In 1820, the Sikh Empire under Ranjit Singh annexed Kashmir to Punjab. After the Sikh surrender in the First Anglo-Sikh War and the consolidation of the region from the British under the Treaty of Amritsar, Gulab Singh, the Raja of Jammu managed to succeed as the new ruler of Kashmir in 1846. The rule of his descendants continued under the monopoly of the British Crown after India gained its independence in 1947, when the recently vanished princely region of the British Indian Empire turn out to be a regional conflict now completely controlled by three regions, Pakistan, and China. It is likely that the imperial aspirations of Hindu India were put to death in Kashmir when the record of Indian Politics was written.
The long-running Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir has resulted in a war. It has been fought by a 700,000-strong occupation force, which is seven times the total number of soldiers the Soviet Union or US-NATO have ever deployed in Afghanistan. The Kashmir conflict won’t end until New Delhi understands that it cannot subdue the Kashmiri citizens and that it is seriously harming the Indian state. This future is already apparent. First, it is widely acknowledged that India’s colonization of Kashmir is illegal. The UN resolutions mandating a plebiscite in Kashmir have been reiterated by the Security Council and the UN secretary-general. These resolutions are broken by India’s position.
The Kashmir conflict won’t end until New Delhi understands that it cannot subdue the Kashmiri citizens.
The Muslims of Kashmir will vehemently oppose becoming a minority within their own country. The Maharaja of Kashmir was intended to have acceded to India under the conditions outlined in Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. India has completely removed the sole legal defence it had put forth for its complaint to Jammu & Kashmir by removing this article. Therefore, according to its legal standard, occupation is now bare. Second, all avenues for a peace-loving and negotiated settlement of the conflict have been blocked by the Modi administration. Both a bilateral conversation with Pakistan and outside mediation have been rejected. After taking unilateral action on August 5, India claims that the only issue up for negotiation with Pakistan is the “return” of “Pakistan-occupied Kashmir” to India. Additionally, the Indian government has no plans to negotiate with Kashmiris. The proconsuls of Delhi will now have direct control over them. India has unmistakably chosen a military course of action. Muslims in Kashmir are in imminent danger of extinction. They will vehemently oppose Hindu colonists forcing them to become a minority within their own country. They are forced to step up their fight for freedom. A mass murder in occupied Kashmir may result from the BJP’s(Bharatiya Janata Party) fascist plan to implement ” the final solution to last desire” by altering the demographic makeup of the region. This plan will lead to serious human rights violations and humanistic laws. Responsibility for the mass genocide and murder committed by “Hitler’s Hindus” will make India a pariah on the international stage, destroy its social structure, and weaken its hold on Kashmir.
Third, Pakistan has changed from a fearful friend to a fearless allied nation of the Kashmiri freedom movement as a result of India’s ego and belligerence, the Hindutva racism, and the obvious going to suffer being forced on the Kashmiri people. Kashmir has once more been identified as Pakistan’s most important issue. The likelihood that diplomatic ties with India can indeed be normalized and the Jammu & Kashmir conflict can be settled through negotiations has significantly decreased in Pakistan as a result of the BJP’s actions.
There will be a significant domestic force on the Pakistani government to continue supporting the Kashmiri freedom struggle as a result of India’s most recent crackdown and its anticipated crackdown on the Kashmiri uprising. Such support would be perfectly legal. The Security Council’s mandate for plebiscites in resolution 47 (1948) and later resolutions needs to reflect the official status of the citizens of Jammu & Kashmir’s right to self-determination. To “revive to themselves their right by any approaches at their disposal,” peoples under the colonial and foreign rule must be “regarded as either authorized to the rights to self-determination,” according to the UN General Assembly., which would include armed struggle.” This is evident in Resolution 2649 (1970) and several subsequent resolutions.
Furthermore, these resolutions acknowledge that such peoples have the right “to seek and end up receiving all manner of moral and financial assistance” in the “sovereign right of their rights to self-determination.” Regardless of whether Pakistan supports the Kashmiri freedom movement or not, India will likely accuse Pakistan of “cross-border terrorism,” use force, and/or launch military incursions against it. The entire world is aware that a conflict between Pakistan and India could escalate into a terrible war with a nuclear component. The Security Council members, other states, and international organizations will probably take preventive action to avoid this. The world powers and International bodies will try to persuade India to change its mind and take part in a respectable political settlement with Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. But power has made Modi a drunk psychopath. He and his RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) allies (Amit Shah, Ajit Doval, and others) are of the opinion that oppressing Kashmiris and waging war on Pakistan is a successful strategy within India. They are likely to ignore the requests for moderation and communication.
The international community may then be tempted to choose the “easier” course of pressuring Pakistan to stop aiding the Kashmiri freedom movement and accept India’s imposed “realities” in colonized Jammu & Kashmir. But unlike previous administrations, the current Pakistani leadership will resist such pressure. Islamabad is beginning to believe that the BJP’s aggressive tactics will backfire and ignite a significant domestic insurgency in Kashmir that will be challenging to put down. Pakistan has regained confidence that it can neutralize New Delhi if needed by using credible nuclear deterrence, should India use the threat or use of force.
The prolonged Indian colonization of Kashmir is plausible to degenerate into Amire akin to Afghanistan. It will undermine India’s economy, divide its political system, and erode military morale. Like previous colonial powers, India will ultimately succumb to a well-organized popular insurgency in its bloody misadventures. It might take an additional ten or twenty years. But just like the illustrious Hindu Kush, the brave people of Kashmir will ultimately bury Hindu India’s imperial aspirations.
The writer is a freelance columnist.