Useful
URL on Kashmir
Background
of Kashmir:
1) The origins
of the conflict: 1947 which created the independent states of India (Majority
Hindu States) and Pakistan (Majority Muslim States). Kashmir's (even though
Majority Muslim Sate ruled by a Hindu Maharaja)ruler,
Maharaja Hari Singh, refused to accede to either nations, apparently in the
hope that the state might be permitted to remain independent.
2) In August
and September 1947 and an uprising among the Kashmiri Muslims in the state's
western regions started when the majority Muslims demanded to become a part of
Pakistan. The Maharaja sought assistance of Prime Minister Nehru of India, who
agreed to send troops only if Kashmir formally acceded to India. On October 27,
1947, the Maharaja agreed to Kashmir's accession to India, on the condition
that Kashmir be permitted to retain its own constitution.
3) British
authorities stated that the question of Kashmir' s accession should be settled
by a plebiscite as soon as law and order was re-instated and the invading
forces had left. But the plebiscite was never held.
4) The United
Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) worked out the concrete
terms of settlement in close and continuous consultations with both sides.
These were crystallized in two resolutions adopted on 13 August 1948 and 5
January 1949. As both governments formally signified their acceptance of
the Commission's proposals, these constituted an international
agreement as binding as a treaty. A cease-fire was immediately enforced
5) The
Commission then started negotiations to draw up a plan for the withdrawal
of Indian and Pakistani armies from the State in a manner and sequence
that would not cause disadvantage to either side or imperil the freedom of
the plebiscite. Meanwhile, a distinguished American, Admiral Chester
Nimitz, was designated as Plebiscite Administrator
6) Progress
towards a solution was, however, blocked by India's refusal to accept that
the withdrawal of forces on the two sides should be balanced
and synchronized. When President Truman (of US) and Prime Minister Attlee
(of Britain) appealed that the points at issue be submitted to arbitration
by the Plebiscite Administrator designate and India turned down the
appeal, the Commission terminated its mediatory mission. From 1950-1957, a
succession of Presidents of the Security Council or United Nations
representatives - General MacNaughton (Canada), Owen Dixon (Australia),
Frank Graham (United States) and Gunnar Jarring (Sweden) made intense
efforts to secure India's agreement to stage-by-stage demilitarization of
the State so that a free plebiscite could be held. They all failed, as did
the informal mediators like the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth
countries
7) Through the
1950s and 1960s, political discontent with the central government's attempts to
control politics in the state grew. Pro-independence and pro-plebiscite
activists were repeatedly jailed and tortured.
8) In 1955,
India took the position that, in view of Pakistan's
Alliance with United States and development of Military PACTS with US, India could no longer countenance the withdrawal of its forces from Kashmir. To repeated pleas that the withdrawal was
not meant to be unilateral in any case but would be coordinated with that
by Pakistan, its response remained immovably negative. India found a
ready supporter for this position in the Soviet Union which, after 1958,
blocked every attempt by the Security Council to unfreeze the situation
and implement the peace plan originally accepted by both parties. This
caused the paralysis of the Security Council on Kashmir - a condition
which lasted from 1958 to this day
9) India's
occupation of Kashmir has thus been left undisturbed by the international
community, even though its validity has never been accepted. At no stage,
however, have the people of Kashmir shown themselves to be reconciled to
it. Peaceful uplifts have occurred but Indian forces have used torture
techniques to try and stop these.
10) On
July 2, 1972, India and Pakistan signed the Simla Accord, under which both
countries agreed to respect the cease-fire line and resolve ifferences over
Kashmir by peaceful means through negotiation and meetings to discuss a final
settlement.
Kashmir
Size And Location:
Kashmir is
situated in the extreme north of the India-Pakistan subcontinent and at
the southern point of Central Asia. With an area of 86,000
square miles and a population currently estimated at around 13 million,
(Census of 1990) it is surrounded by four countries: China, Afghanistan,
Pakistan and India, with the narrow Wakhan strip (in Afghanistan)
separating it from the Tajikistan and Krygstan. Its rivers flow into Pakistan: its traditional highways led there: it is also with Pakistan that it shares the larger part of
its border. Compared to the existing 184 sovereign states in the world
taken individually, Kashmir is larger than 87 and more populous than 114.
The cease-fire line between the forces of India and Pakistan has
currently divided Kashmir into two parts. One is under Indian occupation:
this comprises 63% of the whole territory and includes the Vale; it has
a population of around 7.5 million. The other with around 3 million
people, includes Azad (free) Kashmir, which is under indirect Pakistani
control, and the northern region of Gilgit and Baltistan, which is
directly administered by Pakistan. About 1.5 million Kashmiri's are
refugees in Pakistan: some 400,000 live in Britain and about 250,000 are
scattered around the world. The present arbitrary bifurcation of Kashmir
has divided thousands of Kashmir families.
Human
Rights Reports On Kashmir:
1) India
maintains a large and highly visible military presence in Kashmir; the
troops stationed there exceed 700,000; including para- military
forces, the Central Reserve Police and the Border Security Force, all of
whom are thugs in uniform and equipped with state-of-the-art torture
machines
2) There are
16 Indian secret service agencies operating ubiquitously to spy on the 7.5
million citizens.
3) The number
of those killed exceeds 60, 000 and the number of those maimed, tortured,
illegally imprisoned or condemned to starvation by being robbed of their
living by the India authorities runs into the tens of thousands.
4) By settling
one million non-Kashmiri's in the State, India has tried to alter
its demographic composition, reducing the ratio of Muslims in the
population.
5) India has
subverted Kashmir's traditional autonomy by bringing its judiciary and
administrative services at the higher level under the total control of the
Government in Delhi
6) Over the 48
years of occupation, India has so managed Kashmir's economy as to make it
dependent on Indian subsidies and supplies of basic necessities like food;
except in a southern pocket adjacent to India, not even a beginning has
been made towards industrialization; the object of turning Kashmir into a
deficit area is to impose severe economic penalty on its release from
Indian occupation.
7) Compared to
Azad (free) Kashmir, which has a 56% literacy rate and per capita income
of $450, Indian occupied Kashmir has a literacy level of 26% and per
capita income of $260, even though it is the latter which contains the
traditionally more settled and developed parts of the State
Human
Rights Crimes:
8) From
January 1990 to May 1995, the latest date up to which
corroborated estimates area available - there have been several massacres
with the death-toll exceeding 60,000. The victims of Indian army
atrocities include the aged, women and children. In many cases, Indian
troops went on rampage in Srinagar and other villages; as they raided
houses without warning, they raped over 6,000 women, including a young
bride on her wedding day.
9) A practice
maintained by the Indian troops is that of dumping in
government warehouses the bodies of those killed and handing them over to
the near of kin at night with strict orders to arrange burials in the
dark. But the practice is not consistently observed. In one instance,
Indian soldiers killed 25 Kashmiri freedom fighters and tried to destroy
the evidence by throwing the bodies into the river. The people, however,
recovered 15 bodies.
10) Since the
start of the current uprising, over 45,000 Kashmiri's, mostly young men
and women, have been imprisoned by the Indian occupation forces. From
among them, about 15,00 have been kept in torture cells. Those
regarded not worthy of the labor and expense of extreme torture are
subjected to other kinds of treatment. A favorite exercise of the Indian
authorities is to strip young men and women of their clothing and to
photograph them naked in order to blackmail their families and extort
information about the organization of the uprising.
11) Dawn to
Dusk curfews, with shoot-at-sight orders, have been, and are
being, imposed on entire cities and towns frequently; the suffering and
hardship resulting from the people's inability to obtain the necessaries
of daily life and medical help is easily imaginable. This inhuman policy
of virtually turning the homes of people into prisons and banning the
freedom of physical movement for the whole population was maintained
through a 24-hour curfew lasting as long as 17 days from 3 to 20 April
1990. Countless deaths of the sick and the infirm have been the result.
12) Those
injured by the Indian Army firing are removed to hospitals in Jammu where,
under the pretext of lack of medicines, their limbs are amputated.
13) India
has intensified its scorched earth policy by setting afire more
than 19,000 homes in 35 localities in the valley. According to
eyewitness accounts, the Indian occupation forces that set the homes
afire prevented fire-fighters and other relief personnel from reaching the
affected areas.
14) To give the
uprising the color of violent religious strife, the Indian authorities
have engineered the evacuation from the Vale of Kashmir of a major
proportion of the Hindu community by creating a scare and then providing
transport and financial aid for their flight to Jammu or Delhi. Parallel
to this scheme is the importation into the State of armed gangs of extreme
right-wing and Hindu fundamentalist organizations, the Shiv Sena and RSS.
The stage is thus set for raping and mass slaughter for which the
India will be quick to put the blame on the `Muslim fanatics and
militants.'
15) Some of the
actions of the Indian authorities were sketchily reported by the world
media in January 1990. India then clamped strict censorship on the news
and barred the entry of all electronic media into the occupied area;
as many as 30 foreign journalists were expelled from the State. Later,
the policy was somewhat relaxed to mollify world opinion. The press
dispatches India normally allows are those filed by Indian correspondents
after official briefings. The technique adopted by India is not to deny
occurrences completely, but to minimize the deaths resulting from them. Up
to the end of April 1995, the Indian version put the recent death toll at
15,000.
Human Rights Watch 1996
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kashmir/1996/
Human
Rights Watch 1999
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/kashmir/
State Dept.
Report:
http://www.kashmiri.com/Human_rights/statedept_rpt.htm
Others:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3023/kashmir.html
http://www.ummah.net/kris/atrocities/index.html#tort
(Viewer Discretion)
http://www.holocaustinkashmir.50megs.com/
(Viewer Discretion)
http://www.kashmiri.com/Human_rights/ngo_speakout.htm
UN
Resolutions On Kashmir:
http://www.kashmiri.com/Kashmir_un/Resolutions/resolution47.htm
http://www.kashmiri.com/Kashmir_un/Resolutions/resolution_5jan1949.htm
All
Resolutions:
http://www.kashmiri.com/Kashmir_un/unresolutions.htm
http://www.klc.org.pk/klc/pumphlet/resolution.htm
Resolution
Adopted At The Meeting Of The United Nations Commission For India And Pakistan
On 5 January, 1949. (Document
No. S/1196, Para Is, Dated The 10th January, 1949)
THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION FOR
INDIA AND PAKISTAN
Having received from the
Governments of India and Pakistan in Communications, dated December 23 and
December 25, 1948, respectively their acceptance of the following principles
which are supplementary to the Commission's Resolution of August 13, 1948;
The question of the accession of
the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through the
democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite;
A plebiscite will be held when it
shall be found by the Commission that the cease-fire and truce arrangements set
forth in Parts I and II of the Commission's resolution of 13 August 1948, have
been carried out and arrangements for the plebiscite have been completed;
The Secretary-General of the
United Nations will, in agreement with the Commission, nominate a Plebiscite
Administrator who shall be a personality of high international standing and
commanding general confidence. He will be formally appointed to office by the
Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Plebiscite Administrator
shall derive from the State of Jammu and Kashmir the powers he considers
necessary for organizing and conducting the plebiscite and for ensuring the
freedom and impartiality of the plebiscite.
The Plebiscite Administrator
shall have authority to appoint such staff or assistants and observers as he
may require.
After implementation of Parts I
and II of the Commission's resolution of 13 August 1948, and when the
Commission is satisfied that peaceful conditions have been restored in the
State, the Commission and the Plebiscite Administrator will determine, in
consultation with the Government of India, the final disposal of Indian and
State armed forces, such disposal to be with due regard to the security of the
State and the freedom of the plebiscite.
As regards the territory referred
to in A 2 of Part II of the resolution of 13 August, final disposal of the
armed forces in that territory will be determined by the Commission and the
Plebiscite Administrator in consultation with the local authorities.
All civil and military
authorities within the State and the principal political elements of the State
will be required to co-operate with the Plebiscite Administrator in the
preparation for and the holding of the plebiscite.
All citizens of the State who
have left it on account of the disturbances will be invited and be free to
return and to exercise all their rights as such citizens. For the purpose of
facilitating repatriation there shall be appointed two Commissions, one
composed of nominees of India and the other of nominees of Pakistan.
The Commissions shall operate
under the direction of the Plebiscite Administrator. The Governments of India
and Pakistan and all authorities within the State of Jammu and Kashmir will
collaborate with the Plebiscite Administrator in putting this provision to
effect.
All persons (other than citizens
of the State) who on or since 15 August 1947, have entered it for other than
lawful purpose, shall be required to leave the State.
All authorities within the State
of Jammu and Kashmir will undertake to ensure in collaboration with the
Plebiscite Administrator that:
There is no threat, coercion or
intimidation, bribery other undue influence on the voters in plebiscite; No
restrictions are placed on legitimate political activity throughout the State.
All subjects of the State, regardless of creed, caste or party, shall be safe
and free in expressing their views and in voting on the question of the
accession of the State to India or Pakistan. There shall be freedom of the
Press, speech and assembly and freedom of travel in the State, including
freedom of lawful entry and exit; All political prisoners are released;
Minorities in all parts of the
State are accorded adequate protection; and
There is no victimization.
The Plebiscite Administrator may
refer to the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan problems on which
he may require assistance, and the Commission may in its discretion call upon
the Plebiscite Administrator to carry out on its behalf any of the
responsibilities with which it has been entrusted;
At the conclusion of the
plebiscite, the Plebiscite Administrator shall report the result thereof to the
Commission and to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. The Commission shall
then certify to the Security Council whether the Plebiscite has or has not been
free and impartial;
Upon the signature of the truce
agreement the details of the foregoing proposals will be elaborated in the
consultation envisaged in Part III of the Commission's resolution of 13 August
1948. The Plebiscite Administrator will be fully associated in these
consultations;
Commends the Governments of India
and Pakistan for their prompt action in ordering a cease-fire to take effect
from one minute before midnight of first January 1949, pursuant to the
agreement arrived at as provided for by the Commission's resolution of 13
August 1948; and
Resolves to return in the
immediate future to the sub-continent to discharge the responsibilities imposed
upon it by the resolution of 13 August 1948, and by the foregoing principles.
*** UNCIP unanimously adopted
this Resolution on 5-1-1949.
Members of the Commission:
Argentina, Belgium, Columbia,
Czechoslovakia and U.S.A.
