5TH FEBRUARY: THE KASHMIR SOLIDARITY DAY
Muhammad
Raza Malik
The government and people of Pakistan,
at home and abroad, observe the Kashmir Solidarity Day on 5th February, every
year, to renew the pledge to continue the unflinching support to the Kashmiri
people who are carrying on a just struggle to achieve their inalienable right
to self-determination. The observance of the day since 1991 is aimed at
conveying a loud and clear message to India that the Kashmiris are not alone in
their struggle and sooner or later, it will have to give them their right to
decide their political future by themselves as guaranteed by the relevant UN
resolutions. It is also a reminder to the world community to fulfill its
obligations towards resolving the long-pending Kashmir dispute in accordance
with the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistanis on this day hold seminars,
conferences and demonstrations to highlight different dimensions of the Kashmir
dispute and the gross human rights violations being perpetrated by Indian
troops in occupied Kashmir. It is a historical fact that India had forcibly
occupied Jammu and Kashmir by landing its troops in Srinagar on 27th October,
1947, against the will of the Kashmiri people and in total disregard to the
Partition Plan of the Indian subcontinent. According to the Plan, the Princely
States were offered the option to accede to either of the two new independent
counties - Pakistan and India. Being a Muslim majority State, Jammu and Kashmir
had to become a part of Pakistan, but Indian leaders in connivance with the
British rulers and the then despot of the territory, Maharaja Hari Singh laid
the foundation of Kashmiris’ subjugation to India under the so-called
“Instrument of Accession”. Many neutral observers including renowned British
historian, Alistair Lamb, reject the existence of any such document.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir from
the very first day of the Indian invasion have been rendering unparalleled
sacrifices to liberate their homeland from Indian bondage. It was India, which
approached the United Nations on January 1, 1948, for the resolution of the
conflict over Jammu and Kashmir. The UN Security Council passed several
resolutions calling for an impartial plebiscite in the territory and the
international community including India made pledges with the Kashmiri people
that they would be given an opportunity to determine their fate by themselves.
However, India reneged on its promises after solidifying its grip on Kashmir by
dint of brute force and started describing Jammu and Kashmir as its integral
part.
Since 1989, when the people of Kashmir
intensified their liberation struggle, the unabated Indian state terrorism has
so far resulted in the killing of nearly one hundred thousand innocent
Kashmiris and disappearance of thousands in custody. During the mass uprising
in Indian occupied Kashmir from 2008 to 2010, millions of people took to the
streets in Srinagar and other towns with the demand of their right to
self-determination. However, instead of respecting the sentiments of the
people, Indian troops and police personnel responded with the use of brute
force, killing and maiming thousands of people during the period. In the
meantime, many international human rights bodies and the European Parliament expressed
concern over the discovery of unidentified mass graves in the territory
strongly apprehending that the graves contained the dead bodies of those who
were killed in custody and fake encounters by Indian troops.
Conversely, Pakistan has been consistent
in giving all out support to the just cause of Kashmiri people and has acted as
a strong advocate of the Kashmir cause at the international fora. The
Pakistanis have a number of legitimate and genuine reasons to express
solidarity with their Kashmiri brethren as both share strong bonds in respect
of religion, geography, culture, aspirations and economy. The founder of
Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had termed Kashmir the jugular vein
of Pakistan. His commitment to the interests of the Kashmiris had driven him to
visit Jammu and Kashmir three times before 1947 (in 1926, 1936 and 1944) during
which he held extensive talks with the Kashmiri leadership. Former Prime
Minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, had vowed to wage a thousand-year war
for Kashmir. Former President, Asif Ali Zardari, in his address to the UN
General Assembly in September 2012 deplored that Kashmir remained a symbol of
failures rather than strengths of the UN system while stressing the early
settlement of the dispute. The incumbent Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mohammad
Nawaz Sharif, right from assuming office in June 2013 has been calling for
settling the dispute in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United
Nations Security Council.
At the same time, the attachment of
Kashmiri people with Pakistan has also been remarkable. There was an
understandable reason when India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru said
while responding to a question in 1965 that Kashmiris would vote to join
Pakistan and India would lose it, if plebiscite was held in Jammu and Kashmir.
Hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris have migrated to Pakistan and the main
reason behind their migration has been their strong emotional attachment to the
country in addition to rescuing themselves from the brutality of Indian
occupation forces. It was the ideological commonality that had prompted the
representative party of Kashmiri people, the Muslim Conference, to pass a
resolution in its meeting in Srinagar in 1947, whereby it was declared that Jammu
and Kashmir should become a part of Pakistan. This historic resolution was
adopted on 19th July just about a month before the creation of Pakistan. The
attachment of the people of Kashmir with Pakistan can also be gauged well from
the fact that the occupied Valley has been reverberating, from time to time,
with pro-Pakistan slogans. Pakistani flags are hoisted in Indian occupied
Kashmir on the national days of the country, whereas such days of India are
observed as black days.
The people of Pakistan and Jammu and
Kashmir are unanimous in deploring the fact that the response of international
community to the just struggle of the Kashmiri people has been disappointing.
It has failed to hold New Delhi accountable for the genocide of Kashmiris and
impress upon India to provide the people of Jammu and Kashmir their inalienable
right to self determination. The world needs to take cognizance of the fact
that Kashmir has become a nuclear flashpoint as it involves two nuclear-armed
neighbours - Pakistan and India. The fact is that due to India’s unrealistic
and intransigent attitude, the peace of the entire South Asia is at stake.
The observance of Kashmir solidarity
Day on 5th February becomes significant in view of the above hard realities of
history. Let all the peace and justice loving nations of the world come
together in expressing practical solidarity with the oppressed people of Indian
occupied Kashmir.
(The
writer is working as Senior Editor at Kashmir Media Service, Islamabad, and can
be reached at razamalik849@yahoo.com)
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