-e-Riyasat (President) of Jammu and Kashmir: 1952–1965; Governor of Jammu and Kashmir: 1965–1967;
Vikramaditya Singh (born 1964)
Martanday Singh (b. 198?)
Ajatshatru Singh (born 1966)
Ranvijay Singh (born 1993)


Since 1947 - Kashmir had always been a delicate issue. The intractable problem of the lovely vale of Kashmir was disputed during this time. Kashmir's Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh wanted an independent state. Mountbatten warned that they would end up becoming a battlefield. Mountbatten tried to convince the Maharaja to be part of Pakistan, as they had a majority of muslim population. Also the name 'Pakistan - The Land of the pure' suggested by Rahmat Ali on 28th January 1933 was keeping in mind - Punjab, Kashmir, Sind, The Frontier and Baluchistan. Soon after independence, Pakistan wanted them to join their country, but Hari Singh had no intentions, which Jinnah the founder of Pakistan could not tolerate. Pakistan had three plans in place:

1) Outright invention - but was not ready for an adventure that could lead to a war with India.
2) Col. Akhbar Khan, with a taste for conspiracy presented the idea that Pakistan supply the arms and money to foment an uprising of Kashmir's dissident Moslem population. This would require several months.
3) Chief Minister of North west Frontier province governing the most troublesome and feared Pathan's agents of the kings of Afghanistan was arousing the tribes seeking their support for the expansion of his kingdom to Peshawar and the banks of the Indus. Sending those dangerous hordes to Srinagar had considerable appeal. Tribes'men where given the opportunity to loot the bazaars of Kashmir, thus saving the bazaars of Peshawar as well.

They opted for the third and send the Pathan tribesmen who organized and armed Srinagar later in that autumn. Looting the bazaars became the troops priority, giving time to the Kashmir Maharaja to seek support, which otherwise would have fallen swiftly and become part of Pakistan.

Singh sent out an SOS for help to New Delhi. That was not possible unless the Maharaja signed a formal act accending to India. Singh did sign it in great haste and Indian troops were airlifted to Kashmir. The Instrument of Accession is a legal document executed by Maharaja Hari Singh, ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, on 26 October 1947. By executing this document under the provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh agreed to accede to the Dominion of India. He originally maneuvered to maintain his independence by playing off India and Pakistan against each other. If Kashmir, is still a part of India, it was Maharaja Hari Singh's gift.

Indo-Pakistani War thus started in 1947 over Kashmir. There was UN mediation, Dixon Plan suggested Dixon agreed that people in Jammu and Ladakh were clearly in favour of India; equally clearly, those in Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas wanted to be part of Pakistan. This left the Kashmir Valley and 'perhaps some adjacent country' around Muzaffarabad in uncertain political terrain. Pakistan did not accept this plan because it believed that India's commitment to a plebiscite for the whole state should not be abandoned.

Sheikh Abdullah took oath as Prime Minister of the state on 17 March 1948. In 1949, the Indian government obliged Hari Singh to leave Jammu and Kashmir and yield the government to Sheikh Abdullah. Karan Singh, the son of the erstwhile Maharajah Hari Singh was made the Sadr-i-Riyasat (Constitutional Head of State) and the Governor of the state.

In 1950 there was military standoff, The Commonwealth had taken up the Kashmir issue in January 1951. Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies suggested that a Commonwealth force be stationed in Kashmir; that a joint Indo-Pakistani force be stationed in Kashmir and the plebiscite administrator be entitled to raise local troops while the plebiscite would be held. Pakistan accepted these proposals but India rejected them because it did not want Pakistan, who was in India's eyes the 'aggressor', to have an equal footing. The UN Security Council called on India and Pakistan to honour the resolutions of plebiscite both had accepted in 1948 and 1949. The United States and Britain proposed that if the two could not reach an agreement then arbitration would be considered. Pakistan agreed but Nehru said he would not allow a third person to decide the fate of four million people. Korbel criticised India's stance towards a ″valid″ and ″recommended technique of international co-operation.″

Nehru's pledge of a referendum to people of Kashmir did not come into action. Sheikh Abdullah advocated complete independence and had allegedly joined hands with US to conspire against India. On 8 August 1953, Sheikh Abdullah was dismissed as Prime Minister by the Sadr-i-Riyasat Karan Singh on the charge that he had lost the confidence of his cabinet. He was denied the opportunity to prove his majority on the floor of the house. He was also jailed in 1953 while Sheikh's dissident deputy, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad was appointed as the new Prime Minister of the state

Article 370 was drafted in 1954 by the Indian constitution granting special autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, as per Instrument of Accession. This article specifies that the State must concur in the application of laws by Indian parliament, except those that pertain to Communications, Defence and Foreign Affairs. Central Government could not exercise its power to interfere in any other areas of governance of the state.

From all the information I have, 95 per cent of Kashmir Muslims do not wish to be or remain Indian citizens. I doubt therefore the wisdom of trying to keep people by force where they do not wish to stay. This cannot but have serious long-term political consequences, though immediately it may suit policy and please public opinion.

— Jayaprakash Narayan's letter to Nehru, May 1, 1956.

In 1962, troops from the People's Republic of China and India clashed in territory claimed by both. China won a swift victory in the war. Aksai Chin, part of which was under Chinese jurisdiction before the war, remained under Chinese control since then. Another smaller area, the Trans-Karakoram, was demarcated as the Line of Control (LOC) between China and Pakistan, although some of the territory on the Chinese side is claimed by India to be part of Kashmir. The line that separates India from China in this region is known as the "Line of Actual Control".
Then there was Operation Gibraltar, 1965 Indo-Pakistani war and 1971 Indo-Pakistani war and Simla Agreement. The Simla Agreement also stated that the two sides would meet again for establishing durable peace. Reportedly Bhutto asked for time to prepare the people of Pakistan and the National Assembly for a final settlement which never happened. The countries resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations and to maintain the sanctity of the Line of Control. Multilateral negotiations were not ruled out, but they were conditional upon both sides agreeing to them.

Jammu and Kashmir today is the southeastern portion of the larger Kashmir region; western districts, now known as Azad Kashmir, and northern territories, now known as Gilgit-Baltistan, are administered by Pakistan. The Aksai Chin region in the east, bordering Tibet, has been under Chinese control since 1962.

1954–1974 is considered to be a period of integration and rise of Kashmiri nationalism ; 1975 to 1983 was the revival of National Conference. 1984 to 86 saw the Rise of the separatist movement and Islamism and Post-1987 there have been insurgency in Indian administered Kashmir.

In 1989, a widespread popular and armed insurgency started in Kashmir. After the 1987 state legislative assembly election, some of the results were disputed. This resulted in the formation of militant wings and marked the beginning of the Mujahadeen insurgency, which continues to this day. India contends that the insurgency was largely started by Afghan mujahadeen who entered the Kashmir valley following the end of the Soviet–Afghan War. The Pakistani government calls these insurgents "Kashmiri freedom fighters", and claims that it provides them only moral and diplomatic support, although India believes they are Pakistan-supported terrorists from Pakistan Administered Kashmir. Due to rising insurgency and Islamic militancy in the Kashmir Valley, Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee the valley. They were targeted by militant groups such as the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Jaish-e-Mohammed. On 4 January 1990, Srinagar based newspaper Aftab released a message, threatening all Hindus to leave Kashmir immediately, sourcing it to the militant organization Hizbul Mujahideen.

On 21 January 1990, two days after Jagmohan took over as governor of Jammu and Kashmir, the Gawkadal massacre took place in Srinagar when the Indian paramilitary troops of the Central Reserve Police Force opened fire on a group of Kashmiri protesters in what has been described by some authors as "the worst massacre in Kashmiri history" (along with the Bijbehara Massacre in 1993). At least 50 people were killed, with some reports of the deaths reaching as high as 280. In the aftermath of the massacre, more demonstrations followed, and in January 1990, Indian paramilitary forces are believed to have killed around 300 protesters. As a Human Rights Watch stated in a report from May, 1991, "In the weeks that followed [the Gawakadal massacre] as security forces fired on crowds of marchers and as militants intensified their attacks against the police and those suspected of aiding them, Kashmir's civil war began in earnest." The mass exodus began on 1 March 1990, when hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits left the state; of the approximately 300,000 to 600,000 Hindus living in the Kashmir Valley in 1990, only 2,000–3,000 lived there in 2016. Kashmiri Pandits Holocaust on 19 January 1990..Prove they have been working on their plan 2 above, and their slogan at the time of Partition - 'Hamkelya Pakistan, Larkelinge Hindustan' meaning - We got Pakistan by laughing, we'll get India by fighting. In 1990 , it seems Kashmiri Pandit's were given a choice, 'Raliv, Galiv ya Chaliv'; means convert, die or leave Kashmir. Was that a choice at all?

In mid-1999, alleged insurgents and Pakistani soldiers from Pakistani Kashmir infiltrated Jammu and Kashmir. During the winter season, Indian forces regularly move down to lower altitudes, as severe climatic conditions makes it almost impossible for them to guard the high peaks near the Line of Control. Fears of the Kargil War turning into a nuclear war provoked the then-United States President Bill Clinton to pressure Pakistan to retreat.

US officials believed that Al-Qaeda was helping organise a campaign of terror in Kashmir to provoke conflict between India and Pakistan. Their strategy was to force Pakistan to move its troops to the border with India, thereby relieving pressure on Al-Qaeda elements hiding in northwestern Pakistan. US intelligence analysts say Al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives in Pakistan-administered Kashmir are helping terrorists trained in Afghanistan to infiltrate Indian-administered Kashmir. Fazlur Rehman Khalil, the leader of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, signed al-Qaeda's 1998 declaration of holy war, which called on Muslims to attack all Americans and their allies. In 2006 Al-Qaeda claim they have established a wing in Kashmir, which worried the Indian government. In June 2011, a US Drone strike killed Ilyas Kashmiri, chief of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, a Kashmiri militant group associated with Al-Qaeda. In April 2012, Farman Ali Shinwari a former member of Kashmiri separatist groups Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, was appointed chief of al-Qaeda in Pakistan.

The 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election was held in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in five phases despite of repeated protest from Hurriyat leaders (a alliance of 26 political parties)

An attack by four militants on an Indian Army base on 18 September 2016, also known as the 2016 Uri attack, resulted in the death of 19 soldiers as well as the militants themselves, it was belived to be done by(Jaish-e-Mohammed (literally "The Army of Muhammad", abbreviated as Jem is Islamic Jihadis formed on 9 March 1993).

In the deadliest incident since 2016, Kashmir separatist terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) carried and claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a military convoy that killed over 40 Indian soldiers on 14 February 2019.In retaliation on 26 February 2019, 12 Indian Mirage 2000 fighter jets dropped bombs on a “terrorist camp” in Pakistan-controlled territory of Kashmir, allegedly killing around 350 members of the JEM. As India trespassed Pakistan's air space, the incidents escalated the tension between India and Pakistan starting the 2019 India–Pakistan standoff

Ajatshatru Singh had served with the NC as a minister in the Jammu and Kashmir Government from 1996 to 2002. In 2014 he quit the NC to join the BJP, stating that he had done so to satisfy the "people’s desire to have a corruption and dynasty-free government"

After the Government of India repealed the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 in August 2019 with immediate effect; which was introduced in 1954 on a temporary basis, for transition, giving special status and abolished by the Indian constitution, the Parliament of India passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, which contained provisions that dissolved the state and reorganised it into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir in the west and Ladakh in the east, with effect from 31 October 2019.

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Well this is a time, when all across the border - Immigration has become one of the major environmental issue.


By Anitha Kamak

True. The first time I went to Kashmir it didn't feel like India. Gushing streams, icy mountains, crystal clear lakes, cold deserts.. it was hard to believe such a beautiful land was part of our country. That those demure people who avert their eyes are not Kashmiris but Indians too. Who knows how much pain those eyes want to hide? I am not qualified to analyze the multiple dimensions of the troubles that have harrowed this land for many many years now. But those Kashmiris do not deserve such suffering. It is not only the weather that is brutal but so are the living conditions amidst army and militancy. What is your life like when for years you are under crossfire for no reason of yours? Imagine being alienated in your own home town, being watched with suspicious eyes wherever you go, your children growing up without a childhood, life on a chaos without a certainty for the future and years of such miserable life... What would it do to your psyche? How would you feel a sense of belonging? You might be of any religion, of any political agenda, but how could you be a silent spectator to an audacious blanket rule by the government in the name of any legislature? By not voicing out don't we give more reasons for the Kashmiris to feel more isolated? Is this the right way to make them feel like they are integral to us?

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Kashmiris bear an 'acute sense of grievance' that they were not in control of their own fate for centuries. It has been ruled in succession by the Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs, Dogras and, lately, the Indian government. The issue was not started in 1947 and will not end with the revokation of Article 370.

The question we need to ask instead of “What about the Kashmiri Pandits” is this: Do we wish to extend lives of trauma and oppression for all Kashmiris, or to pivot back, lending our faith to a Kashmir where they all live with dignity?

https://thewire.in/rights/kashmiri-pandits-exile

The question remains - If ethical principles deny our right from doing evil that good may come, is it justifiable to do good that the consequence is evil?
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