Daily Times

Muslims of Punjab and Muslims of Kashmir have a historical role in the construction of Golden Temple of Sikh faith and in finding the Amarnath Cave of Hindu faith. Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru of Sikhism, requested Sai Mian Mir, a Muslim Pir of Lahore, to lay the foundation stone of Golden Temple of Amritsar in 1589.The Amarnath Cave for Hindus was found by a Muslim shepherd Buta Malik in 1850. Maa Parvati and Lord Shiva guided the future Hindus through a Muslim shepherd to the cave.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah went to Srinagar to evaluate the security arrangements for 45 days Yatra of the Amarnath Cave. The striking feature of the meeting to review the security arrangements chaired by the Home Minister, has been that there was no Muslim officer noticeable in the meeting held at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre. Maa Parvati and Lord Shiva could trust the Kashmiri Muslim shepherd and chose him as the mediary to lead the members of Hindu faith to the Cave but the Home Minister failed to notice the non-presence of Kashmiri Muslim officers in the meeting.

The increase in the security arrangements and giving more powers to security forces, would mean turning the area into a military garrison. Maa Parvati and Lord Shiva would not subscribe to Muslim unease and their indignity during the Yatra.

Kashmiri Muslim has not only found the Amarnath Cave for members of Hindu faith, Government of Jammu and Kashmir (Indian administered) rescinded the requirement of Entry Permit (Visa) for Indian citizens, needed for entry into Kashmir. Prime Minister of a part of the State Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad rescinded the visa requirement for Indian citizens on 31 march 1959, about 12 years after Maharaja entered into a conditional accession with the Government of India.

UN Resolution of 30 March 1951, advises the Government of Jammu and Kashmir (Indian administered) that it was elected from only a part of the State and as such did not represent the entire State. It is obvious that Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad could not rescind the requirement of entry permit. But he did.

The Report of the State Autonomy Committee published in July 2000 finds that the State has not signed any instrument of merger and that the accession of 26 October 1947 was conditional and limited to Defence, External Affairs and Communication. The residual sovereignty of the State is proven by the fact that it continued to control entry and exit of Indian citizens until 31 March 1959. The State has its own flag, national anthem, constitution and Penal Code.

There is no denying the fact that majority of Kashmiri Pandits have left the State, either out of fear or as advised by the Governor at that time. It was a planned exodus, to create soft Muslim targets for the attack of the security forces.

The State Government had set up autonomy committee on 29 November 1996 to examine the merits of their relationship with the Union of India. It comprised of Dr. Karan Singh (Chairman), Mohi ud din Shah, Abdul Ahad Vakil, Abdul Rahim Rather, Piyaray Lal Handoo, Bodh Raj Bali, Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Kaushik Thiksay and Teja Singh as members. Politicians who participate in elections under the Indian constitution and form the Government, have qualified their relationship with the Union of India.

As we examine the merits of this relationship, one finds that the State Autonomy Committee Report, has failed to address the most important fact that Government of India has on 15 January 1948 surrendered its conditional accession at the UN Security Council for a UN supervise vote. There is no accession of any kind at this point. Moreover, the conditions pleaded for an accession have been neutralised and reversed by the cease fire of 01 January 1949.

Jammu and Kashmir Government has granted admittance to Indian security forces for a specific purpose, as a supplement and as a subordinate force. This permission does not extend to the broad spread of intelligence and secret services, responsible for the unease and indignity of the people. UN Resolutions have further clarified the number, behaviour and location of these forces.

There are no two opinions that Indian security forces have turned turtle and gone berserk. There is a war going on between the people of Valley and the Indian army. It is heartening to note that Sikh community has held on to the elements of humaneness and to a sense of gratitude. Members of Sikh community in various parts of India and in Jammu have come out and offered protection to Kashmiri Muslim students, workers, passengers and others stranded in these places.

It is disheartening to find that the Hindus in particular and Kashmiri Pandits in general, seem to have washed their hands off any sense of gratitude or humaneness. Kashmiri Pandits have used community connections and communal hatred to add to the woes and miseries of Kashmiri Muslims living in the Valley and outside the valley.

There is no denying the fact that majority of Kashmiri Pandits have left the State, either out of fear or as advised by the Governor at that time. It was a planned exodus, to create soft Muslim targets for the attack of the security forces. It would have been very difficult to kill over 100000 Kashmiri youth, impose curfews, cordon off and search in the early hours of the morning and use live ammunition, if Kashmiri Pandits were living as neighbours. Planners in New Delhi needed to expose the Kashmiri youth, men and women, for an easy kill.

There is a sense of remorse and sense of sympathy for the Kashmiri Pandits who left the Valley during early 1990s. Be it so. But it is unfair that we have continued to ignore the five generations of Kashmiri Muslims driven out of the State into Azad Kashmir or to live in various provinces of Pakistan. Indian authorities have continued to refuse these people any family re-union on the occasion of a marriage or a death.

United Nations Resolutions have guaranteed these people their right of return in safety and dignity and lawful entry and exit. It is an irony that the Indian soldiers who have been allowed entry to perform four duties,have to adhere to three restraints placed on their number, behaviour and location and the Indians who needed an entry visa until March 1959, have played the Arab Camel with the citizens of Kashmir.

The circumstances have changed. It is the common Kashmiri who has to be let out or let into the State after satisfying a broad spread of intelligence network spread all across Kashmir. At times he would not be able to clear the intelligence ramp for all his life. Amit Shah a senior leader of BJP was in Srinagar for two days. He forgot to consider for a while that Amarnath Cave has been found by a Muslim and Lord Shiva guided him to lead the Hindus to it. There was no need to fume and be furious with Valley based Muslims.

The writer is president of London-based Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights, an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations