Daily Times

Mother India written by American historian Ketherine Mayo and published in 1927 on the treatment of Indian women, the untouchables, animals, dirt and character of Indian politicians, created an outrage all across India. Even Gandhi could not hold back and hit at her book as a "report of a drain inspector sent out with the one purpose of opening and examining the drains of the country to be reported upon". The book was burned along with her effigy. It prompted over fifty books and pamphlets against it. The 93 year old book on Indian society, religion and culture, reveals all that most of us need to know today.

Ketherine Mayo in her chapter on “Slave Mentality” quotes Gandhi as he spoke to his people, “Let us not put off everything until Swaraj (self-government) is attained and thus put off Swaraj itself. Swaraj can be had only by brave and clean people.”

Gandhi’s pleading to his people finds a comparable audience in Kashmir. We switched off from all important duties as a ’brave and clean people’ and went for a hollow statement of implementation of UN Resolutions, lock, stock and barrel. In fact we remain fully responsible for ‘putting off’ the implementation of the UN supervised Plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir.

India waited for 72 years and decided to go for the big kill on 5 August 2019. We still are not prepared to respond.

We have remained intolerant, non-engaging and unintelligent in the course of our interest in Kashmir. It was a serious error of judgement to call Sheikh Abdullah as a “paid agent of Congress”, a “quisling”, with “no following among Muslim masses” and “should not be acknowledged leader of Muslims of Kashmir.” (Cable from Prime Minister of Pakistan addressed to British Prime Minister dated 24 November 1947). We turned turtle and received Sheikh Abdullah in Rawalpindi in May 1964 as a hero and main leader of Jammu and Kashmir.

It was a serious mistake to enrol Kashmiris in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan and assign them an anti- Sheikh Abdullah lifelong troll. All these people are resting in their graves and they have done no good to Kashmir or to their own name. We should have gone after Sheikh Abdullah and held him from the collar and demanded that he had stood out as a character reference for the Indian army at the UN Security Council in 1948. Sheikh would not have had easy exit ramp and could have been helped to retract his testimony. We are repeating the same mistake even today, by unnecessarily demonising those who are offering a substantive challenge to BJP.

We have to make a hard choice, and come clean, whether we really mean the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions or would use this reference as a scare crow to share the status quo with India

We were never serious to push through the UN mechanism on Kashmir. We have never raised an eye brow over the rescinding of the visa rule for Indian citizens to visit Kashmir.

All important public uprisings starting from the theft of Holy Relic of Prophet in Srinagar and during the period from 1990 to 2019, our approach has remained tactical. The substantive interest has been missing. We have very little to show as a consequence of our militancy and Hurriet politics in Kashmir.

Hurriet and militancy could not resurrect a lead character needed to undo past mistakes. Time has proved that the political and militant components introduced in 1990 had a limited scope. India used the cover of militancy to execute a plan of slaughtering a generation of Kashmiris and has turned Kashmir upside down on 5 August 2019. All our 72 year old rhetoric, slogans and political manifestations, proved to be of no consequence.

AJK Government which has agreed to a shared responsibility with the Government of Pakistan under UNCIP Resolutions, should have been duly engaged in planning to avert Indian aggression of 5 August 2019. It should have been in uninterrupted session to examine the hurt caused by a 15 year Indian operation to serve her (Indian) interests and to discredit Pakistan (and Kashmiris struggle) in 119 countries, through the use of 750 media outlets, 550 Domains and a network of NGOs. It is understandable that the EU Disinfo Lab would not have unearthed the full spread of Indian operation. We are faced with a higher burden of responsibility and an increased challenge.

AJK Government should have been debating the welfare of 2.5 million Kashmiri refugees settled in Pakistan, perfecting the role of 12 refugee members in the Assembly, considering the welfare of the fresh wave of refugees lodged in tents and camps in Muzaffarabad and other districts, worried about the welfare of Kashmiris from the valley stranded and living in various countries and should have been busy in building a counter offensive against Indian re-occupation of a part of Jammu and Kashmir under her temporary administration.

There are no two opinions that our press statements, tweets, speeches, webinars and photo sessions and mis-reporting in local Pakistani and Azad Kashmir media, are no answer to the action taken by India on 5 August 2019. It needs to be highlighted that the occasional reference to Kashmir by a member in British or European Parliament, their off and on visits to Azad Kashmir and the cease fire line are of no consequence to the Kashmir case.

Our case is stalled at the point of holding a Plebiscite. The need is to unfreeze it. Our efforts are not only mediocre, misdirected but also dangerously trivialise the Kashmir case. After the collapse of the three Kashmir Centres, we have been supporting interim and ad hoc substitutes through event organisers. They travel from London, Europe, USA and other places under the hat of Diaspora and end up in photo sessions.

We have to make a hard choice, and come clean, whether we really mean the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions or would use this reference as a scare crow to share the status quo with India. The work on Kashmir other than forcing India to return to the “Resolutions of 13 August and 5 January” agreed upon by India and Pakistan, would mean subscribing to the present status quo. It is an unfriendly act and a deception. There is a common perception that India does not honour these Resolutions. Be it so.

India is a member nation of UN and her non-compliance has limits. France has very rightly argued at the 539 th meeting of UN Security Council held on 30 March 1951 that, “If the parties are unable to reach agreement on the plan submitted to them, provision is made for arbitration.” We have to work hard to argue before the world that after 5 August 2019 India has aggressed in Kashmir and has re-occupied it. According to UN mechanism on Kashmir, India has committed a “very grave offence.” Our main problem is unpreparedness and unreliable understanding of Kashmir case. Gandhi was right to say that, “Swaraj can be had only by brave and clean people.” Kashmir is no exception to this rule – to have brave and clean people.

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