Daily Times

BJP Government through a Presidential Order on 5 August 2019 has announced to dismember the State of Jammu and Kashmir (Indian administered) into two union territories, namely, The Union Territory of Ladakh and The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The former would not have a legislature and the latter shall have the legislature. The immediate consequence to the people of The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been that they remain under lock and key since then. People have been placed under a curfew and their contacts with the outside world and within the State with each other have been blocked. People have been made invisible.

Modi Government has gone for a gamble and is destined to fail in her attempt to dismember the State and engineer a demographic change. Jammu and Kashmir is not part of Indian union. Indian administered Kashmir has its own Constitution, its own flag, national anthem and its separate Penal Code. In addition the State is fractured into three administrations. Therefore, no single administration has a full representative character. Indian administered Kashmir does not have an elected assembly and an elected Government. The Governor’s Rule has graduated into a Presidents Rule.

Notification C.O.272 has misstated the fact that the President of India has exercised powers ‘with the concurrence of the government of State of Jammu and Kashmir”. There is no elected Government in Kashmir. The Governor of Jammu and Kashmir is an appointee of the President of India and the President could not sit in judgement twice in his own favour.

Even if the State had an elected Government in place the UN Security Council Resolutions 38 of 1948 and 91of 1951would not allow the President to take any such action. The Governor could not usurp the authority of an elected Government of Jammu and Kashmir or could contemplate to violate the two UN Security Council Resolutions.

As Iraq had to pay a reparation in Kuwait war, India should be made to pay reparation to the People of Kashmir. Indian attempt to dismember Kashmir and change demography has no merit and no future

We have known about the RSS interest in Kashmir since 20 December 1931, when “about six thousand Hindus including a batch of ‘Hindu Defence Forces volunteers’ paraded on the streets of Lahore” in solidarity with the Maharaja and his Government” and against the Muslims of Valley. RSS waited for 84 years when in March 2015 PDP made an error of judgement and helped BJP to become partner in the State Government.

PDP made a serious error of judgement and failed to keep a sense of history. According to records available at the UN Security Council, The Hindu militant organization Mahasabha organised a “Martyrs Day” on 30 August 1947 and urged its members and other non-Muslims in its leaflet, “Remember the 30th of August 1947 …when you have to observe ‘Martyrs Day’. The day should begin with the mass murder of Muslims, children and women alike. Forcible occupation of Muslim buildings should be your objective. Set fire to Muslim Mohallas” (quarter of the town) “but beware that the fire does not spread to Hindu and Sikh localities”. (Sir Mohammad Zafrullah Khan at the 228th meeting of UN security Council on 16 January 1948)

The Hindu Outlook, edited by Mr. G. Deshpande, the Secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha, published an article in the issue of 9 September 1947 and called upon Hindus and Sikhs to, “Remove the present Government, which is composed of men of straw and replace it by men who would be strong Hindus”, “Declare the Indian Union a Hindu State” and “Prepare the country on the basis of a war with Pakistan”. This is RSS and Hindu Mahasabha.

So what has happened in Kashmir, should not surprise us. Modi Government has decided to seek political, if not religious, conversions in the Valley. Delhi may be staffed by wicked people but there are still men of conscience who regard Modi Government’s decision as the beginning of future fragmentation of India. Government has introduced a manner of administrative dismembering of a disputed State. It could dismember any of the Indian States which are duly constituted parts of the Indian Union. Jammu and Kashmir has never merged into the Indian Union.

Modi Government has lied that President has exercised the power ‘with the concurrence of the government of State of Jammu and Kashmir”. There is no Kashmiri Government in place and the man in charge is a representative of the President of India. Therefore squeezing the Governor in President’s favour, has no sanction in constitutional jurisprudence.

Indian Government has moved from an administration into a forced occupation. When the administration lifts the curfew, it would be hell let loose on the streets of Kashmir. People of Azad Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan, Kashmiri diaspora, people of Pakistan and others around the world have started condemning the India decision of using the force and occupying Kashmir.

Government of Pakistan has formed a seven-member committee to recommend legal, political, and diplomatic responses to developments in the Indian occupied Kashmir. It is a welcome step. The Committee needs to be fully inclusive and the present formation does not reflect the Kashmiri representation. Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir also convened an All Parties Conference to discuss the situation created by the Modi Government.

Government of Pakistan and the Government of Azad Kashmir have assumed duties under UNCIP Resolutions. Therefore, both have to take urgent steps to highlight the Indian designs of using army and occupying an unwilling people. We have to admit that bilateral engagement between India and Pakistan has failed. Right of self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, could not be left to this unending engagement.

Jammu and Kashmir has reverted back to its status as between 14 August 1947 to 26 October 1947. Government of Pakistan needs to rush to the assistance of the people of Jammu and Kashmir under the Stand Still Agreement of 15 August 1947 and responsibilities assumed under UNCIP Resolutions in Azad Kashmir under the Constitution Act 1974. In addition the Government of Pakistan’s proposal made at the 761st Meeting of UN Security Council on 16 January 1957, asking the UN SC to send a UN Force into Kashmir, merits an early reconsideration.

The proposal of sending a UN Force into Kashmir was backed by Australia, Cuba, Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America. UN Secretary General has a role to play under article 99 and it is time that bilateral engagement is taken over by article 103 of UN Charter. The options of arbitration and reference to International court of Justice are available. Condemnation of Modi Government is important but more important is to take steps and force India to undo its aggression. As Iraq had to pay a reparation in Kuwait war, India should be made to pay reparation to the People of Kashmir. Indian attempt to dismember Kashmir and change demography has no merit and no future.

The writer is President of London based Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights – NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations